Gym Rat

So sorry- the blog took a backseat to opening Myles's Athletic Training Studio and I haven't updated in a while.

Anya's nearly two- I really can't believe how fast time flies with these little ones. I swear I was just as big as a house and complaining about being pregnant and now here we are two years later with such a dynamic little person in our lives.

Anya is a delight- truly she lights up my life. She can make me giggle uncontrollably and test me to the point I feel I might snap- but I love her oh so much. She has her way

with daddy too- I can already see the negotiations falling apart when she utters, "Mom won't let me but daddy will..." we are in for it come the teenage years.

The spirited little soul has been yearning to play outdoors without a coat but this winter just won't let up. We have had a few nice days and finally had a warm enough day to be outside in t-shirts and pants this past weekend. Anya and I are headed to Cabo in a two weeks though so we will make up for some lost sun time.

What's new- the vocab and the jibber jabber constant talking yada yada yada. The girl is just like her mother and NEVER shuts up. Now that we know what she is saying it is hilarious to sit and listen to her go on and on orating everything she is doing. She plays with her babies and changes their diapers fastidiously (requiring her own wipes and diapers). Some favorite words at the moment are octopus, marshmallow, and delicious all of which are mispronounced but wonderful to hear.

SLEEP, glorious sleep. Our child has FINALLY decided to sleep more. She goes to bed at 7 and wakes up by 6 or 6:30 (fine by me because I'm up anyway....) and has started taking 3 hour naps in the middle of the day. I can't believe how much I can get done now that she naps longer than an hour. It is amazing. All this sleep leads to a much happier, chipper, and rambunctious little girl but I'll take it.

Digging in the dirt and finding worms is her favorite outside activity. I have a feeling my garden is going to be dug up before my vegetables reach full maturity- oh well.

We are finishing up our year at pre preschool as we call it. We joined the Bellevue College Parent Ed program and have thoroughly enjoyed our year. It is two hours on Tuesday mornings and most of our PEPS (mom's group) does it too so all her friends are there. The curriculum is simple and play focused and the kids really love it. The sensory room is Anya's favorite where she plays with play-doh, paints, splashes in water tables, dumps sand/oats/corn etc everywhere. Basically it is the 'messy" room and I appreciate her doing all her mess making at school and not at home. We are continuing with the program next year with our same group of moms/kids. She is so fortunate to have a steady group of playmates at such a young age. It is also nice as a support group for the moms. We feel very comfortable leaving our child with each other in case of emergency or the oh so necessary hair appointment.

Pictures from Lisa

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Is winter over yet?

Well, we can't really complain, but for a 21 month old being outside is a fantastic adventure. With the cold, dark, wet days we have been out but it requires a long pre-outside routine and Anya is not always game for the whole uniform- hat, gloves, two coats, boots- etc. (And in all honesty I'm not the biggest fan of fighting with the wet noodle to get her dressed to spend 1o minutes out in the rain) BUT we do it- yes we are true North-westerners and enjoy (or tolerate) the great outdoors even in the dog days of winter.

We did escape the grey days a few weeks ago with a trip to Sun Valley, ID. It lived up to its name and gave us 4 gorgeous days of sun and cold weather. The most wonderful part of the whole trip was having Ahma and Bobpop there to watch Anya while Myles and I were able to play. This was the first time I have spent full days away from Anya with what seemed like no responsibility. It is amazing how much freedom it feels like to know I am not in charge of her day. THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!!!Unfortunately Anya got sick the second day into the trip and her coughing made for some early mornings but we all coped and managed to ski all day despite our lack of sleep.

After returning home I took Anya to the doctor and she had walking pneumonia. Myles had a sinus infection and I soon followed with a matching sinus infection. The four days of sun were much needed and left us all feeling rejuvenated despite our illnesses.

Updates in Anya's development- she made it on the weight chart at 3% during her 19th month check up. Hooray. She weighs a whooping 21 lbs sopping wet. Her vocabulary is mind boggling. She is speaking in sentences on occasion and loves to sing along to her favorite songs- some being- monkeys jumping on the bed, ba ba black sheep, London bridge, twinkle twinkle little star, and many more. She recites her alphabet and can count to two (we are working on that one- anything after two is just "more")

She continues to amaze us and make us laugh. She is extremely ticklish and loves to be visited by the tickle monster. She often blasts off into rocket ship mode and flies around the house.

Anya spends a good deal of time with her friend Harry and we recently had the whole family up to the cabin. Anya and Harry had a blast and really enjoyed their sink bath together.

Following in her father's footsteps she likes to wake between 5- 5:30am much to my dismay. It is especially gruesome on the weekends- by 9 am we feel we have had a full day. Sheesh.

She is down to one nap and the transition was a struggle and continues to be. She was napping for around 3 hours spread between 2 naps. Now we have a solid hour in the middle of the day- that's it. I have enough time to eat my lunch and check email and then the princess wakes up and wants to color, read, eat, or get naked and poke her belly button.

We recently had another PEPS get together and it seems like only the boys hang out so here is a terrific pic of Anya with her troop of boy- friends!

Frosty and Mahna Mahna

Yes I actually know how to spell Mahna Mahna. While entertaining Anya during her dinner two weeks ago I started singing and dancing the Muppet Mahna Mahna song. Since that episode we are responsible for one million of the nearly 2 million views of the Muppet version on You Tube. Frosty the snowman is another favorite and it is frequently requested. Don't worry we mainly just listen to the You Tube clip- (for those of you unaware screen time for kids under 2 is a major no-no!) Anya has since realized that if she says Mahna Mahna to almost anyone (her doctor, the check out guy at Safeway, etc.... ) they will start singing the ridiculous song much to her pleasure.

Christmas was glorious. We had a nice dinner at Kyra's for Myles's family Christmas- complete with a gift left on the front porch by Santa. After the kids got a hold of the confetti shredded paper Kyra's house was a winter wonderland. Anya thought the "snow throwing" was the most hilarious thing she had ever witnessed and sat in the middle of the floor in hysterics while the kids sprinkled her with "snow." In my prior blog I had mentioned a quiet Christmas eve- well plans changed and we had over 25 people to our house for cocktails and snacks instead. It was fun but exhausting.

We enjoyed a quiet week in between Christmas and New Years and Myles was home earlier in the day so Anya got to spend some much needed time with Daddy.

We had grand plans to go on my parent's boat for New Years, but the sub freezing temperatures made us reconsider and we had a slumber party at Harry's house instead. The kids had fun and went to bed by 7 so the adults had a fun and delightful evening as well.

We have a chatterbox on our hands. Anya has been an early "talker" and now her vocab is just exploding. It is fun to have her try new words- my favorite ones right now are hummus, cookie, monster, and the letter Q. It is so great to be able to understand her most the time and give her what she is requesting (within reason of course). She has come up with some interesting names for family members. Watch the video clip to hear them.

Holiday blast off

Christmas this year is a whole new experience for us. Anya knows that Santa says ho ho ho and wants to touch every pretty decoration and light in our house. Last year she was an adorable barely mobile little baby and now we have a laughing, crying, speaking, running, "in to everything" toddler. I have to admit- the toddler phase is so far my favorite. I know the terrible twos are coming but right now she is amazing. Everyday she picks up more vocabulary and she actually understands almost everything we say to her, whether she decides to do as we ask is another matter entirely.

We have been gifted an amazing computer advent calendar and Anya is bonkers for it. Every morning she wakes up signing she wants to watch her calendar. Everyday we get to open a new animated village scene and it is a Jacquie Lawson creation so it's filled with beautiful music and wonderful dog and teddy bear characters. It is just as fun for us as for her- I highly recommend it to anyone that has children. I plan to buy it for all my friends next year.

Backing up a bit- Thanksgiving. We spent the four day weekend up at Hood Canal cabin with my parents and brother and sister in law. It was a wonderful holiday- very relaxed. Natalie put Anya's hair in pig tails for the first time and she has her hair "put up" everyday now because they are so stinkin' cute on her. She also came away from the weekend saying everyones name- Nana (my mom), Ba ba (my dad), Cott (Scott), and Nat (Natalie)- and her favorite "person" of all T (Tess- my brother's dog that allows Anya to lay on her and bug as much as she wants).

Prior to Thanksgiving we had an unusually early snow storm in the Seattle area. It was snowy for several days and very cold. We were able to get a couple great pictures of Anya in the snow wearing her boots and coat that were a few sizes too big for her.

We visited Santa yesterday and it went incredibly well. I wasn't sure if Anya would be frightened of the big man in the red suit but she was enamored with him. In fact they asked her to sit on his lap for a couple minutes while the line caught up and she was happy as a clam snuggling up to Santa. What a great experience! My dad swears we will have "Beelzebub" the next time we decide to add a family member, but I'm convinced Anya's easy going temperament is all just a reflection on our fantastic parenting (ha ha- who am I kidding!)

We plan to go to the botanical gardens to look at the lights as well as hit snowflake lane and see how she handles the intense music and larger then life dancing soldiers, bears, and princesses. Christmas Eve is going to be quiet and we are having Christmas morning for the first time ever in our house to open gifts.

Hula babies- part deux

Anya has endured quite a change this past month. We recently returned from sunny, warm Hawaii and just had a major snow storm with frigid temperatures back home. In Hawaii we played outside all day, rain or shine. Back at home it is a bit more of a process to get outside then once we are out she gets cold so fast in the 20 degree temperatures we end up back inside within a matter of minutes.

The Hawaii trip was interesting to say the least. I traveled with Anya solo- no Myles. That was a challenge but I feel that we both we handled it fairly well. Luckily we shared the plane ride (and an extra seat) with Jinny and Lucy our Hawaiian companions.

The weather was really rainy the first 3-4 days. I mean we are talking no sunscreen, sunglasses or even a thought of a bathing suit. We took the girls out on the beach and to the park despite the torrential downpours. Being wet in Hawaii is almost a gift since the humidity is high and the temperatures are mild.

Lucy is 1 month older than Anya so the girls had a blast together. The funniest part (which I'm sure you can see in the pictures) is the difference in size. Lucy is off the charts in height where Anya is off the chart as well (just at the other end of the chart!). We lovingly referred to them as 'Mutt and Jeff" but the size difference was never an issue- thankfully Lucy is a gentle soul and didn't pound on Anya!

Once we got some sunny days the girls spent a lot of time in the yard playing in the "splash pad" and at the foot bath water faucet. The ocean was gorgeous and calmed down enough for us to swim the girls several times.

Daddy missed his little girl terribly. We were able to Skype so that helped but I know he was so happy to have us home.

Elephants on Parade

Halloween is a wonderful holiday full of spooks and goblins, but this year Anya (well me really) decided she wanted to be an elephant. What an adorable costume I thought as I purchased it never really thinking through the process of my 16 month old willful toddler wearing a full elephant head piece.

Yeah- she didn't like the ears or the trunk. Even after weeks of encouragement- "look, mommy's wearing the ears, ooooh, daddy is an elephant.... hey look Boone even likes it...."

Nope, the second those ears came near her head it was no and run away. So we have very few pictures of our little darling elephant, but the ones we have are precious of course.

The best of all was our PEPS Halloween party. You might recall last year I posted a video of all of our babies in costume crying... (see below)

Well this year we have the same group a year later and much more defiant screaming and lurching off the couch..... (see below)

We are wonderful parents to torture our kids this way.

Myles and I got in the Halloween spirit this year and dressed up with our Aussie friends (Harry's parents) and went to my dad's band party. We had a blast- (we are smurfs if you can't tell)