Beginning of October

Earlier this month we went to Sandbridge Beach (just south of Virginia Beach) with Steve's family. We had such a good time relaxing and spending time together. It was a much needed break from the stresses of moving. Mya really enjoyed playing in the sand and the swimming pool at our place. It was a great time for her to bond with Tia, her grandparents, and great grandparents. She has always been such a mommy's girl that it can be frustrating, especially for others who want to spend time with her. That is slowly, but surely improving, though! She really warmed up to everyone on this trip...especially her Aunt Tia!
Steve and I have been working on getting the nursery ready. We've almost finished it, just a couple more finishing touches like wall hangings, waiting for a curtain rod, and a bookshelf. It looks really cute...we painted 3 of the walls green and an accent wall blue. I was really nervous to do this, but my friend Sommer (who is a wonderful decorator...wish she lived closer) has done it several times with great results. It turned out great! Grandma Bower helped us purchase a 12 piece bedding set...animal themed in green, blue, and brown...so cute! It's come together really nicely. We're really excited to have a "real" nursery this time. The kids' rooms are so cute, I just love them! We put some finishing touches on Mya's room, too...some beaded curtains. The new house is really starting to feel like home. It's just amazing how many projects we'd like to do in our "move-in ready house"!!! I think it's never ending!
Mya has started dance classes with her friend Emma on Tuesday nights. She really seems to love it. The girls have gotten really close and it's so fun to watch them play together. Mya really looks up to Emma (who is about 6 months older) and will follow her ANYWHERE!!!!! They do some basic dancing (the hokey pokey, mainly), tumbling (somersaults), and baton! I still can't believe they give 2 year olds real batons! But the girls love it and the dance studio is so much closer to our house than driving to Huntington for gymnastics. She seems to like it more, too. She's warming up to her teachers...she was always panicky with her gymnastics teachers because they had to pick her up for certain things. She will actually let them help her more than she'll let me (she's afraid I'll take her baton away). Which is so great. I love to watch her participating as part of a group, listening, and TRYING to follow directions.
I still can't believe how big the Mya and her friends are getting. I got Mya some new shoes the other day...she measured a size 7! I've been putting her in 5's. She looks so big with her real tennis shoes. And she's getting so tall and thin...really looking like a little girl. She's got all of her numbers down...she knows them when she sees them (to 10), and I think she recognizes the entire alphabet now. She still LOVES to read and will let you read to her as long as you will. She's always singing these days, too. Christmas tunes are her favorite right now. It's so cute to hear her singing in the mornings while I'm in the shower.
I need to go through her clothes soon and get rid of the ones she's grown out of. We've kept everything in case the next baby was a girl. I've been putting off going through her things because I know I'll have memories of her in those old outfits! It just seems silly to leave them packed in the basement when someone else can use them. I doubt we'll want to put pink and purple on our little boy when he gets here, and we're pretty sure this will be our last baby!
Mandi is coming over in a couple days to get some pictures of Mya in her Halloween costume...so hopefully Hannah will be able to wear some of her winter clothes from last year.
We also got some wonderful news from our good friend Mandi...she also, is pregnant. She just found out and is so excited. Our friend Mary (Michael's mom) is pregnant, too. Holly (Maddie's mom) just had her second (a boy like our next). Our babies will be close in age just like our toddlers are. I'm really excited. It's so nice to have such great Mommy and baby friends. I really hope that our kids maintain friendships as they grow up. The kids all feel like part of our family. It's been so fun watching them grow and change together.

Moved in!

We are officially living in our new house! This move has been quite the undertaking...we had NO idea how much stuff we had accumulated over the years. We are slowly getting organized...I still have a ton of boxes to sift through. But, it has all been worth it. We are loving our new house. Mya's room is set up almost like it was in the old house, same color and all. I couldn't believe how much bigger it is than her old room...couldn't really tell until we got all of her stuff in there. She's had a rough time with the move. She's such a sensitive kid that everything seems to really affect her. She's finally coming around, though. She's starting to venture off through the house by herself now and thank goodness, losing some of her clinginess to me. She seems to love her room and is getting adjusted to the new surroundings. We are loving our new yard. It is so nice and peaceful out here, although we are still close to both hospitals. My dad and Steve worked tirelessly over a 3 day period getting an AWESOME swing set/play house built for Mya. We have already enjoyed it immensely. It's been really great for our family time especially in the evenings. It's a fun way to spend time together without having a TV involved! And Mya loves swinging so much that it gives Steve and I a chance to catch up with some adult conversation. We are definitely living the American Dream now!!!! Steve and I feel so lucky to be living in such a beautiful place and being able to raise our kids here. Things have just really fallen into place.

The pregnancy is moving along, too. I'm now 19 weeks and really starting to show. We are anxious to find out the gender of the baby...we'll know in 2 weeks. I'm really feeling good now. The nausea has subsided and I feel like I'm getting my energy back. I'm sure glad we made the move prior to #2 being born!!!! We'll soon be deciding on colors for the nursery. I'm really excited to have a dedicated nursery this time around since we didn't get the opportunity to with Mya. I'm really hoping she adjusts to the new baby ok. She's so used to having everything revolve around her! We've gotten some big sister and new baby books (along with sharing and no hitting) that we've been frequently reading. She seems to really be paying attention to the pictures and she's now saying "Baby Mommy Belly". Not sure how much she really gets, though. I still can't believe that we'll have a baby in the house again in just a few months. Hoping for a calmer one this time.

We are heading to Virginia Beach this weekend with Steve's family. We're looking forward to relaxing without having the feeling that we should be doing something productive. I'm excited to have some time where we can really focus on Mya...she really needs it after the past couple weeks. It'll be nice to spend some time with the family, we all live so far apart that it's hard to all get together for an extended visit.

Moving Week - FINALLY

We are officially moving this week! I am hanging out at home today anxiously awaiting the phone call saying "come get the keys to your new house". We have had the van packed since yesterday afternoon, because I didn't want to waste a trip just to get the keys. I wonder what our sellers will think when I pull up in the fully loaded van...they may think we've been living in it since closing day. Yesterday we bought paint for Mya's room and our bedroom. We're keeping Mya's room the same shade of yellow, I LOVE her room here and would like to replicate it as best as we can. I also think it will help her transition to the new place. She's has been quite the little helper these days. "I's helpin" is what she says as she's packing boxes or sweeping the floor. I'm glad she wants to help because I think keeping her involved will help her with the transition. I'm really getting exciting about our new house...2 car garage, 1 more bedroom, 1 more bathroom, laundry on the main and ONLY floor (besides the basement). I've been decorating in my head for the past month and Steve has been fretting about the TV situation! We're really ready to get going...sitting around waiting is for the birds!
Mya is starting to drop her naps. Which I'm not sure if this is good or bad. There have been a couple of occasions when she's actually fallen asleep before 10p which is GREAT! Since I'm exhausted by then. It makes for a really rough day though, if there is no nap and she's still up late. Fortunately, she's napping now...getting ready for the start of the big move today! She's doing so much these days...wild as always. She's been counting to 10 for a while now and she's learning her letters. We have foam letters in the bathtub (not sure why we don't have the full alphabet) and she knows all of them. I think we have about half. Steve said he picked her up the other day (he was wearing a Harley shirt) and she spelled H-A-R-L-E-Y. She wants to be able to read SOOOOOO bad. She still jibber jabbers almost constantly from the time she gets up until falling asleep at night (in motion, of course). We're still working with her "aggressive behavior". She tends to be overly aggressive with her friends at times, taking toys and hoarding things. It seems like it doesn't matter who we are with, she is always the dominant child. Most of her friends have a developed a "personal space" by now, she has not! She loves to hug and and chase her friends...especially her friend Michael. One day she was chasing him saying "Yuv you Maaaacheal". She loves her friends, it's so cute. We're really lucky to have such great friends to play with almost every day. She's been begging to go swimming most days. She will play at the pool for hours, it's wonderful! It gives me a chance to just sit back and watch her play.
Just got the call...gotta go!!!!!

Time to move on...

We sold our house...and bought a new one. We had our house on the market for about 3 weeks and it sold. We've been talking about getting a little bigger house in a different school district for about 2 years now. But, now that it's actually sold, I'm finding myself getting really emotional about it. It's funny when I think about buying this house 8 years ago. I was a single perfusionist and I bought this house for 2 reasons...1) It was cute and 2) It had a small yard that was manageable by just me. I wasn't thinking about where kid bedrooms would be or whether it would be a problem carrying laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs, closet space, having a yard, being in the "right" school district. It was much simpler then. Plus, I don't think I realized what a huge investment having a home would be at that time in my life...I was 24. I've gone through the 3 biggest life changes of my adult life living in this house. I got married, changed careers, and had Mya. Steve and I met while I was living here...well, actually I bought this house shortly after he started working with with me at KDMC. We were just friends for a long time before we started dating. He moved in with me right around the time that we got engaged which was about 6 months prior to our wedding. So this was "our" first house together. We came home from our wedding here! Which was also about the time I quit my job to start PA school. I spent many hours on our deck studying for my classes...especially that first semester (when I was still gung ho) when I had gross anatomy. My classmates and I took tests together here, too. And then two and half years later Mya was born. We brought her home from the hospital to this house. She and I both slept in the living room for the first six months. We walked around our neighborhood a bunch back in those days when only being outside would calm her. I remember feeling lucky to have such a nice, safe neighborhood to bring her home to. She learned to crawl here, then walk, then of course...the running, jumping overall being crazy came next (and continues)!!! She had her first "big girl" room here as well. She LOVES her room. She LOVES being "home". It breaks my heart to have to move somewhere else right now. But, it's time. And I know, soon enough the new house will feel like home. I've just had such wonderful memories here. I'm so glad we recently had Mya's 2nd Birthday party here. We all had such a good time. Almost all of our family was here, and most of her closest friends were able to come. We had Foofa as our special guest (from Yo Gabba Gabba) and she was a hit. Mya loved it! All of the kids danced and had a great time. It was a nice "last party" to have at this house before we move.
Our new house is a little further out in the country. It's a super functional brick ranch. With the bedrooms on one side of the house and a huge master bedroom with walk-in closet and it's own bathroom. It will be so nice having 2 bathrooms! Mya will still have a nice room...I'm planning on painting it yellow just like it is here and keeping everything virtually the same. We'll even be able to do a nursery for the new baby. I'm really looking forward to doing that because we didn't have a nursery for Mya. I'm really excited about having everything on one floor. No more carrying laundry, kids, and toys up and down all day long. Steve's looking forward to not having to scrape ice off of his car at 6am in the winter...because we'll have a 2 car garage. And we'll have a nice unfinished basement for storage and for Mya's ride-on toys and bikes. We're hoping to put a guest room in the basement as well, so that our guests are a little more comfortable when they stay with us. I'm also looking forward to having nice, quiet, peaceful surroundings. We'll be more out in the country than we are now. And Mya's Grandpa (my dad) is already working on an AWESOME play house/swing set for our new yard. Mya will love this!!!! She loves to swing and her baby swing doesn't swing high enough for her anymore. She's a little daredevil.
I'll just be relieved when we can get into the new house and put this house behind us. I keep finding myself thinking "this will be the last time Mya lines her animals up in the bay window" or ""this will be the last time I enjoy my huge eat-in kitchen". But the new house will be good for us. I think it will especially be good for Steve, because this will be his first home purchase. It will actually feel like "our" house, rather than my house that he moved into. We'll be happy there.

Haven't written in a while

I guess it's been a while since I've made a blog entry...and so much has happened since the last. First things, I FINALLY got Mya weaned. This happened about a month ago, it was a very trying week for both of us, but it was time. It had been time for a while. The first 4 nights were the worst, but then she started understanding. Since then she's been sleeping much better at night. She still occasionally asks to "urse", but quickly forgets. She hasn't asked in a while until yesterday and today. I've been working more lately so I think she's just been needing some extra time with me. She's finally slept through the night about 6 times or so since then. Which is fantastic. I'm finally able to sleep in my own room for most of the night. She still occasionally cries through the night, but it has improved so much. Secondly, Mya had her first overnight with Gamma Pam. She did fantastic. I had to work a couple days so she went to Circleville by herself with my mom. Steve and I then went up to Circleville for the weekend for Aaron's wedding reception. By the end of the weekend she was ready to come "home". She loves to go and play, but she really seems to miss being home after a few days. Thirdly, we are working on selling our home. We just really need some more room...definitely another bathroom! We are currently working with a couple trying to come to an agreement on the selling price. We're really nervous about it. I really love this house...it's where Mya first came home. I have a lot of really great memories here, and there are so many things that I love about it. But, it's really getting to be time to move on. Steve and I really need to find a home together. I'm nervous about how Mya will adjust, although I'm sure I'm worrying for no reason. She'll adjust just fine. Lastly, we are expecting another baby the end of January. Which is why we are in such a need to get a bigger home. I really want this baby to have his/her own room. Mya really enjoys her room and it's good for her to have her "own" space. I don't want to stick this baby in our room or with her! Plus, since we didn't do a nursery with Mya I'm kind of eager to have one this time around. Especially since this is very likely to be our last child. We are all guessing that this one will be a boy because this pregnancy has been SOOOOO different from Mya's. I have been so nauseated...what an awful feeling. I took one of the urine intelligender tests just for fun this week, and it said BOY. It'll be interesting to see if it is accurate or not. I won't find out by ultrasound until the 20th week or so, about 2 more months. I'm currently a little over 10 weeks. I had my first ultrasound yesterday. Everything looked great, we could see the little legs and arm buds...those 3D ultrasounds are crazy! The heart rate was about 170. My midwife (whom I LOVE) said everything looked great. She was able to check nuchal translucency (which is a measure for Down's syndrome) and thought it looked great.
We're preparing for Mya's 2 year birthday party next weekend. I can't believe she will be 2 already. She's grown up so much. She's really been really good lately, although rather clingy since I've been at work quite a bit. We're doing a Yo Gabba Gabba theme and Foofa will be there. It will be a lot of fun. Most everyone that she loves will be there. We're able to have some of her friends here this year, too. I'm just amazed at how quickly the past 2 years have come and gone! But, what a great 2 years!!!!

Mya Stats

Age: almost 23 months
Height: not sure
Weight: 22.5 pounds
Favorite Colors: seem to be pink and purple
Favorite TV shows: Yo Gabba Gabba, Barney, Little Bear, Curious George, Dora
Favorite Movies: Charlotte's Webb, Finding Nemo
Can Count To: 4, she did this for the first time today, without help
Best Friends: Maddie, Hannah, Hailey, Addison, Michael, Emma, Rose, Iris
Favorite Songs/Dances: The hokey pokey, Bubbles, Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a little teapot, "Circle"
from Yo Gabba Gabba
Loves to: TALK, pretend talk on the phone, sing/dance, play in her sandbox, jump, throw things,
TALK, be the center of attention, visit with friends and family, help with laundry and chores
around the house, play outside, READ and be read to
Hates: getting her diaper changed, sleeping, listening
Favorite things to say: Baby sleepy, Careful Baby, Chuckie little pretty, flowers pretty, thank
you and welcome (elcome), all gone, all done, I see you Daddy, scared, baby crying (cwynin),
stop it, quit it
Favorite things to eat: Chocolate, bacon and ketchup, ketchup, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese,
beans, chicken and noodles, french fries, fruit snacks, goldfish snacks, grapes, watermelon,
apples
Favorite Drinks: Chocolate milk (pediasure), juice (V8 fusion), lemonade

"Careful"

Mya was so funny last night. She was putting her baby and her stuffed animals into the baby carrier (which was supposed to be their bed, I think). She kept saying "babies sleepy" then she carried all of them (it'll be interesting to see if she ends up on Hoarders as an adult) in the carrier up to the couch. The baby kept falling forward so she would say "careful" and push her head back. Then we woke up this morning and she says "mommy sleepy". She's really trying hard to form sentences right now. Day before yesterday Steve got home from work and she said "Daddy's home". It was really sweet.

Camden Park

We took Mya on her first trip to Camden Park in WV this past weekend. Mandi and her two girls and Melissa and Addison were there with us. We had a blast!!!!!! Mya is such a daredevil she could not get enough of the rides. She cried and yelled "GEEN" (again) when the rides stopped each time. When Steve and I first got there with her she rode inside a pink hot rod at least 10 times. Thank goodness the worker allowed Mya to stay in the car (there weren't any lines) the entire time. I didn't think we were even going to get to see the rest of the park. She was finally persuaded to try a different ride once her friends got there. She rode EVERYTHING including a small roller coaster. She looked so tiny in the seats. Her friend Addison ("Asson") is a wild child, too. So they got to ride lots of rides. We had such a great time. We're really lucky to have such a variety of family friendly activities in our area. Camden Park is perfect because it is a small amusement park geared towards smaller kids. It's contained in a relatively small area and you're never too far from your car in case of the need for a quick getaway! I guess we'll be getting season passes this year, because we'll be spending lots of time there if Mya gets her way about it!!!!!

Staying Home Today!

Mya and I are enjoying a rainy day at home today. We were supposed to go to the bounce house today with our friends...but, Mya just wanted to stay home ("say ome" she says). I worked this past weekend, so it was Daddy and Mya weekend. It still seems to take her a few days to recover from my absence. At times I'm impatient with her clingy-ness, but someday she won't want to have anything to do with me, so I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts! She's been really good today...just hanging out in her diaper (she took her clothes off) watching her shows (Barney and Gabba Gabba) while reading, jumping on the bed, and playing by herself. It's really nice to see her self-entertain, because it doesn't happen often. She's usually wanting to be on the go! We were doing the hokey pokey ("hokey") earlier...she's really funny, because she tells you which body part she wants to do and it's always something really weird like your eye, teeth, elbow, toe. She knows all of the motions and tries to sing along. She LOVES singing songs with dances and arm motions. She's probably destined to be a cheerleader someday, with me and Aunt Tia. It is a sure-fire way to cheer her up and distract her when there is an impending tantrum! Although, it sure looks silly to see a grown woman doing the hokey pokey in the check out line at Kroger's...but whatever works! Yesterday I actually got the "evil eye" from an older lady who thought I was being too harsh on Mya...yeah, I know, me and harsh usually don't occur together when it comes to Mya. It's amazing how judgemental others can be when they see you dealing with your child. Mya was trying to run completely wild and I've been trying to teach her that she has to stay where I can see her...obviously it isn't working! But truth be known, I'll yank her arm out of socket if I have to, to keep something from happening to her! Unfortunately you can't leave your kids in the car anymore why you grocery shop!!!!
Weekend before last we took a trip up to Circleville and Columbus. Matt just bought an awesome new house, so we had a little get together with the family. It was really fun. Mya loves to see the kids...Kaitly, AJ, and Mary. Mary, unfortunate for her, became the resident hokey-pokey-er. Mya was grabbing her hand and bossing her to do the "hokey" every chance she got! Thank goodness Mary is a really good sport and sweet with her. Grandma Pam, Steve and I took Mya to her first zoo trip. She's still a little too young to get it. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time...Mya loved playing with mulch and rocks as usual. She did really like the elephants and the aquarium, oh, and the train ride was pretty cool, too.
This morning, Steve took off to DC to see Tia for her nursing school pinning and graduation. I wish Mya and I could've made it...but Mya still doesn't travel well. We're really proud of her...has been a hard road, working and going to school both full time. Although, I've never heard her complain about it. I'm really glad that Mya's Aunt will be such a good role model for her.
Well, my little parasite is back. Guess she's had enough of entertaining herself, now it's my turn.

Fun with Friends - Pictures

Sick Kid

I'm having a lazy day at home today because Mya is sick with Croup. I hate to see her sick, but she's so tough that it barely fazes her. She has that horrible barky cough and had a pretty high fever last night. She slept ok and has been playing today, but is just a little tired (hence the nap at 12:00 which is unheard of for her). It's truly amazing how tough she is...when we are at our playgroup functions everyone is always surprised at how little she cries when she falls or bonks her head. She was hospitalized this past November for dehydration from a stomach bug...after she got some fluids in her we were chasing her around the floor with her IV pole! She kept holding up her little arm saying "off", it was so pitiful. Even being sick doesn't drain her of her energy and silliness.

We've seen a lot of our playgroup friends this past week. Had some beautiful weather and spent quite a bit of time at the park. Mya's becoming so independent and big...it's really nice to be able to sit back and watch her play on the equipment without hovering over her all the time. She still loves seeing her friends and is usually saying their names when we get up in the morning, wondering who she gets to see that day. I rarely have trouble getting her out the door on time because the moment I say "let's get dressed to go see (Addison, Maddie, Hannah, Emma, Rose)" she becomes unbelievably cooperative. We had a great turn out at Toddler Time yesterday (storytime at the public library) and all the kids were WILD. It was so much fun. Our playgroups are getting bigger and bigger...it's given us a chance to meet lots of great Mommies and fun toddlers!

Mya has been cracking me up when she wakes up in the mornings. She jibber-jabbers almost constantly. I know when she's awake because she wakes up talking. She's been "reading" her books in the mornings, too. It's really cute...she talks (nonsense) and then throws in a real word here and there (that matches the picture). Usually it is the name of an animal, mommy, or daddy. She loves to talk on her pretend phone whenever I'm on the phone, and she loves talking to her grandparents on the phone or webcam. She has very important conversations with my Mom friends, too. She's very expressive with the inflections in her voice and uses hand gestures that let you know what she is saying is of utmost importance. It'll be interesting what all she has to say as she says more and more real words and sentences. She's at such a fun age right now, wish she could stay 21 months forever (minus her telling me to stop it, or quit it when I do things she doesn't like).

Mya and the Easter Bunny

Mya loved the Easter Bunny...I mean LOVED him and could not get enough of him. Luckily she got to see him twice over Easter weekend. Her Grandparents and Dad took her to an Easter egg hunt where she first met him...hugged him and sat on his lap. Then later in the evening we took her to Kyova mall where she yelled "bunny" and wanted to hang out with him all evening. She got to pet him, kiss him, and even sit next to him on his chair. It was so cute. I had to practically peel her off of him so other kids could get a turn. I think Easter has been her favorite holiday so far.

Day before yesterday we took Mya's bear "Teddy" to the park. I guess he was in need of a day out. He got to do so much stuff...Mya pushed him on the swing, and let him go down the slide a thousand times. She thought this was hilarious. She didn't do much of anything...but Teddy got to do it all! I'm glad she's so good to her babies!

We've been enjoying the beautiful weather here for the past few days...today it's rainy and I'm actually kind of glad. We went to the bounce house with friends this morning so now Mya is crashed. We rarely spend our time indoors, but hopefully today we'll have a relaxing afternoon and evening. Although, when Mya wakes up, she may want to go again. She really likes to be out and about, but after a couple hours she's ready to come home again. She says "home" and tries to go to the van. She's definitely a girl that knows what she wants...and whatever it is, she wants it RIGHT NOW! She's our strong willed, determined, energetic girl!

Easter Pictures by Mandi

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures, great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God make them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He make their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
We gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
-Cecil Frances Alexander