Easter Week

We just got home from an Easter Egg Hunt with some of our playgroup friends. Had a great time and really enjoyed this 70 degree weather. I'm thinking I should have put a little sunscreen on Mya's face and arms...her face was looking a little brown on the way home. Luckily she has a really nice complexion and doesn't seem to burn too easily. Anyhow, this is actually our 2nd egg hunt this week. Our first was yesterday with the Moms group. Mya got to play with some cool, older kids and seemed to catch on to finding the eggs pretty quickly. Today, all she cared about was finding one egg and eating the chocolate out of it ("choc"). I guess her love for chocolate is to be expected! We had a great time at "Wonderland Park" in Ceredo. We're really lucky around here to have such nice community parks. There are several within a few minutes of us. Ashland really is a nice, pretty town. Today I'm feeling really lucky to be able to stay home with Mya. I've been a little bummed about having to work this weekend for Easter, but it's worth it when I think about all the time that I DON'T have to work. It's so nice to be able to wake up and spend the day with Mya, doing whatever it is that we feel like. I'm so glad I don't have to rush her out of the house in the mornings. We get to wake up and watch a little Barney and relax before meeting the day. We typically stay pretty busy with our playgroups (3) and her activities, so I definitely feel she is getting adequate socialization. At one time, I never would have pictured myself as a stay-at-home-mom, but now...I can't picture being anything else. Mya's only going to be little once and I love that I don't have to miss anything. She actually fell asleep in the van on the way home from the park today (which is really rare for her) and I just couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the love I have for her...dirty face, snotty nose, and all! It's amazing how little ones can change your life. I'm glad that I have my "one weekend a month job" to keep my feet wet with the medical world, but wouldn't trade my time off for anything in the world. Steve's folks are coming down from Pittsburgh to spend the weekend with Steve and Mya, I'm really grateful that she'll be spending Easter with family. Even though I'll miss being with them all, the time is really good for Steve and Mya's relationship. They have bonded even more since I began work. It's good for Mya to learn to trust and rely on others (besides me).

Mya keeps surprising me with new words every day. Last week she pointed to my coffee mug and said "coffee", plain as day. It's really funny how quickly she's picking up new words. And when I change her poopy diapers, she says "scus-ting" (disgusting) and "ooooooh ucky". I feel like I'm constantly laughing at her. She has quite the funny personality. She's always giggling and playing silly games. Especially in the evenings before bed. Instead of getting tired and cranky, she gets really giddy and cracks up at everything. She's so fun right before bedtime. Although, dinner time is another story!

Busy week...

We've been really busy lately. This past weekend we took a much needed trip to Pittsburgh to visit Steve's family. Mya is still having a hard time traveling...she does not do well in the car at all. We still try to travel at night in hopes that she will sleep, but she is so sensitive that every bridge we cross or sharp turn we make (which there are many traveling through WV) she wakes up bawling. We got to Steve's folks at about 1am on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday evening. Tia was also home visiting, so we were excited to spend time with her. She's been so busy working and going to school both full time. She'll be a BSN in 7 weeks! We're really proud of her, it's been a long hard road...7 years of college (she and I are both practically "professional students", as I did 7 years as well). We're hoping to see more of her once she's finished with school. Mya refers to her as "TA". It was nice getting to visit "PAP" and "MA". We haven't seen much of them lately due to the MASSIVE amounts of snow they've received! We also got to visit with Pap and Carol, always good to see them, too. Mya had a good time playing with all the toys at her grandparents' house. She had a little bit of a rough time on Sunday...I think it was due to lack of sleep and being off of our normal routine, but you'll have that with kids. They're so unpredictable...and Mya takes this to a whole new level. Monday we started back into our regular activities...Mya sure loves to go visit family and friends, but she LOVES to come home, too. I guess I feel the same way...there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed after a trip. She's really enjoying her room and her own big girl bed.
We had gymnastics Monday evening, she's improved tremendously. She's mastered her forward roll all by herself and is really good at the trampoline and tumble track. Bars are also a good apparatus for her...she's so strong for a little one! But, we could use some work on the beam! Her favorite part of class, of course, is getting her sucker and stamps at the end. That's about the only time she warms up to her teacher, Tiffany. Her teacher is FANTASTIC with her. I'm really thankful for her persistence with Mya...because you have to be that way with her. We had kindermusik last night...which she LOVES. It is definitely her favorite activity. Her teacher, Miss Stella, is fabulous...and really seems to love Mya. She was the first non-family member that Mya ever allowed to hold her. Even Steve really enjoys that class. I guess it's partly because Mya gets to run wild, dancing , and chattering...because that's what the kids are supposed to do there. The class is really good because she's learning how to share and take turns...which she need LOTS of help with! Today we got to hang out with our play group friends at the park and then gattiland. Mya's really becoming close with her friend Emma - who is older, and oh so cool! We also got to meet a new baby friend today, Max...who is just a few weeks old. We were really excited. His Mom, Meaghan already has 2 girls. She had a natural, water birth with him and he was 11.5 pounds! WOW, she is much more of a woman than me! We were really happy for her and proud... she was able to have the birth plan she'd hoped for.
At home, Mya has been coloring with her new markers and using her easel that Grandpa Steve made for her. She is quite the budding artist! She's really been learning her colors this past week...she knows yellow, blue, pink, purple, green, orange...most of the time. Her vocabulary is really picking up. She says new words every day, sometimes she surprises me with one that I didn't realize she knew. She relates to most of her activities by her friends' names, which is really cute. If we put her gymnastics leo on she says "Sam" - her good friend in class with her. And she gets super excited when we talk about Maddie, Hannah, Emma, or Addison. This morning when I told her we had to get ready to go to the park to play with Maddie, she started jumping up and down, turned the TV off while saying "off", then started saying "coat". So cute. She is quite the social butterfly!
Thank goodness she is taking a much needed nap after playing all morning and afternoon. Grandma Pam is coming down this evening so Steve and I can go out with some friends, and then babysitting tomorrow and Friday so I can work. It's supposed to be beautiful out (sunny and 70), so I'm sure they'll be spending quite a bit of time at the park.

20 months today.

Today Mya is officially 20 months old. We enjoyed a beautiful day at the park...60 degrees, overcast, breezy. It has been a very reflective day for me so far. I guess I've really needed some time to spend in the great outdoors. I've been thinking about how much Mya (and my life) has changed over the past 20 months. How my focus so quickly went from graduating PA school to this new little girl in my life. She was such a terror in the beginning...I didn't know if we would survive! It's funny how, as her personality has developed, those traits that we considered to be difficult ended up being so...priceless. About 6 months ago, I read a book called "the spirited child", this book was seriously written about Mya. About how she is so much "more" (intense, active, sensitive). She is definitely our little wild child. But, as I watched her playing at the park today, I prayed that she would never lose her spirit and intensity. She really does seem to experience life to a degree that is unachievable by the "non-spirited". Every time she gets on a swing...it is like the first time for her -- she cracks up every time (loudly). Sometimes I'm afraid that she'll actually burst she gets so excited. She experiences happiness, anger, frustration, giddiness in a way that really is unbelievable. I was watching her today doing some of the things that she really enjoys and hoping that she never loses her enjoyment in these simple things -- looking up at the sky while swinging, watching a squirrel and giggling while he washed his face, her frustration at not being able to pet the squirrel, feeling the cool breeze on her face (that beautiful smile), playing in the dirt, crunching up leaves with her hands, playing ring-around-the-rosy, feeling the cool ground on the side of her face, running in circles and spinning while singing (not sure what she was singing), the feel of Charlie's soft fur on her feet, the sound of Charlie's name ("chuck-eeeee", our nickname for him), the enjoyment of a hershey's kiss BEFORE luch, the joy of helping (turning off the tv before leaving the house), the pride of accomplishment (putting on "puntz" herself, climbing up and down the stairs unassisted, mastering a new word), smiling for no reason, laughing OUT LOUD because it feels good to laugh that way, the awesome feeling of a soft blanket and comfy bed to take a nap, the way spaghetti sauce feels smothered ALL OVER her face, the excitement of seeing a friend and clapping with them or for them, the joy of music - singing and dancing, jumping on a trampoline...or on anything, the excitement she feels when Daddy gets home from work or when she has company. There are just way too many to list, but these are some of my favorites.

Mya's first sentence.

So glad Spring is finally around the corner. We spent quite a bit of time at the park this weekend. Yesterday we saw our friends Holly,Mark, and Maddie and Mandi, Hailey and Hannah. Mya and Hannah enjoyed the swings until their hands and noses were like ice cubes! Little Hannah's nose was so red. They were so cute, giggling and swinging their feet. After the swinging, Hannah was in her stroller, Mya got into my purse ("pess") and grabbed a wipe cloth and was trying to wipe Hannah's nose...guess she had a booger or something! It was funny to see Mya play "mommy". Maybe we'll be ready for another baby soon! Mya and her dad were playing peek-a-boo behind the cat door going to the basement yesterday evening. Mya said "I see you"...her first official sentence. Her closest thing so far has been "all done". She's getting so big so fast. She has lost most of her baby-ness and is more like a little girl lately. Grandpa Steve came down last week and brought really cool stuff for her room...bookshelf, Thomas Kinkade fairytale pictures, a sled, an art easel with art supplies, a baby tiger that drinks from a bottle...lots of really neat things. We have her big girl room just about completed. It is so cute. I've really enjoyed doing this...we didn't set up a nursery for her so this is my first time decorating for her! It should be a room she can enjoy for a long time, looks more like a pre-teen room minus the Elmo bed rail! She really seems to love her room and her bed. That's what I'm excited about most.

The end of the mullet.

Mya finally got her first haircut today. She's almost 20 months and has been sporting a mullet. But, mullet no more...she got a nasty knot in her hair caused by some breakfast syrup and a stethoscope, so off came about an inch and a half! I would have like to have had it cut professionally, but not likely that she could sit still enough. So I cut it myself with some dull scissors while chasing her around the house. Now she's sporting a sassy bob - pretty cute. Family members (Kaity) will be very excited to see the end of the mullet!