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.