Anya Magnuson

Goodbye to the blog

2011-08-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's time to say good bye to the blog updates. It has been a fantastic way for me to write about my experience of being a first time mom through the first two years of my daughter's life. I am having this blog made into a book and it will serve as a reminder for Anya just how much time I spent on the computer ignoring her. Just kidding. I hope this serves as a memory capsule for me and all of our family.

Cheers

Lisa

2 and Beyond

2011-07-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

I left off in May and we are currently in the middle of July. Much as happened since I last posted so I will get you all up to date and then sign off for good with a good bye post.

Anya, Ahma (my mom),

and I took

a trip to Cabo

San Lucas, Mexico with my brother's wife's parents. What a fabulous vacation. After all my horror stories of flying with Anya my mom had never experieced the joy. However, much to my dismay and pleasure, she was a doll in flight.

We took a portable DVD player and some favorite You Tube muppets, Wiggles, and Elmo videos

on my iPod and she was quite content to sit there and watch. The only small disaster was on the trip home I didn't have enough time to change her diaper when we changed planes in San Diego and she peed right though it when she was sitting on my lap for take off. I had to wait with wet pants for a good 45 minutes until the seat-belt sign went off and fortunately had a spare pair of shorts in my bag. (Note to parents: always bring spare clothes for your child AND yourself on a plane) I have been spilled on, spit up on, and now peed on all on a plane requiring a change of clothes.

In Mexico Anya swam like a fish. She loved the cascading pools, warm weather, and abundant

large lizards. She was well behaved and warmed to Kelly and Ross immediately. The five of us had a great time relaxing and enjoying the 90 degree days. I actually was able to sit by the pool, read a book, and enjoy a margarita all thanks to my helpful "Anya sitters". What a treat! Anya would wear herself out swimming and crash for a nap on the lounge chair under an umbrella. One day we went to the main beach in Cabo and she took a 2 hour nap on a chair on the beach. It really was an amazing time and very special for Anya to spend some quality time with her Ahma.

After Mexico came Anya's 2nd birthday. We had a small park party with her friends and a family BBQ with family. She was happy to spend time with her cousins and loved her chocolate cupcakes (albeit soy buttercream frosting).

The most recent news is her allergy status. After a visit to the allergist the skin test for diary allergy came back negative but egg was still positive. We had a blood draw and the results were no allergy to milk as well. So we had a "challenge" at the allergist's office. Basically we arrived at 7:30am and stayed until 11:30. She started with 1 tsp of chocolate milk and proceeded to two full dixie cups by the end. She would drink, wait 20 minutes, they would check her skin and face and give her more. She passed with flying colors- no reaction what so ever so we are all clear for milk, cheese, icecream, yogurt and many other dairy gems. Hooray!

Other news in Anya's world is that she is potty training and finding a lot of success. We are happy to cheer her on while she gains new independence. Bribing with chocolate and marshmallows (which are still called "far fars" for some bizarre reason) has expedited the process. Her vocabulary is growing daily and she can communicate with complete sentences. She sings the lyrics to her favorite songs some being Twinkle Twinkle, Barney's I Love You song, and The Wheels on the Bus among others.

On a personal note, I love this age. 2 is so much fun! We play and laugh and generally have a fantastic time together. She asks for family hugs and kisses like a champ. She tells both Myles and I she loves us (without prompting) and it melts our hearts. She is so sweet and I can't imagine my world without her lighting up my days.

Gym Rat

2011-05-03T15:36:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-03T15:33:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

Is winter over yet?

2011-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

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)

Tropical Storm North Carolina

2010-10-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Well- we survived.

Flying with a 16 month old is a challenge. We flew with Anya when she was 6 months, and again at a year. Both times were OK- not horrible, not great. This time it was a different story. At 16 months she is VERY active and also does not sleep well out of her crib. So needless to say flying to NC was an adventure. On the way over we had a 5 hour flight and then a connection with an additional 2 hour flight. She eventually fell asleep for the last 30 minutes of our second flight. THAT WAS IT. The rest of the time she whined, moaned, wiggled, screamed, cried and maybe smiled twice.

FUN!!!!

What's in NC you might ask- well the Outer Banks and our extended family. My Dad's sister and husband (aunt and uncle). their two boys (cousins) with their wives and kids. In total our group was made up of 12 adults and 3 kids- Morgan (4), Mia (13 mo), and Anya (15 mo).

The house we rented was AMAZING! It had 4 floors, an elevator, 9 bedrooms, a media room, game room, pool and hot-tub. The Atlantic ocean is very warm, however we were unable to spend much time swimming. Thunderstorms were scheduled for the week so we weren't anticipating the best weather, but a tropical storm ended up blowing through which really confined us to the house. Anya and I swam in the heated pool in the pouring rain one day but the poor little thing got cold from the wind and rain. We played on the beach between rain squalls and visited the aquarium.

We tried to make the best of the weather and thankfully the kids had each other to entertain. Mia and Anya had a great time playing with each other's toys and books. Morgan loved "the babies" as he referred to the girls but was a little disappointed they weren't older..

The flight home was a little better than the flight out. Our game plan was to entertain her more and try not to force her to sleep even though she gets really tired. We used Baby Einstein to keep her distracted for some of the flight. Scott and Natalie flew all legs with us so they witnessed our successes and failures. Conveniently Mom and Dad (gramma and grampa) weren't on a single flight with us..... suspicious yes?

Walks, talks, and eats

2010-09-10T15:39:00.000-07:00

Anya is thriving. She talks incessantly, walks proficiently, and eats like a horse, but according to the height/weight charts the doctors use she isn't even on it for her weight category. We had her 15 month check up today and she was hilarious in the doctors office. Hamming it up and entertaining both the doctor and the nurse. So much so, the doctor informed me that she was unusual for most kids her age (in a good way). Her lack of fear of strangers could pose a problem in large crowds but generally she is willing to go to just about anyone and lay a fat juicy kiss on them with very little prompting. Poor Harry, her partner in crime that spends so much time with her, is generally the recipient of Anya's affection. In true boy style, he will often push her off, or shove her away when she becomes too amorous for his liking. This escape maneuver doesn't phase her, she just catches him when he least expects it next time.

So her stats at the doctor today were 18 lbs 2 oz (below 0%- if there is such a thing), 29 inches tall (10%), and 18 inches (50%) for her head circumference. She is a sprite as our pediatrician phrased it.

This age is so much fun. She loves to make others laugh- and at her is perfectly acceptable. She sleeps well, eats well, and is generally a joy to be around. Of course, like any toddler she has her moments, but 90% of the time she is actually pleasant company.

BOOKS!!! She loves to read (look at books) and be read too. She will sit on your lap for as long as you are willing to sit there and read to her, never getting bored as long as you switch up the reading material. In fact the other day, I caught her sitting crossed legged on the floor thumbing through a Reader's Digest- it was a classic moment.

TALKS!!!!! OMG- the girl NEVER shuts up. In the car it is like a babbling brook in the seat behind me. She loves her hand me down cell phone and has long conversations with whomever she imagines might be on the other line (usually if you ask her it is Dada). The doctor asked me how many words she said and I couldn't tell him because there are so many.... here are a few-
Mama, Dada, Oma, quack quack, all done, banana, avocado, cracker, car, ball, book.......etc. She is beginning to say Tess (Scott and Natalie's dog) and even said Tess when I pointed to a picture of my brother. So, sorry Scott, but for now you will be referred to as your dog's name not your own.

In two weeks we head back east to North Carolina for a beach vacation on the Outer Banks with our Aunt (Dad's sister), Uncle, cousins, and second cousins. There will be 12 adults and three kids in an 8 bedroom beach house with a pool, media room, hot tub, game room, etc. Sure to be an awesome time and we are all looking forward to it. We just have to make it through the plane ride........

Canada or bust

2010-08-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Armed with her crisp passport, Anya and I took the ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, B.C. We met my parents on their boat and stayed aboard for a week. After nearly a month and half of no baby time, my parents were thrilled to cuddle up with Anya and spoil her rotten.

Myles met up with us for a long weekend and it was a blast. I was a bit nervous about the sleeping arrangements since her pack and play would not fit on the boat. We made a "nest" for her on the side of the bed in the aft cabin and she took to it immediately. Unfortunately we had to oust the grandparents from their master suite to the lowely forward cabin, but both claimed they enjoyed their bunks up there too. Anya did take some afternoon naps on both her grandpa and grandma as seen in the pictures. I'm sure they hated every minute of it.... yeah right!

Bath time on the boat was interesting. Anya took showers with us, as well as a bath in the sink. Her favorite was her bucket in the shower though- she never wanted to get out of it.
The weather was beautiful- a bit cold, but that seems to be the norm for this summer anyway. We spent most the time in ports on dock but did spend two nights at Tumbo and Cabbage island crabbing, fishing, hiking, and playing on the beach. Anya didn't fall over board, nor did she tumble down either set of stairs from the main salon to the kitchen or bedroom so I think the trip was a success. She roamed around in circles wobbling with the boat rocking and crashing from time to time. I actually think her walking skills improved after having the extra balance challenge of being aboard the boat for a while.

She napped well, ate well, and slept well at night. We had a few early mornings once she realized she could stand up and peer over the bed at me trying to sleep in until at least 6am. This was my vacation for god's sake- doesn't she understand that? Ha ha.

This is most definitely a fun age. I am trying to enjoy her as much as possible. She is saying new words everyday, starting to run a little and generally getting much more stable on her two legs, and she loves to laugh and be silly. It is so fun to play with her and be ridiculous. Myles is getting in on the crazy stuff too- we end up laughing at each other most the time which of course elicits a cackle from Anya. We haven't hit the "naughty" stage yet; she will definitely test her boundaries and look for reactions, but generally she is pretty good.
I love this picture of her trying to push Myles's sled with a big weight on it. You go girl!

Pictures

2010-08-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Anya is walking but progress has slowed due to illness. YES- she is sick AGAIN! We are a week into battling a fever which turned to croup, which is now a sinus infection... lord help us. Anya has been nice enough to share this most recent illness with her parents. Both Myles and I are ill so our house looks like a Kleenex factory blew up and the drug store might want to think about re-stocking their shelves. Aside from being miserably tired and sick we are all hanging in there.

We were able to go out on the boat several times in the past few weeks which was nice. A week ago we invited the Youngs out for a evening sail. Being the crazy people we are we had two 14 month olds on board. It went reasonably well considering Harry had skipped his afternoon nap and unbeknownst to us Anya was coming down with a fever. We had planned to BBQ on board but the propane was out so instead with hiked the food home, put the kids to bed and ate outside in the backyard chatting until nearly 10. Being adults and having conversations is much easier when the little ones are sleeping peacefully.

Grandma and Grandpa are out on their boat so I have been relying on Belinda (Harry's mom), family, and friends to help watch Anya while I teach. Oma is coming up this week to stay a few nights and help with Anya- Momma needs a little break so I'm very much looking forward to it. She is easy when she is well but sick Anya and sick Mama make a miserable cranky pair. Just ask Myles! :)

We also spent a beautiful sunny Saturday down in Gig Harbor at Oma and Opa's house. Anya played all day with cousin Chloe and they both got very dirty but had a blast. I have added a video of Anya on the beach and she decided to taste a fist full of mud while I am taping- couldn't have planned it better.

Boone is really starting to love Anya. She feeds him snacks all the time and he is tolerating her "loves" (hugging him- or generally laying on him).

Terror on the loose

2010-07-17T07:21:00.001-07:00

Something wonderful happened but now our lives as we know are over. She started walking, well really I should say running. As soon as she figured out how to do it she kept at it running around the yard. We had to block her from falling into the bushes, the deck, the cement sport court, and the sharp rose trunks. It was exhilarating to see her start walking but our smiles quickly turned to concerned scowls as we realized how dangerous she had become. Flailing herself any which way with crazy abandon isn't the best way to walk but apparently it is how she plans to learn. I now fully understand why parents gate stairways. While crawling she will stop herself and turn around to go down the stairs. However when she walks she would run right of the top landing without a second thought. I'm sure over time she will gain more control but right now it is just hilarious and frightening to watch her.

She got her feet measured at Stride Right yesterday and wears a measly 3. They don't even make kids walking shoes until size 4, so she is wearing "prewalkers" but whatever, I'm sure they work the same. She has also gotten a mouth full of teeth. She had three top teeth all come through in one week.

Her favorite thing to do is play outside. She has her splash pad and water table for the days when it is hot enough to get wet. She enjoys walking around the yard smelling the flowers and occasionally ripping the blooms off the plants. She digs in the dirt and throws it over her shoulders. I never realized how many airplanes fly over our house but Anya is an eagle eye at hearing and then spying all the planes overhead. She is really ticklish and her laugh is contagious. Of course I laugh at just about anything so I'm not a tough critic in the laugh department.

Her sign language is really coming along. She signs for milk, drink, bath, eat, please, thank you, and more. If you ask her to blow a kiss, she will put her hand to her mouth and make a clicking noise that resembles the sound adults make when you blow a kiss. She understands almost anything you say to her and uses a few words but we still aren't sure what she is saying all the time. She also gives "loves". She will hug and love stuffed animals and people without provocation. It is very sweet when she hugs and pats the stuffed animals and just adorable when she crawls over to me and decides I need a hug too. Those are some of the moments that make being a mom amazing.

Eating is important to our little imp. She LOVES to eat and she eats a ton of food. While shopping at Nordstrom yesterday she ate an entire banana within 2 minutes. This was one of many snacks in between her large meals. She must have her father's metabolism because I really don't know where all the food goes.She and Harry know each other now and really like to "parallel play". It is fun to see the two of them together; Harry steals anything Anya has- a toy, her water, a rock- doesn't matter, if she has it he wants it. Fortunately Anya easily parts with the objects and Harry is only amused by his new find until Anya picks something else up.

The big number 1

2010-06-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Anya turned 1 a few weeks ago. It is quite a milestone to celebrate as parents with your first child. Not only is the kid still alive, but we have survived a year of sleep deprivation and constant change. It gets easier from here right?

In all honesty, Anya has been a fairly easy baby. She slept pretty well, has a good disposition, and generally laughs and smiles easily. Aside from our ER visit and 911 call the past year has been somewhat uneventful given the monumental change Anya has brought to our little family.

For her birthday we celebrated with family and she invited one friend- Harry. She had a scrumptious berry crisp complete with soy whip cream so it would be extra messy. Instead of traditional presents we asked everyone to bring a gift/token that was representative of who Anya will be when she grows up or their hopes for her future. We based this loosely off of the Korean first birthday celebration- Chut-tol. Everyone had interesting gifts and Anya was drawn to many of them. I have written down who gave what gift, the meaning behind the token, and plan to give her the "time capsule" when she graduates from High School. It will be pretty cool I think. Some items were- a necklace with the letter "A" to remind her who she is, a stepping stone to imprint her small foot print in so she will be able to see how small she was and far she has come, a compass hoping she chooses her own path, a cell phone predicting her chatty nature, and much more.

As for her stats- she is off the charts-literally. She is so light she doesn't even measure on the weight chart they use- she is under 0% if that is possible. Healthy as an ox though so no worries there. The child can EAT. She puts down a serious amount of food. I joke and say she has her dad's metabolism, but I really think she does. Thank god for that! She might eat us out of house and home one day though when she hits her teenage years if she keeps this up.

She uses sign language for many things now and it is really cool to be able to communicate with her that way. She loves her bath and signs bath all day long but only gets that request granted after dinner. Reading has all of sudden become an interest of hers. She now wants to sit on your lap and read book after book- but she doesn't let you finish one before she wants a new one- short attention span I guess.

We plan to play outside a lot this summer once the weather improves and hopefully get her out on the boat soon!

Hula babies

2010-06-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

Oh my god I miss Hawaii so much. Sun, sand, surf and scrumptious cocktails for a full week. It was awesome.
I have to admit I went into this vacation a little skeptical about how much "fun" it would be travelling and vacationing with a 1 year old. Not to mention the two other couples have very young children too. Much to my surprise we all had a blast and the kids were spectacular. Granted the first morning we (meaning the moms because the Dads had been "breaking in" the liquor supply the night prior) were up playing peek a boo at 3:30 am. Yes you heard me right- 3:30 AM!!!! Technically it is 6:30am Seattle time so the kids were up and Adam ready to start their day like normal. The bakery didn't open until 7 so we had a bit of a wait- appropriately the dads all made it out of bed for the bakery run- coincidence?
Anya LOVED everything about Hawaii- well maybe not the slathering sunscreen routine- but everything else. The kids all played in the sand and were nice enough to taste it to make sure it was safe for the rest of us. Being on the Northshore, we are used to having some sizable surf, thankfully this time of year the waves slow down and the kids were all able to safely swim with us in the warm Pacific Ocean. Anya enjoyed the ocean and got really excited every time she went in but it usually was a quick dip because she was shivering pretty quickly. We had a warm outdoor shower and a splash pad pool for the kids to warm up in after their sand and ocean adventures.

NAPS, glorious naps. 2 hours twice a day. The tots were bushed. Being outside from sun up to sundown (in the shade mostly for you worry worts) really takes it out of them. They all napped like champs. This was ideal for the parents to get some much needed R&R reading on the beach and napping in the hammock.Lucy is a month older then Anya and walks, Owen is 19 months old and runs, but Anya held her own and crab crawled on the grass and sand (she doesn't like her knees to be on the ground outside- go figure). Her favorite activities were standing at the foot wash faucet and holding her hands under the running water, stealing Owen and Lucy's pacifiers and sippy cups, eating avocado and papaya, spending lots of time with Daddy, and any activity where she got to run around naked.

Flying was fine- not great, but better than expected. She would nap about a 1/2 hour after take off for a 1/2 hour, then wake up grumpy and bored. We would attempt to entertain her but broke down and gave her a small dose of Benydryl after which she slept for over an hour each time. The airports were awesome and aside from having no luggage (not even our carseat) when we landed on Oahu, no real glitches in the whole trip. Our bags, carseat, and pack and play had all been moved to a "special room" before we even arrived at baggage claim. I still don't know why- we were just glad to have them at all.

After returning home Anya got sick and we spent all last week sleep deprived and worried about her fever. She was diagnosed with an ear infection on her birthday (happy birthday- I know you would prefer some amoxicillin over birthday cake right?) but she's doing much better now.

Hawaii or Bust

2010-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

The vacation we have had planned for over a year is finally here. The three of us are going to the Northshore of Oahu for 8 days to relax with two other couples. There will be three babies, Anya- 11 1/2 months, Lucy- 12 1/2 months and Owen 18 months. This is a house we have stayed in three other times so it is starting to feel like home. One of the couples we are traveling with (the Piskels) owns the home on Sunset beach so to say we are spoiled is an understatement. I'm sure we will have plenty of adorable pictures to post when we return.

Upon our return Anya turns 1- I can't believe it. A whole year has past and our baby girl is getting so grown up already. Tantrums have started when changing diapers, she nearly walks, she is talking more and more everyday, pretty soon she will be asking for the car keys and I will have to start taking Valium.

Recently we have been having lots of fun playing and discovering the great outdoors. Myles and I have undertaken a few yard projects and Anya sits outside under the umbrella eating snacks and trying to eat dirt. She loves the grass under her toes and has decided dirt is much better to play with than to eat.

This past weekend we took a reunion trip with three other families to Fort Worden. It was a blast. Growing up, we traveled as a group to Fort Worden every year with these same four families. Now we are all grown and decided it would be fun to re-live the trip as adults. We rented out a few of the officer's houses and all stayed for the weekend. As kids we used to bike, play on the beach, fly kites in the grass field, and generally have a lot of fun. Our activities changed but the same level of group comradery was experienced by all. We took a walk up to the "bunkers" and it is just as scary as I remember. We had three third generation members in attendance, Anya (11 months), Lydia Freeman (19 months), and Mira Bahtia (7 weeks). All babies were too adorable.

Anya got a bad cold on Friday night and since we were sharing a room no one slept. I mean I actually contemplated packing up the car and driving home at 2am because I thought at least she might sleep sitting upright in her carseat. Eventually she did go to sleep but we were red eyed all day Saturday. Lydia woke with a fever on Sunday morning so our weekend was not without it's share of illness, but thankfully sweet Mira came away unscathed.

As embarrassing as the pictures are now as adults, it was tradition to bathe the kids together. So of course we will torture our own children in the same fashion. The three girls were absolutely hilarious in the bath together. Up until this point Lydia had despised the bath tub- but apparently bathing in groups agrees with her.

On Sunday, Myles, Scott, Natalie and I stayed on to run in the Rhody Run. An annual run through Fort Worden/Port Townsend in honor of the Rhododendron festival. It was a 12K and stroller friendly so Anya participated in her first race. Myles insisted he would be staying with me during the race but knowing him the way I do we decided on a meeting place afterward "just in case". Sure enough about mile 3 he pushed ahead with Anya in the BOB and never looked back. We are pretty sure he was the first "stroller runner" to cross the finish line- but who's counting? :)

Other things that have occurred recently in Anya's life......

She honored me on Mother's day with a beautiful breakfast and dinner. Myles also made me an awesome DVD with pictures and captions of my first year as a mom- it was a tear jerker, I'm not gonna lie.

She still has only two front bottom teeth. She is drooly as all get out but no more teeth have cut through.

As much as I have enjoyed nursing Anya the time came to call it quits. When she had her fever she didn't eat for a few days and that pretty much sealed the deal for my milk supply. 11 months was a good run and I do miss the closeness already, but the freedom is nice too. We are sticking to soy formula until she hits one and then we launch into soy milk.

Her allergies have been kind of a pain. She is such a good eater that it's really a shame she can't just eat what we eat. I did give her a garden burger which is made with some mozzarella and she was fine, so maybe cheese is OK? Hopefully she out grows the allergy but until then her diet is a bit restrictive.

We took Anya wine tasting up in Woodinville. Who knew it was totally kosher to taste wine with your baby in tow. It was awesome and will soon be repeated.

Scare of a lifetime

2010-04-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Many of our family and friends already know about our recent scare but I would like to post a blog about it for posterity's sake.

A little over a week ago Anya had a seizure.

That sentence in and of itself is horrific. The ordeal we all endured was beyond horrible.

I thought Anya was teething because she was running a low grade fever and her appetite was shot. On Wednesday night she started getting lethargic and very crabby so we gave her a bit of Motrin earlier in the evening just to help her sleep a little.

Around 12:45am we were all fast asleep when we heard Anya wail- and I mean a scary screaming cry that would wake any parent out of a dead sleep. I took a peep at the video monitor and saw the blanket vibrating. Myles went rushing in and found our sweet baby convulsing in her crib. He picked her up, I called 911 and we both didn't breathe for a good minute I swear.

We thought we were going to lose our daughter.

The receptionist on the 911 call was fabulous. She kept me focused on her instructions and we helped Anya as best we could. She asked if Anya had a fever that day- of course I replied yes. She then informed me in the calmest voice ever that Anya was most likely having a febrile seizure which is a common side effect when a fever spikes in infants/children. When she asked if Anya was breathing I almost lost it, but it seemed as if she was so I answered yes. She instructed us to take off her pajamas to cool her down and let her have her convulsions in a safe place. The firemen were on their way.

It seemed like forever but it was probably only 5-7 minutes before they got here. By then, Anya had stopped the violent convulsions and was only shaking mildly and staring off in space. To say we were scared shitless would be the world's biggest understatement. We had never heard of febrile seizures and witnessing your child have violent convulsions, eyes rolled back, not really breathing is something NO parent should ever have to experience. The firemen were calm and acted as if this was a common affliction they see from time to time. Anya started coming to and getting scared and tired- her crying was the best sound I had ever heard.

We chose to keep her home for the night and go to the doctor first thing in the morning. There was nothing the ER would be able to do the firemen assured us. We were instructed to manage her fever with Motrin or Tylenol and keep dosing her without letting it lapse. The seizure was caused by her fever spiking very quickly and it could happen again.

No one slept. Anya kept waking up screaming and we couldn't get to her fast enough. When she was sleeping we were watching the monitor- any moan, gasp, grunt - we were wide eyed ready to pounce into action again.

She had the fever for several more days. We spent all of Thursday and Friday trying to collect a urine sample (not the easiest task on a little baby girl). Results were no meningitis, no ear infection, no bladder infection.... then why was she so sick? She wasn't eating anything, slept all day, needed to be held constantly and cried all day long. I was reassured by my pediatrician that she most likely had a virus and she WOULD get better I just had to be patient. I am convinced that if this would have been just a bad fever with a virus it wouldn't have been as traumatizing. But since she had the seizure I was totally freaked that she was sick for good, or never going to return to her happy, smiley, hungry self. They were the longest few days of my life.

Saturday her fever broke and she got a rash. This is a classic sign of Roseola- a virus commonly associated with febrile seizures. So there was our answer.

It is Thursday now and Anya is finally back to normal more then a week later. She laughs, smiles, hugs, and is eating like a horse.

We have done a lot of research on febrile seizures and feel confident that she has not been harmed in any way by this event. We on the other hand are still dealing with the leftover feelings of panic, fear, and gut wrenching love.

After going through this it became apparent that all the medical personnel we dealt with were very familiar with febrile seizures. However- 99% of the parents we spoke to have never heard of them. So if you want more information please visit this site- we found it very helpful.

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/febrile_seizures/detail_febrile_seizures.htm

Our baby is fine, we have some war wounds but we are resilient people. We love her more than ever. The emotions are overwhelming at times; I never in my wildest dreams thought I could love someone so deeply.

Kiss those you love- especially the little ones.

Anya's car

2010-04-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

We bought a car for Anya. I know this may seem a little premature but it isn't exactly what you think. We actually bought a bigger car for us- but in essence it is for Anya and her imaginary future siblings. It was difficult for both Myles and myself to sell the Subaru but it was necessary. We wanted to buy a new 2010 Subaru Outback but we decided to go big or go home. It's big for us- our Toyota Highlander- not a huge car in comparison to other SUV's or (god forbid) mini vans, but none the less we feel as if we are driving a semi around town.

We took the new car on it's first car trip this weekend to the Hood Canal cabin. We both admitted that it was fabulous to pack and VERY comfortable to drive. So we are happy with our purchase and will be contributing more moola to the oil companies!

We have spent a lot of time recently with friends and family. Anya had several playdates with Lydia when she and Kate were in town recently. We went and visited a new addition to our friend group- Mira Bhatia- a darling little girl born to Anna and Sachin. We spent the weekend at the cabin with Jeni and Scott. Thankfully they slept out in the extra house because Anya was up by 6:15am both Saturday and Sunday morning. When she gets up the house gets up... she doesn't have an inside voice, especially in the morning, but it is mainly sweet giggling and lots of babbling. As parents we think it is endearing even at 6am but to others not so much!We have had lunch out several times and had our friend Zola (and parents) over to brunch.
Brunch is a wonderful invention for parents. This meal allows you to get one good nap under the baby's belt and then head out for the day to enjoy some good eats. We have rediscovered brunch and enjoy it very much!

Anya is saying Dada regularly and still only says Mama when she is whining or wants something like milk/food. She is waving bye bye, claps on command, and uses baby signs for milk, more, all done and ittsy bitsy spider. If she is cranky and crying in the stroller or car I sing song after song and she quietly listens, but if I stop the crying will resume. We taught her to "cheers" with her sippy cup last weekend and she loves it. Her favorite thing to do though is laugh. She laughs to make you laugh and it is contagious. She smiles at everyone in the grocery store and will try to get their attention so she can grin at them. People love this- they come over and talk to her which is exactly what she wants. If they don't look her direction she will loudly say "ga" until they do. Needless to say we take snacks to the store to have something to put in her mouth since she can be a bit vocal and doesn't understand how to be quiet- nor should she!

I have included a lot of videos because frankly they are easier to take now then still pics. She doesn't sit still so trying to get a good picture takes hours I swear.

April Fools

2010-04-01T06:47:00.000-07:00

10 months! Where did the time go? Last year at this time I was having baby showers and eagerly anticipating the arrival of our daughter. What a difference a year makes.

If you follow this blog you might have noticed I'm not writing as often. This is a direct side effect of having such an active baby. When she is awake she is moving which means I am not sitting at the computer writing quips about how cute she is. In general the days of sitting are over. I am interacting with her, chasing her, catching her fall off the stairs, and trying to stimulate her little mind. She is learning so much right now. She imitates everything and is testing her environment and her mother.

Up to this point we have avoided using "NO" and try to say uh uh uh to keep her from doing something we deem dangerous or unsavory. Amazingly it has worked thus far. She doesn't touch the dog food or water simply because she knows it is off limits. Same with the wine rack, going down stairs, and decorative items. I'm not naive, I know this won't last, but at least for now I can allow her to crawl into the dining room and know she won't go straight for the wine bottles (unlike her mom).

She is really fun right now. She will gut laugh at the silliest things. Putting her hand in your mouth is apparently hilarious- don't know why. Peek-a-boo is a favorite game and any sort of singing interactive song is welcome;"Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a favorite as well as "If Your Happy and You Know it". She is also very ticklish so it is easy to elicit a giggle whenever she is getting her diaper changed or looks like she needs a few zerberts (SP)?

Anya is itty bitty herself. She is barely 16 pounds but man is she mighty! When she stands up she can roll on the top of her feet to her toes to the ball of her feet to get to her standing position- she has very flexible ankles I guess! She loves to climb up and over obstacles like the legs on chairs, or any raised surface that she can feasibly get over. She ends up high centered from time to time and occasionally does a face plant but she has nearly mastered this maneuver now.

Amazingly she is still sleeping through the night. She has nights when she sleeps from 7pm to 7am without a peep, and others where she makes a little noise but falls back asleep. It is incredible to get a full nights sleep. I am currently up at 6 am writing this while she is still asleep! (see section about me not being able to get anything done while she is awake if you are confused as to why on earth someone would wake up at 6am to update a blog.... )

Sleeping like a baby!!!

2010-03-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

IT HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!! The Holy Grail of parenthood (or mommyhood in my case.....)

She slept through the night without needing to be fed for 13 hours!!!! The best part is she has been doing it for a full week now. I'm a new woman- rested and ready to conquer the world...... well maybe just rested, but that's beside the point.
She will wake up, stir, make a little noise, and then magically go back to sleep. It is wonderful and totally worth the wait. I was sure the first time it happened that it was a fluke and surely wouldn't continue, but she has proven me wrong.

She has also become extremely predictable with her napping schedule. This is nice for a couple of reasons: I can plan around her sleep schedule, she gets good solid naps in her crib, oh and did I mention I can PLAN something...... Ahhhh, some parents feel a schedule is too rigid, I think it gives us more freedom.

Anya is celebrating St Patrick's Day today. She is wearing a shirt touting herself as "Daddy's Lucky Charm" and ate some Irish soda bread for breakfast. She asked for "green milk" but I think we will stick to the soda bread for now.

We went to the Coal Creek YMCA today (where I teach) and used their pool for the first time. It was very warm and Anya had a blast. We practiced in a life jacket so she will be used to wearing one when we go to Hawaii in May. It is amazing how they flip them right over onto their back. Anya was hanging out, floating on her back with her head resting in the flotation cushion. I think I want an adult version of that- it looked really relaxing!
Anya has been spoiled and had grandparents, friends, and neighbors watch her while I teach classes. I started teaching at the Y because they have an awesome family environment and great childcare. Little Miss Anya however has been reluctant to accept being left in the child care. We have had good days and bad (the bad resulting in me leaving the Pilates class I was teaching twice only to return with her for the last 15 minutes with her "assisting" me.) So needless to say, I can't be taken out of a class I am leading to tend to my slightly distraught daughter. To acclimate her I have been taking her during times when I don't teach so I am accessible when she has a melt down. This seems to be working so far. We also have had grandma accompany us to the Y during my teaching hour and leave with Anya when she gets tired and needs a nap. I'm sure by the time she is 3 it will be no problem to leave her while I teach! Sheesh!

Cruising and bruising at 9 months

2010-03-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

Anya is a BUSY girl. Thankfully she is fairly good about entertaining herself but we have to watch her every minute because she tends to stand up and fall over a lot right now. She will be quietly sitting playing with her toys (Boone's gross dirty toys- but whatever) and then the next moment she is across the room pulling herself with Herculean strength up on the coffee table tottering around reaching for the remote control. She has stood on her own two feet without holding onto anything several times but we aren't close to walking yet. I think we have about another month or so.

As I have mentioned before, one of the mom's from my PEPS group and I trade off with child care. I take her son Harry on occasion and she takes Anya for me sometimes. It really works out well and both kids get used to sleeping other places and playing with each other. They know each other now and get excited to see one another. Belinda has an awesome double stroller and I took Anya and Harry out for a walk which resulted in both of them falling asleep. Too precious!

Sleeping is always such a fun topic so lets discuss her latest escapades. She stands in her crib, flops herself down like a WWF wrestler and rolls with abandon. This maneuver can be done playfully or as part of a nasty tantrum depending on the day (or night). She has a tendency to reach over head and grab her mobile that seemingly should be out of reach but I have witnessed her standing straight up in the middle of her crib, arms overhead, swaying with the mobile. Time to remove it I guess. Probably one of the most hilarious things Myles and I have witnessed in relation to sleeping would be her "sleep crawling". Similar to sleep walking Anya can be spotted crawling banging her head repeatedly in the crib while fast asleep. We hear a bang followed by several more bangs and peek at our video camera monitor and see her sleep crawling. She makes a few snuffly noises but never cries and if she were awake she would let us know so we have deduced that she must be sleep crawling. Who knew babies did this sort of crazy stuff!

Naked time is a favorite activity and as long as we keep her on the hard wood floors clean up is easy! There really is nothing cuter then a butt naked baby, buns in the air, crawling around the house.

With the nice warmer weather the past few days we have taken Anya outside to explore a little more. She loves having her bare feet in the grass and playing with the lawn and leaves in her fingers. Inevitably though grass, leaves and dirt all end up in her mouth (maybe she will be a vegetarian after all!!!!) LOL

Mamanama and the tooth fairy

2010-02-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

You might be asking.... what does mamanama mean, well according to Anya that is what I am called. It is endearing but she tends to use it only when she is cranky and wants me to pick her up off the floor or get her out of her crib. When I figured out that she was actually asking (whining) for me I had a moment I have to admit. We are rapidly approaching 9 months and I can't believe she is growing up so fast. So much happens this first year, it is like everyday something new occurs but you don't really realize how far she has come until you browse through pictures or pack away her old clothes.

Myles isn't chop liver. She says da da da da and is starting to associate that with him but it is slow going. She is beginning to understand things however. If I ask, "where's Boone?" she looks for the dog and starts chasing him.

One of her grampa's favorite games is dressing Anya in her overalls and grabbing the back flying her around the house. She LOVES it. She kicks her legs like she is swimming and really gets excited when we chase Boone around the house (Boone likes this game too because he is safe since she is airborne).

Most the time Anya spends on all fours but give her an object taller then herself and she is all about standing up. The sliding glass door in our kitchen, the oven, the dishwasher, the computer tower, the couch, her crib, the coffee table, railings, chairs, baskets...... you get the point. If she isn't standing up she is falling down. Thankfully she has discovered a reasonably safe way to plop on her butt and hit the ground crawling.

We spent the past weekend up at Hood Canal as a family. It was lovely! The weather was gorgeous- we went for a hike on Saturday taking Anya in the Ergo carrier. She slept the whole way up but enjoyed the views once we arrived on the top of the mountain.

About two weeks ago Anya got her first tooth. It is on the bottom and will be closely followed by her second right next to it. She also has one coming in on top- so how is she handling all this? Usually OK- she has starting waking at 6am instead of 7am much to my dislike. She drools all the time, so much so she gets a little rash on her chin sometimes. But for the most part she is her normal happy BUSY self. She has me on my toes now chasing her everywhere and wanting to explore. We have fun and I am so happy to be able to stay home with her and watch her grow- it is truly a blessing to be able to experience this time in her life. I thank Myles regularly for working his tail off to make this scenario possible, Anya thanks him too in her own sweet way.

The Joy of Soy

2010-02-10T16:29:00.000-08:00

After our little "run in" with Yo Baby we thought it would be wise to visit an allergist to determine if little miss Anya is in fact allergic to dairy. Today was the day and the verdict is in.....
The allergist spoke to me about past food allergies for Myles and me (Myles was allergic to milk as a child, I was allergic to eggs) and then we tested Anya for dairy, eggs, salmon, and peanut. The last two were simply because we eat a lot of fish in our home and both are common allergens. She tested positive to the first two- dairy and eggs.

Thankfully the allergist believes that since she has had both eggs and milk in baked goods (pancakes, waffles, bread etc) we should continue to keep those sorts of things in her diet. So no, we will not have to scour every food label to make sure milk and egg didn't touch the food. This in itself will make life easier. It would be especially hard going out to eat when she is of age to eat in restaurants and try to determine what foods she can have without and milk or egg in it. At this point we have side stepped that hurdle- fingers crossed please.

Also good news, I don't have to change my diet. I am still breastfeeding Anya and have drastically limited my dairy intake after discovering her allergy on our own. Since she doesn't really have any horrible side effects that we know of from me eating/drinking dairy the allergist thinks it would be best to keep this in her diet as well.

On a completely separate note, another mom (someone I met in my PEPS group) and I are trading child care. I take care of her son Harry (he is about 3 weeks older than Anya) and she takes Anya from time to time. We are trading off for a few hours 1-2 days per week. She is going back to work on a sub basis and I can get some work done from home or make appointments out without having to worry about Anya interrupting. It is ideal and great for the kids. I had Harry on Monday this week and Belinda is taking Anya on Friday. They really do like each other and it is fun to watch them interact.

Don't tell Belinda but I think I have it easier. Harry doesn't crawl yet so he is sooo much easier to watch than Anya- she is in for it on Friday! :) Soon en0ugh they will both be mobile though and the situation will become more challenging and more fun!

Cold, colder, coldest

2010-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took a trip to Mt Baker with Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Scott and Aunt Natalie. We met our friends the Abernethy's and Rosenlunds as well. I was very excited about this trip for multiple reasons. First, I missed the ski season last year (it is frowned upon to ski while pregnant). Second, I wanted Anya to spend some quality time with her grandparents and Uncle and Aunt. And third, I knew I would have lots of help with "little miss" as I have come to call her. We rode up with my parents on Thursday and Myles drove up after work on Friday. On Friday I watched Anya as everyone else enjoyed a beautiful day up on the hill. Not to worry I had two beautiful days ahead of me right? WRONG! Saturday my parents volunteered to watch Anya and we headed up in the rain to ski (this is never a good thing especially if you are only 30 minutes from the hill). We lasted about 2 1/2 hours before we decided it was too wet and the snow was really mushy and warm. Oh well, we enjoyed some skiing with friends and family and even had a beer in the lodge.

Saturday night we had everyone over to our cabin for dinner. I started to feel lousy but trudged right through it. By the time we went to bed I was feeling really crappy and Anya was breathing labored with a nose full of snot. She had been sleeping very well in her pack and play up to this point. Both Myles and I hardly slept listening to the poor girl snore and snortle every few minutes. By Sunday morning it was still raining on the hill but that didn't matter because we were heading home with a sick kid and a sick mom.

Visions of our bed and Anya in her own room played in our heads as we started the 3 hour drive home. Anya slept nearly the whole way which was much better then the crying fits we endured driving up with my parents. Arriving home we unpacked and turned on the heat. As we continued to unpack our cold house was not warming up.

Here is where it gets really fun.

Myles messed with our furnace for a good hour before he admitted he could not fix it and we had to call a repair man. We packed ourselves back up (because a 55 degree house is no where for a sick baby and sick mommy to hang out) and went to my parents.

At this point the repair man was coming Monday and we figured we would be back in our house after our Boat Show presentation on Monday night. NOT SO!! The repair man had bad news- our furnace had bit the dust. After our seminar at the boat show we returned to my parents to sleep again. My dad was also sick with the same thing Anya and I had so we were all quite a group. Long story short we just came home yesterday (Thursday) so it was a full week of Anya not sleeping in her crib. Things got pretty harried at my parents with her naps not working and bed time a challenge. Poor thing woke up 6 times on Tuesday night (so that means mommy did too for those of you not catching on).

Our house is warm and we are officially 24 hours back into our groove and life is much better. Both Anya and have finally started to feel a bit better, but poor daddy has it now. Grampa is on the mend but Gramma has it now too.

Quite a week- I have to say I'm glad it is over. My parents were so gracious to have us bunked out for so long and I know it wasn't a picnic for anyone. A sick baby reeks havoc on all lives she touches! BEWARE!!!!!

On other news, Anya is climbing the stairs like a champ. She has no concept that she could fall down them and you have to be behind her the entire time but she gets VERY proud of herself when she gets to the top.

She also plays with Boone. His nasty, smelly, slobbery toys are preferred especially if they are still warm from his mouth. She chases him around and he plays keep away eventually allowing her to play with his toy. It is hilarious to watch. Anya might have some doggy tendencies though. After watching and learning from Boone she carries his toys around in her mouth as she crawls. She also rolls around in his bed just like her best dog friend. She thinks he is her big brother!

ER visit

2010-01-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

We had some excitement last week. Anya had her first visit to the ER after eating mangoes and yogurt. She has had mangoes several times in the past so we still are not sure what triggered the reaction. Basically she was eating and got very cranky. She had pureed mangoes and some cut up fresh mangoes. After finishing that we decided to try some Yo baby yogurt. After the first spoonful she began violently vomiting and did not stop until ALL contents were out of her little tummy. This in itself was frightening because witnessing your baby puke is scary and you feel very helpless. After the initial incident subsided we noticed hives breaking out on her face and neck. At this point we decided it was time to pack her up, head toward the ER and call the doctor.

As a child I had a severe allergic reaction to a soft cooked egg and remained allergic to eggs for most of my childhood. I was concerned that Anya was having a similar reaction and I did not want her to go into anaphlaxsis (your mouth and throat swell making it impossible to breathe). Once we arrived near the hospital the doctor on call had called us back as we sat in the Whole Foods parking lot debating whether or not to actually go to the ER. At this point Anya's hives had subsided and she was babbling and breathing normal. The doctor listened to our explanation of the incident and advised us to go to the ER just to be sure her lunges were functioning fine and to ease our mind.

So into Overlake ER we go and have a great experience. We are in and out in one hour and of course Anya was perfectly fine with just a red rash left on her face. She was cooing and talking to all the nurses and doctors making us look like foolish first time parents rushing a perfectly healthy child to the ER. Had the doctor not instructed us to go into the ER we would have returned home and felt better, but since we had been basically told to go we felt we should obey.

We have avoided mangoes fearing this was the main cause of her reaction. Just to try again we gave Anya a very small amount of Yo baby this week during the day (when the doctors office is open) and with Benadryl on hand. She did not want to eat it which was the first sign for us that perhaps this was the perpetrator. She ate one or two very small bites, then smeared it on her hand and rubbed her face. About 5 minutes later everywhere the yogurt had come into contact with her skin she had red spots and a few hives. So obviously there is something in the yogurt that doesn't agree with her but the hives are mainly topical and don't seem to be anywhere else then where the yogurt has physically touched. We are baffled and will most likely see an allergist to determine whether she is indeed allergic to dairy (god we hope not!)

After the traumatic evening we spent a relaxing Saturday at Oma and Opa's in Gig Harbor. Later in the evening we celebrated Myles's 31st birthday with his parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers in law, nieces and nephew, and my folks. It was a great dinner and Anya had a blast with her cousins once again.

Crawling and da da da

2010-01-13T16:24:00.000-08:00

As previously mentioned the crawling phase has begun. She is slow right now so I can look over at her every few moments and still feel that she is safe. As the weeks roll by however she is gaining speed. I have a feeling my life as I know it is soon to end.
She has been teething lately so crankiness has reared its evil head. It is as if my docile, beautiful daughter turns into a whining she-devil at the drop of a hat. I imagine it must be terribly painful to cut teeth but man does it set her off.
Eating is going well- she tries new things all the time and has yet to reject any type of food. I am introducing some spice and flavor this week. Today she had curry sweet potatoes and squash- sounds good huh! She LOVED it. I also pulverized Cheerios (grandpa's suggestion) and mix that with milk. It is a delectable dish to little Anya.
I have a lot video so I will post most of them. It is fun to see her in action now, crawling, playing and making noises.
She started saying da da da da last week which of course Myles takes full credit for. Ma ma ma is not coming yet but I'm sure she will be saying it soon. Da da da is said for anything though; me, the dog, Myles, the car, the ball, so she really isn't saying "daddy" yet (no body tell Myles!)

Naked time is fun time. Anytime she is cranky a simple way to put a smile on her face is to take her clothes off. She is, after all, a classy lady.
Not a whole bunch more to report, just wanted an excuse to post more pics and videos.

7 month stats

2010-01-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

The results are in:
Anya weighs a whopping 14 lbs 6 oz placing her in the 25% for weight
She is 26 inches long- 50% in height
Her head size is in the 55% - must be all those brains like her mom! :)

Crawling into 2010

2010-01-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

It's official- she's crawling. Anya waited until the first day of the new year to crawl forward a few feet towards a toy. Like all things baby, this crawling started slowly, now only 4 days into it she is already speedy. Time to child proof- UGH! Things that are especially interesting and crawl worthy so far are: Anya's reflection in the mirror, Boone (much to his chagrin), bright toys that light up, toys that rattle, wooden spoons, Tupperware, mom's toes (I think a foot fetish is beginning), and of course the electric heater and cord in her room.

We have attempted to catch the crawling on video but she is being tricky and only crawls when the camera is turned off. Stay tuned for some action shots, I'm sure we will get some soon.

She also hit the 7 month mark on Jan 2nd. We have her "6" month check up today so I will be able to report her "scores" later. I am interested to see where she falls in the height/weight percentiles now.

Christmas was wonderful. She enjoyed the parties and can stay up fairly well as long as it is a social event. We are encouraging a later bedtime (around 7) and the parties helped. The presents were a hit but as expected the wrapping paper, tissue paper, and ribbon were much more entertaining at the time of unwrapping. We spent Christmas Eve at our home with both sets of grandparents and Anya's aunts, uncles and cousins. As an aside, I witnessed a funny interaction between cousin Chloe (3) and Anya. Anya coughed and Chloe politely reminded Anya she is supposed to cover her mouth when she coughs- hilarious! Hopefully Chloe will continue to educate Anya on the finer points of social etiquette as she grows.

Christmas day was spent at Grandma and Grandpa's with Uncle Scott and Aunt Natalie. Among the many gifts Anya received were books, shoes, clothes, and lots of toys that make LOTS of noise. I guess all those annoying loud toys I bought for Brayden, Kaitlyn and Chloe that I thought were funny at the time are coming back to bite me! As a family tradition at Christmas dinner we always have poppers and Anya wore her hat like a champ- one of the family.

New Years was spent with the Freemans and Bhatias. Lydia and Anya went to bed at 7, but Anya decided to wake up just in time for the celebration. So she toasted in the New Year with us and watched the fireworks explode off the Space Needle all in the comfort of her jammies!

2010 is going to bring so much adventure. I can't wait for Anya to begin walking, talking, running, and SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. All of which I'm sure will occur during this next year.

Christmas Elf

2009-12-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

It's almost here.... our first Christmas with Anya. I have to say, even though she won't really "get" Christmas for a few more years it still is fun having a baby to share the holiday with. I didn't go crazy with presents for her figuring she will be more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbon anyway.

What has Anya been up to lately. Well she sits up totally unassisted and has been doing this for some time now. She is almost crawling. She gets on her hands and knees and slides forward. Backwards she can really get around but the forward movement is still slow moving.

She talks A LOT! I wonder where she gets that from? :)
Basically she makes one main sound- it is a mix between a growl and a roar. She demonstrates it here in this video. We call it her Pterodactyl noise and hopefully she will add some more sounds to her vocabulary soon.

Our daughter is a narcissist. She loves her own reflection and kisses herself in the mirror when ever you allow her to get close enough. Actually one of the only things she will make a real effort to crawl towards is her own reflection in the mirror. But hey, who can blame her, she is the center of our universe now and thinks that is just great!

We have been busy feeding the little monster. She basically eats anything put in front of her at this point. We have introduced squash, sweet potatoes, yams, avocado, banana, apple, pear and other misc items. We usually mix it with cereal but sometimes she chows on the veggies or fruit solo. It is a messy endeavor and she of course enjoys it more when she has the food in her hair and on her clothes. Myles and I tease about designing a suit that is similar to what adults wear to go into crawl spaces- a light weight zip up with a hood- to put over babies outfits when they eat. We would leave the face and hands exposed but nothing else. They would also be disposable so no laundry either. Sounds like a good idea huh!

Her laughter is contagious and can be brought on by the most ridiculous things. Sometimes all it takes is a look from me and she cracks up. She is ticklish and loves to have people "eat her feet". We played this game in the grocery store yesterday and she was hysterically laughing causing those around her to smile and giggle as well. We try to spread the cheer since she is such a happy baby!

We went and saw Santa a few weeks back and she was happy to sit on his lap. I'm not sure what she asked for but I'm sure she will get it!

She still wakes once during the night and I feed her. It is not that bad to wake up once for 15 minutes and I really enjoy our quiet time together. Since she is so busy now during the days, this is our only time to cuddle. I NEVER thought I would still WANT to wake up at night to feed my baby- oh what a change of perspective.

One of her favorite activities is sitting on our bed and eating my pajamas while I get ready.

Anya has had her Christmas with Myles's side this past weekend and spent some time with her cousins. It is fun to see all the kids together and Anya just loves them all.

Traveling with Anya

2009-12-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Lots to update: Anya successfully flew to LA and back without major incident. It is difficult to fly with a baby. It starts with the packing.... a three day trip to LA should require no more then a carry on bag and a purse right? WRONG when you take a baby you have more stuff then you thought possible. From bibs to diapers, toys to breastpumps- everything must go.

Security is an interesting process now. Not only do you still have to nearly disrobe yourself in front of perfect strangers but you must remove the baby's coat and shoes as well. Was there a baby shoe bomber.....I think not. Safety first yada yada yada. So we wake our peacefully sleeping child, remove her from the car seat and take most of her clothes off. Meanwhile no one is telling me what to do with the collapsible snap and go and car seat. Do I wheel it through the metal detector? At least I was smart enough to take the baby out. Oh no, you must break down the entire stroller and somehow shove it through the conveyor belt detector. Once on the other side of the x-ray machine they confiscate my bottle of breast milk to test it. We are busy passing Anya back and forth, reconstructing our stroller, putting our shoes and clothes back on, what a mess.

So the major message in all this is PLEASE be patient with the people in line traveling with children- it is much harder on them then it is on you to wait a couple extra minutes while they try to organize themselves. OK I'm getting down off my soap box now.

The plane ride was fine. Myles would get up (if the seat belt sign allowed him too) to swing Anya if she was getting fussy and needed to sleep. I fed her on take off and the pressure change never seemed to bother her on the way up or down. There was very little crying either way but that was mainly due to our maintenance of the situation trying to head off any fussiness before it began. Kudos to those that travel singly with their baby, I don't know how you do it.

LA was nice and a bit warmer than here- the Ritz at Marina Del Rey was gorgeous as expected. We were excited to swim but the pool was too cold and the hot tub too warm so we took a swim in the bathtub. The groom was one of Myles's good buddies and Myles was in the wedding. Friday night we went to the rehearsal dinner and left the babies with some sitters the Ritz recommended. Along with Anya we had the Piskel's baby Lucy, and the Boswell's baby Owen all staying at the Ritz. When the babysitters arrived none of us wanted to leave our kids with them. They were scary to say the least. But we had no choice so off to dinner we went leaving our precious babies with scary strangers. We called every hour or so and within a three hour window all three babies had woken up at least once. The hardest part was knowing we would be leaving them again the next night for even longer. Thankfully the wedding was at the Ritz so we could check in and the second set of babysitters were so much better.

If you can't tell from the pictures we spent a lot of time in our hotel rooms and Anya loved all her time on the king bed. She and Lucy had a great time playing together too.

Returning to Seattle on Sunday we were exhausted and so was Anya. Her schedule was all wacky and none of us had slept that well but we all had a great time.

A Thanksgiving to remember

2009-12-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

Anya celebrated her first Thanksgiving last week. We hosted in our home and had both sets of grandparents, Anya's great grandparents and great aunt attend dinner. All went well- the turkey cooked perfectly, gravy wasn't too runny or too thick, and Anya was well behaved. As with all Thanksgivings though, there had to be something memorable. So Charlie, great grandma's dog, decided to take that task upon himself. It starts during cocktails and appetizers in the living room. Karl sat down next to me and I immediately smelled something foul. Knowing Karl is usually a pretty good smelling person I didn't suspect it was him right at first. Everyone in the room smelled it simultaneously and sure enough Karl had stepped in poop and walked around the house with it on his shoe. Naturally we believed he had accidentally stepped in some outside- oh no- the poop was inside on the kitchen rug- our first present left by Charlie. Myles and Karl cleaned up the the house and we continued on with our dinner celebration laughing off the incident.

After dinner, dessert, and all the dishes I trudged upstairs exhausted from the day and sat on our bed removing my shoes. After changing into my pajamas I noticed a small pile on my bed. It couldn't be I thought to myself- IT WAS! OH MY GOD THE DOG POOPED ON OUR BED! I nearly sat in it without noticing at first- that would have been a huge disaster. I called down to Myles who ran up and disposed of the offending sight. I stripped the bed and proceeded to start the laundry. At this point all we could do was laugh. It didn't make any sense to be mad at the dog and it was Thanksgiving for god's sake. So Anya will have a wonderful story about her first Thanksgiving for years to come.

My parents cleaned out their attic recently and found a few articles of clothing I had worn as a baby. We put Anya in a dress I wore and Mom brought over a photo album to show me a picture of me at 6 months wearing the same dress. We reenacted the photo of Dad, Mom, and instead of me Anya in the dress. She does look a lot like I did as a baby especially when we are the same age wearing the exact same clothes- it is eerie.

We are having a blast with her now. She turned 6 months today and is starting to scoot a little across the floor. If you put something solid behind her feet (your hand, leg, foot, a wall) she can propel herself forward. She does a plank and occasionally puts her knees down but primarily lays on her belly and slithers around. Scooting backwards is coming along a bit faster then forwards- weirdo!

We have our first plane trip and hotel stay this weekend. We are headed to Marina Del Rey for a wedding outside LA. We are excited to go and very interested to see what it is like to travel with a child. I'm sure we will have lots of good stories and fun pictures when we return from our trip. Poor child has to stay at the Ritz for her first hotel experience- how spoiled- is that a silver spoon?

Christmas is up and running at our house. We have lights up outside and decorations up inside, all we need is the tree and all our shopping to be done. Thankfully Anya is not moving yet so we don't have to worry about childproofing the decorations- next year will be a whole new ball game!

Mr Mom

2009-11-24T15:37:00.000-08:00

I can't help myself. Last weekend I came home from the grocery store to find Myles vacuuming the house with Anya in the Ergo carrier. It doesn't get much more domestic than that! He allowed me to take a photo so here you go... too funny!

Not a lot new to report. We are trying to get Anya to wake less at night. There are several different approaches parents can take to get their child to wake less at night and almost all of them require the parents to get less sleep than they are already getting by going through the process. So basically you have to be pretty desperate to go down this path and hope the outcome is more sleep for everyone.... eventually at least.

I am still feeding her once at night. She has gotten in the habit of waking 2-3 times over the course of an evening and is usually only really hungry once. In the middle of all this last week she got a cold so we had to put our 'sleep training' on hold until she was feeling better. Of course we are basically starting all over again now. I will keep you updated as to how it is going. Prior to the cold she was still waking at night but only crying/fussing for 20 minutes (down from 1 hour) so we saw improvement. Last night she woke at 8:15- went back to sleep easily, again at 12- I fed her, and then at 3:30- she cried until Myles went in to soothe her around 4:15.... ahhh.

We are hosting Thanksgiving this Thursday for 10 people. I am tempted to dress Anya up like a Turkey but can't bring myself to do it. She will have both sets of grandparents, her great grandparents and great Aunt and Uncle to spend the holiday with. This is the first Thanksgiving Myles and I have hosted so hopefully the turkey doesn't dry out and the pies burn! Also with two grandma's and one great grandma in the kitchen the expertise will be abundant. Wish us luck.

Here is Anya happy and laughing at Daddy playing with her in her exercauser. She giggles all the time now and her laughter is truly contagious.

5 months!

2009-11-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

Anya is quickly heading into 5 1/2 months of her life. When I step outside and feel the cold air hit my face and see the leaves scattered on the ground I question what happened to summer. Oh yeah, I had a baby..... that is what happened to summer! Having a late spring baby was nice in most respects. We were able to get outside and go for walks, sit on the lawn in the shade, and enjoy the sailboat a little. However I think I spent more time inside during the summer this year then I ever have in my entire life. Even with our trips to the cabin I was inside most the time. Breastfeeding Anya has been very easy and I'm really glad I chose to do it and stuck with it for so long. BUT- I am tied to her. She is taking a bottle very well now so I have more freedom but in the beginning I definitely needed to be around every 2-3 hours to feed her. I guess I never really realized how much of my time would be spent feeding her. That was a commitment I would make again in a heartbeat but man, it literally sucks the life right out of you! :)

Enough about me! Onto Anya and her latest exploits. She is very active now and enjoys playtime thoroughly. She has her doorway jumper (formally called "johnny jump up") and that provides not only her entertainment but us as well. She mainly spins and jostles back and forth and hasn't really gotten the gist of jumping yet. I'm sure soon enough she will be testing our door frame's strength.

This past weekend she had her Oma and her cousin Chloe up for a slumber party. Myles and I went out with friends Friday night and Anya stayed in. Chloe shared all her toys with Anya and they both seemed to enjoy each others company. Oma of course is a superstar able to take care of both kids at once flawlessly.

We had our PEPS group holiday party this past weekend too. Yes it is early but we all knew how busy the holidays get so we decided to plan it early and have it out of the way. It was fun to see all the babies in their Santa hats. One baby in the group is officially crawling and in the next several months our little parties are going to change a lot with 10 babies crawling around under foot. As you can see she is the life of the party!

Anya has also accompanied me to the gym several times to visit daddy and watch mommy work out- or perhaps to watch daddy torture mommy. Today she tried out her skills at some exercises.

On a somber note: Anya will be attending her first funeral on Friday as her great Uncle Paul as passed away. He was able to meet her briefly when she was first born. Paul was staying at my parents house this past spring while he received treatment for his cancer. It was wonderful to be able to spend that time with him. Even as I increased in size and finally in my over due state, Paul always made me feel beautiful. He never missed a chance to kiss me and tell me how radiant I looked and what a great mom he anticipated me to be. I deeply wish he would have been around longer to play "turkey leg chicken leg" with his grand niece. Sometimes life is not fair and those we love leave us too soon. God bless you Paul.

Pumpkin Patch Kid

2009-10-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

We did the oh so traditional take your baby to a pumpkin patch this past weekend. To beat the rain we left early on Sunday morning. It was FREEZING! We had Anya wrapped up in a blanket but Myles and I were not dressed appropriately. Note to self- when visiting a farm after torrential downpours wear boots and drive the Subaru! (Sorry mom- I know this is disappointing to you, I obviously don't have any of your 'farming roots' in my soul) We bought our pumpkins and squash and took the pictures of our darling daughter among the thousands of pumpkins. Her little nose turned red and we decided it was time to go.

Anya also visited her aunt and uncle last weekend. On Saturday night we went to Scott and Natalie's for a wonderful dinner. It was nice to see them, but for Anya, Tess was the real star of the evening. Anya is used to Boone and loves to watch him run around the house and be crazy but she doesn't laugh at him all that much. Tess on the other hand, was very interested in Anya and kept crawling up on the window seat to lick her face. Apparently this is hilarious because Anya was gut laughing every time she would do this. Tess must just be a whole lot funnier than Boone!

Scott let me play with his digital SLR and I am hooked. It took such great photos I have to have one now. MYLES- HINT HINT- good idea for a Christmas present...... I digress

When we are home it is a fabulous thing to have child that loves to go to bed at 6:30. However, this really cuts into our ability to do anything at night outside our home. She did well on Saturday night and took a nap while we ate dinner and we had her home and in bed by 9 but she was a little cranky the following day.

We went to Hales Ales and met some friends for their free pumpkin carving and all night happy hour- kids welcome. There are two phrases you don't commonly see together- so we had to partake. Again up past bedtime and she let us know it the entire time we were at the brewery. She doesn't scream- thank god- but she is fussy and generally tired so it makes us feel bad. We want her to be adaptable but try to keep her on a schedule as much as possible. There will just be times when she is up past her bedtime and that's life!

Big plans for Halloween! Anya will most likely be in bed by the time the trick or treaters come by so Myles and I will hand out candy. That's it- we used to get dressed up in elaborate costumes and party it up. I mean Halloween is on a Saturday this year for god's sake- but we have a nearly 5 month old baby so life changes. In all honesty, Myles and I are looking forward to a quiet Halloween at home- man we are getting old.

We have been successfully feeding Anya rice cereal mixed with breast milk and applesauce. It has taken her a few tries to figure out how to transfer the food on her tongue to swallow, but now she has the hang of it! She is starting to gobble it down every evening. I'm not gonna lie though- it is a MESSY process. She can get rice cereal on her hair, my hair, the table, the floor, basically anything in a 2 foot radius from where she sits.

Rain rain go away

2009-10-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Anya is rapidly approaching 5 months. The time from now until she is 18 months old is what our pediatrician refers to as the "golden age". Babies are through the newborn stage and spend their time soaking up the world like a sponge.

She is laughing at us now and can mimic our silly faces. She loves to be tickled and kissed. When she wakes up she is happy, smiley and so excited to see you. I feel as if every day she gets cuter and cuter. I shamelessly attach photos of her to almost all email correspondence, claiming myself to be the ambassador of her cuteness. Her smile lights up our life.

She has been swimming every week and gets excited when we enter the pool area now. Myles was able to take her in the pool twice and has a blast with her too.

She is totally aware of Boone and loves to pet him (pull his fur). He licks her and looks at me with pleading eyes to please remove her death grip from his hair. She inevitably has some black hair stuck in her fist but Boone seems totally unaware of her fur filching. He is still the first one to let me know when she is upset or if she simply has woken up from her nap. I couldn't have asked for a better dog to welcome our daughter into his pack. They are going to be buddies.

The rain has put a damper on our outdoor activities. Gone are the days of sitting in the shade on the grass in the back yard exploring the great outdoors. If the rain stops or lets up a bit we plan to go to a pumpkin patch this weekend. Myles is not wild about the idea- he suggests we put her in the pumpkin bins at Safeway and take pictures of her there..... not quite the same.

Anya is loving her exercauser. I have posted this video to share. She can spend a lot of time discovering all the features the toy has to offer. The bonus is that she stands up- which is her favorite position. I question whether she will walk before she crawls simply because she prefers to be standing on your lap than sitting.

We visited with Ashley and Fred Northup's new bundle of joy this week- Zola. She was 12 days old when we took dinner over. I can't believe that 4 months ago Anya was that small. It is totally amazing how fast they grow and change. Zola was a perfect, beautiful little newborn. She slept and ate. Anya on the other hand, was distracted and didn't eat much and was whining at the dinner table. Granted it was her bed time 6:30- so she had reason to be a bit of a pest.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, we have had a lot transpire since the last blog entry. We have been swimming 3 times now with several moms and have a blast. Anya starts kicking her legs as we enter the pool area, she is ready to go.
This past Sunday we had our PEPS group Halloween Party. We dressed all our babies up in their costumes and took pictures. It was hilarious and adorable. I have a few pics, but the video is very funny. All the babies started crying and really were not that happy in their get-ups!
If you can't tell, Anya is a dalmatian.

We had her four month appointment yesterday. She is 12 lbs 12 oz and 23 3/4 inches tall. She is in the 25% in weight and 45% in height. I had Myles go this time for moral support more for me than her because she HATED her shots last time. Sure enough she put on her tough face and didn't even wince when they jabbed her. Not a single tear, she is a tough little girl.

We gave Anya her first bit of rice cereal tonight. Needless to say most of it came right back out again but the process was fun and messy. This eating thing is going to be quite a process!

Sleeping has mellowed out a bit. She is returning to her once nightly wake up between 12-2am and then sleeps until 6 or 7 am. We started putting her to bed a lot earlier, around 6:30 or 7 pm and that has seemed to help. She is getting a solid 11-12 hours at night.
She is definitely teething! The doctor took a look and said he could see the swollen spots where her teeth are getting ready to cut through.

Oma came up this weekend and babysat for us Saturday night. Anya was an angel for her and ended up drinking more milk from the bottle then she ever had before. Oma must have the magic touch with bottle feeding her!

Mermaid baby

2009-10-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait to get Anya in a pool. I held off until she was 4 months old but couldn't handle the excitement any longer. Both in baths and showers she is happy and totally content with water over her face and head. So I assumed she would be fabulous in the pool.

She did not disappoint! We started going to the Bellevue Aquatic Center this past Tuesday. We go with another mom and baby from my PEPS class and swim in the 91 degree therapy pool. Basically it feels like a big bathtub and the babies couldn't be happier. Both Linnea and Anya thoroughly enjoyed their first "swim lesson".

The other Mom- Alana, and I plan to do this weekly for the girls. I have taught mommy swim classes in the past so I am very comfortable with Anya in the pool and help Alana with some important steps (like baby going under and pool safety lessons). Myles was able to come and watch so he took some great pictures and video.

Anya was happy floating on her back or tummy and kicked her little legs like a pro. She even went under the water once and came up smiling. This was the first time I felt like I was bonding with my child over something other then mommy stuff (feeding, sleeping, changing- etc). It was so fun to experience this with her I can't wait to go every week.

Myles was home this past weekend and got to spend some quality time with his daughter. He has a calming presence that helps her nap... if only he were home all the time.

We have struggled with her sleeping yet again. This week we decided to stop swaddling her at night. The first night with no swaddle Myles and I got about 3 hours of sleep! It was a nightmare! HOWEVER- night two went much better and we have had two good nights of sleep now. She is learning how to soothe herself with her hands since she doesn't like the binky very much. I still get up to feed her once or twice a night but if she wakes up on her own and isn't hungry she is able to put herself back to sleep. What a relief!

Four months this week

2009-09-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Anya has survived four months in our care...... or perhaps I should say we have survived four months of parenting!

We are officially out of the newborn phase now. Anya is awake often during the day and we are attempting to get her onto some semblance of a napping pattern. Today I put her down and listened to her 'cry it out" for longer then I could handle. I went to soothe her on multiple occasions but her crying was like little daggers in my heart. You might think that is a bit over the top but until you have had to endure your own sweet baby cry herself/himself to sleep you can't imagine the emotional pain it causes the mother! So here I sit updating the blog when I should be meeting with my weekly moms group but Anya eventually fell asleep and is still napping. I couldn't possibly wake her up after I made her fall asleep. Ah, the trials and tribulations of parenting. So I figured I would make good use of my time and update the blog.

Anya and I have been going it alone the past two weekends. Myles was in Spokane last weekend for a work conference and on a three day bachelor trip this past weekend. It was rough being a single parent, I'm not gonna lie. We are happy to have him home now for a while.

Anya is sitting up in her Bumbo chair like a champ. She is liking it more and more. Last week I put together her exersaucer (round play station with a seat in the middle). She loves to stand and I thought this would be a great way for her to practice without having to physically hold her ourselves. Well it was a well thought out plan until I placed her in it and her legs were no where near the bottom. So we jury-rigged it and have an exerdisc (dynadisc-round disc filled with air used for balance training exercises) on top of the bouncy platform so her feet can touch. It scoots around a little but she is getting the hang of standing on it. Of course our daughter with be working her core while she practices chewing on her toys!

We had the Piskels come and stay Thursday night at our house with their daughter Lucy. Anya and Lucy loved to look at each other and grab each others hands and faces. In the picture to the right Anya is in her exercauser and Lucy is laying on her playmat. They both have a million toys to look at but they choose to stare at each other! Too funny!

We are starting swimming lessons this week. I am taking Anya to the Bellevue Aquatic Center and using their therapy pool- 91 degrees! We have another mom from my group joining us with her daughter who is 6 months old. It is going to be so much fun. Anya loves her baths so I'm sure the pool will be a hoot!

I purchased a Halloween costume for Anya last week. She is going to be a dalmatian- it really doesn't get any cuter!

This video is Myles making his daughter laugh and giggle while he bounces her around calling her a jumping bean.

Baby in the corner

2009-09-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

This has been a bit of a rough week in terms of sleep for us. Anya slept very well in her crib last week but has recently decided to wake every 2-3 hours again causing her mother to slip back in to sleep deprivation mode. Just when I thought we had the sleeping thing nailed, she throws a monkey wrench in my happy world. I guess it is true what they say, "the only thing you can count on with a baby is change." Ain't that the truth.

I am trying a technique a mom from my cycle class shared with me. She said that when babies are used to being in a confined space (bassinet) it is helpful to move them from the middle of the crib to the corner to emulate that same safe space. So we are literally "putting baby in the corner."

Appropriately following this new sleep disturbance is a new found temper and crankiness. Our once good sleeping, sweet natured child is finding herself and letting it be known. She is a doll in the morning and takes several naps through out the day. Right around 5-6 at night she starts getting tired and cranky making our dinner meal a real joy.

It isn't all doom and gloom though. She is delightful when she is happy and well rested. She smiles when you enter a room and laughs when you tickle her belly. She is becoming more aware of her surroundings and her eyes follow Boone around the room especially when he is playing with his toys. She is very interested in her toys and knows the difference between new toys and older ones.

Over Labor Day Weekend Anya met her newest friend Lucy Piskel. Lucy is about one month older then Anya and they were absolutely adorable together.

Oma and Opa (Susie and Karl) got back into town and got to spend some quality time with her. She was a good girl and loved seeing her other grandparents again.

During the week, when I teach my T/Th spin class my dad and mom come over to take care of Anya. They take Anya and Boone for a walk and explore our neighborhood. On Thursdays Grandpa takes care of her all by himself. When he entered the house yesterday she gave him a heart melting smile and I watched my Dad turn to mush. It was adorable!

For the next two weekends Anya and I are on our own. Daddy is going to Spokane for a work conference this weekend and up to the Hood Canal cabin for a boys weekend the next. It will be interesting to be a single parent for two weekends in a row. I'm up for the challenge but poor Daddy is really sad about being gone and missing time with his girls.

Anya has taken to her Bumbo chair this week. I have included a short video showing her playing with her toys in her new seat. Not very exciting to watch but cute none the less. (Those are Myles' hairy legs with the black socks by the way.....not mine!)

We have started a bedtime routine which includes showering with Dad at 8pm, feeding, reading a book and having Daddy rock her to sleep or putting her down drowsy but awake sometimes. She LOVES her showers. All smiles!

Firsts and professional pics

2009-09-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

We have taken a large step and Anya is now sleeping in her own room all night in her crib. She has gotten too big for her bassinet and it was time to move her to her crib so last night she spent her first night in her room. All went well with her first wake up at 12am and then no peep until 6:45am.

What are frists you might wonder? Well, that is endearing term I made up for Anya's wrists/forearms. I decided her cubby little wrists needed a special name and thought to combine the two very similar to cankles (calf/ankles). So since she has cubby wrists we lovingly refer to them as her "frists" at this point in her life she does not have cankles.

We got Anya's pictures back that we had professionally taken when she was 6 weeks old. They are precious. She has changed so much since then it is amazing. We will FINALLY send out announcements in keeping with tradition (even though it seems odd to me to announce our child's birth that happened over 3 months ago- whatever!)

She's rolling over!

2009-09-01T14:37:00.001-07:00

She is on the move. Last Friday Anya officially rolled over from flat on her back to flat on her tummy. I ran upstairs to grab something and when I came back down she had completely flipped. She has since done it while Myles and I were watching so we know Boone didn't just nose her over!
During the past two weeks she has visited with family and friends quite a bit. She spent some time with her older girl cousins who all wanted to hold her and play with her. We also went up to the cabin (again) this was her third trip. She did really well and even ate an oyster! (well I did so indirectly she did)
On a not so great note, she decided she didn't like the bottle anymore last weekend. We will continue to try different types but it was a major struggle. She is getting older and knows the difference now... good and bad I guess.

Lot's of cute pictures over the last two weeks. She is getting cuter and cuter as the weeks go on.

Her sleeping is all over the map. Some nights she sleeps from 8:30 to 3 am and then wakes again at 7:30. Those are awesome! One night we put her to bed kind of late and she slept from 10pm to 5 am- I considered that sleeping through the night but that was a one time occurrence. Other nights she wakes at 12am, 3am or 4am and then 6am or 7am. Those are long nights with even longer days following.
All and all, Myles and I are adjusting to our life as parents and we can't imagine our life without her. What did we do all day? ha ha. Myles loves playing with her and making her exercise-even if it is just in her socks and diaper. Good look huh!

First Vacation to the San Juan Islands

2009-08-18T12:07:00.001-07:00

We are home from a successful albeit cold and rainy trip to the San Juans aboard the Rock N Roll. Normally, Myles and I take up our sailboat every summer to the San Juan and Gulf Islands but this year we decided it would be too difficult to do the trip with our 2 1/2 month old daughter. So fortunately my parents were up in the islands all summer and invited us up for a week to stay and cruise aboard their boat.

We started in Anacortes and lugged all of our "baby crap" on the boat. Dad had made extra room for us and our stuff by off loading their golf clubs and bikes. We toured and stayed at Sucia Island, then headed into Canada (Anya's first trip abroad), staying in Otter Bay, then Tumbo Island and finally Poets cove. We came back into the US and stayed in Friday harbor where Myles caught a ferry back to Anacortes a few days earlier then Anya and I. We remained on the boat and went to La Conner and then headed back through the locks into Lake Washington on Friday afternoon.

The weather was rainy off and on and cold usually but we had a few nicer days slipped in too. Anya did very on the boat and got to wear some of her cute hoodies and warmer clothes she hasn't been wearing at home due to the hot weather. The real treat was for her grandparents and dad to spend quality time with her. We relaxed and played watching her discover her hands and start to use them to bat objects around that we hung over her head. She also started drooling a lot and blowing bubbles with her spit- very ladylike! By the end of the trip we left her alone with her grandpa for 1/2 hour and he did fabulously even though he was panicked every time she whimpered or cried. He just wanted to "fix it" and sometimes babies just cry so dad was always relieved when she was happy and cooing in his arms.

She has been sleeping well, but the night Myles left her sleeping went totally awry. She was up all night fussing and grunting and since we were sharing a cabin I heard everything and didn't sleep a wink. After she had proceeded to do the exact same thing a second night in a row we decided to come home a day early and get her back in her regular environment. At least at home I can stick her in her room and let her fuss instead of having her right next to my head. Thankfully upon our return she has easily slipped back into her sleeping patterns that allows me (and her) to get some good rest.

Just in the last few days her coos and smiles have been accompanied with some giggles. It is absolutely adorable. She grins her huge toothless gummy grin and giggles at you.... nothing is funnier or more sweet.

Two months and counting

2009-08-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today Anya is 9 weeks old. These first two months have flown by (so has our summer!)

We went to the doctor today and she had her two month checkup complete with vaccinations. Watching her get poked and then her face turned bright red in pain was just about as much as I could stomach. That has got to be one of the toughest things to watch ever. She is on Tylenol tonight and is much fussier then our normal sweet baby. I guess this is a little taste of what life would be like if she was a cholicy or fussy baby normally. Usually when she cries there is a definite reason and Myles or I can easily take care to relieve the source of her frustration. Tonight it's just fussy cries- poor girl.

Here are her latest stats

weight 10 lbs 5 oz 48%
length 22 1/4 inches 50%
head 15 inches 45%

So yes, sadly she has fallen from 75% in length to 50%. Looks like she will be more in line with her Mom and Dad in the height department!

Developmentally she is doing very well. The Dr commented on her affinity for standing. YES she stands with assistance of course and has been doing this since she was a newborn. The Dr suggested we buy a jumper for her soon since she loves to stand erect so much. Her head control is very good now and she has almost rolled all the way over. She gets very close and is drooling and concentrating so hard it is only a matter of days before she gets all the way over. I'm not quite sure what she will do once she does finally flip though because she isn't that fond of tummy time. We shall see.......

Last week was HOT. We survived by trips to the mall and even hanging out at a friends house with AC on Wednesday. Breastfeeding in a 90 degree house is miserable for both mom and baby. We are VERY happy the cooler weather has returned.

I continued to teach my cycle class for two days last week and Diane Sweeney came to our house and watched Anya while I taught. It was so nice to have her around and Anya absolutely adores her. On Thursday we went out to lunch and Anya was being a little fussy in her carseat so we took her out and let her lounge on the booth bench. So funny!

This Friday Myles, Anya and I are leaving to meet my parents on the Rock N Roll ( boat) up at Anacortes. We will be travelling throughout the San Juans and possibly Gulf Islands next week. We are all very excited. I think the grandparents are just as excited to spend some time with their granddaughter- finally!

For our sailboat and our trip aboard my parents boat we purchased an infant life jacket for Anya. They fit babies from 0-30 lbs! So the pictures say it all- it is mammoth on her but it is worth it for the extra protection on board.

I have added a quick video just to see if it works. Nothing special but I will be taking more if this works.

Smiley Girl

2009-07-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

I finally caught some good pictures of Anya smiling. She smiles a ton now but when I take the camera out they all disappear.

Last week Anya was left with a few babysitters. First, on Thursday I dropped her off at a friends house so I could teach my first cycle class post baby. Admittedly it was a little hard to drop her off and leave, but she was a good girl and seemed happy to see me when I returned (if not only to eat!)

Her cousins came up from Tacoma to visit later that same day and Natalie wanted to hold her the whole time. She was very sweet.

My parents came home on Thursday evening and were reunited with their granddaughter who had grown by leaps and bounds while they were away. Their stay was short and sweet and they took very good care of her on Friday evening while Myles and I attended a wedding. This was our first time away from Anya for an extended period of time and it went very well for grandparents and parents.
On Saturday Anya had her first photo shoot. Phil Acuncius, the photographer who shot my maternity pictures, returned and shot Anya's "newborn" pictures. She was somewhat cooperative but again the smiles were elusive. I'm sure he took enough pictures to insure us some gems.
Sunday we all went down to Gig Harbor to stay by the water and visit with Oma and Opa among others. Anya met her cousin Chloe for the first time and they are going to be fast friends. I can envision them getting into a lot trouble together.
This week we are trying to beat the heat. A few afternoons on the sailboat are on call for sure. Anya spends most the day naked in a diaper trying to stay cool. We do have a portable air conditioner in our bedroom which helps at night immensely. Now if it weren't for a baby we could get some good sleep!

Her sleeping is going very well for a baby her age actually. She usually has one 4-5 hour stretch and a 3 hour one following. 6 am seems to be the time she likes to wake up no matter when she ate last- this can be a challenge.

Oh momma it's HOT!

2009-07-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

Anya has spent the last week in a onesie- Well let me clarify that, we usually go through several onesies in a day but she hasn't worn any pants because the weather is so hot.
Both mom and baby have been getting out more. We started our PEPS group (a group of moms that have babies around the same age and live in the same city) three weeks ago. The group of moms is fabulous and having the weekly planned social outing and mommy "vent" period is much needed. Anya is the youngest baby so I get to listen and learn as the other moms proclaim what worked for them and express frustration in other areas. Every mom's experience is different and it is fun to share and learn about each individual baby. I would highly recommend this non-profit association to any new mom who wants to make friends and get out of the house. Next week I host the group at our home and it will be my first time entertaining since baby was born. All that is required are light snacks but it feels like a big deal nonetheless.

Last week I had my 6 month check up with the OB and all is well. He signed my disability waiver so I can now return to my cycle classes and teach. I am soooo looking forward to it. Anya will be taken care of by several wonderful volunteers twice a week for two months until she is old enough to go to childcare with me at the gym. I start back this Thursday-hurray!

Bob and Annette have been missing in action. They are up on their boat in the Gulf Islands and are travelling around entertaining guests aboard their boat for about two months. We have been Skyping to keep up so they can see Anya grow but the coverage in the islands isn't great.
They are coming home this weekend to watch Anya for us while Myles and I go to a wedding Friday night. This will be our first long time away from baby and I am looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. How can I miss her so much after being out for only 2 hours? It baffles me, but when I return home I have to scoop her up and kiss and hug her until she protests.

Wow, lots to update today. Last week we went to Tacoma to visit some friends and made a surprise stop by Oma's work. She introduced Anya to all her coworkers and got to see some special smiles.

To beat the heat last weekend we went sailing on Friday and Sunday. Friday we were joined by Kelly Bratton (my really good friend that just recently moved back up here from CA) and it was a beautiful day. We were on the boat from 2-9 and Anya was a trouper. On Sunday Myles and I braved it on our own and we were able to sail and manage her just fine. Given our new found skills, we are tentatively planning an over night trip on the boat for Labor Day weekend.

It is nice having a new baby because I have a great excuse to see my friends more often. Last week we had a visitor or visited someone every single day!

A day of Sailing

2009-07-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Anya is officially "christened" as a sailor. She enjoyed her first sailing experience aboard the Tide Knot with Mom, Dad, Auntie Christel, and Boone. She spent the entire time down below strapped safely in her car seat while the others lounged above enjoying the sun and wind. There was just enough wind to make it a good sailing day without scaring Mom too much. Anya slept through most the trip, the rocking and jostling must be very relaxing.

We had an unexpected trip to the doctor this week. Anya had gotten a bad rash on her face over the 4th of July weekend and I thought it was either baby acne or heat rash. But when it spread to her chest by Thursday I decided it would be a good idea to have a doctor take a look just in case it was something more serious. Well, turns out it is just baby acne and we have been putting hydrocortisone cream on her face which has helped clear it up. She is looking much better and I feel better knowing what it is. I know, typical over reaction of a first time parent, but hey- I feel better and now we know how to treat it if it should flare up again.

Boone, Anya and Mom all went to Green lake this week to meet Kelly Adsero. It was a little stressful trying to manage the dog and the stroller but Kelly helped by taking Boone. After our jog around the park, we went to a great restaurant and Anya sat quietly in her car seat while we enjoyed our lunch. What a good baby!

Anya is now grinning and smiling regularly. If you speak to her in a high pitched silly voice she likes that best. Boone also thinks it is fun and wants to be a part of those conversations!

First 4th of July

2009-07-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Another week older! Wow this is going so fast. Today we have reached the 5 week mark. I weighted Anya last week when she was one month old and she had gained 2 lbs since birth weighing in at 8 lbs 10 oz.
This past week Anya and I had our first night on our own without Myles. We went up to the Hood Canal cabin on Thursday afternoon and Myles met us on Friday. It was a fairly easy night but it did feel weird not having Myles there with us.
We had a great fourth of July weekend. The weather was extraordinary and Anya had a lot of babysitters so Myles and I could enjoy all the cabin had to offer. Anya slept well- even through the fireworks- and adapted well to life away from home.
She is starting to become more alert and smiles on purpose now, melting my heart every time she does. She already has Myles wrapped around her little finger.

On the way home from Hood Canal we stopped in Gig Harbor so Anya could meet her great grandfather and great grandmother (Grumps and Gee gee) and also visited with her Oma and Opa.

Getting out of the house

2009-06-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Week three of Anya's life we introduced her to more friends and some new places. She visited the local fruit stand and the grocery store in one trip- that was a big outing! Grandma and I also took her to Bellevue Square for the first time. She was a fabulous little shopper and we bought too many clothes for her but they were all so cute. Having a little girl is going to be dangerous.

She had several visitors this week including her "cousin" 7 month old Lydia Freeman. Kate, Lydia and Jeremy came into town from New York to visit family. Lydia LOVED Boone and squealed the entire time she was here. Boone of course thought she was great and licked her to death.

Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa came over to our house to watch Anya for a few hours while Myles and I went on a "date". It was nice to get out of the house but it definitely felt like we were missing something the whole time. She was an angel for her grandparents and didn't miss us at all.

On Saturday we took Anya to Jim Sweeney's 60th birthday party. After a two hour nap upon arrival she woke up, ate, and was adored and fawned over by friends and family loving every minute of it.

Hood Canal Cabin Gettaway

2009-06-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

We packed up the station wagon on Friday and drove out to the Hood Canal Cabin for the weekend. It is amazing how much you have to pack for such a small baby. Our car was full including the roof box for two nights away. Granted Myles had his golf clubs and fishing gear as well.

The weekend away was as relaxing as a weekend away with a 18 day old baby could be. Myles got to play a round of golf on Saturday, celebrating fathers day a day early. Anya and I got a long walk (in the rain partially) but the fresh air was nice.

The best part about the weekend was having Anya spend some quality time with her grandparents and aunt and uncle. She was her normal wonderful self during the day, but had some difficulty sleeping. Myles and I were up for most of the night on Saturday night in fact. I was worried we might have ruined her perfect streak of "good sleeping" but last night she returned to her normal routine at home. THANK GOD!!!!!!

She had her first real bath last week too. She seemed to like the water and didn't even mind when we gently dumped it over her head! She just doesn't like to get cold at all.

Two week checkup

2009-06-17T13:13:00.001-07:00

Anya turned two weeks old yesterday and she had her first doctors appointment. We were excited to have her checked out and to ask some important questions.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I told our pediatrician that I was letting her sleep 5 hours sometimes at night before waking her to feed her. When I told him I was waking her up if she slept too long he asked, "why?" Hooray- so sleeping babies get to sleep. Of course last night she woke up in 3-4 hour increments (nothing to complain about I know) but I was hoping for one long night since she has been sleeping pretty well. We might have ruined it already by waking her and forming a pattern but the nurses said it was imperative to feed her every 3 hours-apparently our pediatrician (my new favorite person) disagrees. Of course if she wasn't gaining the appropriate amount of weight this would be a problem but since she has gained plenty of weight he thinks letting her sleep will not do any harm- thank god!

She is 50% in weight- weighing 7 lb 7.5oz at 2 weeks. She is 50% in head measurement and 75% in height. Myles and I are ecstatic! This by no means signifies any real height in her future but we thought it was promising. At least she isn't starting below average right out the gate!

Anya met her "auxiliary" grandmother yesterday- Diane Sweeney. All smiles and kisses she warmed up to Diane immediately. She loved Colleen too even though she was worried that she would make her cry at any moment.

Good girl for mamma's birthday

2009-06-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my 31st birthday and man, a whole lot can change in one year! I was training for a half iron man last year at this time, now I have a baby- crazy!
This past week Anya has had a lot of firsts! She went for her first walk in the "BOB" and enjoyed the jostling and jiggling. Boone walks very well beside the stroller but does tend to drift over near the wheels on occasion.
She took her first bottle- from daddy none the less- and was a good little eater. Little does Myles know but this can transform the midnight feeding sessions drastically...... tee hee hee!
Myles and I took her to the grocery store for the first time and she did really well. Next time we will make sure it isn't so close to feeding time though, she had a bit of a melt down in the check out line! Oops.

After consulting with some other "mommies" Myles and I decided it was somewhat unnatural to wake our sleeping baby at night to feed her every three hours. Her jaundice is totally gone and as long as she was gaining weight we didn't think it was necessary to wake her. Just to make sure, we took her into the hospital clinic and used their scale to weight her. She had gained 1 lb 3 oz in one week! So that was the end of waking the baby every three hours. Most the time she wasn't hungry anyway.

So the first few nights we let her sleep she would wake on her own every 3-4 hours to be fed. However, last night she slept for 5 hours and then 4 more hours after that! Fabulous- so today I feel very rested and thank my baby girl for that birthday gift. She eats more during the day, but that is fine by me, I'm awake and ready to feed her!

Anya also met some of her parent's friends last night -Rob & Dana, Jeni and Scott, & Kelly and Nick. (well she has met Aunt Jeni a few times but it is still a cute pic!)
As a side note, I fit into my first pair of "real pants" yesterday. Yippee- say goodbye to elastic waistbands!

One week old!

2009-06-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

Well, Anya had her first outing into the retail world yesterday. She went to three stores and was carted around in her car seat like a pro. Who knew they designed car seats to sit on shopping carts so easily!
She was admired by strangers which of course filled both her mom and dad with enormous pride.

Boone is sharing the backseat of the car with his 'little sister' without a complaint- (see picture)

Myles went back to work today and I survived the morning with the help of mom and even got to take a shower- now a luxury only a new mom could appreciate.

Our dear baby is STILL very good. Everyone keeps saying we are in the "honeymoon phase" or that all new babies are good for the first two weeks, but Myles and I are holding out hope that this is really her temperament more or less.

We are settling into parenthood and the days seem short while the nights stretch on for hours. I feel like I am breastfeeding ALL the time, mainly because I am.

Anya has had tons of visitors and enjoys everyone coming to see her. She behaves very well when they are here and saves all her more "unladylike" activities for when Myles or I hold her. Our refrigerator is ridiculous. I don't think we will have to cook for months; it is fabulous.

Boone meets Anya

2009-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

After Anya was born we had my parents take Boone (our dog) for a few days. It was easier to adjust to our new life with a new born without a dog around. We were anxious to have the two meet however. We brought Boone home on Saturday and he met his new "sister". We didn't have any reservations about his behavior and he proved to be just as good of a dog as we had hoped. He sniffed and licked her but sat quietly when asked. Now a few days into it, he follows her everywhere. If I have her upstairs feeding her, he is with us. If Myles has her downstairs on the couch, Boone is there. He even gets up with me in the night and comes into her room while I feed her, it is nice to have to company.

She is still doing amazingly well. We have to set an alarm to go off every three hours at night so I can feed her. This is discouraging knowing we have such a good sleeper, but the doctors and nurses assured me it was important to feed her that often when she is this young.

She was a little Jaundiced when we came home from the hospital, but since my milk has come in and she has been eating like a little pig (complete with grunting and squeaking) she has become rosy cheeked again.

She is sleeping a little less during the day and letting us stare into her beautiful blue eyes more often. Both Myles and I are smitten.

Myles heads back to work on Wednesday so we will all have a tough adjustment this week. He has been so hands on with her care that I am going to miss him most.

Thanks to family and friends our freezer and fridge is stocked with food so we are not going hungry.

New pics

2009-06-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

We are taking 100's of pictures a day and I wanted to upload a few more.
She is doing terrific. Sleeps, eats, and poops like a champ- what else can you ask for from a newborn. Since she is small very few of her newborn clothes fit her, we are going to buy some preemie hats too because her head is miniature.

We are having so much fun so far, this is awesome.

Hooray! She finally arrived

2009-06-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, the past few days have been so incredibly busy I literally have not had one free moment to even think about updating this. We were able to stay in the hospital one extra day because of her late delivery time on Tuesday evening. We took full advantage of the air conditioned accommodations considering the weather was reaching 90 degrees.
I have so much to say but I want to keep this short and add lots of pictures.

She is AMAZING! I know people always say how "your life will never be the same", but I never realized how profound the change could be in a few short moments.

The hospital stats again
Born June 2nd at 10:12 pm
6 lbs 11oz
19 3/4 inches long

The fun stats
She looks like her dad (but way cuter!)
She squeaks and smiles
She has some hair- it is very fine and light brown with blond highlights
She LOVES to nurse
She sleeps very soundly and we have to wake her to feed her at night
She rarely cries (right now)
She is not shy about passing gas in public
Her eyes are dark blue right now but that can change

We want to thank everyone for their emails and phone calls. We will get back to you at some point but we have a VERY important person demanding most of our attention at the moment.

Induction schedule

2009-06-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

We went in for my final doctors appointment today. I'm not going to gross everyone out with a bunch of gynecological terms but according to my doctor all it would take would be a few good strong contractions and my labor would get going. Since mother nature has yet to intervene in this labor process we had set our induction to be Wednesday. Originally it was scheduled for Wednesday late evening into Thursday, but they had to move it up to Wednesday morning. So if she doesn't come tonight or tomorrow, she will most likely be with us by Wednesday evening.

Myles and I are are extremely excited to have the end in site. I am disappointed that I won't be able to experience the excitement of "going into labor" at home or while out, but the end goal is the same either way- to have a happy healthy baby.

Thank you all for your encouraging words as we have trudged through the past week.

7 days past due

2009-05-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

The wedding was fun, glad we could make it. I looked like shamu in a dress so I stuck to a skirt and shirt to flatter the belly as best possible. Spent today weeding in the yard in hopes of inducing labor. Any other tricks? I think I have tried them all! Here is a picture of me 1 day shy of 41 weeks- that's 10 months in case any one is counting. Myles doesn't even try to push his belly out anymore, he knows I win hands down-no contest.

Almost a week

2009-05-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

We are rapidly approaching 1 week past due. I went in for my third and final session of acupuncture today. My body is definitely getting the message but it is up to Anya to press the matter into progress. I am going to a wedding tonight (which I had RSVP'ed NO to- assuming we would have a baby by now!) Perhaps she will decide to come at an inopportune moment during the ceremony causing me to run out of the church and hightail it to the hospital. You know you are getting desperate when embarrassing yourself in public is preferred over one more day of angst! What I plan to wear to the wedding is a whole 'nother can of worms!

Long walks DON'T work!

2009-05-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, still here. When I woke up this morning I was feeling a bit different but that did not lead to any forward progress so far today. I can say that I am officially becoming more uncomfortable either due to my ever increasing size or the heat, or both!

My mom and I took an exceptionally long walk this morning hoping to coax little Anya out of her comfort zone but she stayed put.

Tomorrow I have an acupuncture appointment at 12 and hope to get things rocking and rolling a bit if possible.

Stayed tuned.

Ultrasound results

2009-05-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Myles and I went for the ultrasound this afternoon. Basically they were making sure she was healthy, had enough fluid around her, and didn't have anything wrong with the umbilical cord.
She was perfect! No problems, extremely healthy and VERY happy. All smiles and sticking her tongue out. She is simply too happy to leave and wants to stay in her warm home as long as possible. We got some good 4D pictures but our DVD doesn't have the stills so I can't show you- sorry you will have to wait for the real thing. The pictures still have her looking a bit like an alien though and I'm sure she will be much cuter in person.
She has chubby cheeks and according to our ultrasound Dr a "big butt". No surprises there! He also mentioned that she had very strong quads (which I'm sure in baby anatomy equals "chubby legs"). So we are expecting a healthy, slightly chubby baby girl.
Her estimated weight is 7- 7.25 lbs right now. We plan to give her some extra time to come out on her own. HOWEVER.... if she is not out by next Wednesday I will be induced at midnight that day. This gives her another full week- totaling about 10-11 days post due date to make her grand entrance. If her stubbornness persists, we will be evicting her.
She has a week to think about things..... hopefully she decides she wants to meet us as much as we want to meet her before that point.

Past due

2009-05-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it is 3 days past Anya's due date at this point and still no baby. According to our doctor she is healthy and happy just not ready to come out yet. 40 weeks is an estimate after all (as if that is supposed to make me feel better!)
We have an ultrasound this afternoon and will update the blog again after we get the results. It will be exciting because we have not had any ultrasound since our 20 week check up to find our her sex and make sure she was developing well in the womb. We will have a better idea about how big she is and what she actually looks like now. I'm very excited to see her.
I had an acupuncture appointment yesterday to start "encouraging" her to make an exit. So far she isn't budging.........

upcoming due date

2009-05-22T15:21:00.001-07:00

Well, we are two days away from the official due date. Myles and I are both getting very anxious to meet our new daughter. Hopefully the next blog entry will include pictures of her and all the important baby stats. Perhaps she will be unlike her parents and actually arrive on time! :)

Professional Preggo pics

2009-05-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the amazing shots Phil Acuncius took of us. We are very impressed with his talent! http://www.yogadogdesign.com/

Picture with Anya on the inside!

2009-04-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

We took this picture when I was 36 weeks pregnant. Dr said she will be around 7- 7 1/2 lbs if born on due date.

Blog for our daughter

2009-04-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Anya Magnuson is Due May 24th 2009. I have set up this blog as a way to quickly and efficiently relay information about her birth and development. We are delivering at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. While we are in the hospital we will update the blog with her 'stats' but most likely will not post pictures until we return home. Perhaps we will be able to coerce my dad into posting a few for us! :)

Both Myles and I are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our daughter. Wish us luck!