Vacation Recap

Ok, so the long and short of our vacation:

Miss C got to go to the zoo 3 times during our grand adventure! That alone was worth the flight time involved! On the third visit, she even got to feed a giraffe! Yea!

While visiting with DH's family, Miss C built a snowman, made snow angels with me and participated in a snow ball fight (everyone got into that one!). She also got to taste her first strawberry shake (ala Jack in the Box following a wonderful Grilled Cheese Meal).

On our last day before we came home, Miss C and I had to drop DH off at the airport for yet another (albeit short) trip. After we left the airport, Miss C and I decided it would be grand fun to meet my side of the family that lived in the local area.

We drove to my Aunt's house but alas, no one answered the door (frown here). We did call later and left a message with my Uncle that we were in town and wanted to visit with my Grandmother. My Aunt called back later to arrange a good time for a visit.

Little did I know that the visit would turn into a reunion of sorts. As it turns out, two of my cousins still live near my Aunt and Grandmother. My aunt called them and they all came by with their families to see us (totally unexpected and quite a lot of fun). We all went out to dinner after a bit of visiting.

Miss C absolutely adores my cousin J. He has two kids (a boy, 9 and a girl, 11 who are both so sweet its not funny) and thinks my other cousin (C)'s two boys are supposed to come with us because one rode to dinner with us. She had no issues with this new crowd of people, probably because she had just visited with DH's side of the family and she understood me when I explained who everyone was.

Most importantly, Miss C got to meet my Grandmother. My grandma isn't doing great. I mean, she's doing ok, kind of. I was told that she was living in an assisted living facility so I didn't know what to expect but then when I talked to my Aunt, she told me that Grandma was out at the Casino playing poker so I figured, eh, really, how bad could it be? When I saw her using her walker, so frail looking, I realized how much time had passed. I decided to make the visit during this trip because it just seemed like the right time to.

To see the photos for the visit (there are quite a few) look here.

So busy

I know, its been quite a while since the last post. Sorry.

Couldn't be helped. We had company, yea! Miss C's grandma and grandpa came to visit! DH came home! We had a great time!

Miss C is busy spending time with DH before he goes back to work this week. She had a great time with her grandparents and was wonderfully spoiled (wouldn't expect any less). She showed everyone how well she sings, how she knows her alphabet and even how to pretend to be nearly any animal you can think of. We really did have fun. Now we are back at work. Not so much fun but it could be worse, we could be apart.

I included a couple of photos of Miss C and her grandparents. Unfortunately, I didn't take as many during this visit as normal since DH was only here for the tail end. I will do better next time, promise!

First post of 2009 and Miss C is 19 months old (ok, tomorrow!)

First, let me apologize for not having posted in nearly, eh, forever? Yea. Been kind of busy with the holidays, travel, etc. Hope you all understand.

We got back from our vacation visiting with family a couple of days ago. Miss C had a great time with her Great Grandma, Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie J. We are going to try and visit other family (Aunt A, her cousins B, M and J as well as Uncle W, Aunt L and her cousin A) sometime in the next couple of months.

Ya know, I thought last year was fun but this year was amazing! The changes i have seen in Miss C have been incredible.

I am sure she is probably at least 1/2 and inch taller than a month ago which puts her around 35 1/2 inches at 19 months! She is just at 28lbs and boy have her skills changed. She pretends to be all sorts of animals (cats, dogs, alligators!) and has her puppets pretend to be even more (we found these two super cute mittens for the bath, a purple monkey and a pink pig and she uses them as hand puppets) animals (namely Elmo!). When it seems like we don't understand what she is saying, Miss C not only signs her words but if the word has an action, she acts it out! Example? Well, we were talking about our recent airplane ride and Miss C was saying "airplane". Apparently I didn't understand so she signed it then used the sign and flew the plane around "rrrrmmm, rrrrmmmm" just for me! Too funny!

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we are potty training. Nothing too strenuous, just letting Miss C get comfortable with the potty. She actually used the one on the airplane and at her great grandma's both without her little seat on top. I was surprised and pleased. On the plus side, she held my hands rather than the potty so very little in the way of ickiness!

Miss C's favorite act now is tumbling. She does make mama and daddy do it too so she gets examples when she wants them. When we play, Miss C pretends to be the "mommy" and we are the "babies" (I asked her about this one day when she was rubbing by back saying "good girl!"). She also has a number of tasks for us. Example? She will tell us to "sit, wait, come, etc" including hand signals when she wants something. Too funny and wayyyy too much like her mama!

Well, that's about it for now. Busy, busy, ya know! We will try to post more regularly. Oh! Before I finish, I have uploaded our holiday photos, they can be seen here.

Family visit

Well, we had quite an eventful time since I last posted. I warned ya'll it would be a little while so.. Anyway, DH's folks and his sister, Auntie J, came to town for a short visit. Miss C had such a great time! She adores both her Grannie and Auntie J and warmed up enough to her Grandpa that she gave him hugs goodnight the last night they were here. This was a huge shift from our Christmas visit. I am sure the length of the visit helped as did being in her house with her stuff.




It was a terrific little visit and we can't wait to see them again. We're already trying to figure out our holiday schedule. We went after the holidays last year and it was actually quite a bit easier on everyone. Heck, we even got the good karma for working around the holidays!

Miss C is getting so big! She is transitioning to her big girl class this week. The first day was a quiet one. She was very introspective and basically watched everyone to figure out what to do. Today she was more involved, a little more talkative (signing and talking but not as much as normal) but she didn't nap as long as she probably could have. We have noticed that when she gets home she is hungry and tired. I think this is becasue of the increased stress in the classroom. I think that another factor is the slight change in meal times. She eats half an hours later for each meal in her new class so I am sure that is an issue for her since Miss C isn't shy around food. I have noticed that she is a little clingy this week so far but I think that might have a but to do with the transition, being away from the teachers she has grown accustomed to. I just know that we are consistent so that makes all of this easier to handle.

Well, hope you get a change to check out the newer pictures. I tried to take a few with Miss C and her grandparents but you know how it gets! Here are a couple of the ones I thought were pretty cute!

So, how is your week going?

New Video!!!

Miss C is getting to be so active! She wears herself out (as well as the both of us!) daily but I thought you might enjoy yet another video of her. Hopefully I haven't bored you all too much! I know that Miss C's grandparents occasionally get a chance to check the blog, so we try to post videos for them since they don't get to see her very often.

We're here in SoCal for another week then off on our new adventure. If you haven't hopped onto the flickr page to check out the house, I encourage it. Just so you can understand why we are gushing about the house. There is a lot more space in the new house and more rooms. It will be neat to have a workout room as well as a nursery and guest room.

DH and I are still working on selling the house here. Its a slow market so we are trying to avoid stressing out. If we don't sell it by Christmas, we will reevaluate, maybe look for a renter, something different. Trying not to get all freaked out over the slow market. I am sure plenty of you out there understand.

Besides, all stressing out does is stress out our little one. Who, as you can see in the photos attached and on our flickr, is just a bundle of joy! She found that one of DH's fingers works really well for teething.Ok, guess that's it for now.

Here's the aforementioned video. You really do need to have the audio on to truly enjoy this one. Miss C is just a happy camper playing with her Daddy!

A cute photo to share

Just wanted to share a new photo. Have a great day!

First family visit

DH's parents and sister are in town so Miss C is having her first real family visit. She is the first grandchild for DH's side so of course, everyone is fawning all over her. How could you not? I am her Mom and I do it so! ;-) No, really, its been great as always. DH's sister isn't too comfortable around Miss C yet but we are working on her. As you can see by the photo below, Miss C seems to think Auntie J is doing just fine!

DH's parents seem to be enjoying the visit as evidenced in the photo below.

This is Miss C's fourth week and it seems like the time has passed so quickly. I say that now, during the day. At night, it seems to take forever! :-) Miss C does give me 4 hour blocks on occasion, so i really have no room to complain. She is, after all, only 3 weeks old so...

Well, have to get back to our visit. I will try to post again once the family departs. Don't want to miss any time with them!

Oh! Before I forget, I uploaded some new photos to the flickr account, so check that out when you get a chance. I will try to take some more videos with the folks here and post them later. Be sure to take care and have a wonderful 4th of July!