Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Baby's First Christmas






Anya had a great first Christmas. She was able to open presents, eat the paper, and play with her toys. She had fun with all her Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. She is 5 months now and she can almost sit up on her own (she continues to do her pilates sit-ups so her tummy muscles are strong). She is getting really good at passing a toy from one hand to the other. And has slept through the night 3 of the 4 past nights! Whoo hoo!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

like father like daughter




well, if you ever had a question....just look at the picture. Anya couldn't look more like her father. They were both wearing brown the other day and we just had to take a picture. Anya continues to love to bounce around and is always on the go. She is starting to roll over from her back to her belly with some regularity now. She can also get her nuk into her mouth. It's really fun to see her actually playing with toys now. She loves grabbing onto things, putting them into her mouth, and shaking them around. It's really cute. She is growing so fast! The other day I took Anya and Aebo for a walk. I strapped Anya into the Baby Bjorn and with Aebo on the leash, we set out on a wintery wonderland walk. The last is Aebo having fun in the snow. That's it for now!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Other news

Two things:
1) our upstairs toilet had been working intermittently and then recently the cold water tap in the bathroom wasn't working either. So we've had people out and they determined that a piece of insulation had fallen down, cold air was getting in and freezing our pipes! Uh hello! That's pretty major seeing as though our house was just completed under 2 months ago! Its a good thing we moved in during the winter to check for all of this stuff right away! As of now the cold water is back to working, but the toilet should be working by later today. Hopefully.

2) I had my surgery to remove the pollup on my vocal chord. I will have to scan in a picture of the before and after. Huge bump there and gone. So now I'm not supposed to talk for 5 days and then very moderate for the next week. I go back in on the 24th just to check how it is healing. Hopefully by the end of Christmas break I should be back to normal. Man it's hard not talking. I did record a few messages to Any and Dan before I went in and they have definitely helped. Yesterday Anya was playing and I played the recording of me saying hi to her and singing songs and she cranked her head around as soon as I hit play. Super cute. Then last night she was fussing and crying when we put her down to bed.. so I went in and played my recording of me sayign "sshhhh..close your eyes and go to sleep. sweet dreams. I love you" and she did! it was so amazing. I love it. I'm feeling pretty good except today I'm really soar all over. it feels like they had me on dummy strings and were contorting me when I was out. I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Other than that...Things are going good. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year!!

Anya and Keegan




My friends Jess and Adam from college have a 1 year old boy named Keegan. We always joke that he and Anya are betrothed. they met at the Christmas party and hit it off. They talked baby babble and even gave a kiss! Keegan got her a rattle (maracca sp?) and another noise maker, socks, and book. She loves the rattle and doesn't mind if she bangs it into her head on the way to her mouth! Aren't they cute!

Christmas is coming!







So here are some pictures of our Christmas tree. It's a skinny 9 footer! We wanted a tall tree because we have the high ceilings now, but we also didn't want it taking up the whole room either. Anya is wearing her beautiful red Christmas dress. Last Saturday we went to the Gamble family Christmas concert which was great and Anya did an amazing job. She was awake and happy most of the time and then slept a little too. Then we headed over to our friend Molly and Ryan's house for a Christmas feast that they and Trisha organized. We had a wonderful turkey dinner and I brought some traditional english Christmas Crakers. Which are a party favor that you crack open and out comes a paper crown, jokes, trivia, and a little toy. I got a yo-yo, other people got whistles, noise makers, clickers, a train....Dan got a mini note pad. let's just say he was a little dissapointed.

Friday, November 28, 2008

4 months old!




Anya is now 4 months old and boy can she do a lot! She absolutely loves to jump in her portable jumparoo. She jumps so hard that it plays music which makes her jump even harder. She also loves to stand up and sit up-no more laying down like a baby! She even does sit ups- it looks like the pilates 100. Very funny. She has started baby food. She is not a fan of rice cereal, but so far loves sweet potatoes and carrots. She is 17 pounds 11 ounces and is wearing clothes ranging from 6-12 months! Anya is also very good at grabbing her toys and getting them to her mouth. I think she might be starting to teeth because she is drooling a lot and loves to munch on my fingers. She can make all the vowel sounds and even said "bub" the other day. very cute. She is all smiles especially in the morning-she's a morning person just like her mommy and daddy. Oh and she loves to laugh especially at dad. It's just amazing what she can do in only 4 months! She is our little angel. As you can see in the pictures, all this activity has made her pretty tired!

Anya's Baptism






This past Sunday, the 23rd, Anya was baptized by her great uncle deacon Peter Mueller! She did great all through mass and even when the water was poured on her. She was great the whole day despite not getting any naps. Here are some pictures of the special occasion. They include her beautiful gown auntie Kelley got her, getting baptized, us with uncle Peter, Anya and godmother Trisha, and Anya with her cousin Lauren.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pictures of Anya




Here are some recent pictures of Anya. She is getting bigger and bigger every day. She is currently 16 pounds, 12.5 ounces. She is almost 4 months old and is wearing 6-9 month clothes and they are not a bit too big. She is getting more active if you can believe it and is really good at grabbing for her toys, putting things in her mouth, standing up with some help, jumping in her jumping chair, and smiles a ton! She is so happy when she wakes up in the morning and always has smiles and giggles for mom and dad.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

We're in!






We moved in last weekend! The house looks great! There are a few things that still need to be done but all should be completed in the next few weeks. We are so happy to be home and just can't get over how beautiful it all looks. Here are some pictures...you'll have to come over to see the rest. :)

Sunday, October 19, 2008






Anya is now 3 months old! She is so active and strong. She can hold her head up no problem, put weight on her legs, and reach for toys. She smiles a ton and is a great sleeper. The other night she slept 9 hours! We are looking forward to getting back into our house at the end of the month! Here are some pictures her auntie Kelley took of her this weekend.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

more house pictures





The next two are somewhat different views of the living room, front door, and the window in the "dining room". The last two are of the back yard and the new siding and roof.

House update









well, we are told that the house will be done Oct 31st! This week, the doors, window trim, and floor boards will go on, next week the cabinetry will get installed. Then it's just stain, paint, and flooring and we're in! We have all our furniture lined up and ready to be delivered and everything else has been picked out. All we have left to find is the accessories like mirrors, shelves, art work, etc.

So here are some before and after pictures. The first two pictures are of the kitchen before and after. The new kitchen is bigger (there will be an island in it) and is open to the living room. So in that new picture you can see the same window in the kitchen, but now there is a bigger window on the left which will be where our "dining room" will be. The next two are of the living room with the fireplace. The new photo shows the vaulted ceiling and at the left side you can see where the living room turns into the kitchen. So there you have it. There will be more to come for sure!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Big News!

Well we have lots of good news today! Anya is 2 months old and had her checkup. She is 13 pounds, 2 ounces and 24.5 inches long. That means she grew 2 pounds and 2 inches in one month! She is over the 95% in both height and weight. She got her shots and should be good to go now! Also the house is progressing and we are told we will be in there by halloween!!! The siding is all up, the sheet rock is up and now they will just keep going with trim, cabinets, flooring, and lighting! We are really excited to get out of this townhouse and back into our home. Also, we found a daycare provider for Anya so things are moving in the right direction! aahhh....it's a good feeling. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers through all of this, we really appreciate them and they have helped tremendously!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Anya and cousin Lauren




Here are some pictures of Anya and her cousin Lauren. Lauren is a month older than Anya and they are close to the same size. It is going to be so much fun watching the two of them grow up together! Anya is doing very well at night. She is sleeping through the night frequently and we are able to put her down while she is sleepy but still awake and she falls asleep on her own!
We are in the process of looking for a new day care provider because our other one can no longer take care of her. I am interviewing a few people this week so we will see what happens. Anya will be 8 weeks old tomorrow!