A Wonderful Holiday

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas! Aydin is finally old enough to really get into it now. She helped us decorate (and re-re-re decorate) the tree. She got to pick out her own ornament this year too. She picked an ornament with three dogs sitting next to a fire hydrant barking "Jingle Bells." I am surprised the battery in that thing has any juice left. She even unwrapped her own presents.She climbed up into her own chair and unwrapped them in her lap one-at-a-time, handing us each piece of paper as she tore it off. She is pooped from all of the holiday action, we all are, but it has been wonderful. Levi and Danielle came down for an extra long time this time. We loved having them over. Ethan and Aydin play so well together, and we had a new baby to cuddle and enjoy too!Jesse has been off of work for one week, and has one more week off. I wish he could be home like this more often, but we'll take what we can get. I also started a project for this holiday season that has turned out to be quite a lot of fun. This is one of two pairs of hand warmers that I have made, and I have requests for many more. I don't know how many I'll make, but they are pretty fun!

P.S. Mexico pictures are on Facebook. I would do a blog for them but, call me lazy, posting that many pictures on here is just too much work.

Mexico

We're back! Wow...that was a great vacation, but I'm glad to be home. We had so much fun! Aydin loved the beach, and even the sand, the fish, the freedom of being able to run around outside all day long...everything. She LOVED swiming, mostly in the ocean. We would take hunks of bread out into the water and dozens of fish would cluster around us to eat it. She thought it was great, as long as someone was holding her, and she would throw the bread to them. Any time she wanted to swim she would get her little raft and push it to the door. We spent most of our time swimming. There were a couple bouts of rain while we were there, but for the most part the weather was great. While on vacation Aydin learned to say "fish," "turtle," "moon," and "David (deah)." She can tell you what a fish says, and what a pig says. And she now knows where her "pink toes" are. She had her first pedicure by mom before we left, and she has completely enjoyed showing off her "pink toes." My favorite part of the trip was getting to watch Aydin bond with my family. She hasn't gotten to spend this much time with any of them before, and it was just what she needed to feel completely comfortable and close to them. She pretty much clung to my dad the whole time. No matter what she was doing with him she thought it was the greatest. And she had so much fun teasing uncle David the whole time. She would tap his shoulder and grin when he looked, and she thought it was histerical to wke him up on the airplane. She just found something with each of them that made her smile. I loved it! And I don't know if I can speak for Jesse, but I'll try. This was only his second vacation ever so I am betting the experience alone was fantastic in and of itself. But the thing I think he enjoyed the most was getting to spend so much time just playing with Aydin. Ayway, great vacation, glad to be home! Now if only Aydin's body would not wake her up at 6 AM thinking it's 7 AM. We didn't take our good camera, so we only got a couple of pictures, but David and Michelle were the photogrraphers for the vacation, so when I get pictures from them I will do a picture post.

Growing Up

Aydin dancing in her diaper and beanie.

Well, it has been a while since I last posted on the incredible developmental leaps that our little girl is making lately and I have nothing else to blog about so here you go...

She is still a very tall girl... 95% for height and 60something% for weight, but she has slowed down a little. Her hair literally gets thicker everyday, althoug it still has a ways to go before we'll be able to "style" it. And she FINALLY is getting some more teeth. She had two teeth come in when she was ten months old, but we saw no sign of a tooth until just a few weeks ago. Two have already popped through making the grand total four, and we can see four more getting ready to pop out. Maybe she can really start eating real food now.

She is running now and climbing, dancing, and talking more and more everyday. She can say "mama, daddy, Abel, Aydin, up, down, ball, wow, bottle, woof", and most recently "no." I was hoping she wouldn't learn that last one for a while, but what can I do? Every time a dog comes near her now she says "down," I guess I tell Abel to lay down more than I realized. She knows where her nose, eyes, mouth, ears, and hair are, and she'll point to Abel's eyes, nose, and mouth too.

Best of all...she is going to bed peacefully now. She has always been good about staying asleep, but she has ALWAYS fought going to bed. I have never been able to just lay her down and have her fall asleep, she just plays in her crib. I rock her to sleep every night, and I do love rocking her, but she would always fight so hard to stay awake. She would kick me, and cry, and arch her back. Now she just relaxes and falls asleep in my arms. We got her on a pretty good schedule, bought an i-pod docking station for her room, and got a few longer books to read, and that is all it took. Wish we would have tried the schedule thing earlier but, call me dumb, I just didn't think of it. Oh well, things are going good now ( :

Playing at the Park

Had a request for some video footage and we took this while we were at the park a week or so ago. She is fearless. She loves slides, the bigger the better! Just see for yourself...

First Snow

The first snow of the season came October 10th! So early, but I LOVE it. This weather puts me in the mood to light a fire, make some hot cocoa, and get out the electric heat blanket. It also reminds me that I have precious little time to come up with a Halloween costume for Aydin. Jesse told me that since I picked last years costume for her, he gets to pick this years. He wants her to be a zombie... with a big gash on her head. No way! I settled for a mummy, no blood and gore that way. Now I have to figure out how to make mummy look cute. Hmmmm.

Anyway, first thing after breakfast Saturday morning, we got all bundled up to go play in the snow with Aydin for the first time. She was so excited about her snowsuit and snow boots. Not so excited about the snow. She took a few steps in it, bent down to brush it off of her boots, and then decided it was not for her. We threw a few snowballs, and helped her (forced her) to make a snow angel, and then we headed back inside. Not what I was expecting, but we have some time to get used to the stuff. Hopefully she will start liking it more as the season progresses.

Don't know if you can tell, but the snow angel is right below our feet in the bottom picture.

Fish Kisses

So much has happened in the last month. Oh, what a month... yada, yada, yada. So we decided to do some new stuff around here to freshen things up a bit. I painted the kitchen, I am re-doing Aydin's closet, and we decided to get Aydin a couple of goldfish. She loves them! She talks to them while she's eating breakfast, and she tries to hug the bowl.

What a Trip

We just got back from our trip to see the Duerres in WA. We got home late last night. We had the best time. For starters, Aydin did great on the plane. Each trip I have to get up with her towards the end and walk the aisle a couple of times, and she did cry for a few minutes before she fell asleep, but other than that it was a breeze.

Sherry picked us up from the airport the morning we flew in and we of course went straight to the best thrift store I've ever been to, where I promptly spent nearly half my budget. Then we drove around Seattle and Queen Anne. Some of the houses there are amazing! This view of the city is the only view where the space needle is the tallest thing. It was also a very clear day so the view of Mt. Rainier was great (you can kind of see it behind Aydin.)

We all went to the farmers market at the harbor in Olympia. I think if we had one like that here it would be so fun to have a booth.

This is part of our hike at Tumwater Falls. So beautiful!

Aydin's had her first trip to the beach. It was so cold, but she is a water lover so she didn't want to get out.

And her first amusement park rides. She loved it, especially being on them with Brek and Sy.

Absolutely done after a few rides!

She started to think she was a big kid too.

The farmers market in Seattle was amazing. We also walked past the first Starbucks.

Needless to say we had such a great time. It was a long time to be gone from Jesse, but also don't think I would have wanted it to be any shorter. It flew by as it was. There is so much to do in WA, and with such great friends the trip couldn't have been better (unless Jesse could have come too)! I think we will have to plan another one out soon so that Jesse can see everything too.

Off We Go!!

Aydin and I are headed out to WA to see the Duerres! We leave tomorrow morning and won't be home for one whole week.

Aydin has been so much fun this past week. She decided last Tuesday that she was done with crawling. She has been strictly walking ever since. She even tries to run every once and a while, but she is still a little too wobbly. She keeps us laughing too! The other day she was standing up in the tub and after a little swat on the rear for it she looked up and said, "Oh wow!" Oh, and this...

Party Fun

We had two birthday parties for Aydin. We had one early party so that the Duerre's and Aunt Michelle and Ryan would be able to attend before they left, and we had one for the family on her birthday. What that amounts to is a lot of fun for one little girl. She had such a great time at each party! Here are a few pictures...

Happy Birthday Aydin

It hardly seems possible that my baby girl is already a year old. One year ago today I was holding my new baby girl in my arms and thinking that she was the most perfect baby that I had ever seen, hardly believing my luck that she could be mine, and so excited to get her home and be her mamma. And look at her now. Oh how much she has changed. Walking, talking, making jokes, and learning new things. Even while I miss that precious, chubby, baby who relied on me for everything and knew nothing but to trust that we would take care of her, I delight in every new step that she takes, and look forward to each new phase of her life. I can't even describe how joyous it has been to watch her develop into the little girl that she is today. Her personality continues to blossom and, and as it does she continues to make us smile at every little thing and laugh at all of her little jokes and the funny things she does. Oh, we are so blessed! Happy 1st Birthday Aydin!! We love you so much!

Mama's Little Helper

Probably the biggest hurdle of motherhood yet is trying to figure out how I can get everything on my "to-do" list done. I have finally figured out that if I just let her help me, it might take longer (and I might have to re-do some stuff) but I can usually get it done. Chores are a little more fun now.