Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Amaya, Her New Trike, And Her Happy Place

First of all, here is a quick update on our busy little 2-year-old. She had her 2-year check-up on 3-19 (Thurs.). It dawned on me when the Dr. came in and commented on how long it has been since he's seen us that we made it the entire winter without needing to visit Amaya's Dr. Her last apt. was her 18-month check-up. Yeah. Amaya did have a runny nose a couple of times, but that was it. Knock on wood we continue with similar luck! See, being a hand-washing nazi pays off. Smile, smile. So, as far as her 2 year stats go, she's keeping consistant with being in the 10th percentile for weight (23lbs. 4oz.) and 5oth percentile for height (34.25 inches). I swear we feed the child. Her peops can attest to the fact that she's quite the eater. She's just blessed with her daddy's crazy fast metabolism I think.

O.K. What has Amaya been up to? A lot. Which is the reason I don't have much time to blog these days. She's a busy body! She loves to run...and run... and run. And she's ever so fast, so she wears mommy out keeping her out of harm's way! We've been known to cover our entire subdivision running, not walking, up and down the sidewalks. She continues to love the playground...and she already thinks it's pool season. Brrr. Clearly she has midwestern blood in her because she doesn't mind that the pool is artic. O.K. That's a slight exageration, but it's quite cold. Scott won't even put his feet in it.

We had planned to officially start working on potty-training in April. But, Amaya has decided to figure it out on her own. Guess she was tired of waiting for us. Smile, smile. We had bought her a potty chair when she was around 17 months old and just let her get use to having it around. She would sit on it here and there. We did the usual talking about all things related to potty time. And then the week before her birthday, she just started taking her pants and diaper off, sitting on the potty chair, and peeing all on her own. The first time she did this I said, "Let's get you dressed." It was time for dinner or something. And she said, "No, I potty." I said, "You have to go pee in the potty?" And she said, "Yes, I potty." And she did. We were so proud and excited. She initiated the whole thing on her own. She really had to go and she really peed in the potty. She has done this several times since. Yeah Amaya. So, we're half-way there before even starting. I've heard girls are easy to potty train, but this is awesome!

So, other than working on mastering the art of peeing, she's busy learning, playing and growing like all 2-year-olds. Her vocabulary is growing. She's mastered hopping and jumping. She's still sweet as can be most of the time, but definitely has her 2-year-old moments. Which are usually associated with wanting to go outside when she can't. She'd be outside every waking moment if she had her way. So, here are some pics of her enjoying the "great outdoors."

"Mom, I don't want to pose for pictures. I want to ride my trike already."
"O.K. I'll smile. Now can we go already?"

"Aahhh. Wide open space to run, run, run."
"Running...one of my favorite things to do."
"Wait a minute. What am I thinking? I forgot about my new trike."

"I better go back and get it."

"Sorry trike. I don't know what I was thinking. Let's run together."

"Here we go. I'll push you."

"Weee."

"O.K. Time to spend some time on the play structure. I wish they had monkey bars here! Oh well, swinging from this bar is fun, too."

Showing off her pamper, rapper style.

"Slide time, mommy. Yeah."

"I just love slides!"
"Weeee."
"I'm gonna do that again!"
Amaya the Climber. I fear she'll want to do Mt. Everest someday.

But, atleast she careful and cautious.

That's all for now. Later.


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Amaya's Birthday Celebration

Here are some pictures from Amaya's birthday celebration last Sunday. It was a beautiful day, which was nice since we had her party outside at Oregano's. We were their 1st "group event" in their new outdoor party area. So that was neat. As always, the staff at Oregano's was wonderful. They are known for their service as much as they are known for their yummy food. So, anyway, it was a fabulous afternoon, but was also a whirl wind with toddlers running about. They definitely keep you on your toes.

Amaya waiting for her guests to arrive.
The birthday girl with mommy and daddy.
Amaya with Papa Jerry and Mam-ma Cindy

Some of the kiddies hanging out after eating. They are patiently waiting for gift opening.

Gift opening begins. Will, always the gentleman, assisted Amaya with opening her presents.

Ellie helped, too.

Amaya pausing to take it all in for a moment. I am sure she is thinking, "wow, birthdays rock!"

Will helping Amaya with a big one. Amaya says, "Whatever could it be, Will?"

Will answers, "Wow, it's a trike. Look at those awesome wheels, Amaya."

With all these gifts around, what are Will and Amaya looking at the ground for? It looks like they are checking out Amaya's shoes. Maybe there was a creepy crawly. Glad I didn't know.

Amaya: "Look, Will, it's a shake 'n' go car."
Will: "Super fun. Let's take it for a spin."

Pretty in pink Kate checking out gift opening.

Clearly already a girlie-girl, Ellie admires Amaya's new hair ties. And Will, he's anxious to move on with gift opening. He's all practiced up and ready for his big day coming up in a few days.

Mommy says, "Look at your new Elmo swimming suit, Amaya."

Will says, "Oh yes. That's one fine looking swimming suit. You'll look great in that Amaya. But...

...now can we open this big one?"

Amaya and Will tear into the big blue package.

Will and Amaya in unison, "It's a basketball hoop!"

Kate says, "Mommy, when is my birthday? This looks so fun!"

Amaya and Will patiently waiting for me to get the shake 'n' go car out of it's packaging.

"Who wants to have a tea party with me?"

Jaxon trying out Amaya's new trike. He doesn't care that it's still in the box.

Cake Time

Amaya blew out her candles all by herself. We practiced a few times in the morning, so she had it down.
Brooklyn looks on in the background, anxious to taste her first cupcake.

Yum!


Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

3-15-08

3-13-09





Our baby is TWO! Wow...how time flies when you are having fun! Here's to a fabulous day, baby girl. We have lots of fun stuff planned for you. We are so excited for this very special day. Time to go get it started. I will blog more later this week to include an update on Amaya's latest and birthday photos, too.




Thursday, March 5, 2009

Amaya's First Cubs Game

On Wednesday, Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Jerry took us to a Cubs spring training game. It was Amaya's first Cubs game and she had a blast! It was a beautiful day...82 degrees and breezy, so it was pefect. Amaya was sooooo good. The people behind us even commented on how good she was, especially being she was so young. The people around us enjoyed Amaya's entertainment value. She danced to the music that they played between innings. She cheered. She played peek-a-boo with the little boy in front of us. She alerted the audience whenever there was a plane or bird overhead. She was so fun. She actually sat and watched the game at times and she would literally cheer at appropriate times when doing so. Guess watching all those games on t.v. with dad paid off. Smile, smile. Amaya even lasted the whole game, with the help of 3 walks on on the concourse and a short trip to the kiddie batting cages. A true blue baseball fan already. We rewarded her at the end of game with a longer period of time at the kiddie batting cages. She had a ball. Needless to say she asked to go to bed 30 minutes early Wednesday evening. She had a big day!!!

Beautiful Goodyear Ballpark
Go Cubbies!

Geez, would you people just let me watch the game already!

Oh, yeah, Derrek Lee is up to bat. He's one of my favorites.

This pitcher is terrible! Get him out of there already.

Basehit! Yeah! Run, run, run!

I love these kiddie cages!
It's the perfect place to practice my pitching...

my throwing,

my baserunning,

my sliding,

and even just being silly.

I love baseball...just like my daddy!

Gotta throw a tackle in there...my first love will always be football.

That was soooo fun! But I am beat. Time to go home and have some dinner. Bye!