Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my wonderful mom's birthday! I hope you are having a fabulous, relaxing, sunny, beach filled day! We love you!

Some Recent Cute Moments Caught on Film

Nothing to say so much, just want to share some recent, wonderful moments at home.

First Week of School!

Jia completed her first week of school this week! It is a warm, inviting Montessori school which she knows well as she accompanied her cousins to this school for drop off and pick up all of last year. The teachers also know her well and welcomed her with warm arms into the Toddler Cottage. All of that said, the week didn't always go so swimmingly! She was very needy of me and panicked and cried inconsolably every time I attempted to leave the classroom. The first week is an orientation week with reduced hours each day. She will eventually attend 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. Her dad and I stayed close to her the first day (these are the pics I'm attaching) and the next day I tried to leave. Oh no, none of that! The teachers tried and tried to console her but to no avail so I returned to the room. The third day I again stayed in the room the entire time. Finally on day four her LaLa (Aunt Lisa) took her in. Lisa will be introducing her to the room each day this year and be there for pick up as well so we thought maybe this would be a better transition. Anytime I am around she absolutely panics if I'm not in sight but she seems to do much better if I'm not even around at all. She did slightly better but did cry for me even with Lisa with her - she's no slouch, she knew I was there somewhere! But after being given her "bankie" (she carries around one of her dad's t-shirts at all times for comfort) she calmed down and Lisa was actually able to leave the room for about 1/2 hour. Baby steps, right? Lisa really is like her second mom so she is able to get great comfort from her. I was there to scoop her up once school was over.

We'll see how it goes next week! I'm confident she's ready for school since she is so very social and incredibly bright and curious. It will just take a little time to adjust to the new environment and schedule. I can't be happier with the warm, caring teachers who will teach Jia and the other kids seem great. Hopefully she'll soon make good friends and cry to leave rather than to stay! This was an emotionally draining week for Jia and the mom. It is so hard to hear her cry for me - by the time I left for work in the afternoon I'd felt I'd already run a marathon! I know this is an important part of creating flexibility and independence and properly launching our beloved daughter, but boy it sure is tough!

We're Home - A Recap

It was relaxing, exhausting, stimulating. Vacationing with a 2 year old is an experience only parents with a 2 year old can understand! Jia had a great albeit unsettled time. New stuff was cool, new stuff was not so cool. We visited the beach most days for 45 minutes max, we spent a great day in Savanna, we watched 4026 hours of Dora (thank you Aunt Lisa for the DVDs and Kitty for the DVD player - none of us would have made it out with our sanity without them). These pictures reflect T's beach experience versus MY beach experience. He'll read this and say - ''what?" "huh"? Jia grabbing my leg at least proves I was there too!

More Fun Pictures from the Beach

We're having a blast! The place we're staying is lovely and very, very comfortable. It overlooks a pond and just across the street from the beach - just a short 5 minute walk to the beach. There is a sign that says there is an alligator in the pond and that we should be sure not to feed it. Ok - I guess we can follow those instructions! We haven't actually seen the alligator yet and that is ok with me too! We've been on the go constantly and have been really enjoying our long awaited and much needed vacation! Here are some fun pictures - hope you enjoy them as much as Jia enjoyed the chocolate ice cream cone that was almost as big as she is!

Bring On The Waves

So - the first time we visited the beach Jia basically wanted nothing to do with sand, wind, water or waves. Now she is like- BRING IT ON! We are having so much fun at the beach. If only it could go on and on and on. But we still have the week and we have many adventures ahead of us! Enjoy the pic, we have a VERY slow connection so I'll update as possible.

Random Pictures of Life at Home

Jia continues to grow and thrive. Her beauty is breath taking. Her wit and intelligence are a daily joy. Life is good and something we never take for granted. Enjoy these wonderful pictures - I need to get some of these framed and on the walls!

Happy Birthday PaPa

We celebrated my dad's birthday yesterday at my folks house. As usual the house was vibrating and shaking with energy! It paled to the energy when the Illinios cousins were visiting but still a big time and a great day with my dad. Happy Birthday Pop!! My mom cooked up another amazing meal and we all feasted on cake and ice cream as well! You'll notice Jia was not in the best of moods during the photo ops. She hates to sit at a table and eat. It makes her (and thus the mom) crazy to be restricted to one place for any reason! Very typical 2 year old in some ways - and amazingly above the curve for a 2 year old in many, many other ways. She is having a vocabulary burst and is talking up a storm. She continues to understand things we say that absolute amaze us. Her ability to follow multistep requests astounds even the most seasoned parents!

Here a few pics of the day. I still need to get posts up detailing the Illinios clan visit and our trip to the beach and I'll get to them soon. We've been having some computer issues with the laptop I use to do my blogging but my ever talented husband has it all fixed up! All it took was my mentioning that I was going to get onto Amazon and order a new one and presto, change-o - the computer was fixed!! Terrell does SO much around here that it wasn't a matter of ignoring the issue or being disinterested - I just had to get it moved up on the list of priorities. Threatening to pull out the ol' credit card shot the computer issues up to first place! Heh. Anyway - we're on countdown to vacation and we're all very excited. But first we have to get through some very busy work weeks. Speaking of which - I need to get back to it!

Summer is Awesome!

Jia has been having tons of fun this summer going to the pool and hanging out all day with her cousins. LaLa has an amazing amount of energy to take that brood to the pool but Jia is always so happy when I pick her up. She's changing so much every day and is such a very happy little girl! She has now taken to carrying around her "bankie" which started out as a slept in t-shirt belonging to her dad. It's still her daddy's t-shirt but at least now she's willing to accept a newly laundered one as well! She must have it at all times. It's really sweet (and a little hard for the mom - knowing she uses it to provide comfort because she misses us) but that is a very normal and desirable developmental stage. We are all most certainly bonded as a family! She is getting so much from her daddy these days. As with most kiddos, for a long time, she wanted and would only take mommy when she needed comfort. But now the dad rules and she loves being with him. It's all falling into place and she continues to grow and expand her abilities at what seems like lightning speed. She's communicating very well now too. No full sentences but she can clearly get her point across. She even said "do it myself" one night in the bath when I was obviously overstepping my bounds by pouring water from her little watering can into the flower pot! Jia turned 2 in June and she has just continued to amaze us with her speech and growth everyday. The IL cousins and Aunt and Uncle were just in town as well and that kicked the fun up even more! We visited the beach for the first time since Jia came home and that can be a post all on its own! I have tons of pictures to share of a lot of summer fun! Hope all is well with all of our friends out there and I hope your summer is full of fun too!

There's No Better Time than PaPa Time!

I think these pics say a thousand words! Jia had so much fun hanging out and playing with her grandfather who she lovingly has named PaPa. She giggled and teased and down right fell to the floor laughing with him. As I've mentioned many times on this blog, I am so very lucky to have him as my dad and now Jia gets to enjoy him as her grandfather!

Happy 4th to All!

At the Zoo with the Dad

Here are a couple of pics of Jia at the zoo with her dad. They had a wonderful time! The one picture makes it seem that Jia was a bit unsure of the giraffe ( I think I would have been!) but Terrell said no, she actually would put a few pieces of kibble in her hand and call out for the giraffe to take it from her! Which he did! Hope you're all have a great summer. I'll try to get posts out a bit more frequently.

Thank You Honorary Aunt Cindy - The Cow Rocks!

Fun with Dad

Not much time to post these days between Jia being sick, me being sick, work being crazy and life being generally over the top busy but I wanted to take a moment to post a few great shots of Jia and Jia with her dad. Talking about being sick though, I've never been sick so often in my life and it's tough. Juggling a 2 year old who is sick and consequently sneezes and coughs into my mouth knowing that the evil illness is now only days away from taking me down is just part of being a mom - I know this. I worry so much about Jia when she's sick - she's really only been scary sick 3 times in the past 13 months. But she was scary sick this time (all is well now so no worries) and then I got scary sick. I'm on the mend but oh my. Oh the fun cycles. But hopefully I'm building a fortress of an immune system toward childhood crud and soon I'll be able to better battle the germs.

These pictures are of us just hanging around the house. Some girlfriends gave me some silly martini/margarita sunglasses a few years back and Jia found them crammed away in a drawer. She loves to put them on her daddy and wear them herself. She also gets a kick out of eating with her dad. You can see the spaghetti fest from a week or two ago. Those shorts of T's will never be the same. Our dog Nora always has to have her nose in close by just in case a stray noodle comes flying her way.

Anyway, enjoy the pics. She gets more beautiful everyday. Our little beauty turns 2 on Tuesday! I just can't believe it!!