We've Moved!!!

Hi Folks Happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there!! We're spending the day at home since Naomi has been sick, but I wanted to let you all know that as of today, naomiwei.blogspot.com will be retired. BUT WAIT Before you get too sad (all 10 of you who read this), we've moved to www.naomiandmikaela.com That's right, Mikaela finally gets in on the fun. The new blog site is courtesy of the most amazing husband ever, and is part of the many many mother's day gifts I got this year. Anyway, head on over, all the old posts have already been moved over, and Austin has already uploaded two new mother's days posts, including one of Naomi singing..so get on over there!

Hot hot hot

Whenever I see the girl's daycare on my caller id, I literally hold my breath waiting to hear what they have to tell me. Today I got the dreaded call informing me that Mikaela had a fever of 101.6. I left work early to pick both girls up and make a stop by the doctors. When the nurse took Mikaela's temperature, she was running a fever of 104.3. HOT. Seems like she has another virus which we'll have to wait out. Poor girl.

Mikaela 15 months

Mikaela turned 15 months 3 wks ago. I’ve been pretty bad at keeping up with these monthly updates. Second child syndrome at its best. It’s so bad, that I actually forgot she had to get a 15 month well check up at the pediatricians and was due for shots. The only reason I remembered was because while she was sick (yet again) and at the doctor’s office, the nurse informed us that she was overdue for her shots. Oh well. She got them done.

Mikaela is really starting to become her own person now, and what a person she is becoming. She is going to be headstrong, stubborn and intelligent. She catches on to things so quickly, loves mimicking, and is frighteningly good a mimicking. She’s quick to catch on to little games and is incredibly playful. But watch out cause she knows what she wants and if she doesn’t get it, in a blink of an eye she can morph from an incredibly happy, cute, baby, into the fussiest, loudest, most annoying and terribly annoying screaming mess. 

Mikaela is starting to become a challenge at meal times. She’s becoming extremely picky and would rather go hungry than eat foods she doesn’t like. Which is basically anything healthy. But give her anything sweet, or any kind of junk food, and she could out eat most adults. She has low tolerance for her high chair, and has recently stopped being able to make it through an entire meal in her high chair while we’re out at restaurants. The meal usually ends with Austin holding her in his lap, trying to eat one handed.

 She’s getting better at walking. She still won’t walk unassisted, although she’s fully capable of doing so. If she just barely touches your fingers, she can walk all over the place. She definitely is the fastest crawler out there though. I bet she could pretty much win any crawling race. Maybe because she’s so little for her age.

Her vocabulary is incredible. Even our pediatrician is impressed. Maybe it’s one of the benefits of beinga second child. Her sign language is pretty much non existent though. She can sign for “more” and “please”.

 Words she knows:
NO – this is clearly her favorite word. She says no all day long.
Nay-Nay – what she calls Naomi - her second favorite word
Milk – really sounds more like Mol since she can’t prounounce her K’s
More
Mommy – mommy previously meant “more” to her. Now “more” means “more” and “Mommy” is what she calls Austin. Go figure.
Thank you – cutest thing ever, sounds like Dank choo
Please – Pease
Up
Mine
Bubbles
Hot
Whoa
 Uh-Oh
Hi
Hello
Bye Bye
 Elmo – another favorite word of hers

She’s also developed quite a case of stranger anxiety, when it comes to girls that is. She’s quick to warm up to our guy friends, but usually cries, fusses or makes mean faces at most women that try to go near her that she’s not familiar with.

 She’s is daddys’ girl right now, preferring him to anyone else. I come in second place, but I’m ok with that. She still drops everything and screams out “MOMMY” (the only time she calls me mommy, because remember, Mommy really means Daddy) as soon as she sees me at Daycare pickup. She’ll crawl with lightening speed and demand to be picked up. Definitely one of the best parts of my day.

Though she basically runs the show in our household, she’s still teeny tiny. Here are her 15 month stats: Weight: 17 lbs 12 oz (6th %) Height: 28 ¾ inches (4th %) Head circumference: 45.5cm (42nd %)

The Feeling's Mutual

I am always writing about how much Mikaela adores Naomi, how Naomi has a way of getting her to calm down when she’s upset, or how excited MIkaela gets whenever she sees Naomi. This is still true. Mikaela calls Naomi “Nay Nay” now. At school, her teachers say she’s always crawling around asking for her Nay Nay, and when you ask her If she wants to go find Naomi, she’ll nod her head enthusiastically and say, “ Nay Nay” over and over again. It’s really cute. What I haven’t really mentioned is how much Naomi loves MIkaela. She’s a really good big sister. When Mikaela is upset, Naomi will go to her and try and make her laugh, or give her a hug and comfort her. She insists on giving her a hug and kiss everynight before we put Mikaela to bed. To a point, she’ll share her toys and try and play with her. Mikaela is the only person Naomi will give her mi-mi to (her lambie comfort blanket), although it is on rare occasion that mi-mi is released from Naomi’s clutches. I didn’t realize how Naomi relies on Mikaela for comfort just as Mikaela does Naomi. Yesterday, Naomi had a rough day at school. She got into a couple of temper tantrums at school, got into a fight with her best friend, and just as I was walking in had finished up getting upset at some friends who weren’t “sharing” with her. (sometimes Naomi’s definition of “sharing” is quite suspect). As I walked into Naomi’s classroom, with Mikaela in my arms, I could see her face was all splotchy, and she was holding her teacher’s hand, asking her if she could go visit her baby Mikaela. When she saw us, she immediately ran to us and gave Mikaela a hug. Later that night when I asked her why she wanted to see Mikaela, she told me it was because she was having a hard day and seeing Mikaela would cheer her up.

Little Mozart

A few weekends ago, we took Naomi to a music school so she could take a trial "Little Mozart" class. It's a music class geared towards getting kids ready for piano. Her class would be specially catered for 3-4 year olds. There was only one other girl in the trial class, so Naomi got a lot of one on one time. She really enjoyed it and kept talking about all the things she learned, (proper positioning of her fingers on the keys, high and low notes, etc). For a week straight she asked for us to sign her up, so I we decided we'd give it a shot. It's only for 10 wks, so if after the 10 wks we think it's too much, we can always stop and wait awhile. But now she's going to be a busy bee with ballet at 9:30 and Music class at 11 on Saturdays. Plus she has a music and movement class and a dance class while she's at daycare. You'd think we were trying to raise a prima donna here. (maybe we are!)

Almost walking.

Mikaela is ALMOST walking. On Saturday, she took two steps without holding on to anything. I was right next to her, and of course didn't see it.
But she can go from a sitting position to a standing position without holding on to anything. The first time she did that was in the morning with Austin and Naomi. They were so excited, and she started clapping and smiling. Then she sat back down and did it again just for kicks, the whole time with a huge smile on her face.
Now, she can easily walk if she's holding on to something or someone's hand. She doesn't really use it for support, but more of a security/comfort thing. As soon as you take your hand away, she'll squat back down and start crawling.
But seriously folks. Any day now and she'll be walking on her own.

Happy Easter!!

Easter Bunny

After good friday service, we stopped by the mall to have dinner at Rosa Mexicano's. (very Good Friday appropriate, i know). Anyway, there was no line for the easter bunny, so we decided to try and get a shot of the easter bunny with the girls. We've never done photos with any of the crazy characters at the mall...mainly cause Naomi has been deathly afraid of them, and let's face it. Who's to blame her. A Giant Bunny? That's freaky. But after our successful Disney trip where we were able to take ton's of pictures with Disney princesses, we figured we'd give it a shot.
Upon being given to the bunny, Mikaela freaked out and started crying. We decided to boot her out of the picture. Sorry kid, there's always next year. lol seriously though, it was bad. Some people get really cute, funny crying baby pictures with easter bunny's or santa etc...this would have just been plain mean. she would have been beyond crying and cute. Tortured is a better word. Anyway, Naomi, on the other hand, had no problem hopped right on next to the easter bunny and posed. When we were done she gave him a high five and a big hug. We then went off and celebrated an excellent photoshoot (and Good Friday) with some Mexican. Ariba!!

Catching Up

This post is way overdue!! The day before Mikaela's 1 yr birthday, Friday the 13th, we had sent some cupcakes into her daycare class so she could have a little party with her class. The teachers decorated the room with Happy Birthday banners, and set up a little table for them to have a party. They sang Happy Birthday to Mikaela, she danced, and pretended to blow out a candle. With her ginormous sweet tooth, she dug in wholeheartedly into her mini cupcake. Soon enough though, she realized she was wearing a birthday hat. She hates hats. So with both hands, she tried to remove the hat. Unfortunately, with both hands, she had been digging into her cupcake. You can see the mess that was created for yourself...

Palm Sunday

For Palm Sunday our friend's the Sang's invited us over for some delicious food and a chance to catch up while the kiddies hung out. It was nice to have the kids off playing on their own while we actually enjoyed a meal sitting down at a table, with adult conversation. The kids had lunch and then played (aka destroyed the Sang's house) and then piled up on the couch to watch some cartoons. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Too bad tomorrow's monday and we all have to go back to work!

Oh My Goodness!!!

This is what Mikaela does if you say "oh my goodness" she throws one of her hands on her head.

Date Night

Gotta take advantage of having the parents around!!

Horsing Around

Naomi and Mikaela both love riding on the princess cars and trikes in our house. It was only a matter of time before they made the trike a two person ride. Mikaela turned the trunk of the trike into a second seat.

Sisterly love

Nay Nay and Cee Cee

Naomi's has a best friend at school. They are seriously the silliest kids, calling each other Nay Nay and Cee Cee.

Memory

Naomi has incredible memory. Last year, Austin picked up this little memory game for her. She easily schooled all of us in it, and after awhile had all the cards memorized, so it wasn't really much of a challenge since she knew exactly which pieces to pick up without even looking at the card. Now she's moved into bigger sets with 72 cards and can still beat most of her opponents. This past weekend she challenged both her Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh...lets just say, youth reigned victorious.

"Mommy"

Mikaela’s really good at saying the word, “Mommy”. Of course she has no idea what it means. Or maybe she does.
Every time she wants something, especially when it’s more food, she yells out, “mommy!” Over and over again until she gets what she wants.
My theory is that she’s so used to hearing Naomi say, “mommy, can I have”, or “Mommy, I need, “ or “Mommy I want” etc, so of course, she’s learned that “mommy” is simply the term to use when she needs something.

She also knows the word, “Apple” which we got really excited about last week because she pointed to an apple and said it. But then later this weekend she was holding a ball and said, “apple” as well. Oh well.
Other words she’s picked up: “Uh-Oh” whenever something drops, “Whoa” when she’s excited, “up” when she wants to be picked up.

Growing up and learning to let go

The weather is quickly turning to spring, although, did we ever really have a winter this year? Not that I’m complaining. We enjoyed the warmer weather this weekend and spent some time outdoors. Austin’s mom and dad have been visiting us this past week, so the girls got to spend some extra quality time with them as well. On Saturday, we all went out for a walk for lunch, and stopped by the local bike store. At a playdate last week, Naomi had a chance to ride her friend Emily’s “big girl bike”. She could barely reach the pedals, and had a hard time getting the bike to move at all. I spent a lot of the afternoon pushing her around the block while Emily zoomed around us. That experience definitely wet Naomi’s appetite for getting her own big girl bike, and after watching how well Emily could ride, I realized we definitely should be spending more time outdoors just playing with all of the outdoor toys we have. Sometimes we get so tired and busy from work, it’s just easier to let the girls play indoors in a contained environment. Anyway, at the bike shop, they had two bikes which Naomi could fit, she picked the pink one, surprise!
After lunch she spent the afternoon practicing, I’m so impressed at how good she’s gotten. She practiced more on Sunday afternoon as well, and can confidently pedal all by herself now, in fact if I try to grab the handle bars she’ll usually knock my hands off. She can turn on her own (with only one small spill so far), break, and is starting to get more confident with braking.
Watching her bike around, I couldn’t help by get a little anxious. Ok, a lot anxious. When she goes down hill, it took a lot for me to not yell out for her to slow down, or to simply grab the bike and slow her down myself. I kept having to brush off thoughts of her falling and getting all scraped up. When she did fall down yesterday, it took a lot for me to not rush to her and baby her immediately. Instead, knowing it was a small spill, I stood back and let her pick herself up, and watched with pride as she jumped back on her bike, instead of wimping out and declaring she was done.
I guess we’re all growing up in a way.

A Visit from the denist

At the daycare, a pediatric dentist paid Naomi's class a visit a few weeks ago. She's seen the dentist several times, and has had a dentist visit the school in the past as well, but this time, the visit really caught her attention. Apparently the dentist talked about how sugar was bad for your teeth, and that there was lots of sugar in juice and candy.

Not exactly sure what she said, but Naomi is now incredibly scared of eating candy and refuses to drink any kind of juice and just prefers water. Fine by me!!

One thing that made us laugh, and worry at the same time, was that it was a female dentist that went to visit the school. When Naomi saw me she said, "Mommy, the FAKE dentist came to visit us today!" When I asked her why she was fake, she said it was because she was a girl. Since then I've been trying to explain to her that girls can be dentists, doctors, etc. Didn't realize I'd have to teach my 3 year old about women's rights!

The funny thing is that a week after the dentist paid a visit to the school, we had our own appointment with the pediatric dentist, which happens to be the same practice as the visiting dentist. Naomi's regular dentist must have been out, because she ended up getting Dr. Choi, who was the female dentist that visited her school. I think that helped reinforce the message that she wasn't a fake dentist =)

First Words

Mikaela is pretty good at imitating some of our sounds, but I'm never really sure if she understands any of the words she's saying. Last week when I went to pick her up from daycare, she reached up to me and said, "Up!" And today I asked her if she wanted more cheerios and she said, "No" and vehemently shook her head, then she burst into giggles at the realization that she had said a word. Or maybe it was cause Naomi and I were both shouting in excitement, "SHE SAID NO!!!"

I know in a few months I'll wish she still couldn't say "no", but for now it's all very exciting.

Naomi-ism's

I'm obsessed with Downton Abbey. I finished both seasons in less than a week. Thankfully, both Mikaela and Naomi, for some odd reason, like watching the show as well. Watching with Naomi definitely requires patience though as she likes to ask questions throughout the entire show. She does say the funniest things though. Here are two of her quotes:

Naomi: "Why is Matthew with the wrong girl!! What a mix up!!"

After a scene where one of the maid's enters into one of the many grand rooms in the mansion -
Naomi: "mommy, that looks like our house"

Diaper Free and only Three

LOL that is my attempt at rhyming. So clever I am.

So after months of Naomi waking up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, having to deal with her sleep diaper, taking it off, putting it back on, we decided it was time for her to be in undies, 24/7. No more diapers! We tried awhile back when she seemed to be sleeping the entire night and waking up with dry diapers, but on the first day she soaked the bed. She was distraught at having to wear diapers again, but seriously, it was not fun changing all her sheets in the middle of the night.

But now she can get out of bed and go to the bathroom on her own, but she couldn't while wearing a diaper, so why not just put her in underwear and tell her to go on her own if she has to!? Seemed like a good plan at first.

Except the first day I told her to do that, she "HAD" to go pee 50 times before 9pm. Every 2 minutes I'd hear her feet landing on the floor as she jumped out of bed, tromped over to the bathroom, and did the whole routine.

Thankfully the excitement and freedom of being able to leave her room on her own at night has worn off, so she's only going when she needs to go.

But here's knocking on wood for no accidents in the near future.

Cutest Pats fans ever

Saying Goodbye

Today we said goodbye to an incredible woman, Austin's grandmother, the girl's great-grandmother, Ren-Ren. We spent the weekend with Austin's family, and I got to learn so much about his grandmother. Even though the stories I heard were probably only a fraction of who she was, I in awe at how amazing she was and only wish I could have gotten to know her more. I'm grateful Naomi was able to visit with her a couple of times and only wish Mikaela could have met her as well. We're extremely thankful to have been given the opportunity to say goodbye and for all that she has done in her life to influence all of our lives.

Mikaela 1 yr stats

Here are Mikaela's 1yr stats from her most recent doctor's appointment:

Weight: 16lbs 9 oz (7%)
Length: 27 3/4 inches (8%)
Head: 45.5cm (64%)

Naomi's 1yr stats

Mikaela - 1 year

Mikaela is one. Looking back on the year, it’s been quite a ride. From the beginning, Mikaela has wanted to do things her own way. She’s little, but she’s strong and knows what she wants. Even at this young age, I can see her determination. But yes, it’s been quite a year. With Mikaela, I was on bedrest for 3 weeks and was eventually scheduled for an inducement because she wasn’t growing enough. On the day we were scheduled to check into the hospital, there weren’t enough beds when we called in at our scheduled 5am time. It wasn’t until later the evening of the 13th that we finally got checked into the hospital. After one failed epidural, an episode of rapidly dropping blood pressure, near fainting and then finally vomiting from the low blood pressure shock, a second epidural, bleeding at the site of the anesthia needle, which lead to the epidural being removed, Mikaela refused to budge. Only after the epidural had had enough time to wear off, and once midnight had passed, ensuring that she wouldn’t spend her first birthday on Friday the 13th, did Mikaela suddenly decide it was time to make her grand entrance. At 1:23am, she greeted the world in a hurry.
From day 1, Mikaela had a tougher introduction to the outside world. She immediately had to have her kidneys checked and had to be seen by a cardiologist due to issues discovered while I was pregnant. Thankfully everything checked out fine. However, despite my round the clock nursing, she still wasn’t gaining enough weight, and she was getting jaundice, so we started supplementing with formula. She continued to lose weight and turned even more yellow as her bilirubin levels increased. On the day we were supposed to check out of the hospital, her jaundice had not improved and we had to stay for extra testing. Thankfully we were allowed to go home later that day, but had to bring Mikaela back to the labs for bloodwork several more times. The jaundice eventually went away, but Mikaela didn’t get any easier to care for. She wanted to be held all the time, only sleeping when she was in my arms, tucked tightly against my body. And she suffered from bad gas which kept her, and me, completely miserable as she cried and cried at night. And her peak periods of wakefulness were always between 2-4am. Thankfully, Austin took those hours to give me a chance to get some sleep. But that too passed, and now, she’s the easiest baby ever when it comes to sleeping. For nap times, I can leave her in crib wide awake, she’ll roll onto her belly, stick her butt straight up in the air, grab her bunny and then look at me as if to say, ok you can leave, I’m ready to sleep. And so I leave, while she’s wide awake, and she doesn’t even cry. She just puts her self to sleep. Amazing really. Night time is the same thing. I try to rock her and sing her a lullabye as part of her night time ritual. But on some nights, when she sees her crib, she strains to get into it not wanting to be rocked anymore.
Mikaela’s health “non” issues didn’t cease with jaundice. By 6 months, her pediatrician detected a murmur, so we had to see a cardiologist yet again, thankfully it was nothing serious, and she should grow out of it. By 9 months, she was diagnosed as being anemic and had to be given iron supplements. At 12 months, despite the iron supplements, her red blood cell count has decreased, so we need to take her for more blood work to determine if she a genetic disorder called Thalassemia, nothing serious, but still just one more thing to have to check.
Between the two girls, if our pediatrician had a points system, we would be diamond members. In December, in a span of 14 days, we went to the pediatricians office 5 times. But all in all, these are really “non” issues. Non issues because if anything, we’re just dealing with minor annoyances. Overall, MIkaela, (both my girls really) are completely healthy. It really is miraculous to think about how much has to go right in order for a person to be completely healthy.
Health issues aside. Mikaela has become our easy child. When she’s upset, she’s easily pacified, just pick her up, or give her food. Either option is sure to calm her down.
She loves to eat, everything except baby food that is. She is done with baby food. She wants what we’re eating, and if you don’t give it to her, she starts screaming at you. She knows how to sign for more, and all done, but she’s found that screaming is much more effective. She points at food that she wants, and then opens her mouth wide and says, “AHH”. She’ll give you one or two tries to get the food to her before she starts shrieking at you. She loves sweets, chocolate, ice cream, cake, you name it. She practically jumped out of her highchair in excitement when she saw me eating a cupcake the other day. Her favorite toy to play with right now is a wooden spoon and a toy pot, which she likes to stir, and then feed you with. She’ll hold out the spoon to you and say, “ahh” Then when you take a pretend bite, she cracks up laughing. I’ve decided she’s either going to become a chef, or just obese.
She still loves to snuggle and cuddle. Even if she’s content, playing on the floor, if you come by and pick her up, she’ll tuck her head right under your chin and snuggle up. This is why she doesn’t have any desire to walk though. She is literally always being carried, because everyone loves cuddling with her.
She loves music, she’ll sing and dance with you at the first signs of a beat.
She’ll imitate people around her, she’ll stick her tongue out at you if you ask her to, she’ll cough if she hears someone cough.
She loves Naomi and is starting to want to play with her, and play with whatever toys Naomi is playing with. We’re starting to get into some minor fights over toys..Mikaela usually ends up the victor. She has an iron grip, and Naomi lives in fear of being punished if she hurts the baby. Which by the way, she calls Mikaela “Sweetheart” and can’t talk to her in a normal voice, when she talks to Mikaeala, her voice goes up squeaky high as she says, “sweet heart….” Mikaela is mischevious though. Naomi is pretty good about sharing her toys with Mikaela, but the one thing she generally wont share is her “mimi” her lambie, security toy. (describing mimi in this post doesn’t do mimi justice, one of these days she’ll have her own post. That’s how important she is). But Naomi is always putting Mimi down, leaving her on the floor, the table, the shelf etc. And Mikaela is obsessed with Mimi. As soon as she sees that Naomi has put Mimi down, Mikaela will giggle, smile, cackle whatever you want to call it, and crawl like lightning mcqueen, and grab Mimi. She doesn’t just pick Mimi up though. She’ll grab Mimi by the head, clutch it to her body and squeal with delight. Which then of course causes Naomi to look up, realize what has happened, and snatch Mimi back.
As much as she loves Naomi though, Mikaela’s new favorite is Daddy. She’s a daddy’s girl through and through. Don’t try to take her away from Daddy or she’ll scream at you.
Mikaela is so incredibly little, still fitting 3 month clothes despite her 1yr of age. Everyone looks at her and can’t believe she’s already 1. But don’t let her tininess fool you. I expect big things from Mikaela. She’s already proven to us how much she can overcome, and how big of a personality she has. Happy Birthday Mikaela, thank you for making our family complete.

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"Birthday girl"

Birthday

12 months ago my baby was born. Where does the time go.

Back to reality

Talk about mega sunday blues. Tomorrow is my first day of work in 2012. Thanks to the girls being sick, then me getting sick, I ended up staying home all last week. Naomi went to daycare on Thursday and Friday, and Mikaela stayed home with me the entire week. While it was rough having everyone being sick, it definitely was a treat to be home with the girls. It's always a treat to drop Naomi off at daycare. Since it's early in the morning, she has a ton of energy, is excited to go, and isn't overly tired like she is when i pick her up. I get to see her in an environment with friends and teachers. I get to talk to her teachers a bit more, and talk and joke around with her classmates.

And being home alone with Mikaela was the biggest treat of all. It really is rare that I get that much one on one time with her. Not that I'm complaining, but usually when I'm not at work, we're all hanging out as a family, or I'm busy taking Naomi to dance class, or other random errands, and it's easier to leave Mikaela at home with Austin. Unsurprisngly, she has become quite the daddy's girl and totally prefers Austin more than me. Naomi went through the same stage as well (although now everyone can attest to the fact that she's a momma's girl all the way =P ). I'm used to it this time and it doesn't hurt as much as it did with Naomi. I remember crying when she would see me and turn away only to reach out to Austin. Anyway, having a week home with just Mikaela was so nice. I got to see her personality even more. I got to teach her some new tricks, like grabbing her head when you say, "Oh my goodness", puckering her lips and kissing you when you ask for a kiss, blowing out candles, (in preparation for her birthday next week). I also got to witness some of her "firsts", like when she stood up unassisted for the first time, or her first time trying out new foods (scrambled eggs and spaghetti are some of her favorites). We got on such a great schedule with 2 long naps each day, she is SO easy. I can put her down for a nap while she's wide awake, and she wont' even cry or protest, and when she wakes up and calls out for me, I go in to be greeted by a smiling baby who says "Hi" at the sight of me.

Anyway, I digress. I have the sunday blues and I really should be going to bed. Instead I'm blogging because I already miss my girls. We have a full week too. Five whole work days!!! It's been awhile since I've had one of those =). But at least the end of this week is something to look forward to. On Friday, our daycare has a "parent's night out" night where the daycare stays open til 9:30. Austin and I have a date night planned with dinner in the city. We haven't picked a restaurant yet but we're definitely picking something completely not-child friendly.
And then on Saturday, the big birthday. Mikaela turns 1!!! Her birthday party will be the following week (mainly due to lazy, unorganized parents) but we'll definitely make it a special family day. I can't believe my baby is 1!!! sob.

Ugh ok, things to look forward to. A week of work not so fun. But things could be worse right?

This is how we tea party

Look ma, no hands!

While I was picking Naomi up from daycare today, I leaned Mikaela up against one of the tables so I could have my hands free to gather Naomi's stuff, and Mikaela could get a chance to look around. When I glanced down at her, she had let go of the table and was standing up all on her own!! She did it several more times before we left and was screaming with excitement when Naomi's pre-school teachers, classmates, and Naomi were all cheering for her.
We tried to have her stand up again when we got home so I could take a quick snapshot, but she didn't want to, so Naomi helped her out a little. Love this shot of my girls.

A winter dance recital

Naomi is in a dance class at her daycare. The Thursday before Christmas, her class held a dance recital at daycare. My brother Fritz, and good friends Dan and Kathy were all in town, so we invited them along to the show.

Most of the kids in Naomi's daycare class were in the show, and it was so cute to see how excited they were. They danced to several songs in the middle rec room of the daycare. It was much more casual than the previous dance recital we just attended, and personally, I thought much more fun. It never fails to amaze me how focused Naomi is when she's dancing. She followed the teacher to a t, and constantly checked to make sure she was in her spot on the stage. At one point she had been moved over to the opposite side of the room, and she hilariously, yet discreetly, scooted over across the room, through the stage of dancers, back to the spot she had been assigned to for the first half of the show. It was a good laugh.

After the show, the dance teacher came up to me and asked me if Naomi was in a different dance class outside of school because she was so precise with all of her moves, and can do all the dance positions after being taught just one time. She said Naomi was the only in the class that could do that. Totally an ego boost that every parent would love to get. I could hear my own mom telling me the story of my preschool days of a similar situation where my daycare teacher told her that I could sing every song after being taught just one time. It's funny how you grow up hearing these stories from your parents as a kid only to have this story mirrored in your own child's life. Anyway here are some pictures from the show. Since we've been on break for a week, Naomi has literally been dancing nonstop. She puts on pretend dance recitals for Austin and I and sometimes for no one at all. She even danced at the new years eve party and in the waiting room of the doctor's office. It's amazing how she can forget to be shy when she's dancing!