The Big 2!

I can't believe she's two. Saying that the last two years have flown by seems like a huge understatement. She brings so much happiness into our lives each day. :)

For her two-year birthday (I know that was a month ago) we decided to go to her favorite restaurant to have a hotdog for dinner. She loves going to Smashburger even though I think she ends up eating more ketchup than anything else. :) Then since the time she woke up that morning, she was telling us that she wanted to go swimming. How can you resist letting her do what she wants on her own birthday? So even though we knew it was going to make it a long night, we decided to go swimming anyway. She just loves swimming. Her favorite thing lately is to jump off the ledge to Ryan. You have to be ready at all times because she doesn't necessarily give any warning before she decides to go ahead and jump.

Then we went home and still needed to frost the cake. So Shari later gave me some pointers that will help the next time around (like freezing the cake so it's easier to frost). I had crumbs everywhere since I decided to cut it and make a square, two-layer cake. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger are some of her favorites right now so we decided they should be on the cake. By the time the cake was ready, we have pictures of her looking quite tired again this year. I see a trend... She was so exhausted last year as well. I'm going to have to do better planning next year. :) And when you see her hair and outfit in these pictures, remember we just got home from swimming....






The candies on top were her favorite part.


Then it was time to open presents and she loved that. It's funny because now whenever she sees a box, she says, "Nyah, present?" She gets so excited.

Here are some of the fun things she's doing at 2 years and 1 month old:

- Nyah is saying short sentences like "I want cake" or "Daddy, I eat bubbles".
- She loves bubble baths.
- She loves the park (especially playing in the water).
- Nyah wants to be outside as much as possible.
- She loves to read books. I can't believe how many parts of the books she has memorized these days. I can stop reading and she fills in words. The memory of a two-year can be amazing.
- We can negotiate with her (unless she's super tired). For example, she wouldn't sit in her high chair at the restaurant tonight so her and I went out to the car to have a talk and she decided she wanted to go back inside and sit in the high chair. I love when it actually works. :)
- However, she is learning the art of negotiating as well because everything these days is "one". She only wants "one".
- She is a very determined little girl and knows just what she wants.
- Nyah has a ton of energy and spends a lot of time running.
- She still loves to sleep. She is sleeping about 11-12 hours at night with a 2-3 hour nap. We're lucky, what can we say?
- She tells us "I love you" (my favorite thing in the world right now)!
- She loves to laugh and play with her daddy.
- She thinks anything elevated off the floor is meant to be jumped off of.
- The other morning she told me, "I cute". Maybe I tell her that too much but can you really be told that too much when you are two?
- She is generally a very happy little girl.
- She is 31 pounds (90th percentile) and 34 3/4 inches tall (80th percentile). She's not taking after me so far.
- She prefers not to be wearing clothes. We were in church the other day and she was telling us, "clothes off" as she tried to take off her dress. :)
- When we ask her to pick up her toys or do something else she doesn't want to do, she tells us "I'm busy". What a kid.

Well we love her so much and are so grateful she's been part of our lives for the last two years - what a blessing. She shows me each day how to find happiness in the small things in life. She is so sweet and we can't imagine our lives without her. Thank you Nyah for all of your smiles and laughter.

Tumble Time and New Sunglasses

Papa and Kaki (Dale and Kathy) give Nyah money for birthdays, Christmas, etc. for lessons or whatever we want to do. Well we decided to try out some "tumble" lessons at the rec center. She absolutely loves it. She has had 3 lessons so far, and she can't get enough. We go on Saturday mornings. Here are some of the things she does. First the rings.


And they kick balls off the balance beam as they go along. Then we put them on the ground and they do "ta-da". It's cute. They also have a trampoline, a bar, and a little vault. They do circle time and sing songs and just have a good time. Thanks for tumble time Papa and Kaki.
Then a couple of weeks ago we were at Carter's shopping for spring/summer clothes for Nyah. We don't really need them these days since it keeps snowing! Anway, this store is dangerous for me. I can spend way too much money in very little time. While I was shopping, Ryan found these sunglasses there for Nyah. Nyah is always telling us in the car that it is "bright". Plus they are too cute.
And just another cute shot of Nyah being happy. We are glad we have such a happy girl. We sure love her.

A Fun Visit

Well the first weekend in March we had some visitors from Idaho. We were very excited to have my Mom, Shari, Lisa, Jordan, and Hallie here. We have a picture of Hallie on our fridge and Nyah always points to it and says, "Hallie!" I told Nyah before Hallie came that "Hallie is coming". She was so excited for her to come - very cute.

Well Mom, Shari, Lisa and I went to Time Out For Women. I really enjoyed it and hope they did as well. It was a good break and a chance to "fill our buckets". Anyway, the two big boys (Ryan and Jordan) stayed home and took care of the two little girls. It was a fun time and I really enjoyed the time we were able to spend together. Thanks Mom, Shari, Lisa, Jordan, and Hallie for coming to see us. Nyah is still saying, "Hallie coming?" and we just tell her, "yes, someday."

Hot Diggity Dog Dance

Nyah has recently discovered a few select cartoons she enjoys. One is My Friends Tigger and Pooh and the other is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Her favorite part of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is the "Hot Dog Dance" at the end. She is hilarious when she dances along. Here is a video of her doing the "Hot Dog Dance". She got into it even more the time before but of course I didn't have the camera for that one. Regardless, it's fun.

She continues to learn and is saying tons of new words. The other day she told me she wanted to do her "ABCD's" and sure enough, I would sing but if I stopped, she would fill in the letters. It's crazy how kids are just little sponges that soak everything up. Her favorite part is "L-M-N-O-P". It's not perfect but you can definitley tell what she's saying. Hopefully this weekend I will still find a few minutes to post some pictures from last weekend when Mom, Shari, Lisa, Jordan, and Hallie came to visit. Good times.

Almost 23 Months Old - Amazing!

Each day at Nyah's school they circle which adjectives describe her day. I noticed the other day there is an option for "quiet" and I just thought to myself, "That's one they will never circle for Nyah". Nyah loves life and lives each day to its fullest. The common adjectives are energetic, cheerful and playful that they use to describe her days. She apparently tells them all the time as well how happy she is. One of the girls that helps in her room at the end of the day told me if I ever need a babysitter, let her know because she loves Nyah. I was so grateful to hear that. Here's our happy girl.
The other day when I picked her up, they had done her hair and it was such a "big girl hair do". I couldn't believe how different she looked with her hair "up". If I can get her to hold still one of these days, I'm going to have to try it because she looked super cute.

Everything is going great around here. Life continues to be really busy but it's good and keeps us on our toes. Nyah continues to pick up on words constantly. Here are some of the fun things she is doing at nearly 23 months (just a few days away). I can't believe she is almost two! Most of the things below in quotation marks are words she is saying.

1. I love how she says "pickle" and "chicken". It's adorable. I got her on video the other day so I'll have to get those posted as well.

2. She loves "cocorn" and "ice cream". She is part Pincock so that explains the ice cream and the popcorn was introduced by the Hills over Christmas vacation.

3. She says "bless you" when we sneeze and asks if we are "okay" when we cough.

4. She says "peeky boo" instead of peek-a-boo.

5. She says "thank you're welcome". I guess she figures she'll get it all out at once.

6. She loves to help unload the dishwasher.

7. Nyah loves to go swimming.

8. She tells us all the time she wants to "play".

9. She already loves books. We have to read several every night and she decides the order by telling me "thisun" (this one) and pulling out the next one from the stack.

10. She is a great sleeper. I always say it's because she is running all the hours she is awake, so she really needs her sleep. She generally sleeps about 12 hours per night and then also takes a 2 hour nap. My mom always reminds me I might not be so lucky the next time around. :)

11. She is a happy girl who loves life and lives it with passion (and a fair share of determination - I think she gets that from her daddy).

12. Every once in a while she will watch cartoons with Ryan for a few minutes and he loves it.

13. Seeing Toby brings a smile to her face. You will see below she wanted to join Toby in his kennel. She was more impressed with the situation than he was. :)

14. She has Ryan all figured out (and me too for that matter).

15. One of her favorite phrases these days is "mommy daddy". Ryan swears she is saying "Mommy...Daddy save me" because I'm the mean one these days.

16. She amazes me every day with how much she understands. We are focusing on choices.

17. Nyah loves music. She sits in her car seat and bops her head to the music and she is always dancing. She loves to sing as well. Some of her favorites are "Wheels on the Bus", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree", and lately "Once There Was a Snowman". She is an excellent melter. Now when we are singing, if we stop, she will fill in a word or two on her own.

18. The only time she will cuddle is if we "rock" for a few minutes before she goes to bed and I savor every second of it.

19. She is very independent. Often times she doesn't want to be carried but tells us she wants to "walk".

20. She wants the receipt at Sam's Club so she can turn it in for a "happy face".

We love her and enjoy watching her as she continues to learn and figure out her world.