Thanksgiving Post...Well Past the Fact

Yes, it's December 30th. Thanksgiving was over a month ago and we already had Christmas, but I thought I would throw a few posts out there. And, yes, this is actually Matthew doing a posting. I vow to increase my posts in 2010 and it starts with the end of 2009 postings.

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house this year and Myla couldn't wait for the real turkey. Here she is chewing on a felt turkey that was on the refrigerator.

Myla got to spend some good time with her Uncle Andrew. No telling what these two are talking about over breakfast one morning.

Uncle Andrew pushes Myla around in her shopping cart.

One of the things that Myla enjoys most these days is sitting. Kind of hard to explain unless you actually see it for yourself, but she loves finding things to sit on. Especially things that aren't really meant to sit on - like boxes, cans, and small rocking chairs that are meant for decoration as seen in this picture.

For this year's Christmas present for my parents, we got some family pictures taken of all the kids and grand kids. Much thanks to my Aunt Maria for helping out as the photographer. It can be difficult to get a good picture of six adults when you're trying to do it outside. It's nearly impossible when you include three girls that are two or younger. Here are some of the shots in between the group photos.

Here are the three granddaughters.

One last shot of Myla enjoying the Christmas lights at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Empty China Cabinet = Fun!

Here's Myla in one of the new play spots she found while we were preparing for our move last month.

Pretty

Halloween Wrap-up Part II

Appropriately, Myla's favorite part of the visit to Zoo Boo was seeing the monkeys. I absolutely love these pictures.

Halloween Wrap-up Part I

Looking through our photo files, I found these Halloween pics that didn't make it into our Halloween slide show. They're from our outing to "Zoo Boo," the trick-or-treating event at our local zoo.


This lion was way scarier than any ghost!

Thanks for coming to visit, Uncle Tim!

Hair Model

Here are a few pictures I took right after the haircut. So grown-up!

And does she or does she not look like Victoria Beckham with her sophisticated bob and oversized sunglasses? (Answer: does).

First Real Haircut at the hands of a Master!

Back in October, Uncle Tim came to visit us for the weekend. We had a great time, and also put Tim to work giving Myla her first real haircut. I was apprehensive, since at the time she would barely even let me comb her hair (she's since gotten better).

Here's the before shot. Notice the big smile. Unfortunately you can't see the rag-a-muffin hair.


"Wait a minute . . . what's going on here?"


By the end Myla was not a happy camper.


But not to worry, Myla harbored no hard feelings for Tim after she saw how great her new haircut looked. Fab-u-lous!

Check back tomorrow for several more photos showing off her great new 'do!

18 Month Checkup

We just had Myla's 18 month checkup, and everything looks good! Her ear infections are clearing up, and the two shots she got today will be the last until she starts kindergarten (which will never happen, right?).

M.J. now weighs 22 lb, 6 oz (25th percentile) and is 33 inches tall (85th percentile). I have read that a good predictor of adult height is to double height at age two. If she doesn't grow another inch in the next six months, this means she'll be 5'6" and taller than me. And if she grows a couple more inches, we're looking at 5'10" and that beach volleyball career starts to become a real possibility! :)

17 Month Photos

Here are the pictures from the 17-month photo shoot. She was pretty cooperative this time. :)

I couldn't decide between these two!

All fall down!

Check out the Zumbiels' blog for lots of recent updates on Myla's cousins and this awesome photo of Myla and Anna playing Ring Around the Rosie!

Words

Add the following to the list of words Myla says: uh-oh, "ucky," shoe (always in triplicate, "shoeshoeshoe"), hot and hop (sound the same), hat, pizza, and paci. Nana and Pop also swear that she says "excuse me," but I remain skeptical.

There are many others that we think we've heard or that I'm not remembering right now . . . we're definitely in the phase where Myla's starting to put the pieces of speech and language together.

On the other hand, the list of words she understands seems limitless. She picks up new ones as they arise really quickly. As an example, she already understands lots of Christmas words, like Santa, snowman, and Christmas tree.

More posts coming this week, check back often!

Window Seat

Myla had adopted a favorite spot in our old house . . . the window seat. She loved to climb up there, even though she wasn't supposed to without asking for help first.

Giving a big squeeze to Chi Chi. So sweet!

Hanging out with Uncle Tim, Chi Chi, and Zipper.

Asking for lotion . . . another favorite.

Don't know why I like this picture, but I do

Sick day

Myla was feeling a little under the weather one day in October, running a little temperature and feeling pretty tired. It was nothing to worry about, but she did spend the afternoon napping on Matthew. When she's not feeling well, she loves to snuggle and will sleep on you--something she doesn't do otherwise. While I hate it when she doesn't feel well, I love those moments of feeling needed and being so close to her.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you're all enjoying your holiday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and I enjoy it even more now that it means spending several days in a row with Myla and Matthew. No work, no day care, just us together!

I thought I'd share a Myla anecdote that seems to be in the spirit of the holiday. MJ has recently learned to play Ring-Around-the-Rosie (taught to her by Grandma and Anna and reinforced by day care). She loves it, but she won't allow you to start until everyone in the room is playing. One by one, she'll hold out her hand to anyone still on the sidelines until they join in. It's just the sweetest thing to have her reach out to you and let you know that it's just not the same without you!

This Thanksgiving, we're all so thankful for wonderful friends and family . . . we wouldn't be the same without any of you, either!

How magic is made

I know you're all fans of the monthly photo shoots . . . but I'm not sure you fully understand what goes into producing them. In addition to the styling, we're finding that we need more and more creative ways to get Myla to be in the picture with the sign showing. Here are some outtakes from the 16 months session. Notice the hard work of my assistant, Matthew!

First, you have to catch her:

Then "tag" her (a.k.a. put in her barrette--I really love this action shot of Matthew putting it in):

Then keep her from ripping the sign up before you get a good shot! Lately we're having to stretch our definition of "good."

16 Months

Here are MJ's 16-month photos from the beginning of October. Check back tomorrow for a behind-the-scenes look at the shoot!

This post made possible by antibiotics

So sorry for the lack of posting recently . . . our household has been sidelined by a major move, cross-country travel, and illness (sinus infection for Kasey, ear infections for Matthew & Myla, with a hole in the eardrum for Matthew!). But I can hear you say: "Don't give me excuses, give me results!" Okay, okay! Check back frequently in the future for updates on the last few months.

Here's a random smattering of pictures from (ahem) September. Let them remind you of sunnier days!

Myla on the playground


Reading the Sunday paper with Daddy


Hanging out with Nana and Pop while Mommy and Daddy go to the ND game:


Enjoying the rocking chair at Grandma and Grandpa's:

A New Home Full of Sick People

The last few weeks have been some of the craziest days in recent memory for the family. We couldn't have done it without the help of our parents, a great moving company, and antibiotics.

Two weeks ago, Kasey's parents came to visit for a couple days and were very helpful in packing up some things for our move and cooking some meals. I know I was kind of dragging my feet on getting started with packing our belongings so seeing a lot of things going into boxes was just what I needed to realize that the moving day was quickly approaching.

Things took a turn for the worse last weekend when Kasey and Myla were not feeling very well. Myla had been cranky for about two weeks with a constant runny nose and a nagging cough and our nights had been pretty rough at times with her crying. I'm sure this comes as a bit of pleasure to all those parents out there that are probably sick of hearing us talk about how great of a sleeper Myla is and how she is nver sick. Stupid daycare!

The movers came last Monday and everything related to that couldn't have gone any better. The four guys that did the move were very friendly and most importantly, very careful with our things. The move went off without any problems although it was pretty sad to leave our empty house that had been so good to us for four years.

After getting everything into the house on Monday, things went downhill from there. Kasey got sicker each day until she woke up on Wednesday with no voice. That same morning I woke up with one heck of an earache and Myla was still battling her cough. I went to the doctor and was told I have an ear infection. What? Since when does anyone older than four get an ear infection? Stupid daycare rugrats giving my daughter germs that she then snuck in my ear!

I'll spare you the details, but things got much worse on Thursday and Friday as I was in serious pain and discomfort and Kasey couldn't talk and had a fierce cough. It was kind of funny as she had no voice and I couldn't hear. It was about 48 hours of her whispering things and me replying "what?"

My parents rolled in on Friday and their timing couldn't have been any better. They were such a huge help watching Myla all weekend so that Kasey and I could take care of ourselves and do some things around the house. We're starting to feel much better as the medicine has had some time to kick in and my Bengals brought home another huge victory on Sunday.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Yes, you read that right. This week it's parent-teacher conferences at Myla's day care. Matthew joked last night that they were going to say things like "We feel that Myla is not serious about her studies," or "Myla is not living up to her potential." I mean, what could they say about a 17-month old?

As it turns out, plenty! They had a great two-page form rating her level of development in different areas. She either got a "very good," "good," or "needs work" (the latter is the Notre Dame HR's equivalent of "opportunity for improvement"). Myla was doing very well in most areas, and even got an exclamation point on knowing her body parts, since her teacher said she just went on and on naming things and Myla knew them all! She also got "very goods" in things like stacking and building, turning pages, scribbling, and responding to simple directions.

Her "needs works" were mostly in the area of verbal communication. Myla is a fluent babbler and signer, but doesn't use too many words yet (mommy, daddy, up, teddy, and, oddly enough, "teeth"). No cause for concern at all, but it was nice to hear the teachers say they do exercises with her and challenge her to use words. I have a feeling she'll just open the floodgates one day soon and the words will come pouring out.

I did also ask if she played with any of her classmates more than others, and I learned that she is buddies with Brady and Hailey. And from my own personal observations, I think Micah has a crush on her. He always runs to greet her when she arrives and this morning he helped her take her coat off. Such a gentleman. :)

That's it for parent-teacher conferences. Do we have a big girl or what?

Myla is a little monkey, and all monkeys are curious. But no monkey is as curious as Myla!

Finally, what you've been waiting for all week--the Halloween slide show! We had such a fantastic Halloween weekend. Matthew and I went to the Kinnucan's annual halloween bash on Friday night, which was Saturday Night Live-themed. We teamed up with Anna to go as Pete Schweddy and the hosts of NPR's "The Delicious Dish." Our costumes were pretty great, but we lost the contest to Steve Noto, who won for a third time and the second year in a row. Matthew vowed to claim the title next year.

On Halloween, we started with a costume party in honor of Henry Smoker's second birthday! All the kids looked great in their costumes and adults and kids alike had a great time. That evening, Myla donned her monkey costume again for trick-or-treating, which we did in Nick and Anna's neighborhood. This time, Matthew accompanied her as the Man in the Yellow Hat, making Myla Curious George. They got tons of compliments, and awed looks from little fans. We hit about 15 houses, with Myla more or less looking confused (but happy) the entire time. After that we were all pretty chilly and some of us were ready to get out of our costumes and get the yellow paint off our foreheads, so we went back to Nick and Anna's for cider and chili and a little football.

It was a beautiful and fun weekend. Thanks to the Kinnucans, Smokers, and Johnsons for being such great hosts and party-throwers. Man, I love Halloween!

Click to expand and see the whole show:

This is not a look just anyone can pull off

Work it!