Family Happenings

So much to catch up on!

2010-11-06T20:04:00.000-07:00

Since I joined Facebook, I've been very neglegent about posting on our blog. It's been almost a year since my last post. Farah is now 2 1/2 years old, and we're expecting our second baby in the beginning of April. Farah is so excited to be a big sister, and she is convinced that we're having a baby girl. She says she will rock her, change her, feed her, teach her etc. Hopefully she won't be too much of a little mommy!

As far as Farah's developments in the last several months, she potty trained before she hit her second birthday. She was in panties around 21 months and virtually accident free by her second birthday. She continues to do very well with it, but she does have to wear a pull up to sleep. She knew all of her colors by around 18 months, and knew her alphabet soon afterwards. At this point she can sing the abcs, count to about 11 or 12, and she knows about 8 shapes. She is still very verbal and cracks us up with her imagination and humor. She went through a phase where "poop" was the best word in the world. If you asked her what she wanted to eat, she replied with, "poop!" If you asked her what she did at Trisha's house, you got "poop" in response. She got a little too carried away with it though, and the word now has to be reserved for bathrooms only. She has replaced it by blowing "zoober" like noises with her mouth when she wants to be silly. Her newest made up silly word is "cricker" (it used to be "oot.") When she's feeling silly, she calls us "little crickers." Tonight, after prayers, Farah said, "Amen, cricker God."

Farah also developed an absolute obsession with "Finding Nemo." It was all she wanted to watch, read or play in the tub. Heath sort of fixed the problem; he went out and bought three more Pixar movies! I, as usual, don't want her to watch much TV. Now if I could just get Heath and Farah on board with my plan. Her favorite activities (outside of movie watching) include diapering her baby dolls (preferably with real diaper cream), putting them and everything else in the house to bed, reading stories to her "friends" (dolls and stuffed animals), packing bags for "trips", and pretending to cook, but only if she can use real pots and real ingredients. She does also like to write notes, mainly birthday cards, color and use stickers and do sticker books. She will do some puzzles, she's not a big fan of building blocks, and pretty much has zero interest in anything related to a ball or sports. She does however really love horses and horseback riding. She hasn't done a lot of it, but she is always very excited to get on and doesn't want to get off. She also loves jumping on inflatables, she calls ball pits, "bit balls." Some other cute misnomers in the last year have included, "motorbicycles," "tapiyoyo" pudding, "peejew" (instead of pee eww), and "high tray" for high chair, to name a few. My favorite mistake has to be when she has any type of an accident, she'll tell me not to worry because it was an "accident happens."

Her temperament has really improved as she neared two years old. She was a very fussy, temperamental, and basically melodramatic one year old. She definitely still has her moments, but she's more even tempered these days, and gets along better with other kids. Hopefully this will hold true for how she handles her baby sister (or brother).

It's a New Year

2010-01-17T20:03:00.001-08:00

Well, Christmas is over and the New Year is here. Between my mom's car accident and the two feet of snow we receivd the week before Christmas, it was decided that it would be best for Christmas to be held at our house. I now understand why adults are always so frantic around the holidays. I never got that as a kid, Christmas was so much fun, and I could never figure out how anyone could dread the holidays. Not that I dread Christmas, but I totally get the stress after hosting a holiday at my house and having the responsibility of making "Christmas magic" for my own child. I think it all went well, and Farah certainly had a blast, which made it all worth while. She really enjoyed her older cousin, Christian, and she got the idea that the gifts were for her this year. Her favorite gifts were her potty and her doll baby accessories, such as her high chair, cradle, and probably the biggest hit of all, the doll baby stroller.

I loved having a full two weeks home to enjoy Farah and to see her develop. By about 17-18 months she started putting together simple sentences, mostly just repeating things she heard. I think her first full sentence came at daycare, she repeated a child there by saying to her sitter, "Joyce, I'm done, " which shocked everyone! But over Christmas break she really started putting together more and more original complete sentences, such as "daddy, I want up, "which she said after I had told her no of course:) She is a total chatter box now, and continues to amaze us with her vocabulary and her ability to put her thoughts into words. It's so fun to watch her make connections and to recall things she experienced weeks or even months before. Over break we had some particuarly windy days, which makes our dog, Josie, shake like crazy. Farah figured out that the wind was making her shake, and she would say, "wind...Jo Jo shake," and you could see the thought that she put into that statement. She then transfered that to something that scared her and started saying, "I shake," whenever anything scarey happened. Yesterday, a fire truck went by us on the road with its sirens blaring and Farah responded with, "that make JoJo shake." She is also doing really well with the potty. If her bottoms are off, she always uses the potty. She even started pooping on the potty this week. But if her diaper is on, she usually just goes in that and then asks to be changed. I'm not sure when she will ask to use the potty when she's fully dressed, but this feels like good progress for her only being 20 months old. I would be estactic to have her out of diapers by her second birthday! The other major milestone we hit was to limit the use of her pacifier and milk. She definitely has an obsessive nature, and she was getting to the point where she asked for her "b" or her "milk" constantly. It got so bad I actually went on a parenting chatroom and (anonymously) posted a question about when/how to limit the use of pacifiers and the like. I got a mixed bag of answers, but the most straightforward answer was to just do it, so I did, and we survived! It was actually much, much easier than I anticipated. I think it helped that we made the changes at an age where Farah can actually understand what we're telling her. She knows that she can have her pacifier in the crib and in the car, which works out wonderfully, because now she actually really likes being in those two places! She has to have her milk in her high chair, and she still cries for her milk, but not as often. Now she says, "high chair milk." And it certainly has helped to reduce all of those little milk spots on our floors and furniture:)

What we do for our kids...

2009-11-14T18:12:00.001-08:00

So, Farah pretty much loves cats more than anything else in the world (except for us of course:), and of course, we have two dogs that wouldn't coexist happily with a cat. We have already bought her a very life like toy cat. It was great for about two weeks; now it lives in the toy box. So, on my daily commute down 81 I couldn't help but notice a large sign on the Sportsplex bulletin for an upcoming cat show. I thought about how much Farah would love that, but I couldn't seriously see myself attending a cat show. Well, guess who went to a cat show this morning...with my husband! And Farah did love it, so it was worth it. But it really was odd to see so many, well we'll just call them, "cat lovers," in one place. They feed their cats baby food for one thing, and I was even corrected for calling a cat grey (the correct term is blue). So, if anyone has any questions about proper cat terminology, breed information, or cat show etiquette, you know who to call. They did have a whole showing section for "household cats," so if any of you are considering a new hobby...

Good Clean Fun

2009-11-03T17:32:00.001-08:00

Halloween: Then and Now

2009-11-02T15:20:00.001-08:00

Since I didn't have the blog up and running last Halloween, I thought I'd do a little comparison of Farah from last year to this year. What a difference a year makes! This time last year she was sitting up, trying hard to crawl (but not quite there yet), and doing lots of babbling. This year she not only walks-she runs, climbs, and is even trying to hop. She has an impressive vocabulary for a little one, and is even learning her abcs and 123s. You've come along way, baby:)

Apple & Pumpkin Picking

2009-10-10T15:04:00.001-07:00

We had a great fall day at the Marker-Miller Orchard picking apples and pumpkins. Farah got to play in their big playground area, ride the cow train, and eat apples until her heart was content.

Fall Is Here...

2009-09-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

That means it's time to go to fairs! Here are some pictures from the Bluemont Fair. Farah loved all of the animals, especially the sheep. She also really enjoyed her pony rides and the hula hoops. We're looking forward to the next outing. By the end of October, Heath will be begging, "no more fairs!"

End of Summer Fun

2009-09-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

To wrap up summer, Holly, Colin, Farah, and I had a "spaghetti pool party" on our last play date of the summer. I miss our weekly get togethers already! Heath and I took Farah to the Natural Bridge Safari Park over Labor Day weekend and had a blast! I highly recommend it as a fun daytrip. We walked through a very nice petting zoo and then drove through a 180 acre "safari area." We saw a wide range of animals that we were able to feed and pet. Farah loved riding up front and car seat free. If she could ride like that all the time, we'd have no problems in the car! Here are some pictures of our adventures, as well as some other cute photos of her recently.

What a Summer

2009-08-22T21:10:00.001-07:00

Well, summer's winding down and work is looming. It's a bittersweet time of year, I'm excited to see what the new year holds and see friends from work, but it is so hard to leave Farah. She has a new babysitter again this year, so she has to adjust to new people, a new schedule, and getting up way earlier than we've been used to. But the summer has been great, filled with trips to the pool, lots of playground visits, a zoo and aquarium trip, feeding the ducks at the pond, petting zoos, and weekly playdates with friends. Farah has developed by leaps and bounds this summer, she has literally learned a new word every day this summer. Her favorite things include seeing animals, especially "kitties," throwing and chasing balls, going on slides, stacking and sorting- basically stashing little things all around the house, and helping mommy to clean and water plants. She likes to harass the dogs, mainly Tucker, but Josie isn't immune to the bear hugs and free rides either. She has lots of energy, she will do almost anything to get a laugh out of us, but she's also a great eater and sleeper (thank God!). She has continued to take two naps all summer, plus sleeps 11 hours straight through the night. Let's just say this summer is about 100 times easier than last summer! Although the start of temper tantrums has emerged. Farah does not like to be taken away from an activity she has started, she has a very one track mind once she starts something or sees something she wants. She is very sweet and affectionate, but also has a definite independent streak. One thing that has not changed from last summer unfortunately is her aversion to car rides. She basically dislikes all types of restraint, especially in the form of a car seat. At least she can usually be distracted, mainly by apple wedges, but many a car trip involves her throwing everything out of the car seat and then screaming...fun times. Well, that's basically Farah at 15 months. Here are some photos that recap our summer.

Wedding Pictures!

2009-07-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

We're home for a day between our "mini honeymoons," and I thought I'd post some pictures. We had a great time, it was a lot of work getting everything and everyone organized and the weather didn't cooperate, but all in all it was a great night. I'll have to figure out how to post some video footage. We got some great videos at the wedding, and I bought the video from the white water rafting trip we just went on. I was the only one in the raft that stayed on! But I did chip my tooth in the process.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at the Sherando Park fireworks display with Ray, Lisa, Montana, and Valerie. Farah loved playing with the girls, and we appreciated the energy of teenagers to chase Farah around! The ball pit was Farah's favorite part. I was happy that she wasn't startled by the fireworks.