A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.....

We are all recuperating from a busy Christmas and are winding down our 2008 holiday season. Ursula had a wonderful time meeting Santa and was thrilled with all of the gifts he left under her tree. We started Thanksgiving weekend by making a trip to Hershey Candylane where she saw real reindeer and met Santa at his "Cottage".


Is that who I think it is?
It is who I think it is!
I like this guy!
Next up, Ursula got to see Santa twice again on the 20th, 1st with him coming by our house on our local firetruck...every year we get a mini parade right in front of our house the Saturday before Christmas (I think Mommy is more excited than anyone in our family :) Although Ursula was fascinated by the sirens and horns and Santa waving to her from the top of one of the trucks!
Then she went to a VFW function where her Pappy belongs and she sat with him again and received her 1st present. Obviously by this time, she was more comfortable with him (even if he and Mrs. Claus looked a little shady)...she didn't care one bit!
So then it was onto our long Christmas weekend and we decided it would be better to let her take a couple of days to open all of her gifts since Mommy went a bit overboard this year and we knew she'd be getting gifts from others as well. We let her open her stocking on Christmas Eve and then half of her gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. We went to Nana and Pappy's house for breakfast and there she opened more presents. After that, we went to Gammie and Paw Paw's house where there were many more gifts to be enjoyed and then one more stop at a family friend's house for dinner and a few more gifts. Going all day with no nap, she actually did very well and not 2 minutes into our final car ride home, she was out like a light and didn't even wake up when we got her changed for bed, which is a first! The following day, we put away all of our gifts and organized her newly redone play area and she finished opening the rest of the loot. I've included a few pics of her enjoying one of her favorite new items, her table and chairs and tea set. Over the last few days, her Daddy and I have had more cups of tea than I can mention :), and I don't even like tea! All in all, we had a great time celebrating this first and last Christmas with our family of 3, next year we look forward to a Christmas as a family of 4!


Just a few of her presents from Santa under her very own tree...
First one, going kinda slow....
This is actually pretty fun!
Starting to get into the groove...
Showing Daddy her new cell phone.
At Nana & Pappy's house helping to clean up. As a side note, Ursula is a very organized present opener. Every single piece of paper that she ripped off had to be given to someone nearby to throw into the garbage bag and if anybody happened to miss a piece, she stopped everything to go pick it up and put it in. Very helpful!

Once everything was open, it was fun to try out the paper as a necklace and/or headband...All tuckered out after a very long day....

A few of her playing with her favorite toys, her new table and chairs and tea set...


So as you can see we had a blast this Christmas and we're already thinking ahead to the next couple of holidays that Ursula wasn't home for last year...Valentine's Day, Daddy & Mommy's birthdays and of course, Mother's Day (we just missed that one last year!). It's hard to imagine that she has been home 7 months already, the time flies by so fast, but she is doing so well, and understanding so much in her short time in America, we couldn't ask for a better little girl.

We also want to wish everyone a Happy 2009! We were going to go out to a friend's house, but decided to just stay home and be homebodies this year. Neither of us were really in the mood for any big celebration, and besides, I'm lucky to make it to 10:00 anymore :) We had a relaxing evening and a nice dinner at Gammie's house this afternoon, so it was a very peaceful transition for our family. I'm actually exhausted just thinking about how 7 short months ago I became a 1st time mom and in a few more short months, I'll be mom to 2 kids! Whew! Speaking of that, I go for my 20 week ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and we will be finding out whether Urs will have a little brother or sister...I'm just excited to be able to start buying things in the appropriate colors! I am so not a yellow and mint green kind of person! I can't believe that I am halfway through my pregnancy already, again, how time flies! So, I will make a post this weekend and we'll see how many of you voted correctly! You have 1 more day to cast your vote, looks like the boys are the favorite of our viewing crowd....guess we'll see.....

Little Post...

Just a quick post to let everyone know that all is well so far on the pregnancy front. Just had a check-up today after a month long hiatus from the doctor's office (seemed like forever!), but everything was fine and we all got to hear the heartbeat again on the doppler...going strong! I go for my 20 week ultrasound on Jan 5th, so I thought it would be fun to set up a poll to record predictions of the baby's gender. So go over to the left hand side of the blog and cast your vote, there are only 23 days left!
Steve and I have our own ideas, but we'll wait to post them until right before we go...I don't want to influence any votes!
Have fun!

Halloween, 1st snow, and a surprise.....

Hi all! It's been a long time since my last post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy! Let me fill you in....
We celebrated Halloween with a week full of activities. 1st up was the annual parade in our community. It only starts a few blocks from our house, so we were able to walk to our watching post and be some of the first people to see the parade from the beginning. It all worked out well, the weather was great, and we were able to be home in time for Ursi's bedtime too. I think she enjoyed herself...she absolutely loves anything that involves balloons and the many firetrucks with flashing lights were a big hit as well. She was a little unsure of all of the kids in costumes, but the fact that they threw out candy to everyone, made it ok :)
Next up, was the Halloween party at the community center. (Our boro did away with trick or treat last year) So, we went to the party and Ursula got to see McGruff the Crime Dog and the Dare Lion in person (not sure what she thought about them) but she did really well and again, collected a bag full of candy. A few days later was trick or treat night in Steve's parents' neighborhood, so we went over to let Urs put all of her "dih, dih, dih" (that's trick or treat to you and me) practice to good use. It only took her about 2 houses or so to catch on, and after that, she was diving into the candy dishes like nobody's business! It was like she knew exactly what she was looking for in there, even though she's never had a piece of candy in her life! It was cute though, she had a little bag that came with her costume that held about 2 pieces of candy, so I had to keep emptying them into a bigger bucket, which after the first screaming tantrum, had to be done secretly without her knowledge :) We all had a fun time and can't wait to do it again next year!
A few weeks later, we celebrated our 6th anniversary and 1st family day. When Ursula gets older, we are going to let her choose what we do on that day, but this year, we combined with Gammie's birthday and went over to their house for dinner and just all spent time together enjoying our newest family member! It was a very nice day for everyone.
So here are some new things that Ursula is doing now....she can now climb onto "big people" furniture all by herself, of which she is so proud :) she is saying tons more things, some of her favorites include: Paw Paw, bowl, bone (for the dog's bone), spoon, milk/drink (both the same word), book, pillow, star, didee, jingle(for earrings), that, and dwarf. I'll explain the last one...she has the 7 dwarfs from Snow White, that I got in Disney a few years back and right now they are her favorite toys. She actually calls them "ghoul" or something that sounds like that, but we know she really means dwarf. I know, she has a very random vocabulary, but we are able to understand a lot of what she is saying on a daily basis.
She has become very independent, preferring to feed herself, and complete tasks without any help, even if she needs it. She is also turning into a perfectionist in that, when she's putting things away, they need to be in the exact spot and things need to all face the same direction, it's cute to watch her get it "just right" :)
She loves all of her four-legged buddies and can say 4 of their 6 names. You can see a couple of pics below with her and her favorite kitty. He actually stayed still for a couple of hugs, usually she runs toward him yelling his name, which sends him quickly bolting from his comfy spot.
She is still a dancing fanatic and is not too proud to bust a move in the middle of a store, a restaurant, the car, well, anywhere for that matter. She is now accompanying that with song, for if you ask her to sing a song, she will belt out the newest "La la la la" or "rum pa pum pum" that comes to her mind. Obviously, we have started listening to the Christmas music here in our house :)
Another thing she likes to do right now is mimic people, and this can occur anywhere at any time as well. The other day I was in Target and there was a lady in the aisle across from us obviously suffering through a bad cold....she was looking for medicine and coughing like crazy. Of course, you and I would try not to pay attention and feel bad for her knowing how awful it is to have to go out for medicine when you feel so horrible. Yeah, not my daughter. She completely turned around in the cart so she could see the lady, and started doing her fake coughing. She didn't do it quietly either, no, it was loud and she was not stopping. I had to go to another lane and come back later. Pretty embarrassing. She does this too in places with unhappy children. She'll hear a kid either crying or really throwing a fit, and feel compelled to mimic their every sound. Again, another embarrassing situation, especially if the parents are right beside you trying to calm their child down.
We are getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together on Thursday and that weekend we are going to decorate for Christmas and hopefully go to HersheyPark Christmas Candylane. Urs should be able to get her first glimpse of Santa, she can tell you that he says "ho,ho,ho" although she sounds more like Mrs Claus since she always says it with a very high pitched voice :) Then we'll move on to getting ready for our 1st Christmas with her home. I'm so excited to experience everything with her, as this will be the 1st one she'll really enjoy (she was only 7 months old last year).
She has her 18 month check-up on Dec 3rd and I can't wait to see how much she's grown. I know for certain she has gotten taller, and she might have gained a little weight, but she's still pretty thin. She is finally starting to fit into 12 month pants (they fit even better with a onesie underneath :) But she is very healthy and eats great so we are not concerned. She is finally getting her 1st year molars and so far, they're coming in without problems. She now has 12 teeth and her hair is getting longer, so she just looks like such a big girl now!
See below for new pics and I promise I'll update soon!!!!!

Getting ready for the party....

Taking it all in...

McGruff the Crime Dog & The Dare Lion
My first real house to trick or treat at (even if it is Gammie's house)
What Daddy and I do for fun....
My first snow experience (wasn't too impressed)







Oh, I guess I forgot to say what the surprise in the title is....well, I'll let Ursula tell you...

Hi everyone...I'm so excited to say.....That's right....our little Ursula isn't going to be the littlest one in our house for much longer....I'm PREGNANT! Can you believe it???? I know Steve and I couldn't :) I'll go into more details later, but to satisfy everyone's curiosity, next week I will be into my 4th month and my projected due date is May 22nd, exactly 1 week before Ursula's 2nd birthday! So far, I've had 4 ultrasounds, many blood tests, and a not-so-pleasant 1st trimester, but I've made it through with no problems and everything is going well. I have another prenatal appointment in about 2 1/2 weeks and on January 5th we get to find out whether we're going to have a boy or a girl (not that we're telling anyone though) so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as the baby grows. Talk to you all soon!!!!!!

Pumpkin pickin'

On Sunday, we had our first family outing to the pumpkin patch to let Ursula pick her own pumpkin. We went to a place called The Country Barn and they had a little market where we were able to purchase homemade apple butter made fresh the day before...YUM! They also had lots of animals including: goats, chickens, roosters, sheep, miniature horses that were giving pony rides, and a bunny village with a total of 3, yes, I said 3 bunnies. I'm thinking they were all the same sex :) There was also a little mine with a tunnel slide in it, and a corn maze too. We had a great day with friends and hopefully we can continue this tradition for years to come!

Ready to go in my pumpkin pickin gear...
Here's me with my friend Kylie....
Look at those goats!
Cute sign....
I posted all of the pics we took of Ursula's first pony ride to show her expression...it never changed the entire ride! I think this is hysterical, whenever she rides a new ride or tries something new, she is always soooo serious and concentrates until the ride is over. Take a look....
Here's the mine....
And here's Daddy and Urs coming out of the slide....
Children of the corn....
Let's see how much I grow til next year...
On our way to the pumpkin patch (notice the facial expression)
Eying up the choices....
Look! Over here, I think I found one!
Heading back with her prized pumpkin...

Life with a 16 month old....

Hi!!!! Yes, we're still here, and we have been busy! Today Ursula is 16 months old and has been home for 4 months. Can you believe it's been 4 months already???? I know I can't. To start with, this week has actually been the worst week for all of us, Urs has been sick since Tuesday and her daddy and Gammie have been sick too. She started out with a runny nose and sneezing the week before and I attributed that to teething, since her molars seem to be bothering her. Then on Tuesday, she was feeling out of sorts and started running a fever, which has been going off and on since then. She has been on Motrin and the doctor couldn't really find anything but a little redness in her throat, so she thinks it is viral and did give me some Amoxicillin, that Urs has been taking since Friday. I do think she's finally feeling a little bit better, but now we have some other issues to work on....since she hasn't been feeling well and has been irritable and clingy, we bent the rules a bit to comfort her. We have given in to her more than usual and even let her sleep with us a few nights. So now we are back on our regular family rules and sleeping schedule...I think she liked it better the other way :)
Whew, who said being a parent was this tough???? Your poor little girl is upset and doesn't feel good, so you want to make her happy, right? So, sure, it's understandable if she isn't very nice to the dogs, or if she wants to throw her toys, or if she wants us to stay in her room until she falls asleep or maybe even sleep in our bed. Now, we are the bad parents because, since you're feeling better, you now have to be nice to the dogs, it's not nice to throw your toys, and you have to go back on a sleep schedule. Boy, life is rough.
Ok, now onto nicer things. A few weeks ago, Ursula and I were able to get together with a friend of mine and her daughter, who live in New Jersey. We don't get to see each other very much and it was wonderful to get together for a few hours so we could catch up and the girls could play. I've attached a few pics below.
We also went to our first MY GYM class. This is a place for kids and their parents to go to interact with other kids in their age group and spend an hour climbing and exploring and having fun with all of the gym equipment they have there. Ursula is in the Waddler group, which is for kids aged 14-22 months. I think she did ok for her first time, she did well in the individual time, but had some issues when it was time to sit with me and participate with the group. She just wanted to keep doing her own thing, but I think after going a few more times and getting into a routine, she'll get it.
Ursula is going through a very independent stage. She wants to do everything on her own and doesn't need help. She has started throwing tantrums and making noises I've never heard from her before (some grunts and groans and screams...sounds like something off the Sci-fi channel :) She also loves to help us with anything we do, she loves to help with the groceries (she can carry a full size laundry detergent in each hand across the room, Steve believes she has superhuman strength ;) she loves to help us feed the dogs (see pics below) and her favorite thing right now is throwing things in the garbage. Usually it is actually trash that she is throwing away for us, with our supervision, but every once in awhile, we have to do random checks as she likes to surprise us by dropping a toy or stuffed animal in there as well. The other thing we have to watch is that the trash stays in the can, we sometimes find her peeking in and stealing something back out. It's nice to have such a ready helper, but we have found we need to add time to all the regular chores we do...throwing one piece of paper in the garbage could take 15 minutes, as she has to walk very slowly to the can, swing the lid and peer in for awhile, I guess making sure the conditions are suitable for the paper, and then holding it over the edge for a few minutes as if saying a final goodbye, then finally dropping it and checking to make sure it actually went in there. It was really cute the first few times, but we really need to get more done in a day :) Same with the groceries...we sometimes have to put the same items away several times as they mysteriously make their way back out of the cabinet or into a different location. Please let me know if any of you need some help with these things at your house, I'll be glad to bring her over ;)
She's learned how to say the words cheese, ball, Pup Pup (one of our cat's names...I know, weird name for a cat) and we've been practicing "trick or treat", which is coming along, kinda sounds like "de de de". She also says her version of "row, row, row your boat" and makes noises to identify things like: lawnmowers, buses or trucks, and dogs. She learned the sign for cookie and we're going to keep trying to add one or two here and there. The signing has been a big help to us in understanding what she wants, she tells us when she's hungry, thirsty, sleepy, when she wants more and when she's finished. She seems to totally understand us when we talk to her, which still amazes me after such a short time. She helps to put away her toys and knows where they go too. We're also starting to be able to read an entire book to her...up until this point we could keep her attention long enough for a page or two, so it's fun to have that bonding time with her now.
So, that's it for now...enjoy the pictures!

Having fun with my new friend...
All of us together...
A few pics from MY GYM class...
Helping to feed the dogs(with mixing spoon in hand)....
Having fun outside....
Daddy, I can do it by myself....
What do you mean I can't jump off of here?