October 25th, 2009 - Happy 16 months!!!

Dear Nelia,

Happy 16 months, sweet girl!

You share your 16 month birthday with what would have been Uncle Brent's 28th birthday.  Today is a hard day for mama, but like all days, they are made so much better because of you!  You will never know how much you have lifted mama up during such a difficult time in my life.  I can guarantee that if Uncle Brent was here we would have had a celebration tonight - and he would have insisted that we celebrate your 16 months too!  That is just the kind of uncle he was - he cared about you so much and you were the most important thing in his life. He would have been honored to share his special day with you:)  So, tonight we will have some of Uncle Brent's favorite things for dinner - all of which you will be able to try too!  It is our goal to teach you everything we know about your Uncle Brent so that he lives forever in all of our hearts, including yours.

This month we took a family vacation to California.  We had so much fun introducing you to all of your family and it was just such a special time for all of us. You were always surrounded by kids, which was lots of fun.  We spent 3 days at Disneyland, which although it was overwhelming at times, you had a blast! Your favorite rides were It's a Small World, the carousel, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Pinocchio.  We look forward to going back when you are a bit older.  Unfortunately the trip ended pretty badly - you were bouncing on the hotel bed and bounced yourself off and fractured your wrist. Although it was a teeny tiny fracture, you have to wear a brace for three weeks.  It was really scary for mommy and daddy and we are just so grateful that it will heal quickly.

You are becoming really talkative and imitate a lot of what we say, which is super cute! Some of your newest words are apple, Grace (geece), cheese (which you say when I get ready to take a picture,silly girl!), bye bye, bee, hi, car (dar), Addison (Aaaaa), Ozzie (your ostrich puppet), no, and baby (beebee). You are signing 'help' and 'all done' a lot more too, which has been very helpful. You are able to follow simple directions, such as 'put this block in the toy box' or 'put this block on top of this block.' You are such a smart girl!


You are extremely social, which has evolved quite a bit since you were a baby. You used to be pretty shy and it would take a lot to get you to smile. Now we walk into a store and you are waving at everyone - such the social butterfly! We make friends everywhere we go:)

One of your favorite things to do right now is read - you absolutely love books! In fact, you will grab a book and head over to either mommy or daddy, sit on our laps, and give us the book:) Or sometimes we catch you reading all by yourself by the pile of books. It is the cutest thing ever! You also love your little walker - you love pushing that thing all over the house, but especially around and around and around the island in the kitchen:)

We have been going to Gymboree music class instead of your usual Gymboree play class because of your wrist. You seem to enjoy the music class, but not quite as much as the other class. Although last week the teacher brought out a huge basket of hand puppets and you were the happiest girl ever!!! Hand puppets are one of your favorite things right now. Other than that, we have been keeping busy with lots of playdates, which we love!

Lastly, mama went on a girls trip last weekend and it was the longest I had been away from you. Denise and I stayed at the Willows Lodge in Woodinville for two nights. You were home with daddy and you two had an absolute blast! And mama had a super fun and relaxing time with Denise. So, it was a good trip all-around!

We love you more than anything Nuggie! You make our hearts smile with love and pride and joy!

xoxo
mama and dada

Pictures! 15 months!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.  I am noticing that as Nelia gets older and more mobile, I am taking fewer pictures. It is hard to keep up with her!

Taking Brent a souvenior from Disneyland - a picture of Nelia and I at Disney!

Nelia LOVES Addison!!! It's funny because Nelia and Sophie are just about a month apart, but she really likes Addison. I think she likes that she is older and more mobile and entertaining:)

Pajama playdate with Grace! I babysat Grace while her mommy and daddy went to the doctor to find out if they are having a boy or a girl for baby #2 (btw, it's another girl!!! congrats steph and kevin!)

Playdate with Hunter - so much fun!!!

Happy Birthday brother!

October 25th would have been Brent's 28th birthday.  I knew the day would be hard, but thankfully the support from family and friends made the day so much easier!  Nelia and I went to Gymboree music class in the morning, which was fun. In the afternoon I took balloons, orange flowers, a candy bar, and cards to the cemetery, which was hard.  That evening my dad and I went and had dinner and drinks with some of Brent's closest friends.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go, but I am so glad I did. Brent was so lucky to have so many wonderful friends in his life.  Happy Birthday to the most amazing brother, son, uncle, brother in-law, and friend in the whole wide world!!!

Not sure how old he was in this picture - my guess is 3?

24th birthday

25th birthday

26th birthday

27th birthday

September 25th, 2010 - Happy 15 months!

Dear Nuggie,

Happy 15 months sweet girl!  When we ask you how old you are, you have started to hold up one finger very enthusiastically:) It is so cute! It is hard to believe that in just a few months you will be 1 1/2 years old.

The other day we were driving home from Gymboree and we were going through all of the words you know - and you know a ton!  You still spend most of your time speaking in your own Nelia language, but here are some of your favorite words right now: bye, ball, mama, dada, car (dar), water (wa), nana, opa (pa), duck, kitty (eee), bath (ba).  You also make lots of animal sounds: pig, chicken, sheep, goat, cat, horse, cow, and dog. I think your favorite is meow though:) You sure do love your kitties!  You know most of your body parts:  both eyes, both ears, nose, teeth, mouth, hair, tummy, belly button , and toes. You are such a smart little girl! It is so fun watching you learn:)

You have been working on all 4 of your molars at once, which has been a bit uncomfortable for you, but they are all in now!  So, you have a total of 11 teeth.  All of those teeth make it much easier to chew your food and you are a great little eater! Your best meal of the day is definitely breakfast. You love your mini pancakes with creme cheese, fruit, and cheerios.  Lunch tends to be on the lighter side, but then you eat pretty well at dinner.  We have discovered that you love all things tomato - if I put tomato sauce on it, then you will most likely eat it:) You love green beans, olives, black beans, pasta, chicken, turkey, and cheese.

You still aren't walking, but you are definitely getting close. I think you could do it if you really wanted to, but I think you just know that crawling is much quicker.  You cruise all over the place and you use your walker to get around the house. You are also able to stand up from a sitting position, but then you just plop back down:) Silly girl! We hope you start walking soon! By Halloween, please??:)

This month we took you to the Puyallup Fair, twice!  The first time we went with daddy and Opa and you had tons of fun! Daddy carried you in the backpack most of the time, which gave you a great view of all the animals, which you loved.   Then a week later we were planning on going with Lindsey and Hunter, but Hunter got really sick so it was just you and me.  I wasn't sure if it would be as much fun, but it was a BLAST!!!  I loved every second of it - and I think you loved it just as much! We shared a corndog for lunch and then an elephant ear for dessert - you loved both!  It made me laugh when we saw the camel (yes, a camel at the fair) that was chewing something and you started imitating it:)  Then we saw a mama and baby cow and the baby was super hyper and running all over the place, which was very entertaining to you!  This month has been all about animals - we also joined the Opsahl family at a farm/petting zoo, which was lots of fun. You loved the chickens and watching Addison ride the horse - so much fun!  Other than that, our month was filled with lots of playdates with all of our favorite friends, Gymboree class, and enjoying the remainder of the sunny afternoons with trips to the park. We bought you a little car that you absolutely love!  We have been using that a lot more for walks, which I think you prefer over the stroller.  It is just another glimpse into you becoming more and more independent and less of a baby, but a little girl.

Thank you for being our daughter - we love you so much!

xoxo,
mama and dada

Nelia's wrist update...

We had an appt at Childrens Hospital the day after we got back from our vacation.  We were able to bring back the disc of x-rays that we had done in Palm Springs. The doctor at Childrens (who was awesome!!!) basically showed us the x-ray, explained the injury, and made us feel so much better about things.  It is such an awful feeling watching your child in pain and wishing that things could have happened differently. He reassured us that he sees injuries like this all the time.  Because she is so young, it will heal really quickly. In fact, he said it should be healed in about 3 weeks. We thought she would need a cast, but he said because it was such a small fracture that a brace would be fine. So, she is wearing a wrist brace wrapped in pink tape:) So, we just finished week 1. She is getting around just fine and doesn't seem to be in any pain.  The hardest part is keeping it semi-clean and bathing her without it getting wet. She is such a brave, strong little girl!

Sporting her new brace

She doesn't seem too affected by it:)

California Vacation 2010 - Part 3

So, we left Disneyland at about 2pm, went back to the condo to get the rental car, and took off. We totally didn't anticipate the traffic we encountered in the afternoon. It was awful!  We decided it would be a better plan to stop and have dinner, relax, and head out around 7pm.  Bad idea!!!  At that point, or somewhere near 7pm, construction started on the freeway to Palm Springs.  It went from 4 lanes to 3 lanes to 2 lanes to 1 lane. Needless to say, we had a screaming, tired child in the car and it took forever. We finally got there at 10pm!!! Luckily Nelia had fallen asleep, Patrick was able to check in at the condo and get the pack and play set up, and we tranferred her successfully.

Saturday we woke up early and headed to Uncle Jim and Aunt Diane's house to see them and all of my cousins and their families.  We had soooooo much fun!!!! Again, Nelia was surrounded by so many kids - she was completely entertained the entire time!  We hung out at the pool, which was a blast, and had lunch.  Then we headed back to the house and just hung out and talked while the kids played outside.  We had a lovely dinner and finally left around 7pm, just in time to get Nelia home and to bed.  We said goodbye, but had plans on seeing everyone the next day.

Sunday morning we were up early, had breakfast, and were just hanging out in our room. Nelia was on the bed with us and she was watching a Baby Einstein DVD.  At some point I got up to do some things and Patrick was still with her on the bed.  Anyways, she was having a great time bouncing away on the bed to the music.  She must have bounced really hard (and the bed was sloped towards the end) because next thing we knew she was bouncing herself off the bed. Both of us tried to get to her, but it was too late:( She fell on to a big pile of blankets and cried for about a minute.  We weren't too concerned because she seemed fine. Well, a little bit later she went to crawl and collapsed in pain.  Right away we knew something was wrong.  Patrick applied pressure to both wrists and it was very obvious that something was wrong with her right wrist.  We knew we had to take her to the ER (since it was Sunday).  After a long wait, x-rays that were so difficult to get, and another long wait, we were told she fractured her wrist:( Of course I was a mess!  They put a splint on and gave us a prescription for Tylenol with codeine.  We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and trying to keep our sweet girl happy. We had to cancel our plans with my family, which was a bummer.  It was also Patrick's birthday, which I was sad about because I had hoped to do some type of celebration. 

The next morning we headed back to Matthew and Amanda's house to drop off a few things we borrowed, grabbed one last Coffee Bean, and headed to the airport.  We spent $400 to get Nelia her own seat, which we thought would be much easier with her wrist.  However, the flight was awful! She was tired, she kept trying to kick the seat in front of her, she was fussy, and when we opened her sippy cup it squirted everywhere because of all the pressure.  It was the longest 2.5 hours ever!!!!   My dad picked us up at the airport and we were beyond thrilled to be back home!

So, with the exception of her injury, the trip was great!!!  We had such a fabulous time visiting with family and we truly appreciate everyone taking the time out of their busy lives to be with us. It meant so much to us - more than you will ever know!!!  Love you guys!!!

Just hanging out and playing

My lovely aunt, my awesome uncle, and my beautiful cousin:)

My cousin who reminds me so much of Brent - and Nelia adored him!!! I wonder if she thought he was Brent.  It makes me a little sad, but it also makes me so happy for her to have someone in her life similar to her uncle. Blake was awesome with her!!  I wish I had him close by to play with her:)

Such a great family!

Pretty girls!

Her splint:(

Silly mama made the mistake of giving her tomato sauce, lol:) Bad idea!

It is so hard keeping a splint clean on a toddler, especially one that insists on feeding herself!

Me and my sweet girl