Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I had such a great day today :) Mom and dad have been telling me about Santa coming to visit me and sure enough, when I woke up this morning, I discovered that he *did* come to see me! He ate the cookies that I left him and drank the milk - he must have been hungry by the time he got to our house. And he left me a whole table full of presents complete with the blue ornament that I asked him for :)

This was me when I first walked downstairs and discovered that Santa had been there.



The first gift I opened was a Sit and Spin. Can you tell how much I loved it???





My next gift was a CAMERA! I opened it and said "Santa got me a pretty camera!"







What to open next???



Santa also brought me some new snow boots (how timely given that it's supposed to snow tomorrow???), a new clock for my room, a tote bag to carry my library books in, and a Leap Frog Scribble and Write.

Ooh!!! A laptop from my Great Aunt Jenny! I'm going to check my email, mommy :)



I'm doing work now...



I *love* my blocks from Grandma and Grandpa Coble and was enjoying my Penn State jersey from mom and dad!





My Great Grandma Speicher got me an ornament for my THIRD Christmas! She's recovering well in Indiana from Open Heart surgery and I was thinking about her a lot today.



I had a really nice visit yesterday with my Grandma and Grandpa Coble and my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Coble! I'm so lucky to be able to spend time with so much family who loves me so much :) I got so many really nice gifts and I was so well behaved all day. I'll have to wait for Grandpa to send mommy some photos before I can post them, because mommy didn't take too many. I really enjoyed my blocks, books, dolls, clothes, letter abacus, Barbie, CD, stethoscope and my basket! Grandma and Grandpa even got me a book that they recorded reading to me, so I can open it anytime and can hear them read a book to me - how awesome is that??? We all had a nice dinner and I ate well. When they had to leave to go home, I hugged my Great Grandpa and then went to mommy and said "I like him!" Mommy said she likes him too and we all got a good laugh.

More tomorrow...it's been a long day :) Hopefully Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Dan, and cousins Courtney and Kaylee will be able to get here! They're getting up early and driving down here, so fingers crossed the weather isn't too bad and they're able to make it without trouble. Good night all and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

It's Almost Christmas Time!

Wow - hard to believe it's been a few months since I've updated. What can I say, we've been a family on the go!

I'll start with now and work my way backwards as I have time to fill in the details. Last weekend, Mom and Marie took Arabelle and I to visit Santa Claus. I was less than impressed and wouldn't sit in his lap. Mom was hoping that if Arabelle sat on his lap that I would too. No such luck, so mom had to sit next to Santa with me in her lap. Mom was NOT prepared to have her picture taken and wasn't thrilled about this :)




















I have been a good girl for the most part. I have my tantrums every now and then about pretty random things, but I think they can be attributed to my latest ear infection (second of the winter thus far). This is round 2 of antibiotics and we're going to keep a close eye on my ears through the rest of the winter. I came so close to getting tubes in the spring, but then had a 6 month break from the infections which kind of resets the clock. Fingers crossed my ears either get better soon or we make the leap to tubes.

Mom and dad got me The Elf on the Shelf and I've really been enjoying finding him every morning. He is magic and watches me every day and leaves at night to tell Santa if I've been good or bad and comes back in a new place every morning. I named him "Criddle," which was one of the suggested names in the book. I think I'll understand him better next year, but it's been fun this year. Christmas is going to be fun and I really enjoy our tree. Though the first night daddy put it up, I was a little freaked out that there was a TREE in the living room! Now I love it and can even turn the lights on all by myself. I have a few of my very own ornaments and am obsessed with straightening them out every day. I helped mommy wrap some presents this morning - my job was to hold the tape and pull out a piece when mommy needed it. Then I picked out the gift tag and carried the presents to the tree :) I was such a big helper!

I've been doing pretty well with potty training, but it's made it difficult to spend too much time out of the house for sure! At home, I can use the potty and wash my hands all by myself with my potty seat and stool! Sometimes mom still needs to remind me to go and we spend much of the day in the bathroom, but we're getting there. Mom put all of my diapers away and I'm wearing big girl underwear at home for the most part.

I'm talking really well now and have a rather large vocabulary. Mom and dad are constantly amazed at the sentences and phrases that I've been able to string together. I'm very good about saying please and thank you and am getting better about using my words instead of crying when I'm upset about something. Sometimes when I'm having a tantrum, I tell mommy "I have tears. I need to calm down."

I've been having a blast with the leaves outside. Mom and dad got me a rake to use to "help" them. You can see that I'm not such a huge help, but at least I had fun :)





I've become an expert in putting my own coat on! I lay it out on the floor with the collar towards me and flip it over my head. Mom gave me my very own basket to put my hats and mittens in, so I can put those on myself too. My new thing is to pretend that I'm going to work. I get "dressed" all by myself and announce that I'm going to work. This is my latest attire.



This was another one. I asked mom to help me put on *two* pairs of sunglasses, then said "I can't see, mommy." We all laughed about that one!



Mom and I had a date at the zoo on Veteran's Day because my school was closed. We had a fun day and I enjoyed the gorilla's the most :) Mom bought me a baby tiger that I love to cuddle with at bedtime.



Mom let me make my very own pizza with dairy free cheese! I have a lot of fun helping mom and dad cook and this is one thing I can almost do by myself!



I am *obsessed* with sushi avocado rolls! Mom loves sushi and we discovered that I really enjoy these too. I pick them up and dip them in soy sauce and then try to bite off little pieces. It's a little hard to bite through the seaweed wrappers, so I usually end up shoving the whole piece in my mouth! I can eat almost as many pieces as mommy :)



My teachers helped me make a marshmallow and pretzel menorah! Mom's let me eat a few pieces each night since we brought it home. I really enjoy it!



More later...hugs to all!

First visit to the zoo!

I had such a great weekend! I got to go to Alanna's birthday party yesterday and saw all of my friends. It was so much fun, the weather was perfect, and I got to sing Happy Birthday again. I got to go to a new park and hopefully will go back again soon. They had swings that were just my size and Zachary and I rode on a see saw together. I even got to see Miss Gulnara - I haven't seen her in a few months and that was a pleasant surprise.

I took a late nap, so we didn't do much in the afternoon other than play with my new Dora blocks and Mr. Potato Head and read some books. When I went to bed last night, I cuddled with mom for a while and asked her to sing me Rock a Bye Baby. She sang it a few times, then I went right in to bed. I then sang the ENTIRE song to my stuffed tiger - every single word. Mom sat downstairs listening to me on the monitor and smiled a lot.

My forehead is looking better - a few of the stitches look like they may be coming out, but the bottom of the cut still looks pretty bad. I've been letting mom and dad keep the bandaid off at night, so it can air out a little. I think we may leave it off during the day tomorrow and see how it goes. My skin is starting to get irritated from where the bandaid has been. Mom will probably send a box of bandaids to school with me just in case.

Today was fabulous! Mom made me eggs for breakfast and we went to the zoo! We weren't expecting too many people to be there since it was cooler, but the parking lots were packed and it took a while to find a spot. When we finally got there, I had a blast. We saw a tiger first - he was sleeping, so I yelled "Wake up tiger!" He did lift his head and I laughed like crazy. Next we saw three lions! There were 2 females and 1 male - the 2 females had just had cubs, but they weren't out for us to see yet. We got to see one of the lions walk through the water and get a drink. We saw the gorillas next and I saw them climb up some trees. The mommy gorilla ran across the habitat with a tiny baby on her back! I was so excited about that - I ride on mommy's back in the carrier sometimes too. We also saw three zebras, which I was really excited about. There was a cheetah right next to the zebras which was daddy's favorite. Mom really liked the elephants, but they were always on the other side of the habitat from where we were standing. The sloth bear was pretty cool too - he had really big fuzzy floppy ears. I told mommy that he was "inside" because he was behind the glass. On the way out, we waited for a while and finally got to see the Giant Panda! It was just like the stuffed pandas that I have at home. I was pretty tired by that time, though, so we walked back towards the car and grabbed some lunch for the road. I ate a Boca burger and apple slices and mom and I talked the whole way home (she said she was trying to keep me awake until we got home). It worked and we talked all about my favorite animals. The zebra's were my favorite with the tiger in a close second. We'll definitely have to go back soon.

I took a really good nap when we came home and then got to hang out with dad this afternoon while he was watching football. Dad taught me all about football and I do a touchdown cheer when someone scores. Mom went for a run, but came back early because there were too many bugs. While she was gone, daddy taught me how to throw and catch a ball! I did such a good job and actually caught the ball a lot :) Thank you to Jeff and Kathryn for the awesome starfish ball that you gave me - it's perfect for throwing and catching! Daddy was so afraid that I'd be one of those kids who runs at a ball without actually opening my arms to catch it, but I proved to him that I can play the game.

Hope everyone had a great weekend - Happy October!

I'm TWO (and had my first ER visit)!

It's been a few weeks since I updated, but it's been very busy! I turned TWO last Tuesday and had a really great birthday. I spent the day at school with my friends and then had a nice dinner with mom and dad on the deck. It was low key, but I got to eat three cupcakes at school and was in a super good mood. I even sang Happy Birthday to myself!

We had a bit of an adventure on Friday and I had my first visit to the ER :( I was running around my classroom right after lunch and I tripped and went head first into one of the tables. I split open my forehead right above my right eye and mom and dad had to take me to the hospital to get stitches. The director of my school got in touch with mom while she was at work and said that I had an accident and would need stitches. They kept me awake instead of letting me nap since I had hit my head pretty hard. Mom was in DC, so she called dad and had him go to school to get me since he was closer. Mom's co-worker was kind enough to give her a ride up to my school since mom's car was at the Metro station across the street from school. Mom ended up getting to school not long after dad did. When they got there, I was running around the hallway, happy as can be, completely oblivious to the huge gash on my forehead. The bleeding had stopped and I had a big bandage on my head to protect the cut, but the director showed mom and dad a picture of the cut so they would be prepared when we got to the hospital. There was no doubt I needed stitches.

We got to the hospital about an hour after I fell and were taken back to the pediatric ER pretty quickly. A nurse came in and put a numbing agent on the cut and we sat and waited. Mom and dad learned a lesson that if we have to go to the ER again, they should take the time to grab some snacks, a drink and some books - it was a long wait for a tired, hurt 2 year old! A doctor came in about 15 minutes after they put the numbing agent on and asked mom to apply pressure so it would work better, but I wouldn't sit still for that, so we just had to sit and wait. An hour and a half after they first came in, another doctor came in to look at the cut and see what "tools" he would need to stitch me up. At that point, we had been at the hospital for several hours and I hadn't had a nap, snack or anything to drink since lunch time, so I was a little "wiggly" to say the least.

I got pretty upset when the doctor and nurse came back in because they had to wrap me up in a sheet to keep my hands down by my side so I wouldn't bump the doctors hands. It was a pretty awful experience, but the doctor worked as quickly as he could so I could get back in mom's lap. It was a pretty deep cut and all told, I have 4 internal stitches and 10 external. The cut goes from the inside corner of my right eyebrow straight up to near the hairline. It looks like it's closed pretty well, so hopefully it won't scar too badly. Mom's not at all happy about the prospect of a facial scar like that, though :(

On a brighter note, I had a WONDERFUL birthday party on Saturday! Dad stayed up ALL night on Friday to cook the pork and put together my present. Mom and dad got me a train table and I was *so* excited to see it when I woke up on Saturday! So many friends and family came to celebrate with me and I had a blast. Grandma and Grandpa Coble helped out a lot and ran some errands for mom so she could get things ready at the house. Grammy and Grampy Clements also came early and played and read with me and helped get all of the food ready which helped mom a lot too :) Needless to say, mom and dad didn't get as much done on Friday as they hoped since we spent all afternoon in the ER. My friends starting coming around 3 and we played with my water table and made a huge mess of the yard. Since we all got wet, we ended up taking our clothes off and running around in our diapers.

Mom had a balloon lady come at 4 and she made us so many different balloon animals. She brought one with her that was a kitty tree for me and made me a kitty on a bracelet! Then she made me a dog on a leash and kept making balloons for me and my friends. She made a bee, giraffe, mermaid, alien, a dragon hat, a horse, a Denver Bronco, a few swords, a sea otter (that looked like a Nittany Lion), and a few Elmo's. I'm sure I'm missing a few - she did such a great job and we all had so much fun. I'm not sure who had more fun with the balloons - me and my friends or daddy and his friends! If anyone is interested, her website is:

http://www.beckysballoonanimals.com/

We had cupcakes after she left and then had dinner (aka pork time) afterwards. A little backwards, but it worked! Of course I didn't eat much dinner, but who would when they had cupcakes before??? I opened a few of my presents after dinner, but I was so easily distracted and ended up saving a few things for the next few days. I got so many nice things. Toys, clothes, dolls, books. I really can't tell everyone how much I appreciate the generosity!

Mom and I went back to see the doctor on Tuesday morning and they all agreed the cut looks pretty good, though we can't tell how well it is actually healing until the stitches are gone. We'll keep a pretty close eye on it, keep putting neosporin and Vitamin E (once the stitches dissolve) on the scar and will go to a plastic surgeon if we're not happy with how it's healing. One of the nurses in the practice used to be in plastics and she said it looked good, so keep your fingers crossed! I can now get the cut wet and mom is supposed to clean it out with soap and water twice a day. Unfortunately, that means that the bandaid has to come off twice a day :( That is by far the worst part. Mom and dad tried to leave the bandaid off last night to let it air out a little, but I cried and said my forehead felt yucky, so daddy put it back on. I was a champ and really let mom clean it out tonight, but I wouldn't get in the bathtub, so we just used a washcloth. I let mommy hold the washcloth on my forehead and closed my eyes and told her it felt good.

Will keep everyone posted on the forehead thing and will post pictures as soon as people send them to mom. She was running around like crazy and didn't get a chance to take too many photos of her own :(

Thanks again to everyone - I had a really fantastic party and had so much fun!

Congrats Joe and Ruthie!

I'm about a week late, but Congrats to Joe and Ruthie! We went to Charlotte last weekend for their wedding and had such a great time. We decided to fly because mom had a bunch of frequent flier miles (thank you Bank of America check card...) and didn't want to take another 7 hour drive for a weekend just 2 weeks after we got back from NC on vacation. Mom and dad decided to get a seat for me even though I could have flown for free on their laps. They figured I'd do better in my carseat, so they took that on and installed it on the plane for me to sit in. Mom was a little anxious about taking me on the plane and dad was trying to figure out how to carry everything! We ended up checking 3 bags, carried on my carseat, diaper bag, camera bag, and dad's laptop. Surprisingly it was a pretty easy trip. Thanks to Kim who suggested leaving the stroller at home and carrying me in the Ergo through security. Mom didn't even have to take me out of the carrier! She just had to take my shoes off and put my Grover doll through the x-ray, then we walked through and picked up our bags on the other end. Easy peasy!

When we got to Charlotte, mom's Aunt Jenny was waiting for us!!! Mom and I haven't seen her since I was 9 months old and dad hasn't seen her since they got married 6 years ago!!! She even bought a stroller for me to use, so I got to ride to the car in style instead of riding on mommy's back :) Mom had a bit of trouble installing my new carseat rear-facing in Jenny's car, so I got to ride forward for a few days. We had a really early flight, so we got there around 8:15 and had the whole day to hang out at Jen's house. We had a really nice visit and I had so much fun with all of the toys and books she had for me to play with. She has two small dogs, Barney and Betty and I had fun gathering their bones and putting them in their beds. Mom's cousin Kaitlin was away at Clemson, so she was kind enough to share her room with me. We put her mattress on the floor and it was the perfect bed for me!

Saturday, we got up and drove to the hotel so daddy could get ready for the rehearsal. Mom and I checked in and took a little nap :) We woke up just in time for mom and dad to go to the rehearsal dinner which was right next to the hotel. I was lucky enough to stay with Baby Cora and her grandma in the next hotel over. I had a great time reading books and "helping" with Baby Cora. Thank you, Angela's mom!!!!! I had a fun night and really appreciate being able to spend some time with you. Mom came back to get me after the dinner and I went to bed pretty easily. Since mom and dad didn't take my air mattress, I got to sleep in the big bed with mommy. She says I was a bed hog, but it worked out well.

The wedding was on Sunday, so when I got up (would you believe I slept till 9am???), mom took me back to Jenny's house, which was about an hour south of the hotel. We had some lunch, then mom had to go back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. I got to spend the night with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken and we had a BLAST!!! They took me to the fair and I even got to ride on a train! I got to Skype with Kaitlin and I had fun with that too :) Uncle Ken is great at reading books and I heard so many new good books. Jenny tells mommy that I was great and didn't even cry at bedtime. This was my first night away from mom and dad and I think we all survived really well.

Mom and dad came back to get me on Monday and we had a few hours to relax before we had to head back to the airport. We had a pretty smooth flight home as well - our flight was oversold, but thankfully we were confirmed with 3 first class seats, so we were good to go. It worked out well in first class because I had plenty of room and couldn't even kick the seat in front of me from my carseat. I talked pretty much non stop on the way home, but I don't think the people around us minded. The man in front of us snored the whole way home and the lady behind us complimented mom on how good I was when we landed. We made it home around 7pm and settled right back into our usual routine. I went back to school and mom and dad went back to work on Tuesday. All week I've been asking where Aunt Jenny and Uncle Ken went - I hope I get to see them again soon.

I had a pretty good week and even got to see Miss Sharon yesterday so mom and dad could go to Erin's birthday dinner. We all had a lot of fun. Today mom tells me is sushi and football with Jay, Molly and Baby Jake - I can't wait (though I *really* don't want mom to hold Jake...).

Mom tells me that my birthday is in a little over a week - can you believe it??? How is it possible that I'm almost TWO???

I'm talking up a storm now and talk pretty much in complete sentences and repeat everything. Here are some of my favorite phrases:

Where did mommy (daddy/kitty) go?
Mommy, there are a lot of cars (as we drive home from school)
I want to go downstairs (when I wake up in the mornings or from naps)
Mommy cover me up
Sydney goes first (up the stairs as I point at mommy and tell her to stay away)
Fill up my water please (I'm a very polite kid so far!)

Hope everyone is well - I'm going to go play now!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home today. It's bittersweet...vacation was AWESOME and I hate to leave it, but I had SO much fun playing with my toys when I got home :) I walked right in to the family room and made a house out of my blocks for mom.

My tummy is still bothering me and I had somewhat of a rough night last night. At some point, I must have fallen out of bed (or climbed out) and knocked my monitor off and it hit the bed rail. It woke mom up instantly because it was so loud and she came running in to see if I was ok. She looked in my bed and I wasn't there. She was a little freaked out since she was woken up from a dead sleep and didn't have her glasses on. I had walked over to the door and was standing behind her and said "Hi Mommy." I think she jumped almost to the ceiling! Turns out I had woken up because my belly hurt and mom had to change me (which is *quite* the painful process, unfortunately). Once I got back in bed, I chatted for a while and it didn't seem that I was too ready to go back to sleep. Mom checked the time and it was a little before 5am, so she decided to just let me get up, figuring that by the time we hit the road, I'd be exhausted and zonk out. Mom and I cuddled for a while on the couch, played with my stuffed animals, drew some pictures, and hung out on the deck and drank some coffee (ok, coffee for mom, milk for me). When daddy got up, he loaded the car and we headed out around 10. We had a third floor condo which was great for the view, but it took FOREVER to load and unload all of our stuff. Mom's car was packed to say the least. By the time we dropped off the keys at the real estate office and stopped to grab a bite to eat, I was sound asleep. I only slept for about an hour and a half (even shorter than a normal nap for me) and ate a turkey sandwich when I woke up. I spent the rest of the trip hanging out in my carseat, drawing on my magnadoodle, singing songs, talking to Cookie Monster, my baby, Grover, and my "Heepo" (i.e. Hippo). We hit some traffic (OK, a lot of traffic) in VA right around Richmond. All told, it took us a little over 7 hours to get home. I didn't cry, didn't whine, nothing. Seriously, I was happy and content THE ENTIRE WAY! I think mom and dad were afraid to jinx the situation by talking about it before they got home, but I did such a great job and they are very proud of me :) Even though I was so good, I think daddy was hoping that I'd take a second nap so he could nap while mom drove for a while. I hope he got a quick cat nap in at least!

After I played with my toys, mom and I ate dinner, then I took my bath and we read some books in my room and I climbed in to my bed. I didn't protest at all and ended up talking to myself for a little while before falling asleep. Fingers crossed I sleep well tonight! I really think vacation has helped my sleep pattern - I've slept better in the past week than I have in a LONG time.

Back to work and school tomorrow. My laundry is all done, bag is packed, lunch is packed, and I'm ready to go!

Last Day on the Beach

I am sad that we are going home tomorrow, but I do think it will be nice to sleep in my own bed and take a bath in my own tub with all of my toys.

Today we spent the morning on the beach - it was a great morning and I got to practice my jumping a little bit. This is a recently learned skill and I want to jump all of the time, but mom and dad tell me it's not such a good idea in a third floor condo :) So mom said I could jump on the beach all I want.

Here's me in mid-air!


I don't usually get juice, but soy milk is hard to come by and it's been so hot that mom and dad want to make sure I stay hydrated, so they've let me have a few juice boxes this week. Needless to say, I *love* them :)


I'm ready to go in the water with mom and dad! The waves tickled my feet :)


Daddy bought me a kite!!!!! Here I am waiting for him to put it together so we could go fly it.


See how excited I was about my kite???


This is a happy girl right here :)


We decided to go to Cape Lookout this afternoon, then spend some time walking around the town of Beaufort which is a nice historical town on the waterfront. Since it was a pretty long drive to get there, I napped in the car on the way to the lighthouse. We had to take a ferry to get from the mainland to the island where the lighthouse was. This was my first boatride and I loved it! I love to go "boom boom" over speed bumps in parking lots and we had lots of opportunities to go boom boom in the water too. On the way out to the lighthouse, I even got to see the wild horses that live on the island! The whole way out on the boat, I was holding on to Cookie Monster and my blankie - mom was also holding on to them for dear life, knowing full well that if they flew off the boat that it would not be a pretty sight. The skies were somewhat ominous as we neared the island, but the boat captain thought the storm would pass and not really hit where the lighthouse was. He was WRONG! It rained the entire time we were there :( We ended up not even going out to the beach to see the lighthouse, but rather sat in a covered area and got to see a demonstration put on by one of the park rangers. She showed us some whale bones, horseshoe crab shells, logger head sea turtle skulls and skeletons, and whelk shells. She even said that they had recently found a sea turtle that had mortar shells stuck in it's shell - that means the turtle was around during the Civil War! How crazy is that???

The rain never eased up, so we decided to make a break for it and run back to the ferry. We were confirmed on the 4:00 ferry, but it was about 3:45 and we thought we'd try anyway. We were lucky enough to get on, but were completely soaked. It really hurt riding back because the rain was pelting us all around. Luckily, mom had packed an extra shirt for she and I in my diaper bag, so she put her shirt around me to shield me from the rain. I hugged mom and put my head on her shoulder to keep myself warm. When we got back to the car, daddy changed my clothes and I was *much* happier (and warmer).

We drove to Beaufort and the rain had slowed down a little. We walked around to some of the shops and mom bought dry sweatshirts for she and I. We ended up eating at a great seafood restaurant and it was FREEZING with the air conditioning, so it's a good thing we had new sweatshirts :) I ended up eating a hot dog because I couldn't really eat anything else they had on the menu, but I gobbled it up along with some watermelon (and mommy's and daddy's watermelon), fries, and applesauce.

Mom and dad think I must have eaten some dairy at one of the restaurants we went to :( My poor tummy is really upset and I scream in pain when I have to go to the bathroom and it is pure torture to have my diaper changed :( I have a rash all over my belly which is what first diagnosed my dairy issue, so mom and dad think that has to be it. I got some Benadryl and hydrocortisone tonight, so hopefully that will make me feel a little better. I guess I haven't outgrown my dairy issues yet :(

Hope everyone is doing well and we'll post some more pictures once we get home and settled back in to the daily grind.