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And then she was one….

  • Posted on August 23, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Katherine turned one on Saturday.  So hard to believe.  We held her party on Sunday afternoon, and it was a small but fun-filled party – mostly with 3 year olds running around like crazy.  Gotta love sugar highs.

There were cupcakes of course, as well as pin the candle on the cupcake and a cupcake pinata.  Even cupcake wine and cupcake coloring!  Probably the most ‘themed’ party I will ever throw. 

Here is a gallery of the photos – since there are so many this will just have thumbnails – you might have to click on the image to see the full one.  Or check out: http://dyaranddyar.shutterfly.com/2337 - the full gallery.

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K: You Are One

  • Posted on August 23, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Dear Sweetpea,

You turned one this weekend!  That’s right – a year ago I was thinking I had another week to go, when you had different plans.  You decided to scare me into going to the doctor – and good thing you did.  You were delivered just a few hours later at 5:43 p.m. on Friday, August 21st, 2009. 

This year hasn’t always been easy.  From needed to visit CHOA at one week of age for a few days, to constant sleep issues due to teething or reflux or some other mysterious tummy trouble… we are glad that we see an end to that and we hope we all start getting more sleep as soon as this last batch of teeth are in.  You managed to cut through at least two teeth this past weekend, the weekend of your birthday.  Another one will probably be today, and a 4th maybe even later this week.  I guess you wanted to do all the teeth at once. 

But while there have been a few nights of sleep deprivation – the year has been mostly about our hearts growing more than we ever knew possible to include you in our family of four.  I think its natural for parents to wonder if they can love a second child as much as a first, and the answer is definitely yes.   We love you very much baby girl!

It seems like overnight you have become a toddler. 

You are taking up to 4 steps at a time, interacting more and playing peek a boo with your friends at school. 

You eat what we eat, and drink out of sippies, some of the time anyway.  You prefer water out of sippy over milk.  Your favorite food is either cereal bars or blueberries – its a tough call.  You also love pizza – you ate almost a whole piece for lunch the other day, cut up of course.

You babble away as if we know exactly what you are saying. 

You blow us kisses. 

You get mad and throw a temper tantrum if we tell you no or take something away.  Or like the other night, give us this pout that we couldn’t help but laugh at. 

You like to pester your sister – no matter what she is doing. 

You like to dance and be the center of attention.  

You like to be held and to cuddle.  You like your pacis.

Your favorite toys right now are this ball that suctions to the window and a hand clapper thing we won at the school carnival. 

You will not wear hair clips in your hair for more than about 15 seconds.  We are lucky if your shoes stay on.

Some weeks you’ll hate getting put into your car seat, other weeks you are fine with it. 

Sometimes you like bathtime, others you don’t want us pouring water on you.

You are already showing a love of puzzles & blocks – just like your engineering family.

You can say mama, dada, uh oh, ya … and lots of syllables – we think ‘ai ya’ is Amelia though we aren’t quite sure.  You stopped talking for a couple of weeks except for ‘ya’ while you worked on walking, but it was like someone opened up the dam because you started again this weekend and babble non-stop.

We love you so much baby girl – you are already growing into such a strong-willed, independent, loving and funny girl.  You are beautiful, inside and out.  You make our family complete. 

Happy first birthday Katherine,

Love Mom

A: Three Years Old

  • Posted on August 1, 2010 at 10:32 am

Dearest Amelia,

I have a 3 year old.  This was the weekend you had been counting down to for months – to turn 3.  It was a great weekend, and I’ll write about the parties in other posts.  This post is especially for you, about you.

You are my princess.  I don’t know how you learned about princesses really – we haven’t watched the movies – but you know.  And you are one.  You love pink.  You love to dance and twirl your skirts.  You don’t love getting dirty – very prim & proper actually.  You would wear jewelry and crowns at all times if I let you.   We have given you a room to match – a room with crowns and pink – and you love it!  It brings me so much joy that we could give you a room to match what you imagined – a room fit for a princess.  And then to have a princess dress?!  I think you are in Heaven little girl, and we are there with you.

You are also my ladybug, soccer player, ballerina… sometimes dragon, sometimes dinosaur.  You are so excited that you get to start soccer & dance soon.  I think you will do great with both.   And you have such a great imagination.  You come home from learning something at school and pretend to chomp like a dinasaur or last week you were a cowgirl.  And the songs?  You love to make up songs, and you could sing for hours.  I love your creativity.

Its hard to describe what a fun adorable girl you have become.  You really shine when we are out & about – so nice and friendly to people around us, just making everyone lives brighter with your presence.  You really make us proud.  You save your tough moments for private – nothing that isn’t being a 3 year old.  The not always listening, the procrastinating things you don’t want to do…  and you are quite sensitive.  Especially if you are tired or hungry - the slightest thing that upsets you and you don’t understand could send you into tears.  But we always make it through those tough moments.  And mostly – you are so loving and fun.  We have lots of hugs, lots of kisses, lots of dancing and playing.

You really enjoy playing games now and so we play your ladybug game or candyland almost once a night – I remember a few months ago when we had to do the playing and you kind of helped out – but now you get the rules, you take your turn and count out your spots on the board.   We’ll have to add a few more games to our collection soon – I can already imagine family game night when Katherine is a bit older. 

A fun fact – you really have grown into a big girl now too.  You used to be our tiny peanut – started off small, and while you were a healthy eater, you remained short – 25th – 40th percentiles.  But this time?  At your 3 year appointment you were 38 inches and 75th percentile!  You really have grown up big & tall – just like you said.

Its hard to tell at the age of 3, but there are so many things it looks like you would be good at growing up.  You definitely have your engineering side like mommy & daddy.  You love puzzles, flying our little helicopter, and building with blocks.  But you also love the idea of being a doctor – you enjoy going, and say ‘ they make me feel better’.  You also have told us you want to grow up to sing on a stage with a microphone.  So who knows – I know you have the potential to be anything you want to be – you are amazing.

More general items – let’s see favorite foods would have to be berries - of all kinds.  Also guacamole & chips.  You are a big fan of lollipops as well.  And cheese.  Really you like a lot of things – you eat most everything we give you, although occasionally there is some bribing because you focus on your favorites.   You are still mildly allergic to dairy & eggs, but you seem to do fine with cheese products which is good – because you LOVE them.  You don’t realize your milk is soy yet, but you are old enough now we are working on explaining your allergies.  You haven’t ever had a nut, and you probably won’t.  You are allergic to peanuts and walnuts and we haven’t tested the rest yet… but for now all you know is ‘no eggs or nuts, it will make my tummy hurt’.  Good enough and may we never have to test your level of reaction.  You do have allergic asthma – not suprising really.  But you do so well when you have to do breathing treatments – you are big and brave and strong my princess. 

One of my favorite memories from the last month is our trip to Erie, PA.  Not only were you a dancing queen (or princess) – but you did something that surprised me.  You wanted to ride, and then rode, a rollar coaster.   You are sometimes a bit on the scared side, but there you were, having the biggest grin – it was heart warming.  I will always remember how brave you were, and how that meant you had such a good time.

We love you so much baby girl – you aren’t a baby anymore but you are my first baby.  I love when I get to lay down with you in your bed and you snuggle close – I love your hugs and your kisses – I love seeing you grow into such an amazing girl. 

We love you,

Mom

 

K: 11 Months Old

  • Posted on July 22, 2010 at 4:01 am

My baby Katherine – not sure I can call you a baby for much longer.  You only have a month left until you are one!  You are really starting to come into your personality now, and its so fun to get peaks into who you are going to be.

You love to dance.

You love to eat.

You love to get your way.  Man do you love to get your way – you are headstrong and opinionated.  You yell at us if we say no.

You love to stand up in the bath tub even if you fall, over and over, making it quite difficult to bathe you.

You walk holding onto one hand now - any day you will let go.

Your hair is a big ol’ mess – I think we are going to have to cut it before your birthday and that makes me a little sad.

You have no fear.  We went to a beach this past weekend on Lake Erie, and not only did the sand not bother you (it did your sister), you crawled through it, over it, tried to eat it… but then you crawled right into the surf, waves (& dress) included.  You thought the waves hitting you were hysterical.

You want to be a big girl like your sister.

You love to pull her hair (and other’s but mostly her curls.)

You love to bounce on real beds. 

You love to go down stairs head first. (We have two you practice on out of the rec room - we make sure you are safe!)

You are a good cuddler.

We love you very much and I can see you are being a headstrong, smart, playful and adorable little toddler. 

Love,

Mom

     

A: 2 years 11 months old

  • Posted on June 24, 2010 at 1:00 am

Amelia – wow – you are almost there!  You’ve been telling us you were turning 3 for months – and now it really is only a month away.

I should make sure I’m clear front off – your name isn’t Amelia Rose Dyar anymore.  You have decided your name is Amelia Bedelia Ladybug.  And Katherine is Katherine Bambam Ladybug.  Our names change daily – but those – you are sticking to it.  We’ll hold off changing your birth certificate – but I find it adorable you have a new name. 

If the last month has been any indication – 3 might be rougher than 2.  You don’t listen as well anymore.  You fight sleep more.  You rather snack than eat if you had your way (you don’t.)  Really most of the time you are a dream – you are a wonderful daughter.  The times you aren’t… well let’s just say I need to work on my patience level a bit. 

One of your big things is ‘you are my friend’ – it warms my heart when you tell me that.  I know there will be days when you don’t believe that to be true – and I am always your mother first – but I love knowing I am your friend too, at least right now. 

The biggest joy in my life is seeing you with your sister – you light up and when she interacts with you (which she loves) – you get so happy and proclaim ‘she loves me!’ – it makes my heart swell bigger than I knew was possible.  She is going to look up to you sweetheart – its a heavy responsibility.  But I know you will handle it with grace and sweetness that you already display at just nearly 3 years of age.

I haven’t done a good job of documenting the fun things you say this month – but a few that come to mind:

- When I honked at someone who wasn’t driving safe, you said ‘SAFE!’.  

- You want to live in a bouncy house, but one without a slide since you got a ‘carpet burn’ (or is it rubber slide burn) at the last party we went to.

- You want to drive a race car around the track, but you want all your friends on a train with you too.. (not sure how all that worked together).  You were going to drive the train  together with your teacher Ms. Tracy.

- You regularly like to tell us to ‘drive slower’ or ‘drive faster’ – there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason why …

- Daddy told you the thunder would sing you to sleep the other night so now when I try and sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ to you before bed, you tell me, ‘No mommy, the thunder will sing that’, so I have to sing other songs instead

We love you very much baby girl – you have such great joy and delight with the wonders of this world.  I love living through your experiences.  I hope this last month of being two is magical and the birthday is as wonderful as you imagine.

Love,

Mom

PS I should add I often now bribe you to pose for pictures – the latest being you then got to hold the camera and try taking photos.  Other than giving me a heart attack it worked out okay.  I even put a couple of your pictures on http://www.dyarfamily.com/DyarFamilyPhoto – maybe it’ll be your path.

 

 

  

   

       

K: 10 Months Old!

  • Posted on June 21, 2010 at 6:52 am

Wow Katherine,

You are 10 months old today. Time flies fast! Granted you think you are already 18 months or something – but still.

This has been the month of a lot of firsts – clapping, waving, standing unassited (up to 10 seconds) – we finally got top teeth bringing us to 4. You had your first airline trip (you napped both ways thankfully!), you had your first pool trip. Your hair is crazy. One day curly and now all of a sudden more straight. Who knows?! Your eyes are still a hazel gray – a bit lighter than your sister’s.

We had you tested for allergies because you seemed a bit off at times, but thankfully you passed everything we tested which is great. We’ve added grains back in and you seem to be doing well with them now. Next we’ll try dairy.

You love to eat – you are down to just 4 bottles a day and you don’t always finish those. The only food you haven’t taken to really is melon. Oh and the grape tomatoes – those you kept sticking in your mouth and spitting back out (they were cut tiny of course.)

Your favorite things to play are ball, musical instruments, dancing and anything your sister is trying to do. (Meaning you try to take it away.)

You are sleeping better most of the time but then you throw in a night like we had this past weekend just to keep us on our toes and tired. We are getting there though.

We love you very much – you light up the room you are in, and make us a true family of four.

Happy 10 month lunar birthday!

Mom

You are behind the barricade in the right hand picture – to keep you in the rec room – otherwise you will try to play on the two stairs right there all day long. Up and down. Up and down. Up you are good at – down is questionable. You did make it up the entire flight of big stairs with daddy behind you the other day. You love stairs.

A: 2 years 10 months old

  • Posted on May 27, 2010 at 6:25 am

Amelia - we are getting closer.  Soon you will be 3!  You tell me every day that your birthday is soon (you think its really soon) and that you will be 3.  You know you are having a waterslide at your birthday and we need to use binoculars to look for party hats in trees and then it’ll be your birthday.  (You have long trains of thought like this often.)

This has been the month of a few things.  Everything is your favorite.  I’ll give you blackberries and you’ll say ‘this is my favorite’ or I’ll give you veggies and you’ll say ‘these are my favorite’.  Doesn’t really matter what it is, its your favorite.  This has also continued you talking about friends.  Daddy & Mommy & Katherine are your friends – you have various best friends from school.  Even your friends parents are your friends.  And everything is ‘this month’. Unfortunately this has also been the month of you not listening very well – all of a sudden we have to tell you things multiple times, you delay seemingly on purpose things like getting dressed in pjs, etc.  So its been the month of more time outs than I remember in awhile.  Its such a dichotomy – on the one hand you are so loving and adorable, on the other so frustrating!  I don’t have a high patience level right now – I apologize but we’ll get through it.

We love you very much – here is a good short video that captures many of the fun things you say right now. (At the end Katherine bumped her head so you hear her cry out and Amelia gets concerned.)

Love,

Mom

K: 9 Months Old

  • Posted on May 27, 2010 at 5:59 am

Wow Katherine – we are in the final stretch, the final few months until you are a one year old.  On the one hand its gone by fast – you are hitting milestones faster than I can remember to try and capture them.  On the other, its gone by slow… but I think that’s the you still not sleeping great.  We have good nights and bad nights – you go in stretches typically.  We think we might have figured out part of the equation and you get to see an allergist soon – that wouldn’t be suprising as your sister has food allergies too.  We’ll see though!

You started crawling, and then instantly were crawling fast and everywhere. No fear.  Daddy likes to tell a story that with Amelia, when she learned to crawl, we accidently left a door open to stairs and I found her crying because she was stuck at the top, scared… with you – there are two stairs down from the rec room and if he hadn’t been there – you were about to take a leap.  On purpose and with determination.  No fear.  You are a bulldozer.  You even know that to get over things you need to lift your knees.  And you try to go up stairs as well.   We barely got used to crawling and you are pulling up and standing – not really crusing but that will be here any minute.  You can stand for long periods of time and its your preferred thing to do right now.

Eating – you love table food – we are just being careful with it because of potential allergies.  But anything I give you you love.  Even if at first you are tentative by the end you are trying to eat it.  Most ends up in the chair, but you try.

You love your sister – you light up and follow her around.  It is one of the sweetest things the relationship you have with her. 

You know what you want – you are a strong willed personality. You don’t really like strangers and will let them know.  Once you are hungry you want to be fed RIGHT THEN.  You want a toy – you go for it and don’t take well to us taking it away if its not appropriate. 

We love you so much baby girl – happy belated 9 months!

Mom

  

  

 

Just a few quick pictures from this morning – you found the toy cabinet!

A: 2 years, 9 months

  • Posted on April 24, 2010 at 2:53 pm

This past month has been interesting.  On one hand, you are so adorable and loving and say the funniest things.  On the other – oh the whining.  Its like you finally decided to be ‘terrible two’ – but only sometimes.

Some of the funny things – you tried to convince us it was pj day at school so you could stay in your pjs, at the end of Snow White (your first princess movie!) you said they took her to a doctor to make her feel better… oh and cheerios and pretzel fish make your throat feel better.   You tell us we are your friends and it is so sweet.

You have full conversations with us now, and you get so into telling us stories and you love to sing songs (the newest being Graham sam sam… robby robby robby… graham sam sam – with hand motions!). 

You are so sweet giving us hugs & kisses & love. 

You enjoy seeing the roses bloom outside and the birds eating at the bird feeder.  You could jump in a bouncy house all day long.  You love attempting to hula hoop and jump rope – we’ll get there.

You are fighting going to sleep now and eating dinner – but we are trying to be firm and so far so good – at least on no snacks after not eating.  Going to sleep we are a bit at a loss – you sing, you call for water, all sorts of procrastination.  And you are a grump when you are tired.  But you are also so sweet when you ask us to rub your back so you can fall asleep.

We love you baby girl – fast becoming a young girl!

Mom

K: 8 Months Old

  • Posted on April 21, 2010 at 5:34 am

Dearest Katherine,

Wow – 8 months old.  I feel like I need to start planning for you to be a one year old.  This is crazy how fast time is flying and you appear to be racing head first into being a toddler whether I want you to or not.

In just the past couple of weeks you’ve started getting into the crawl position – you don’t really move forward, mostly backwards, but you seem to be able to get what you want through some combination of rolling, sliding, reaching, sitting back up… yes you can sit back up.  You can get into sitting by yourself.  I’ve even seen you maneuver a toy under your belly so that when you sat up, you would have it right there in front of you – I was pretty impressed I must say.  And this week has begun the pulling up – I think you might go from crawling to steps in crazy time but we’ll see.  It just seems like you want to play with your big sis so you are doing what you can to get there.

You are doing a great job with eating too – we finally seem to have weaned the night time bottle – you do 5 bottles (probably 24 – 30 oz in a day) and you eat solids.  You like to eat.  (You are wearing an 18 month onsie today if that is any indication.)  You have taken to finger foods like they are the best gift you have ever been given.  You’ve enjoyed peas, diced carrots, sweet potato cubes, rice, dried apple pieces, cheerios and puffs of course.   You also still eat your purees though I can imagine that will start to wean as you get more interested in finger foods.  If there is a finger food on your plate or in your vision, its all you want.

You are so sweet and happy, you love people.  You really don’t want to be left alone very long – though you will independently play surrounded by toys in our new  rec room.   And sleep – after dealing with the cold that turned into a bad cough that turned into a sinus infection – we finally got you sleeping well – for three nights.  Now you are teething.  Sigh.  Its not bad though, we are close to good sleep more regularly.  We will get there.  And while its against my ‘rules’, we’ve let you come to our bed when you wake up early and you are a little love bug snuggler.  Hard to say no to that.

You have turned into a reluctant laugh-er into a great laugh-er.  Especially if being thrown in the air or raspberries are involved.  Its a sound that could make anyone smile, I love it.  You also babble lots of syllables, though no ma yet (you do occasionally say mmmm when you are eating, I think because we do to tell you its yummy.)

You are so fun these days – you love to play with balls and your sister.  And anything you can shake to make noise.  You love to be outside just hanging out with the family.  I envision a great summer ahead of us – playing together.

I love you baby girl,

Momma

P.S.  Mommy got a new photo editing software so two of these three photos have special edits – I’m guessing this will be a theme for the next few months. ; )  Though its hard to improve upon such cuteness.