snug as a bug

we made it to the east coast and are settling in, even bundled up and went for a long, much-needed walk with my mom and win this morning.  the flight was painless [jet blue re-routed us on a direct flight!!] but thea was up from 1-4am last night.  damn jet lag.  

here she is napping peacefully yesterday:

thanks for the photo lizzie!

oh come all ye faithful

we are getting ready to hit the hay after a wonderful christmas day. i have to say, the days leading up to christmas were more than a bit chaotic and didn't even feel like the holidays to me. i was a little down about it on christmas eve but today totally made up for it...just a nice, cozy, relaxing day at home with zack and thea...exactly what we all needed.

we kept the presents to a minimum as [1] we don't need anything and [2] don't have the space for one more thing around here and [3] are very aware that for future christmases thea will require much more than wrapping paper or an empty box to be satisfied! that being said, zack gave me a really awesome new laptop and i got him this cool water carbonator [thanks for the idea sue and kevin!], both of which we've already put to good use.

thea got a few things including an elmo doll. we've watched sesame street a handful of times and she is definitely drawn to elmo while watching but he is ubiquitous - on her toothpaste, her earth's best snacks and her diapers, to name a few - so she's pretty much in love with him and says his name 500 times a day.

note: thea's faux hawk is in full effect in this video and check out her new t-shirt [a present from her dada, chargers fan that he is].



for my family: here is our attempt at a christmas morning top-of-the-stairs photo, self portrait style. not quite the same without you all!



merry christmas everyone! we wish you much love and happiness this holiday season. we head to the east coast tomorrow night and are looking forward to everything but the g.d. cold weather. we're trying to prepare:

head, shoulders, knees and toes

thea became obsessed with her belly button a little over a month ago and now she loves learning the names of all her various body parts. here's a short video reviewing some of her favorites:

nana and thea

my two favorite sagittarians mucking it up in a pumpkin patch!





happy birthday mom! we LOVE you!!!

photos taken october 21, 2009.

11/29/2009

here are some photos from thea's actual birthday. we had a really nice day filled with hanging out together and buying our christmas tree. plus, thea got to open cards and presents from our families which she loved. thanks to everyone for all the lovely and generous gifts!



becky, charlie and max: the balloons were a big hit!









great minds think alike: carol and my parents sent the same card which was adorable. thea enjoyed opening it the second time as much as the first time :)





opening a present from ggma and ggpa:



psyched about the leggings from aunt katie!



at the christmas tree farm:





woo hoo! i'm one!!

party time!

thea and her buddies: audrey, genevieve and olivia









when zack went to purchase thea's birthday cake the cashier said, "first birthday huh? it's really a celebration of the fact that you and your wife didn't kill each other." a little part of me agrees with that statement :)



the GIANT piñata! thank you laura!!



happy birthday little monkey. we love you!!

twelve months old!

one year! crazy!

this month was filled with so many exciting developments...mostly around language. thea's vocab grew considerably adding words like "apple" and "elmo" and phrases like "good girl." she also learned how to point to lots of her body parts when asked - toes, mouth, nose, ears, fingers, head and elbows - but her favorite is definitely her belly button. she lifts her shirt up at least 20 times a day, so much so that i think it's making her father nervous.

she became much more confident in her walk and has pretty much given up crawling altogether. even before she was walking well she was holding onto furniture and kicking a soccer ball but now she has coordinated herself to do both at the same time. it's pretty incredible! in order to keep her well balanced between soccer and yoga, i have a goal to teach her to stand on one leg and do a headstand over the next few months. i'll keep you all updated on our progress.

thea has also started putting together some abstract concepts. one day early this month i picked her up from audrey's house and she said "home." it stopped me in my tracks. on one hand it seemed totally normal, on the other i was marvelling how this little creature is having logical thoughts and communicating them. it's quite astounding to watch the progression. now every afternoon she says home the entire ride back to our house.

the nug made her first international trip to vancouver and lived out of a hotel like a rock star for almost a week. it was so nice of my mom and sister to join us and take care of her and i know they all had a great time hanging out together as thea hasn't stopped talking about it since we got back.










it was close to impossible to get thea to sit still for pictures. i have a bunch where she was trying to jump off the edge of the chair though! so...i finally resorted to photographing her favorite cat instead.

happy thanksgiving to all

here's a very short video of thea walking off her dinner last night. not one of her best attempts, but she ate about a pound of turkey and drank three glasses of wine with her meal so it's no wonder she's a little tipsy:



and a few photos of thea raiding the refrigerator for late night leftovers:







thanks to g ma for thea's beautiful thanksgiving dress and sweater. she looked like an angel!

the three musketeers

thea, laura and olivia:

kissing bandit

thea, not me.

she kisses everything and everyone these days. on the way home from canada, i had to stop her from kissing the wheels of one of those vehicles that drive through the airport terminal. what can i say, she's a love bug.

vacation reading

thea got hooked on the skinny series while in vancouver last week. she might just be her grandfather's biggest fan....



thanks to aunt katie for taking this photo.

my almost-one-year-old

thea legitimately walked today, over and over, all around the house. and she was so proud of herself! if i could have taken a video, i would have :( thanks to keith for taking this photo.

we head to vancouver tomorrow where i'll spend the week working and thea will be lucky enough to hang out with my mom and sister.

have a great week everyone!

temporary solution

i'm using the camera on my computer to take photos in light of our recent technological debacle. here are some photos from breakfast this morning...

we're supposed to celebrate with ivory

today not only marks veteran's day and the birth of thea's aunt (happy birthday phoebe!) but it's also the anniversary of my first date with zack. i won't bore you with the details, just a few photos. you're lucky that our computer and scanner aren't working (we've basically had a full IT meltdown here, people, and you can add my camera to the list) or you would be looking at a full 14 year retrospective.

as i was looking back through my photos, i realized we have covered a lot of ground since 2007, in every sense of the word!

paris:



biarritz, france:



san sebastian, spain:



santa barbara, ca:



ireland:



mexico:



vancouver, canada:



miami, fl:



richmond, va (the day we got engaged):



san diego, ca:



and sharp mary birch hospital:



can't wait to see where 2010 takes us....... thank you for being my pahtna in crime.

i love you boozie.