two!

a couple pics from thea's second birthday party which was attended by the birthday girl, her dad and yours truly. we kept it very small this year and it was really nice...just us, a few presents and a homemade cake.





plus, a nicely wrapped present:





update on jan 5, 2011: i'm adding a video of thea blowing out the candles on her cake because it's one of her favorite videos to watch. she's obsessed with birthdays and blowing out the candles these days and i want her to be able to look back at this blog and have a record of all things thea. she's been watching the video from her first birthday and gets such a thrill to see us singing happy birthday to her when she was a little bubba.

giving thanks

our little girl, all grownz up.



we were heading out yesterday to thanksgiving dinner with the phung family [thank you for the delicious meal and great company, as always!] and thea just looked like such a big girl to me. i can't believe she's going to be two on monday. how is this possible?! she had her two year check-up the other day where we found out she weighs 31 pounds and measures 35 inches, 90th percentile for height. at this rate, she's going to tower over me by her fifth birthday.



as we prepare for bam bam's arrival at some point this week, i've been flooded with memories of thea's birth, especially since i was in labor at exactly this moment two years ago. i remember it like it was yesterday which is odd because these days i can't seem to remember what i did yesterday.

i'll try to post at least one more time this week and we will, of course, keep you updated when we have news!!

going for a jog

we've officially entered the "i'll do it," "let me do it!" "i can do it!!!!" phase of development, which can be trying at times. just the other day we were in a hurry and i picked thea up out of her car seat to get out of the car quickly and she broke down crying because she wanted to do it herself. while sobbing she threw herself in front of me and tried to physically restrain me from walking away so she could get back in and re-do the whole experience.

she also wants to get herself dressed and loves to put on clothes these days...hers, mine and especially zack's boxers, which she has fashioned into pants, shirts, dresses and hats. here's an outfit she put together last week that's actually not half bad, compared to some of them:



the lighting was very strange in this photo but i love the way it turned out:

a month of firsts

in an attempt to even out thea's scraggly mullet and knowing that if i don't get things done now, they aren't going to get done for awhile, i took thea to get a haircut yesterday.

we stop into little locks every week because it's a few doors down from music class, it's also a toy store and it's the home of two very fluffy bunnies and one big lizard. so after a few months of hanging out there i figured thea would be pretty comfortable and not make too big of a scene when we strapped her down and cut off her hair.

she was apprehensive for the first minute but with the help of a 'thomas the train' episode playing above her and a big mirror where she could watch herself, she was totally cool with the whole experience.

here are a few pics:

a big one!

this morning while thea was coloring downstairs she took her diaper off, declared she had to poop and asked me to come upstairs with her. she sat down on the big toilet and did it all in a matter of a few minutes. it was quite remarkable actually. i'm not getting my hopes up that this is the end of diapers [nor am i totally sure i want it to be as not wearing them opens a whole new bag of issues] but i did set a goal of november 2010 to have thea toilet trained and i'm pretty amazing at her timing. i haven't pushed her at all, simply asked her every time she started mentioning poop if she wanted to sit on the toilet and the answer has generally been no. today was clearly a different story....