Christmas Pictures

So this morning I attempted to take Mya's Christmas pictures. As soon as I mentioned it to Ryder, he looked like he was going to have a break down. He hates it when I ask him to help me take her pictures because it's the same thing every time. She cries, won't sit and I end up getting frustrated, just like him. So that's exactly what happened today. I had this idea of what I wanted but it has just been way too cold so I had to change it up. I might try to get the shots that I really wanted later if it warms up but time is ticking and we need Christmas cards!

Mya is holding a cup because she would go insane if we tried to take it away, kind of like this:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This year we are so beyond excited about Christmas! Mya is so into it too. She really loved helping us put up the tree. Last year was really hard trying to decorate the tree because she wouldn't hardly let us put her down but this year she actually helped us put ornaments on the tree. It started off kind of rough. I was getting a bunch of the decorations out of the plastic bin and when I came back, Ryder had given Mya a glass ornament and she dropped it and it shattered everywhere. ;) After that, it was only non-breakables. So only one broken ornament so far. Mya has been really good about leaving the tree alone. She picks this one candy cane ornament and brings it to us all of the time, but that's it. I thought it was going to be a nightmare with the tree up, but nope. Good girl, Mya! The one thing that we will be missing this year is a picture with Santa. Mya is terrified of him. We were at the mall last month and were standing on the top floor looking over the balcony. Mya saw Santa and he waved at her and she screamed and cried, hid her face in my shoulder and was shaking! My mom made a good effort to get her to like him by buying her a stuffed Santa and we've been reading her a lot of books about him but she is just not having it. She refused to put any of the Santa decorations on the tree and every time she sees him in a book, she looks at him so seriously and says, "No! No!" So this year I will be taking her Christmas pictures which I'm very excited about but I'm afraid that they will be the only Christmas pictures. :( Maybe next year. Here's the one from last year.

Being silly with daddy

We decorated the outside of our house more this year than we have before. I will have to include pictures of that when it's not FREEZING outside!! It's actually supposed to even snow tomorrow! I can't believe it! Not sure if I'm excited or hating it. I'm not a fan of the cold.

So Mya is getting her canine still and boy oh boy has it been a blast! Can you hear the sarcasm in that? Since she got her cast off, her old, feisty, Taurus bull self has come out of hiding. We sure
did enjoy the calm, peaceful little Mya that came to visit for a while. ;)

We are missing Mimi since she left. Christmas won't be the same without her. :( Thank you, momma, for letting Ryder and I go out so much! We really needed it!

Making cookies with Mimi
Right now Mya is obsessed with bringing us pretend food and pretending to cook and feed us and the dogs. After she brings us the food she says, "Thank you," telling us to say it. ;) It sounds more like "Ah nue". Kenzie's dad thought that she was saying "onion" once. LOL There is fake food and plates and forks all over the house all day long until she goes to bed! It is so cute how she play pretends. Looks like we might need to get her something for Christmas that I thought could wait until her birthday. :) She has also started putting 2 words together. "Our car", "Upstairs"--one word, but she normally just says, "Up", "bye bye cast", "no more cast".

Playing on the hammock with Mia

Make up Work

So I've been meaning to blog about so many things but just haven't had the time. This week, one of my sessions got rained out so I have some free time finally.

On Friday, I watched Juliana for a bit while Nannette went to a doctor's appointment. She was so cute and her and Mya were just precious together. While Juliana was eating her snack, Mya was on the couch beside her drinking her milk and rubbing her head, so sweet!

Mya just LOVES torturing Abbey. Poor Abbey used to be my baby! I mean, I took her everywhere I went and I just loved her to death. Ever since Mya came along,...well, let's just say she isn't my baby anymore. Poor Abbey!
Mia watched Mya for us so that we could go on a date. We had a great time. We were going to go see Blue October at Stubbs, but it was supposed to be really cold that night so we decided against it. We went to dinner and the comedy club instead. The comedians weren't that great but we didn't care. It was just nice to have a night out. Thank you Mia! We've gotten a couple of nights out now that Mimi is here. We feel so happy to have gotten some time away from being momma and dada.
I took Mya and my mom to take some pictures the other day. Mya did not want to look at the camera, as always, but I finally got one right before we got in the car. Silly girl! The rest of the pictures are on my site.
We got to take Mya's cast off today!! She was sooo beyond happy about getting to get in the bath tub again. She got to stay in there for a long time since it took a long time to get the cast off. After about 30 minutes, we asked her if she was ready to get out. She said, "No!" She has been walking a little funny. It's probably because she's so used to lugging that heavy cast around! We have a doctor's appointment in the morning where they will do an X-ray to make sure things are healed. Thank goodness that is behind us!

Thanksgiving day:

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Nannette's. It was a great time and Mya had so much fun!! She was sooo happy! She got to play on the slide again now that her cast is gone, paint, play with Juliana and she got to eat turkey for the first time. Thank you guys for having us over!! We are thankful for such great friends!

Last year we got to have Thanksgiving with Emma. Two years in a row with great friends! They were so little!!Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are very thankful for all of our friends and family and we love you all!

Baby, baby

Today I took pictures for my friend, Elizabeth. She had a baby boy almost two weeks ago and he is sooo cute and so sweet! I made the mistake of trying to hold him right after washing my hands. My hands were pretty cold and he did NOT like that one bit!!! Poor guy. I'm so mean. It was so great seeing his momma and their family. I love doing pictures for them. I just feel right at home around them. Too bad they live in Elgin. :( Hope to see you again soon, baby Hamilton! Congratulations Elizabeth and Trevor!! For more of their pictures, see here.

Ryder and I went on a date last night!!!! I will have to post about that tomorrow, but for now, it's bed time. It has been a long day and I'm taking Mya in the morning to the airport to pick up my mom!!! Yay! We are very excited to have her here. I am dreading that long drive with Mya though. She has been great in the car lately, but that's a really long drive. Thank goodness for Leap Frog movies!

A Curse??

So I'm starting to feel like a curse has been put on our house. Mya has chipped her two front teeth, broken her leg, gotten sick and is teething while her leg is broken and today while at Juliana's house, she got stung inside by a bee between her toes on the leg that is broken! WHAT?! So I'm seriously starting to wonder what's going on here. Poor girl. I told Nannette that all of this is happening so that I can write a book about what it's really like raising a baby and make millions someday. ;) Here are some random pictures:

Juliana has also turned into a chimp, just like Mya!

After the sting: She cried really hard for a few minutes but then was so worried about the bee still being there so we had to take her to watch Nannette flush it down the toilet. I freaked out because it started swelling and was worried about the cast cutting the circulation off. The doctor said to give her Benadryl and everything would probably be okay. Man oh man!
Our point and shoot's favorite color is orange, sorry! lol Out eating some ice cream. Mimi insisted that she get a treat since her leg was broken.

Decided that it was time to decorate the cast since it won't be on much longer.

Yesterday while in the playroom, I started really looking at Mya and realized she is no longer a baby, at all. She's getting thinner, taller and she has so much personality and understands what we say. She follows directions and laughs at things that we say. She just looks so big all of a sudden. It just hit me. She is turning into a little girl. Ohhh, here come the tears. Cut it out, Brandy!

Good Times

As you can see, Mya was ready for her nap. The girl likes her sleep!

On Sunday we went and had lunch with Mia, Papa, Ryder's brother, Tyghe and his friend Anjanette, AND Mya's old flame, Michael Craig, Ryder's cousin. ;) I say that because one of the last times that she saw him, she was smiling at him and flirting big time! We went downtown to Maria's Taco Express, such a hip place with live music. Mya loved it and was a complete angel. I love taking her to places like that because she is just so into it! We need to go there more often! I have a picture but blogspot isn't letting me upload pictures right now, for some reason so I will add it when it lets me.

Update on Mya: She is now much better! She does have a canine coming in which was awful when she was sick, but now she doesn't even act like she knows it. Woohoo! Oh and her cast will come off on Thanksgiving. We will be very thankful for that, even though it doesn't even bother her. She is walking everywhere now. See here.

(I feel like my blog posts are so lame these days with all iPhone pictures, but I promise when things slow down with my business, it will be a little more exciting.) :)

Look What We Found at Target!

Tonight we went to Target because we were still in search of some sort of shoe/slipper to go over Mya's cast. It has been so impossible! We have already bought and given up on two pairs of shoes. :( We finally found something that we think is going to work and Mya doesn't mind it and doesn't try to pull it off immediately while saying, "Off! Off!" While we were standing in line at the checkout Mya got a basket and was putting candy and stuff in it, totally fine with us because she wasn't crying! After paying, we looked down and Mya was sitting in the basket laughing. The cashier said, "Hurry, take a picture!" So Ryder got his phone out. ;) Never thought we would be able to buy a "Mya" at Target!!

Silly Girl

The other day Mya was reading her books on the ottoman. I thought it was so cute and got the video camera out. I've been doing that a lot lately since she has been sick. The book she was reading had a dad going to sleep at the end. Uh oh! Wait until the end. She decides that she's had enough of that book!

Sick

Mya hasn't been sick in so long. Not since then. Poor girl has had a fever and runny nose. We thought is was just teething but after her nap today, every time she would swallow her drink, she would stick her hand in her mouth and cry. So her throat is hurting too. I made her some hot green tea with honey and lemon and she really loved it. I've been pumping her full of echinacea, goji berries and some herbal flu stuff that we got from our chiropractor. Hopefully this will be short-lived. Staying inside all day doing nothing is hard for us! And we miss our friends!

Checking our her tea. She was very interested in the tag from the tea. ;) Oh, I have a video that I'm trying to get Ryder to upload for me. It's so funny. Not really, but it is. So hopefully that will be up tonight.

Kenzie!

Yesterday morning, I watched Kenzie while her momma and daddy went to have baby Dawson checked out. I was a little nervous before she got to our house and was sure to have everything right at hand that I might need like snacks, drinks, my drink, the camera,....all of those important things! ;) I was nervous for no reason. Kenzie was a breeze and was very happy, sweet, and easy going! We took a walk when she first got here and she and Mya just laughed at each other and played in the wagon. They were so cute! Towards the end, they did start arguing over the Elmo and Molly Bunny stuffed animals. I knew that would happen at some point, but that's why I brought 2, so that they could each have their own. lol Crazy girls! Annie came over a bit later and her momma helped me with Kenzie. Thank you, Kristen! We had a great morning and it was so exciting to get to see baby Dawson's ultrasound. Can't wait to see him in person. He's going to be a doll!

18 Months

My Dear Sweet Mya,

Oh my goodness how time has flown. I just can't believe that you are 1 1/2 years old. It seems like I was just holding you for the first time in my arms, that afternoon at Round Rock Hospital and now here you are walking (before the cast anyways ;), talking and giving us hugs and kisses. But at the same time, it seems like you have always been a part of our family. I can't imagine going back in time and living life without you. You have changed our lives in so many ways and I love the new life that we have with you!

Before you were born I had this image in my head of what motherhood would be like. I would rock you each night, peacefully, and then lay you down in your crib where you would sleep so soundly. We would take you to so many exciting things (baseball games, blues on the green, the trail of lights). You would laugh and coo at us and life would just be so wonderful right from the beginning. For the first 6 months, our lives weren't this perfect picture that I had thought it was going to be. We weren't able to go places like we had hoped. You didn't just fall asleep in my arms peacefully as I rocked you. I couldn't get you to sleep. It was hard and I was confused. Every time I got a new Parenting magazine in the mail, I would feel jealous of these happy, smiling moms on the cover with their adorable, full of life and happiness babies. I wanted that! I wanted what I thought motherhood was going to be like and looking at those covers made me ask, "Why isn't it like that?!" Before you were born I thought things would be the same, but there would also be a baby in our family. I didn't realize how much our lives would be flipped around. I was upset that we couldn't just go to dinner or hang out at friend's houses as long as we wanted. I wanted to be that mom on the magazine!!

As time passed, I started to realize, motherhood isn't the cover of a magazine. It's learning and really getting to know your baby and their needs and their personality. It's figuring out how to ease into the new life that is now yours. As you get older, you get easier and happier and I love you more and more, which I didn't think was even possible. And looking at us now, and looking at you, we ARE that mom and baby on the magazine. We are so happy and smiling and having fun! It just took time. You are so precious to me, little girl. I know that you will really never understand how much you mean to me until you are also a mother one day, but I will try my hardest everyday of our lives to show you. I look forward to watching you grow and become who you are going to be. I can't wait to see what hobbies you are going to have. Will you also want to be a photographer, or will you love math? What your favorite color will be. Will you like dance or sports? Will you be shy or outgoing? Will you one day be so close with me that we can talk about anything? This I truly hope for! I can't wait to see who you will be.

Some things that you are doing right now that make us smile:

-Saying "No" to so many things, but the way you say it is too cute. You say it like it's a question, "No?" ;)
-You still eat just about anything, but you eat so little now. You take a few bites and you are done and you feel like you need to hand us every single piece of food one at a time while saying, "No." "Done." "No." "Done." lol
-You have started giving us hugs and kisses and saying "Love you" without us asking for you to or doing it first.
-You say, "Thank you," when we hand you something or when we go through the check out line at the grocery store. Such nice manners!
-You know your numbers 1-9 and you point them out EVERYWHERE!
-You know 18 of your letter sounds and it's so fun to you to find the letters and say their sounds on everything.
-You love the moon and every night you ask where it is.
-You still freak out over anyone or any character in a book going to sleep. Your chin starts quivering and you start crying this really sad cry. It's funny but makes me sad.
-Your favorite people in the world besides us, of course ;) are Papa and Nannette. You ask about them all day long.
-Every time the phone rings, you say, "Mimi, Nannette, TT".
-You have started helping me clean up your toys.
-You have become so independent, all of a sudden! You will play for a long time all by yourself without even looking for me. It's so nice to be able to cook dinner with Dada.
-You have become so calm, content, patient and happy. You're even teething and you don't even care. You just tell us, "Ow, mouth" and we give you some teething tablets and you are fine. This broken leg has really changed your personality! We can even go to the grocery store! People are amazed at how well you just sit and read books and play on the couch or in one spot. I knew you had it in you. ;)
-You still love Baby Einstein movies and you ask every time we get in the car for the "Bus" movie.
-You love seeing buses on the road and planes in the sky.

I could go on and on. You are just so cute!! I love you, our Swee T (as daddy calls you)! Happy 1/2 birthday!

Here are the pictures that I took this evening. For bigger pictures, please see here.

18 Months

Happy 1 1/2 years, sweet girl! Where did the last 6 months go??? Seems like we were just celebrating your birthday. I love you!!! I'm taking Mya's 18 month pictures this evening. We all know how much she loves having her picture taken. Wish me luck!! I will post some tonight along with a special letter to my baby, I mean big girl!

Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween this year! Much better than last. Last year was very stressful. Mya was not a happy girl, but this year was completely different. We had a lot of things to do this year: a first birthday party, a kids' Halloween party and then a block party. Mya was in such a great mood all day! She had so much fun at the birthday party and at Na Na's party where we got to see a lot of her friends: Emma, Kenzie, Shirah, Claire. Her favorite part of the day was definitely the trick or treating! She was so excited to go around in her wagon and kept saying, "Treats, treats." I handed stuff to the neighbors before Ryder got her to their houses so that she would have some treats that she could actually eat and would like: bananas, pears, goldfish crackers, fig newtons, stickers, raisins. Within the first 30 minutes, she had already eaten a whole banana, a bag of goldfish, a box of raisins, and tried to eat her pear until I stopped her since it needed to be washed. LOL This was after eating food at the 2 parties that we had gone to. She soon discovered M & M's when a neighbor gave her a pack. She loved those and wanted more and more. Her face was all blue from them and she kept saying, "Bluuuuuuue," with this funny grin on her face. She was all hyped up on the sugar and I thought for sure she was going to puke before the night was over. ;) Mia and Papa made it to go trick or treating with us for the last bit. She was very happy to see them, of course! At the end of the night, we got her home and dumped out her pumpkin so that she could see all of her treats. We're so glad that Mya had a great time this year!

If you don't know Nannette, she's so ridiculously creative!! Everything looked so cute!

On our way out for the "treats". Abbey was hoping for some too!

Shoving a banana in her mouth!

The infamous pack of M & M's!

Our pumpkins that we carved on Friday

After Mya was in bed, all of our neighbors got together for our end of the night drinks and food. We had some of Ryder's Oktoberfest home brew. :)

Just Hangin' Out

This afternoon after our playdate Mya and I were hanging out in the playroom.

Mya saw a picture of Papa on the wall. So cute! She loves that man!

Talking to Mimi. We love you and can't wait to see you next month!

Happy Birthday, Nannette!

Mya wanted me to tell Nannette, "Happy Birthday!" We had a great time tonight. Since Ryder and I couldn't make it to Nannette's birthday party, I had told her that we wanted to take her out to dinner or lunch. Well, today we were going to order lunch and have it at our house but that didn't work out so we decided to do dinner instead. We hope that you had a great day today!! Thanks for being such a great friend!