Easter Weekend Recap

Here is ANika the day before Easter wearing my old dress. She wore it as a shirt, but I wore this dress my very first Easter. I was a little over a month old. I would have put it on her last year, but I just got the boxes of old clothes from my mom a few months ago.  And, yes there is a big wet spot on it- she spilled her water.

 The Easter Bunny brought Anika a bubble maker, empty plastic eggs and a book!  HA.  The Easter Bunny is saving all her pennies for Anika's birthday party!

On Easter morning, Anika fed herself breakfast with a spoon! She did pretty well!  Not too much of a mess. But,  The more we go out to eat, the more I realize JUST HOW important Piri really is!! THANK GOd for Piri. Ugh, I always have to get on my hands and knees and pick food up off the floor at restaurants and at friends houses before we leave. I mean, she does an ok job, but she does seem to get a lot on the floor, I guess.

 Grampa came by in the morning to start fixing the closet!! He brought some goodies from Bunny Nona!  LOTS OF BOOKS and this adorable hat and matching slippers.

We were supposed to go to Church to watch my niece (K) sing, but it was RIGHT  at Anika's nap time, and we had brunch reservations too. I just didnt think she could do both...so we only went to brunch. We went with with Nona, Grampa, K and my brother.

 She wore a bow from Danielle. 

 Eating her green beans! She also ate a bunch of fish at brunch. Girl loves fish, chicken and meat! ha

The flower on her dress fell apart, but we fixed it later. Dress from Nona.

Taking a stroll outside of brunch with cousin K. Anika ADORES her big cousin!! She gets so excited to see her.

 I dont know WHY I have major fat face in all these.  I didn't even drink the night before! ha

Back home, we did our Easter Egg hunt outside.

I used regular dye to do the eggs, but NEXT year, I am going to use natural dyes to color them...I have some friends who did that. Like, use beat juice  for red (We love beats).  Spinach juice for green, Coffee for brown, etc. I think that will make a bigger project out of it, but still kind of neat!  I saw it in the farmer's almanac. Anika got a kid's farmers almanac in her goody bag from Nona.

Looking at the bubbles.  You can make your own bubbles with water and dawn soap! This machine isnt as cool as I thought it would be. I had to keep dipping the wand in.

Had to put this on her because I did last year when she was a month old. ha

HOLY GINGER, huh???   I keep thinking its changing but NOPE, this picture is all red.

Remember how my closet fell down....

This was after it fell and AFTER I finally got the doors unjammed and pulled most of the stuff out!

 And this is the stuff all over the room!

 ANd this is THE NEW closet. My dad could do pull ups on the new clothes rail and the shelf is separate than the rail so the weight wont all be on one thing. Anika tested it out.

And, all put away makes a happy Ashley. The closet goes a few feet to the right and left (more than what you can see).

And, that sums that up! I have a post to do about A attending birthday parites-We went to 2 in the past 2 weeks and have 6 more coming up. She has a grand time.  

Anika is funny. She calls summer squash, bananas and spaghetti squash all banana. She gets the yellow, I guess.  She also started saying key and she always wants my keys, but I tend to not let her.
She was super hyper tonight. I was afraid she wouldnt go to sleep, but luckily she did. SIlly girl LOVES her dada. Geeze!

New words...and a little of this and that

This will be quick. I Just want to record it before I forget.
I Just got a call from my dad all excited. (I actually got a call from my mom first, but I pretended not to know what my dad was calling about).  Anika is with my mom today (and most Mondays and Fridays).
I picked up the phone:
Me: Hi Dad.
Dad: Guess what Anika just did and said?
Me: What?
Dad: I walked in the door for lunch and she came running to the door and said "HI Grampa!"
ME: OK...so how did that sound and how do you know?
Dad: Mom looked at me and we BOTH heard it clear as day! She said it!
ME: Well, I Know MOm and ANdrew "hear" Anika say a lot of words I don't quite make out.
Dad: SHe said Hi Grampa. We all heard it and she came to me when she heard me coming on the porch.  THen she kept saying "Quacka" when I was eating crackers. I gave her a few,  but then Nona said no more and she got really upset.
ME: Yes, she likes to throw little temper tantrums now when she doesnt get what she wants. It is really fun! Well that is exciting she called you Grampa. Did Mom give you the money?
Dad: what money?
ME: I gave mom $30 to give you. Remember you invoiced me for the supplies to fix my closet? I gave her the cash.
Dad: She probably spent it out drinking last night
ME: (Laugh out loud) ok.

(My dad did spend several hours fixing my closet by the way, but he did invoice me for the supplies, which is fine! lol. I am very grateful for his help!)  It is so strong now. He said if the clsoet falls down NOW, my whole house is going with it. My dad also had to redo my closet in my Boston appartment :) I had the same issue there.

Last night I had my weigh in. I was UP another 2.2  pounds. That is a grand total of GAINING 7.5 POUNDS! YEs...I am now like 20 pounds away from goal- or the weight I want to be before conceiving another baby. I was so upset by my gain, that my mom suggested we go out to eat! lol. (That is what my dad meant by going out drinking last night).  She was down and she is  pretty much at goal weight.  We went to a nice restaurant, but I was in my gym clothes (From weigh in) and Anika was REALLY dirty from a day at Miss B's and playing outside. LOL.  I didnt care. Anika and I shared the salmon dish. My mom ordered mussels (I cant eat them), calamari and a big special salad...oh and she got a special martini. I drank water. Then she got creme brulee and I watched her eat it. lol.  In all fairness, she works out A LOT  and she is usuallly really good. I ate a WHOLE thing of Chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joes Monday and Tuesday.  I also ate some bon bon ice cream things from Trader Joes in 2 days. SO...Its no wonder I gained. lol.  IM back on track today. Bla.  This morning at spin, I tried to work extra hard.

Anyway, back to Anika. I guess we can add 2 words to her list- (allegedly) she is saying Grampa and cracker...in baby talk.
The one that is getting me to smile a lot lately is "All Done"  after she eats and "All better" after getting her nappie changed.

Anika also had her FIRST dentist appointment yesterday!  It was a place just for kids. We really liked it. LOTS of fun things on the wall and toys. Little chairs for kids- so cute! There were Murals all over the walls. She was facing a mural of SKIERS!! How appropriate, huh?  The dentist did want to brush her teeth with Fluoride toothpaste though. I declined that! She is MUCH too young. Fluoride should not be consumed and she is much too young to spit it  out!  They were very nice and accommodated my request. I told them I only brush her teeth with water right now because the toothpastes marketed for kids have weird stuff in them, like saccharin (fake sugar) and glycerin, etc.    They gave me some stuff that I am ok with the ingredients (branam I think),  but I still might wait a tiny bit longer until she can spit it out and not just eat it.  She got her photo taken (not the one above i took) for the NO Cavity wall!! There is a huge wall of pictures of kids in front of a bear that says "NO Cavities" I mean, I figured she wouldn't have any! Actually, I would have died if she did already!

And not to update on an update, but Wednesday night she went to bed like a dream. ON the way home from our La Leche League meeting, I gave her a pep talk that went like this "Anika, if you pull the same crap tonight that you pulled the past 2 nights, I will leave you to CIO for the first time, pour myself some wine, and go hide in the basement where I cant hear you"
We got home, I put her PJ's on, laid her in bed- and OUT. Not a peep. I'm glad my threat got to her :)
I was seriously considering letting her cry it out since I KNEW she was fine and not sick etc.
However, at our LLL meeting, she would NOT SIT STILL. The other kids her age sat with their mommies like good kids. NOPE, she kept going over and taking food and toys from the other kids.  I basically chased her the ENTIRE TIME.

We have another busy weekend planned! Hope you all have a good one. Ill be back some time to post about Easter! lol.  It will probably be a few weeks late just like her Birthday post.

Update on that last post.

Remember how in my last post I mentioned how well A goes to bed and its pretty effortless…that was the truth. THEN, Sunday night at my friend’s house around bed time, I took her in the guest room to nurse. I nursed her on the bed …I thought she was falling asleep, but oh no- she stood up on the bed like she was in party mode. I thought “Oh no”. But, I just put her down in the pack n play that my friend set up in the guest room. To my surprise, Anika just rolled over, got in sleep position (On her knees with butt in the air) and NOT A SOUND was made! I walked out of the room and she was silent. My friend was putting her baby to sleep too. My friend’s husband and friend’s mom were in the living room RIGHT next to the guest room. They looked at me and asked if we should shut the guest room door since we were watching tv, and I said no because it was dark in there…Andrew and I are VERY loud at home so Anika really can sleep through noise. I even clean her room when she is sleeping…I was more concerned about a dark room because I personally am afraid of the dark. Lol. Anyway, she slept right through until 6:30 the next morning.   Quiet as a mouse! She is usually good at home, but this was a new place so I’ll admit, I did have a little anxiety about how she would be. She was MORE than perfect!

On Monday night,  after the marathon and a 2 hour ride back home, I told Andrew, damn- Anika was a SHOW OFF at bed time!! Then, Monday bed time came around….she did NOT WANT TO GO TO BED. She fought it and fought it. She ended up in bed with us until midnight sucking away at me. Then, last night- 2 hours of trying to get her to bed. TWO HOURS! FINALLY, I gave up all I wanted to get done and gave up the crafts I had planned to do, and just went to bed early with her …she would only shut up if she was nursing, so I let her nurse ALL NIGHT LONG. We WERE Done with night nursing. But, it was the only way for me to KIND of sleep and keep her quiet. This morning I was not happy and when I dropped her off at the sitter’s, she was surprised because Anika was such a sweetheart yesterday. NO issues. This morning she was a joy as well- got right up all happy, peed on the potty, all smiles…meanwhile I was looking at her with the stink eye.
I Just wanted to put this on here before I forgot!! Although, that shit better not happen tonight. I got some new NZ wine I am DYING to try and I keep having to go pacify her and go to bed early!
* Also, correction from my last post. The cake I made had ONE more ingredient I forgot to mention- milk. I used coconut milk or almond milk. Can’t remember what kind, but one of them.
We did have so much fun at the Marathon and hanging out with my friend and her daughter.

My big One year Old

Only a couple weeks late, right?
I seriously have not slowed down. I had my first business trip  since having Anika, this past week.  I sure missed her at night.

We went to a birthday party yesterday 1.5 hours away and we have 5 more in the next 6 weeks.  We did a 5K this morning.

We are heading down to MA this afternoon to see my friend and her almost 1 year old. Tomorrow is Marathon Monday.

Here are some pics from her 1st Birthday. As I have mentioned before, her party will not be until June.

I ordered the shirt from etsy, but its hard to see the name and the 1 is INSIDE the cherry blossom painting, so hard to see the 1 as well.  Owell.

Barefoot!  It was VERY warm on her birthday and her birthday week. Unusually warm for March!

SHE LOVES Being outside! LOVES IT. She stands at the door and wants to go out and play. Her sitter said she just LOVES to play outside too.

Taking the sticker off

Presents from daddy...note the Guzzi on one :)

My parents gave her the American Doll Bitty baby. I had this baby too.  She got some clothes and books from Nona too.  The hat goes with a bathing suit from Nona...whats it called, a skull cap?

We just had my parents and niece over for dinner.  We had turkey tips, quinoa and veggies.
I made Anika's cake.  The ingredients included: whole wheat flower, wheat germ, unsweetened apple sauce, baking powder, 6 bananas and I put some Cinnamon in it. The top had some REAL maple syrup from my dad's trees mixed with...tofu!  I didn't tell my family what was in the cake, and they LIKED IT! It was VERY dense. 

The morning of her birthday she had a lead blood test. UGh. STUPID idea.  Its not even protocol in our state. They give a questionnaire and base your child's risk off that.  They were not going to do a lead test, but since Andrew works with lead, he wanted one done for peace of mind.  He takes EVERY precaution. He drives a work car that Anika and I dont ride in. He doesnt wash his work clothes at our house and he uses a separate shower!  The person tried to get blood from Anika's right arm. After digging in her arm for a vein, they couldn't find one. THEN,  they tried the other arm. SHE WAS Freaking out.  STILL, they couldnt get blood. No one has EVER been able to get blood from my arm either. They always have to get it from my hand. They decided to prick her finger and held her finger over a vile and tried to Squeeze drops out for no joke, 10 minutes. IT was HORRIBLE. I was holding her and I just looked at Andrew and gave him the stink eye. We should have just gotten up and said, no thanks. Basically, we were all traumatized. It was really not good a good start to the day! Of course, her results came back fine. ugh.

Anika is 19 pounds and 28.5 inches.  She has a belly on her. She definitely is not SKINNY, just petite. She is saying lots of words and into everything. Her doctor was pretty surprised with how verbal she is considering how physical she is.  She doesn't miss a trick and is very observant. My guess is she gets THAT from her "curious" mom :) Healthy as a horse. She has a couple molars and has still been a good teether. She did have a rough week a while ago and thinking back, it must have been when she was getting the molars. It wasn't TOO bad, but she was very clingy for a week and woke up a few times in the night. She is going to her first dentist apt. this week!  We have used some hylands teething tablets a few times and we have the whole hylands kids kit.   As you know, we try to use natural remedies as much as possible....so far we have had luck with how we are doing things.

She has figured out how to go down the stairs the correct way. She still doesn't have a lot of hair.

She is still nursing mornings, nights and  weekends.  She drinks almond milk, coconut milk and goat milk during the day. She eats nuts and nut butters and has no issues with them.

Her doctor recommends no dairy until the age of 3, so we are tying to stick with that, but if she wants a bite of something, then of course we allow it.

LOOK at the difference a year makes! Above, Anika on Day 1

Anika almost 2 weeks old.

 Anika 1 Month Old.

I am sure I'm missing about a million things.  This sweet daughter of ours just amazes us daily.  It seems like every day she learns something new.  She went over to the oven the other night, touched the outside door and said "HOT" I thought it was a coincidence but then she said Hot when she grabbed hot food off my plate and then again when we hopped in the hot shower.  She says nigh nigh when she is tired and goes to sleep pretty effortlessly most nights. She is still taking 2 naps a day.  Usually 2 hours in the morning and 1.5 hours in the afternoon. She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up at 5...she comes to bed and nurses and we get up for the day at 6. Sometimes, I put her back in her crib before 6 if she is keeping me awake :)

She helps me put things away often. When I bring her cloth nappies from the washing machine to the drying rack, I often drop some on the way. If I ask her to pick them up she will bring them over. She will also bring me the remote :)  She helps me put her books back on the shelf because she LOVES pulling them all off. 

Overall, she is a really good kid so far. She has started to pinch me and bite me at times and I hope that phase passes quickly.  She also gets bratty when she is tired...it comes on FAST and I know its just time to get her to sleep, which often means we leave wherever we are.

I know I usually write these posts TO Anika, but I forgot :)   I know I always say it, but I just cant believe how fast this year went! Its just amazing.