My 10 Month old Ski Racer!

MISS ANIKA,  I CANT Believe my bub is 10 Months old!
You have been one busy little girl.

You were walking a little on your 9 month birthday, but now you are running! 

AND...as of this Sunday- SKIING! haha. Kind of.

ON Sunday, we went over to our local Mt for a fun race sponsored by Mt. D*w.  I have participated in this race MANY MANY times  in the last 20 years. The race has been going on for 21 years.  The race crew said you are officially the youngest competitor they have ever had in 21 years :)   You were just going to watch me race...but, then after my run, we decided to borrow some boots and skis and let you try. Nona hiked up the trail with you in the Ergo. I carried the skis and boots up the chairlift with me.

The boots were a little big, so you had your regular shoes on as well inside the boots! haha

We are in the start gate to the right...You were smiling for the crew taking pics.

"Racer Ready. 3, 2, 1...GO!"
Mummy's legs were BURNING when I had to bend down and help you go the whole way.  IT was a perma squat.  I work my legs a lot too, and this HURT! When we were near daddy (3 or 4 gates from the bottom) I just had to stand up to give my legs a break. When I stood up, I also picked you up and the weight of the skis on your legs must have hurt because you started to whimper, but then before I put you back down, ONE ski fell off! LOL. It went down the course and through the finish and You finished on ONE SKI! :)

As you can see, this was a very easy course. I went very slow ;)

After your run, we went in the lodge to warm up. YOu were happy. This snow suit was Mummy's when I was your age ;) 

We went back out to watch Nona and your cousins race too.

Later in the day, we waited for the award ceremony.

YOU GOT A GOLD MEDAL! ANd, when they called you up, I let you walk up there and get your medal. YOu were ALL smiles- NOT SHY at all! The race crew guys were giving you high five and just loved you and you loved them.  SO, sure you were the only girl in your age group and that is why you got gold!  They also gave you an awesome chair and a sweatshirt.  AND you qualified for the finals that will take place at Mt. Snow in March! Free ticket for us. You really do just go TO ANYONE!  SO friendly ...but a little touchy and other kids don't really like that. haha

Eating your Gold with Nona.  Gold Anika- We like gold :)

AND, MUMMY GOT GOLD for her AGE group as well. I ALSO got best female time of the day :)  I get to go to the finals too.  Too bad I cant get 1st in my other leagues!

Mummy and you- The Gold Girls :)

Cousin K got bronze for her age :) 

So proud of you girls.

I tried to take some photos this morning, but you wanted to take your sticker off and when I wouldn't let you, you just cried. haha

Tonight, we tried again with daddy. I was blowing your belly and daddy got this pic. Daddy doesn't like ANY nakey or remotely nakey pics of you on line...so I just added these circles! lol. BUT, they make it look even worse...but too funny not to post :)

But then I just made this one ...

And, these pictures were hard to get too...Just picked up lenny the lion

Taking that sticker off!

hhaha. It looks like I'm scolding you, but I really wasn't. I'm not sure what was going on but its funny looking.  We generally don't even scold you but try to use positive discipline with you AND redirection works AMAZING!

Well, Miss Anika...you are a JOY to be around.  In the past week, you have started to actually LOOK where you are walking so you walk OVER things instead of just tripping over them. I have seen you step over things and look where you are going :)  You are saying dog, dada, doll, (dada says you say duck)...nona said you said better.  I have heard you say hi and down.  But, one word NO ONE has heard you say is ANYTHING sounding like MAMA!   You wont use a sippy cup and I have tried A LOT of them. I don't know if you cant figure it out or you just don't like them?   You get into EVERYTHING you can.  You love to explore around our house.  You really are such a sweetie and you light up any room. 

You have ZERO interest in TV. I didn't want you watching TV before you were 2, but I have tried a few PBS shows and even the Baby Sign language DVD- and NOPE! You have better things to do than sit in front of the TV!  WILL not do it.  I guess that's ok ;) 
You are still going on the potty when we are home. You eat all of your food by yourself when you are with me.  You love brown rice and chicken that I make. You ate 2 cups of it on Sunday. Chow hound!

You love the spice drawer. It used to be alphabetised.  ITS NOT anymore!! I find spices ALL over the house now.  I taped you getting into the drawer this month....

Summer is Over?

Labor Day marks the end of summer (to me).  This summer FLEW by. I am sure most people think this way, but it really did for me. 

Above is Anika's calendar for August.  I was able to fill in something for every day of the month.  Some days, it was just something like "I was happy today and talked a lot" ("I" would be Anika- I write for her :))
It was a big month of lots of foods, first crawl, big laughs, gained weight, first time camping, first night alone with daddy, longest walk in the stroller, etc.  We now move onto September...

We had a busy weekend. I usually get out at 3 (or 4) on Fridays in the summer. Andrew usually gets home early on Fridays too.  We went to get Anika's passport on Friday after work. Andrew met me there from work, and we went in...and I realized I forgot Anika's birth certificate!! Ugh. We will have to try again. Both parents are supposed to be there, but I might try to just use the power of attorney if we both cant make it again soon.  Friday night, we went to Chinese, but I dont really eat Chinese...so I just got steamed veggies and chicken...with white rice.

Saturday, we got up early and did a charity walk. It was 4.2 miles.  My mom ran it of course...well most people ran it :) Andrew, me, my niece, and my Gram all walked it. I was alone for a while because I wanted to keep a good pace :) Anika does great in the BOB when she gets to sit in it like a big girl. She hates the car seat in it.  

It was a good time.  Saturday afternoon, Andrew and I went to my friend's island to hang out and had dinner out there.  Sunday, Anika and I got up early again to go to another charity event- a Triathlon. The same triathlon I did last year while 14 weeks pregnant. I didn't participate this year. I haven't been swimming OR really running. I have been trying to get my weight off by doing spin, boot camp, and power tone before I really get into running. When I run with extra weight, it bothers my knee. I will really start running after I lose 10 more pounds, or so. Oh, by the way, I was down 1 pound last week. I am down 9.2 pounds since joining WW (40 since having Anika).  My mom did awesome at the run on Saturday AND the Tri on Sunday. My niece did the kids tri on Sunday as well, so Anika and I cheered her on.  I rushed home after that and met Andrew (he had stayed home to get the lawns mowed). Andrew, Anika and I went to a late brunch. It was yum and Anika did pretty well. There were people playing jazz music at brunch and she enjoyed watching them.  We were going to take the canoe out on a small lake near us and have a picnic dinner, but Andrew and I realized we don't have any adult life jackets. (We usually borrow them). So...we went around to half a dozen stores on a mission. We finally found some, but it was too late to go out by then.  We were going to go today, but it was rainy, we cleaned the house instead and did grocery shopping. I also got some fabric for Anika's Halloween costume :) Its going to be super cute.
I also tried on a bridesmaid dress I wore last October when I was about 18 weeks pregnant. I have a wedding to attend in a couple weeks, and I havent lost enough weight to fit into any of my other dresses. I tried on the dress today....I had it all dry cleaned after I wore it in October. Andrew went to zip it up for me and he struggeled a bit, but he said it was the zipper, not me.  I went and looked in the mirror and decided it would do...so I asked him to unzip me. IT WAS STUCK!! He tried and tried. He got plyers and still it was stuck. He said the teeth on the zipper was messed up.  I was starting to sweat. I went and lied down on our bed in the A/C to stop sweating. Then we tried it again. Still stuck.  In the end, he cut the zipper to get it off!! So, I can no longer wear that dress!! I can get the zipper replaced, I'm sure, but I guess I will be going dress shopping next weekend.

I also had my first nightmare this weekend about Anika ...I dont even want to write it...but a dream where she passed. UGh, I woke up SICK...just sick and with my heart hurting.  IN the dream, she drowned. It was very real and very detailed, and I cant even tell the story because it was that bad. The worse part was that when the boat flipped, I rmemebered other things before I remembered she was in the boat (in my dream) ....so it was just sad.

I finally posted about the bach party on K&C. Go read it HERE.