New Toy

For Christmas, Pumpkin got a push bike from her cousins in Utah. To say she likes it would be an understatement. She spent a majority of the afternoon scooting around the living room and giggling in delight. To be fair, she doesn't quite understand the steering function, and instead pivots the bike around when she invariably runs into the couch or a wall.

Chairs

The little one learned another skill over Christmas: getting into and out of her little rocking chairs. While not the most graceful exercise, she got quite good at climbing into and out of the chair, and smiling like a crazy person in how impressed she was with her feat.

Playing with Grandma

Pumpkin very much enjoyed all of the attention over the holidays. One of her favorite games was knocking down the block towers grandma built. Grandma would exclaim "Oh No!" causing pumpkin to squeal and laugh in delight after she knocked down the blocks. On another note, I think this may be why she now knocks everything down at home as well...

Animal lover

The bugs fascination with dogs only continued as she was so excited to meet Howie while up in Idaho. Along with endless pointing, kissing the glass and babbling, she also found her first word after Da! (Dad) and Mamama (Mom) which fittingly was Dog. I am worried she will break us eventually.

Opening presents is fun

To my surprise, the bug really enjoyed opening presents Christmas morning. I really enjoyed the displays of awe and excitement as she opened each new present. She was particularly enamored with a pair of white dress shoes from grandma and grandpa, though I think she mainly wanted to eat them. She also had a great reaction to the baby doll. She immediately put it on her shoulder and patted the dolls back. She's going to be such a good big sister. Though to be fair, she did also try to rip out the eyelashes as well. Guess we'll just have to keep an eye on her!

Friendly

Pumpkin was making lots of friends on the flight home to Moscow. Hopefully the friendliness trend continues on.

Merry Christmas!

We've been having a great time up in Idaho enjoying family and snow. Last night we had the Berglund family celebration. We had a big dinner and then did a white elephant exchange. Popular gifts included fake teeth, a flying pig and duct tape. After white elephant, we lit fireworks as has been tradition. Pumpkin was not a fan of the loud booms and cried unless I hugged her close. After a few mortars we went inside so she wouldn't be so scared and cold. This morning we opened presents as a family and much to my surprise, the bug really got into it! With each gift she would make excited "oohs and ahs". Completely darling to say the least. Baby girl made quite the haul and we will be shipping back at least one box full of books and puzzles.

So far it's been a great holiday and we are excited to attempt some sledding tomorrow.

Traumatized by Santa

She didn't like Santa even a little bit. We had real tears.

Reading books

This is what her bookcase looks after about 5 minutes. So much for any sort of organization.

12.12.12

Happy 12 day! Pumpkin further confirmed her Einstein status today as she followed instructions for the first time. I asked her to bring me her diaper so I could change her pants (it was on the floor from where she had been playing with it). She hesitated at first but then walked over, bent down to pick up the diaper and then walked over to me, with the biggest grin ever. I know it is small, but it really made my day. Oh how I love my cuddly, brilliant little bug.

1 Year Photos

For Pumpkin's birthday, we had Kimmy take some photos, mainly of the bean, but of the rest of us as well. Again, Grandpa Jim's chair saved the day, as she just loves sitting and rocking in it. I love the way they turned out, and am excited to get some prints up on the wall. 

 

Visit's from Auntie Kasi

So I've gotten a bit behind, but a few weeks ago Kasi came to visit, and oh what fun was had. The bug pretended to be all serious  at first ...

 

But once she had a wallet, all was right in her world.

Pumpkin very much enjoyed the extra attention and playmate. 

I love this one, because it kind of looks like she is trying to get away (she actually just wanted to play with her animals).

Now that's better. Loving on her "O"wl. Of all the animals in her alphabet train, the owl is her favorite and she always grabs it first, generally followed by the skunk and rabbit.

We were daring and tried to get some shots of the bean in the chair Grandpa Jim made for her last Christmas. There were so many I loved, especially the clapping ones.

Oh how we love visitors! We look forward to Grandma Karyn coming next week and then visiting more family for Christmas at the end of December!!

What a difference a year makes

Latest obsession

Climbing on, up and over just about everything.

Happy Birthday!!

I can't believe my little pumpkin is one year old today!! It's crazy to think how much has changed in this past year and how much she has grown. She continues to grow and learns new things everyday.

Reading is still a favorite pastime, and she currently loves all books with little flaps to pull back. It is so fun to watch her 'read' to herself and point to the different pictures. Her infatuation with animals continues, and I feel like a zoo trip is in her near future. Any time she sees a dog or cat, she is mesmerized and just points and babbles. She loves music, all kinds, and dances to everything. Hilarious. Singing to her seems to calm her down the most, and I am subsequently relearning a lot of primary songs.

She is mostly walking, though still prefers crawling, especially on uneven surfaces, but she can comfortably take 5-15 steps without falling. She still struggles with taking naps, but loves her blankie. Recently she has started grabbing her blankie from her crib, bringing it to me, finding a binkie and then climbs into my lap and snuggles. Seriously my favorite (she's actually doing it right now). She is still shy, and gets easily overwhelmed at the prospect of new people and places. Like her dad, she is a home body and struggles sleeping in new spaces.

Snuggling with her blankie.

1 year stats:
Height: 31", 94%
Weight: 22 lb 10 oz, 72%
Head: 92%

Looking back at pictures, I can't believe how much she's grown. She was so small an her hair has gotten so much lighter! Since we're in Dallas for the holiday, we'll have a little birthday party for her today, complete with cupcake smashing and all. Seeing as her previous encounters with sugar have been nothing but positive I expect this to be the same. At first she was a bit confused about what to do with the cake and overwhelmed by all the singing. Once she realized it was sweet however, she dove right in, and really enjoyed herself.

After cake, we opened a few presents, she didn't really know what to do, but very much enjoyed the rattle eggs I got her.

Love you pumpkin, I couldn't ask for a better or more darling baby. You've certainly set the bar high. Happy birthday baby. I love you.

Pumpkin was spoiled this weekend and got to hang out with all her cousins from Utah!

On the road again

We're en route to Dallas, and we have a darling little passenger. Hoping the happiness can last a few more hours of driving.

Loving the computer

For some reason she is particularly enjoying sitting on the laptop. Whatever makes her happy.

Drinking from a cup

Baby girl loves doing all things like a big girl and today she particularly enjoyed drinking water out of a cup. I wish you could hear her snorting in excitement in the picture where she looks cross. It was hilarious though. Even though most of the water ended up down her front.

First Brownie

Jury's in. She loved it. Grandma's rock.

Also, baby girl is getting pretty good at drinking water from a straw. Most likely because she thinks it's a game, either way, she's darling.

Little stinker

Of course I can drink from a bottle... If grandma puts sugar water in it I'll drink it like a champ.

Learning early the awesomeness that are grandparents.

Happy pumpkin day!

No trick or treating this year. Heaven knows I would just end up eating all her candy and we don't need that! Even so, we still had a very cute little pumpkin at our house this year.

Happy pumpkin day from our favorite little pumpkin!!

And 2 videos, just for fun, sorry they are so grainy, I have to film her in stealth mode. As soon as she sees the phone she throws a fit unless I let her have it. She is *almost walking, she can easily make it ~5 ft before falling, but typically she just likes to walk to me and flail herself into my arms.

Happy Halloween

From a spooky little skeleton that loves to read.

I'm kind of a big deal...

She may actually be THE deal.

11 months

11 months old and counting! Baby girl continues to grow and develop more each day. She is getting very quick cruising around the furniture and has started to take 3-4 steps at a time as she cuts corners or is determined to get some sort of toy. Her little personality is darling and she has started initiating peek-a-boo by crawling behind the couch and then popping her head out as if to say “Here I am!!” accompanied by spurts of giggles.

Some of her recent conquests: waving hello and goodbye, emptying anything and everything (dresser drawers, cabinets, her toy bins, her book shelf, any bag…), drinking out of a sippy cup (and a regular cup), putting her binky back in her mouth on her own, and looking for AND finding things I hide (laptops, phones, remotes etc). Baby girl has also recently started eating a lot more textured foods, each day I try a few new things in hopes to find new easy favorites, it really seems like she would just rather eat whatever I am eating though.

Happy 11 months Pumpkin!

If at first you don't succeed...

Finally, after 3 tries, sweet potato fries are a success (and a hit with my texture picky babe!).

Third times a charm (this time I tossed them with garlic powder, maybe that was the difference?)! If only we could make some headway with peas... maybe I need to toss them in garlic powder?