For those who still look at blogs ... here's to 23 months!

Mommy's cabbage patch wears a DIAPER! (very exciting discovery!) Kitties and Grandma and Grandpa's "old house"!

Happy 1, a little early, for cousin Jakob!

"Cwal" Jakob, "cwal"!

Big Sunday morning smiles with Gma and Gpa and their zebra at the NEW house!

Tea party and a 5 Crowns game with Nana

The best petting farm ever - stuffed animals! Good ol' Molbaks...

Papa gave me a stuffed animal to pose with and I learned that it's fun to say SKUNK!

Aunt Michele giving me some lovin'

Bday lunch for Mommy at Cheesecake Factory

Posing with panda at the Great Wolf Lodge - time to get out of my fancy dress and go play!

So, there feels like a lot to catch up on, but here are some pics and a video to summarize! I am LOVING this age ... just trying to enjoy every moment since it will be no time before "Pop" becomes "Papa" and "Gwum" becomes "drum" and "One Two" becomes One through 100!! Toriana's vocabulary has exploded this month - so much that I lost count, but she's got at least 200 words now - yay! She's a sweetheart - gives wonderful hugs, has great giggle fits and generally wants to please - and I love her more every day! This month, we got to share her with Grandma &Grandpa at Thanksgiving (and Aunt Mary, Uncle/Aunt/cousin SKJ, and Great-Gpa) and with Nana &Papa and Aunt Michele when they came out for 9 days in early December.

She enjoyed exploring Gma and Gpa's new house but she thought it a bit lacking in toys (we helped with some of their early move-in and finishing work while in town) - she loved watching birds on the lake. And the raccoons at Great Grandpa's house - she's still talking about them! She was so sad when Jakob had to leave 2 days before we did - it wasn't nearly as fun once he was gone. But he had to head west so his Daddy could cheer the Huskies to an Apple Cup WIN!

Toriana had a great time reading books, having tea parties, and playing with her new dollhouse with Nana ... And Mommy got to go for a massage and do some projects, so that was quite lovely! We 6 made a quick jaunt south to celebrate my bday with Cheesecake Factory and a night at the Great Wolf Lodge - pretending to be a kid again, I guess. Whew, how the years have flown... just have to appreciate them rather than bemoan their quick passage I suppose.

Let's finish up with a sweet little video clip of a piano duet. =) Hope everyone has a happy holiday season and lots to smile about in 2010.

22 months - abbreviated version!

Here's an example of 22 month old Toriana! We were looking at the Alligator Alphabet book today ... we got to the "S" page and she exclaimed "UH OH!!!!" and turned the book upside down - she was concerned because the sloths were not pictured correctly as they dangled upside down from their tree!
They're way more observant than we sometimes give them credit for! We certainly have a little mimic on our hands - gotta watch what we eat, how we eat it, what we do, what we say ... and yes, we're slower than many, but we're up to 50 or more words now plus a fair bit more "parroting"- yay!

Fun with Costumes!

Happy Halloween! I ordered this cute flower costume ... and then discovered that the hand-me-down dress from Zariah already fits ... but we'll get a lot of fun use out of them both in these next few dreary winter months - Toriana did NOT want to take either outfit off at the end of the day - she loves them! Next time maybe we'll have a white shirt under the pink dress, but anyway! Voila ....

Also, a big shout out of WAHOO and CONGRATS to Jamie&Katie on the arrival of Maxwell James this morning!! ("Max" was 10.5#, almost 22" long! Wow!)

Meeting Katie for coffee at U Village on Saturday morning - who knew that Max would be here less than 48 hrs later!!?

It's so fun to play at Pottery Barn Kids!!

Trick or Treating with a ladybug and a bee at Alderwood - is this the picture of bliss or what?! Haha ... none of them really wanted to sit to have their photo taken ... sorry kids, you're just so CUTE, we can't help it!!So here's the fancy pink dress from Zariah ... Toriana LOVES it ... even took a nap in it last week (ack - looks terribly uncomfortable if you ask me! Once again I say ... did I somehow birth a little princess!?!)
Yep, Mom, you did! You might as well just enjoy me!

A bonus post to share my opinions about GEAR ...

I was just wondering how to give all of our new and soon-to-be Moms some Mom-tested ideas, for what they're worth ... and then I thought, aha, why not blog it - and then other Moms can add their agreement, disagreement, or alternate suggestions if they are so inclined!! So here are some things I didn't know the first thing about 3 years ago ... I admit that the list will have a 6 month to 2 years slant to it (I don't remember much before that!!!)
1) Bouncy Seat (Toriana didn't like swinging and didn't really like rocking, but loved to bounce or be walked ... so this was a lifesaver for me!)
2) Chicco hippo travel seat - our "only" highchair until very recently - very portable, works nearly everywhere. Washable. Love it.
3) The BOB. With the Infant attachment. For any active Mom who plans on putting lots of miles on her stroller with Green Lake laps (or who anticipates off-roading on gravel and grass such as at convention), this stroller's for you. Easy maneuvering (2008 model and newer) means independently getting in and out of stores and bathroom doors, even. =)
4) Stainless steel child-sized silverware - a thousand times easier to use than the little plastic spoons once they hit age one and start to get some coordination
5) SecureTech Cabinet Lock from One Step Ahead - $5.95 ... so get a few of these for cabinets you're constantly using. Otherwise use a 5 pack of cheapos from Target and every time you wrestle one open, feel thankful that they are not securing the cabinet that gets used 3 times/day!
6) Keekaroo chair from Overstock ... comparable to the Tripp Trapp chair but at less than half the price ... only one color option but holds up to 250 lbs and is a GREAT way for Toriana to help me in the kitchen - she's counter high without sitting on it (which we tried ... I didn't like having to anticipate a tumble every second!) Perfect "grow with me" chair for using at the table once your toddler starts outgrowing the Chicco travel seat.
7) Backing up: from age 0 until 1 year, I was so glad we had the baby bath tub - the kind with netting for babies ... made this first time mama breathe much easier when it came time to bathe the itty bitty slippery baby bear! As time went on, she laid in it w/o the net and then eventually sat and splashed very happily in the whole tub ... thanks to Tyson's birth we graduated to the big tub and loaned ours out, but that was a sad day for Toriana - she loved it!
And then there is the Moby Wrap. I don't have a strong opinion to post regarding carriers - the Moby came in handy early on. The Baby Bjorn was easier to operate, more supportive, but the least comfortable for Toriana - seemed like it made her hips or legs hurt? Now, I love our loaner Ergo Carrier with Toriana on my back. I've heard that it has an infant attachment - so maybe with that it could be your "one" piece of equipment? I am SO much in favor of less instead of more when it comes to filling our house with soon-to-be-outgrown baby gear!!
So otherwise, for you local moms ... you should know that there is a daily 11:00 story time at Mockingbird Books by Green Lake. They have great music classes with Katy at the Green Lake community center for 6 months plus. I hear good things about the Mountlake Terrace swim classes - we'll start our first one on Friday (and the Waterbabies ones on the East Side). And my current fave consignment shop is Childish Things in Greenwood ... If you're wanting to go mall shopping, Southcenter's remodel yielded the coolest "family room" I've ever seen at a mall - check it out!
So, far from exhaustive, but nevertheless perhaps exhausting to read, there is my list! Ta ta!

Playing catch up

So too much time has elapsed since the last post and now ... where do I start!? I think I'll just do an abbreviated photo documentary. To mention a 21 month milestone, Toriana can now climb into the car and into her carseat completely on her own. Ok, so with no further ado:

First, here we are in Virginia, at "Mt. Tabor" where Toriana is playing with a toy that my generation all fondly remembers in this same living room at my grandparents!Great Grandma Ramona reading a story to Toriana on the back porch ... While we play croquet for old time's sake!At a pumpkin patch near my parent's house - the weather went from HOT and humid to COLD and rainy, windy in just 2 days!Kimberly's daughter Lilian played in this box with Toriana for a long time - Toriana loved it!!

Out for pizza with "cousins" Caroline and Logan Another day, some different weather ... a day at Claytor Lake State Park Playing in the sand with Nana
Somebody caught a fish!

Sitting on the stoop with Papa ... My Dad's 60th birthday - a Cat in the Hat party! (he's always loved goofy hats!)
Toriana is 20 months here and Dad is 720 months, he figured out!

Kara made an awesome duo of theme cakes! (And created a doozy of a hat!)

I borrowed a hat from my Dad's closet Back in WA - at the Imagine Children's museum in Everett - a fun place! Toriana with Jonathan in the construction room - their favorite spot.

Trevan and I ran a marathon relay (with 4 others) in Leavenworth - here Toriana sports our medal and looks like she, too, had a hard run! Off to a picnic lunch at the pumpkin patch, with some other runners

Fun times with cousin Jakob the following weekend when they stayed over the night of the exciting Husky last minute miracle winDown to Maple Valley to meet the 8 labradoodle puppies - and to see the cousins - fun! Jonathan gets a puppy cuddle

And then we got to help celebrate Danny hitting the big TWO! Next up for our field: Alex in Nov., then Jonathan in Dec., then Toriana in Jan.- wow!

And Toriana's good buddy Gwyndolyn and her Mommy just came for a visit so here are 2 pics of the little munchkins when they were actually sitting still for a change! They had SO much fun together - it's neat to watch this little friendship blossom and to look forward to seeing them grow up together (too bad they live 5 hrs away but at least we can see them when we visit Grandpa and Grandma Z)

This picture just makes me melt! =)

20 months!

So to commemorate her 20 month birthday, Toriana reached over while I was reading her a story and planted a big smooch on my cheek - a real one rather than a wet, open mouth variety! Of course at bedtime, this new skill seemed to have regressed back to the prior version, but anyway. She still loves playing outside and at the playground (WHAT will we do when winter comes?? Sigh!) ... she still is a horrendous sleeper (some nights 1 or 2 wake ups but many nights 3 or 4) ... she's enjoying reading books now - yay!, except I'm getting a bit tired of our collection, especially singing the Frosty book over and over! - oh, and she's got "No!" down-pat now. I'll post a few pics and then tell you why it's not ideal for 4 yr. old boys to play Hide and Seek!


Never know when the sun may shine in your eyes at the breakfast table ... right, Toriana?
Here comes the Bride! Tiana and Davie A.

And now, Tiana and Robert L.!

Toriana still really likes shoes ... Daddy's boots and heels especially!

Ok, so at Green Lake today Toriana was toodling in the wood chips and I got to watch a 3-some play Hide and Seek. Enter Nick, Drew and Bash (hopefully short for something!?) ...

1st: Drew and Nick hide their eyes and count to 10 ... Bash hides under the play structure, 6 feet in front of them, directly at eye level. 8, 9, 10! Nick immediately declares: "That is a very bad hiding spot." And so off Nick goes to hide while Bash and Drew count. Nick runs around the play set into the sand pit and lays down - not behind the canoe as I suspected but right in plain view. 8, 9, 10! And so off B&D go starting around the play set in the same direction Nick went. But they stop short. And look around confusedly. Meanwhile Nick has given up laying in the sand and is instead sitting up looking at them (after all, he was still and hiding for at least 15 seconds, ya know!). They turn the opposite way and he calls "Bash!! Over here - I hid in the SAND!" And so now it's Drew's turn. Nick and Bash hide their eyes and start counting 1, 2 and then Drew pipes up "I don't know where to hide!" So Nick tells him "How about behind that tree?" Fortunately at this point, three little boys go back to chasing squirrels and birds and leave Hide and Seek for a few years hence, but not before they gave me a much appreciated chuckle of the day.