Anya's 9 month wellness check:

Well, we experienced our first imperfect doc appointment with Anya this week. Apparently, our little chubby cheeks has only gained 2 oz in 3 months. Her iron count is low. AND the doc is mildly concerned with her hips. It could have been worse, BUT UGH!

Sea World weekend

Well, we just enjoyed our FIRST family vacation since Anya's birth, and we all had TONS of fun!






Shamu splash! From returning to the "agua boy" show, commonly known as "Viva," to Ethan's riding on his first roller coaster and water slide, we had such a good time. We all decided to fully enjoy the orca experience by sitting on the fifth row in the "splash zone." It was hot. What's a little splash? Well.. the show WAS magical from that seat. We loved it, and then came the infamous audience splash when the trainers ask the audience to give the "splash me" wave to the whales. We were caught up in all of the excitement when one of the whales swam by and splashed us. We all got drenched in the 50 degree salt water, and Anya began to cry. I grabbed her and ran up the stairs to the stadium to higher ground while Ethan and Jesse continued the "splash me" wave. FIVE of the killer whales in the show then turned around and began smacking the water sending a tsunami of cold, salt water onto the boys. THEY WERE SOAKED!



Anya is communicating more and more. She signs "milk" and waves "hello." She says "dah dah," and when Witch Hazel walked into the room she said, "Kih-tEE." Now.. she's only done it once, so we aren't certain that it wasn't a coincidence. BUT... hey... ????? Other than that, she's a squishy ball of cuteness and giggles! I forgot HOW much I love this age!

Strawberry Fields Forever

We had a grand time digging for potatoes and picking strawberries. So grand, in fact, that Ethan has decided that he doesn't want to go to the grocery store any longer. "No more H.E.B.!" he says.


Let's see.. So much has been going on with the kids. Its just plain CRAZY!

Ethan:
*Ethan is still working on his writing. He gets frustrated, so the interest comes and goes.
*Ethan is showing signs of pre-reading.
He has a pretty good understanding of all of the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.
He can write his name, type his name.. give you the letters to his name. GO ETHAN! HE LOVES spending time on the computer with a word doc opened. ...just typing his name over and over again, and periodically he'll ask how to spell something and pick out the letters. He also loves playing word games with his foam letters. He'll put letters together and ask me what it spells. He'll then move things around and ask again. "What happens if I do THIS?"
--***What totally caught us off guard is some of his word recognition.
We were sitting at the table for dinner, Jesse picked up Randal's coupons for <<$2 off>> and Ethan exclaimed, "2 off, 2 off, I LOVE 2 off!" I pointed to the word <> and asked him what it was, and he looked at me and said in an obvious tone, "OFF!" I then wrote the words <> and asked him what the words spelled, and he exclaimed, "YES! and NO!"
*Ethan also knows his left from his right with 100% accuracy!

Anya:
*Anya is showing signs that she will be moving around pretty soon (mucn to my dismay!).
*Anya is also starting to pull up on me as well as other things.
*Anya is starting to use her signs. She uses the sign for milk when she's thirsty. She shakes her head no although I'm not totally sure that she's doing this to mean "no." She waves "hi."
*Anya is still SUCH an Ethan fan! She loves her big brother SOOOOO much! It's very cute!

Notes to our summer whereabouts.
Sea World Mother's Day weekend May 9 - 10
Memphis May 22nd - June 5 (ish) [Jesse will be down at the end of the stay]
Crashing OH to find a house! June 18 - 22
THE MOVE to OH! end of July!