Peaceful Bedtimes

Going to sleep is not our girl's favorite thing to do. We are now using her love of dogs to help make this event a more pleasant one for everyone. Here she is sleeping with her arm around her favorite stuffed animal, a husky dog she fondly calls "Dog". This wonderful stuffed animal helps her soothe her way into slumber. Her second favorite stuffed animal is a frog she calls "Ribbit". Sometimes Ribbit sleeps with her too.

Birthday Pictures

Dan usually does the bulk of writing on our blog. He has been very busy lately studying for his yearly inservice exam, so it has fallen to me to keep everyone updated on our family. Here are some pictures from Alyssa's birthday party. On the right is the one picture we have of the three of us together. Sophia, for once, wasn't able to pop herself into the picture. She loves to have her picture taken. Whenever I take pictures of our baby girl, I inevitably have to include Sophia in the photo session.






Some of the decorations we had were like little springs. We showed Alyssa that if she pulled them down, they would "boing" back up. This was a great game that lasted over a week until I finally took down all the decorations. I happen to love having decorations up, and rarely take them down in a timely fashion. Our Christmas tree finally made it out of our apartment around the end of January.










On the right is Alyssa's birthday cake. She really enjoyed the light from her candle. "Light" is one of her favorite words to say, although "clock" beats it hands down.

This last picture is of Alyssa wearing her birthday crown. The average time she would leave it on her head was something like 15 seconds. I wanted at least one picture of her wearing it because she is just too cute. This picture took me about five tries of having the camera in hand, ready to shoot before she could take it off her head. Even now you can see her hands reaching up to pull it off. This also became a favorite game in the following weeks, until Sophia brought a tragic end to the crown's pristine condition. Well, we had fun while it lasted!

Alyssa Update

Alyssa had her 1st birthday recently. We had a few friends and their kids over. One of whom drove down through the snow storm from out of town to get here (4wheel drive).

The next week Marie was performing in NYC and since Alyssa was just getting over an ear infection she didn't want me taking here out in the cold. We had a great daddy daughter day. We went to the mall, ate at cold stone, rode on a little train (she really wanted to ride the train) and played in the play ground they have set up inside. She returned the favors by letting me look at electronics without getting upset. We both had a great time and she was happy and stayed up way past her bedtime.

Yesterday we went and ate at the rainforest cafe. We were going to go on a date but had a hard time getting a baby sitter that night. So our baby sitter turned out to be a giant animatronic butterfly along with a couple of elephants and a family of gorrillas. You pay for the ambiance, the food was mediocer and overpriced. The plan is to go again, but just order a big plate of appetizers.

Arctic Aardvark & Albino Tasmainan Devil

First Sophia was upset and bored that it was just the two of us, then she was jealous of the attention her sister was getting once they came back. Before (funky tongue doggie) and after (crazed beast) pictures. She seems to be doing slightly better recently.

Christmas and New Years

Alyssa enjoyed her first Christmas. After we helped her unwrap her presents she sat down and let out a contented happy sigh. Marie got a date to the New York City Ballet for her main gift. I wanted to take advantage of the free grandparental baby sitting, otherwise we never would have been able to go on a 8 hour date. That weekend we all took a ride on the Santa Special where both Alyssa and Grandpa got excited about the old train and Santa and his crew. Alyssa's favorite was a less traditional character, Pablo the Penguin (she sees a lot of Penguins in the Baby Einstein videos). For New Years Marie had the week off and I didn't so she and Alyssa
went to Washington state to see her other grandparents. It was a nice last minute trip, but so last minute she did not take the camera. In their absence, and with me at work during the day, Sophia slowly went feral. Perhaps more about that later...