2006 PICTURES
2006 BLOG
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2007
The month of December proved to be an exciting month for the Melik family. Jason graduated and got a new job in his field of interest! We feel incredibly blessed and I am so proud of him. And my students are finalists in a contest in which they will produce an actual anti drug commercial that will be aired on the local networks. If I ever needed a sign that told me I was meant to teach where I am right now, this would be it. I'm very proud to be their teacher.
Anna has surprised us with many new and shocking things this month. When we were at my aunt's house for a family get together, Anna climbed out of her pack-n-play and ended up locking herself in a bedroom. Then a few times this month in the morning she has unzipped her pajamas and has taken off her diaper! So far, the results haven't been too disastrous. And Auntie Abby has once again taught Anna a new and "wonderful" thing... she knows the word "nostril" and sticks her finger up her nose to show us where it is. Thanks Abby!
Anna did very well during the holiday, even though she wouldn't stand still long enough for a picture in her pretty dress and was too excited to even take much of a nap! Her words of choice when opening presents were "Ooohh, wow!"... except for when we gave her what we thought would be the best present ever. She is still scared of TMX Elmo and cries when we try to play with it.
We've both been home together as a family for the past week and a half and it has been great. Anna loves to play with puzzles, follow the leader, dance, have tea parties, and take care of her baby dolls. The neatest thing she has done lately is to start singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". There's just something about the sound of a child's voice when singing... it sounds so angelic!
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
We went to breakfast with Santa this weekend! Fred Turk, Santa's musical entertainment, sang to Anna and later made my dad go up on stage to play the slide whistle. We all had a really great time. Our Christmas tree is up and decorated now, so Anna riddles us with "what's that?" about ten times each morning and afternoon and makes us tell her the name of each ornament. But we don't mind, since each ornament is special and has a story. Christmas is magical with a little one around!!
Sunday, November 26th, 2006
I can't believe it's the holiday season again! We've had a pretty great month together. We (well, Jason, but with a kid, it's become "we") are getting ready to graduate in December, so we are getting into the crunch time of the semester when things are starting to accumulate. Graduation will come just in time for Anna to start her terrible twos! I'm starting to understand why they call it this.
In the beginning of the month, Anna was starting to say phrases, like "how are you?", "love you momma", "play house", or "clean up", which we all thought were pretty cool. But then she started to get bossy and is now demanding things that are not possible; this morning she wanted to take a walk outside in her pajamas with a poopy diaper. Um, no. The tantrum over this poopy diaper pajama walk was like nothing I have ever seen! But tonight, she's back to normal. So let's just hope she has her angelic side turned on at Christmas, or things will be interesting!
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
The un-baby proofing lasted... three days. In those three days, she stood on our window ledge, played in the cat's water dish, and stuck her hand in the toilet bowl. Her new phrase this week is "thank you"- she says it ten times a day and doesn't stop until you say "you're welcome" back. She said "Starbucks" this weekend, so of course we went there twice. She and I have a great time sitting there together. And tonight, after just one house, she picked up "trick or treat". But she now unfortunately recognizes the Chicago Bears logo and now puts her hands up like a touchdown. I'm not sure my family is so excited about this, but I'm sure my in-laws are pretty proud.
Sunday, October 15th, 2006
I can hardly believe it... we are starting to un-baby proof the house. We took a gate down, and so far so good. Jason wants to put the knob back on the garbage can, but I'm still a little traumatized from her accident. One gate down is a good baby step for me.
I hate to say this out loud, but taking care of her has become... easy! It's more about hanging out and playing than watching her every move to make sure she is safe. But I'm starting to realize that from now on our parenting is going to be more about rationalizing and setting ground rules. This week she started with the 'no... mine!" thing. She even hit one of her friends over the head with a teapot at daycare. Someone please tell me this is a phase!
Sunday, October 1st, 2006
Little kids grow up way too fast. Anna can now use most of our play set by herself- the stairs, the slide, and now the big girl swing. She figured out how to use a straw this week, and she can tell us "I love you", which just melts my heart. She pretends to read books and hold conversations on her toy phones. And the clothes we're buying her for the winter look so big! Where did the baby go?
Sunday, September 24th, 2006
Two random, unexpected things happened this weekend! First, Anna went poopy and pee in the potty! Funny, only a parent would say a sentence like that. Anyway, Grandma Melik babysat for her on Friday and she went, and then I asked her on Saturday and she did it again! How crazy! I'm sure it's a freak occurance. The second random, unexpected thing to happen was Jason sending me a dozen roses on our 5th anniversary. Now let's hope THAT is not a freak occurance.
Monday, September 18th, 2006
My sister is in town, and boy, is Anna ever enamored with her. "Abby" has been her favorite word all weekend. All our rules have also flown right out the window! Oh well. Apparently that's what happens when extended family is around, I'm starting to learn. Cool Abby has taught Anna to make farting noises with her arm. So far, that habit hasn't shown up at daycare. So far. Other than Cool Abby being in town, she has recently attempted running and loves to take walks outside. And I saw my first glimpse of a two-year molar this morning!
Thursday, September 7th, 2006
Kids make life better. I could be having the worst day, and one kiss and hug from Anna just makes it all go away. Even a smile or "thank you" from a student helps lighten a sour mood. Anna... and even my students... are really just looking for someone to love them back, so that's what I do. I think that's why I'm a teacher. I love them back.
Sunday, August 27th, 2006
Jason and I learned this week that we really need to start watching our words. She is a little parrot, and this week she has picked up the words "butt" and "sassy". Each time we had to hide our faces because we were laughing so hard! I'm so glad it wasn't anything worse.
Today is my last day of summer vacation. It was such a restful, rejuvinating, and wonderful vacation. I'm going to remember the many nights and weekends we spent as a family and the good times we had catching up with friends. I feel very lucky to have a job that allows me so much time at home with Anna.
Sunday, August 20th, 2006
Anna's in a fun stage right now with her words... she babbles all day long so I feel like I'm back at school again trying to decode someone's English. Yesterday we taught her "I love you" and she's still obsessed with animal noises... she's figured out "baa" and a version of "cockadoodledoo". She's also expanding her dance moves. She did a little number today that we're calling "the robot". I think she may have inherited my very awesome dance skills. Other than that, we've just been enjoying a lazy August. We haven't done a whole lot, and it's been AWESOME.
Saturday, August 5th, 2006
We have a new family member! My parents watched Anna last weekend and when they dropped her off later, we not only got our daughter back but a fish too. We now have a big blue beta fish named Bob and Anna is just enamored with him. And so far, Holly and Bob are peacefully coexisting.
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
Last week I showed Anna a "Baby Einstein" movie when she was up later than usual one night. Oh my, did I ever start something. She now begs to watch a video every day, a few times a day. We tried not to start the TV watching until 2 years of age, but since I already broke that rule, I took her to see "Curious George" at the theater. Anna was entertained the whole hour! Who knew. She is also babbling up a storm... and when she's not babbling, she is shrieking at the top of her lungs. She has Jason's loud voice, that's for sure.
Thursday, July 6th, 2006
We just got back from an insightful vacation up north to Uncle Gene's cottage. All in all it was nice to get away, but we've realized "vacations" are different when they're with a toddler! We had to constantly keep our eye on her. She was pretty well behaved but we did avert a major crisis of her almost sticking Jason's keys in an outlet. I feel a bit more relaxed to be back in my baby proofed home. No keys in outlets here. And we're bringing outlet covers next time we go up to the cottage!
Anna has been really into making animal noises lately. She'll say moo, neigh, meow, and woof. I guess I'll have to step up my visits to the zoo. She can say her own name now, and will attempt to say almost anything you tell her- except "grandma". She'll also answer yes or no to some questions we ask her. This talking thing is pretty cool. But now I have to be careful asking questions I don't want answers to, like "Do you want to go to bed?"
Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
After an intense school year, a long decompressing break has been much anticipated. I am still waiting for that "relaxed" feeling to come, but I know I will let go of the year soon enough. After spending 180 days juggling "teacher" and "mom" roles, it will be refreshing to just be plain "mom" for awhile.
My cousin had her baby last weekend. His name is Jack, after my grandfather. I can't wait to meet him in a few weeks. And Jenny definitely deserves a medal for going through her labor and delivery!
Sunday, June 4th, 2006
So my daughter is acting like a monkey. It all started on Thursday when she climbed up into her highchair and sat in it! What?? And then she stood on our coffee table. THEN there was an attempt to scale our entertainment center! And... I swear she grew an inch overnight on Friday because this weekend she was able to open our OVEN door and all of our kitchen drawers. This kid has no fear! That is SO SCARY!
Monday, May 29th, 2006
We spent a wonderful extended weekend as a family. Jason and I took Anna to the zoo, by the lake, on walks, in the swimming pool, and to the park. It was so much fun hanging out together. Only two more weeks until summer vacation! Yay!
Monday, May 22nd, 2006
Jason and I just got back from spending a mini-vacation together as a couple. We only went a few suburbs away, but hey, for new parents, we consider that pretty far away! And if you don't count the time when we couldn't reach my mom on her cell phone, panicked, and drove to her house only to find her and Anna rounding the block from their walk... we did well leaving her for two whole days and one night.
Anna's new word is... NO. She says it even when she means yes!
Sunday, April 30th, 2006
Yesterday I went to a baby shower for my cousin Jenny. It was so much fun! I think it's funny that once you're a mom, you become part of this "mom clique". You have instant camaraderie with any mom out there, and it's so cool. There's always something to talk about with other moms, be it pregnancy, baby milestones, or new mom mess ups. I've come to rely on my "mom clique" for advice, commiserating, and sharing new miniscule details about my daughter's life. Like today, for example. Anna found her belly button! Is this exciting to anyone else besides me and Jason? Probably not. But for us, infinitely!
Saturday, April 22nd, 2006
Anna and I have had the most wonderful time together during spring break. We saw lots of friends and and had tons of playdates. It was so nice to reconnect with everyone again! I feel like I've been under a rock for the last few months. We slept late every day, took long walks, went to the park, and we even ventured to a children's museum. It was definitely a reenergizing time for me to be home with my daughter. Anna's been saying a few new words lately which crack me up: cat (every five minutes!), uh-oh, and hi. We've realized her temper tantrums are because she can't vocalize what she wants... so we've been really in tune to her gestures and her tantrums have lessened. Phew! I guess we do have a little break before the terrible twos.
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006
I was going through some old pictures that were found at my Grandpa's house and I came across a picture of me in my baptismal gown... the same gown that Anna wore. I posted that picture under Anna's baptism page. I also found a picture of me when I was two weeks old with my Grandpa. I posted that under Grandpa's page. And, unrelated to this topic, I finally scanned in Anna's birth pictures. I posted those under the "Baby Anna" page.
Anna's been starting temper tantrums and separation anxiety. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, THIS comes along! Any ideas?
Sunday, March 26th, 2006
My grandpa died last weekend. I made a new page in memory of him. We are all going to miss him very much. It's comforting to know that he will live on through his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Monday, February 27th, 2006
This is my last day of midwinter break! It was very nice to have an extended weekend to spend with Anna. We had lots of bonding time together since Jason was off visiting Carl in Atlanta. I used the break to put the focus back on my family, where it should be. Life is too precious and goes too fast to have it any other way.
Saturday, February 18th, 2006
It's been awhile since I've updated the website! These updates will be a little less frequent because I have been EXHAUSTED by the time Anna goes to bed. This child literally is on the go the entire time she's up. Almost everything is babyproofed... except the wooden garbage can holder in our kitchen... which FELL ON HER this afternoon. So in an event of an emergency, I learned that I WILL NOT be the calm one. Thankfully she just has two bruised fingers. Now I have enough adrenaline to last the rest of the weekend and maybe even into next week!
Sunday, January 29th, 2006
Anna signed "more" this week! I had been signing this word for ages when all of the sudden this week at dinner she signed it. So there IS a little person in that baby body. She also graduated to the 1 year old room at daycare. She is with Ava, Morgan, and Trevor, all of whom are within a few months of each other. She loves daycare so much that she walks away from me when I pick her up! Is this reverse separation anxiety!?
Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Last weekend we had a birthday party for Anna. There were so many little kids around that Anna had a blast! Anna was a little dainty with her cake at first, but then once she got to the chocolate cake part it was all over. I can't believe all the cool gifts she got. Some friends of ours bought her a baby Ipod (WE don't even have one of those!) and my aunt named A STAR after Anna! But gifts aside, it was truly the great company that made Anna's party most memorable. It was so meaningful to have close friends and family around us to help celebrate Anna's special day.
Sunday, January 8th, 2006
