Is winter almost done?

So tomorrow is March, which makes me think, man its been a while since I posted some new pics of the girlie. She is doing much better these days and we are just waiting for this winter to be DONE. Sickness has just infiltrated our house all winter long. From colds, to strep, to ear infections to bronchitis. The only illness I think we escaped was the Flu!

Shaylen is 16 mo old! She is getting so big, and so smart! Well in our opinion she has been smart from day 1. She loves to color and play with stickers, run around on the front porch on sunny days, and empty the drawer full of plastic container covers. She has not started saying a whole lot yet, but makes a lot of noises and fluctuations in her voice very sincerely with high expectations of you understanding her. The thing that just baffles us, is that she completely seems to understand us and what we tell her to do. Sometimes I wonder if sign language helped with this.

We are continuously enjoying her as she gets older, and all that comes with her growing bigger and more independent. The one thing that is always a challenge is teething. She has been working on four molars for a month. We think they are all finally here, but they keep bothering her as they keep coming in more and more. She is getting better and better at climbing onto furniture which just petrifies me! and she finds things to help her like stools and her crate full of books. She likes to climb onto the dining chairs too! then proceed to the table, not good!

These are some fun pics from winter over January and February. This girlie loves to go sledding :)! though because of colds and stuff, we did not do it that often.

OH and she had her 15 mo appt and girlie is REALLY tall :) 32 inches and 23.3 lb's. She is in the 91st % for height and the 60th for weight. Tall and average is our little girl. We can see it in her clothes now that she has been wearing 24 mo clothes! She grows so fast.

OOO cool snow!














Okay back to the puzzle













She loves to help clean, so she gets her own towel to help!



















Saturday mornings with daddy.













Saturday mornings with mommy :)













MMMM good chocolate cookie :)













she is getting very good at her utensil usage!



















What a great helper!



















More saturday morning time with daddy :)













Sledding down our back deck steps where shawn made a homemade
sledding hill. It works great at this age!




















































lil cousin Luis turned 1! these two might just be close buds being
so close in age.













Playdate with our buddy Camden! he is 4 weeks younger and OH so cute!













Shaylen fed cookie monster cheerios :)


























Making Valentines day cookies with daddy! She
did great with the sprinkles! it was fun, they didn't taste that good,
but it was fun.

Its a NEW YEAR so lets lose some weight.

After having Shaylen, I was just so tired I let myself rest and repair. Well that time is LONG gone, and my goal this year is to get into a more healthy state before the next time around and I thought I might motivate some people to do this along with me.

Here is a website that a friend sent me. I used to jog all the time and have since slowed down a lot.
Well friends here you go.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Hope some of you find this inspiring and helpful. Good luck to you all with new years resolutions and do not forget that each day is new, don't count by weeks or months, then you might just give up till next year!!

Christmas with the Girlie!

This Christmas was SO different from last year! Shaylen liked all the decor, but really was not that into it, in the literal sense of the word. She really stayed away from the tree for the most part which we were SO thankful for. We put a select few ornaments that we did not mind her playing with, low enough and that was it. December was filled with baking, and cooking. Girlie even helped with sprinkles and cookie cutting which was so much fun to watch. Christmas music permeated the household, as presents were wrapped and cookies were made. It was a fun time. Shaylen got some great gifts and was actually sort into the unwrapping thing. These are some photos of family at Christmas parties. Shaylen was just a hoot with all the people! It was a great holiday season and we are so sad to see it go. I guess we just have to get ready for spring!

Besides that, Shaylen has been learning more sign language over the last couple months like "please" and "thank you". She is just a sponge with information!! She wants to help flush the toilet, and unclog vacuums, she would not leave my side one day while I was unclogging the vacuum, it was adorable, and not so fun at the same time. She can climb onto the dining chairs, so we keep those pushed in. She just loves to sit on the floor and read in her room, but mostly she will bring book after book to you to read to her. She has also been making preferences on what you read to her, shaking her head in response to some that she clearly does not want to read. This is a little new territory for us, 'what, you have an opinion, we cant just throw a book at you to read and you comply?'. Pretty crazy how this little girl is growing so fast, who now has eight teeth! At 14 1/2 months now, she has such an amazing personality, with lots of patience and smiles.



















Getting our tree. We had great aspirations of cutting down a tree, didn't happen with all the crazy weather, so we drove up the street. Just as good :).














In the snow, after we got the tree.



















cookie making!!!




























Loves to read in mom and dad's bed!














Opening her stocking with daddy.




















All ready for Christmas Day, with her new slippers and all.














Playing with her dad at the "Bolt" party













Sharing Great Great Uncle Lloyds lap with 4th cousin Kate. (don't really know how the cousin thing works, its my mom's cousins daughter so you figure it out :) )
































Shaylen, trying to get Santa's attention!













Oh, she got his attention, and yes he is missing his beard!













UGH! so tired......



















Shaylen got a sled for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. She LOVES it!
And yes, Shawn did take her down our deck steps in it, but she had a great time.













loves our neighbors john deer mower on new years eve :), a country girl? nawww.

November flew by!

Now that Shaylen is 13 mo, I will post pictures of her first birthday party! and of her 1 year photo shoot in Rockford.

October and November flew by this year, as we are already in December now. These little ones really make time fly. November was great fun watching Shaylen continue to grow and change. She started walking full time the weekend before thanksgiving, which was scary in and of itself, but so fun to watch. She knows almost all her body parts like her arms, eyes, nose, ears, and even eyebrows. She like to babble, but says dada, for almost anything, even her mom! She loves to play hide and seek, she will go around the corner and come out and smile or we will chase her around the chair. She loves legos, or duplos, whatever you call them, and is getting so good at putting the shapes in her shape box.

Thanksgiving was fun with her and we had a great time spending time with family and eating good food. We had a 4 day weekend with Shawn home before he left for his work trip.

Unfortunately despite the wonderful firsts, girlie has had some not so fun firsts like, first time getting sick, all over me of course :), and first time to ER. The ER trip just had to happen while Shawn was gone to San Francisco for work, but it all worked out. Thank goodness for grandmas! We were thankful that it was nothing major, and got rid of the fever!!




















At the pumpkin festival in Zeeland.




















YAY, I am one!!





















































Contemplating that leaf.


























































One of my favorites! Showing our lil fall pumpkin :)

This precious little girl is 1!!

Our little girlie is officially 1 today! Well, she will be at 9:43 pm tonight. What a memory of her entering this world and what a whirl wind of a year. We are so thankful for this little peanut who brings a smile to our faces each and every day. A healthy little girl she has been, one that has always been right on track with everything. She isn't officially walking yet, but she is getting more and more gutsy with walking between us and furniture. Her vocab consists of "dada" and "ite" and she will sign "more" and "all done". She also will "moo" and tell you exactly what a doggy says.

Though most would think I trained her, I have never seen a kid more into leaves than this girlie, she is truly a fall baby.

We had a great time at her party with all of those that were able to celebrate with us and then trick or treating that night was a blast with our block of neighbors and kiddos! Shaylen was so cute! She held onto a piece of candy in each hand, and with the kit kat she was holding, she had bitten through the wrapper and was sucking the chocolate out of it!!! Then of course when we took it away she threw a fit, naturally, because it tasted GOOD! Here are some pics of the girlie though we will post more later.

Thank you to all who have been such a wonderful support system over the last year. It was probably the hardest adjustment in my life, but at the same time one of those most joyous! Thanks to God for such a wonderful and precious gift!

11 mo old!!!

So, girlie is now 11 mo old and is a very fast crawler! We have a hard time shutting the doors in time before she crawls to escape the confines of living room and dining room life :).














Shaylen LOVES climbing the stairs, so yes that door behind her stays closed almost ALL the time!














Even perfect little girls have bad hair days!



















She loves standing up next to her toy box and getting out all of her toys. Sometimes I have seen her do lunges next to the toy box.




















Shaylen and uncle Jamie hangin out!

We did go blueberry picking. While she was in the pack with Shawn, she grabbed a leaf and ate it. She started coughing really bad, and Shawn took her to the car to get her some water, where she proceeded to throw up on him, kind of funny. All in all, we had fun :).















She already has a favorite movie, yum!














This is how I would trap her in the living room till the rest of the living room dining room area was conducive to a scavenger.














This is Shaylen's little pumpkin growing behind the garage! :)














"Helping" me with laundry. Yes quite the lil helper.















Shaylen with some buddies, Cameron and Camden.



















I did break down and buy her a pumpkin which she LOVES :)
but its kind of heavy !!




























and we now have enough hair to do pigtails!!!!