First Time at the Magic House

Last weekend, Leslie (Aunt Wes Wee) took her nieces Brooke, Paige, and suto-niece Riley and Tia to the Magic House.  When we showed up to drop Tia off at Leslie's, I wasn't sure how she'd do. She has been a bit more clingy to me lately.  When we walked in and she saw the three girls who were between the ages of 7 and 10, she pulled out all of her good stuff. She was making sounds with her mouth, clapping, waving hi, walking around, dancing, and so much more. Chris and I just laughed.  She went into super show-off mode the minute she saw the girls.  There was a grand piano and the girls were all sitting side by side playing on it. Even Tia was going to town. It was the cutest thing ever.

The stories of the Magic House from Leslie, were delightful. Just warmed my heart with warm fuzzies and of course just that proud mother feeling.  She told me how strong Tia was, how she would do peek a boo to other kids she didn't know, how she wanted to get right into the action and wasn't scared to try new things, and that she wanted to be a big girl.  She told me so much more too and I have to admit, I loved hearing all of it. But better yet, it was nice to see Tia spending some time with some of our very best friends who we love and trust.  Chris and I were able to get a ton done around the house and make it to my sister's dinner. When we picked Tia up after dinner, she was conked out with no care in the world. It was evident that she just played her little heart out and had so much fun.

I can't wait to go the Magic House with her now.  Chris was originally afraid she was too young, but after hearing about her first trip there, it is perfect for all ages, even adults.  Maybe I can get all of my girls/guys and we can all take the kiddos there one day! Thanks Aunt WesWee & Uncle Ed for taking care of me!! - Love You, Tia

My Sick Baby

Poor Tia has been fighting a cold for a week now.  It all started on Sunday, which was Easter. She seemed fine when we went to church, but when she woke up from her nap to head over to Katma's, she acted very clingy.  I didn't mind but it wasn't long before we realized that she just wasn't feeling the greatest.  On the ride over, I kept her calm with cheerios, but she just seemed needier than ever.  At Katma's she played for a very short time and ate only a few bites before more crankiness started to set in. We changed her out of her Easter dress into some PJs and kept her entertained with Baby Einstein in her crib until she fell asleep...Poor baby.  That night, however, she developed a temperature of 102ish. She was not happy and would barely eat anything.  The next day, it was evident she could not go to school and since we didn't have many options, I stayed home with her from work, which I really wanted.  We played and had a great time...she seemed to be doing better, but by the time Chris got home from work, her temp went up to 104.  She did not sleep a wink the entire night because she was burning up and whimpering. I just felt so bad for her....Chris stayed home from work on Tuesday with her and again she seemed to be doing better throughout the day.  But, in the back of my mind, I was thinking it was at night that we had to watch.  Chris had called the doctor and they gave him good advice. By the time I got home from my bowling banquet (which was my last night of bowling for a long time - I 'retired' for awhile), I immediately felt her head and she was perfect. Wfew!  She did not sleep that great last night though and I even fed her a bottle and rocked her for a bit about 2am, but she whimpered and batted at her ears all night. I think the sickness is draining out of her tubes and it is just uncomfortable for her.  But at least she is no longer sick like she was earlier in the week. We've been giving her nebulizer treatments which I hope are helping her ears a bit!  My poor baby!

Tia's Class Picture

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http://www.images4kids.com/ProductCustomerLogin-Images4Kids.asp
Access Code: NKW5-13
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Class Number: 101

Don't forget to click 'Composite Pictures' to view her class pictures.

So cute!

Tia Loves People

Tia always acts sort of shy when people are around until she warms up and become a ham.  Last night a friend came over with her 2 year old son and Mason and Tia played for a bit.  When they left, Tia bawled her eyes out that they weren't there anymore. It was actually quite cute. She didn't want them to go and was upset. She even threw a bit of a tantrum.   This morning I picked up a coworker and Tia was a ham saying hi and bye to her, waving at the same time.  When my coworker and I were talking and weren't paying attention to her, she was getting upset.  I think she is going to want to be the center of attention for sure!  My cute baby!

There's a Biter

A kid in Tia's class has bitten her three times now over the past couple months.  Clearly bruised into Tia's skin are teeth marks or you can actually see the two semi-circles that form the mouth.  I know Tia will heal and of course I don't like it one bit, but my biggest concern is that she'll pick up this horrible habit.  One day, she leaned in for a kiss and instead she bit my cheek. My first thought was that the bad habit of her fellow class mate has become her own, but luckily it is not the case.  She does not show signs of biting at all, thankfully!  I hope the parent of the biter knows about it and I'm not even sure what you can do to remedy this habit, but hopefully as the child gets older they will grow out of it. He has bitten Tia on the fingers, stomach and arm so far and who knows what else that we don't know of.  Tia gets lots of bruises here and there, but the bite marks are just painful for me to see. I would hate to know what goes through her mind when it is taking place.

Happy Birthday Chuck Norris, I mean Daddy

Yesterday, Tia turned 16 months old.  It is so amazing that she has gotten so big already...when they say 'time flies', they weren't a kidding.  Today is Chris's birthday - the big 32 (yes, I married a younger man, lol).  Most of you know that Chuck Norris has been prevalent in Chris's life for most of it. Having the last name Norris and the notoriety of Chuck Norris's fame, there are many people who have either teased or laughed with Chris on many occasion in reference to Chuck Norris.  Secretly, I think Chris loves it and why not. They guy is a famed actor with a lot of macho power to back it up.  In fact, our first sort-date was when I invited him to play kickball with the team I was playing with called Walker Texas Ranger...how fitting.  When we were pregnant, we had a lot of people ask us if we were going to name our baby Chuck and better yet, I joked with Chris that since we are having a girl, we should name her Charlie and call her Chuck for short, lol.   A coworker/friend of Chris's bought him a Chuck Norris poster last week and I put it up on the wall in our bedroom.  Weirdly, Chuck's faded mug on the poster resembles Chris in a lot of ways...if only Chris has 80's hair, but the beard, pale complexion, and facial features have an odd resemblance. I am not the only one to notice either.  Tia came in and pointed up at the poster and said 'da da'. I about laughed my belly off and then I said 'no that is Chuck, can you say Chuck' and sure enough she said 'chahak' and I died laughing again. So today is Chris's birthday, not Chuck Norris, but I had to tie in the Chuck Norris dialogue because even this morning when we were walking into daycare, I have been trying to get Tia to say the front girl's name for months. 'Say Donna', but she just shies away.  She will wave a princess/beauty queen wave and say hi with a big ole smile, but she won't say Donna. I did, this morning, say she can say Chuck though and sure enough, she says 'Chahak', and smiles really big!  Happy birthday Daddy! Love Tia!

Shoes & Jewelry

Can it be possible that a girl so young can already recognize the beauty of shoes and jewelry?  Tia has loved jewelry since she was able to find them on people's necks and even now whenever she sees a necklace, she becomes obsessed.  But I'm sure that goes for all babies because they love shiny things.  Tia has been taking my rubber bands and putting them on her arm like bracelets.  She also did this with some of her toys that fit around her arm. I could not believe it but of course I thought it was super cute. She has also been all about shoes. If she sees shoes lying around, she'll pick them up and carry them over to you. She does this with all shoes. She loves putting them on and I can tell she just loves shoes.  She also loves people's finger nails being painted. Could it be that Tia is a girlie girl???  Most of you know that I was a tomboy my entire life until I hit mid-20's and that is the truth. I like that she likes girlie stuff like her headbands and bows.

Flower Girl

In Phoenix, Tia was the flower girl at the wedding we attended.  The bride, Renee, whose mother is cousins with my step-mother used to follow me around for about 4 years when I lived in San Antonio, TX from 2nd grade until 6th grade.  After I moved to Illinois during my 6th grade year, I had only been back to San Antonio one time when I was 16.  Now, I'm 33 and had not seen the bride, Renee, for 17 years.  That number just sounds crazy to me!  She was the same girl, just all grown up.  She looked beautiful on her wedding day and I could tell that her husband Danny was in love with her.  They just reminded me of me and Chris on our wedding day.  Tia did pretty good as the flower girl. She walked half way down the aisle, realized everyone was watching her and beelined it back, which caused everyone to laugh.  Then they told me to have her spread the flowers so I did it once and Tia caught on really fast. She started spreading them all around until they were gone.  She was a beautiful little flower girl!

Sign Language

Tia's first video was the Baby Einstein First Signs DVD that she watched probably hundreds of times by now. I know Chris and I probably know every song and tune on there.  I was hoping Tia had picked up on some of the sign language but I really didn't practice much with her because I know that she'll pick things up on her own.  I also know that her daycare teaches them things from time to time and you just never know what she'll surprise us with. While in Phoenix, Chris was feeding Tia some fruit snacks and when she wanted more, she looked up at her daddy and did the 'more' motion by taping her fingers together and she even said 'mua' that sort of sounded like 'ma' but if you knew she was saying more, you'd hear it.  I came out of the shower and Chris said, 'what does this motion mean' and I said 'more' and he was absolutely amazed. 'Where did she learn that' and I just said either from the Baby Einstein DVD or from school.  Either one, I think it was just a neat feeling to be able to communicate to us that she wanted more snacks. Of course, Chris was showing her off to everyone asking her if she wanted more and of course she'd do the motion. She is just amazing!

Tia's First Flight

This past weekend, we went to a wedding in Phoenix, AZ.  We strategically planned Tia's first flight to leave out at 8:30pm so it would be right at bedtime hoping she'd sleep the entire way.  It didn't work out quite as good as we had hoped, but  it still worked out good.  Unfortunately, once we boarded the plane, we sat on the runway for over 30 minutes. This was not good.  Tia began to get restless right away wanting to walk in the aisles and she couldn't understand why she had to sit on my lap.  Once we started moving, Tia fell asleep and they even gave us another seat so Chris scooted over and we put Tia in the middle seat.  She could not get comfortable.  I'm sure she was thinking this was not her normal crib and that she does not like the small amount of room she had to work with.  She screamed out a little bit, but not too badly. Finally, the almost 4 hour flight got us to our destination and we were able to get to the room and the three of us into our big king bed.  The flight out was a lot shorter and although the lines were enormous in Phoenix getting out and my arm hurt so badly from holding my bag and Tia, we were able to be the first to board the plane and get into our seats. Chris had a middle seat and Tia and I had a middle seat on the other side. Luckily, a nice guy switched with Chris so we could sit together.  The flight was shorter and yes, Tia had a few moments in frustration, but overall she slept or played with her toys.  It was a great first trip for Tia and I don't think she'll remember her first flights, but I'm sure we'll tell her all about it.

She's a Ham

She picks up everything that we do and to see her doing it and then smile immediately after is just super sweet.  She was in a great mood last night. The other week at her doctor's appointment, they gave her a few medications and I think she is at 100% right now.  No ear infection, no goop coming out of her eyes or ears, little to no congestion. Just back to square 1.  Whenever she eats, I wink at her from across the room and she always winks back (with both eyes) and then gives me a gummy smile because she knows she did it.  Daddy always says 'where's your mouth' and she touches her mouth. 'Where's your ears' and she touches her ears, 'where's your eyes' and she touches her eyes. The funny thing that cracks me up is when I started saying 'give me five' and I'd put out my hand, she's tap her hand on my hand three times and then close my hand. When I started doing this a couple months ago, I'd say 'close' when she'd close my hand, then she'd close it and I'd say 'open'.  Well, honestly, I say it sort staccato (I used to play the violen), but what that means is very nasally and emotionless...to the point.  Chris has always made fun of it because Tia will continually open and close which causes me to say 'open' 'close' over and over.  It wasn't long before you'd say 'open' and 'close' and Tia would take her hand and instantly open and then close it on command. Now, I think Chris likes to tease me, but uses Tia to do it by saying it randomly and no matter what Tia would be doing, she'd stop and then open and close both of her hands, then continue on.  I have to admit, it makes me laugh out loud. Of course Chris gets a big kick out of it too.

A Big Scare

When they say that having kids is one of the scariest things, it's true.  Of course, we don't want anything happening to our beautiful little girl, but some times she just scares the living bajezeeies out of us.  Last night was exactly that case. She was eating peaches and then all of a sudden she started weezing..a very light cough...and her eyes were as large as gumballs.  Immediately, we ran over to her and tried to get her out. Chris panicked too and was trying to tap on her back and pull her out of her high chair, but she was still strapped in.  I got her unbuckled as she continued to cough/weeze and Chris tried to pull her out again, but her arms were still strapped down.  I got her out, put her upside down on my arm and as soon as Chris tapped her back, the peach went flying out across the floor.  Luckily for me, I paid attention when they gave the toddler choking demonstration and what to do.  Chris admitted he was freaking out and I was too. Tia immediately got upset because it scared her. She cried and hugged my neck very sweetly. I was rocking her and trying to get her to stop crying.  I think we all were just scared to no end.  Tia didn't want to go back in her high chair, so I sat her on my lap and gave her some food.  We were both kissing her and of course she was being somewhat dramatic which was super cute and I think she loved all the attention.  I promised her a long, fun bath as soon as she was done eating.  Chris wouldn't leave her side the rest of the night and kept saying 'when they say you can't turn around for more than a minute, they are right' and he couldn't stop thinking about it.  I was bothered too and it just makes me scared that it would happen again when we weren't around or people weren't watching.  Oh my poor baby. But she was all better once she got in the tub and she was in a great mood after that too. Chris played with her until bedtime and things were back to normal.  So scary!

Tia's 15 Month Doc Appt

Tia is 30 inches long (35th percentile), 21 pounds 3 oz (25th percentile), and her head is 47 centimeters (70th percentile).  She got a few meds for her eczema and ear problems. We always find out what we need to be doing more of and what we should be doing.  As new parents, we don't always know if what we are doing is the best or right way, but of course pray that it is.  Tia is getting bigger and boy is she sassy.  She still is sweet as ever and so smart. If you ask her where her belly is, she'll put her finger right on her belly button. If you ask where her nose is, she'll touch her nose.  She does this with her ears and eyes. I do know she picks up whatever you are doing so we really need to watch what we are doing. There is a biter in her class because she has been bitten three times...the poor baby.  I really hope she does not pick that up and you know they are smart when you see them working as a team.  One kid was leaning up against the door with his booty bumping up against it. I saw Tia walk over and line up next to him and do the same thing. I thought, how odd. Then the taller kid walked over and lined up next to them but he was under the door knob. In sync, they bumped the door with their booties at the same time and the tallest kids pulled the lever on the door. If no one was watching, they'd be long gone wandering the school. Talk about scary, but astonishing at the same time that they are so smart to work together.  It reminds me of baby geniuses and is pretty neat to witness.  Last night I was mopping the floor and I laid the Swifer mopper against the chair while I sweeped up some crumbs. Tia walks over and grabs the Swifer mopper and starts doing exactly what I was doing with it a few seconds ago. She did not want to give it up either and went over the entire floor. Amazing!!!  She just cracks me up.  Love that little girl.