Tessa at 18 months

This week Tessa passed the half year mark so she is now 18 months old. She got two shots and a great report from the pediatrician. He's tickled by how flirty she is. Hhhmmm, wonder where she learned that?!?!

She's smack in the middle of the growth curve for both height and weight and has hit all the developmental milestones for her age. My little angel threw one of her breath holding hissy fits when he examined her ears. Totally normal and her doctor even complimented me on handling it well by ingnoring her. Five seconds later she was all smiles again. Ah, the joys of toddlerhood. I've moved her cradle and dolls into her new playroom. She loves her dolls and is so cute sitting in the cradle with them. In these pictures she is signing cat, pointing to her head and just being sweet.

Congratulations to Ryan! With the new year came a new job title for Ryan. He has transferred to the research and development center and is now a Special Projects Engineer. After several months of intensive training, he will work on Original Equipment (OE) projects.

He is very excited about the work itself and is also quite impressed with the caliber of his new co-workers. This job will definitely be a challenge, one that he is certainly ready for. His reputation precedes him and people have made a point to welcome him to the group.

One of perks of the new job was a working trip to the Detroit Auto Show. Even though things were scaled back this year, he said it was an awesome show. Ryan saw some of his favorite cars - Corvettes, Maseratis and in this picture he is sitting in a Tesla.

Keep up the good work Daddy!

First Playdate

Today marks another milestone in Tessa's life, we attended our very first playgroup. There were six little munchkins and six first time moms at Carrie's house today. At first, Tessa wasn't sure what to make of the room full of toys and toddlers. She quickly figured things out and in no time at all was roaming around the room checking out all the cool toys.

I know this is hard for everyone to believe, but I did not take a picture of this big moment. Just know that we enjoyed it and Tessa was adorable, as always.

Anabelle's Birthday

Our dear sweet puppy turns 5 today. We celebrated with popcorn, her favorite treat and I didn't even make her wear the birthday hat - although she has always been a good sport that sort of thing. We love you Anabelle!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANABELLE!!!

After a six week holiday break, our Bouncing Babies library group resumed. Yeah!!! We love Miss Donna and have really missed this fun activity. I think back to when we started coming to this class a year ago. Tessa was not even crawling yet. Gone are the days where she would happily sit in my lap the whole time. Now she marches herself right out to the center of the circle and entertains everyone with her adorable self.

After about 30 minutes of stories, songs and rhymes, the toys come out. Then, we have playtime which tends to turn into a free-for-all. It surprises me to realize that I am now the mom of one of those big kids (the class only goes to 24months) who tries to snatch toys away from other kids. We are working on the tough concept of sharing. Unlike what you see in the video, I don't usually let her grab things from another child. But, it seemed to work out okay.

Happy New Year!

After Tessa mastered walking I realized that I had never video taped her "Bear Crawl." I was all upset because it's so darn cute, particularly since she hollers "aaaaahhhhhh" while crawling. Much to my relief, the "Bear Crawl" reappeared tonight around bathtime. I ran for the video camera and successfully captured this hysterical motion. Of course, since it was bathtime, Tessa was buck naked! Ryan groaned at the mention of posting a naked baby video. Luckily she was still in the crawling mood by the time I got a diaper on her. Happy New Year!!!

Gatlinburg, TN

After Christmas we ventured up to Gatlinburg for a little shopping fun. The weather was warm and beautiful so anyone hoping for a glimpse of snow was sadly disappointed.

We had Tessa's picture made in period costume and my choices were Bar Girl or Southern Belle. I am not ready to think about my baby and bars just yet so we chose Southern Belle. Tessa was NOT excited about the hat. Last year she was great about wearing hats but not so this year. I think it hinders her from swishing her hair around, one of her favorite new moves. Even with the little hissy fit about the hat, I think the picture turned out adorable.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning started with lots of excitement as we noticed there were all kinds of new presents under the tree. Tessa spotted her piano from Gamma and Gampa and immediately started “playing” it. She loves music, singing and dancing so this is a great gift. Thank you!!!

We opened presents with Grammy and Grandpa thanks to the miracle of video conferencing. Tessa was most excited about ripping paper off the boxes but I know she will love bouncing around on her new Fropper too. Thank you!!!

Gamma, Gampa and Granny all came over to celebrate with us. We watched Tessa open presents and play with her new toys. It was lots of fun watching Tessa TV. Plus there was a big surprise for Momma and Daddy, a new dining room chandelier. Thank you!!!

Ryan was once again the master chef while Momma played with the baby. It was our best turkey ever, you're hired! After eating we relaxed by watching Mamma Mia. There is something so fun about seeing Pierce Brosnan sing and dance in sparkly lycra. As I rocked Tessa before bed I thought again how she is the most wonderful present of all. Merry Christmas everybody!

French Christmas Eve

Each year for Christmas Eve we choose a country and celebrate it's traditions at my parent's house. This year was France so our menu included cheeses, french onion soup, croissants, steak and frites, wine, champagne and a Bouche de Noel. Tessa even had an Eiffel Tower sippy cup. Everything was delicious, hats off to the chefs Ryan, Mommy and Daddy.

The toy du jour was Madeline. Tessa was so excited about everything that she ran around Gamma and Gampa's house like a little wind up toy. In fact, while trying to put on her jammies, she bolted away from me and we played chase while she streaked around the house wearing only her little monogrammed panties.


Before heading over to Gamma and Gampa's house, Tessa was parading around in her fancy party dress. She's such a doll. Enjoy the videos and I apologize in advance for my singing! Merry Christmas Eve!

Tony's Party

It was a week-end for parties! Tony and his wife Cindy hosted a Christmas party at their lovely home. It was also a farewell party for Ryan since he will be moving to a new postion in January. We had a champagne toast and everyone in the group was very complimentary of Ryan. He will miss the wonderful people he has worked so closely with these last few years. I think the highlight of the evening was when Tony, Ryan and Danny opened the "FRAGILE" (pronouced fra-jeee-lay) box and set the leg lamp up for display. Who knew Tony was as big a fan of that movie as Ryan was?