Anya is 1 year old now- horray! We had a party for her on Feb 14th and had about 25 guests. Anya dove into her first birthday cake and there was frosting everywhere. It is amazing that there was virtually no cake on her clothes, but she had plenty in her ears....Anya took her first few steps on Feb 2nd, but just started to really get the hang of it this week. She will walk across the room, even stopping every so often to re-gain her balance. Uncle Mike called her 'baby Frankenstein'.

Anya is learning new words and animal sounds. She is very good with Hi, No, Yes, Mom, Dad, and has started saying NaNa when she sees bananas (real ones or pictures), she says MMMM when she sees food on the counter or in a magazine, and loves to say Oh Wow when she is really impressed by something or if something is bright or shiny. She will say Meow when she sees a cat or a picture of a cat, and says Woof or pants for dogs. She also babbles ALOT as if she is having conversations with me.

Recently, we had visits from Grandpa Ted, Opa Tom, Aunt Morgan, Uncle Mike and Kristi, and cousins Joann and Duke. Next to visit will be Great Grandma, Aunt Aimee and Chris, and return visits from Grandpa Ted and Opa Tom. We will also have lots of visitors from Buffalo in March and April when Grandpa Ted comes down.

Anya is quickly approaching her first birthday which is Feb 12th. Her newest favorite things are giving hugs and kissing her hand with a big "mwuah" sound when you say I love you. She also waves hi to everyone and everything. She loves to hug and pat her toys too. I think she is finally starting to understand when we tell her to be nice and gentle with the pets, but our older dog Riley won't even give her a chance to get her fur pulled again. Our other dog Gizmo just sits there and takes her pounding and climbing on him. Cleo the cat will sit near Anya and doesn't mind if Anya pats her. Anya loves to eat lots of food, even vegetables. She will give an enthusiastic "MMMMM" if she likes it and will press her lips together if she doesn't. (smart little bugger) Luckily she is not a picky eater so if she doesn't like it now, she will probably like it later on in the day. Anya loves to do laps holding on to the coffee table. She follows mommy all around the house, crawling or in the walker, but has not started walking yet. The closest we have gotten is when she occasionally lets go of whatever she is holding on to and stands freely for a moment. I think we spoil it when we clap to congratulate her and she claps in return and falls on her butt. She doesn't mind. We also took her on a weekend trip to Key West two weekends ago. She loved walking on Duval Street and waving to everyone and watched the perfomers at Mallory Square. We stayed in a condo with a heated pool and Anya and Daddy played in the pool all afternoon. Key West is certainly different when you bring your child, no bar hopping like before but maybe next time...after all it is Key West (just kidding) More to come....stay tuned :)

Jello

Anya figured out how to eat jello today.