Happy 1 1/4 Birthday!!

Where does the time go?!? We JUST celebrated Rayas first birthday and I'm already taking her 15 month picture?!

Her first year we had stickers nothing her age and since those went until 12 months I came up with a fun way to document this next year of life.  Everyday is a new adventure for her and she's starting to really show favorites in things she likes to do.  I made a chalkboard frame and sit it next to her favorite activity if the month.  Granted she has about 3-4 things she loves doing each month but this will help us remember the stages.  On any given day she just LOVES Zara and also loves exploring her box of music instruments.

Happy Fathers Day 2

We celebrated Tim's 2nd Fathers Day this weekend and he had it OFF, no events :) We took advantage!!

So we have numerous hotel stays from trade Tim has done with hotels and we were finally able to take advantage of one! We stayed at the Westin at Horton Plaza and upon checkin were nicely greeted at our door with some champagne and strawberry fondue...uhhh thank you and YUM! The catering manager we know there sent it over for us.  While Raya took her afternoon nap we indulged in it a little.  We met Danny, Tim's older brother who lives downtown, for a drink (or 2...we had to take advantage of not needing to drive! :)) then headed over to Petco Park to watch the baseball game.  There is a park at the park which we got tickets for so Raya could run around since she clearly could care less about watching a baseball game ;) but she loves running around and even clapped when the crowd did.  We got about 1.5 hours of attention from her before we headed out.  It was a fun night and she must have tired herself out, she fell asleep on the way back to the hotel!

Saturday we got breakfast then did some shopping.  Sunday, Tim wanted to take Zara to the beach to run around so we all  headed there and then I arranged for Tim to get a foot massage.  When he got home we had a BBQ atthe house and played with Raya.  It was a nice weekend :)

Thankfully Tim had some time to relax because in true Tim fashion he had a 12 hour workday ahead of him on Monday :(. He works so hard and we appreciate it everyday, he gives us the opportunity to have what we have and still finds time to be a great dad!!

Lastly I had to try the onesie on that Raya wore on Fathers Day last year...she looked like a bit of a sausage but I still got her in it ;) ohhh sweet pea ;)

Poor Zara

Raya has loved Zara from before she even knew that she was a dog.  It's been a little bit more of a learning curve for Zara :(

For 3 years Zara was top dog around here and although we still give her lots of attention we have to split our time now obviously...it's about the same thing as having two kids!

Initially Raya just layed around, didn't make sounds (except crying) and Zara wasn't too intimidated.  Then this "thing" started blowing raspberries, crawling around, squeaking, etc...and Zara spent many days saying, "uhh ill be outside if you need me".  She was not too fond of Raya for many months :( she would never hurt her and was very gentle but definitely jealous and stayed out if Rayas way!

Well NOW Raya is even more obsessed with Zara than ever! Doggie was literally he first word and can say Zara but still doesn't say Momma!! What the heck!! Most days Raya I hugging, kissing, squeezing, patting (errr hitting) and doing whatever she can for attention from Zara.  She has gotten MUCH more tolerant of Raya and i think likes thatshe runs around and is more interactiver, but will let her know when it hurts when she uses her as a step stool :( Poor Zara...they are so sweet when they actually play nice together, just like siblings!!!

Rayas first BFF (except when making raspberry noises, Zara just hates it!!!)

Fishies

We just got a Sea World pass so Raya (and I) can learn about sea animals. She LOVED looking at the fish today!!! It's so cute she just learned the sign language for bird and she was signing it when the fish swam by....haha, in her defense the fish sign is a little harder :)

Looking forward to having lots of fun there this summer... there are some great shows (she got to shamu last week) and I'm looking forward to the Cirque show, huge cirque fan!!! There are multiple aquariums and sea creatures for her to touch and explore!

Happy Memorial Day

On Monday we found a parade just a few towns over from us. This was Rayas first one and we knew she'd love it and she did!!

Since she started waving she has this "parade/queen/pageant" wave, not the open close wave most kids acquire. It is adorable and she certainly put it I good use :)

She also LOVES doggies and kisses she found several sweet dogs to share a smooch with, and one that didn't want one so much and let her know...she wasn't very happy with that dog!

Thank you to all those that have and do serve for our country!

ONE

I don't know where the time has flown but we have a ONE year old!!! Raya turned one on April 24th and celebrated by having grandma Schuster and Auntie Juney in town. We schedule a little one year old photos shoot with some of the decorations I had put together to use at her party and of course a smash cake!!! She wanted nothing to nothing to do with the cake it was kind of funny. we put her snack of choice, peas!!!? on top of the cake and he took a few swipes of it :)

Grandma Altbaum joined us for some pictures and then we went to eat at True Food Kitchen YUM... To celebrate getting through the first year! Although I've heard it's the hardest I also feel it might be the easiest, from here on out she I already starting to get her defiant and sassy personality :) each stage has truly been amazing and now we have a toddler!!! Although we enjoy she's still itty bitty it's like we can enjoy having an infant for longer. But she is an infant that talks, albeit only a few words (doggy, dada, duck, this and something thats starting to sound like Zara), walks errr runs and is so fun to interact with!! She understands an overwhelming amount too!

Happy birthday sweet Raya we hope your year was as memorable as ours was!

Irish for a day!

Tim nor I are Irish but growing up in NY in a Catholic family I always celebrated St. Patrick's Day. With my sister living in Boston probably one of the largest Irish populations we had more than one excuse to wear green yesterday.

Jen had bought Raya a cute I "shamrock" Boston onesie back in August and it was baggy then, not so much now. It's bittersweet watching her grow. I was able to stuff her into the onesie for a couple of hours to stop by Tim's baseball game. She also sent Raya an adorable shamrock headband, we are so lucky Raya leaves them on her head! ;)

After lunch it was time to put her shamrock party dress on to stop by a bridal show at The Hotel Del (which we got a flat tire on the way to- luck wasn't really on our side) then headed to Grandma Altbaum's for little St. Patrick's day festivities. Due to the flat tire we were a little late but she had a scavenger hunt for the kids with a little bag that had a leprechaun hat, beads, rubber duckies-very cute! Raya played and chewed on her duckies all night while also showing off her walking skills and stopping for just a few minutes to have a little dinner.

What a fun day of festivities, who said it wasn't fun being green?!