Of course we were still able to get a few cute moments out of our time. Liana helped me bake the cookies in the top picture, which I brought into work to share with my coworkers. Ashton squeezed her into her Christmas pajamas from last year which is why they say 'my first Christmas'. They are size 9-12 months and last year they were way too big on her (she was eight months old) and this year they were too small (she was twenty months old), but they are super cute and have her name embroidered on them! One of Liana's favorite Christmas gifts is her toy kitchen. She has played with it every day since Christmas morning and, as you can see, she likes to stick her head in the microwave! Finally, in the bottom picture Liana is rinsing her toothbrush after brushing her teeth. She slides her potty over to the sink and brushes her teeth all by herself. She loves it! Also, how cute are her little slippers that I got her for Christmas?

How did you and your family fare this holiday season? I hope your family had better luck than mine! x

Liana is now in full force toddler mode! She is running circles around me about a mile a minute, and I'm having a hard time catching my breath while chasing her. I'll admit, that's a bit of an exaggeration. When she sees something she wants, she can get around pretty fast, but most of the time she's still stumbling around like a tiny drunk person. She stumbles, trips, and bumps her head, but she is no longer easily discouraged about being on her feet. If she's not walking, she's climbing. Climbing in her bouncer and onto the bed, climbing up the stairs, climbing all over Daddy when he's laying down, or climbing off of furniture.


As far as talking goes, she isn't saying any words clearly just yet. She used to say "Mama" and "Dada" all the time, but these days everyone and everything is simply, "Dada." When something falls on the floor she attempts to say "uh-oh", but it usually comes out as "uh-uh" or "uh-uh-oh-uh." She's been clapping her hands since she was about seven months old, but now she couples the motion with an "aaaay!" because I usually say "yayyy, Liana!" when I clap for her. Once in a while, she will attempt to say "hi" and wave, but in Liana-talk, "iye" is just fine. My favorite thing she tries to say is "I love you." After hearing me say it first she'll let out a shy-sounding, "laaooouu." I'm looking forward to when she finds words for telling me when she wants food. Currently, when she sees something she wants, she points at it and hisses through the spaces behind her teeth. It's the funniest when we are grocery shopping and she starts hissing at the fruit. Among all of her babbling, she has a habit of "scolding" people. She will scowl, raise her babbling voice, and shake her accusingly pointing finger at you.


Although she isn't exactly speaking, she understands a whole lot (probably even more than I think she does). She understands "dai mi tseluvka" and "dame besos", which mean "give me kisses" in Bulgarian and Spanish, and she will lift her chin up for a kiss. If asked, "is that yummy?" while she is eating, she promptly rubs her tummy. I'm pretty sure she picked up that trick from Grammy. Sometimes I see that she has gotten a hold of a small object or something that she shouldn't have and instead of jumping up right away and snatching it from her, I calmly ask, "Liana, can I have that?" and she usually brings it right over to me and puts it in my hand. That is another one of my favorite things she has learned because it saves me the trouble of chasing her down before she puts something in her mouth and she also doesn't get mad that I've taken something away from her. She also occasionally listens when I say, "please put that back", but that one is still 50/50 whether she responds correctly. One day while tickling her feet, I kept saying, "tiny foot, tiny foot tiny foot!" and tickling her right foot. Now every time I ask her, "where is your tiny foot?", she lifts up her right foot for me to tickle and sometimes giggles before I even get to it.


Liana is very ticklish! She has a great belly laugh when her back, feet, neck, or belly are tickled. She has a habit of standing up in the tub, likes opening and emptying drawers and cabinets (and sometimes putting things back in when she's done) and dances when she hears music she likes (which consists of her shifting weight from one foot to the other, or headbanging). She opens doors, helps me put clothes in the dryer, and loves swinging in her new swing that we tied up on the porch. I watch her sharpen her hand-eye coordination skills, especially when she's playing with her dinosaur toy, which requires feeding a disc into a dinosaur's mouth. I've watched her struggle to turn the disc at just the right angle so many times, but now she's a pro! She waves goodbye when we are leaving some where and also when I'm about to leave the room after putting her down for bed. Liana has always been a water baby, but seeing her splash around in a kiddie pool for the first time was such a fun experience. She held right on to the side of the pool but would lean over and splash her little hands in the water and laugh. She absolutely loves it. She also did really well in a full-sized pool recently and sat in a baby float all by herself!


Liana has started to recognize people and events. One of the most heartwarming experiences is seeing her reaction when she sees Abel for the first time in two weeks (we usually have him every other weekend). When she sees him, her eyes light up and she has the widest smile her little face will allow. She goes right over to say hello and holds her arms up for a big hug. Then she is sure to look around at everyone else and smile as if proudly saying, "this is my big brother!" On the flip side of this, I am a little concerned about what she is going to think when we go to her pediatrician appointment on Wednesday. I am wondering whether she will recognize where she is and know that she is about to get another shot.


As far as growth, Liana is almost 21 pounds! She hasn't been weighed since last month, but we will find out exactly how big she has gotten at her appointment on Wednesday. Ashton recently measured her to be 28 1/2 inches tall, which means my baby has grown ten inches since birth! On a side note, Liana doesn't realize she's getting taller-- she used to walk right under the refrigerator doors when they were open (we have a fridge with the freezer drawer on bottom), but yesterday Ashton had the doors open and Liana walked over like normal and smacked her forehead on the bottom of the fridge door! Poor girl. Also, did I mention she is teething, AGAIN? On her first birthday she was teething with her molars and that felt like just yesterday. Three months later, now she is teething with her canines. When they fully come in she will have sixteen teeth. Talk about a mouthful. It's a good thing she really enjoys brushing her teeth every night!

I feel like I am missing so much for this update, but I will leave it here for now and continue what was turning into a novel, later on.