You're so vain...

I just love how little kids love looking at themselves in the mirror. I honestly wish I could still look in the mirror and be completely satisfied with the way I look. Nina was so pleased with herself the other night that she just couldn't keep from kissing herself.But, c'mon, with a face like this I would probably be kissing myself in the mirror as well.

You belong in the zoo....

When Tyson's parents were visiting around New Year's we convinced them to head to the LA Zoo. We met up with my cousin Leslie and her family, Brandon and Lindsey, and my parents. It began a bit drizzly, but sure ended up being a great day to see the animals. They were more active than I have ever seen them. Nina LOVED all of the animals. Here she is at the first exhibit: the sea lions. I think she would have been content to stay there the whole day.The lion was awesome at the zoo. I have only ever seen the lion sleeping. He got up, paced and roared several times. Thanks for the good show little lion!
The black bears were out as well.
Nina and her grandpas.
Nina and Tyson at the park they have in the zoo.
The Fieldsted family

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Wood's house

On Christmas day we traveled down to Grandma and Grandpa Wood's house so that Nina could be even more spoiled by everyone. Here she is standing next to one of her gifts. Yeah, it is way bigger than her.She got this awesome cat book that she loves. She is a miniature cat lady I swear.
Here she is with the grandparents.
Me and Bea. Bea picked my name for Christmas and absolutely spoiled me. Aah, I love that girl.
Later that night Leslie and Aunt Karen brought the kids over. Nina was in absolute heaven to have other kids to play with.
I love this picture of the girls playing in the piles of leaves.
They all had fun playing on Nina's new toy: a slide.
Santa found Nina at my parents' house too. He brought her all sorts of goodies. Here she is talking on a candy cell phone.
Nina and grandpa in the morning with matching hair-dos.
Nina and grandma
Aunt J, Uncle K, and Aunt Bea..aah, I love these kids and wish they lived closer.

Christmas Catch-up, Part 2: Christmas Morning

This was Nina's condition after she spilled chocolate milk all over her new, white pajamas. She is much happier without clothes on, though, so maybe it was a Christmas gift to herself to do that. She knew I would strip her down to clean her up.
I just wanted to document our first real full-sized Christmas tree. Tyson and I have had 6 Christmases together and this was our first tree. In the past we have always traveled to either of our parents' houses and never really felt justified in spending a bunch of money on a tree we wouldn't be able to enjoy on Christmas. We loved having a tree this year. It made the Christmas season seem real.
I just love this silly face Nina is making.
Nina got a quiet book from Grandparents Fieldsted. She was quite entertained by it.
Tyson and Nina with her new boots on. We had to exchange them though because the poor girl has cankles.
Nina really loves Tyson's Christmas present, an iPod touch. He uses it for work and for entertaining Nina on Sundays during church.
One of Nina's favorite gifts was her new stroller. She loves pushing around her babies. She's so quick she's a blur!
She also got a mini pac n play. So cute!
She enjoys putting her babies down for a nap during her naptime.

Nina's new word

I am always amazed at the things that Nina picks up on. Today she started saying "please" (peas). I though it would be good to document the words that Nina knows as a 15 month old. My parents did it for me and it is fun to know what I could say. Hopefully I can think of them all. Here we go:

bye bye

water (wa wa)

baba

baby

dada

mama

kitty (one of her favorites, I have a young "cat lady" on my hands)

grandpa

grandma

ball

night night

hot

beep

shoes

juice

whee!

There might be more, but those are the most prominent ones that I can understand. She is also learning sounds that animals make. She loves songs with movement, especially "The Wheels on the Bus". (a small obsession of hers, Bridget would know. Remember that car trip to the Lemmon's?) She copies what we say and do, which has really made me and Tyson question our own behavior and language. She is a sweetie and it's amazing to think that a year ago she couldn't even roll over. Oh, how fast they grow!

Christmas Catch-up, Part 1

Christmas does feel like ages ago, but it is just one memory that I don't want to forget. We had a great holiday season this year. Tyson had to work on Christmas Eve and wouldn't get home until 8 p.m., so we had to face the fact that we wouldn't be able to make it to my Aunt Karen's annual Christmas Eve party. We were bummed about it until we found out that our good friends the Olsens would be home alone as well. We planned a Christmas Eve party and had a blast! Gin and I cooked a huge dinner with ham, cheesy potatoes, etc.. which we barely made a dent in. The girls, Nina and Atley, opened their Christmas Eve pajamas. We played Seinfeld Scene It, had a white elephant gift exchange (thank you Asia Market) and watched the movie "Elf". It really turned out to be a great holiday and we feel so lucky to have such great friends to have shared it with.

Here is Nina warming up to the idea of opening presents.

Before I could even get out of bed Tyson presented me with my Christmas present. He wanted me to be able to use it that day. It was a NEW CAMERA! I have never been more excited. I have been wanting a new camera to capture all of Nina's "moments" and my old one was so slow at it. Please excuse the "fresh out of bed" look.

Here I am figuring it out.

Here is Tyson opening a gift from Santa.

Nina looks so excited, doesn't she? After much practice, she really got into the gift opening idea and couldn't get enough of it.

Naughty or Nice?

As Christmas drew closer we forced her to participate in all of the classic traditions, whether she liked it or not. The picture below is from our church Christmas party. Nina was obviously terrified that we would place her on this strange-looking man's lap.
Grandpa and Grandma Wood have a tradition of buying adorable Christmas dress for their granddaughters. I decided to dress Nina up, stick her in front of the tree, and take a couple of pictures. (Note to future self: Don't do this right before nap time, duh!) I do think her grumpy pictures are cute though. They are an honest and true part of her life, so why not document them.?
She warmed up to the idea.
It is amazing how a candy cane can make a small child so happy.
I just love this dress. Thanks a million Grandma and Grandpa!