Sunday, December 6, 2009

Fun moments...

On Friday, we went to Sam's good friend Merrick's birthday party which was at Pump it Up. That place is always a blast! They have huge inflatable slides, bouncy houses etc... Anaïs enjoyed going down the slide with Jeff the first time but when he took her a second time she wasn't too sure anymore. LOL


It was a pirate theme party, the hats were really cute.


Also, I don't think I've posted pictures of Anaïs pulling herself up yet...these were taken today.

And here is a little video of Anaïs playing with one of her toys tonight:

video

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

New slippers.

On Friday, Sam has to wear a pair a slippers at school. She usually doesn't wear slippers at home so I bought her a pair at Target today. She was SO excited when I gave them to her after school!
Well, that's it for today! lol

Monday, November 30, 2009

Chillin in her high chair.

Well here is another example of the legendary flexibility associated with achondroplasia...LOL
Here is how Anaïs was eating her dinner, check out her foot.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Salt Lake trip

We just got back from Salt Lake and I just realized that I didn't take too many pictures...oh well, we're going back for Christmas, I'll do better next time. ;)
One of the things Sam was hoping for was snow. She had been asking me if we were going to see some snow so imagine her excitement when we woke up to this on our first day:

She wanted to make snow balls but got cold pretty quickly.
Also, yesterday Anaïs had a sleep study to see if removing her tonsils and adenoids helped her sleep apnea...let's hope it did. We should have to results in about 3 weeks when we meet her neurosurgeon.
Jeff gave her the camera and here are a couple pictures she took of herself.

All you parents of achon kids out there...you know how much sleep studies suck for these kids, they are so brave!

Friday, November 20, 2009

New Moon, midnight showing.

We FINALLY saw New Moon last night after such a long wait, it was so worth the wait! I loved it!! We got there at 6:00 to stand in line. We ate there on the floor. The atmosphere was great! It was really cool to be part of the action, all the people there were die hard fans and you could feel the excitement in the air.
Doing what we can to keep busy...
If you're familiar with Red Rock Hotel/casino, the line went all the way to the elevators.

Finally!!! Seating in the auditorium!

What a fun night! The movie was SO good, can't wait to go see it a second time!
Now we just have to wait for Eclipse...here we go again! LOL

Thursday, November 19, 2009

It's time!!!!!


I am leaving in 15 min to meet my girlfriends to go to the New Moon midnight show madness!!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Ballet.

Today was observation day at ballet, which means that the parents can assist the class and take pictures. I was very excited to get to see Sam. I know how much it meant to her.
Here is her and I right before her class:
I'll just let the pictures do the talking...









And here is a little video:

video

Papa, Anaïs et moi sommes tellement fières de toi Sam! On t'aime très fort!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Our little week end.

Here are just a couple pictures from our week end. We went to Target yesterday and they had a moose headband and I just couldn't resist, I HAD to put it on Anaïs...lol
I think they were supposed to be for older kids but it fit her head perfectly...of course!
Sam picked out 2 prizes from their dollar section, she was very excited about that. I love that she gets excited over simple things and never takes anything for granted, I guess we must be doing something right. LOL

Today we were invited to one of Sam's classmate's birthday party. It was at a ranch where the kids got to ride poneys, feed and pet animals and play on a playground. They loved it.





Anaïs made sure that Sam had enough to eat...she loves feeding people.


The little cowgirl with her purple hat.

That's pretty much it for our week end.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

A Sunday at the park.

Today we went to the park near our house to have a picnic. Sam rode her bike there which was good because she really needs to practice...she is not really used to her bike. Anaïs got to go on the slides. She liked it only when she was with Jeff.





Anaïs' new thing is to give dirty looks, here is one...lol

That's it for our Sunday...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Twilight/New Moon Party!

So my friends and I are so excited for the New Moon movie that we wanted to get together and re-watch Twilight before it comes out. Well, we couldn't just do that, we had to go all out and do a Twilight party. We had so much fun...I laughed so hard last night!!! We acted like total teenagers...LOL Michelle made goodie bags for everyone.
I had a cake made, it turned out great!


Here is the content of my goodie bag...LOL!!!

We played the game Scene it...at this point we all had a little too much to drink to the point of taking pictures of a TV screen...yeah I know we should probably be embarrassed but we're not! LOL!!

After playing the game we watched the movie.


Lots of laughing...
Sometimes to the point of crying...lol

Such a fun night!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Twilight/New Moon make over!


We are officially in November which means the movie New Moon comes out soon!!!!! I am so excited!!!
My girlfriends and I already bought our tickets for the midnight show, I can't wait!!
For the occasion I wanted to give my blog a Twilight make over with the music from the movie and all! For those of you who are also obsessed with the Twilight saga, I hope you enjoy the make over. For those who are not into it, well try to put up with all my craziness until the movie comes out. LOL
Tuesday night, my friends and I are doing a Twilight party...can't wait!!!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Trick or Treats!

Tonight we went trick or treating with our friends. Sam got so much candy!! My friend had a smoke machine in front of her house and this picture turned out pretty spooky.


Sam and Merrick were the oldest kids in our group and they had fun leading the way.


Sam looking very excited about all her candy:

It was a great Halloween, I am kind of glad it's over though. ;)

Friday, October 30, 2009

Halloween party at Michelle's.

Tonight, my good friend Michelle threw a Halloween party. Her parties are always amazing. The food was delicious, the decorations were great but most of all it felt so good to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends! We are very lucky to have such great friends. I seriously have the best friends EVER!! When I took this picture of Jeff and the girls I didn't realize that Sam was getting poked in the eye by Anaïs' antennas! lol

Sam loves doing crafts. She stayed at the craft table for at least an hour!
Anaïs is such a daddy's girl...can you tell? lol


Sam and her friend Addy. These two get along so well, they love each other!

My friends Gooya and Michelle...LOVE them!!
It was a great night...I can't believe that October is almost over...CRAZY!!!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

LPA Halloween party.

Friday was our chapter's Halloween party. We had crafts for the kids, face painting, cookie decorating, games and food. The kids wore their costumes and everybody looked great.
Here is the little ladybug crawling all over the place:
Sam and Eva:
Anaïs ate pretty well that night.
Face painting...even Jeff got his face painted but I didn't get a picture of that because I had camera issues which explains why I don't have a lot of pictures of that night.
Sam showing off the cookie she decorated:
Some of the kids at the end of the evening. I couldn't take a picture of all the kids together because of my camera issue...oh well. :(

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fall Festival at Sam's school!

Tonight was the Fall Festival at Sam's school. They do it every year and it's always a lot of fun but I must say that this year was even better than the last three years. They really did a fantastic job. The kids got to wear their Halloween costumes for the first time of the year. This year Sam wanted to be a witch and Anaïs is a ladybug.

Anaïs actually did really good tonight. I thought she was going to be fussy and would be annoyed with her costume but she surprised me, my little ladybug did great!
Sam got to do lots of fun things: jump in a bouncy house, get a tattoo, decorate a pumpkin, do a Halloween craft, play bingo etc...she was busy all night long.
We are so lucky to be able to have Sam go to such a wonderful school. I can't say enough good things about it!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The little bakers!

Yesterday we went to this place called Little Pastry Chefs with our LPA chapter. It's a place where kids can bake and decorate cakes and make pizza.
As you can see Anaïs made herself comfortable right away by hanging out on the table.

Sam chose to make a pizza and decorate two cupcakes. I think everybody else decorated a cake.
Anaïs had fun tasting the frosting.


Here is Sam posing with the pizza and cupcakes she made. I think she had more fun making them than actually eating them. When we left, I decided to undress Anaïs and have her just in her diaper in the car because she was so hot. She thought it was so funny to have her onesie stuck on her head and she just looked so funny!

When we got home they were both pretty tired and went to bed early...of course they were up at 6:00 today, as usual. ;)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Last minute picnic

We decided to have a picnic at the park today. It was kind of last minute so we all threw something together but it turned out to be so great! We went to the park right behind our house which made it extra easy for us. Sam and her friend Addy play so well together, they love playing girly games and making faces for me when I take pictures.


The kids got lucky because the ice cream truck came. They were SO excited to get a special treat!
Don't bother me, I'm eating! lol

It was such a relaxing evening. :)

First pumpkin patch of the year.

Friday evening my girlfriends and I took the kids to their first pumpkin patch of the year. It was fun to finally get to do some fall activities although I must say it was pretty hot! lol
The kids got to go on a couple rides.
They also had a petting zoo. Sam enjoyed feeding the goats although one of them was pretty aggressive and kept and chasing Sam for more food.




I told Sam she could get a pumpkin and she picked out a "baby one".
Anaïs was there too but her eyes were closed in every picture.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The M word

October is dwarfism awareness month. I thought I would write a post about the infamous "M" word, "midget"".

I understand that most people who have never met a little person are simply not aware that the word "midget" is offensive to little people, their family and friends. Well, I am writing this in an attempt to make it crystal clear to everybody, whether they know a little person or not.
The word midget is highly offensive so please do not use it. You could compare the "M" word to the "N" word that some people use towards African American people. Those are words that are never acceptable. If you want to talk about a little person, you could say "little person", "dwarf" or a "person of short stature". I personally don't understand why we can't just call them by their name, it is not because someone is shorter than the average that we should automatically label them or put them in a category.

See, my daughter does have achondroplasia but that doesn't define who she is as a person. She is just short, that's it...nothing else. She is just like any 17 months old baby...short or not.
The thing that bothers me about dwarfism is that as a society, people think it's somewhat ok to laugh at little people, people think it's ok to think they "look funny", people think it's ok to stare at them...

Well I say NO, it is not ok.

They are people with a genetic condition, there is nothing funny about that. They can do anything, just in a different way. They lead the same exact life as average height people do. They have jobs, get married, have kids etc... They are people and like all of us they want to be respected for who they are.

So please, let's all try to make this world a better place for our kids and spread the awareness.

This is my daughter, her name is Anaïs and I love her for who she is. When I look at her I see HER, not her dwarfism.

Please, appreciate people for who they are because if you don't you will be the one missing out.

Monday, October 5, 2009

LPA regionals.

This week end we went to Sacramento to attend the regionals. We had a great time hanging out with our LPA friends and making new friends. Jeff's mom and step father joined us and I think Jeff's mom really enjoyed it as this was her very first LPA event. Our friend Brian was also there with us.
We flew because the drive would have been way too long for the girls (and for us too!). They did really good on the plane.

The first night there we went to the welcome reception and got a chance to hang out with our friends and meet some new people, which is always nice. It's very easy to talk to people at LPA events because you automatically have a bond.

On the second day, we attended the medical forum and the parents discussion group. I think the parents dicussion group is my favorite part of every conference! Then we went to lunch with all the people from the POLP (Parents Of Little People) message board.


On Saturday night, the kids got to enjoy a magic show.
When the magic show ended we headed to the BBQ for some food, games and friends.

On Sunday, we went to the old down town in Sacramento. There were lots of cute candy stores so of course we had to hit one! Sam had fun picking out some candy.

Another great week end with our wonderful LPA friends, I don't know what we would do without them!!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The girls this morning.

This morning, right before school, the girls were playing on the floor. Sam likes to act like she's a baby and crawl around with Anaïs. I thought this video was funny.

video

Friday, September 25, 2009

Evening at the park.

Tonight we decided to go eat at the park since the weather was so perfect. I love this time of the year in Vegas...when everybody else is enjoying fall weather we finally get to enjoy some bearable heat. The evenings are just so nice!

We put Anaïs in the baby swing and she loved it. She was so cute in it...she looked so tiny!

As always, Sam was such a good big sister. She wanted to push Anaïs and was very careful about it.

On the car ride back home, we had all the windows opened...check out Anaïs' hair!! lol
She loved the wind in her face.


It was a great evening!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

When Sam is not around...

...you can be sure you will find Anaïs playing with Sam's stuff! Every morning while Sam is in school, Anaïs loves to go in Sam's room and snoop around! LOL
Today she wanted to touch Sam's markers and coloring books. She has been showing interest in drawing/coloring lately.
She's looking at me like "what did I do?" lol

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Back on track!

So, these last couples days I have been having a hard time staying on top of my blogging...but that's all over now, I AM BACK!! lol
Yesterday, we went to my friend Michelle's house to celebrate her son's birthday. It was a small and casual gathering, the best kind!
As usual Anaïs got plenty of attention...here she is with Gooya:
The cake looked amazing and was delicious!
The kids had tons of fun as always.
Tonight, we went to another friend's house for dinner.

The kids spent a lot of time playing outside and Anaïs was dying to join the fun! Good thing Sam made sure to give her hugs and kisses all night. :)
This is how she spent most of the night: in the doorway looking at the older kids playing outside.


Things have been pretty busy and hectic around here with Jeff being out of town more often. This week end, my girlfriends and I are giving ourselves a major treat. We booked a suite on the the strip on Saturday night! We are going out to dinner and then on Sunday we are going to the Spa at Encore, can't wait!!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

15 months check up.

Anaïs had her 15 months old check up at the doctor's this week. She is doing very well. Going to the doctor's office (or anywhere for that matter) is getting a little more difficult now that she's 15 months old. She gets impatient and wants to move around and it is becoming harder to keep her entertained.
Here are her stats:
weight: 17lbs3oz
height: 25 1/2 inches
head: 19 1/2 inches
She is around the 40th percentile on the achondroplasia growth chart, so I am happy with that. :)
Here she is playing with my phone while waiting for the doctor.


When she lost interest in my phone, she moved on to my purse.
The visit went really well but ended with 4 shots so she wasn't too thrilled about that. She also received her flu shot and we will go back when the H1N1 flu shot is available.
Right after her appointment we went to the airport to pick up Jeff who was flying in from Salt Lake. It is so good to have him home.
After we picked up Sam from school, we met up with our LPA friends for a park playdate. The girls had fun playing and running around.
Here is Anaïs eating apples:
Jeff took her down on the slide but she wasn't so sure about that! lol Hanging out with Rachel drinking her bottle was more her thing. LOL