A Little Mommy

Alexandra's favorite thing to do is to put diapers ("di-a-pur") on all of her stuffed animals. She lays out a changing pad, and puts the "bay-bee" on the pad. . . .

She then wipes the "bay-bee"'s face and bottom with a wet wipe (I let her have a box of dried ones to play with). . . .

Then she puts on the "di-a-pur"! I'm so happy Alexandra's stuffed animals won't be having any accidents in our house!

Disneyworld!!

So, I feel bad about not having blogged for a while, so I'll make up with it now with this post about DISNEYWORLD!! I had a trip for work to Orlando in January, and Christopher and Alexandra were able to come with me. We got the best deal staying at a Disneyworld resort (cheaper than the government per diem) and had so much fun going to the Magic Kingdom. We wondered if Alexandra was too young to have fun or not - well, let me tel you, no kid is too young to have fun at Disneyworld! And it's almost more fun to be a parent at Disneyworld, because you get to watch your kid have fun. For example - the first ride that we went on was It's a Small World. At first, Christopher was like, "this ride is so anoying, do we really have to go on it?" But, after seeing Alexandra smile, clap, wave to the international animatronic children while saying, "hi! hi! hi!" he was like, "oh, this ride is so much fun - let's do it again! I just want to see her have fun!"

Here's Alexandra and Christopher waiting in line for the Peter Pan ride. This is before we figured out how to use the Fast Pass system. This is the only line we really waited in (January is DEFINITELY the time to go to Disneyworld).


Alexandra and I had fun on Cinderella's Golden Carousel.
Alexandra taking a break at Pooh's Playful Spot. I love this photo, because right after I took it, some "big boys" wanted to ride down the slide. One of them saw Alexandra at the bottom of it and said, "wait - there's a little girl at the bottom!" Not, "there's a baby," but a "little girl." That's the first time I've heard another kid not refer to her as a baby.

Yes, we swam at the outdoor pool at our hotel. In January!Christopher and Alexandra on the spaceship ride.
My favorite souvenir.
We let Alexandra pick pink or black mouse ears, and she chose the classic black ears, like the ones that the Mouseketeers had. She's such a purist.
Alexandra and I on the Dumbo outside of the Dumbo ride, which we also loved.
This was a major highlight for Alexandra - meeting the Disney Princesses! She got to meet Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. She loved Princess Aurora! She smiled, gave her a hug, showed her the kitty cat on her shirt, and was so happy. And she's never even seen a single Disney movie - but she instinctively knew that princesses are awesome :)
And then we got to meet Mickey and Minnie! We'd been letting Alexandra watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so that she would recognize Mickey at the park. Wow, was she ever happy! I don't think I've seen her so happy before. Like with Princess Aurora, she was waiving, giggling, saying, "hi! hi! hi!" And she gave Mickey a high five.
You're never too young to love Disneyworld and Mickey Mouse!

More like mommy everyday . . .

Alexandra really likes to copy me these days. Here she is running off with my Coach purse. . .

and here she is "helping" me reorganize my wallet.

I don't know which she likes better - talking on the phone or playing the piano. Sometimes, she decides to do both at the same time.

I hope whoever she was talking to enjoyed the song that she was playing!

Snowpocalypse 2009

It's snowing!! Dr. Laura met up with us to have some fun in the snow today.

17 inches of snow at our house by 4pm today, and it's still coming down!

The Yurasko Difference outside when there was only (hah!) about 12 inches of snow.

We also met up with William, Will and Erica for some sledding fun.

Alexandra and Will seemed to like the snow. The two Williams having fun on the sledding trail.

Alexandra having fun sledding with Dr. Laura!

"Mommy, this is so much fun!"

This is our AC unit on our patio. 17 inches!! We bet that there will be around 21 or so before it's all done (the weather people say around 3am tonight). It's a good thing that it's the weekend and we weren't trying to go anywhere!!!

18 Months!

Alexandra likes to steal my blackberry and "work" for mommy. I'm in big trouble as soon as she figures out my password to unlock the screen.


I can't believe my little angel is 18 months old today! To mark the occassion, Christopher took Alexandra to see Dr. Lundgren for her 18-month appointment. I was bummed that I couldn't be there (I was at a training class for work), but Christopher managed to hold his own at the appointment and reported all crucial information. Here are Alexandra's 18-month stats:


height - 33 1/2 inches (93rd percentile)
weight - 24lbs 4 oz (50th percentile)
head - 19 inches (90th percentile)

Christopher told Dr. Lundgren that Alexandra knew a couple body parts. To illustrate, Alexandra showed Dr. Lundgren her nose and her daddy's nose - I'm still in shock, since she hasn't liked to show off for anyone lately. I'm so proud of my healthy little girl. We've got to cut down on giving her so much milk (it's keeping her from eating her dinner), but other than that, all is well!

It's that man!

The Yurasko Difference celebrated the Christmas season by going to our complex's Christmas party. Santa came in on a fire truck, and gave all of the kids (most of whom were Alexandra's size) a small gift bag and a fire hat! Alexandra was especially excited about the hat, since she loves wearing a fire hat at daycare.

Alexandra was NOT excited, however, to meet Santa Claus. She would start to cry when he looked at her, and she wouldn't take her present from him (mommy had to get it for her). In fact, I'm surprised that she would be in the above photo. It reminded me of when our neighbor's kids were pretend-scared of Christopher - whenever he would come by, the little girl would hide and he heard her say to her brother, "it's that man!" Except in this case, Alexandra was really scared, not pretend-scared. I don't blame her - it's scary and weird to see a grown man with a crazy white beard and a big red suit, even if he does have a present for you.

So enjoy the photo of Alexandra, Christopher, and some of our neighbors with Santa - it's the only one we'll have for 2009!

Cat, cat!

Alexandra's current favorite word (not counting "no, no!") is "cat." She loves to chase Toby and Socks around the house saying "hi cat! Cat, cat!" Socks is very patient with her, and lets her pet him. Here she is about to "pet" him while he is in his bed. . .Here are Alexandra and Socks hanging out on the couch together. . . .

And here she is giving Socks a hug! Christopher wants to point out that while Alexandra is hugging Socks, Socks is hugging the remote control.