Monday, December 23, 2013

2 years + 4 months

Gosh, you think I’d know I’m supposed to post something every month…I mean it is only once a month!  Sorry for the lateness!  Didn’t realize I hadn’t posted until I looked at the Blog myself, oops! 

Looks like I left off at Halloween…..so then came Thanksgiving.  We had dinner at my mom’s and Sydney helped me bake cookies to take with us.  She LOVES helping in the kitchen:



We visited Santa this year.  Sydney was not a fan of him.  She didn’t want to sit near him or look at him.  She did tell him she wanted a dog (that is because they were giving stuffed dogs as gifts after the children were done with Santa)….LOL…



We decorated our trees…yes, treeS.  I got Sydney her own tree she could decorate and have by her chair in the living room.  She would only help put two ornaments on the family tree this year.  The top left ornament is her fist hand-made one…..



She’s received a few presents to open before Christmas this year and she is soooooo excited about them! Christmas morning is going to be fun!



Isn’t she precious in this picture!  She loved looking at and playing with the lights.


We also baked some sugar cookies together…or cookie “shapes” as she calls them….



Other than getting ready for Christmas we’ve just been doing the normal things.  This past weekend was the last weekend of soccer.  I think we are going to try out gymnastics in January; time for a little change to see how she likes a different sport.


I’m sure I’ll have more to share about Christmas!  Until then Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

2 years + 3 months


I’m a few days late posting this month’s update….ooppssss! 

There was a BIG move in October!  We transitioned Sydney to a big girl bed!  She was so surprised when she saw her room.  We also moved all of her toys into the spare room so she has her own playroom (and mommy and daddy have their living room back!)
 
 

We visited the pumpkin patch in October too.  Sydney enjoyed riding the hay wagon and looking at all the pumpkins!
 

 

For Halloween Sydney was a pirate.  We only visited about 10 houses trick or treating but she enjoyed being out and walking around – especially since Granny was able to go with her.



Sydney is still in Lil Kickers.  She talks about going to soccer all week but when we get there she isn’t so sure about it…LOL.  She participates for most of the class but she also just likes to sit down and watch what’s going on.  This is how she likes to prepare to go to soccer:
 
 

Monday, October 14, 2013

2 years + 2 months


Not too many exciting things happened this month, just regular day to day activities really.  The entire Basham house did get hit with sinus infections…that was a good time…LOL.  Here’s her 2 year + 2 month picture:



Did you know there are only 71 days until Christmas!  WHAT?!?!?! I’m starting to plan for shopping sooooooo I started putting together Sydney’s list.  Here is a generic list and I’ll create Target/Toys R Us lists and post the links to those soon.  As you can see there is not any Thomas stuff on here....she has soooo many Thomas things I'd like to get her some other toys :)

 
Baby dolls
Baby doll accessories (stroller, clothes, etc)
Elmo toys (she only has Elmo books)
Stickers
Fireman Sam books/toys/movies (her current #1 TV show)
Mike the Knight books/toys/movies (her current #2 TV show)
Color Wonder paper/coloring books
Twist Crayons
3T/4T Shirts
2T/3T pants
5.5 (or larger) shoes
Slippers
Jammies with firetrucks
Mickey/Minnie (she prefers Minnie but likes both mice) Mouse toys/books
Any Disney movies
Play food
Tea party set
iTunes gift card (for aps on the ipad)
Full size sheet sets

Friday, September 27, 2013

2 years + 1 month...


I know I’m a couple of weeks late on posting but I wanted to wait until after our trip to PA so I could share some pictures of our Day Out With Thomas trip!  But before I get to that we have been on other adventures since her birthday too!

A couple of weeks after Sydney’s birthday we took our second annual family trip to Nags Head.  Yes, I know, we go to Nags Head a lot but we wanted to start a family tradition of going to Nags Head every year around her birthday that way we can always plan for it and look forward to it.  Sydney loves the beach and water so it’s a win-win. J 


No suit, no problem!  We were on a drive and stopped at the water, couldn't keep her out of it!
 

We were able to get in the pool a little bit towards the end of summer (our pump broke so we had to wait for a replacement to be shipped) and Sydney decided she wanted to be independent in the water….and SWIM!



We also went to Sydney’s first fair.  She really enjoyed the Ferris wheel and all of the other rides.  I think she is going to like roller coasters like her mommy! J
 

Our trip to PA was fun!  We were in the area of Lancaster, PA.  The first night we stayed in a train caboose and Sydney slept in a big bed for the first time.  We rode Thomas at the Strasburg Railroad.  Thomas was the engine for our 20 minute train ride!  Once we were done with the Thomas ride Sydney got to meet Sir Topham Hat!



 

After our day out with Thomas we decided to ride up to Hershey and check out how chocolate is made.  That was a neat place and I want to go back to visit Hershey Park! 

First Hershey chocolate bar!


On our way home we decided to take the scenic route and stopped in Harpers Ferry, WV.  We walked around a bit and took in the scenery.


She's got toddler swag!


Other than our adventures, Sydney has been going to soccer each Saturday and she really enjoys running around and playing with the other kids.  She has apparently decided she doesn’t like her Kindermusic class (and by decided I mean that she didn’t even want to go into the room today and last week she only stayed in the room for about 15 minutes) so we’ve decided to try that class after she gets a bit older.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

PT is.....


OVER…oh I mean, over J  We took Sydney to PT this past Wednesday and she was released with exception.  The exception being that I call in about 6 weeks and let them know if we feel she needs to come back in for more therapy or if we feel she is remaining in mid-line most of the time and isn’t having any troubles with activities. 

The therapist said that she could go either way with our situation.  She said that there are things that can still be worked on in PT BUT it would have to be more aggressive (like 4-5 days a week) to make an impact.  Sydney continues to have a 2-8 degree tilt and tilts more when she’s tired.  She also has a slight bit of muscle weakness on her right side.  These are things we will continue to work on at home just as we have been doing.  Since we have Sydney enrolled in physical activities (soccer and kindermusic) the therapist said that should help with building her muscles so she was comfortable with us continuing with our “home” program and discontinuing going to PT but to call and let her know how she was doing.  So, unless something drastic changes between now and 6 weeks from now, we consider ourselves released!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

2 Whole Years!


Sydney turned 2 this past Monday!  Time has flown by!!
This past Saturday we had Sydney’s birthday party….it was train themed of courseJ!  We had a “food train” with a Thomas cake as the engine and RR themed cake pops as part of the caboose.  Each car of the train held a different food item.  The goody bags for the kids had a Thomas cup, train whistle, Thomas crayons, Thomas doodle pad, silly straws, glow in the dark bracelets, and a train shaped cookie cutter. 

Sydney actually opened her gifts herself this year!  She liked tearing into the paper but didn’t like it so much when the paper went everywhere (she’s a little OCD like her mom and Granny).  She’s been playing with all of her new stuff ever since she opened her gifts!  She was really shocked and excited when she saw that she got a big ride on Thomas! 
Today was her 2 year well check.  She weighs 28 lbs 10 oz (near 75 percentile), she is 34” tall (near 50 percentile), and her head measures 51.5 cm (upper 98 percentile – which is normal for her).  The doctor said that Sydney looks good and is really ahead in her skills (she speaks well for her age, she can recognize certain shapes, she can pick out colors).  The doctor said that based on her current skill level she feels that we have one smart cookie on our hands!!
Our next PT appointment isn’t for two weeks so I’ll update once that happens.  Hopefully it will be out last monthly visit J
We signed Sydney up for Lil Kickers (soccer) at Fredericksburg Field House.  She goes every Saturday morning for about an hour and she loves it!  She loves being with the other kids and running around the field.  They play age appropriate games that teach listening skills, colors, and basic soccer skills like kicking and waddling (dribbling).  I’ve also signed her up for Kindermusic and Tumbling.  She doesn’t start that until September but I think she’s going to enjoy it.  She loves music and loves to dance too.



 

Saturday, July 13, 2013

23 Months!


Not a lot has been going on this past month other than normal day-to-day activities.  We did take a trip to Nags Head at the end of June and Sydney really enjoyed the ocean!  One of our friends was also down there with her 2 yr old daughter and she and Sydney had a blast the day we met them at the beach. 
Sydney and Quinn at the Ocean
 

We didn’t do anything for the 4th of July…Sydney was in bed and asleep by 6!  She was dressed for the occasion that day thou!
 

On July 8th we went for Sydney’s monthly PT appointment and basically we go back in another month and hopefully get released.  She is doing really well except for when she is tired then her tilt is more noticeable.  Unfortunately she was sleepy around her appointment time so, of course, she was tilting a bit.  The therapist said that Sydney is finding midline thou so the tilt is more of a habit than a medical concern at this point.  We just need to keep working with her and hopefully next month, cross our fingers and toes, we get released….we shall see!

We almost have all of the details of her birthday party worked out…so more to come on that.  I have started her wish lists at Target (search under Nikki Basham) and Toys R Us (search under: Creator/Basham/VA) if anyone is interested.  She is obsessed with Thomas the Train and bubbles.  She loves to color and likes Elmo.  She also recently started taking interest in stickers.

Since she is sooooo obsessed with Thomas the Train (she wakes up asking for the choo-choo sometimes) we decided to get tickets to a Day out with Thomas on Strasburg Railroad in PA as her birthday gift from us.  We are going to spend a couple of days in PA in September and actually get to ride on Thomas the Train!  So, today we took Sydney to a railroad museum that is in Fredericksburg as a prelude to our trip.  She loved looking at all of the train stuff.  We got to ride a maintenance train out to the main tracks and see a CSX train go by.  Sydney loved seeing the train and hearing the whistle blow.  Hopefully she will love seeing Thomas in September and riding that train.
 






Wednesday, June 12, 2013

22 months!


Sydney is 22 months old today!  I almost can’t believe that I’m actually posting on the day (since I’m usually a tad late with this).  And, I almost can’t believe that in 2 months she will be 2!!
 
She really didn't want me taking her picture this afternoon!
 

This past month was another one that just flew by!  It might have had something to do with Steve and I going on vacation to Jamaica to celebrate our 15 year anniversary and a close friend’s wedding!  Sydney stayed with Granny while we were gone and had a blast I’m sure.  We Face Timed with her every other day or so and she would say hi then go back to playing…LOL…I guess she missed us a little bit.  While at Granny’s she did use her potty once (that I know of) so that was good.  Since we’ve been back she has asked me once to use the potty (and she actually used it) so I think it’s time to start stepping up the potty training!
I know this blog is about Sydney but I had to share this picture I took in Jamaica :)
 

It’s been hot here the past few weeks.  We got Sydney a small pool to put on the deck so she can play in it while I sit out there with her.  She absolutely loves it!  She sure is a water baby!
Water Baby!!!
 

Our friends that got married while in Jamaica with us held a reception this past weekend and Sydney was a dancing fool there!  She certainly is a social butterfly!
 

We went to PT Monday and the therapist said Sydney is looking really good!  She said for us to keep using the TOT collar but scale back the amount of time it is on and to come back to PT in 4 weeks for an assessment.  Cross your fingers that Sydney keeps looking good and we might be out of PT for her 2nd birthday!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Beach Girl & Caterpillar Uh-Oh


21 months!

This month has flown by!  We went on our first family beach trip of the year to Nags Head.  Sydney loved the water even thou it was REALLY chilly!!  She wanted to run into the waves the entire time we were at the ocean.  We also saw the wild horses and visited the aquarium.  Sydney liked looking at the fish.





We also took part in the Fredericksburg Walk for MS this past month.  It’s a 3 mile walk around downtown Fredericksburg and money raised goes towards MS research.  Sydney kicked back and enjoyed the stroller ride J
The warm weather has brought out caterpillars and Sydney has discovered them.  She laughs like a silly person when she tries to “pet” them.  It is hysterical!

 
Sydney also LOVES her Daddy's bike....Harley Girl!
 
I have some videos I'll try to post separate from this post.
PT is still at every two weeks and no real changes yet.  We’ll just keep working on it.

Friday, April 19, 2013

20 months

Last week Sydney was 20 months old!  My how time flies when you are having fun!  There’s not really anything new to report other than her vocabulary seems to be growing daily.  She is extremely fond of the word NO and uses it whenever she is asked any question…even if the answer is ‘yes’ she’s going to tell you no…LOL.  She loves her ‘shoooose’ and if she can’t find something she asks ‘where it go’?  She is also extremely independent but loves to help do things around the house.  Every morning she helps feed that cat and empty the dishwasher.  She also gives the dog his bone too.  She loves being outside and swinging on the swing.  Now that it’s been staying nice outside we try to spend time outdoors as much as we can. 

PT is still every other week and no real changes there either.  She’s not getting worse but they still want us to work on getting her to stop shifting her weight to her right hip when she’s seated and also using her left hand more.  We’re working on it….

This week, my nephew Mason came to Virginia from Florida to spend spring break with the family.  We all went to the Metro Richmond Zoo.  Sydney loved feeding the animals and Mason deemed himself “the bird whisperer”….LOL