First Snow for Anna

We had a big surprise when we woke up this morning...SNOW!! It was Anna's first time seeing it, though Daddy may have been even more excited than she was! Her new snowsuit made it a bit difficult to move around in, but she was sure warm.

Julie gave us Aiden and Jonah's old sled and it worked perfectly for Anna. It is just the right size for our peanut!


Anna's first time down the hill was a bit uneventful as she seemed a bit stunned. She Soon warmed up and was continually asking for "more." Making Mommy and Daddy very tired as we lugged her in the sled up the hill time and again.




We all had a great time playing in the snow. Even Jesse got in on the fun once he warmed up to being in the snow again. Looks like we are going to have a fun winter!!!







My apologies for the bad video quality. The video uploader wasn't working on my blog site, so I had to use youtube which never makes the videos look very good!

Visit from Aunt Kristen, Uncle Darren, and Baby Maggie

The Burrells came for a visit last weekend and we had a wonderful time! Anna really loves her new cousin Maggie. We had a lot of fun playing outside in the leaves. On Sunday, we went to Halloween parade and Anna was the cutest little piggie!



Aunt Kristen has some more beautiful pictures on her blog:

http://lifewiththeburrells.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Festival!!

This past weekend we spent a beautiful autumn afternoon at the Ives Farms Pumpkin Festival in Cheshire, CT. They had everything from pony rides, hot air balloons, and bungee jumps to face painting, balloon making clowns and Anna's favorite, pumpkin painting. Though I think she may have eaten more paint than actually ended up on her pumpkin. We all went on a tractor pulled hayride and enjoyed the beautiful leaf-changing scenery. The colors are amazing right now!
The last thing we did before leaving was a pony ride. Anna was a bit unsure at first, then really got it to it and was laughing so much!



We went shopping for some slippers fro Anna as our house is all hardwoods and is getting colder with the weather. I tried to steer her towards some cute pink slip-ons but all she wanted were these giraffe ugg-like booties. Here's a few photos of Anna modeling her new slippers as well as a few cool ones Daddy took outside on the patio.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Well, first off, we want to say happy birthday to Grandpa! We love and miss you!!! We hope you had a great day!

We have had a very interesting September. Anna has a new cousin! Magdalena Burrell (Maggie) came 3 weeks early and both mommy and baby are doing great!! We went down to Kristen and Darren's last weekend so Anna could meet her new cousin.
You can see pictures from the weekend on Maggie's blog:

http://lifewiththeburrells.blogspot.com/

We are so happy Maggie is finally here! Anna came home from LI and has been swaddling "babies" at daycare all week. We went and got one for her for home, which she very attentively feeds and swaddles. It's so cute!!

Here's a few random photos from the last couple of weeks:

Labor Day weekend

We had a wonderful labor day weekend! On Saturday morning we went fruit picking at Holmberg Orchards.

http://www.holmbergorchards.com/contact.html

Anna had a wonderful time sampling all the raspberries and then took down a whole nectarine on her own. It was her first nectarine, but by the looks of it, won't be her last!


Then Aunt Maryanne, Uncle Scott and Ryan came for a visit. Anna and Ryan had a wonderful time playing together. I think they are going to be great friends, just like their mommies!



Sunday we went to Ocean Beach Park in New London. Anna loved the kiddie water park. Anna then tried out the big pool with Daddy so she'd be ready for swim lesson the next week. It was a hit and by the end, Anna was jumping in to get back in for more!!



Will update again soon!!

Love,
Jodi, Bryan, & Anna

Late photos of Anna's third (!) birthday cake and The Apolito's visit

Hi all, 

I am finally getting to loading up the pictures of Anna's birthday party from daycare. I brought in chocolate cupcakes and Miss Eeva made Anna a birthday crown! Needless to say, Anna devoured the cupcake and ended up with a chocolate goatee on her face:

The next day we had even more excitement as Aunt Tory, Jenna, and Paige came for a visit. They had all been in Cape Cod with Tory's sisters and Mom. It was so wonderful to see them all. Anna and Jenna had a great time playing and Paige is getting so big. She was so expressive and interactive. The only bad thing was our visit was so short, so we made the most of it!




Coming soon: Pictures from Aunt Kristen's baby shower!

What an exciting summer!!

We have a lot to update everyone on. We've been doing a lot of work around the house and have had many visitors.

Grams and Grandpa Maglich come first at the end of June, along with Aunt Kristen. Grandpa and Daddy went crazy in the yard, taking down tree and many limbs with the chainsaw. The yard looks so much brighter now. Anna loved hanging out with Grams and waiving to Grandpa every time he drove by on the tractor! We took some time out from the yard work to go to the beach. 

Next, Nanny and Granddad Goodwin came in to town. The first week we spent at our house and Nanny and Grandad helped a lot in the garden, weeding, mowing the lawn, watering the pots, and taking out a great big tree that was next to the patio. Daddy and Granddad are really strong!!

We went to the North Stonington agricultural fair and Anna LOVED seeing all the animals. She especially liked being able to touch the goats in the petting zoo.

Anna was busy playing with Nanny. They had a very good time together. Here they are dancing:

We rented a minivan and all drove up to Buffalo for the big celebration Grams and Grampa were planning. It was a Maglich celebration: Anna's first birthday, Grams's retirement, and Baby Maggie on the way. The first day everyone was preparing for the party and we took a nice walk down to the beach to start the day.

Later that day it got very hot and Anna took advantage of Grams watering her plants to enjoy a little sprinkle, and a big drink!

The party was great!! We had so much fun seeing all our family and friends. Anna was very spoiled with both attention and presents.  She really enjoyed playing with all the other kids and she looked so pretty in her white linen dress from Lindsay. Grandpa and his friends cooked a pig and a lamb! All the food was fantastic and Anna was very curious about the pig.

The day after the party we had some cake to celebrate Anna's birthday...I think she enjoyed it.

We drove home and the next weekend was Anna's actual birthday. We went to the aquarium with Nanny and Granddad. 

Anna had several more birthday celebrations. We had a cake on her birthday, this time strawberry shortcake:

I think that's all for now. I do have additional photos of Anna's birthday celebration at daycare, but you all will have to wait until next time to see her chocolate goatee.

Love to you all!
Jodi, Bryan, & Anna

Update from our new home

Hi All,

Sorry it's been a while since I last wrote, but we have been busy unpacking and setting up our new home in East Lyme, Connecticut.


The house is beautiful, as is the yard, but both need A LOT of work. We have enough work to last us the next 100 weekends. Almost everything is cosmetic and things just need to be made to our liking.

The first thing Bry did was order a big ass tractor to mow his lawn. I don't think I've ever seen him happier than the first day on that tractor (see pics below).


Anna is really liking her new daycare. She's been doing a lot of painting...masterpieces! She's also been napping better there as they have a quiet area for the napping children. Unfortunately, Anna got sick with an ear infection soon after starting. All new germs, I guess! Luckily she's feeling much better, but now her two top front teeth are coming in causing her a bunch of discomfort.
Anna is now in the big girl bath:


Anna has also been enjoying out long drive-way and her new ride on toys:


The most exciting news is Anna took her first solo steps. Here are a few videos of her initial tries:




I'll try to be better about updating more often since we are now finally a bit settled. I hope everyone is doing well!!
A few last photos of us around CT:




Take care,
Jodi, Bryan, & Anna

We're Moving!!

Well, we have A LOT to update you all with. Bryan, Anna and I are moving to Connecticut!! Bryan and I both accepted positions with Pfizer in Groton, CT. We spent our last day at GSK last Friday. Everything happened so fast. We sold our house after 2 days on the market thanks to our fabulous real estate agents, Rebecca Ives and Hannah Harvey! We bought a FABULOUS house in East Lyme, CT. It's on the Niantic River, bout 3 miles from the ocean. Here's a bunch of photos Bryan took during the home inspection. (the furniture and decorations from the people still living there, as is the large dumpster in the driveway :-)



We move on May 7 and we are very excited. The movers are in NC packing up our house as we speak. We will have about a week without furniture, so this should be interesting. And though we are very excited about moving to CT, it has been hard to say goodbye to our many wonderful friends here in NC. We've been very fortunate to call so many special and fantastic people our friends. Luckily, we have a great house for visitors!! Jenna's 3rd birthday was last week, Happy Birthday Jenna! Here are some photos of us celebrating and enjoying the cake (especially Anna).



I've also got a few recent photos of Anna. She's getting so big. She's been pushing her walker toys all over. There's a video below of when she started with the walker about 2 weeks ago. Though she's gotten much better and faster. I've also attached a video that's kind of long on Anna doing her normal rounds around the house (she never stops!!) It's a bit long but entertaining.




**second video still uploading, check back soon!

It's been a while

Hi folks, I know it's been a while since my last post. Time just seems to get away from me lately :-)

Let's start in the second week on March. Bry, Anna, and I flew up to Port Jeff to visit with Kristen and Darren. It was Bryan's 40th birthday on March 10th, so Kristen, Darren, Bryan and I all went out to a fabulous resteraunt called Four (see link).
http://www.fourfoodstudio.com/fourFoodUC.html
Diane and Ray watched Anna so we could all go out and celebrate.
Happy birthday Daddy!
As you can see from the pictures below, Anna had a wonderful time with her aunt and uncle, as usual. She always wants to stand up and be in the middle of things. There are a couple of great phtots of Anna with Daddy down by the water too.



The following weekend, Anna surprised us by starting to crawl. Though slow at first, by the following weekend, she was cruising around. That weekend was Easter and we flew to Buffalo to see Grams and Grandpa. The weather was cold and there was snow on the ground, but we didn't see very much falling. The whole family came over for Easter and Anna loved playing with all of her cousins. Jeff's daughter Sarah is only 3 months older than Anna so they hung out together. Anna also had a good time sampling the Polish foods on the menu, indulging in golumpki and pierogi.



Anna got spoiled yet again with presents from her aunties. She got a purple bunny from Aunt Jude, pretty pink bibs from Aunt Norma, and a dog cuddle blanket from Aunt Jer that hasn't left her side since she's been home.

We came home and enjoyed a beautiful week in Durham, with most days in the 70s and Friday hitting over 80! Our garden is in bloom and there is color everywhere. You can see Anna enjoying the weather and trying to pull the flowers off the cherry tree.



I have some video I hope to get posted soon. I hope the pictures tie you all over until I can get to it.

Take care!

First Tooth

Well we had an exciting weekend as Anna's first tooth appeared Saturday evening. We had been out to lunch in Carborro. It was a beautiful sunny day and we sat outside to eat lunch. Anna was trying a bunch of new foods, including some tater tots off Daddy's lunch plate. We then strolled around a bit and Daddy took a bunch of pictures of Anna and Mommy that you can see below.



When we got home Anna was a bit cranky and when Mommy checked, she felt the first tooth breaking through. By Tuesday the second bottom tooth had appeared. Anna's been understandably a bit uncomfortable.

Anna has been eating a lot of new food lately and now sits at the big kids table at daycare to eat her lunch and snacks. She's been picking up her food and feeding it to herself very well! So far she's tried peas, green been, carrots, puffs, crackers, bread, banana, the aforementioned tater tots, and ravioli. Anna's teacher reported she was also trying to get to her friend's chicken and rice at the table. I think we'll wait a week before trying that ;-)

Gram's Visit

Well Grams visited us in NC last weekend. Anna was so excited when she woke up Thursday morning to Grams smiling at her! Grams and Anna spent a lot of time playing and cuddling. You can see from the photos below how much fun they had! Anna was showing off and got up on all fours. I think she will be crawling soon. She sure was trying hard this weekend!

Jon, Deb and the boys came over for a visit as well. Anna has really taken a liking to Tyler. He is so good with her and she is really drawn to him. It's really cute!

Grams even gave Bryan and me a chance for a date night on Saturday. We had a good time, but were home early on account of Anna's new trend of early morning awakenings.

Unfortunately, Grams got pretty sick as the weekend progressed. She has a very bad sinus infection/flu and flying home was no fun for her (and besides, leaving Anna is never easy for Grams!) Luckily we will all be in Buffalo soon for Easter weekend and will see everyone again!

Waiting for Grams

Well we are all excited as Grams is coming to visit tomorrow. Anna gets to stay home from daycare and hang out all day with Grams getting all the attention and love possible! We will also be celebrating Grams birthday this week (it was this past Sunday). We should have plenty of new video and pictures from her visit to post soon.

Here is a few recent bathtime fun pictures:


Here are a few more pictures. These are of Anna in a cute white sweater from Lindsay (doesn't she have great taste :-) Anna is also seen sitting in the rocking chair from Grams and Grandpa Maglich cuddling with her white teddybear. She has really been loving her rocking chair lately. I think she feels like a big girl sitting in it on her own (or with Mr. Bear).

Early spring

We in North Carolina have been enjoying some incredibly warm weather, with the last couple of days in the upper 70s. We've all been taking a lot of walks and playing in the garden. Unfortunatley Anna, along with every other child in her daycare room, has had a perpetual runny nose. She's still in good spirits though. Anna has been getting even more active. She is getting in to everything lately, always wanting whatever Mommy or Daddy has. Grams (Maglich) comes next week. She's going to be so shocked to see how different Anna is. Both Anna and Grams are so excited about the visit (so is Mommy!) I have some photos from last month that I'm just getting to uploading that show Anna playing with a bunch of her new Christmas presents. Thanks to Aunt Jude, Aunt Norma, and Aunt Jer :-) Here's another couple of pictures of Anna this past week. The ones with her playing with Jesse are some of my favorites. Below is a video I took 2 days ago. Anna is having a great time playing with her Daddy and her dog Jesse. I think even Bry has softened to the dog a bit as he sees how much Anna adores him.
Lastly, here's a video of Anna doing her most recent favorite thing, blowing "razzberries." This was cute at the beginning, but has become less so, especially when she does it while she has a mouth full of sweet potatoes.

Videos from LI trip

Here are a few videos from our trip to see Kristen and Darren. I'm posting most of them using Youtube so the quality isn't very good. The blogger upload is nice but it took all night. I've tried Photobucket also and the quality is pretty crappy as well. Anyone have any other suggestions for video uploading?

Anyway, here you go:

Aunt Kristen bought Anna a tickle-me-cookie monster, which Anna really enjoyed.



Here a couple of Anna and Ryan playing. They aren't exactly action-packed, but they are only babies, so cut them some slack. I'm sure in no time we will have more action than we can ask for.






Finally, we have Uncle Darren with his draft picks posing for the paparazzi.

Our weekend in Long Island

This past weekend we all went to go visit Kristen and Darren in Long Island. We had a wonderful time. Not only did Anna get to spend time hanging out with Aunt Kristen and Uncle Darren, but Lindsay came in from the city to finally meet Anna! Anna had a great time and was loving all the attention and the extra cuddles and kisses. Kristen and Darren took wonderful care of us as usual :-)

Sunday, Maryanne and Scott came out to LI with their son Ryan and we introduced the future boyfriend and girlfriend to one another. It was so much fun watching the little ones play and interact. Kristen and Darren bought the kids Giants jerseys (see in slide show below...super cute). This obviously brought the Giants the luck they needed since they won Sunday night and are going to the Superbowl! Anna will wear her Giants jersey again on Superbowl Sunday to support Uncle Darren's team. However, I'd like it said that Anna is obviously first and foremost a Buffalo Bills fan. Given the fact that they are not anywhere the running in these payoffs, for the time of the Superbowl, she will be a Giants fan.


I will work on editing the videos and post them hopefully tomorrow.

Take care!

No posts the next few days

Hi all,

We won't have any new posts the next couple of days because we will be in Long Island visiting Aunt Kristen and Uncle Darren. Lindsay will be coming over and joining us for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun. It will be Anna's first time seeing snow.

Scott and Maryanne will also be coming over with their baby Ryan, who is 6 weeks older than Anna. It will be the first time Anna and Ryan meet. I can't wait to see them playing and having fun together.

When we get back I should have a lot of photos and video to share.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

A couple of photos from Christmas and my first try at posting video

Hi all, I am finally attempting to upload some videos so you can all see Anna in action. Unfortunately, I have yet to master the edit function, so this post will have a few videos which will be a bit long and some moments will not be big on action. I promise to improve my editing skills over the next couple of weeks. I also posted 2 through YouTube because it is SO much faster to load than through Blogger, though the Blogger video is much better quality. I've got to explore a few other options.
The first video is a bit grainy since it was dark and was taken a few days before Christmas. Its of Anna playing soccer with Daddy while in her jolly jumper. You can hear Nanny Goodwin laughing in the background.



This Christmas was very special in that not only was it Anna's first, but Nanny and Grandpa Goodwin and Uncle Dave were all here to share it with us. Here's a slide show of some of our photos from their visit.

The second two videos were taken last week and are of Anna enjoying a bath. We moved her up to a bigger bath she can sit up in now that she is able to do so.

New blog

Hi all, we are starting a blog to keep our family and friends updated on all the new things happening with us (okay, mostly happening with Anna).

Anna started daycare last week and after a couple days of no napping and trying to figure things out, she has finally gotten into a routine. She's napping well and sleeping well for her teacher Mrs. Shannel. She also has a few new friends that she likes hanging out with: Ryan, Karl, and Alaina.

After her first day she came home and suprised mommy and daddy when she showed us how she can now sit up on her own. Anna can now play happily on the ground sitting up and grabbing all of her toys.

We will try to update this every couple of days, and hopefully soon we will have some video included so you all can see Anna in motion!