Walk on! By: Marla Frazee

Is sitting there on your bottom getting boring?


Has lying around all the time become completely unacceptable?


Is it time to learn how to walk!


The first thing you've got to do is stand on your own two feet.


It sounds easier than it is.


You will need support. This is tricky because some things you think will support you won't.


Be careful of things that are wobbly. You don't want anything to fall on top of you.


Stay away from fragile stuff, too. You don't need something new to cry about.

Now. Get a grip. Pull yourself up. STAND.




Are your knees buckling? That's okay. Straighten up. See how different everything looks from up here.


Find you balance. It may take some time. Remember to breathe.

Feel the sway, but don't let it tip you over. When you think you've got it...let go!


Opps it is very common to fall down. Hey, its okay. Go ahead and cry if it helps. Feel better now?


You can try again, but first, run down the checklist:


are your socks bunching up?
are your shoes too tight or too loose?
is your diaper weighing you down?


Fix whatever you can before you start over.


Once you can stand up without holding onto anything, get ready to take that first step.
 Make sure the path ahead of you is clear.


You don't want any obstacles blocking your way or any rough patches tripping you up.


Block out all those voices saying:

Come on! It's easy! You can do it! Now! Dont' be scared! Go!


Only begin when you are ready.


IMPORTANT! Don't look down at your feet. Look toward where you want to go. Imagine yourself as already there.


Then...when the time is right for you...


Take the first step. And another. And another.


It gets easier, huh?

BABY, YOU ARE WALKING!


Beautiful.

 

So I would say Zahra is officially walking now. She has been doing steps now for a couple weeks but she is now doing a ton. So it is official! This book "Walk On" is one of our favorites...very cute!!

Zahra is one of the most fearless children I know (I'm not sure if that is a good thing). There is nothing that scares her. She doesn't really get stranger anxiety (she may act a little shy and put her face into her hand, peak out at you and smile) or separation anxiety. She wasn't phased by Simba the lion or a wolf at the Great Wolf in the Dells at story time. I really can't think of one thing that scares her! About a month ago I found her standing up on her xylophone holding onto her bouncer, now her new thing is standing up on her new little chair and car and letting go. She gives everyone around her a scare but she just smiles and I think she wonders what the fuss is all about. She even had her first little horse ride! Made me think of those days when I use to take my baby sisters, Keziah & Emily, on horse back rides when they were Zahra's age! Now my sisters live, sleep, and breathe horses. Scares me to death when I think about how I used to take them on long horseback rides in the middle of the country~WOW!

 I was very stoked Z got her first horsey ride. I miss my Belle! Hmm I wonder if we will ever be able to talk Anil into getting a horse...probably not.

 

 If you watch this 2nd video long enough you will see Shyra get bucked off the little pony~luckily the lady had a good hold of her. I'm sure if that happened to Z she would have freaked (well maybe!?)

Grrrr I can't get this 2nd video of Z riding the horse on~I'll try again later.

Zahra’s 1st Birthday Safari

Zahra’s 1st birthday party was a smash! I don’t think the day could have gone any better. I had my lovely family to help me with all the preparations~gosh I don’t know what I would have done without them. I even had time to put some makeup on and do my hair before the party started (usually that never happens when we have parties!).  Zahra had a nice nap right before the party and woke up just before the first person arrived.  There was 21 adults that came and 6 of Z’s best buddies.  The day was truly special for my big 1 year old~thanks everyone for coming and making it so great!

       

 

 

 

Fun,  fun, and more fun!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Here’s a photo montage of ‘Simba the lion’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the lion thing went pretty well~considering the ages. We only had one little sad one (poor Owen) but he did get over it and gave Simba a high five! Shrya absolutely loved it, Zahra did too! The others were a little skeptical. Overall, I think Anil loved it the most :) And despite the pictures Anil was not trying to be scary…you should have heard his voice (lOl).

 

 

 

 

 Fun fun and more fun but this time outside!!

  

 

Presents & Cake

  

Zahra didn’t love her birthday cake but she did get a bit messy and even managed to throw some cake on Oma.

The best 6am surprise ever!!

So it was a normal Wednesday morning. Anil & I were sleeping comfortably. I was in dreamland and all of a sudden there was a doorbell going off in my dream. I came to a slight consciousness and asked Anil 'was that our doorbell or was it in my dream?" He rolls over and says it was our doorbell and goes back to sleep. I dozed back into a sleep and then heard it again~defiantly our doorbell. So I hurriedly got up and walked downstairs to see what the heck was going on. It was 6am who could possibly be at our door this time in the morning and who the heck was ringing the doorbell (I have a sign saying please don't ring doorbell). I see a little boy outside as I am walking down the stairs. What the heck~did someone abandon their kid? In the past couple weeks some strange things have happened to me where I have had to help some random strangers (at the Dells there was a little boy running in the parking lot crying looking for his dog~he was 5 and his stuffed animal got thrown from the balcony while his Mom was in the bathroom. She had no idea where he was. Then the other day at Mayo an older lady falls in the middle of the street right in front of me.) So I open the door and there is my nephew Blake sitting on the grass. I ran out there screaming “I knew it!” over and over again. My Mom, 3 Sisters, and Blake had driven straight thru to MN from ID for Zahra’s 1st birthday! What a wonderful surprise! A few weeks earlier my sister randomly asked me if anyone was going to stay with us the weekend of Z’s bday party. Right away I was suspicious but during the week of Z’s party after talking to my Mom and Jen I was convinced that they weren’t coming out. They were able to stay until Sunday morning. We had so much fun with our surprise visitors!

 

Unfortunately, we had to take Z into the emergency room the day the arrived for a couple hours. Everything turned out alright~it was very scary though. We still don’t know what happened to her. She was sitting in her highchair talking up a storm watching Blake eat~ she had finished 5 minutes earlier. When she went from very happy to hysterical within seconds. She couldn’t swallow so she was drooling all over, screaming in pain. Her mouth was making a strange sound. This went on for a few minutes and then I called her doctor and they told us to bring her into the ER.  At first I thought she was chocking on something but there was nothing we could see, she wasn’[t coughing and she was still breathing then her jaw was doing a funky thing so I thought maybe her jaw was locked. By the time we got to the ER and saw the MD she was back to normal. She was so good when they were examining her putting tongue blades down her throat, looking in her ears- not one tear from her. I guess compared to what she just went thru that was nothing. They said we could do a couple xrays to see if there is anything unusual but we opted not to since she was herself again. Very strange. Thank God everything was okay!

  Zahra and Blake had so much fun playing together!! As you can see in all these pictures:

 

~Z’s new thing is sharing her toys~

    

Bubble bath!

 

 

Taking some steps.

This week Zahra started taking some steps~ the most she took was 6 so she hasn’t took off running yet.

 

For Zahra's birthday we went to Oxbow Zoo for a picnic

  

Presents

Her favorite part was the cards!

 

                     instruments from Daddy                                                                                                                        stroller & puzzle from Mommy  

Fun car from the Montanez’s 

 

Playhouse from Oma, Papa, and Auntie Keziah & Em

   

My big 1 year old!!!!!