A Fun 4th of July Weekend!

So we had a good 4th of July Weekend. The 4th is actually one of my most favorite holidays...I think because it is usually hot & sunny! So we started off the weekend with having the Deimels over for a BBQ. It was the perfect evening for it and luckly the bugs weren't too bad. Drew and Zahra are just a couple weeks apart- they had fun hanging out together!  

We shot off a couple fireworks for the girls then did some sparklers. Zahra thought it was pretty cool.

On Sautrday me & Z went to Riverfest in LaCrosse. We met Bekah, Kim, and Owen downtown. Z had her first experience with cheesecurds (she thought they were ok) then we watched pig races last but not least Owen & Zahra rode on the train. We also went to say our goodbyes to the Alameidas who are moving too Arizona next week- we will miss them.

Mississippi in the background. It was a very hot day but the breeze saved us!

 

Happy 4th of July

Aww what a cutie pie!

Had to take a break and suck her fingers & rub her hair.

 Zahra is addicted to her fingers. We have successfully trained her not too suck them while she is in the highchair (took about a week) now we are going to work on appropriate times to suck on her 2 favorite fingers & rub her hair. It maybe cute to you but I'm kinda over it...especially when she is crawling around on a dirty floor and takes a break to suck. Granted I sucked my finger until I was in 3rd grade so I can't criticize too much.

Anil had a good call on Saturday night and got to sleep some so his postcall day he actually felt like doing something- so we went swimming indoors (it rained the entire 4th).  

I joined a tennis league at the RAC this summer. Today was my first game. Yes, I got a skirt. I had too I would have been the only one without so I gave in- it was actually pretty handy stuffing the balls up in the attached underwear. I was so nervous about playing but it went really well. Our first set we won 6-3 then 6-1. I was so happy and had a lot of fun too!!  

I'm a godmother!

 June 27th

 Here is my godson Graedin Miller. I was so honored when my dear friend Misty asked me to be his godmother.

Even though I am not catholic, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire ceremony and the great sermon that the guy in the green robe gave (I never know what to call them). It made me want to baptise Zahra but being I'm not catholic probably doesn't make too much sense. Maybe we can dedicate her...grrrr..we don't have a church here in Rochester that we are really getting into. We really miss Woodland Hills, a church that Anil & I both LOVE.  

I am so ready to get settled somewhere so we can start putting down roots.

LESS THAN A YEAR NOW!!!!!!!!!

Z's hugs are the best thing in the world, they don't last too long but they sure are sweet!

Zahra wanted to play in the holy water

Zahra & Graedin

future "best buds"

We got to meet beautiful, Ava!

So we had a fun weekend in Wisconsin a few weeks back. Kate & Matt were in town and brought their beautiful baby girl, Ava. We spent the night at Becky & Ryan's gorgeous house....ahh someday I will have my very own house.

Hanging out at the Kurisch's house

Shake it girls!!

Back at the Patels...

an end to a fun weekend!

Happy 1st Fathers Day Anil!!

So I have been slacking on keeping up with my blog! This is a couple weeks late but better late then never- right? Anil & I both worked on Fathers Day weekend so we celebrated the next day. Zahra picked out a nice grey shirt and some black gold toed socks. She also made him some special pictures (thanks to the best nanny ever- Amy- that had watched Z for us on Mothers day & Fathers day!)

Her special picture for Dad!

So a little background about the next part of this blog. We have a bird feeder by our window that the cats & Zahra likes to watch. Well there has been a squirrel that has been eating all the birds food which hasn't been making me very happy. I've even opened the screen door to let Tipsy out to scare the thing away with no intention of Tipsy actually hurting the poor thing.

So that same weekend Amy found a little something in Z's pool! I got this picture text while at work....  

Beware a little graphic!! Not for small eyes!!

So the poor little guy drowned in Zahra's pool! I feel bad about the whole situation-its sort of my fault for not emptying Z's pool out after a rain storm that we had.  However, at the same time its kinda a little funny too, in a twisted sick way. So as soon as I saw the picture I texted Amy to just leave it for Anil when he got home- well she had already disposed of the dead animal and scrubbed out Zahra's pool.  The pool was back functioning by that afternoon!

Well it is official! I am going supplemental starting July 21st. What a relief. My plan is to work just as much but just be able to have more say when I work. Like not on Mothers Day, Memorial Day weekend, Fathers Day ect... "A" weekend was not a good weekend to be on this year.

Haha my daughter makes me laugh!

It has been a while since I have posted a video...so these are for my family in Idaho that hasn't seen Zahra in a while. Hopefully we will be getting our webcam working!!!

Zahra has been cracking me up lately. She is just in her own little world and I am seeing her personality come out more and more each day.

My daugher the contortionist. Zahra loves to crawl underthings, thru things, and ontop of things. You will be sitting there with your legs out with the entire living room for her to crawl around in but she will come over to you and crawl over your legs to get to a toy that's nowhere near you.

So Z loves to sit by the patio and watch the birds by our feeder. She will do this for a half hour sometimes when I am making dinner or busy with something. So she was doing just that and I look to see her in the downward dog position (yoga) and she kept doing it over and over again (and is continuing to do it a couple times a day) so I got the video camera out...hmm maybe I should take her to a baby yoga class.

I have a 10 month old!! Picture overload!!!

Our baby girl turned 10 months old this past weekend! I can't believe it!!

She likes to hang out by the stairs...can't climb them yet, thank goodness!

Showing off some of her yoga moves.

She is finally eating the tofu fingers I make for her! Yay! Persistence pays off :)

Much better week!

Well I am glad to say this week has been much better then last! Yay! Amy is coming back to us...ahh I can't wait for a much needed break! My biopsy results were good! Looks like I do in fact have PCOS but we are going to take it one step at a time to get everything back to normal.

I bought this outfit for Z before she was born....I wanted to see if it fit her yet so we had a dress up day at home!

This is how Z likes to crawl these days...even when she is not in a dress she will put her butt up in the air like this. It's so cute!

Then that evening before bed we painted our toenails. I don't know why but I love this picture with her toenails in the background.

We went and saw little sweet

Calla Marie Luckenbill

I think Micah likes the book Z got for him.

On Tuesday I watched Loretta for Anne & Nick. Z had such a fun day with Loretta. We played and played and played some more! They had so much fun playing together in this tunnel. It was the most I have ever seen them interact with each other.

I love this picture! It has been months since I have gotten them both to sit down and look at the camera. Zahra is almost 10 months here and Lulu is 14 months.

Seriously could these girls be any cuter!

Toys Toys EVERYWHERE! Who knew 2 little girls could make such a big mess!!

Jenny & Lyla came over for a visit! What a wonderful visit. Lyla is seriously the sweetest little girl ever.

Awww I like this picture of Lyla and the elephant that she liked...Z is taking off, I'm sure going for the purse.

Z was taking a nap so I get some quality time with Jenny & Lyla!! Way too many pics of me..Jenny hijacked my camera ;-)

Some new things Zahra is doing lately....she is cruisin like crazy and is trying to pull her self up on anything & everything. Anil thinks she is going to be walking very soon...I give her at least another month. Her favorite foods right now is cheese & blueberries. She is giving the sweetest hugs and cuddles lately ahhh I love them. I put on a signing video for her this evening...yes on the TV...anyway she loved it! I was making dinner in the kitchen she watched it in the living room for about 15 minutes and then came in the kitchen where I was but kept on crawling back over to where she could see the TV. It was really cute. So the reason I decided to let her watch this DVD is because it is a very simple program that shows favorite signs...dog, cat, all gone, bird. She is getting very interested in signing these days and it only last 20 minutes and I feel like it is not too overstimulating. I'm not a big fan of the TV and letting Z watch it but I am giving in for this one. 

One area that we are working on these days is appropriate highchair behavior. Unfortunately, Zahra has formed some bad habits and I take full responsibility for the issues that we are having by not preventing them from the beginning. So we are trying to get control of the behavior before it gets too out of control. It has made our mealtimes abit more challenging but I know it will pay off and consistency is the KEY!