time for an update!

happy new year everyone! (i know - that's now long it's been since i last posted) so... 2009 has been a busy year so far. i started school again the first week of the year, and although i'm taking a couple of hard classes this quarter, i'm sure it's not going to be as hectic as the last quarter when i took on an extra heavy load and during the holiday season, no less. since returning from vacation, i feel like i still haven't had the time to completely get the house in order.. but then again, it probably will never be as clean and organized as i would like. anyway, i'm sure most of you visit this blog to get updates on attie and what she's been up to, not to see what's going on with me!! ha! she got sick on our last day in hawaii and when we got back, she had a fever and threw up everything she ate for several days. having a sick baby really takes up ALL your time. she was super needy and cried everytime i was not holding her or close to her. i'm glad she's all better now, except now she has a cough (but only when she is sleeping) which is probably due to the weird weather lately - super hot during the day, but really cold in the mornings and evenings.

so here's the scoop on what's she up to lately... attie is turning 1! her birthday is next tuesday, the 20th, and i have been busy planning her birthday celebration. as she nears her first birthday, we noticed a big improvement in her communication and understanding lately, such as raising her arms up when she wants you to pick her up, patting herself on the chest signaling "please" when she wants something (usually food related), and pointing in the direction where she wants to go, or at things she wants. she can also bring things to you from a distance if you ask her to, but she has to already be holding it. the other day, she got ahold of a sealed bag of goldfish crackers, raised it up to show me, crawled over, handed it to me, and patted herself on her chest... basically signaling that she wanted me to open it so she can have some! how did she even know that there was something edible in that bag?? some other things she will do if you ask include giving headbutts "headbutt", giving hugs "hug", dancing (she bounces up & down) "dance dance dance", waving hello or goodbye "can you wave?", clapping her hands "clap your hands", touching her head "touch your head", laying down (she plops on her pillow) "lay down" and raising her arms up in the air when i'm trying to undress her "arms up".

she'll even give you some of her food if you ask her to feed you "can you feed me?", but only when she's in the mood to share. what she does is she'll reach her hand out to show you a piece of whatever she is eating, and quickly pull it back or shove it into her mouth if you get too close. personally, i think she knows exactly what you are asking her to do, but she is a little piggy and wants to eat it all herself... very stingy when it comes to her food, just like her mommy! :P

something new she does lately is that she began putting things BACK to where she found them. for example, she'll open a drawer, pull everything out, then put everything back in and crawl away. she'll also take her cherrios or other snacks and put them back into whatever container it came from, one at a time. i also see her doing this with her toys too. she'll pull everything out of her toy chest, and put some of them back. take them out, put them back... goes on all day.

she is "talking" a lot more lately too. nothing coherent yet, but lots of dadadas and mamamas and bloop bloops, grunts, ohs and ahs to get your attention.

as for her physical development, she is cruising along very well and i think she might have taken her first step the other day going from a stool to the sofa, but she hasn't really taken more than 1 or 1 1/2 steps on her own. it's usually just going from object to the next. she will usually just plop down and start to crawl whenever there is nothing around to support her.

sorry for the long and picture-less post... i haven't downloaded pictures from my camera recently but i'll probably do it tomorrow, and will post some as soon as i get a chance. i am excited that my entire family is going to be together this weekend for attie's birthday celebration! gina is already here from vegas and pearl is flying in tomorrow. can't wait!! :)