Goodbye 2012

Am I cute or what?

December Baby!

Mommy and me blogged early this month so you know what I've been up to lately.  Since our early December update...I added another tooth (on the bottom), got the second dose of my flu shot (Daddy took me), and learned how to drink from a straw!  I'm pretty quick on my feet now and like to run, climb, jump, bounce, swim and get into everything!  I also like to scream/sing and say "no" "mama" "dada" and "more"

Hi Guys!

An Evening with Baby Claire!





Mommy, Daddy and me were so excited to babysit for baby Claire this month.  I did a great job sharing my toys and my high chair and and showing Claire how to avoid bedtime to stay up late with Mommy!  Daddy made us chocolate chip pancakes but Claire is only six months old so she had to eat her Gerber sweet potatoes instead.  We had fun laying next to each other drinking our milk...I even showed Claire how to hold her own bottle but Mommy cheated and helped her.

Daddy's Special!
Chocolate chip pancakes!

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!!!

December is holiday time so Mommy, Daddy and me had fun visiting with friends and family! Me and Mommy went to Kathy's house to hang out with Kathy, Martha, Sheila and baby Claire.  We also went to Mommy's John Adams Holiday Party at Mr. McCune's house.  I had so much fun playing the piano and seeing my favorite friends from Mommy's work!  We went to the annual Pipke family holiday party and I was the last baby standing...I stayed up until 10:15 p.m.!

Me with my milk, Garret with his water and daddy Nate laughing!

We also got together with Betty Gram and Grand Dad before they left for Tennessee.  We met at Glory Days Grill.  I showed them how much I love macaroni and cheese and drinking water from my sippy cup!  After dinner we met back at our house so that Betty Gram and Grand Dad could spoil me with my Hanukkah and Christmas presents.  I got lots of special presents...including my very own Leap Frog Laptop!



Checking out my new laptop with Grand Dad.



These boots were made for walking!



Macaroni and cheese monster!



For Christmas Day, we (Mommy, Daddy and me) went to Nana's house to celebrate. I wore a cute little red dress with a sequin top and a tutu skirt.  I wore my silver sequin boots and my silver sequin and fur vest too!  Nana thought my outfit was fantastic!  I got a stocking filled with goodies and lots of presents too.  My favorite was my Rody horse.  My cousins Alie and Morgan love their green Rody horse and now I have my very own pink one!  I also had fun playing on my rcoking horse.  My favorite thing was making Nana's musical snowmen and Santa's sing and dance by pressing their buttons!

Unpacking my stocking...and...mistaking everything for a cell phone.



Giddy-up Cowgirl!





Me and Nana after opening presents!




















Me and my brand new RODY!



Changed into my snowmen pjs and back on my horse for a night time ride!

'

Yum! Nana let me taste whipped cream!



Me and Daisy all dressed up for Christmas at Nana's house.


Even though Hanukkah came early in December...we waited to fully celebrate until Saba and Savta could come visit from New Jersey.  We had a special Hanukkah dinner with Savta's delicious brisket and Saba's tasy latkes.  I was stuffing the latkes in my mouth and asking for more before I had even finished what was on my tray.  Mommy and Saba both tried to give me some applesauce but that's not my style...I like my latkes straight up!   Betty Gram and Grand Dad came over for our special Hanukkah dinner and took some pictures while they were here!

How do I look with food on my face?
Dinner was delicious Saba and Savta!

Saba made the yummy latkes...but he had to make do with Mommy's apron!

Daddy and me....full from our festive meal...ready for the Skins game!

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!!!

Daddy, Mommy and me are so excited about the awesome season the Redskins are having!  Me and Daddy have been getting all dressed up for the games...Daddy in red and gold...me in my Redskins socks because my gear is still do big for me!  I even dress my Daisy Bear in her Redskins football uniform complete with a helmet!  Daddy is so excited about RG 3 and Mommy likes the backup quarterback because he went to Michigan State and Mommy loves the Spartans!  We can't wait to cheer the Redskins on in the playoffs in January!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Daddy bought me a special Happy New Year's crown for me to wear in our family New Year's card but I refused to wear it and smile at the same time so Mommy had to go with a different picture...oh well!  Happy New Year...the Fritz family is so excited for 2013!

Goodbye 2012!  Happy 2013!

 

Happy 2013 New Year's Card

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Back to Blogging!

It's been way too long since Mommy and me worked on my blog and we're so sorry to have disappointed our fans! Mommy promises that we are going to make a better effort to keep my blog updated...after all I've grown a lot since our last update almost three months ago!  But...we're not sure where to start?  Mommy thinks that maybe we should highlight a few of the best moments from September, October and November...so here they are!

Big SMILE!

September

Check out my cool shoes!

In September, Mommy and Daddy took me shopping for new shoes at Stride Rite.  The man measured my feet and told Mommy and Daddy to pick out shoes that were a 4W.  Mommy picked out a pair of silver and light pink sneakers and a pair of brown and magenta sneakers....a fashionista has to have options, especially when it comes to footwear!  I really love my new shoes!  Once I started wearing my new shoes, I suddenly wanted to stand all of the time.  I was instantly pulling myself up more and starting to balance all by myself on my own two feet.  I also like to dance and bounce while I'm standing but sometime I get so excited about my dancing that I lose my balance and fall over.

Trying on my new silver shoes!

I also started at a new daycare in September. Some of Mommy's friends from work have little ones that go to my daycare with me and it's really close to Mommy's school.  I have a great time with Ms. Vigdonia, Sam, Carmen, Gianna and Jackson.  Ms. Vigdonia finally got my to start eating solid foods after 10 months of wanting only milk!  I also finally started to crawl after my first week and a half at Ms. Vigdonia's daycare.  And Ms. Vigdonia is even teaching me Spanish.  My other friends at daycare already know Spanish but I'm a quick learner!  And I really love Ms. Vigdonia!

At the end of September I turned 11 months old and started on the one year old party circuit with some of my friends from daycare.  Our mommies love to get together too!  Unfortunately Mommy's camera broke in September so we took a picture taking hiatus for a few weeks.  Mommy was worried about missing my special moments so Daddy did some quick research and bought Mommy a new camera so that we could get back to our picture taking!

Here I am at eleven months old!

October

We started October on the move by joining some of my baby friends and their mommies and daddies for my second 5k race.  Mommy and Daddy started out walking with me in the stroller but then Mommy got the urge to jog and Daddy decided to join so we completed the second half faster than the first half.  The most fun part was riding around on Daddy's shoulders after the race and working on my supported walking with Mommy holding onto my hands.  I also really loved dancing with Daddy to the music the DJ was playing....me and Daddy love being silly together!

In October we also took a family trip to Cox Farms.  We had so much fun looking at the baby animals and petting them.  I also went on my first hayride with Mommy and Daddy.  After waiting in line for over an hour we finally got picked up by our tractor driver.  Unfortuately we got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by another tractor...but it was still fun!  Daddy tried to get me to put my face in some of the character cutouts but I didn't really understand the concept so Mommy didn't have much luck getting a good picture.

"You want me to drive this tractor?"

Hiding inside an egg shell by the chicken coup.

Daddy helping me pet the big cow!

 
 In October, I also continued on the one year birthday party circuit with my baby friends.  Mommy had fun dressing me up in some of my cutest outfits so that I could be stylish for my friend's parties.

Me and Julia doubling up in the swing at Jeremy's birthday party!  Whee!

Me and Daddy posing with our pumpkins on our way to a party.

At the end of October I celebrated the most important birthday of all...MY FIRST BIRTHDAY!  I turned one on a Sunday so it was a perfect day for a party.  Mommy wasn't feeling well so Daddy had to do all the party planning and major house cleanup to get ready for my big celebration.  We were really lucky Betty Gram was close by and willing to help too because she ended up catering the whole party for us!  Nana wasn't able to come because she was still in Seattle with Uncle Ned and Saba and Savta were not able to make it because we were expecting Hurricane Sandy to hit the east coast and they were nervous about getting stranded.  We missed Nana, Saba, Savta and Uncle Ned but we still had a great time celebrating.   Since my birthday is so close to Halloween Mommy told my baby friends to come in costumes...everyone looked so cute in their costumes.  Claire was an owl, Julia was a bumblebee, Jeremy was a dinosaur, Garrett was a chicken, Logan was a pumpkin and I was a kangaroo....although I refused to wear my hat. Betty Gram took lots of pictures!!!  And of course....being fashionista Violet...I had three outfit changes of course!

November

November was a big month for me too!  On Election Day (November 6th) I took my very first step.  Actually I took three steps all at once.  Mommy said she knew that my first steps early that morning were a sign that Election Day was going to go the way we wanted it to go.  I wore my Babies for Obama onesie so that I could do some last minute campaigning at daycare!  By the end of November I was walking totally independently.  One day I even ran to Mommy when she picked me up from daycare.  I'm pretty proud of myself for learning to walk.  Sometimes I concentrate so hard on what I'm doing that I actually drool!

Because it's fall and fall means football season at my house, I've been spending some quality time watching football with Daddy.  I like to cheer for the Redskins and for the Tennessee Vols.  Mommy decided that me and my friend Claire needed to have football leg warmers because we're both football fans.  I've been wearing mine a lot!

I reached another important milestone in November...I FINALLY got my first tooth.  I only have one tooth right in the middle on the bottom and no others seem to be popping up around it, but I am loving using my one one tooth to chew things!  My favorite foods these days are pancakes, waffles, french toast, cheerios, goldfish, saltine crackers, potatoes and bread, although I pretty much want to eat whatever Mommy and Daddy are eating.  I even pretended to really love broccoli once or twice because I saw Mommy eating it!  Daddy took me to IHOP a few times and shared special pumpkin pancakes with me.  I loved them!  Even though I've become an eating machine...I was still a skinny minnie at my one year well baby appointment.  I only weighed 18 pounds and 4 ounces...so I'm still very petite!  And I don't like going to the doctor anymore now that I know they are going to give me shots when I'm there.

At the end of November, Mommy and me headed up North to New Jersey to visit with Mommy's family for Thanksgiving.  I had so much fun playing Legos, Barbies and My Little Ponies with my cousins Alie and Morgan.  I also had fun barking at their dog Coaly.  While we were at Saba and Savta's house, Mommy's cousins Louis and Ayako came to visit with baby Logan.  He's only two months old but he is sooo cute!  I was fascinated by his toys!  Of course I loved spending time with my Saba and Savta and my BFF Aunt Orly too!

Cousins! (Alie, Morgan and Violet)

Now that Mommy and me are up to date with our blog...we're going to work really hard not to fall behind again!  We hate to diappoint our followers...but thanks for hanging in there!!!

Goodbye Summer, Hello September!



Hiding in the pillows while Mommy makes the bed!

 Babies at the Nationals Game!

As soon as we parked...the rain started!
Daddy came prepared with his Nats umbrella!
Mommy and me with Logan and Ms. Shannon.

Happy Nats fan!

In August, Daddy organized an event for my baby friends and their parents to go to Nationals Park with us to see the Nats take on the New York Mets.  The drive there was a little gray and overcast but as soon as we parked and got out of the car...the skies opened up and we got caught in a downpour!  Luckily we caught a free golf cart shuttle from the parking lot to the stadium so we didn't get too wet.  Unfortunately, when we got to the stadium...we had to sit and wait out a three hour rain delay!  But, after waiting three hours, the game finally started and we watched the Nats take down the Mets in style.  At my first baseball game ever...I saw my first homerun (actually I saw three).  We texted Aunt Orly, Uncle Yariv and Saba to rub it in because they're all Mets fans!  I recycled one of my Olympic outfits so that I could wear red, white and blue to cheer on my team!  We had a great turnout...10 babies and 19 adults!

Mommy and me, President Lincoln, Logan and Ms. Shannon



Taking our family photo with the winner of the bobble head race...
President Abe Lincoln.



Napping during the rain delay...why not???

Top Row: Ben, Baby Wyatt, Katie, Baby Zoe, Julie
Middle Row: Scott, Baby Cam, Melissa, Srijana, Baby Tessa, Archana
Bottom Row: Daddy, Mommy, me, __, Baby Tanner, Leah, Sonia, Baby Benjamin, Garrett

Top Row: Greg, Julie, Baby Jeremy
Bottom Row: Me, Daddy, Shannon, Baby Logan, Sonia, Baby Benjamin and Garrett



Staying dry while Daddy gets wet!



Logan...enjoying the rain!



Back to School...



Playing with the giant dominoes on my green mat.



Now that September is here...Mommy is back at school with a new class full of energertic first graders!  Me and Mommy spent a lot of time in August working in Mommy's classroom even though Mommy did not officially have to report to John Adams until August 24th.  Mommy likes to make sure everything is perfect in her classroom so she always gets in there early!  Mommy was surprised at how much work she was able accomplish with me in tow every day... I was very good about staying on my play mat and exploring the toys Mommy picked out for me.  I played with the giant geometric figures and the giant wooden dominoes.  I also played with the silver plastic star from Mommy's "Star Student" bulletin board and used my own rattle to tap on it like a drum!   I liked clapping the dominoes together and tapping the shiny red sphere on the newly waxed floors.  Mommy wasn't the only one working in her classroom.  My friend Garrett's mommy and daddy were also there setting up their classrooms.  I got to play with Garrett in the music room while Mommy was preparing a presentation with some of her friends.  Garrett also came to visit me with his daddy in Mommy's classroom.



Me and Garrett playing with toys in Mommy's classroom.

 John Adams wasn't the only school I visited in August.  Mommy, Ms. Kate (Garrett's mommy) and Mr. McCune were presenters at the CETA kickoff for educators so I got to come with them to a middle school in Arlington.  It was lucky for Mommy that Mr. George (Mommy's assistant principal) and Ms. Taylor (Mommy's principal) came for the CETA kickoff because Mr. George held me while Mommy was presenting.  Everyone thought I was so cute and I even cheered and clapped for Mommy when she finished presenting.  I really liked hanging out with Mr. George!

Me and Mr. George at the CETA kickoff!

Daddy ~ Daughter Day with Nana

My Nana and Uncle Ned are about to travel up North for their annual Canada trip.  Nana really wanted to see me before they left so Daddy and me drove up to Annapolis for a visit while Mommy did some back to school shopping for herself!  It had been a really long time since Mommy bought clothes that weren't for me and she was looking forward to shopping solo for the first time in a long time!  Me and Daddy didn't mind because we got to spend all day relaxng and playing at Nana's house.  I found some fun and exciting toys in my toy chest and I also had fun riding my pony again!

Me and Nana!

Nana watching me ride my horse...neigh!



Daddy and me spending some quality time together!



Naptime on Nana!

Saying Goodbye to Coach Lauren

On Sunday I went to Swim Kids with Mommy and Daddy and we got the sad news that Coach Lauren was getting a grownup job and wasn't going to be my swim coach anymore.  She was sad to say goodbye...and so were we!  It was a good thing Daddy brought the camera to swimming so he could get mu picture with Coach Lauren one last time. 

I love when Daddy comes to swimming with me!

Me and Mommy ready for swimming...I'm sad Coach Lauren is leaving!

Saying goodbye to Coach Lauren was so sad for everyone!

Saba and Savta Visit

I always love when my Saba and Savta drive down from New Jersey to visit me...especially when they come to babysit for me while Mommy and Daddy are working!  Mommy had to go back to work for her teacher week so Saba and Savta agreed to keep me company.  It was lucky for me that they came down when they did because I actually ended up sick and needed some extra love and care from my grandparents!  On Friday, Mommy took me to the doctor. She was worried about me because I was refusing to eat anything and I didn't even want my milk.  The doctor did a strep test but it came back normal so she told Mommy I was probably teething and sent me home.  By Sunday, when Saba and Savta arrived...I was feeling even worse.  I spent most of the week with a high fever that even Tylenol and Motrin didn't lower.  I felt better in the bathtub but felt crummy as soon as I came out of the bathtub.  I didn't eat well or sleep well and I cried a lot.  We didn't even take any pictures during their visit because I wasn't my happy self!  Saba and Savta had to take me to the doctor twice that week but finally I got a prescription and once I started taking it...I started feeling much better!  It was nice that Saba and Savta were here to give me lots of TLC!



Here I am showing Saba my Car/Walker

Ten Months Old

Ten months old...am I cute or what?

Ten months old...lollipop sticker!

Hooray!  I am officially ten months old and I have come a long way baby!  These days I am growing bigger and doing lots of new and exciting things.  I finally weighed in at 17 pounds and am officially outgrowing my 3-6 month clothes!  I am really good at pulling myself up and will crawl a few steps at a time although I would rather hold somebody's hands and walk!  I like to sit on my car and ride it and put a puffy in my mouth by myself for the first time!

Brunch Date with Logan

Smile babies...oh well...atleast the mommies are smiling!

Me and Mommy decided to invite Logan and his mommy Ms. Shannon over to our house for a Back to School Brunch.  Me and Logan are both sad that our Mommies had to go back to work because we liked spending time with them all summer!  Daddy woke up early and went to the grocery store to get some brunch goodies and then came home and cooked for us.  Mommy and Ms. Shannon enjoyed mimosas while Logan and I played on my playmat.  Daddy made eggs with cheese, turkey bacon, cinnamon buns and fruit for us to eat.  Even Logan liked Daddy's scarmbled eggs!  I don't like to eat...so I just had milk!



Showing Logan how to ride my car!
Check out my new hat!

Practicing my crawling while Logan bounces!