Christmas in Maryland

Nia had a blast (we all did!). As the only little one on the Thompson side, she enjoys lots of focused attention. Ian's younger siblings and their spouses love Nia and she adores all of them as you can see from the photos below. We had a great time. Thank you Auntie Kay and Uncle D for having all of us and we're so glad Uncle Jay & Auntie Renee came down from NJ!

Photos with Santa!

Last year Nia cried with Santa. This year, she's all about it. The first photos are of her preparing to go see him and as you can see, she is very excited! The last photo is the offiicial Santa photo. This is definitely one of those very commercial, but very fun things to do at Christmas with a little one!

Wintertime is really here. Though still mild, Nia does have a reason to wear one of her new coats (this one is her dress up coat obviously). The baby carrier and baby goes almost everywhere we go these days!

Christmastime 2007

I suppose all kids love this time of year, and that's no exception for our going on 3-year-old. She had a blast hanging ornaments and we all enjoy cozy evenings in our living room.

Prelude to a Tantrum

I guess we all have our moments. But boy, this girl can SCREAM when she gets shaking angry. It's all about control.... she can get so darn upset when she doesn't get her way and it's soooo hard for her to not hit mommy, pee on the floor, or spit. Yep, believe it or not our little angel is not always an angel.... so we have been getting stricter and harder on her which is tough on all of us.

Nia's First Haircut

She made it to over 2 1/2 without ever having a professional haircut. But finally, it was time. She loved it.... being the true girly girl she is.

More Than Just a Pretty Face

Special Thanks again to Christine Gacharna, wonderful photographer and friend. See christinegacharna.com for more information on her photography.

Dancin' Queen

This is Nia doing what she does best.... dancing. Her current favorite show is "Jack's Big Music Show" which she watches while gleefully dancing around. This time in her pajamas and wild hair.

Grammy's Here!

Grammy is here from Albuquerque and Nia is so happy. Being born in Albuquerque, she and Grammy were super close since she was an infant. We miss her! This morning we spent time at the mall and at the local Build A Bear workshop (thank you Grammy and Poppy!). Grammy also brought her a homemade afgan blanket which you can see Nia loves. And mommy is happy to have her mommy around too.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was lots of fun for Nia. She had a party at school and dressed as a fairy princess. For trick or treating she was a lion. She was stunned at how the candy kept coming and coming and all she had to do was go to a door! We went with our best buds...... Maya and Bella (see photos in a earlier blog) and their mom, Yvonne.

Pumpkin patch farm adventure

We had a blast! Nia learned what the "country" was and had fun petting and feeding animals, going through a hay maze, and playing on the hay bales.

She reflects on it as a happy memory, but she didn't particularly like the pony ride - as you can see from her expression.

An all time favorite pastime.....

...jumping on the bed. I can almost remember the joy and fun of jumping when I was little. Nia's no different, and it's hard to contain such pure childlike fun.

Nia's best buds

She loves to hang out with sisters, Maya & Bella. They're great, beautiful, smart girls and it's so fun to watch these 3 play. Even at a young age, good girlfriends can't be beat!

We love the zoo!

We have a yearly membership to the zoo so we love going often! Nia's current favorites (they change all the time) are the Giraffes and Lions (she's going to be a lion for Halloween). My favorites are always the apes & monkey types - Gorillas & Urangatangs rock!

Memphis Buddy Walk 2007

We have a couple good down syndrome friends so we took advantage of awesome weather and a good cause to get outside and have some fun. Nia met Molly in the ball pit and had so much fun laughing and playing with her. She threw a huge fit when I pulled her out to go home. There are buddy walks all over the country every year. You can find more info at http://www.buddywalk.org