january = new beginnings

with january comes new beginnings and a chance to start fresh. and so the story goes for the littlest of humans as well. with each month i enjoy more of these girls of mine; the new things they're up to, what they've accomplished and the hope for what their future holds. 

this month, evia's daily nap, came to an end. i had dreaded the day. i use the two hours that the girls are asleep for my sanity. a time to breath deep collect my thoughts and gear up for the second half of the day. during december it was perfect for all the work that needed to be done in "santa's workshop." 

a few days in a row mid-january evia spontaneously went nap deprived. a birthday party, a funny schedule, something prohibited her from making it to the bed at the designated hour. her sister still needs her nap so much, that it doesn't really matter where we are, if the hour strikes she'll zonk (not always of course, but usually). 

we surprisingly had a great few days and NIGHTS without the naps. evia stayed happy through the afternoon and she went to bed a whole hour earlier, making mama and papa's nights a whole lot more enjoyable. it didn't feel like it was bedtime after evia went to bed...we actually had time awake together. yay!

so we decided to give it a try and it's been awesome ever since. evia and i have "mama evia" time every afternoon while mila naps - which sometimes have to be the tasks i would have done if she was sleeping..so she just gets included. organizing my house remodel filing system. evia put each piece of paper in the appropriate stack by year (with my instruction). worked on a sewing project: evia enjoyed handing me each of the pins out of the "tomato." 

or we do really fun stuff like play hide-n-seek or paint our toes. her favorite thing to ask people is "do you know that i don't nap now?" so happy for this change. thank you january. every year i'm thankful for the clean slate. 

on a walk with the girls, i looked back. clearly mila still needs naps

emily and i started a sister-weekly-walk. evia took a photo of our first one.

mila started going down the slide with no assistance. a sit, became a flat-out-lay-down, the first couple of park visits

evia loves "her" books. this one we opened had anna's name written in it, by a wee-anna way back when

some sea center fun with papa. mil'a's first visit.

such a beautiful location sea center on the wharf

evia decorating her free tote they provide at the sea center day

a gorgeous finish to our sea center outing, chowder al fresco. evia and mila preferred their almond butter & jellies

 

a family hike day. the girls are nature lovers

peaceful napper

on one of the first "no-nap" days, she had a huge meltdown and fell asleep on the couch

a great garage sale find by papa, stencils and a composition book. evia loves practicing her letters this way

mila one day had fun for probably 40 minutes, carrying buckets of water to the sandbox (the rest watered our flowers)

she got the hang of staying sitting, while sliding

these two are serious love-bugs

evia's self portrait

playdate with two welsh princesses

playdate with becker, george and pj

we left marisa's with oranges, broccoli and lemons (deelish)

my first homemade item with my new sewing machine. a romper for sweet ayin. pattern and fabric generously gifted by grandma lu

we started regular walks with grandma lu. she walks daily and we walk daily, so we decided to combine our walks once a week. the girls love our stops at the park to play with their great grandma lu

special art time just mama and evia

goofies

pretty fingers and toes!