Hayden Turns Two!

Hayden's second birthday fell on a Tuesday this year so the weekend before we had a bunch of family in town to celebrate. Aunt B., Zoe, Zach, Grandma Sarah and Grandpa Dave flew in from Utah and Aunt Afton and Uncle Ash came over as well.

We spent Saturday in the pool and had a feast of burgers, hot dogs, fruit salad, pasta salad, and birthday cupcakes. Hayden also figured out how to blow out her birthday candle (we told her it was hot and to blow on it). She also got a bunch of birthday presents and we tried to space out her getting them so she could rip into each package and then enjoy what she got. She's definitely come a long way since Christmas and is finally starting to like opening presents!

On Sunday we had a big brunch (courtesy of Matt and his waffle-making skills), walked to the park, and went back into the pool. The grown-ups showed off their best cannon-balls and the kids played in and out of the water. Matt also made great pork green chili for dinner that night.

On Monday Aunt B. and Savannah took the kids to Desert Ridge to play in the fountains. We spent a lot of time chasing the kids around, giving them snacks, and keeping Zachy nearby. It was fun, but not nearly as relaxing for the grown-ups as we had hoped. That afternoon we spent more time out by our pool. Ash and Afton came back over and we grilled out again.

On Tuesday we walked over to the big park in our neighborhood. The kiddos ran around in the grass and played "pirate ship" on the equipment. We were back in the pool that afternoon and all three of the kids were in inner-tubes. Zach especially loved it! Matt came home early that night and we had rigatoni for dinner and then went back to Desert Ridge where Aunt B. treated everyone to Cold Stone.

It was such a wonderful weekend and we had such a fun time celebrating Hayden's second birthday!

Hayden's 2nd Birthday

More Pink!!

May 2010

May was a great month! We found out that we're having a baby girl! YAY!! We're so excited to keep the pink theme in our house. The doctor said that she looks great and healthy and we scheduled a c-section for September 20th. She has started moving around a bunch and we've both felt her move. It's such a great feeling to feel the baby move and know that she's in there growing.

In early May we attended Madeline Coy's 1st birthday party at the park. Hayden LOVED the swings, which was quite a change because they normally freak her out. She swung with Madeline and Alden and then played in the sand with Savannah Farr. That evening Uncle Ash and Aunt Afton watched Hayden for us so we could attend Viva Las Vegas at City North, hosted by 20/30 VOS.

In mid-May we had a very successful garage sale and were able to clean up our office to make room for a guest bed. The guest room will be cleaned out and repainted for baby girl Wolach. After the garage sale we spent the afternoon with friends playing bocce ball (hosted by the Coys) and unfortunately placed 4th in the tournament. Boo - no money for 4th place.

This month we started potty training Hayden and it's proven to be a little more difficult than we thought. She gets a jelly bean after each successful trip to the bathroom so we've also become more diligent with teeth brushing. We celebrated her 2nd birthday with family and we'll write about it in another posting.

ABCs and Potty Pees

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Hello friends and welcome to another edition of Pachelbel's Cherubs. Now 23 months, we are seeing some quick development out of our little one.

She is getting very good at her ABCs as she sings the song with decent accuracy now. She will also repeat what contestants ask for on wheel of fortune:

Contestant: "Is there an R, Pat?"
Hayden: "R!"

See the video below which shows her counting her ABCs. We are really loving the school that she is in because we go through things with her a bit at home, but there are days when she comes home and we are blown away at what she knows. The ABC song is an example of this.

She is also in the middle of potty training. She pees in her little toilet with some regularity and she often tells us when she needs to pee. The only thing is she tells us too much. There are several times when she says, "Go potty" and she runs in to the bathroom, drops her pants and diaper, and sits on the toilet reading a book (seriously), but nothing else. She then jumps up to wash her hands. So she loves the idea of it, even when she doesn't need to do it. It is cute for the first 33 times. I can't believe I just wrote a whole paragraph on my daughter using the bathroom and you can't believe you just read one.

Hayden also loves to help out with whatever we might be doing. She especially loves cooking and cleaning. She pulls her chairs up to the counter when we are preparing food and is eager to have a job (will she be like this when she's 15???). We give her butcher knives and tell her to chop meat. I'm kidding! She chops vegetables with the knives.

Actually she usually stirs something, or drops bread in the toaster. But whatever she does, she enjoys it. She then loves to set the table, except that she uses tupperware, which she can reach as it is kept in a low cupboard. When she sets the table with the tupperware, she walks around to each place and says the name of the person who sits there (we are creatures of habit): "Dada, Mommy, Hayden, Ashey (Ashley), A-ten (Afton)." She sets the table for Ash and Afton even when they aren't there. Then after dinner she loves to sweep - yes, she goes into the pantry and takes the broom, and comes out and sweeps the floor. Then she gets a wipe and wipes down the table. No idea where she learned that as she certainly hasn't seen that at home. Maybe she's trying to tell us something???

Her vocabulary is also getting very strong as she is now putting words together:

"Go Mommys Car."
"More School Bus." She loves seeing school buses on the street.
"Thank you, Dada."

It is pretty cool to actually be able to have a conversation with our daughter.

With our other little one who is still baking, we are 18 weeks along. Savannah is feeling much better than she did in the first trimester and she's eating well. We find out what the gender is next week and we are really excited. We have also scheduled the date of delivery (planned C-Section) to be Sept 20. Expect a lot of postings around that time.

Thanks for the well wishes many of you shared for our parents, Dave and Sarah Wolach who are going through tough times with cancer. They are doing quite well, albeit tired, and we are so happy for them.

All the best. Enjoy the pics and the video and thanks as always for the comments.

Happy Easter, Everyone

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We had beautiful weather for Easter. Hayden completed her very first Easter egg hunt very well, finding all 9 eggs. Of course there was some direction given and the eggs weren't exactly impossible to find.

Enjoy the photos and vid.

March Madness

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We are quite sorry that it has been so long since our last official post in January (a couple of the posts below were backdated to fill in missing pieces - but look at them, they are nifty).

Times have been busy since January: Olympics, trips to Vegas and Utah (and San Diego for Matty), a birthday, 2 diagnoses of cancer in the family, an amazing Sweet 16 run by Cornell, and visits by all of Hayden's grandparents.

Hayden's words are now too many to count. She loves to say things like School Bus "Skoo Buh", the moon, happy, and 'how are you'. She is a lot of fun when she is in a good moood, but we are seeing bad moods as well now that she is in the "terrible two's" timezone. We know it is just phase though.

She is polite as she says "please" and "thank you" and is nice about sharing food - she offers something to us (after she picks it up with her grubby hands) and if we decline she eats it herself. We know that the nice-ness is also probably a phase.

In AZ we are loving the awesome weather we have had (this is the best time of year for us) and the town is alive with spring training and the smell of orange blossoms in the air.

Enjoy the pics and video.

#2 on the Way!

After 12 weeks, a sonogram, and getting to hear the heartbeat we are writing to announce that we are pregnant with baby #2!

In keeping with tradition we decided to nickname the baby. This baby's name is "Peanut" (as referred to by me) and "Number 2" (as referred to by Matt in his best Doctor Evil voice). We should be able to find out if we're having a boy or a girl at our appointment in May and then we'll give the baby a proper name, thank goodness. :)

Our due date is September 27th but we'll schedule a repeat C-section sometime during the week prior. And yes, I realize that I will be as big as a house during the hottest part of the year in Phoenix. I'm really looking forward to my swollen ankles! But seriously, I hope to spend a lot of time floating in the pool.

We'll send out additional updates as we get them. Hope all is well with each of you.

Love to everyone!

Savannah at 30

For her birthday, Savannah was given a video biography chronicling her life to this point. Put together by her friends and family, she said it was one of the best gifts she has ever gotten. Youtube only allows 10 minute videos so it is uploaded in parts. See below:

Running Through the Desert

The PF Changs Rock n Roll Marathon and Half Marathon was today and Savannah ran and completed the half marathon for the first time in her life! She set a goal to do it in September with no previous running experiencce and she worked hard every week and made it happen. An amazing accomplishment that was realized after some amazing hard work. Just finishing is great but she finished in the top half of all women in her first attempt!

Others that ran were her brother, Ashley (who had a great time in the half); and his wife Afton and her sister, Adyson who both ran the full marathon. They did great.

We were able to get to the middle of the course during the race to see Savannah and prior to that, Ashley. Hayden enjoyed watching the runners and was excited to see Mommy during the race.

Enjoy the photos!

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Bouncing 'Round the Room

I totally forgot to include this video in the last posting so enjoy:

Merry Christmas, Everyone

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We had a fantastic Christmas in the Wolach household. We spent pre Christmas with our local friends, the Malcolms, Damiris', and the Coys. And we spent Christmas and post Christmas with Grandma Sarah and Grandpa Dave as well as Uncle Ashley and Aunt Afton.

Hayden received a plethora of presents (bonus points for whoever names that movie). She actually kind of knew how to open them. It may have just been her fascination with tearing paper. Each time she opened a new gift it was the coolest thing she had ever seen until she opened the next gift.

All in all it was a great season. Thanks to all for the nice gifts and cards and we wish you a wonderful 2010.