Miss Independent

One little monkey jumping on the bed...

Mya likes to dress herself, no matter how long it takes! Notice her sleeve is on her foot.

Mya likes to shampoo her hair and create her very own mohawks!

Mya has turned yet another month older, and once again we marvel at how time really does fly! It seems like every day Mya has learned something new (both good and evil). It is such a joy to watch our little darlin grow and change. What a special gift we have been given!!

Late again!!

Our little Mya turned 25 months on the 19th, and once again, I missed posting it. She has really been enjoying being two years old and boy does it show! She is a singing, dancing fool who is always up for a good time. Her favorite past time is copying anything and everything that her eight year old brother does, not excluding daredevil stunts of the furniture. Life around her is never boring, which is just the way we like it! Thanks for bringing a little more laughter into our lives little miss!!

Our Big Birthday Girl!

So, this is what a two year old looks like. I suppose it could be much worse! Mya enjoys "dressing up" in other family members clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. This is a piece from her Winter line. The shirt with no pants look really completes the outfit!

Mya loves Elmo and to have him on her birthday cake was a real treat for her! She had at least three helpings of ice cream. That's my girl!

Mya received lots of wonderful presents. It is really fun to play with her now because she is into dolls, "cooking", puzzles, and many other things that mommy likes to play with. Mya is turning into a little girl right before our very eyes. We feel so blessed to have such a delightful daughter in our lives and thank God for helping us to find each other!

23 months old!

Poor Mya missed Halloween (again) due to a nasty ear infection, but at least we had a good time picking out pumpkins and getting lost in the corn maze.

Mya takes great pride in pulling out her hair pretties. Apparently, she prefers the "wild" look! I remember when she was a baby and I couldn't wait to put her hair in a pony tail. Now that it is finally long enough, the little stinker won't leave them in!

Happy 23 months little miss- its hard to believe your almost 2!!

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22 months!

Our little girl is growing up so fast! We have finally come to accept that she is no longer our little baby. She is a full blown toddler- complete with all the lovely behaviors of a 2 year old! Her new favorite words are "mine" and "don't". She also loves to hear herself scream and practices that skill on a daily basis. Mya can indeed be a challenge at times, but she can also be sweet and kind. She even asks me if I'm ok ( repeatedly) when I cough. Life would be a complete bore without her!

21 months and counting!

Mya got to go on her first camping trip this past month. She had a great time exploring around the campground and the lake, but didn't enjoy sleeping in the pop-up tent so much. I'm sure our fellow campers didn't enjoy it so much either!! Needless to say, Mya and I cut our trip a little short and let the boys stay to fish. Cade is quite the little fisherman! Maybe by next summer, Mya will be more into sleeping in the great outdoors.

Happy 21st month birthday Mya!

Happy "Gotcha Day!"

A year ago today, we met our beautiful little daughter for the very first time! I remember that day as if it was only yesterday. This morning, I sat Mya on our bed and let her watch the video of the moment we met. As always, she was completely enthralled by what she was watching. Somehow she knows what an important event it was, you can see it on her face. We gave her a little purse from Vietnam to commemorate the occasion, and she insisted on carrying it everywhere with her this morning. Always the "girlie girl," she adores her purses, shoes, jewelry, and nail polish so I knew the purse would be a big hit!
We love you My!!

Late! (again)

At the beach with Daddy

Totally enjoying her chocolate pudding!

I did it again! I totally missed posting on Mya's 20 month "birthday". Apparently I won't be winning the blogger of the year award after all!

It is so amazing to think that we have had our little ball of fire for almost a year now. On the one hand, it seems like just yesterday that we travelled to Vietnam to meet her, but on the other hand, it feels like she has always been with us. She is growing up so fast. I wish that I could stop time and keep her our little baby forever, but somehow I don't think she is going to go for that!

19 months!

We traveled to the Oregon Coast with some friends and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Mya wasn't very excited about playing with (or touching) the sand, but after a while, I couldn't keep her out of it! She had a great time digging with her brother and was pretty good at throwing sand as well. It was really nice to get away from our home improvement projects and spend time relaxing with family and friends.

Happy 19 months My My!!

18 months!

Mya is such a hard subject to take a picture of. Most of the ones I have of her are a total blur. This little girl is always on the move! It seems that the only good picture I can get of her is when her cousin Brooke catches her. Thank you Brooke!! Now that we are all out for summer vacation, I have made it my mission to get some good pictures of our little miss before she grows up any faster.
Happy 18 months my sweet girl!!

17 months and busy, busy, busy!

Mya has been quite busy the last few months happily exploring her world and causing trouble along the way. This girl gets into everything! Her favorite naughty things to do are as follows: get into mommy's makeup powder, put the kitty's food in his water dish, throw kitty litter, try and confiscate the knives from the dishwasher, mess up the tv remote, somehow manage to get into the kid proofed entertainment center, rearrange the dvds, flush things down the toilet, and poop in the tub! By the end of the day we are all exhausted, but happy. Mya keeps life interesting!!

Bad Mama!!

I am such a bad mother! I totally missed posting on Mya's 16 month "birthday". I am going to have to blame it on the fact that I was so busy taking care of my sweet little girl that I had completely forgot. Our poor Mya had a bad reaction to a shot she got on Thursday and was miserable all weekend. When Mya is miserable, she likes to make sure everyone else is feeling that way as well! It is hard to believe that such a tiny little girl can have such a huge set of lungs!! Thank goodness she is almost back to her old sweet self today!

Happy 15 months!!

Our little bird on her nest

Mya loves Cade's Star Wars helmet, now if she could just see out of it!

Caught red handed- Mya's naughty face!!

Cade and Mya- what a pair!!


Despite the occasional case of the sniffles, everyone seems to be healthy and happy at the Bryan house. Cade and Mya have been quite busy entertaining all of us with their funny antics. They have completely opposite personalities, yet amazingly, share the same sense of humor. Things can get pretty wild around here, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

What a month!

Not Happy!!

Tough Guy!

This past month has been a tough one for the Bryan family. Poor Cade had to have an emergency appendectomy, and Mya spent her fourteen month "birthday" yesterday suffering with an ear and sinus infection. It breaks my heart to see my kids so sick! Luckily, Cade has made a speedy recovery and I am hopeful that Mya will too.

13 months!

I can't believe that an entire month has passed since Mya's birthday! Our kids are growing up so fast. Cade will turn seven on Thursday and big brother Zack will be twenty this Spring. I wish that I could stop time!!

Mya has adjusted well to the new babysitter, much better than mommy has adjusted to returning to work. Luckily, my little kindergartners keep me so busy that I don't have time to worry much about Mya. I just wish the little stinker would sleep better at night so that I could function a little bit better at school. Mya is lucky she is so darn cute (even at three in the morning) or I might have to send her away to baby boot camp or call Nanny 911 or something. Let's hope this is the month she starts sleeping better!!

Christmas in America!

Judging by the look on her face, Mya wasn't too impressed with this present!

Yippee! Elmo, Mya's favorite!!

Mya is always so entertained by all of her cousins!

We had such a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends! It was extra special this year because Mya was with us. I remember being so sad last Christmas because we still hadn't heard anything about who our sweet little baby would be. That seems like so long ago!

I have really enjoyed spending the last three months at home with Mya, but sadly it must come to an end. I have to return to work on Monday. I have missed my kids at school and am anxious to be their teacher again, I just wish Mya could go with me. Is a one year old to young to be in kindergarten? I'm sure she's gifted, maybe I'll have her tested and get her enrolled in my class! Luckily, we have a wonderful child care provider so I know Mya will be in the best of hands.

Birthday Girl!

Patiently waiting for her guests to arrive

Making a wish!

"Can't I open these as well, mommy?"

Our sweet little daughter turned one today! We celebrated the event with a small dinner party with family and will have her "big" party on Sunday. I was impressed that Mya knew exactly what to do with all of the gift bags. She knew there were treasures inside them and she wasted no time ripping them out of there. That's my girl!

Mya wasn't quite so sure what to think about the cake. She liked the frosting (who doesn't) but proceeded to throw all of her cake, piece by little piece, onto her brother's plate!

It was a special day for all of us, as we were reminded how lucky we are that Mya was born into this world and into our family!

Little Miss Mischief!

Guess what Mya discovered today? You guessed it- toliet paper!! I knew something was up when Mya suddenly got very quiet. She had a great time unrolling it! I'm sure she would have gone through the entire roll if I would have let her. I always seem to spoil her fun!!

Wow! 11 months old already?

It is hard to believe how fast our little darling is growing up. Mya is eleven months old today! We feel so fortunate to be able to celebrate each of these little milestones with her. She's a real blessing!!

Photo shoot!

My friend Julie came over the other day to take some pictures of the kids. It was Mya's first "official" photo shoot. I now know why people say not to work with babies and animals. Mya was not any easy subject to shoot! That just goes to show you what a good photographer Julie is because she somehow managed to get some really great pictures regardless! Here are a few of my favorites.