two

you are 14 1/2 months now and turning into quite the little girl. it's crazy. I thought you were a baby, and now you are toddleresque. you started counting...and I just don't believe it. you have like 50 words, and repeat everything we say. the other day we were going to taco tuesday and you said taco. so the counting. we were watching sesame street and they got to nine and you said ten! then daddy came home and he said one and you said two three four. it amazes us. and you get a kick out of it too. so now we try and sometime you get it right, and other times you just scream jibberish in a counting way. you are in your crib going to sleep and I overheard you say two. it was funny. you always sleep with a different baby and when we get you out in the morning you always say baby and want to grab it and carry it up stairs with you to our room. sometimes the animal is as big as you are. amber is helping watch you now too, and she has been really good to you. she is teaching you a lot and even had you go potty in the potty a few times. you like to kick the ball and she gets elmo or ernie to kick it back to you. we had the vacuum on today and you were trying to figure out how to turn it on, so I did it with my foot. so instead of pushing the button, you grabbed my foot and put it back on there to turn it on. I don't think you got that it works with your hand too. you like to throw things away, so I always send you to the garbage with something. sometimes you make it there and other times you pull stuff out..like the empty box of mike and ikes you can't get enough of. you love your sweets. even if you get them and I hide them behind me or somewhere you seem to find them. you LOVE going outside. and your cutest word is outside..the way you say it is soo up out siiiieeede??? you know putting your hat on or shoes or snow outfit means outside, so you try to get us to put those on for you. today you were running around naked and brought us the snowsuit, we said you need to get a diaper and you ran to your room and brought us a full one... it was funny. then you peed on the couch before we got the other one. but alas, we got you dressed and took you two houses down so you could see rudolph up in the tree. you love it. you love the water and baths.. and when the bath is over you say "bye" to it. it's funny you say bye and hi to animals and things...cars, clothes, the park. it's cute. we took an overnight trip to ocean shores and it was fun to take you to the beach. you say beash. you loved it. we went in the pool together and took a bath after. we also took a nineteen hour road trip to palm springs with you! and you hate your carseat!!! you scream most the time, or wine..or whatever, and it's so annoying there is nothing I can do to get you to stop and I have to try and entertain you the whole time. so , we traveled through the night, and made it fairly easy! we went to manhattan beach and played. you are done putting the sand in your mouth and just enjoy running free and building sand castles with daddy, and its very relaxing. then we took you to disneyland!!! you were in such awe and wonder, it was fun to watch you!!!! I thought you were too young, but you really enjoyed it! we took you on the pooh ride and your eyes were so big in amazement, and we were done, you said more more. so we went on it again. it was probably the only ride with a five minute wait, so that was awesome. you loved the little minnie and mickey houses. they had an active dishwasher you couldn't get enough of. you got to see pluto, and you shook your head no and didn't want to go to him. then you saw mikey mouse and you gave him a kiss on the nose. it was precious! you say ah-huh and eh-eh a lot and plz, and dankyou, and omi and opi, and antee, doggie (finally!) but you wont say giselle and when we point to family pics you point out people, but you call yourself baby. you love putting clothes on especially with animals or whatever on them and you say wow and go to the bathroom and have me lift you up to see what you look like. and then we laugh! and you have started saying wow as a question..like is this a wow moment? wow? it's hilarious.. and I am like yes this is a wow!!! you love elmo too. you say elmo all the time, and auntie kristina got you a pair of slippers with elmo heads and you really like those. you jump in the air and do a lot of automic butt drops. you still tickle and you tickle the dog and hunter. you tried feeding hunter the other day. you would put the cheese in his mouth and you give him hugs. and sometimes you take things from him and say no. like his binkie and then you put it in your mouth. I am trying to teach you to share. you are very outgoing and run over to any kids and take whatever they have...so then I have to tell you to share and give it back. a girl had two rackets and a ball. and you wanted the ball. she gave you the racket to play pass the ball. she put the ball in your racket and you took the ball and handed her the racket back. you like to talk on the phone and have conversations and sometimes push the buttons and put it on mute. you love to push the buttons on the computer too. you are very silly and love to laugh and make everyone laugh. you do "chins" which miki taught you and we say chins and you basically push your head back to create double triple chins. it looks silly. you laugh all the time and just have fun. k, love you mommy

oh and

you also started whispering, you talk jibberjab and whisper to us if we whisper to you. it's sounds precious.

baby

we took you to the fair today! you loved the parade, all the animals and high school bands came through, you would clap and dance and wave. you dance at night and it cracks me up. you do squats and clap and go around in circles. you love the hokey pokey, but for some reason every time I sing "rock a bye baby" you scream. it's so funny. you are now showing so many preferences. you pick out your shoes. you put on one of each the other day. it's very cute. you still go a hundred miles per hour. we went to bend oregon for vacation and you had a blast. lots of swimming and they had a fountain splash area that you were fascinated with. you ate eggs every morning with grandma and went golfing w/ gpa and dad and me. you loved running around and chasing the balls. you say "shoes" and eye, and hi and sometimes nana for hunter. and a lot of the time you just scream for what you want. it's getting louder and louder. we are trying to teach you to say more or please or use your words, but you get frustrated right away and want things right away. you are figuring everything out on your own. you open containers and put them back, and you put things in and out and throw things in the garbage. you are figuring things out very quickly. you almost can reach the door and now I will have to childproof those. you love going up and down the stairs. and you don't like to be held much because you would rather be running as fast as you can with your head down like a bull, it's crazy. we are just trying to keep you alive right now, and you are having the time of your life. you still pick up everything you see and put it in your mouth. dirt, rocks, you name it, if you could choke on it, you stick it in your mouth. and you love outlets of course. but you still give the best hugs and you say "mwaa" when you kiss, and you are starting to pretend hit and you say "ow". I think that is your favorite thing to do. I need to figure out a way for you to stop, but then right after you hug and kiss. you get so excited to see me when I come home from work. you get the biggest smile on your face, and I love holding you. I think of you all the time. and miss you so much when I am not with you. you went on the front of daddy's bike in bend too, we got a seat that sits on the handle bars and you loved it. you put your lil pink helmet on and enjoy the ride. you fed the ducks and saw horses and deer. we tried to put you on a pony a month ago and you weren't sure about it and wanted off. you didn't like when it started moving. I think it scared you. you are very outgoing and go up to everyone, but every one and a while you get shy and come to me. it's cute. you say uppa all the time too. even to get down, but you will figure it out. love you baby! your mommy's baby.

if nothing else, I hope you are kind

oh love, so many things I want to teach you, and I hope someday you may actually read this and maybe it will at be something for you to at least think about before you make decisions. if nothing else, I hope you are kind. I know it is already in you to be kind. I have seen you share and love and give and smile. you love life, so I know it will be easy to share your gift of happiness and joy with others, and if you're heart and life are full, it will be easy for you to overflow your love to others. but, at times it may be difficult to be kind. I remember middle school and how catty girls are. it is so silly and your friends change as you enter high school, but it is enough for you to want to fight back. you need to remember that you may not know why someone is mean to you or why they make up stories about you, but just think they may have been hurt or are in a bad place in their life, and have no other way to express their hurt. it doesn't make their actions okay, but how you respond to their actions says a lot about your character. please be kind. they may already have a broken soul. you owe it to yourself and to spread love to not spread more hate or nastiness around. you can reach out to others to get the help you need to get through this but learning to forgive others is the only way to release yourself from the pain others inflict on you. not by fighting back, it will just make it worse. this will take a lot of patience and understanding, even at a time when you may just chalk it all up to being hormonal teenagers, but just remember to rise above it. also, be kind to others who have struggled and need a friend. don't turn your back on those around you who need someone to love them. it's not okay to make fun of others because you think they are different, or uncool. embrace who they are, and learn from them. put your self in others shoes.

another month has flown by

unreal, you are just changing before my eyes. today we went on a hike to tiger mountain, and daddy carried you in the backpack..you talked the whole time. you really can talk. i love it, and hope it scared the bears away. I started to feel anxious on the hike now that you are with us. I know the chance of something happening is so slim, but now that I have you I am like a mother bear w/my cub and couldn't live with anything happening to you out in the woods. but, you loved the hike, so I am sure we will go again, but probably just a more traveled road than the one we were on. so, I guess you tried to eat amber's foot the other day because you thought it looked like a blueberry with her nail polish...you poop blue, you LOVE blueberries so much! you went on your first camping trip with your cousins and you were so good baby! we even brought the pack n play and at bed time, we just put you in there, and with all the noise and different environment, I went and peeked in at you and you just sat there and drank your bottle until you fell asleep. I don't know if I have posted how my life has changed..you are sleeping through the night!!! I had to go to a work meeting and your daddy put you in your own room and had you sleep there. maybe it's not seeing us, but you just go right to sleep and you don't even cry! the first night you cried for a few minutes, but knowing your personality and the struggle we have had w/sleep I thought it would never work. it's crazy!!! best gift to sleep! you wake up around 7, and I am still just shocked. you gave gg a bloody lip. you are such a crazy girl, running around and bouncing your head around and you popped her one! I felt horrible, but she loves you so much, she just doesn't care what you do. you climbed and hung on the wine cooler today, just using all your arm strength..you are a tough cookie! I can't believe all you do. you go down the slide by yourself, and gpa didn't realize you would and you walked up the big swirly one and went down before he could get you! you are learning german, and even respond when I say a few words.. hensitzen and you sit down. it's wild to have you start understanding me. and I can't believe you are just picking up two languages! and sign language a little too. Auntie Debbie taught you more and you get so excited to use that, and now thank you. it's precious. you are learning your body too...you love pointing to your belly button when we ask where it is, and your ear and nose. but sometimes I say where is your nose, and you point to your ear. you also are picking up on everything! you love talking on the cell phone (oops!), and you grab the keys to go outside, and you try and put the leash on lucy, and you even picked up a qtip and tried to put it in your ear. you are working on the big legos and putting pieces together, but you get really frustrated trying to figure out things when they don't fit together. you scream..you must learn some patience as new things take a while to figure out. but, you are so determined and so curious, nothing stops you! you get tired of sitting in the carseat for too long, and it's exhausting at times trying to entertain you. but, you are such a happy baby, and your face is such a light. your smile is so beautiful and it lights up your whole face. your whole face literally smiles and I just melt. you are such a precious gift. i love you!

almost your birthday

next week is your first birthday! I can't believe it's been a year since I was in labor with you. I remember that day like it was yesterday. The pain, excitement, holding you, and feeding you. It was amazing. this last year has been amazing. I can't believe you are turning in to a little toddler right before my eyes. I want to keep you little forever, but every stage I have loved watching, but I just miss you being my baby. you are so miss independent now, and I want to hold you and kiss you, and you just want to run around. but, you do come back and surprise me with hugs or kisses. or blow raspberries on my skin and laugh. you still are breastfeeding, and it's something I will miss. you even point to my chest and say eyhhh in a high pitch voice when you are wanting to feed. you prefer my milk to the bottle but do both, and this next few weeks we will transition you away from feeding. my little baby is growing up. we celebrated your birthday at your grammy and grandpy's house in longview over fourth of july. I dressed you up like a doll and took a ton of pictures of you, and grammy made you a beautiful little cake, and we got to watch you dig in. although, I was hoping for a big mess, but you didn't like the feel of the whipped cream on your hands so you barely wanted to touch or eat it! I couldn't believe it, as you usually want to mess up everything. we even took you inside and set you in the high chair and Auntie Maria got you a cupcake, but you didn't want much to do with it either. sooo we ate it!!! it was good! you got your first doll and love to baby it. it's amazing how instinctual it is for you to rock her and feed her the little bottle. we went to a little farm and you got to sit on a pony and see a huge pig! you liked it, but were more interested in the toys in the front yard. you ran your first race! you were the littlest one with 2 and under kids and they all took off and ran to their mommy's but you just stood there and looked at everybody. it was pretty cute! you fell asleep before the fireworks show, so next year we will get to see what you think of it all. last year you were in my tummy for the show! it's amazing what happens in a year! we will celebrate your birthday again with your peps friends in a few weeks..it will be fun to see all the wobbly one year old friends of yours! k, love you!!! you finally passed out, it's close to 11.

hi love

you are just over 11 months now, and keep changing so fast! you still have a fascination with the toilet and eating the toilet paper, and you love other kids, and are a chatterbox! you talk to us nonstop. you learned to blow kisses (your hand is backwards but you say mwaaa), and you are climbing on everything. this morning, I went to the fridge and look back and you are on your highchair tray balancing and holing the back of it. that could have been a complete disaster!!! ughh, you scare me all the time! you always want to go up and down the stairs to. you love the little red car at ercolini park, and you ride in it and slip back, since you drive it backwards in circles. you love my computer, so I got you a little one, and you like to stand and sit on it and make noises. you are more gentle with hunter, you are still very interested in him, and you love to give kisses. I think your first word after dad was doll..I was pointing and reading to you in a book and you said it after I did. and you say mom more now, and I swear I heard you say kissy after you kissed something. soooo cute you are. you do not like to sit still ever. I wish I could hold you but you are on the go all the time. back in forth walking in our living room, picking things up and talking along the way. you still wake up in the night, and I am so tired, but somethings gotta give at some point I hope. you godsissies are coming over to watch you today and you are going with them to some fair which I am sure you will love. we love you and just love watching you and playing with you. we got a boat and you have had fun driving it, your little life jacket is really tight on your head and you have to turn your whole body to turn your head. we are going to a concert at the zoo this weekend, so we can take you and enjoy the show too. your dad is running a marathon on saturday too. k, love you, mommy.