Look Whooo Is 23 Months Old!

I have so neglected this poor little blog! I forgot to do a 22-month thing for Audrey, and even though I'm almost 2 weeks late with her 23-month post, I figure better late than never! Besides, she's changed so much and learned so much in the last 2 months, I want to document it!

I didn't do a picture for this month...I promise, I tried. Little turkey wouldn't hold still for a picture! Plus, there's something wrong with my blog, and my pictures don't show up after awhile. I really need to look into fixing this because I have such great memories on here. It's basically my scrapbook. Plus, I want to start a pregnancy post for baby #2. I've gotten lazy....

Anyways...as Michel and I already knew, Audrey is one smart cookie! In June, right after she turned 21 months old, she was assessed for a speech delay, and didn't qualify. Her expressive language was 3 months behind, but her receptive language (what she understands) was measured at that of a 29-month-old! Anyways, in the last couple of months, her expressive language has really caught up with her receptive language. In June, she was still mainly using one word at a time to express herself. Now she uses more 2-3 word phrases, and a wide variety of phrases. The biggest change we've seen in the way she speaks is that she's adding all parts of the word to it (she did a lot of syllable deletion...all of her "b" words were just "buh" like book, ball, bug, big all sounded like "buh"). She also used to count by changing her intonation, but the word was just "uh" for every number. Now she can say 1-10 fairly understandably. Some of her numbers are much clearer than others (two, three, five, six, eight are easiest to understand). She's still my social butterfly and will say hello to anybody she sees, wave at everybody, and do anything for a laugh! I LOVE this sweet little girl and her silly personality!

Weight/Height: I don't know. We go for her 2-year-old check-up in a couple of weeks. I'd guess 25-26 pounds. No idea on her height other than she's not tall! Who does she get that from???

Clothes: Still mainly in 18m clothes. For pants, she really needs a 24m to accommodate her chubby little thighs (again...who does she get that from??), but 18m are the perfect length for her. She's kind of in that awkward in-between stage of what fits.

Sleep: Her night sleep almost never changes. She goes to bed at 8 and hasn't been waking up until 8 or later in the morning! The last two days, she woke up closer to 8:30, but one day she slept in until 9:30!!! She naps around 1 or 1:30 and only sleeps for about an hour or an hour and fifteen minutes. It's not a long nap, but I really can't expect a long nap since she sleeps such long hours at night.

Eating: She's still a great eater! She still doesn't like a cheeseburger. Seriously....what American doesn't love a cheeseburger??? That's about the only food she rejects, though. She loves her fruits and vegetables, and eats them without a complain. Oh, and she's recently developed a love of smoothies. She doesn't drink as much milk as we would like, so this is a great and easy way to get some milk in her.

New Achievements of the Month:
1. Can correctly name her colors (white, black, purple, red, green, orange, yellow, blue, purple, pink)
2. Can count 1-10 fairly understandably
3. Says most all of her words very clearly!
4. Has figured out how to climb (eeek!). Luckily, nothing very dangerous. She's not trying to climb out of her crib or anything, but she's figured out how to climb onto our bed by herself, and she's starting to climb onto the couch by herself. I guess I should count my blessings that she's a bit timid, or maybe lazy, about climbing, and still prefers to have someone put her where she wants to be!
5. I'm sure I'm missing a lot of stuff that she's just started doing, but I can't think of everything!

Likes:
1. "Anna Elsa" (a.k.a. Frozen!). I bought her some little Tupperware containers that have Anna, Elsa, and Olaf on them, and I showed her how Anna and Elsa are on her flip-flops, too. Now, she talks about "Anna Elsa" all the time, and gets so excited when we see clothes, backpacks, etc. in Wal-Mart with Frozen on it!
2. Bubble Guppies
3. Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
4. Running in the grass
5. Being outside
6. Music

Dislikes:
1. Having anything yucky on her hands
2. Having a boo-boo (she'll randomly point out where she used to have a boo-boo and say "boo-boo ow")

I can't believe we're less than a month away from celebrating this sweet girl's 2nd birthday!!!!

Look Whooo Is 21 Months Old!

I have done a horrible job at keeping up with my blog. It's just kind of fallen to the bottom of my priority list. Also, I can't upload photos from my phone. It shows the last pictures that I took to be on July 4, 2014! I don't know why new ones won't pop up. I've gotten a new phone and a new computer since then, so I'm not sure what's going on there...

Anyways, I really can't believe that Audrey is 21 months old! I seriously feel like she should still be a baby, but she is such a big girl! She's my super social butterfly, loves to wave/say hi/bye as we're entering/exiting the grocery store, loves being the center of attention, loves making people laugh at her, loves her family (could seriously care less if Mommy and Daddy are around if she has grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around!), and loves sleeping really long hours at night in order to avoid taking a nap at any and all costs. Sometimes it's nice that she can suffice on such little day sleep (Six Flags, for example), but most of the time it's a bit frustrating (like today when she played in her crib for 30 minutes only to lay down for a 45 minute nap). I'm already thinking that she'll just stop taking naps altogether by age 2 (nooooo!!!)....but her night sleep remains at 11 1/2-12 hours (12 1/2-13 hours if she needs to catch up on sleep), so should I really be complaining????

We had a speech evaluation done on her. I expressed some concerns to her pediatrician around 18 months old that, though she has a lot of words (or at least a lot of sounds for words), nobody can understand her. Also, she knows/can say most of her letter sounds. Yet when she puts those sounds together in a word, it's completely jibberish. Example: if you ask her what a snake says, or what the letter "S" says, she'll say "sssss", but when she tries to say the word "shoe", it's "ga." She says the word "mama" very clearly, but the word "milk" is also "ga." So I don't totally understand why "milk" doesn't at least start with an "m" when she says it because I know she can make that sound. Anyways, she didn't qualify for speech therapy. She had to have a 25% delay across all areas (cognition, expressive communication, receptive communication - how she understands the language, gross motor, fine motor, and social-emotional) OR a 33% delay in one specific area. Everything but receptive and expressive communication measured as a 20-21 month-old (no delay); her expressive communication skills were measured as an 18-month-old (14% delay), but her receptive communication skills measured as a 29-month-old!!! I knew that she understood a LOT, but I didn't know that she understood around the level of a 2 1/2 year-old! I was pretty impressed with that. I got lots of compliments on how personable she is (no surprise there), how well she attends to, and engages with adults, and how she separates from me easily. OK, now this turned into a shameless Mommy brag, but still, I was very proud of how well she did for the evaluation! I was told that we need to focus on her using more 2-word phrases (which was one of my concerns about her speech going into the eval), and not using her middle finger to point, but making her use her index finger more.

Anyways....

Weight: I really don't know. I'm guessing around 25 pounds. She usually gains about a pound per month.

Length/Head circ.: ??? If I remember correctly, they don't measure head circumference after 18 months. We don't go back for a well-check until age 2.

Clothes: Still fits comfortably in 18m clothes. Some are getting a bit snug, but they should last all summer. We'll probably have to find 24m/2T (not sure which one we'll go to) this fall...around her 2nd birthday

Sleep: Goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up between 7:30 and 8 (8:30 if she's really tired) the next morning. Naps....ha! What 21-month-old needs a nap (this seems to be Audrey's mindset as of lately)

Eating: This girl is such a great eater! She just discovered a new food that she loves: Veggie Straws! I've tried them; they really are pretty good. The one food I've seen her reject over and over is a hamburger/cheeseburger. How can you not love a cheeseburger? I made some last night, and I heated up some macaroni for her, but I broke off pieces of a hamburger patty in her macaroni to make it kind of like a goulash. I noticed she wasn't eating the meat, so I asked her to eat some meat. She put it in her mouth, chewed it, shook her head "no", and gave it back to me. :-/ I guess I can't ask for more than that...she did try it! :)

New Achievements of the Month: 
1. Can say "help" really clearly
2. Has learned a few colors: blue, red, and green. She knows blue receptively (can you find me a blue Lego?) and expressively (What color is that? Blue) and says blue like "boooooo!" with a really long ending.
3. We had lunch with my parents on Wednesday for my dad's birthday and something happened and I said, "Oh, Nana," to my mom. She copied me saying that (very clearly, too) and now she says it all the time, only names will change (Oh, Nana; Oh, Mama; Oh, Dada; Oh, Karys)
4. She loves copying me when I say, "Oh, bummer!"
5. She says "thank you" very clearly, with the exact same inflection in her voice that I use when I say it to her, and uses it spontaneously/without me having to prompt her when I give her something. I love her sweet manners!
6. When I tell her we're going bye-bye, she'll say bye to everything we pass: Bye Ninja, bye floor, bye chair....not all the time, but quite a bit!

Likes:
1. Tickling everyone/everything - Mama, Dada, Ninja (we don't let her, but she always asks to), ants, the floor....apparently she doesn't quite "get" who/what can be tickled :)
2. Pushing her baby stroller around that Karys gave her
3. Ducks! She has suddenly developed a love for ducks. I made the mistake of finding a duck video on Youtube, and now she wants to watch it all. the. time. It has a weird song that plays in the background that gets stuck in my head, but she loves it!
4. Singing - put anything to music for her and she'll love it!
5. Dancing
6. Clapping for herself for a job well-done

Dislikes:
1. NAPS!!!
2. Not getting her way - I fear we're approaching the "terrible 2's"!

In all seriousness, though, she really has a sweet, easy-going disposition about 95% of the time. I think we'll keep her around for a bit longer!

Look Whooo Is 19 Months Old!!

I'm a bit late on this, but this last week has been soooooo busy! Plus, I've gotten really into Parenthood during naps/bedtime, and it's hard for me to focus on the show and type a blog (even though I'm now doing it as I type!).

Lots of things have changed since 18 months! First, last Friday we went to Scottish Rite for her walking eval. After having a PA (physician's assistant), a physical therapist, and an orthopedic surgeon watch Audrey walk, go from a sitting to standing position, and flex/stretch her legs, feet, and hips, they determined that there's nothing wrong with her! That was a total "praise the Lord!" moment. I was really fearing she would need weekly physical therapy, orthodics, or both.

Second thing that's changed is that, after being around other friends with kids' around Audrey's same age, Michel and I have become very aware that Audrey's speech is definitely behind for her age. She has a TON of words that she knows, but she just doesn't say them clearly. As she's getting older, she's really trying to string words and thoughts together, but it really just comes out gibberish. We went to the pediatrician today (for a sick visit...poor girl's been running fever since Wednesday, we decided to get it checked out, and found out that it's just a virus and keep giving Tylenol and Motrin...$25 down the drain to find out we need to keep doing what we've been doing lol!), but anyways, I told the pediatrician some of my concerns and she's submitting our names to Early Intervention and someone should call us next week to schedule an evaluation for her.

Anyways, this girl is crazy fun, sweet, loves to be the center of attention, and a major FLIRT!! We were at Target this evening just picking up a few necessities, and there was a boy about 13 years old in the same aisle as us that Audrey immediately started waving at. He actually looked at her, and said "hi" and she got the biggest smile on her face! Uh-oh. We have trouble on our hands! I also jinxed myself tonight when I was talking to Michel on the phone and told him that she's been in a great mood, obeying, etc. Then it came time to pick up all the toys (as we do every. single. night) before bedtime and this girl stinker acted like she had no idea how to pick up her toys. You would think that this was a new concept to her. I started picking up toys and she sits down to play with her Legos, got a drink of water, you name it, she did it. So finally I made her look me in the eye and told her if she didn't pick up her Legos by the time I got to 3, she was going to time-out. She ended up in time-out....and she made sure to let me know that she was NOT at all happy about it. One minute later (when time-out was all done) she suddenly remembered how to clean up her toys. Can I just state the obvious? Being the mother to a toddler is hard. I don't even have a strong-willed child (most of the time) and it's hard. Luckily, more often than not, I see her sweet little heart and kind spirit more than I see her defiant side (I'm probably jinxing myself again by saying this)!

OK, onto her stats:

Weight: 22lbs 6oz (as of today's dr appt)

Length/Head circ.: ??

Sleep: Ohhhh....the sleep. I read online that there is an 18 month sleep regression (actually there's one every few months), but man we felt this one! It was taking her 30 minutes to an hour+ to fall asleep at her naptime and bedtime for two weeks straight! I thought I was going to lose my mind. Luckily, she's back to falling asleep almost instantly, or at least within 10 minutes. This week she hasn't napped longer than an hour, but she's sleeping 12-13 hours at night, so she's getting plenty of sleep. She's been waking up from her nap and bedtime this week whining and fussing whereas she usually wakes up happy, so I'm guessing that's from her virus she caught.

Eating: Still a great eater! I've discovered she likes to dip her food. If we're having something where ketchup would be an appropriate dip she loves ketchup (and sometimes she just sticks her fork, or finger, in ketchup and licks it off!). Tonight we were having black bean burgers with apples and I made a little apple dip out of peanut butter, Greek yogurt, and caramel extract (it was delicious!) and she loved dipping her apples in it...though I'm pretty sure much more dip was consumed than apples!

Clothes: She's in all 18m now. Thanks to Aunt Janette, we are well-stocked for summer!!

New Achievements of the Month:
1. Says the word "up" very clearly, but in the most pitiful way possible. It's very drawn out with her arms up (she usually only uses it when she wants to be picked up), but it's like "uuuuuuup". It's pretty cute actually....except when I can't pick her up and it becomes a cry. Then it's sad/annoying!
2. Has gotten fast enough/good enough at walking that I can let her walk into a building (church mainly) without me always having to carry her. This is sad and exciting for Mommy! She's still having to learn that she has to hold my hand if we're in a parking lot because she doesn't always want to
3. Can follow directions very well (well...when she wants). It's nice that I can tell her something like "go get your water and walk to the garage" and she does it. It's sooo cute to see how much she understands even though she can't say as much back!

Likes:
1. Eating - she would probably snack all the time if I let her
2. Her little friend, Campbell. My BFF/college roommate lives in Frisco and we try to get together every other week, and sometimes every week. Her son is 6 weeks younger than Audrey, and Audrey LOVES him!! Other than her cousins, it's the only little kid whose name she knows just when she hears it, and gets really excited when she sees him. They play really well together, too, it's a win-win for everyone!

Dislikes:
1. Timeout!

Look Whooo Is 18 Months Old!!

18 months??!! We're 6 months away from planning her 2nd birthday! How in the world is that possible? I know...I say this every month, but time is seriously just flying by with this sweet girl.

We had her 18 month well-check earlier this morning, and I am proud to say (and not at all surprised) that she is right where she should be. Some of the questions we were asked were: can she use a spoon and a cup? (yes); can she stack blocks (she stacks Legos); can she run and climb (climb - yes; run - we're getting there!); does she eat table food at least 3x a day plus snacks (most definitely); does she mimic facial expressions, hand gestures, and/or words (haha! all. the. time!); does she point with her index finger (well...she uses her middle finger, but yes, she does point); does she say at least 15 words understandably (yes); does she have an expressive vocabulary of at least 20 words (yes); can she scribble correctly with colors? (yes).  That's all I can think of for the moment. At the start of each well-check, our nurse always asks us if we have any questions/concerns for the doctor. Michel and I brought up how Audrey walks with her left foot turned out much further than normal. Her right food is fine, but her left foot is turned out almost completely perpendicular to her right foot. Her pediatrician watched Audrey walk throughout the room and in the back hallway for a bit (Audrey was more than happy to have all eyes on her, too!) and thinks it's pretty normal, but did notice that she also walks heavily on the inside of her left foot, so she is sending us to Scottish Rite Hospital to have someone with more expertise watch Audrey walk and see if this is just out-toeing (which is apparently very common in toddlers who are just starting out walking). Our pediatrician asked another doctor to watch Audrey walk, too, and the other doctor also said she thinks it's just because Audrey is a new walker. I'd rather go to Scottish Rite and find out it's nothing than to do nothing about it and later find out that it's something. This girl! For a child who is perfectly healthy, we have had more therapy and specialized appointments than I ever dreamed possible (her PT and helmet). Oh well...I'm glad to fix all these little things while she's young and they can be fixed!

Anyways, on to her stats:

Weight: 21lbs 12oz (10th - 25th%ile)

Length: 30 1/2" (10th - 25th%ile)

Head Circumference: 18" (25th %ile) - it only grew 1/4" since her 15 month appointment. If you remember from her 15 month appt., we had to go back at 16 months for head measurement b/c it looked like her head grew a lot between 12 and 15 months. Today the dr said her head is on her normal growth curve and is chalking up the "rapid head growth" measurement to an incorrect measurement at some point along the way. Phew!)

Sleep: I feel like she's sleeping MORE than she used to (but not in a worrisome way)! Lately she's been sleeping about 12 - 13 hours at night (usually 7:45/8p - 8:30a!). Her night sleep hasn't changed much, but the last couple weeks her normal 1 1/2 hour long nap has extended to closer to 2 1/2 hours! This makes Mommy happy :) Now that I say that, she'll probably go back to taking crazy short naps, but at least I got a couple of weeks of nice long naps!

Eating: She is a great eater! She doesn't normally eat much at breakfast (sometimes she literally takes 5 bites or less and then is signing "all done"), but she always eats a great lunch and dinner. A typical breakfast for her is either a cereal bar, a bowl of Cheerios with milk, or some oatmeal. Lunch is usually ham or tuna salad (sometimes she gets Spaghettios instead), cheese (always have to have cheese!), sauteed bell peppers (her absolute favorite) and apple slices. Dinner is whatever Michel and I are eating. There's a couple of exceptions where I fix her something different, but that's because there are very few foods that she doesn't eat, so when it's a food that she's shown me multiple times that she doesn't like I will heat up some macaroni for her. She also is offered a snack when she wakes up from her nap, but usually doesn't eat it. Apparently she likes her 3 square meals a day.

Clothes: All of her 9m/9-12m are definitely too small now. She can comfortably wear 12m, but they're getting too small in the length (mainly pj's). 12m pants don't fit her b/c, for as small as she is, she still has some nice, chunky baby thighs! So pants are always 18m; shirts can be 12m or 12-18m.

New Achievements of the Month:
1. She can walk!!!!! Finally! 17m 3w she took about 3 very independent, tentative steps. Then she got sick and it seemed that her walking was all done. 4 days before turning 18 months, AND her appointment she started walking all over the place! I was able to capture it on video, too!
2. Can correctly name 3 out of 6 Bubble Guppies (is this something I should brag about???) :)
3. Can tell you what sounds the following letters make (in addition to the ones she knew at 17 months): R, W, Y, S, A, B, F, G, J, K, L, M, N
4. She can also identify the following letters when she sees them in writing: A, B, F, J, K, L, M, N, R, S, W, Y (in addition to H, P, T that she knew at 17 months). I promise I don't sit and tutor her and do flashcards or something! Michel jokes that she used all of her energy that should have gone towards learning to walk into learning to read and talking!
5. She will tell you when she's pooping! It's usually pretty obvious, but when her face is red, and I ask her, "Are you pooping?" she'll either answer with "no" (shakes her head) or if she's actually pooping, she'll say, "pooping"!
6. She tries to dress herself. It doesn't work at all because she just lays her socks on the tops of her feet and puts her shirt on her head, so she doesn't understand how to get her clothes ON; she just knows where each article of clothing goes.
7. She says "yucky" very clearly. Usually it's when she finds something on the floor (food from the previous meal that I missed while sweeping, or if we're walking in the parking lot of a store and she finds trash, she'll point and say, "yucky!" It's pretty cute :)
8. Says "whoa!" very clearly. Usually when she falls down :)
9. Shakes her head "no" and usually means it. Sometimes she nods "yes", but "no" is what I see most often.
10. She's getting pretty good at puzzles. As I'm typing this, we're in her room, and she did 2 puzzles - each with 10 independent pieces completely on her own!
11. Always tells me my hands are cold (which they probably are), so I blew on my hands one time, and now when she tells me that my hands are cold I tell her to blow on them and warm them up. This usually turns into her licking my hands...but it's hilarious!
12. Eats *very* well off of a plate and can use a fork and a spoon with very little help from Mommy or Daddy (oh, and right after I typed this the turkey dumped all the food off of her plate not once, but twice...normally she eats off the plate with no problem, but had to dump food only because I wrote that she does so well with a plate)
13. After a few days of having a stand-off with her when I told her to clean up a mess she purposely made and she pretended like she either a.) didn't understand what I was asking; b.) didn't want to do it, and seeing that Mommy was going to make her obey she now cleans up with no problem - usually after I ask her once. When I tell her it's time to go to bed she immediately starts picking up her Legos and putting them away without me having to ask! She really has such a sweet, helpful heart :)


Likes:
1. Chocolate milk - the only way I can get her to drink milk well is if I do 1/2-3/4 white milk and fill the rest of the cup with chocolate milk. Even then, there are some days that she only drinks like 4oz of milk.
2. Ice cream - we went to Jason's Deli after her dr's appointment this morning, and she was adamant that she was done eating when we offered her different food....until I went and got my free frozen yogurt. Suddenly, she was ready to eat again! (she is seriously my mini-me!)
3. Grocery shopping - this used to be the activity that I would NEVER do with her, and now it's so fun! She loves putting apples and bell peppers into produce bags for me, and whenever we pass a food she knows she'll point to it, say whatever it is, and ask "Please?" You would think we never feed this girl!

Dislikes: 
1. Not getting exactly what she wants when she wants it - that's pretty much every toddler though, right? :)

This girl is just soooo easy-going and happy! I don't know why God chose me to be her mommy, but my life is so blessed because of it!

Look Whooo Is 17 Months Old!!!

I know that I say this every month, but how in the world is this sweet girl already 17 months old??? There are days that I feel like I blinked and she went from an infant to a toddler overnight!

Let me just start by saying that Audrey is so blessed to have such a loving daddy! There was one day last week I really, really, really needed a Mommy "time-out" (lol). Audrey was getting over croup and fussy, clingy, crabby, etc. On top of that, I was really disappointed that a special date night that Michel and I had planned had to be cancelled. So, last Thursday Michel saw that I needed a break, and took Audrey out to do a couple of errands that he was already planning on doing, then took her to Cabella's to look around and see the big fish tank, and ended with a special Daddy/daughter lunch at Chipotle (since she loves any and all Mexican food). Not only was it a special time for me to have 3 hours at home by myself, but I know that it was a special time for Michel, and most definitely a special time for Audrey. To make it even better, she took a 3 hour nap that afternoon! Daddy/daughter dates apparently wear her out! I told Michel he was going to be responsible for taking her out daily if we get those long naps from her :)

She's still not walking independently, but we are getting there.....slowly, but surely. She has a push car that she loves pushing up and down our hallway. On days that it's been nice outside, I've taken her outside and let her push it up and down the sidewalk. She cruises furniture all the time, and she always asks for someone to walk with her (holding her hands). I also have a little "gym" in my bedroom with some step benches, weights, a weighted ball, and treadmill, and she loves crawling up and down off the treadmill and step benches, so she's definitely working on strengthening up those weak little legs of hers. Maybe she'll be a true walker before her 2nd birthday???!!

She went through a period of time where she did NOT want to go into the church nursery which is so unusual for her. I've never had her not want to go to the nursery. She would hold onto my shirt and cry, and sometimes just start crying as I walked down the hallway going to the nursery. She sure did know how to tug on my heartstrings. I kept putting her in the nursery and the workers always told me she stopped within 5-10 minutes of me leaving, but it still wasn't my favorite way to leave her. Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped! Last week the worker just held out her arms to Audrey and said, "Do you want to come play?" and Audrey just leaned right over to her....and then proceeded to look at me, wave, and say, "bye, bye." Turkey.

Waving and saying "bye bye" has definitely become a new favorite. As I was putting her in bed for her nap the other day, she usually rolls over to her tummy and starts sucking her thumb, but this time she stayed on her back, smiled at me, waved (and her wave is like a beauty pageant wave!) and said, "bye bye." Haha! I am glad she's not a kid who cries when I put her in bed, but is happy in bed and can put herself to sleep without an issue. Even though I complain about her short naps I am happy that she never protests being put in bed, and if she's not quite tired enough to fall asleep right away she'll talk and play with her crib toys. If she really wants to be mischievous, she'll throw her toys out of her crib, and I can hear them hit the floor followed by the cutest little "uh-oh." :)

One of her favorite things to do is be a "helper", and honestly she actually is a pretty good helper most of the time. The one chore I really try to get done before I get her out of bed is unloading the dishwasher. She likes helping with this....and that's why I try to do it first thing in the morning before she's awake. There's lots of interesting-looking knives, plates, and forks that she doesn't understand why she can't have! She loves helping me with laundry. She'll sit on the couch and hand me clothing items one at a time while I'm folding; if I'm loading the washing machine she sits on the floor outside of the laundry room with the pile of dirty clothes and hands me dirty clothes one at a time....and it's always with a big smile. She's very proud of herself! She's really such a sweet girl.

Weight: 21lbs 2oz

Length/Head circ.: Don't know - will find out at 18 month appointment

Sleep: Usually in bed between 7:45 and 8:00 and generally falls asleep within 15 minutes. She wakes up between 7:30 and 8am and goes down for a nap by 1 (earlier if she's being super cranky). She usually only naps for an hour and a half.

Eating: She's a great eater! I really couldn't tell you a food that she doesn't like other than tough meat (chicken breast, pork chops, etc). If we're having a meal with a meat that I know she won't eat I'll either heat her up some macaroni and cheese or Spaghettios. She eats all the same side dishes we do, and generally eats the same dinner we do. For breakfast she used to eat a cereal bar or oatmeal, but I guess she got burnt out on that because she had stopped eating a good breakfast. I didn't put much thought into it because she ate a great lunch and dinner, but this week, I've been on a scrambled egg kick and she keeps eating my eggs at breakfast! She also likes sausage (I just toss some pre-cooked sausage crumbles into my eggs as they're cooking) and Greek yogurt. Pretty much if Michel or me are eating it she wants it....and a lot of it! For lunch she usually gets either Spaghettios (rare, but a good quick lunch), ham, or tuna salad (her absolute favorite at the moment) and she usually eats a pouch food, apple sticks, red and green bell peppers (sauteed), a couple of crackers, and some cheese with her main course.

Clothes: 12m/12-18m. I actually feel like some of her 12-18m clothes look too big now! She's slimmed up a lot in the last month since her walking has increased so much!

New achievements of the month:
1. Some of her words are getting much clearer to understand
2. Can correctly say the sound when she sees "H", "B", "P", "T", "D". "T" is her favorite letter and she looks for it on her pouches...and can usually find one!
3. Can correctly name heart, star, circle, square
4. Has figured out that Ninja has similar body parts to her: (eyes, nose, mouth) and likes to touch those parts of his and then touch her own eye/nose/mouth. He (surprisingly) sits there and lets her do it and when he's had enough he just walks away. He's very good with her, and much more tolerant of things she does to him than I thought he might be.
5. Loves pointing out hats and glasses that people are wearing
6. "Counts" - her "counting" is not understandable. I just recognize her sound that she makes and she's either touching an object while "counting" or moving things one at a time over to one side of her - she's at least showing me she's starting to understand 1:1 correspondence)
7. Can correctly tell you the noises the following animals make: owls, goat, sheep, cow, cat, dog, pig, frog, bunny (it goes "hop, hop, hop"), bear, bird, pig, and duck
8. Has discovered my wedding scrapbook and asks for "book" every day. Apparently when I show her the first page (it has a copy of our wedding invitation on it) there's not really anything on there that she would recognize, so I guess I say "ooooh!" because when she wants to look at the book she asks for it by saying "book ooooh" LOL :) - also loves pointing out all of her family members that she sees (which is why she likes looking at the book so much) and now when she sees the page with our cakes on it she says "nom nom nom" Hahaha....I'm proud of this!
9. Pooped in the bathtub! OK this isn't an achievement, but a first for her! We had a lot of fun sterilizing the tub and all of her toys that were in it (insert sarcasm)
10. Really tries to copy the dance moves on Bubble Guppies! Her favorite is "Build Me a Building" in which they talk about a hammer says "bam bam bam"; a saw says "zip zip zip" and a wrench says "crank crank crank" so they have cute hand motions to go with each tool in the song. She will now bust out at any time hitting her fist like a hammer while saying, "bam bam bam" and will follow with the wrench and saw. It's soooo cute!! Today we watched one about brushing your teeth and they had toothbrush hand motions in which she really tried copying that song, too. I love seeing how much she understands!
11. I finally remembered to pull her Duplos out of her closet and get them down for her (they were given to her when she was about 3 months old with the idea that it would be a good toy for her to grow into, and since she was way too young at 3 months we put them in her closet and forgot about them. I remembered to get them out this week and they have been such a fun new toy for her. She played with them with Michel for over an hour tonight!
12. Can correctly name her shoes, socks, pants, and shirt (as well as anybody's clothes for that matter)

Likes:
1. Bubble Guppies
2. Puppies
3. Hats - grandparents gave her a Hello Kitty beach/sun hat this last summer and she's just now taken an interest in it, but she loves it! Tonight she was building with her Duplos while wearing her HK beach hat! I wish I had gotten a picture :)
4. Being outside - we could seriously spend all day outside doing nothing and she would love it
5. Looking at pictures of her family

Dislikes:
1. Not getting her way - I've used this before, but it's true; this is really the only time I see any sort of displeasure from her. We're lucky that she's never had a full-on meltdown, and when she is upset she's pretty easy to distract with something else and she's totally over whatever she was upset about in about 5 seconds....but she definitely lets you know when she's not happy!

Look Whooo Is 16 Months Old!

I completely forgot to do a 16 month post closer to the time that Audrey actually turned 16 months old. Oops!! Better late than never, though!

Our sweet girl is being a complete turkey with her sleep this week! If you're on FB, you saw that on Monday she and I were at MOPS. The worker told me she fell asleep while being rocked around 11:45 for about 10 minutes. TEN minutes. That led to complete nap refusal at home when I put her down at 1:30. She was in bed from 1:30-3:30 happily playing with crib toys, pulling dirty clothes out of her laundry basket and in her bed through the crib slats (that basket has now been moved away from her bed!), we've had 45 minute naps, 11 hours of sleep at night rather than her usual 12-13.....ahhhh!!! OK, vent over. She still wakes up at 7:30 or later so I shouldn't complain. I don't mind the 11 hour night if that would mean a 2-3 hour nap, but an 11 hour night and only a 45 minute nap just is not enough sleep for her. Hopefully she figures out her schedule again very soon. Luckily, she's not overly fussy or tired, so maybe she just doesn't need a ton of sleep...but Mommy needs a good nap time and some evening quiet time!

Between 15 and 16 months she learned how to crawl up the stairs (and excitedly tried to go upstairs at Christmas at my parents' house because Zane and Karys were going upstairs), pulls up to standing on EVERYTHING, can stand without holding onto anything for 2-3 seconds, can take steps while holding onto something (a push toy, our hands, etc), and she cruises really well. One day she will walk independently :)

Weight: 21lbs 1oz (has not gained a single oz since 15 months....this girl is on the move!)

Length: probably the same as 15 months, but I'm not positive

Head circumference: I don't know the exact number, but if you remember in her 15 month post, I mentioned how we had to go back in January to get it re-measured because it looked like there was a big jump in her head size from 12-15 months. Our regular pediatrician was back from maternity leave and showed us that Audrey's head originally measured in the 25th %ile at 2 months, fell to the 10th %ile around 9 months, and now is back in the 25th %ile, so our regular ped. thinks that there was an inaccurate measurement at some point. She isn't concerned about Audrey's head size, and said that we shouldn't be either!

Sleep: Generally in bed by 8, but isn't falling asleep until closer to 8:30 (she used to fall asleep very quickly), wakes between 7:30 and 8am; naps around 1:00. This can seriously last 45 minutes - 2 1/2 hours. She stays in bed for a minimum of an hour and a half regardless of how long she actually sleeps.

Eating: Haha, I read what I put at 15 months and it's pretty similar: her favorite food one day may not get eaten at all the next day! Lately she hasn't been eating cheese. She used to LOVE cheese! And she's not eating foods from a pouch as excitedly either. I made a knock-off/clean-eating Hamburger Helper type meal one night that she absolute LOVED and gobbled up! The next night she ate about 1/4 of what I portioned out for her. Stinker. She loves any color of bell peppers, peas, green beans, broccoli, mac and cheese, Spaghettios, tuna salad, apple slices, apple sauce, pizza, chocolate chip cookie, Cheerios (plain, and in milk), pasta, crackers, puffs....that's all I can think of for now.

Clothes: She's definitely outgrowing 9-12m clothes. 12m still fits pretty well depending on the brand. Some things (shirts especially) are already 18m. Some fit really well; others are too big - again, it depends on the brand.

New Achievements of the Month:
1. Taking steps while assisted
2. Cruising furniture
3. Labels Mommy and Daddy's eyes and nose with a word approximation - yet when you ask her "Where is Audrey's eye (or nose)?" she points to her ear. Every time!
4. I can't think of new words she's learned, but I'm sure she has some! She learns so quickly!
5. "Sings" Bubble Guppies theme song (a.k.a. says "bububububu" repeatedly!)
6. Does the hand motions to dance along with Bubble Guppies during their dance scene. It's soooo cute!

Likes:
1. Bubble Guppies
2. Puppies
3. Balls
4. Walking around the house
5. Santa - she will still say "ho ho ho" and then say "Santa please" like he's around our house somewhere! She's depressed that Christmas is over :)

Dislikes:
1. Clothes/diaper changes
2. Naps (at least this month!)

I still can't believe how old she is! I feel like she should still be an infant. Time really does fly by!

Christmas Festivities, Fevers, and the Flu

This post is LONG overdue! I would love to say it's because I've been so busy that I haven't had 5 minutes to myself. But last week when Audrey had the flu (more on that later), I had nothing but time. Did I use that time wisely? Hahahaha...not at all! Do I regret it? Nope!

Anyways, we were lucky enough to have Michel off work on the 25th and 26th. That meant Audrey and I had no plans on Christmas Eve, so we decided to go to my parents' house. I could watch a Christmas movie that my mom had recorded (parents have cable; Michel and I don't, and I miss it SOOOO much from Thanksgiving until Christmas!). Anyways, my parents and I watched a Christmas movie during Audrey's nap and then we all went to my parents' Christmas Eve service at their church.

Our little stinker is generally such a happy little girl, and tonight was definitely no different! She's hamming it up for the camera. And check out her super adorable Christmas outfit! Each year I've had her, I want to do a 12 Days of Christmas Outfits blog post, but keep coming up just a couple outfits short :( Maybe one year... Christmas outfits for little girls are just so precious!

Anyways, after the service, we ate a quick dinner with my parents and then she and I headed home. I still had loads of presents to wrap and I had to watch It's a Wonderful Life. It's become my Christmas Eve tradition...such a good, good movie!!!

Christmas morning, Michel got home around 7am, and then we had to wait over an hour for Audrey to wake up. I'm adding this little tidbit in because it won't be long before Audrey (and hopefully a sibling) are waking us up at 4am ready to open gifts!

For Christmas, Audrey got a slide, rocking chair, new book, new clothes, a ball, and some fun goodies in her stocking. Honestly, she cared way more about opening the presents than the present inside!

One of her 12 Outfits of Christmas! (cutest pjs ever)

She doesn't look so sure of it in the picture, but she loves her slide now!

Presents got so awesome that she had to have one in each hand!

When she opened her stocking and saw those cookies (that's what's in the yellow bag), she immediately started asking "cookie please?" so we opened it and gave her a cookie before breakfast...it's just what you do on Christmas!

That expression!!! "Oooh....Daddy, what is that?"

Last but not least from our Christmas celebration at our house....this has got to be my favorite picture of her!!

Michel got me a new Google Chromebook and upgraded my cell phone! I gave him cash, lol. That may seem incredibly impersonal for a wife to give her husband, but it's seriously what he wants and asks for. He enjoys either saving it to buy a big expensive techno/nerd gadget in the future or he'll find something online that he just can't live without and spend it fairly quickly!

We chilled at home, had breakfast, and packed our stuff up and headed to my parents. Even though they're only 45 minutes away, my sister and her family come to stay for several days so we opted to stay the night, too, so that we weren't driving back home Christmas night and then back the next day. Plus, it makes it feel more like a vacation if you're away from home. We had lots of fun opening more presents, getting together with all the family, and of course, eating too much (yummy) food!

OK, I have to tell a cute story. Audrey absolutely ADORES Karys (6). Karys will sit in the floor and play with Audrey, read books to her, and usually give her lots of attention that Audrey just eats up. I put Audrey to bed around 7:30 on Christmas night. I heard her on the monitor about 20 minutes later crying, so I went up to check on her and asked her why she was crying. She's pretty verbal for being 15 months old, but I didn't really expect an answer. So when I picked her up, she pointed to the bedroom door and said "Kar-Kar" (that's how she says Karys' name). Zane and Karys were still downstairs playing, and I guess Audrey could hear them and was sad that she wasn't in on the fun, too. Luckily, Zane and Karys were both heading upstairs to go to bed themselves, so I told Audrey that Karys was going night night and it wasn't time to play. Apparently, that worked because I put her back down, and didn't hear from her until about 7:30 the next morning! Silly girl just wants to be a big kid like her cousins!

Audrey loves Karys so much, she kept wanting Karys to pick her up. Audrey weighs 21 pounds. Karys weighs about 31 pounds...it wasn't going to happen. So Mom came up with an idea for Karys to hold Audrey.

Can you tell how much Audrey just adores Karys? This look says it all!

While we were there, the kids had to take the obligatory grandkid pictures! First, they do one in front of the Christmas tree with this red rocking chair. My mom's dad built this chair when she was a little girl, and apparently did very well because it has held up through the years. There's a picture of each generation of kids with the rocking chair:

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2013 (my parents forgot to take the picture while we were there, so Audrey isn't in this one)

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2011

Christmas 1983 - my sister, Janette, and older cousin, Daniel

Christmas 1954 - I'd say this chair has held up very well!

When my 2 cousins, sister, and I were little, we would always take a picture of the 4 of us on the couch. My mom is continuing that tradition with her grandkids.

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2013 - look how much Audrey has changed!! 

On Sunday, December 28th, it was time to pack up again and go celebrate Christmas with the Zoutendams. Michel's brother and sister-in-law had flown in from Michigan, so we were excited to see them again! Audrey had a great time with everyone! She LOVES her grandpa, so she was pretty excited when we buckled her in her carseat and told her we were going to see Grandma and Grandpa. We got there just around lunch time, and decided it would be best for Audrey if we ate lunch, put her down for a nap, and then opened presents afterwards. She took a sad nap of about 45 minutes while Michel, Philip, David (his dad), and I played Monopoly. I love old fashioned board games!

I was the banker...yet still managed to lose! 

When we stay with Michel's parents and other people are there, too, we end up putting Audrey in a Pack 'n Play in their office, and Michel and I stay in a hotel (Philip and Erin were in their guest room). Michel and I stayed and ate dinner and dessert with everyone, put Audrey down to bed, and went to our hotel around 9:00. Audrey is a great night sleeper, so we knew she'd be fine.

Our plan was to go back to the Zoutendams' house after breakfast, stay until Audrey woke up from her nap, and then we would pack up and go back home (Michel had to go to work the next day). However, when we got to their house, they said that Audrey woke up a little after 7, played and ate breakfast, and around 9am she started acting sleepy. She laid down on the couch with Michel's dad for like 20 minutes! She was very warm to the touch, so we took her temperature and it was 101! Poor baby. Michel and I decided to go home a little early so that she could be in her own bed and we could be near the pediatrician if need be. Our first sign she didn't feel well: she was silent/sleeping the ENTIRE 2+ hour ride home. Not normal. Second sign she didn't feel well: she took another 2 hour nap after lunch. Third sign she didn't feel well: Around 7pm, she started getting really fussy, so Michel and I were talking to each other about "Maybe she wants to go to bed early?" and she started crying saying "bed, bed" and I looked at her and said "Do you want to go to bed?" and she signed "Please." When a 1-year-old cries and WANTS to go to bed early after sleeping 4 hours in a day, you know she doesn't feel well. I told Michel if she still had a 100+ temperature the next day I would probably take her to the pediatrician. Well, at 6am, she woke up crying! Like crying, crying. She rarely wakes up before 7, and never wakes up crying, so I had a feeling she was still sick. I took her temperature and it was 101.9. I decided I'd make an appointment with the pediatrician, and lo and behold, she tested positive for the flu. We even had gotten her the flu vaccine in September/October! So, for the next 2 days, she and I (Michel was at work last Tuesday and Wednesday) laid around watching way too much Bubble Guppies, and doing absolutely nothing. One day, she took one 4 hour nap (this is totally unheard of!) and still went to bed around 6:30! The next day she only took a 2 hour nap (woke up because of poop) and was crying to go to bed at 5pm! I hadn't even fed her dinner yet (her appetite never decreased while she was sick). I got dinner ready for her quickly and had her in bed by 5:45. I've NEVER put her to bed that early. I was so afraid that she was going to wake up at 5:45 the next morning, but nope...she slept until 7:30! By Thursday, she was much more herself. She had much more energy to play, only took a 2ish hour nap, and was able to stay awake until 7pm. I absolutely used all of her sleep time to lay around and do nothing! It was awesome (not her being sick, but having all that extra time to myself that I don't normally get). I watched movies, surfed the Internet, and basically did nothing for 2 days in a row.

So that's how our Christmas went! Sorry this turned into a long book (I don't know how else to write...all I know is how to be long and wordy)!