Watch Ava Grow - 2 Months Old!!

This sweet baby is already 2 months old!! How is that even possible? Before I know it, I'll be planning her first birthday party....but I'm not ready to think about that yet. I want to keep her a baby for a little while longer. 

Weight: 9lbs 9oz (9th %ile) 

Length: 22 1/2 inches (50th %ile)

Head Circumference: 40cm (91st %ile!!!) 

Sleep: Nap? What's a nap? That seems to be her motto today as I'm writing this. I always tell Michel he's the baby whisperer. He puts her in bed, and she falls asleep without a peep and sleeps for 2 1/2 hours! I put her in bed, and she yells, and is awake 30 minutes later.... 

On a normal day, she naps 4 times a day for about 1 1/2-2 hours between feedings. She sleeps great at night, though! She's up once for about 20 minutes, eats, and goes right back down. I usually have her in bed by 7:30 and she's up for the day between 7-7:30 the next morning. (Edit: as of 5/16/16 when I'm writing this, she's done 2 nights in a row of sleeping for 11 hours straight, eats quickly, back in bed for about an hour to an hour and a half, and up around 7:30 or 7:45!!)

Eating: She generally eats 3-4oz every 3 hours during the day; 4oz when she's up at night.

Clothes: She comfortably fits into 0-3 month clothes

New Achievements of the Month:
1. She smiles at us!! She's not nearly as free with her smiles as what Audrey was (especially at this age), and sometimes you have to work hard to get one, but when she smiles at you, it takes up her entire face and is the most precious thing EVER!!!
2. She's found her fist to suck on. I still can't decide if she'll be a thumb-sucker like Audrey, or need a pacifier (or maybe neither!), but she can get her fist in her mouth and will chew/suck on that when needed. 
3. She's getting better at riding in the car. It's more common now for her to ride quietly in the car than cry/scream! I'll usually ask Audrey if she's asleep or awake, and most of the time, Audrey tells me that Ava is asleep. I love having my little toddler babysitter back there to tell me what's going on!
4. She has discovered that she can control her hands! It's hilarious!! She'll sit there and watch her hand move and the expression on her face is just like, "Whoa......"
5. She can put herself to sleep from completely awake. I taught Audrey this skill early on, and I think it helped her to stay a good sleeper! Hopefully the same is true for Ava!
6. She can track things really well

Things She Likes:
1. Being held - if she fusses or cries while being held, it means she needs something (usually to eat). Otherwise, being held pretty much fixes everything for her. 
2. Audrey - she cranes her neck to find Audrey when she hears her voice
3. Sleeping on Daddy's chest - I call Michel the "baby whisperer". He lays her on his chest and she's out in like 3 seconds!

Things She Doesn't Like:
Napping - :-(

Other Randomness:
She's having the same head issues that Audrey did - torticollis (stiff neck), only looking one direction, etc. We're being referred to a plastic surgeon to make sure that the sutures in her head aren't closing too early because her head is taking on an elongated look (again....just like Audrey), and we'll likely be starting physical therapy for her torticollis. I've already started doing the neck exercises like I did for Audrey. Good grief - we seriously just had the exact same baby!

Watch Ava Grow - 1 Month!

I'm a couple of weeks late in posting, but I'm finding myself a little busy most days! In all honesty, Ava is really a very easy-going baby. She's a pretty happy little girl, and it's so fun watching her little personality start coming out.

Length: 22 inches (as of 4/5/16)

Weight: 7lbs 10oz (as of 4/5/16)

Head Circumference: Not sure

Sleep: She generally sleeps 2+ hours in between feedings during the day. At 1 month, she was going about 4-5 hours without waking to eat at night. As of the last 4 nights (I'm typing this on 4/19), she's been doing more like 6 hours at night without waking to eat. Daytime naps are lately starting to shape up much like Audrey at this age - it is getting harder to put her down and keep her down; however, at night, she drinks her bottle and is ready to go back to bed. Michel always helps out with night feedings, too, and we're generally back in bed within 30 minutes of getting up to feed her, so I can't complain there. This was around the time that I started implementing a Baby Wise-inspired schedule with Audrey, and I see us starting this in the very near future with Ava.

Eating: She generally eats 2-4oz every 2 1/2-3 hours

Clothes: She's still wearing a NB size in clothes, but they are getting snug throughout the length. She is wearing a size 1 in diapers, but only because we ran out of NB diapers, and had a TON of size 1's. She was still fitting into a NB diaper, though.

New Achievements of the Month: 
1. This girl has found her voice!! I seriously feel like she's a mini-me of Audrey! I had Ava lying on the couch (don't worry, I was sitting right beside her), and she was watching the shadows on the couch cushion as her arm moved back and forth, and she was making the SWEETEST noises. I wish I could have gotten it on video...it was soooo cute!
2. When she's in her bed fussing (waiting for someone to come in and feed her), she stops as soon as she hears me start talking, or as soon as she sees me (or Michel). She knows we're going to take care of her! Of course, if you don't get that bottle in her mouth in a timely manner, she will let you know that you're taking too long :)

Things she likes:
1. Hanging out in her boppy - usually while swaddled
2. Being held - she'll gladly let anybody hold her for as long as they want (and will probably start talking to you!)
3. Sucking on her paci
4. Her big sister :)

Things she doesn't like:
1. The car/car seat - ugh....again, just like Audrey! Audrey didn't hate the car ride as much as Ava. Sometimes we have a quiet car ride; sometimes we have just a fussy baby, and sometimes we have a screaming baby. It's very unpredictable, and I can't ever tell what it is that she doesn't like about the car ride. Ava also isn't a big fan of her car seat in the stroller either, so whenever I take her places, I just have to push her to our location and know that I'll have to take her out and hold her. Once she's out of the car seat, the tears pretty much turn off immediately.
2. Being hungry...but really, who likes feeling hungry?? :)

Other random facts:
1. Audrey LOVES Ava, and hates hearing her cry/fuss. If Ava does start crying and we're at home, Audrey usually gets a book to read to her while I make a bottle (most of the time if Ava starts crying it's because she's hungry). If we're in the car, Audrey will be in the back seat going "Shhhh Ava" (in a sweet voice), or sometimes Audrey will just inform me, "Mommy, Ava cwying." LOL....yes. I hear it, too. One time, the thing that cracked me up the most was when Audrey told Ava, "I know. It rough being a baby." Hahahaha!!! Can you tell that I've said this before?
2. Ninja seems to feel a sense of responsibility for Ava. I had her lying on her boppy on the floor, and Ninja walked over, sniffed her a little bit, and then laid down beside her. If she's on the floor and starts crying, he has sat down beside her and then stares at me like, "Ummm...this thing is crying. Aren't you going to do something?" Also, when I go in to feed her at night, he usually follows me in there and curls up inside her crib!! He will jump out when I put Ava back in there, though. :)

Welcome to the world, Ava Noelle!

I haven't touched this blog in 7 whole months!!! I got annoyed with my pictures disappearing, and just thought about stopping the blog altogether. However, this is the only way I keep track of my kids' milestones, and since I did so well with Audrey's month-ivesary series, I have to do the same with Ava. As the younger child, I always said I wasn't going to do more for the older child than the younger, but now I see how it just happens. Some days, we have our hands FULL! Yesterday, I got about 30 minutes of down time the entire day. I was absolutely EXHAUSTED by bedtime. I digress.

Today, the day that Ava turns 1 month old, I decided that I should go back to the day that she was actually born.

On March 8th, I had my regular 39 week appointment with my OB. When she did the cervical check, she found that I was 3 1/2 cm dilated, baby was REALLY low (which I already knew thanks to my trips to the bathroom every 30 min!), and my water bag was bulging to the point she was surprised that it hadn't broken yet. She told me if I had been 4 cm dilated, she could have admitted me to the hospital in active labor, and asked if I was having a lot of contractions. I told her I had them all the time, but they were only 15-20 min apart, lasted about 30 seconds, and pretty much painless. She asked if I could come back the next day because she was certain I would be dilated to at least a 4, and that we would have a baby that day! Michel and I called our family, and Michel's dad came and stayed with Audrey while we went to the hospital. We were also told to go ahead and bring our bags as my OB was really certain that March 9th would be baby day! So we got to the OB's office, and found out I was 5 cm dilated!! Also, when my OB checked me, my water bag sprung a small leak, so now it was definitely baby day! I was 39 weeks and 4 days along, and soooo uncomfortable, so I was so happy to hear that we were going to meet Ava that day!

My OB's office is at Medical City, so we just had to drive around to a different building, and went up to L&D to get checked in. We arrived there around 1:30, and I was asked if I wanted an epidural. I declined it at the time because, again, my contractions were virtually painless. My OB was going to come over soon and break my water, and my nurse warned me that would likely cause the intensity of the contractions to pick up, and an anesthesiologist may not be available right away. I still declined. Around 3:00, my OB came over and broke my water. Um, the nurse wasn't lying. My contractions sped up from every 15-20 minutes and virtually painless to every 2-3 minutes and they HURT! Needless to say, I asked for the epidural not long after. Luckily, I got it within 20-30 minutes of when I requested it, and life was good again. Michel and i got to enjoy some calm before the storm by hanging out, watching TV, and updating Facebook lol. Around 6pm, I was fully dilated, and ready to push! Because I only pushed for about 20 minutes with Audrey, the nurse had me wait to push (no practice pushes) until my OB got there. Good thing she decided to have me wait because I only pushed 3 times and Ava was out!!

March 9, 2016 at 6:21pm our sweet Ava Noelle Zoutendam was born weighing 7lbs 2oz and measuring 20" long - the EXACT measurements of Audrey when she was born! She was healthy and absolutely perfect in every way!

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!