19 months

On Monday May 13th Blakely turned 19 months old!  Here are a few things from this month.  

• Still obsessed with shoes. 
• Really wants to get her own self dressed.  She will spend the longest time trying to put her pants on, even if she already has some on.  She can now get them on but can't pull them up over her cloth booty.  She waddles over to me so I can pull them all the way up.  Then she yells OFF and takes them back off.  We do this A LOT.   

• She has started calling us Mommy and Daddy instead of mama and dada.  She draws it out too so it sounds like Mom-meeeeeee and Dad-deeeeee. 
• She is getting a really nice southern accent already.  I think hers is stronger than mine ;)  I need to get a video....
• She started sleeping with a pillow this month.  She kept grabbing them off the couch and putting her head on them and saying night night.  One day I just threw a small decorative pillow in her crib with her to see what she would do.  She loves it and cuddles right up on it every night.  Now I need to get her her own pillow so I can have the one for the recliner back!
• She loves ice.  She is always trying to steal the ice out of our water cups.  Daddy started this little love of hers.  He is always giving her the ice leftover from his water.  
• She likes to walk on her tippy toes.
• She is starting to get better about playing by herself for a little while.  I have been trying to make her have some independent play time each day but that doesn't always work.  She normally wants me to be RIGHTTHERE on the floor with her.  This means I can't get anything else done during the day and it also means that my brain is mush by 3pm from doing the same toddler things over and over.  We are getting there but it is slow going.  
• She still sleeps great.  She is in bed by 730 each night and she usually asks to get in her bed.  This month though she has started wanting to take things to bed with her.  It is usually the last thing she was playing with before bed.  So either her toothbrush, a pair of pants or shoes or just some random toy.  We always take it away and that equals meltdown.  Apparently Lonnie gives in sometimes because I have found her the next morning in bed with a dress from the day before.  Oh daddies :)
• She loves washing her hands.  Anytime she sees me go to the bathroom or do something at the kitchen sink she starts rubbing her hands together and saying HUH...which means hand.  She also likes having a little hand sanitizer put on her hands too.  
• She is very helpful when it comes to cleaning up her toys and books.  I have really tried to make her clean up before nap and bed time.  I think it has paid off because when I tell her it is time to clean up she helps me.  She doesn't do it all by herself but at least she knows to tidy up her damage.  

• I don't know where she got this but every time she toots she giggles and says tooooooooot.  Which, in her strong southern accent, sounds more like tewwwwwt.  It is adorable and I giggle right along with her.  

Sweet Blakely,  

I don't really know how this happened but you have grown up so much in the last few months.  You are becoming such a little person.  You have likes and dislikes and are able to convey those to us very well.  I love seeing your little personality shine through.  You are smart and spunky.  You love being the center of attention.  When you know people are watching you, you will perform and just try to make them smile or laugh.  You charm everyone that you come into contact with.  I can't even make it through one minute at the grocery store without someone coming over to talk to you because you were smiling and waving at them.  You are not really scared of anyone.  Sometimes, usually if you are sleepy, you aren't as much of a people person but you will warm right up after a few minutes.  

You have always been a daddy's girl and you still are for the most part.  You hear the garage door go up when he gets home and your eyes and face just light up immediately.  You take off running for the door yelling Dad-DEEEEEE.  He swoops you right up and pretty much carries you around the rest of the night.  You go to the bathroom with him (thank god I'm not the only one who never goes alone in this house!), you read the paper with him, and you snack off of his plate all night long.  Daddy also usually puts you to bed.  Since you have spent most of the day with me, he likes to have that special time with you.  

One night Daddy got called back into work after only being home for 30 minutes.  She just kept standing by the door with this sad look on her face.  Sweetest and saddest thing ever.  

Even though you are a daddy's girl, you love some mom-meeee.  When I get done working out and I come pick you up at the daycare there you get so excited.  You point at me and start saying mom-meee over and over.  You are looking around at all the other kids and teachers while you do this.  It's like you're proud of me and saying LOOK! THAT'S MY MOMMY!!!  When you wake up in the morning you come into the bed with me and snuggle.  You don't snuggle anyone like you snuggle with me.  When you get up from your daily nap you always want me...even if daddy is home!  We are best friends.  

You are sweet and kind.  You love giving kisses and hugs.  You are brave yet timid.  You will try anything but I need to be holding your hand the first few times.  After that you will do things by yourself.  I love this about you.  I actually love everything about you!  You are the light of my life Blakely Ann.  I can't even tell you how much I look forward to watching your personality continue to emerge and to watch you continue to blossom.  You are beautiful my dear and I am so proud to be your Mom-MEEEE!  

13

Today my baby is 13 months old!  This is also my 200th post on this blog..whoa!  I could not be happier to write about my charming, sweet, happy, 13 month old on this "special" occasion :)

I am realizing more and more each day how much of a little girl toddler she is becoming.  It is really fascinating to watch her grow and learn.  I don't think I will do such detailed monthly posts because that is such a big commitment but I do want to document things.  I want to be able to look back at my blog and see what she was doing or what was funny at the time.  I think they will be similar to my last post about things I don't want to forget.  

As I've mentioned before, we have a big time talker here.  It has gotten to the point though that she understands way more than she can actually say.  I can sense her frustration occasionally when she wants something but I don't know what she is trying to say.  Eventually I will figure it out and she gives me this look like "DUH Mom!".  If she can't say the word then she just says BA!  So most of our days are spent with her walking around the house yelling BA!  BA! and pointing at things while I walk behind her saying the word. 

She understands more and more each day.  Here are a few new things she can do.  

• Where is Mommy's belly?
• Want to go outside?  She will go to the door to the deck first and then if I don't open it she knows to go to the front door. 
• Let's go bye-bye.  She goes to the garage door.
• Sit in your chair and drink your milk.  
• Can you go give Minnie kisses?  She finds Minnie and kisses her nose.
• Can you close the door?  Usually this means the cabinet door on the entertainment center but sometimes she will close the bathroom door for me.
• Where is Blakely's other shoe?  She will already have one on and she will go find the other one (out of the 4327 pairs of shoes she has!).
• Where is the fan?

I want to mention this but I am not sure where it is going.  When she poops she will bring me the pack of wipes that I keep upstairs or she will just start playing with the wipes.  I ask her if she needs a new diaper and she will go grab one.  I don't think she is connecting the pooping with the diaper change just yet but I think she just knows what a diaper is now.  Since I noticed this a couple of weeks ago I have been trying to immediately change her so she will get it.  I thought maybe she didn't like being dirty or something? 

This child definitely understands no.  She knows there are certain things that are BIG no no's and other things that she might be able to get away with if she keeps trying.  

I have started letting her watch Mick.ey Mou.se Clu.bhouse while she is drinking her milk before her afternoon nap.  She really pays attention and has started dancing to the songs.  

Blakely finally got her 7th tooth.  We were stuck at 6 for months!  It is the one on the bottom next to the middle right one.  

Funny story.  The other night Lonnie was gone so I was going to give B her bath myself.  I got her all undressed and let her run around naked in the bathroom while I ran the bath.  I look over and she has popped the poop squat and is pooping on the floor!  I couldn't believe it.  Sure, she has peed a zillion times on the bathroom floor but never poop!  I couldn't help but laugh and, of course, take a picture.  She just hopped up and walked over to her toys to play while I cleaned it up.  When I was finished I looked over and she was doing it again!!!  AHHH!!  It was crazy and she just kept laughing because I was laughing so hard...I couldn't help it.  I made sure to send all of those pics to Lonnie...who was at dinner ;)  Crazy girl.  

Dear pea pod,
I have a feeling from here on out I am going to want to tell you just how big you are getting and how I can't believe how old you are!    Now that you are past the big first birthday I think time is just going to speed up.  I desperately want time to slow down.  You are so fun right now...I love it!  You loooove to give me kisses in the morning when I bring you into our bed.  You still like your mommy snuggles even though we have stopped nursing.  You really love to sit in your big pink chair and drink your milk or watch your show.  Occasionally you will let me sit with you so we can cuddle.  I love those special moments with you.  You are everything, sweetie...everything.  I love you.  
Love, Mommy

12 months old!

On October 13, Blakely turned 12 months old!  Babycen.ter tried to tell me that she was now a toddler....nojustno!

Firsts this month:

B will finally clap!  I have been trying to get her to clap for months and she finally got it while we were in LA.  Now she does it all the time, especially if she is really proud of herself.  

First time riding on a bike.  

She had her first french fry...

Blake became a full time walker on 10-6.  She had taken some steps before but didn't really realize what she was doing.  Then one day she figured out what she was doing and she got so excited.  After that it was just a matter of days before she walked everywhere and rarely crawled.  It is totally adorable to see her walking.  It definitely makes me realize how grown up she is.  We have many more boo boo's now for sure.  She has bruises up and down both shins and usually has at least one on her face.  Usually she just bumps into things but a few times she has really crashed and it scared the heck out of me!

Blakely can "shake her booty"!  If I turn on any music she will start dancing.  She will even start doing it now if one of her toys sings a song.  All we have to do is tell her to shake it and she goes to town.  She actually has a bit of rhythm!

Feeding:
Blakely is almost completely weaned from nursing and on whole milk.  I do still nurse her in the morning.  She gets milk or water throughout the day but drinks a whole sippy cup of milk before her afternoon nap and before bed.  I am planning on cutting out the morning nursing this weekend (TEARS), so she will get a sippy of milk then too.  

In general, she is a good eater.  Her favorites right now are green beans, peas, sliced cheese, bread, grapes, cheerios, any of the pouches, and cottage cheese.  The biggest problem I am having with meals is that she wants to just throw everything on the floor because she thinks it is funny.  At first I just gave her something else to eat thinking she didn't want that.  Now I have been telling her that if she throws it on the floor then she is done eating.  A couple of days ago I gave her lunch and she immediately threw handfuls on the floor.  I told her no multiple times (which she totally understands) and she kept doing it.  So I took her out of the chair and told her lunch was over.  She cried for a minute and then walked around the kitchen whining for about 5 minutes.  Then I put her back in the chair and she ate every single thing on the tray.  So that tactic has worked for the past few days but I feel like it won't forever!  

Sleeping:  Sleep is great right now.  She was going to bed at 8 and sleeping until 630-7.  But now I am putting her down at 7.  She was getting really fussy around 7 each night and it was a struggle for that last hour.  So now she goes from 7 to anywhere from 6-7 the next morning.  I think now that she is walking she needs more rest.  She takes 2 naps a day.  One in the morning around 9 and the other in the afternoon around 130-2.  Most of the times both naps are about an hour.  Sometimes I will get 1.5 hours ;)

Clothing: mostly 12 month but some 18 month pants to fit over her cloth booty

Diapers: cloth during the day and disposable at night.  She wears a size 3 but about to move to a size 4.  

Weight: 20 pounds 6 ounces

Height: almost 30 inches

IT IS NOT NAP TIME, MOM!!

Eyes:  super blue with a dark blue rim on the outside.  

Hair:  light brown and sometimes looks a little red.  

Talking:  Yeah, we have a major talker on our hands.  I am not even kidding when I say she walks around the house all day long talking....constantly.  She talks to the wall, her toys, her hands, me, the dogs, really anything.  Most of the stuff I have no clue what she is saying, but she sure does!  Some of the words that I can decipher are
Ba-ball (this also means up if she is tugging on your leg)
Dada
Mama-only when crying and she doesn't call me that yet
Dan Di-Gran Di
Isth-that means shoe.  She always sprays some spit out on this one :)
Na Na-no no
Hi
Bye Bye
UH oh
Dusth dee-Dusty, our dog

A few other things I want to remember:

One of our dogs, Darwin, barks at every little thing that walks by.  I keep him outside in the yard most of the day.  Blakely will go over to the window when he is barking and knock in it and say NA NA!  So cute..

She loves to make a huge mess and can do it in no time flat.  

She understands SO much.  I really can't even believe how much of what we say she understands.  She knows the difference between our shoes.  I can say "where is Mommy's shoe?" and she will pick up mine.  Same with daddy's shoe and Blakely's shoe.  I can tell her to put her ball in her tunnel and she will do it.  She can also point to Mommy, Daddy, and Blakely's nose and ears.  If I tell her to rock she will crawl into her rocking chair and start rocking.  

She loves to pretend like she is talking on the phone.  She will pick up anything that resembles a phone, hold it to her ear and start talking.  She has my phone in this pic but you can't see it.  

I really feel like she has become such a little person this month.  She is still a baby in many ways but she is just so independent now.  I feel like we can almost have conversations because she understands me so much.  Learning every single second...

The other day when she woke up from her afternoon nap I could hear her on the monitor saying uh-oh over and over again.  Normally she wakes up crying.  I went into her room and the closer I got to the crib the more frantic the uh-oh began to sound.  I picked her up and she was nearly screaming UH-OH UH-OH!!!.  She pointed to the ground and she had thrown Jaffy her Giraffe out of the crib.  I picked him up and handed him to her and she tossed him back in the crib and was happy!  It was adorable...she just wanted to make sure Jaffy was IN the crib.  

Also, I can ask Blakely what the big brown dog says and she responds with UFF UFF..way cute.  

Dear Blakely,

I can't even believe it has been a whole year with you in our lives.  Part of me thinks it has gone by so fast but then another part doesn't remember life without you.  You are everything sweetie...just everything.  I absolutely love being your Mommy.  You make me smile and laugh everyday.  My heart just bursts with love for you every second of the day.  I am so proud of you, pea pod.  I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us!  

Love, Mommy

11 months old!

Yesterday, September 13, Blakely turned 11 months old!  I just can't believe in one short month I will have a one year old.  Some days it still just doesn't seem real that this is my life.  I am so thankful and grateful for our miracle B!

She will not leave a headband on her head...

Firsts this month:

The biggest first this month is that Blakely took her first steps!  She took about 4 and she has done it a few times since.  She just really doesn't want to let go but if she gets excited to see someone she will do it.  I am not sure I am ready for her to be walking!  She will be holding onto the couch and want to go to the recliner.  She leans out and will take one step on her own as she reaches out for the recliner.  Other than that though she isn't really all that interested in letting go.  

When she took these first steps we were all at my mom's house.  Gran Di and Jenni had been trying to get her to do it all afternoon.  Lonnie and I went to pick her up and they wanted to show us how close she was.  Well I guess she was so happy to see us that she walked from Lonnie to me!  My aunt was actually snapping pics at the time so we actually got one of her first steps.  Obviously I was shocked.  

Blakely got two more teeth this month for a total of 6 (4 on top and 2 on bottom).  The top right next to the middle came in on 8-25 and the top left next to the middle came in on 9-2.  It is so adorable to see her smile with all those teeth!

We took our first vacation with just the three of us.  

First time celebrating Gran Di and Jenni's birthday!  

First time having whole milk and she really likes it....Hallelujah  

Feeding:  Still nursing although the wean is on.  I repeat...THE WEAN IS ON!  I have cut back to just 4 nursings a day and I'm about about to try just three today..morning, before afternoon nap, and night.  I usually feed her after her morning nap but she usually only does one side so I figured this would be the easiest one to cut out.  Please wish me luck...I am so ready to have my boobies back.  I think the hardest feeding to cut out is going to be the morning feeding.

Blakely eats regular food well most days.  She is kind of going through a phase where she just wants carbs, mostly bread, although this is getting better.  Her favorite things are cottage cheese, bread, grapes, pickles and the fruit and veggie pouches.  She would be happy eating only those things at every meal.  I am trying to get her to eat more veggies but she just isn't having it lately.  She has also learned how to deliberately throw her food on the floor...super cool. 

GRAPES!! 

Sleeping:  Sleeping is SOMUCH better now.  I swear, we let her "cry it out" like twice and now she is a champ.  It was like she needed to be reminded that she can put herself to sleep...I think she just forgot!  She sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes two naps during the day.  I started more of "time to sleep" routine with her as well and I think that helps.  We go in her room and turn on the sound machine.  I tell her that it is nap/bed time and she needs to sleep good so when she wakes up we can play.  I rock her for a minute or two and then put her in the crib.  I give her Jaffy (pink giraffe lovie) and I turn on Gigi (pink giraffe that sings for a few minutes) and then I pat her on the booty and leave the room.  Sometimes she goes right to sleep and other times she will sit up and play before falling asleep.  It's working and I am happy about it!

Clothing: 12 months clothes.  Some 9 month stuff fits when she isn't wearing a cloth diaper.  I just bought some 18 month winter clothes because the pants have to be a little bigger with the cloth booty.  

Diapers: She wears a size 3 disposable diaper.  We are still doing cloth but it seems like we haven't been using them for a little while.  She had strep the first time and went on antibiotics.  That gave her diarrhea and I was worried about her getting a yeast rash so we went to Pamp.ers.  Then on vacation we used disposables.  When we got back I was pumped to get back to the cloth.  A few days home and she had strep for the second time!  So back to disposables we went because of the antibiotics.  Now she has some sort of weird rash plus we are leaving for Los Angeles this weekend so no cloth until we get back.  

It wouldn't be my monthly post without the screaming in the crib pic

Height:  I measured her and I think she's about 29 1/2 inches.  I don't normally measure her but I had to for a custom birthday dress that I am having made...EEEEE!

Weight:  I am thinking about 21 pounds

Eyes:  super blue

Hair:  Light brown although sometimes it looks a little red.  It is getting so much thicker and I think finally getting a little longer.  I was able to put it in a itty bitty ponytail the other day!  Doesn't it look red?

Talking: Oh my...I'm pretty sure we have a major talker on our hands.  Lonnie is in trouble.  She pretty much jabbers all day long.  Lately she has become very good at mimicking what I say.  It is adorable.  The words that she says and knows what she is talking about are:
Da-dee
UH oh..complete with major emphasis on the UH part!
Dus-dee (Dusty...our dog)
Dan Die (Gran Di)
Mama (although she has stopped saying this unless she is waking up from a nap or in the mornings :-/)  
Hiii-eeee (Hi!  She perfected this one on our trip because she said it and waved to everyone!)

Other things that she can say but I don't think she really knows exactly what they are:
Bay-bee (baby obvi)
Nen-nee (Jenni, my aunt)
Tee (Trent, my cousin)
Bee (B, we call her that a lot)

A few other things I want to remember:

I used to take Blakely over to the mirror and point to myself and say "Mama" and then point to her and say "Baby" or "Blakely".  I haven't done this in at least a month or so.  Now that she has decided to stop saying Mama I have been trying to get her to start back but every.single.time I say "Mama" she responds "Bay-beee".  It is adorable and she is so proud of herself when she does it.  I can get her to say like five different things in a row but when I say Mama she says baby....

She got strep for the second time.  Grrrrr...

Blakely LOVES the "Where's Blakely" game.  She buries her face in the couch or in some pillows and we say "Where's Blakely?" then she pops her little face of with the biggest grin and we yell "There she is!!"  She could play this game for an hour.  

If you say "How old is Blakely?" She will hold up her first finger.  Beyond adorable.  

She waves bye bye to everyone.  

We always wait by the dining room window to see who is coming over.  Honestly, she gets the most excited when it is Gran Di.  She sees her walking down the driveway and tenses up her whole body and starts yelling and smiling.  I know it makes my mom feel so good :)

Sloppy Blakely kisses are the absolute BEST

She can climb..oh my.  She can climb into the recliner if we leave the foot rest out.  She is so close to being able to climb onto the other chair in our living room.  I've been trying to teach her how to get down from the furniture without nose diving.  I mean when she learns how to get onto the couch I'm not going to be able to take my eyes of of her for a second!  THis is what I found the other day.  

She fell off the box about 2 seconds after I took this picture.  Dear husband, please install the gates instead of propping them up with boxes of beer!!

She can stand on her own for quite a while and has even bent down to pick something up and gone back to standing.  

No.  Just no.  

Dear Blakely,
I can't believe you are 11 months old.  You are growing so fast.  I feel like you learn something new every day.  You are definitely soaking everything up like a sponge and I am so proud of how smart you are!  It is such a joy to watch you every day.  You have started to show your personality more this month also.  When I tell you no, you can't do something, you give me this look like "Oh yes I can!".  I think you are already giving me a taste of the toddler years to come.  You definitely know what you want and what you definitely DON'T want.  You know how to keep me on my toes! I am super busy planning your birthday party.  It is going to be so much fun.  I just know you will love cake!  I love you so much sweet girl!
Mama (not Bay-beeee)

10 Months Old! 2 weeks ago, of course...

Blakely turned 10 months old on August 13th.  Double digits!  And she is actually 10 1/2 months now because of course I am totally late...so some of this stuff is old news :)

Firsts this month:

Blakely got her first top tooth (front right) on 8-6.  This was followed quickly by the other top tooth on 8-12.  They really didn't seem to bother her much but maybe that was part of the sleep troubles we were having?  Look at those 4 teeth!  

a little more zoomed up so you can see.  this pic was taken today so about 2 weeks or so after the top ones came in.  

Blakely can stand on her own for a bit now.  She stands for about 5 seconds and then she sits down.  

We built our first fort while she was sick...I have a feeling there will be many more to come :)

She drank out of a straw for the first time this month.  She really loves doing that!  

She ate from chopsticks!

B had strep for the first time this month.  Ugh...it was awful.  We had to cool her down in the tub a few times.  

Feeding:
Blakely has been nursing 5 times a day.  In the morning when she wakes up, after her morning nap, before and after her afternoon nap, and then before bed.  I am about to go down to just 4 a day.  She is getting three regular meals a day.  She eats regular food really really well.  Her favorite thing is still cottage cheese although she likes bread A LOT.  

please get this thing off of my head

much better!

Sleeping:
The sleeping is starting to get so much better this month.  I started B on a very strict schedule with her eating and napping and she has done really well with it.  I make sure we are at home for naps so she doesn't have any little cat naps in the car seat.  She is learning how to put herself back to sleep again after going almost two months needing to fall asleep on one of us.  I have also started bathing her most nights...even if we don't use soap...just for the routine.  She is doing better although she does cry sometimes to fall asleep.  I go back in and reassure her and then she falls asleep pretty well after that.  Bedtime is easy but naps are a little more difficult.  

Clothing:  She wears mostly 9 month or 12 month stuff.  I really need to start getting her some fall/winter clothes.  We have none!

Diapers:  We did disposables while she was on antibiotics but now back to cloth.  She wears a size 3 in Pam.pers.  

It wasn't nap time...obviously she was not pleased about being in the crib.  

Hair:  I swear her hair looks a different color every day.  Sometimes it looks dark brown and then other days it looks pretty light with some blonde in it.  Then some days it looks pretty red!  It is getting longer but still pretty short.  

Eyes:  the prettiest blue ever...

Daily Routine: 
This is the schedule that I started and it is working so we are sticking to it!
7am-wake up and nurse
8am-breakfast.  Usually oatmeal and a fruit.  She likes the mandarin oranges. 
9am-nap
1030 or 11am-wake up and nurse
12-1230pm-lunch.  Usually cottage cheese and a veggie or some ravioli
130-200pm-nurse and then nap.  I wasn't nursing here but I have found that she sleeps longer if I do.  I don't nurse her to sleep though...I'm putting her down awake.
330pm-wake up and nurse.  
530-6pm-dinner.  Usually whatever we are having.
715-730pm-bath
8pm-bedtime.  

A few other things:
She really loves her daddy.  About 4pm everyday she starts getting a little fussy and I know it is because she is ready for him to get home.  She hears the door open and she crawls super fast into the kitchen to meet him.  He is always so excited to see her as well.  They usually hang out and talk for a while before we eat dinner.  

She can say Mama, Dada, and Gran Di..which sounds like dan die.  She definitely knows what she is saying when she says these words.  She usually only says Mama if she is sleepy or hungry (imagine that?).  And she will usually meet Gran Di at the door by saying DAN DIE...DAN DIE...way cute.  

She likes crawling up the stairs.

She loves playing with the toilet paper.  Mommy is not a big fan of this but oh well!

She has so many different facial expressions!  You don't have to wonder what she is thinking or how she is feeling because she definitely shows it all over her face.  Here is just one...the scrunchy face.  

Dear Pea Pod,
You have become such a little girl this month.  Your personality just shines right through.  You love to play games with us and you are always laughing.  I can't believe how much you have grown in just one month.  Your Daddy and I love to watch you play with your toys...you are just constantly learning!  I love you so much sweet girl and I am so happy you are sleeping better ;)
Love Mommy