18-month "Miss"-cellany

I can't believe Miss is 18 months old! Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday we were here:

But those pictures were all taken about a year ago!

It's funny that I no longer commemorate the months passing with various milestones, but rather marvel every day in how much she is learning and growing. It amazes me the things she can suddenly do! For example, she recently completed a gymnastics class. The other day she bent over and just did a somersault by herself. She did it again today. And her language is just phenomenal. She says new words and phrases every day, and can repeat back to me just about anything I say. Today I said "Oh boy!" about something I was trying to get her excited to do, and she repeated it right back. I have no idea how many words she can say now, there are so many. It is so fun to talk to her. To see her understand me and actually answer my questions. And I adore her voice. The way she says certain words, like "bubbles" and "goggles" and "buh-byee," just makes me want to squeeze her and laugh every time. She is fascinated with colors. Right now most things are "pink," but sometimes she will correctly identify a "red car" or use the word "white" correctly. She also loves the number 2 and counting. She gets excited when she sees two of something and says "two!!!" She also likes to try to count. When we are counting she will point and say "twoooo, heeeee." Never any other numbers, but she's got those down!

Here are some of the other things she's enjoying right now.

She loves our dogs!!

She loves giving a stick to our younger dog. . .
. . .and gets so excited when he takes it!

Sometimes she just watches him chew on it. . .

. . .and sometimes she tries to take it back.

She makes funny faces all the time. She will sit in front of the mirror when I'm drying her hair after a bath and pull and pinch her face to try to "make faces," which is something she learned from her cousins in Iowa. Other times, she just makes funny faces because she's funny! She was actually telling me something serious here:

She is a total Daddy's girl. She likes to hang out wherever he is. She enjoys playing with him in the garage in our gym area. He plays music and she tries to lift the "big balls" (medicine balls) or dances around. These are some booty shakin' moves:

She is a big helper. She loves to help with laundry. She pushes the basket to the stairs and climbs up in front of me while I carry the basket behind. Then she hands me the clothes while I'm folding them. She also loves to help make the bed. Every day she gets the pillows for me when I do.


I am seriously in such awe of her all the time. I love to try to see things through her eyes, as she often notices things I completely miss or take for granted. And she gets such joy out of everything. It's impossible not to be happy when I'm with her. She is exuberance and sunshine and delight. Man, it's great to be "Mama" to my girl.

Big Girl Chair

Well, I've finally gotten Baby Girls' room almost complete. I got her crib sheets made, though I kind of slacked on making the crib skirt.

I got the artwork on the walls.

And we moved the big glider/recliner from Miss's room. We also moved Miss's small wicker rocker from her room so that she can sit and rock with me while I'm nursing or rocking the baby. At least that's the idea anyway! I still have to get the window treatments done. There is a blackout shade, but I still need to make panels.

So you may be wondering what we did with Miss's room after moving the chairs out of there? We gave her a Big Girl Chair, complete with tiny matching ottoman! The big pillows next to it are for me when we're reading stories before nap or bedtime.

We also put a cradle for her Baby there so she can get into doing baby care things alongside me, hopefully. The area is still a work in progress, as it looks a little sparse, but we're getting there. I did move the birdcage/chandelier lamp out of there for now. Though it would add a lot, the chain/cord makes me nervous, so it's in the guest bedroom until Miss gets a little bit older. And Miss loves her new chair. She loves to sit and read. . .

Or put her feet up. . .

And she is enjoying taking care of her Baby. Here she is tucking her in.

She's gonna be a GREAT big sister!!!!

My Dad

Today is my Dad's birthday. Naturally I have been thinking about him on his day. In fact, I've been thinking about him a lot lately. I have really come to appreciate what a great Dad I have. Not that I didn't already know this, but it has been more on my mind these past few months. I think this has something to do with some discussions I've had with others about how their fathers were involved in their lives. Or not so involved. It made me more conscious of the fact that there are lots of fathers out there who are bread-winner-authority-figure-type guys but who don't really do the DAD thing. I also think my recent thoughts about and appreciation for my own Dad come from the enjoyment I've gotten out of watching my husband be a Dad to Miss. I am so, so, so thankful that I married a man who is more like the Dad I had than like the hands-off-dad-type. And I'm thankful that I had the type of Dad who made me know that I had to find such a man to spend my life with. I love the fact that my hubby is so involved in playing with and taking care of Miss, and I know that both of our girls will have wonderful memories of times spent with their Dad. Just like I do.

And because I've been thinking so much about my Dad, and telling other people about him, I want to share some of the great memories I have of growing up with him. This is just a glimpse, but I hope you can see what kind of guy he is.

He taught me to ride a two-wheeler, shoot a bow and arrow, throw a tomahawk, drive a stick shift (my Mom and brother helped with this one too, it was a big job), and shoot a muzzleloader, among many, many other things.

He moved my stuff in and out of various dorm rooms, apartments, and houses, who knows how many times.

He tried to teach me to cook, though I wasn't interested at the time (I told him that I would be perfectly capable of reading and following a recipe when necessary). He did teach me a few basics though, and these days I enjoy talking cooking with him, as he's a great cook and I really enjoy cooking now.

When I was in fourth grade he coached my basketball team because no one else would do it. I was horrible at basketball, though I truly didn't know it then. And my dad doesn't even really like basketball. But I wanted to play and we needed a coach. So he coached.

He helped build the most amazing Homecoming parade float for my Freshman class when I was class president. It was Dumbo and it was fantastic. We blew the upperclassmen out of the water in the float competition.

He used to build the best snowmen. One year we had a bust of Abraham Lincoln. I'm talking a 3D representation of what you see on a penny. It was cool.

He belayed me when I was really into rock climbing and didn't have anyone else to go with me.

He was there for everything. Volleyball games, cheerleading competitions, gymnastics meets, choir concerts, and on and on. He was just a cool Dad. He still is. But now he's a fantastic Grandpa too. Happy Birthday Dad.

A Fun First

Pigtails!!! Miss sported her first pigtails today and I was totally in love with them and with her wearing them. Surprisingly, she didn't pull them out either. Gotta love the old-school plastic barrettes too, just like I had when I was little. Check out the cuteness.

She had to thoroughly check out her new "do" in the mirror.

Very thoroughly

She did a little happy dance when she decided she liked it.

Are We There Yet???

Baby Girl is still hanging in there. Here are a few random thoughts at 38 weeks, 3 days:

I now cannot sleep more than about an hour at a time without getting up to go to the bathroom.

I am now almost compelled to take a nap whenever possible.

I downloaded Contraction Master on my iPhone and time my contractions a lot. They are usually not as close together as I think, but I could get a bit obsessed with timing them.

I have been waiting for the day that Miss is faster than me as she learns to run faster and I get slower. I think we're there.

I have wondered if it's wrong to eat ice cream every night. And I have decided I don't care.

I am getting very nervous about leaving Miss when I go to the hospital. I'm not nervous about her being well taken care of. I have a wonderful babysitter who is willing to drop just about anything to come over when necessary and hold the fort until my parents can get here (they will have about a 10 hour drive). So I know Miss will be in great hands. It's just that I have never left her overnight. I really hope I don't go into labor in the middle of the night because it makes me sad to think of putting her to bed and then having her wake up to someone else, even if it is her beloved babysitter. I want to be able to tell her "I'll be back soon" and give her a kiss.

I'm getting so anxious to meet this little Baby Girl!!!

It's really starting to sink in that I will soon have two children under two. Whoa. Let the fun begin!

The Learning Tower

So, there's this thing called The Learning Tower. I had heard of it before, seen it in the kitchen of a few friends, thought it looked like a cool idea, and then just never did anything about it. That is, I never did anything about it until it started becoming almost impossible for me to make dinner because Miss was no longer content to sit and play with toys on the kitchen floor while I cooked. She had to be everywhere but the kitchen, especially places where I couldn't see her or really didn't want her to be, like climbing the stairs. So I figured she was probably big enough to give the Learning Tower a try. I thought it would be really fun to let her be involved in the things I do in the kitchen, without stressing me out that she would fall off a chair if I put her up on one so she could see. I took the leap and ordered the Tower.

The first day my hubby got it put together, this is what happened:

She loved it! It came with the blue scarf thing for playing, and she had a blast with it. I had also just gotten her a set of mini pots with a wooden fork and spoon, which she loved. You can see her holding the fork and spoon in some of the photos.

Unfortunately, there have also been times when I've tried to get her to hang out in the Tower while I cooked dinner and she would eventually get bored and want to get down. I've found it's a little hard to let her be very involved at her age when a lot of my cooking prep involves sharp knives and/or hot surfaces. And though she's started to get into the pretend play some, she just isn't quite ready for pretending to cook along side me. I am really looking forward to that. And even more looking forward to when she is big enough that I can get her actually making some things with me. I don't think that's too far off and I can't wait!

In the meantime, I've worked it out so that she spends some time in the Tower when I'm cooking, though not necessarily as long as I might want her to. She plays on the counter, watches what I'm doing, or plays in the sink some when I'm doing things she can't be too close to.

She asks to get up in the Tower in the mornings to watch me mix her oatmeal, and there are some tasks that I have been able to let her help with, like harvesting, washing, and freezing some of my abundant herbs from our deck herb garden.

Although we aren't able to use it as much as I would like to yet, I am really looking forward to sharing more and more with Miss in the kitchen. I so enjoy cooking and am very excited to be able to let her participate in the process of creating food for herself and our family. I want her to have wonderful memories of our times in the kitchen, and I think this Tower will help facilitate that. Definitely worth the money!

Locked and Loaded

Two rounds of moxibustion - $108

Five visits to the chiropractor - $125

Hours and hours spent in various contorted and sometimes uncomfortable positions - See "visits to the chiropractor"

One hospital admission, five hours of monitoring, IV, ultrasound, medication, and doctor pressing on belly for about two minutes - $$$$$$?

Getting kicked instead of head-butted in the ribs - PRICELESS!!

That's right. I went in to the hospital yesterday to have my doctor do the external version. It WORKED!!! After all the hours spent trying so many other strategies, good ol' medical intervention came through for me. Baby Girl is now head down and has been for over 24 hours. Saw my doctor again today and she said that if a baby flips back to breech it usually happens within the first 24 hours. Plus Baby Girl is nicely in my pelvis, so hopefully, she'll stay this way and not flip back around!! I'm still a little nervous she'll flip back, but mostly very relieved that she is now headed in the right direction.

A little over two weeks now until my due date. And can I just say I feel fabulous??? The first time I got out of bed after my doctor flipped her, I could immediately feel a difference in how I felt. It's amazing how much more uncomfortable I was with Baby Girl facing the wrong way. My back hurts less, I can breathe easier, and I feel much more balanced. My belly looks way different too. It is over an inch smaller than the last time I measured it. Check out the difference:

Before

After

And because I know no one looks at this blog to see photos of me, here's some adorableness.

It could be any day now that my Miss becomes a Big Sis. I can't wait to see it. She will be amazing.