Tag: monthly updates

Dear Lexi Lou,

Sweet girl, I can’t believe you’re half-way to two. You are growing up so quickly and am enjoying every moment and each new milestone you reach. You are a cheerful, smiley, sweet, analytical, chatty and content little peanut and you have your mama and dad absolutely infatuated with every piece of you.

Favorite Moments

Because I leave for work before you wake up each morning, I always look forward to bed time. It is good quality mama-Lexi uninterrupted time and this month brought lots of extra snuggling time.  We usually read a couple of books sing songs and then I lie you down in your crib to fall asleep on your own. For whatever reason (I think it was teething) I got in the habit of letting you fall asleep with me in the chair and just cuddle. Deep down I know this isn’t a good habit to form as it is difficult for you to fall asleep when I’m not there and it is just good for you to fall asleep by yourself, but I so rarely get cuddle time with you, I just couldn’t resist the peacefulness of the way you would nuzzle your head against my chest and the sounds of your deep breathing. I would look forward to that moment when there weren’t any distractions of the TV, my phone, you being busy and I could truly enjoy the moment. I was also known to fall asleep once or twice with you.

While discussing sleeping, you’ve really come to love nursery rhymes this month. You love tongue twisters with Peter Piper and Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater being two of your favorites.

After the busy weekend at Leech Lake over Memorial weekend, I was a little hesitant to take you swimming when Auntie She-She called and asked if we wanted to join her at the outdoor pool at the gym It was a beautiful day and we hadn’t been swimming in awhile so I said sure. Oh my stars alive, did you love it. You were laughing and giggling and loved singing songs (Motor Boat, Wheels on the Bus, and Row Row Row your Boat). You were having so much fun, and kept saying ‘summon’ while the lifeguards were taking a break that we had to go swim inside until the break was over. It is so fun to share your joy over some of the simplest things. And you and that hat, is just too cute. (if I take it off, you ask where it is and demand it to be put back on your head.)

While playing with your foam letters and numbers in the bathtub one night, you were repeating many of the letters or numbers I was sticking to the wall, so I thought I would just see how many letters of the you could repeat and was astounded that you could say them all. You won’t say them by yourself but when I ask Can you say ‘A’, you respond ‘A’ and repeat 26 times with each letter. Way to go Lexi!

I’m a little fearful of this next milestone as I’m nervous it indicates a problem we may have in the future. You love to wear my shoes, well really, any shoes, and love to look in my closet, pull clothes off the hanger and demand to wear them. Sweet for an 18 month old, but terrifying for 15 years from now.

Oh sweet girl, I love to see your nurturing side show through. Currently, you love to push babies (or really any object) in your stroller and insist that they come outside with you so you can take them for a walk. I know feminists may cringe at the thought of this, but I sincerely hope this is a trait you never loose. Male or female, the need to want to care for others isn’t something that everyone has and it is an asset that I believe will take you far in life, whether that it is caring for your own children if you so wish, me and your dad in the later years or life, sticking up for others on the playground or in the workplace. Going the extra mile to help others is always appreciated.

Notes:

At your 18 month check up you were 33.5 inches and 28 lbs, putting you in the 90% for both.

You use a spoon or fork at every meal. You’re successful about 50% of the time of getting food on the utensil and into your mouth, but eventually resort to using your fingers (while holding the fork in the other hand). Yogurt tends to be a messy one.

Your two bottom eye teeth popped through at the same time at the beginning of the month. You were a little crabby, but overall not too bad.

You continue to be a chatter bug and I have completely lost count of the words you say, but you’ve started putting sentences together. You’ve been saying ‘what happened?’ and ‘What’s that?’ for a couple months now, but have started other phrases like ‘Where go?’ and hi dada (hi dago). You also can now say bankie, which for some reason is absolutely adorable when you say it.

You love playing ball, whether it is throwing it or kicking it. Your favorite thing to do is roll it under the cars and see where it gets stuck.

Your hair is getting thicker and longer! Makes your ponies much easier to put in! You’ve also got some curl to it. I’m not sure if it is the length that it is at, but almost everyday, the back part just naturally curls out! There aren’t many things cuter than a little girl with curls, and in my biased opinion, you are not an exception!

You have an obsession with patty cake these days. You want to listen to it over and over and over in the car and want to play it at home and in the cart in stores and pretty much ask for pat-a-cake 24/7.

There have been a handful on tantrum’s that we’ve seen out of you. They mostly occur when you’re tired, haven’t seen me all day and I’m telling you no to something. You fall to the floor and start whining, but usually it is over as fast as it started.

You got to meet one of your new cousins Brian, not sure why you look so grumpy here cause you kept saying Baby over and over again while we were there and on our way home.

You continue to drag your three amigos with you everywhere you can.

Happy 18 months sweet pea! We love you so much.

Love,

Mama

     

 

 

 

Lexi Lou,

My sweet sweet girl! The months with you continue to fly by. This month finally brought us temperatures above 30 degrees, grass, walks and enjoyment of the good old vitamin D we’ve all been lacking, and you sure seem to be soaking it up.

Favorite Moments:

By the time you go to bed most nights the house is in total disarray. Everything you touch is a little seed traveling through the house. Whether its books, toys, socks, combs, clothing, toothbrushes etc… they seem to end up in the opposite location of the house you picked them up. You pick things up and carry them until you get distracted and find something new to pick up. Although it is a lot of work and straight-up exhausting most days to pick up your tornado of a mess before you wake up and do it again the next day, it makes me happy to do so. I love the constant little reminders of you all over our house and am oh so grateful to have you regardless of how messy and exhausting you can be.

Awhile back I started to bounce you and say ‘bum bum bum bum bum bum’ as we would go down the stairs and you would throw your head back and giggle. There have been a couple of times, I have forgotten to do this and three quarters of the way down I hear your little voice going ‘bububububu’. I love how you pick up and remember little things we do and say.

During bath time, we have a little routine down. You start by let the water run over your hands as the tub fills, then you’ll play for a little. Once you try and climb out or pull the plug to let the water out, we wash your hair and body. Usually, you fight lying down on your back but once you’re there we sing the ‘Down in the Meadow in the itsy Bitsy Blue’ song and you’re very comfortable. After we’re done rinsing, you pull the plug and watch the water drain out. I put your Tigger towel on over your head (which you usually try to take off) wrap the towel around you with your arms at your side like a little soldier and lift you out of the tub. We go right to the mirror to look at ‘Lexi Tigger.’ I could just die at this next moment but you wiggle your arms out, push the hood off your head and wrap your little arms tight around my neck and push your check against mine. I nearly melt every time you do this.  Your tight embrace is one of my favorite things and you do it every time. It. Is. The. Best!!!!

Dada and I have definitely noticed your increased need for our attention. You love to tell us where to sit and watch you play. You’ll even come find us in a different room of the house, pull our hand to where you want to be, pat the floor and say ‘sit’, which by the way sounds awfully close to another four-lettered word.

Lexi, your zest for life makes each day that much better. Each morning you wake up cheerful and will lie in your crib and talk to your animals, sing and just be happy for a good 20 minutes. And the moment Dada or I open your door, you start jumping up and down. What a great way to wake up each morning! Let’s hope this continues into your teenage years! (haha!!)

Sweet girl, you have an incredible sense of hearing! Whenever you hear any kind of sound outside, you immediately stop what you are doing and run to the window and ask “What’s that?” Currently, your favorites are airplanes, helicopters and the garbage truck. You love to run from window to window watching where he will go next.

Notes:

You experienced your 2^nd Easter this month and didn’t quite ‘get it’ but looked adorable in your little yellow dress. The Easter bunny brought you bubbles, coloring materials, chalk, your stuffed pig and a bike. You LOVE your pig and gave it a big hug as soon as you found your basket (hidden under your table in the kitchen). Your bike on the other hand, you aren’t a big fan of. We were practicing riding it and you tumbled off and have refused to go near it sense. Overall, the day of Easter was fantastic. The weather was beautiful and you had so much fun running and playing with your big cousins Ashy and Coco. You were also spoiled in getting presents from many of your family members.

You’re a very polite little girl. You regularly sign ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ without us prompting you and say ‘Chew’ after someone sneezes or coughs.

You like to pretend to sleep and will cuddle with one of your animals or on a pillow and say ‘Sheew’ imitating snoring.

You love to throw things down the stairs and then go and get them. Playing on the stairs is one of your favorite places to be—not the safest, but you do really really well on them and we have very little fears of you falling. In general, you continue to be very cautious. You’re hesitant on jumping into our arms, sliding off furniture, stepping over ridges or through doors.

You experienced your first real owes this month. The first was tripping over mama’s computer cord and hitting your face on one of the floor vents and getting a little boo-boo on your nose. The second was getting into Dada’s travel bin, finding his razor and attempting to shave your face. There was a brand new blade on it and you cut your cheek a little.

You like helping mama cook. You’ll often beg to be picked up and then say ‘hep’ meaning you want to help stir.

Whenever you give a hug, you like to announce by saying ‘Huuug’. I also can not get enough of the way you say ‘ah-k’.  It is just so sweet and innocent. You continue to love almost all foods, with your favorite being blueberries and ask ‘bue’ for everything.

Lexi, we love you and your enthusiasm for every new thing you see, hear or emotion to experience. Your giggles bring life to our walls and radiate happiness to everyone you encounter. Thank you for being you and the way you have perfectly nuzzled your way into the warmest places in our hearts.

Love,

Mama

Dear Lexi,

This was another long, cold month. I was reading over your 15 month post and it feels like the things I talked about happened months ago. Coincidently, this is the month I have the fewest ‘notes’ of what happened, so we’re just going to kind of go with it, which describes your personality in the truest sense.

Favorite Monthly Moments:
To prolong bedtime, you try to play instead of reading books. One night, while doing this, you pulled out all of your diapers from the drawer and attempted to put them on yourself. You would open a diaper up and squat over it. It was hilarious to watch you do this—as if you were thinking they would magically fly onto you, but very sweet to see your nurturing side shine!

A funny but slightly embarrassing moment occurred while we were out to eat for St. Patrick’s Day. We brought you to listen to some Irish music, your favorite, and enjoy some Fish and chips. For whatever reason, you felt you could skip using your hands to feed yourself and put your mouth directly to the table and suck up your fish. I’m not sure where you got this idea as we have never seen it before, but it was pretty entertaining to watch. I just wish I had an actual picture of it, instead you’ll have to enjoy this one.

Daddy has been busy working with you on a lot of things, one of which is saying ‘love you’. Now when we say ‘I love you Lexi’ you respond with ‘uv-ew’. You also love to give hugs. You run up with big arms and lean your head onto our shoulders and say ‘hu’. We’ll keep working on pronouncing the whole words, but it feels pretty great to have you attempt to tell and show us how you feel.

In addition to the words love you and hug, you also say OK, yes (and use them correctly when we ask you questions) pumpkin=pum-pum, cars=zoom zoom, heart, baby, and my favorite word, pillow=piwow.

Your Auntie Sheila moved back from Chicago so we all went over to Grandma B’s to help welcome her home and unpack the moving track. And you have developed quite the strong bond with Grandma! You love to play with her and beg for her to hold you! It’s so great to see you developing strong bonds with people other than Daddy and myself.

There were a couple of nice days this month where you were able to go outside and play and you LOVE being outside. You are scared of the snow, but love running up and down the sidewalk! You even walked around the block with me!

With some of your teeth coming in, we enjoyed some extra snuggle time for bed time and in the middle of the night. As exhausting as it can be to get up in the middle of the night, Your cuddles are far and few between and I’ll take them where I can get them! One thing that is really funny when you sleep is how you keep your arms tucked down at your side. You’ll pull giraffee up onto your shoulder and then tuck your hands under your tummy like a little torpedo. Daddy wonders if that habit came as a result of swaddling?

Notes:
Your other bottom molar came through and one of the top ones is very close. These teeth have given you a hard time. It disrupts your sleeping and generally makes you more whinny than normal.

You do a great job of putting all of our shoes on the shelf when they’re left out and bringing me yours when we’re going to leave.

You’ve started to throw little tantrums when you don’t get your way.

You recognize the shape of a heart and say it when you see it

You love to be facing forward in the car! (and I love being able to see you!)

When you say bye-bye to people you say the words nigh-nigh.

You love to wave to people when they aren’t looking. When someone does look, you get very shy and cling to mama.

You’ve regressed a little from going to the bathroom on the potty. We were getting you like 50% of the time and now it is maybe 25%.

I’ve been working with you on putting puzzle pieces into their spots, verses just taking the pieces out and walking around with them, but you haven’t shown too much interest in this. You’ll usually try once or twice and if you don’t get it, you walk away.

Your favorite book is the big animal book. We read it every night. You love to howl like a wolf.

Your hearing is off the charts. You hear every noise buzz, beep, airplane or car that drives by. You always stop what you’re doing, get huge eyes put your arms out at your sides with palms up and ask ‘What’s that?’

Love bug, life gets better with you every day. It is so fun to watch you grow and your ability to communicate with us has made things so much easier. We love your sweet antics and your chubby checks!

Love, Mama

Dear Lexi Lou,

My sweet girl, you are a quarter of the way through your second year of life! You are growing and learning at a massive rate. It is getting harder and harder to keep things out of your hands. You open drawers, grab things off the table, and can see above the window sill. Your comprehension is remarkable with new words and behaviors surfacing everyday. Your independence is starting to shine through and you are developing quiet the sense of humor.

Favorite Monthly Moments:

During one of our ‘Mommy-Lexi date nights’ you were feeling extra sweet and maybe a little tired while swimming. Your little fingers clung the back of my arms and nuzzled your head onto my shoulder and just cuddled for two minutes while we swam around. It was such a sweet and peaceful moment. I know you love and rely on me greatly but this small gesture really showed it, which is a completely ridiculous statement considering your 15 months and you don’t know anything else and there is no reason for you to not feel this way. But, it really was a heart warmer.

We’ve tried to catch you while you’re going ‘poo’ (as you like to call it) and put you on the potty to help avoid your nasty diaper rashes. We’re not necessarily trying to potty-train you as we know you’re too young, but pamper your sensitive little tush. Most of the time, we catch you just as you have finished your business, but we have had a couple of successful attempts at both poo and potty. So far, it has seemed to help as we haven’t had any bad diaper rashes this month.

After a successful potty trip, you were enjoying your fruit snack treat while I was unloading the dishwashing and peeked your way and found you squatting on your chair over a big pile of poo! So funny and gross!

Daddy has been working with you on telling us how old you are. When we ask, ‘How old are you?’ your proudly hold up your pointer finger!

You’ve started watching shows on the ipad. You’re very favorite is Choo Choo Bobs, but have also watched Sesame Street, Barney, Thomas the Train and Baby Einstein. Interestingly, you’ll only watch these on the ipad—not the TV. I think the TV is up too high and too far away to keep you engaged.

While looking at pictures we often ask ‘who is that’. This month you started to answer and even point and identify without asking. We were at Grandma’s house and you saw pictures of Mama, and you pointed and say ‘ma-ma’.

You have officially mastered putting together the signs ‘more’ ‘please’, and use them all the time. If you want music on, or even a different song to play, you waddle over to the computer hit the desk, sign ‘more’ ‘please’ and point to the computer. Watching you learn to communicate has been so fun. It has been so helpful for both you and us as we know what you want. Less crying and whining is always a plus in my book!

You’ve become a stuffed animal hoarder! You demand to have as many stuffed animals as you can hold in your little arms whenever leaving your crib. We’ll come into your room and you quickly start gathering as many of your friends as you can fit into your arms, look at us and say ‘up’. In the rare instance you’re distracted upon leaving, you will hold our hands bringing us to your room point to your crib and sign ‘please’ while point to your animals. You are only satisfied if your arms are full.

One of my favorite things every night is playing ‘I’m gonna get you.’ You run and laugh hysterically, while i crawl after and chase you (creative game, I know). Your giggles are the harmony of my heart and I love seeing the excitement in your eyes as you look over your shoulder and see me about to ‘get you’. Your constant enjoyment of life is such a good reminder to just let things go because it does no good to dwell, worry, be angry or anticipate tomorrow. The simplicity of your life to ‘live today and love today’ is something I try and do more of everyday.

Notes:

Many of your 18 M clothes are too short and you are transitioning into 2T clothes (especially shirts).

You’re 32 inches (90-95%), 26 lbs. and 10 oz (95-98%) and head size is 47.5 inches (75-90 %)

New words: Poo, Two, Toy, cuw-claw=turtle, cu-ca=cup cake, and lots of attempts at imitating words, OK, bless you, ahh-choo, thank you

We’re working on nodding our head ‘yes’ instead of always saying ‘no’

Occasionally you’ll follow directions. After brushing your teeth, I asked if you could go put your toothbrush away, hoping you would just bring it into the bathroom, but you blew my socks off by opening the drawer and putting your toothbrush away. I’ve also asked you to help pick up your bath toys and playing cards and you happily oblige.

Your top right tooth had been sitting on the edge of your gums just begging to poke through for weeks and it finally did the last couple days of the month. Your bottom left molar also came through at the same time which made your temper flare up. You seemed to beg for medicine, we think. You kept begging to go to the medicine cabinet. At the time, I thought only your top tooth that was coming in and it had already broke through so I didn’t give you anything, but after a couple days, felt your molar and felt awful making you suffer through that pain.

I love you so much bunkie boo. You are such a happy and laid back little girl and I love being your ma-ma.

Love, Ma-ma

Dear Lexi,

Well, January held up to its reputation of being long and cold! There were many days where it was -40 degrees (with the windchill) and I think it only was above 20 degrees 5 times the entire month. When it has gotten above 15 degrees, it snows…so it has been a hard month cooped up inside. Of course, you haven’t minded. You love wondering around the house, getting into drawers, (literally) cabinets and anything you’re not supposed to. I’m not sure what your growing stats are, but it feels like you’ve gone through a major growth spurt as you seem a taller and have grown out of your size 4 shoes.

Favorite moments:

I document this every month, but sweet girl, you love you dance! Anytime you hear music, whether it is from a TV commercial, itunes, your toys or ring tones, you start grooving–even in your car seat and highchair. You love to boogie! Your newest move is a one-shoulder shrug.  So cute, especially when the rest of your body is still and you pop you shoulder up and down.

In addition to dancing you really enjoy reading books. You like to flip the pages and ‘read’ them by yourself. Daddy will often find you sitting in your room throughout the day reading books by yourself for a good 15-20 minutes. You also love to be read to. On average, we’ll read 15-20 books a day. As we read, you pick out the smallest most-minute details such as a spider in the background or a little mouse peeking through a hole—very detail oriented my girl.

We had Auntie Angie and Uncle Joe’s Christmas card on the cupboard and whenever I would hold you, you would randomly say ‘woof woof’—as you saw Lucy on their card. Eventually, I let you hold it, and you carried it around the house the entire day and kept saying ‘woof woof’ and kissing the pictures of Uncle Joe and Auntie Angie.

Your Auntie Beca graduated from her dental hygiene program this month so we were out at Grandma and Grandpa S’s house celebrating and you had so much fun playing with Ashley and Courtney. The three of you went up and down the stairs at least 50 times. At the top and you would put your arms above your head and go ‘ta-da’ and then scoot down. When you got to the bottom you would sit on the last step and bounce up and down, laugh and then repeat the process. It was so entertaining to watch your big cousins take care of you and the three of you playing together.

This month, you’ve begun to initiate peek-a-boo games. Instead of waiting for mama and dad to start, you’ll run behind a piece of furniture and then peek out, giggle and tuck back. Additionally, by the end of the month, you started putting your hands over your eyes and then pull them away, giggling and then repeat over and over and over again. I love to watch your innocence and peer enjoyment in the simplest things.

My favorite moment of the month took place just after you had finished eating a cookie. You were  at your table and had chocolate frosting on the top of your lip, giving you a mini mustache. As soon as you swallowed your last bite, you ran to the stove, grabbed the dish towels and started dabbing your face to clean off the chocolate. It was such a sweet, genuine and completely un-solicited moment—especially since you despise having your hands and face washed.

When we went swimming, for the first 30 min or so, you were very unsure of the water, the people, the noises and the whole situation in general. But after you became more comfortable, you loved it! You kicked your legs like a little frog, were very comfortable on your back. You even volunteered to put your face in the water and didn’t cry when you went underwater. It was a lot of fun to see you enjoy a new activity and I can’t wait to go again!

Noteables:

Another tooth popped through on top for a total of 7.

You’ve had some bad diaper rashes and a couple of colds throughout the month.

You learned to go down stairs. You sit on your butt and scout down one at a time.

Whenever your sippy cup is backwards, you flip it around (previous you just drank from it backwards)

You love to… RUN, read books, pretend to put clothes on, eat snacks at your table and chairs, take things off Dada’s desk and play our bathroom—probably because you know you’re not supposed to.

You play really well by yourself—for as long as 30 minutes sometimes.

We officially weaned you from bottles.

Daddy was gone for a week, which made childcare tricky!

We’re working on keeping a regular bed time routine—jammies, brush teeth, hugs and kisses to dada and read stories.

We visited Choo Choo Bobs for music and story time. There were a lot of people there and you were TERRIFIED! You had a death grip on my neck and just sat on my lap for the first 30 minutes, but you did eventually play!

Words: mama, dada, oh-oh, up, all done, num-a-num-a-num, nigh-nigh, no-no-no-no, on, hot, papa, two and attempts: thank you, milk, Lexi

Signs: hi, bye, more, all done, train, please, thank you, frog, bunny, cat, dog, airplane, elephant, bird, night-time, monkey, stars, light

Noises: dog, wind, snake, pig, bee, owl and attempts: turkey, cat, goat, cow, choo choo, airplane sounds

You are the light of everyday sweet girl and am so eager to get home and see you each day. It is so fun to watch you grow, learn and discover new things everyday.

Love,

Mama

Dear Lexi,

What a fast, crazy, fun-filled month! It was cold, we got lots of snow and you had you’re first (second) Christmas. Technically, your first Christmas was last year, but you were 3 weeks old so it only 1/2 counts. And to be completely honest, you could have given two hoots about Christmas this year too. You definitely didn’t ‘get it’.

Favorite moments

For your birthday you received two baby-dolls, some pretend bottles a stroller and you love to take care of your babies. It is so sweet to watch you put the bottles up to their faces and put them over your shoulder and pat their back. When you take them for ‘walks’ in their stroller, you’ll waddle to the front, squat down and check on them and fuss with them a little bit and then continue your ‘walk’. It’s so adorable to see how caring and nurturing you are!

We took you to see Santa for the first time. I tried to plan the visit so we wouldn’t have to wait in line very long, but failed. Luckily, you and Daddy were stuck in traffic while I waited, so you only had to wait twenty minutes. I wasn’t sure how you would react as you usually take awhile to warm up to new people and places, but you did surprisingly well. You didn’t cry or smile. You pretty much just sat there and looked at him were intrigued by the items on the table next to him.

You’ve made the connection that when you pull the bathtub drain up, water disappears. When you’re done playing you’ll announce ‘aaaww done’, pull the plug and try and swing your leg over the edge of the tub, which you not quite tall enough to do so yet, and makes mom nervous.

Daddy has done a really great job teaching and enforcing ‘one-touch’ with you. You can touch almost anything one time, but no grabbing or multiple touches. This came in handy with the Christmas decorations up. You touched the tree and a couple of ornaments a few times and then were done with it. Daddy also set-up the Christmas tree train and you LOVED it. Every time you came into the room, you would run and point for it to be turned on. Then, you would proceed to run back and forth as it would circle and giggle and stomp your feet. You were pretty darn cute. And it was fun to see Daddy excited, as you showed interest in his hobby!

Not exactly a favorite moment, but definitely a memorable one, is the first negative behavior we’ve seen from you. On a couple of different occasions if I said ‘no’ to something you wanted, you would take my hand and try and bite it. At first, I thought it was a teething thing, but after it happened a couple of times and you would look at me as I said no, and then take my hand and bite it, I knew you were expressing your anger. I’m not sure what to think of this. Part of me is nervous for what that may mean for the future. Part of me is intrigued that you have been pre-programmed to react this way. This isn’t a learned behavior because you have never seen anyone else do this. Another part of me is sad that I’ve made you so angry you’re driven to hurt me. I know there are going to be many situations in the future where you’re not going to like what I say, but it doesn’t mean I like it.

Other notables:

You learned how to climb up on our couches this month.

You spent your first night away from both mom and dad. We’ve each spent nights away from you, but not at the same time. Grandma B loved having you!

You love to point at everything and shake your head ‘no-no-no’.

New words for the month: ‘uh-oh’, ‘oh-no’, ‘no-no-no’, ‘see’, ‘num-a-num-a-num’, which translates to ‘I’m hungary’.

Your hair has grown long enough to be put into pigtails. You look like blonde Boo from Monster’s Inc.

Your bottom right tooth popped through–which was pretty terrible and you felt awful from it. You also had a cold at this time which made the teething process that much worse.

You can identify your ears and your toes (in addition to your nose and eyes)

If we leave food out on the counter, you demand to have some of it.

You make brum-brum noises while playing and pushing your cars.

Sweet Lexi, you are so fun to be around and dada and I love watching you grow and learn. We love you more everyday.

Love,

Mama

Snuggling with Daddy on Christmas! Too much fun for you!

Reading stories with your Grandma Sampson’s.

Family pic on Christmas Eve

Fun playing in boxes

Snuggles for your pillow

The ONLY decent day to get outside in the entire month!

Sleeping like Auntie Sheila, butt up in the air.

You LOVE LOVE LOVE reading books, with mama and dada and by yourself

Your first wall ‘artwork’ we woke up to as your sippy cup wasn’t properly screwed on and you were shaking it all over the place creating beautiful artwork.

Carrying your 6 lbs bag of gummies to me.

You learned how to crawl up and down in the chair this month.

Helping clean the floors! Love that you saw the rags and just got down and started cleaning!

‘I swear I didn’t do it dada!’

Somehow you got yourself between the bar and the mirror

Dear Lexi,

Happy Happy Birthday! This past year has been so much fun watching you grow. You have stolen the hearts of your family and are such a mellow, genuinely happy baby and oh so fun to be around. Your serious, yet silly personality shines through more everyday and I just can’t get enough of your big hugs and wet, sloppy froggy kisses. There is no possible way to explain the love I have for you or the amount of joy you bring me everyday.

12 month stats:

22 lbs and 15 oz (75%-90%) birth weight: 7 lbs 15 oz (75-90%)

30 1/2 inches tall (90%) birth height: 22 1/2 inches (90%)

46 1/2 cm head circumference (90%) birth head circumference:13 inches (90%)

You’re a healthy and proportionate little munchkin!

Favorite moments

Sweet little peach, you love to eat! The only thing we have found you don’t like is SpeghettiOs, which, if you’re not going to like anything, that is the stuff not to like. And not only do you eat everything, you eat a lot! You’ll throw down just as much as I do; it is hard to keep you full. However, when you finally are done and we are about to remove your tray from your highchair, you have a slight panic and scramble to grab whatever is left on your tray as if you may not eat again for days.

You continue to be an inquisitive little bug and are always asking ‘What’s that’ and pointing to things. So when you heard the microwave running and staggered into the kitchen to see what was going on and asked ‘Hus at?’ I responded, ‘Thats the microwave.’ As you processed the information, you started waving at it. I didn’t think much of it until Daddy said she’s waving because it’s called the microwave. It would have never crossed my mind to connect the two words like that but your little brain in there is growing and making connections and it is so exciting to see the results.

One of my favorite moments of the entire year happened one evening this month. We were getting ready for bed in the family room and you were waddling around in your your diaper playing with your pajamas. You would put them over your face and the top of your head so you couldn’t see and then pull them down quickly and play peek-a-boo with us, while walking around the room.  Surprisingly, it took you a while to run into something, but when you did, you were going full force. With pajamas over your head you ran right into the side of the couch, your head did a mini front back jerk while your body bounced backwards and over you tumbled. Of course Daddy and I began laughing right away because you literally looked like a blind sumo wrestler bouncing off of the furniture and falling over. Thankfully you got up with a little confused look in your eye and then continued to waddle around with the pajamas on your head. And too make this whole story better, Daddy miraculously was filming you. I can’t tell you how many times I have laughed re-watching this clip.

Although you took your first steps many weeks ago, over the past four weeks you have really mastered walking. You’re pretty stable and I can’t remember the last time I have seen you crawl. Thankfully, you still do have the little baby walk where you have a wide stance and your walk is more of a stomp, stomp stomp. Whenever I hear true silence, I know you’re into something or heading up the stairs because I don’t hear the sticky clamoring of your bare feet on the hardwood floor.

You’re comprehension and listening skills really took off this month. When we tell you things, you understand it and remember it. I was busy making dinner one night and you were hugging my legs begging to be picked up and I just couldn’t at that moment. So to distract you for a little bit, I suggested that we go read a book and asked for you to go get one of your favorites: Brown Bear Brown Bear. You went stumbling off to your book collection and about one minute later you returned with that specific book. Mind. Blown. There was no way I thought you would understand and be able to go and find a specific book, I was just suggesting that book because I thought there was a greater likelihood that you might go to your books and quit begging to be held.

Other notables:

You often bring books to us to be read. When you hand us the book, you turn around and plop your little tush in our laps and just wait. As we’re reading, you’ve become much more interactive with the books. You recognize items in books and will point to them when we ask you to find them such as the monkey or the fish.

You’ve started to mimic more of baby sign. You use ‘all done’, ‘more’ and ‘thank you.’

You recognize and can point to your nose, pat your belly and give ‘high-fives’ when asked.

You like to close doors (especially when you’re on the closed-in side) but don’t enjoy being stuck inside the room.

You clearly speak the words ‘hot’, ‘mama’, ‘dada’, ‘all done’, and ‘whats that’ and attempt to say ‘woof woof’ and ‘bye-bye.’

Occasionally, when I say, we need to change your diaper, you’ll squat down where you are as if you’re ready to be changed right there. (The other 75% of the time, you squirm and squeal through the entire change–which is a new thing for you. You used to be pretty good about laying still.)

Nap times have gotten much easier. You roll around and get comfortable for awhile before falling asleep, but rarely cry or make noise while doing so. When you wake up, you’ll often chat to giraffee and play by yourself for 20 minutes before standing up and crying for someone to come get you. I love love love our video baby monitor and watching you play on it. You’re slowly dwindling down from two naps a day. You still take two naps about 60% of the time, going down from 12-2 for the first and 5-6 for the second, if you have it. Night time has been pretty good too, going down around 9 and waking around 8 am the following morning. You still take a bottle before bed, half whole milk and half breast milk.

No new teeth this month, you’re still at 5 (two on top, three on bottom)

You still love music and whenever you hear it come on, you stop what you’re doing and start dancing.

You love to screech to the pitches of mice, and seriously make daddy squirm with those high-pitched sounds.

God has truly blessed us by bringing you into our lives and we couldn’t be more grateful! Happy ONE my Lexi Lou!

Love,

Mama

Dear Lexi,

Ten months my baby girl. You are a very active and happy little bean. You are a joy to be around and am so happy you have made me a momma, and am even more happy to be your mama. You are just so content with everything from eating to sleeping to meeting new people to trying new experiences. You’ve made the adjustment to parenthood easy and so fun!

Favorite Moments:

One night, we had just finished reading books. I continued to lay on the blue pillow and cuddle under the quilt Grandma B made while you fiddled around playing with various toys and climbing up on things. There was a random silence, which always signals mischief. I raise my head and find you laying on your tummy kissing the photo of you and Grandma B sewn onto it. Of course my camera was on the other side of the room and any movement would distract you, but it was such a sweet moment and brought tears to my eyes.

For whatever reason, this month you have proved to be gassier than normal. You are constantly releasing audible farts. And about 75% of the time you fart, you’ll look to myself or daddy and smile and laugh. Of course, we have no self-control and laugh with you because how can you not laugh at a 10 month old cutie who laughs when she farts?

Whenever Daddy mows the lawn, you are mesmerized. You’ll stand at the patio door and watch as he goes back and forth. Whenever he gets near, you screech, and bang your hands on the door trying to get his attention. Once Daddy is close to finishing, we head outside to watch him and go for an occasional ride. It’s so cute to see you’re little hands on the wheel and Daddy says you sing and chat away and he just loves hearing your little noises.

Over the weeks, you’ve discovered how to open cabinets. Last night, you figured out how to open the cabinets next to the fireplace. And proceeded to crawl inside and play for a good 20 minutes. (For the most part there were only books in there so you had your own little fort and were content as a little caterpillar milling around in there.

Along the lines of opening cabinets has been opening drawers. While I was at work, you pulled your middle dresser drawer open and threw all of your clothes out, just as Daddy came to check on you. So he plopped you into the drawer and sent me this gem while I was at work. I wish I could have seen it, but I love getting little photos of you being sweet throughout the day. It brings a smile to my face.

We’ve never really had a solid bedtime routine, but started to develop one this month. Around 8:30 we head up to your bedroom, change your diaper, play with toys and then read books. We lay on the blue pillow, put the quilt over us and read: Good Night Moon and Who says quack and another random one.  After books, we give Dada a hug and kiss goodnight and then nurse. Most of the time you fall asleep nursing, we put Giraffee in your arms and let you peacefully sleep until morning light. It is such a calming way to conclude each day.

Most days when I come home from work, you’re still taking your second nap of the day, which usually works well because I can get dinner started right away. However, there have been several occasions where you’ve been up and when you see me for the first time, I swear its like you’re seeing magic. You’re eyes get ginormous and sparkle, you kick your legs, wave hello and are SO excited. It is the BEST way to be greeted home and you make me feel so loved.

Other noteables:

• You ‘free standing’ much more often now. I’ve even seen you standup from a squat without holding onto anything.
• You love to play with magnets and carry them around the house. You’ll put them in your mouth and then crawl around like a little puppy with its bone.
• You have a strong affection towards all stuffed animals. Your eyes light up and you open your arms and mouth to give hugs and kisses.
• Your two top front teeth popped through this month. The second one came in about 2 weeks after the first and caused you some pain, a little blood and received lots of extra snuggles.
• You pooped on the toilet for the first time. Dada saw you grunting, stripped you down and had you grunt one out on the potty. The best part of the story was how you smiled and clapped after you were done.
• We went to the apple orchard and you went on your first ride with your buddy Lauren.
• You love to crawl up the stairs, but haven’t figured out how to go down.
• Baths have become difficult, all you want to do is standup. You also figured out this month that you can drink the water. It is hilarious to watch you lean forward like a frog and drink the water like a puppy.
• You’re mostly in 12 month clothes. There are a couple of 9 month items you fit into.
• You had a cold at the beginning of the month–mostly a bad running nose.
• You will occasionally walk behind and push the yellow peddle car and love to walk while holding onto our hands. However, when you walk, you have this goofy little leg kick or shake with your left leg. I’ve been told Grandpa B used to do this silly leg kick when he played foosball and your little leg kick reminds people of that.
• You are very aware of your surroundings especially when you are elevated. You sense the edge of things and stay away from them. You may get close, but never attempt to get down by yourself.
• You’ve started to ‘brush your teeth’ (suck on the toothbrush)
• You’re favorite book is still Who says quack
• You sleep from about 9 pm to 8 am each day and nap from 12 to 2 and 4:30 to 5:30 each day.
• You take about four 8oz bottles each day. Nursing is still going well, although you only nurse once a day (before bed on workdays). Otherwise, I pump in the morning and once during the day.

Happy 10 months my sweet Lexi Lou. I can’t wait to see what month 11 brings us. You walking perhaps??

Love,

Mama