M-girl Update

I just have a feeling some posts in the near future may have baby brother written all over them (hoping we have 8 more days!!  CRAZY!!!), so I better slip in an M update!

*She does this thing now where she crouches down and yells, "Oooooooooooh JUMP!" and jumps up "high".  It is so stinkin' cute, except when she's on the couch.  (THAAAANKS cousin A -- and Daddy -- for having a video of A diving off of the couch.  M requests it often!)

*I'm trying really hard to streamline our nuh-nigh routine.  We have a pretty good system down, including three books.  She has a few all time favorites that get requested almost every night (including: Llama, Llama Red Pajama, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Corduroy, a farm book (she has three to choose from), a Pony book (cute little My Little Pony board books she got for her bday -- more on that later), an art book (from the Mini Masters book set) and more).  She would love for JJ or I to rock her to sleep (and sometimes it's just divine to hold a sleeping baby), but we avoid that at all costs.  Also, at this point, it's very, very hard for me to snuggle too much with her anyways.  Not the way we're used to anyways.  We did "Oh baby" a little bit tonight (where I hold her like a little baby and coo at her) -- at her request.  : )  M's daycare gal has said that she's been trickier to put down lately -- MVJ wants MP to rock her.  I've been trying to tell M she's a big girl and can just lay down for naps like a big girl and doesn't need MP (or Mommy or Daddy) to rock her.
     
*So along with bedtime, M has a new "trick".  She loves opening and closing doors.  For our very first time ever, M walked out of her bedroom in the middle of the night.  I must've subconsciously heard her rustling around before she actually opened the door, but it scared the bejeezers out of JJ.  It has only happened once, thank goodness!  I'm sure there'll be more where that came from, though.

*I'm so not ready to jump on kiddo fads, but I have learned some things from M's My Little Pony books --- did you KNOW that the little images on their butts have a name?  They're their "cutie marks"!  haha!  JJ now calls them a tramp stamp (not in front of M --- goodness knows she would certainly pick up on that and repeat it!). 

*M has started finishing things --- like my sentences and words in books.  It's pretty cute!  She's so engaged in conversations and communicating.  She is right about 90% of the time too!  She also has a few memorized lines in books, like "Not today dear," her mother sighed. -- from Corduroy.

*M has become a little bossy thing.  Some things are good -- she'll make sure I have my seat belt on and that I'm drinking water.  Some things are not so good -- she'll want to play in M's room "right now" and demand one or both of us to "Get up!"  She also has a "Noooooo" and "Yeah" that sound oddly teenager-ish.  No, no, no... so not ready for that.

*One of my favorite new things because it is so darn funny is her "eating" noise.  She has a kitchen now, so we do lots of pretend cooking and eating -- but this sound has also come up while she's actually eating too!  It's like this big 'ole chomping noise!  CHOMP!

*M has kind of become a little scaredy cat.  I can tell she finds comfort in Mommy and Daddy and often reassures herself with, "Mommy (or Daddy) is right there."  The other day we were shopping and M tried out a little rocking horse.  I was at a very nearby clearance rack and noticed a little boy walked up to her.  I observed her staring at him, and then out came the biiiiig lip.  His parents rushed over thinking he had pushed her or demanded a turn or something.  No, she just got a little nervous.  When I picked her up, she started bawling.  I had to talk her down explaining how the boy wanted to say hi to M and she was just fine.  When we got home, she had to reenact the whole story to Daddy.

I could share more, more, and more stories, but I better stop here!  My big girl is growing up so quickly!

Oooooh Looooord!

M is our little singer.  She just cracks me up.  She turns everything into a song, but also has a few staples that she sticks with.  She is in love with the few singing DVDs she has - like two Baby Genius ones she got for her birthday.  She requests Old Macdonald on it EVERY time she sees it (I'm sure there'll be a scratch with that one because it gets repeated all. the. time.).  If you ask her something like, "Do you want to sing Grandma a song?" it's ALWAYS "Baa-baa Black Sheet".  But at night?  Then it's all about Kumbaya.  She has a few standbys like "Someone's singing Lord!" and "Someone's drinking Lord!" (from when she was taking a sip of her water while I was rocking her one night.  She thought it was hilarious.  I'm such a hit with the two-year crowd...)  Lately even during the day I've heard snip its of it and it is just so funny to hear her belting out "Oooh Looooooord!"  Sweet girl!    

Church

Lately M is all about purses.  She looooves the little basket filled with beanbags her auntie LJ made her for Christmas (I guess to be clear, she made the beanbags, not the basket - that I'm aware of anyways!), and carts it around calling it her purse.  Other examples of purses include, but are not limited to, reusable Subway bags, Mommy's purse (of course) and this metal basket we have our wiimotes in.  When M was bumping that thing around JJ asked what she was up to.  She said, "I'm going to Church!"  We asked what she was going to do at Church and she said, "Play with Jesus!" 

Our little emotional thing...

M is SO emotional.  And she is SUCH a dweller.  I'm going to give you a few examples of things she's cried about just this week.

• Her friend at daycare had a bonk.  We heard about it ALL night.  MP (M's daycare gal) said that S fell and was crying so M brought her her doll hoping it would make her feel better.  (Love that!)
• M was literally sobbing over the "David Gets in Trouble" book when, at the end, David realizes it really WAS his fault, says he's sorry, and tells mom that he loves her.  (rolling eyes)
• Actually there are several books and even some magazines that make M tear up.  If she remotely things someone or some thing is sad, she gets this BIG lower lip and declares them "saaaad".  : (  Often if a baby is asleep she'll think that baby is sad.  It takes a little while for me to convince her that the baby is sleeping -- baby is happy!
• Daddy had the brilliant idea of telling her that Mommy was sad when she wouldn't come out of the guest room --- "Mommy is sad that you won't go out and play with her."  Allllll evening: Mommy sad.  Mommy crying.  NO dear, Mommy is very happy!  Look at me!  I'm happy!
• During our snow day extravaganza, I realized I left my phone charger in my classroom - so it had been there over the weekend plus an extra day.  On day 4, it officially died, so when M and I were out running errands, we stopped at my school.  What I didn't count on was the gate being down by my classroom, so we couldn't actually get my classroom without driving to a different door.  Since I had buckled and unbuckled the now fidgety Miss M a few too many times, I decided to just head home and hope for school the next day!  M, however, was beside herself.  "Mommy's phooooone... Mommy's phoooooone charger in classroom!  Mommy's phoooooone!"  I soothingly reminded her that I could use Daddy's if I needed to.  Right when we got in the door, M wails up to Daddy about Mommy's phoooooone.  ... 

Also just for funsies (and I'm totally rolling my eyes just thinking of this list), these are some things M canNOT let go of.  Let it go honey.  Let it go.

• Mommy locking her in the car that day.  She says, "Mommy lock door." with a really sad face.
• A neighbor's elderly mother lives with him and she fell and broke her hip, which was very terrible, over Thanksgiving.  I don't want to minimize the situation, but M still brings up that the "Mom fell." again with the sad face.
• How the doctor made her better.  Do you even remember when M had to go to the doctor for her nursemaid's elbow??  I DO because M won't let me forget.  Obviously it was a very traumatic experience for her.
• There are lots of good things M remembers too, but I'll save those for another post!  : )

I hope we're not paying for her therapy 20 years down the road if she's still hanging on to these things!!

Worst call ever...

I'm in my room with a student working at about 9:30 when my phone rings.  Really, my phone never rings and I have it on a very low setting so it was kind of shocking I registered that I was getting a call at all.  My student happened to be on "reward time" so I just happened to be at my desk.  It was all as if it was meant to be!  We have caller ID, so I saw that it was the main office.  I figured I'd better answer.  When I picked up, it was M's daycare.  "Hello, this is *Assistant Director* at *M's school*.  She has been crying all morning and we think we have it narrowed down to her arm.  She hasn't been moving her right arm all morning and cries at the slightest movement.  We tried giving her her sippy just to her right arm and she wouldn't take it."  Poor baby!  I went across the hall to get the school nurse (who knows my student well) to see if she would cover me for a minute so I could call M's pediatrician and Daddy (who was home sick this morning with my stomach stuff... ewww!).  She said, "No, you just need to go right now.  Just go right to urgent care." 

I made the fastest arrangements I've probably ever made and headed out the door.  I left a quick message on JJ's phone on my way out the door.  Smart me I had programmed M's pediatrician's office into my cellphone and called them on the road to daycare.  They said they had an opening immediately (with the other ped. in the office) and could see her for that type of health concern.  When I got there the Director of the daycare met me at the door with M crying.  She looked miserable.  We got her into her coat.  Wailing.  I got her into her carseat.  Screaming.  Poor sweet baby girl.  I kept telling her that we were going to the doctor and he would make it all better.  When she heard doctor, she said, "No more monkeys!  Naughty, naughty monkeys!"  (That's what she knows of doctors right now: Momma called the doctor and the doctor said, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!")  As I was gingerly getting M into her carseat, Daddy called and said he was heading out a little later to do vision screenings at a school with his class - he had missed morning class but felt better.  He would meet us at the clinic to see what we should do the rest of the day.

We beat Daddy to the clinic and she was just absolutely worn out from crying.  She was worried as the nurse tried to weigh her and resigned to a little cuddle time as the nurse took down "the story".  JJ was the next to arrive, thank goodness.  Daddy just brings a sense of calm to intense situations.  I *try* it's just when my baby is crying like that I want it fixed yesterday... you know?  Daddy felt M's arm and told me exactly what he thought was wrong.  Subluxation of the radial head (of the elbow).  Uh-huh... EXACTLY what I was going to say...  Doctor came in.  He again wanted to know the scoop.  He wanted to know a specific incident last night or this morning.  I totally believe my daycare that they were twirling her around by her wrists or anything like that!  I think it definitely was a case of a kiddo grabbing her wrist and she wanted to go one way and he wanted to go the other or a good bonk that went unnoticed until she tried to move it or whatever.

He felt her arm - to M's discomfort and pain.  I'm sure she was also worried and anxious at this point.  All this hullabaloo, pain, unfamiliar situation, not in the routine, etc. He said he wanted us to take a little time - read a book or two and see if she would start moving her arm on her own.  If not, he wanted her to have x-rays done.  Sure enough.  It was crazy!  We read one, maybe two pages, and she completely started using her arm again.  No more tears.  Laughing and playing with Mommy and Daddy.  It was such a miracle.  JJ looked at us reading and said, "THAT is why I want to be a doctor."

Now whenever MVJ hears the word "better" (as in - "You're so warm, let's take off your sweater.  There, that's better.") she says, "Doctor.  Better."  We are so happy she has this positive association with doctors.  Maybe the sucker at the end of the visit helped... : )

She dances too!

M-girl has always been a mover and groover - really from the time she was in my tum-tum.  That is yet another way this pregnancy is different.  This new little person (well... while still only 18 weeks along) is pretty laid back.  I'll feel a bump or two but not to the extent M was always all over the place wiggling and bouncing around.

Anyways, back to big sister!  So M has always loved to dance and beebop around.  Now she's adding singing to her repertoire (YES, spelled right without spell checker!! I think I always forget the second "r" or something...).  I think the unit at school this month... let's see, it's only the 19th... I probably should've figured out the unit before now.  Bad, bad Mom.  WOW.  I am off track a lot this post.  Sorry... I'm claiming preggo brain!

OK.  I think the unit is music.  M sings wherever she goes.  She'll start the ABC song, which will inevitably turn into Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  She also sings The Itsy Bitsy Spider (or did for a while, now when I try to get her started she'll look at me very seriously and say, "No Spider.") complete with actions - if you're lucky.  Another favorite is Baa Baa Black Sheep.  Randomly she'll belt out, "Yes, sir!  Yes, sir!" OR "Baa, baa black sheep." but usually not together.

Her teachers at school, too, have noticed her vocabulary shooting up.  She is quite the talker.  We love, love the fact that we can tell her, "Use your words." and she does!  Most of the time anyways.  Communication by hitting or scratching still occurs... strangely usually about 20 or so minutes before sleepytime...

A "funny"?? story

MVJ has major eating issues lately.  We are so not impressed, but she will put something in her mouth, and emphatically spit it out.  She has to get every last tiny particle out of her mouth.  It is so rude and bad-mannered, but of course, she doesn't see our arguments as valid.  We were at the grocery store the other day, Hy-Vee [not IV Auntie L ; )], and  M managed to get a bite out of a muskmelon -- the outer part of the muskmelon.  She immediately began spitting it out and even grabbed my fingers to sweep her mouth to get all remaining offending scraps.  Then, she went prone on the floor (thank you JJ for all the medical terminology floating around in my head!).  This may seem weird, but I assure you this is a common occurrence.  M thinks she is hilarious by "going nuh-nigh" at various places.  Like on the stairs.  Or in her high chair.  Or on the living room floor.  Or in a restaurant.  I was about to tease her about putting her to bed when I realized this particular floor laying episode was completely nefarious; she was being naughty, not just silly.  Before I could stop her she licked the floor (remember she's still trying to get rind out of her mouth).  SO embarrassing not to mention disgusting!!   

Taking Toddler Walks

The evenings have been so. fabulous. lately.  Not so sweltering hot like it seems it's been since we've been here and definitely not cold yet either.  MVJ and I have taken to walking to get the mail in the evenings.  Simple task, right?  Let me try to help you take a little walk with us.

First of all we have to descend the steps of our home.  M's preferred mode is probably me carrying her, which I'm trying to stymie (I think I used that correctly... English majors?  Anyone?).  Her next favorite is going tummy first (as opposed to on her tummy which I think would be the safest).  She is almost tall enough to reach the hand rail, so she has one hand on the rail and one in my hand.  Down the stairs.  Shoes on.  Help Mommy open the door, help Mommy shut off the lights and finally help Mommy close the door.  Steps outside - here she can hold on to the rail, but with the cement, I always try to hold her hand too. 

THEN, we have to get past all the cars.  She wants to touch all of the hoods and of course drive them all.  I try to tell her they may be hot.  She sometimes walks up to them and fans her hands to cool them off while saying, "Hot."  Occasionally a friend or two is playing in the grass.  (A family with FOUR little girls moved in close to us as well as a family with two kiddos from India.)  She doesn't quite want to "play" yet but loves to watch them!  Then, there's the grass, sticks, trees, berries (that she tries EVERY TIME to put in her mouth.  EVERY TIME.  Every one.), close to the sidewalk.  There's the temptation to go into the parking lot.

Once we pass the cars and kiddos, we've almost made it to the pool area (our cut spot), we of course have to touch all the plants, try out all of the lounge chairs close by, and say hi to everyone out sunbathing.  One poor guy was sleeping as M yelled across the pool area a very emphatic and friendly, "HI!!!!"  THEN we pass the workout facility.  M looooves pressing her little nose to the window and waving at everyone there.  Thank goodness no one has fallen off a treadmill yet...  After the workout place comes the pop machine, on which M just has to try the buttons.  Maybe she'll get lucky with an orange soda one of these days...

Next is the tennis court.  I've given up trying to walk past it.  We go in and M runs around for a while.  She scoots herself under the net and tries to also sneak under the chain link fence.  At least at this point, Mommy can sit down if she wants.  M is fenced in.  What harm can come?  ; )

Back onto the sidewalk.  Sometimes we're lucky enough to see a dog at this point.  M has become much more friendly with dogs.  She still will not pet one, but I don't have to be holding her the whole time.  She loves saying, "Hi" and "Bye bye" to her canine compadres.  Then we have to cross the busy-ish street to get to the mail kiosk.  M HAS to hold my hand.  If she refuses, I pick her up, kicking and screaming and all.  Mommy's rules.  I tell you what.

NOW we've reached the mailboxes.  NOW M has to try a key - generally our van key (I'm guessing because it's the longest and fattest) on every mailbox within reach.  Sometimes, when I have all my wits about me, I've already unhooked the mailbox key from the set before letting her loose on this task.  Then she usually notices what I've done and gives me the stank eye.

This is only half of our trek people!  We still have the return trip!  Variations I've tried:
a) putting M in her stroller.  She really does well with this and sits the whole time, but what fun is that?  I want her to explore and be a toddler.  It's also good for her to take a walk and get some exercise.  What am I saying?  She runs around nonstop from the time she is awake, till her head hits the crib mattress.  But anyways, the exploration point.  Yeah, that one is valid.
b) bringing M's stroller with her baby so she could walk it.  I thought that would give her a distraction for at least the cars and berries.  Not so much.  I ended up carrying her darn stroller most of the time.  At least it was a holder for my cellphone and keys...
c) if it times right - and it's a miracle when it does - M and I will get to the mailbox and Daddy will pick us up on his way back from school.  We've also done this some Saturdays and then headed out to run errands or whatever.  That nice walk usually calms our crazy baby a little when let loose in a store.         

Little Monkey

MVJ is our little monkey - straight from Monkey See, Monkey Do.  I already shared how she used toilet paper to wipe over her clothes.  Mommy has been sick, so now she also "coughs" and uses a tissue.  She says, "Help you." when she needs help - I'm sure from me saying something to the effect of, "Can Mommy help you??" too many times-  when I see her trying something questionable.  There's the laundry, vacuuming, and putting away dishes.  MVJ's all time favorite thing lately is to be put in one of the front seats - preferrably the driver's side (obviously).  She quickly shuts the door and says, "Bye bye!" and begins terrorizing - radio controls, heat controls, CD in and out, play with the GPS, lights, blinker, etc. whatever she can get her grabby little hands on in the two or so minutes we indulge her.  She and Daddy went on a walk earlier today while I tried to rest some more (dang cold).  They came back a little while later and I asked how the walk had gone and where they went.  Daddy replied, "Oh, we only made it as far as the van and then M had to drive."  Stinker!

One of my favorite things she has picked up on happens just as we are about to leave for school.  I don't know how this has happened but the last thing we do before we leave is brush Mommy's teeth.  I sit her up on our countertop while I frantically brush, always at least a few minutes behind schedule.  M has begun to grab my deodorant, lift her shirt, and apply it.  Generally she gets it on her arm, or sometimes her back, but she always lifts her left arm while applying with her right.  It just cracks me up.  At least it's a hygienic habit she's picked up from us...

My NINETEEN month girl!

Wow... time is a'flyin' by!  So I just have to post about my fabulous little girl.  She IS a busy girl.  She tries my patience sometimes, but seriously she is becoming such a cool little lady.  I love that she calls ME mommy and I get to call her my beautiful baby. 

MVJ has become quite a little helper.  She LOVES to help me with laundry-  from carrying some of her clothes to the washing machine, to handing me articles of clothing to put in the washer, to transferring them to the dryer, to "helping" me with the folding, to bringing Daddy his clothes or moving lots of clean laundry just around - she is involved in it ALL!

She also loves unloading the dishwasher.  This pretty much freaks me out, but I get almost everything out beforehand and then call her in to hand me the spoons and her cups.  It's a nice trade off and she just feels like such a big girl when she helps Mommy.  Oh that reminds me of a book I used to "read" at my City Grandma's house - "We Help Mommy"... classic.  I think I could still recite lines from it from forever ago. 

She is quite the reader and makes this Momma SO proud when she consistently asks for the Bible as her nuh-nuh book.  (She has her own baby Bible... no we don't read the whole Bible every night!)  She also loves to draw.  (She asks to "color" almost every night.)  We are still working on crayons because she still wants to eat them.  I thought I was very clever by getting her a Color Wonder pack - the markers that only draw on the certain pages, but MVJ ate the tips off of a few of them before I had to put an end to that for a time.  No wonder it says age 3 and up!!  : )  Oops...

MVJ also has lots of words within her grasp.  She is all about body parts lately - eyes, nose, teeth, ears, chin, cheeks, toes, tummy, etc.  She knows several animals as well - pig is her all time favorite, but she also likes puppy, kitty, cow (although for that she says "moo").  She is very polite and her teachers and we all hear "please", "thank you", "nice", "yes" and of course "no" often.  

She still sleeps through the night - YES.  But only takes one nap a day - usually a couple of hours starting at 11:30.  Sometimes the evenings get rough but I don't want her to go to bed before 7:30.  Even at that time I don't get to spend a ton of time with her. 

My 18 Month Girl

We had MVJ's 18 month check up yesterday... a few days late, but with the move and everything it took us this long to a) find a good pediatrician (I'm sure they're all good... but you know...) and b) get an appointment scheduled.

MVJ thoroughly gave every person her best stank eye ever from the receptionist to the nurse and she reserved her stankiest face for the poor doctor.  I guess she is an equal opportunity scowler at this point.  She didn't even need shots this appointment - THANK GOODNESS.  MVJ mostly ran around while first the nurse and then the doctor asked me questions.  The doctor was like, "I was just going to ask if she can climb onto a chair, but... clearly..." as MVJ pretty much danced on the chair next to me...

I am so happy with our choice of pediatrician.  She was very thorough - and gave me a lot of information, which I love.  I always have questions, just one of those people.  She answered each one, commiserated with me, and gave some helpful advice and even a few pats on the back.  I got a take home pamphlet and a nice graph of my baby's growth.

And let me tell you about MVJ's growth.  I canNOT even tell you how surprised we were:

head circumference (well... this was no surprise... the kid has a J head... ; )): 74th percentile
weight: 51st percentile (from hovering around the 20th this was excellent news!)
height: 69th percentile!  (for those of you who know me, I'm NOT a tall person, so this was a shocker!  There is basically a split of talls and shorts in JJ's family.  He is one of the talls, so I guess Miss MVJ has Daddy's genes in the height department)... well... at 18 months anyways!  : )

 

Two more funny stories!

So I could write all about how MVJ has been on a hitting spree lately, but why talk about the negative?  Plus, she had a really good day today.  I'm so thankful to everyone who gave me advice on fb.  I love that network to quickly get advice and not feel like you're the only one dealing with not fun stuff.  Of all of them, I have to give it to Uncle A who made me feel much better.  Just be consistent, be immediate but (I think above all) be patient.  I'm definitely NOT a perfect parent, but it made me feel better to think that if I just slow down and calm down and realize she's just wanting to learn more about the world through me, it makes me feel so much better.

OK!  What did I say about not writing about the negative??  : )

MVJ did two hilarious things on Sunday morning that I just have to share.

First of all, she woke up (a bit late -- YAY!! -- I even got some reading in bed in!) and after we changed her dipe and cuddled a bit, I brought her into our bed to say good morning to Daddy.  She (of course) was hauling around her baby and blankie.  Daddy teased her and took "bank-bank" from her and covered his face with it.  I playfully said, "Where's Daddy?!"  She immediately replied, "At work."  Uh oh... she must be hearing that a lot.  Get used to it girlfriend.  Daddy's in med. school, which we (correctly) call "work".

I have to preface this story by saying that MVJ has been my shadow lately.  Wherever I go, whatever I do, she is right there next to me.  I used to knock her down like three times a day because I just didn't remember that she was RIGHT NEXT TO ME at all times.  So anyways, lately when I have to go to the bathroom, I just announce it to her because I know she'll be trotting after me anyways.  And now, since she has her own potty chair, when I go potty, she sits down too.  Well Sunday as I reached for the toilet paper (sorry if this is TMI!), she asked for some too.  I tore off two squares for her and she proceeded to wipe herself (over her diaper and clothes).  It was just way too cute!

My baby/big girl/toddler

MVJ is such a big girl.  I can't believe it.  She buzzes around and has such a personality.  She will let you know what she's thinking thankyouverymuch.

A few of her words -- she adds more every day it seems and will go on copying sprees where she tries to say everything Mommy or Daddy or both are saying!

*Oh boy!
*Woooow!
*No!  (while shaking her head furiously)
*Amen! (and holds her hands - especially when we pray at meals - LOVE it!)
*Baby (and when she holds her baby, she always says, "Oooh" at first.  It's SO cute!)
*Ducky
*Cracker
*Shoes (sounds a bit more like "shoeshs")
*Buh-bye and Nugh-nigh (for night-night)
*Mama, Daddy - "DadEE!"
BUT the sound we hear most often these days?  "Uh! Uh! Uh!"  We keep telling her to use her words and not be a little monkey, but for some unknown reason that is what comes out first!  : )

She LOVES loves to go on stroller rides.  In fact, if we leave the stroller out, she will often be found sitting in it.  If we even mention w-a-l-k, we better be on our way headed out the door or she gets a little impatient.  The other thing she loves is marshmallows!  Am I a bad parent?  This is her all time favorite reward.  Before, JJ and I were sad that we couldn't reward her for being such a good baby, but now we've found it!  She is so cute, when she's been supergood, we put down her pillow by the couch, and she'll sit and eat a handful of marshies that we put in a little cup.

In all the packing, she's become quite the helper.  If I'm not quick enough, LOTS of extra stuff goes in whatever box I'm packing.  She also loves to take things OUT of the box I'm packing.  We have a little storage bin thingy with handles that holds our tape and permanent markers (to label boxes).  She LOVES to carry that thing around.  It's so cute - it looks like she has her little work pail all ready to go.  But again, MOST of the packing occurs after she's gone to bed.

Speaking of sleepytime, MVJ is still our good little sleeper.  She enjoys two naps a day (usually) and still goes to bed around 7:30, waking up between 7 and 8.  When we were out of town a few weekends ago, she woke up at like some ungodly time (6:00?  6:30?).  She was in the pack and play in our room and I just looked at the clock and said, "We don't get up until 7." and rolled over to go back to bed.  Can you believe it?  She just sat and played until that time!  It was fabulous!

One thing that wasn't so fabulous is MVJ started wetting the bed... THROUGH her diaper.  That girl is like a camel!  She totally holds her pee like all day and pees it all at night.  I'm exaggerating of course, but she does *most* of her business while sleeping for some reason.  Anyways, we had to get her these overnight diapeys and she's still been known to wet through them.  We've been really trying to encourage her to drink more throughout the day and not just at night/during naps.

What else?  Speaking of potty, we think (of course we do, because our child is a genius), that we may have an early potty trainer on our hands.  Whenever I have to go to the bathroom, I will say, "Mommy has to go potty.  I'll be right back."  Before MVJ paid little to no attention, but now she beats me to the door.  She knows just where to go.  We're thinking we may get her her own chair just to get her familiar with it and see if she's interested at all (no pressure to be trained anytime soon though).

I think that's about all for our little miss.  She's loving summer.  (I'm loving her new wardrobe -- if the weather would stay sunny for any stretch of time though!).

Yet ANOTHER lesson learned. . .

I'll try to post more about our big weekend - but right now I just want to tell one little {embarrassing} story.  My brother graduated with his PT doctorate and his girlyfriend, SH, graduated with a bachelor's degree in science.

MVJ had some yuck diaper rash this weekend --- her first ever.  We've used diaper cream because she appeared a little red, but now that I've seen it I know that she hasn't had it before.  It didn't go away right away, so by the time we got home Sunday night I was a little nervous.  I asked JJ what we should do and after throwing out a few ideas, we thought we'd let her run around for a little while without her diaper.  We got home, ate, played, and she had a poopy diaper.  After I cleaned her up I figured it would be a good time to let her go commando for a little while.  I was trying to unpack (yes, we are the kids who still bring our dirty laundry home -- heck I've even brought it to my SIL and BIL's house!) and noticed that MVJ was standing really still.  I looked around her and saw a poopy on the floor and one hanging from her bum!!  YIKES!!  The Poopetrator strikes again!!  I am NOT good in crisis mode, so I yelled for JJ and scared poor MVJ (into stepping back INTO the poopy).  YUCK!  We got it all cleaned up and a fresh diapey on the baby girl!  Note to self: this one year old is NOT potty trained yet.  Leave the diaper ON!  : ) 

MVJ - almost 15 months!

I canNOT believe my baby is 15 months old!  She is such a fabulous little thing.  We love every stage of babydom, but it seems like lately her abilities have just absolutely grown by leaps and bounds.  She grew and grew for her first few months of life, but now she's doing, doing, doing, learning, learning, learning, learning.

People are almost put off when I tell them she is NOT a cuddly little lovey bear.  She IS our lovey, but she is not calm or huggy.  She is wild, running around now.  She loves to be outside, loves to run in the grass, and still loves kids.  We have spent a fair amount of time at parks and while she doesn't play WITH kids, she loves to watch them and run around them. 

Guess what?  MVJ is officially weaned.  She even tries to nurse less and less now.  For the first few days it was brutal.  And she didn't understand.  It was tough on this momma.  Of course with her getting sick, it was tough to not sit and nurse her (previously my only chance to cuddle!). 

We've decided to grow MVJ's hair out.  When our hairdresser was at our house, she commented that her hair is growing well and if we just keep sweeping it out of her eyes, it'll reach the point that it'll stay back/to the side naturally.  She does NOT let us put hair things in her hair.  If we do manage, she rips them out (along with some of the hair that was clipped in it!).  She does keep hair ties in, thankfully.  Lately, she's even yanked out MY hairthings! 

Speaking of hair things, we know MVJ is watching our every moves.  In the past, when I would do her hair, I would grab a hair thing, put it in my mouth while I combed her hair, then stuck it in.  Now if MVJ gets her grabby hands on a hair thing, she puts it in her mouth and then tries to put it in her hair.  Stinker!  While she seems to put things IN her mouth less often, she still puts things up to her lips a lot.  It seems like her lips are a feeler giving her extra information about an object.  It's pretty interesting watching her.

MVJ is such a busy girl.  We've taken out our baby gates and pretty much let her roam free.  We DO have to keep the bathroom door shut.  She is fascinated with the garbage and toilet (early potty trainer???).  We also have to be good about keeping our door closed.  She loves digging though our dirty clothes AND going through all of the clean clothes in my armoire.  Stinker!

MVJ in March

I don't think I've updated lately on the li'l miss.  MVJ is definitely a toddler.  Not in the "she toddles around" sense, because she is still not walking, but in the mood sense.  She has been a big time whiner lately, much to JJ's frustration (remember, he's the one who stays home with her all day!).  Several times she has been put in her crib to have a time out of sorts.  We definitely want to nip that whining in the bud!  She has been a picky eater lately, too.  That is hard.  We can't tell her why it's so important to have a little dairy and a little fruit and a little protein, etc.  She just doesn't care and is ALWAYS up for fishy crackers or "yoges"!  : )  She is a champion water drinker --- and still a milk drinker (NOT the whole milk we'd like her to be drinking).  I'm not good at weaning her and obviously she's not just going to do it on her own.  MVJ has lots of new toys from her birthday, including one set of legos and one set of these spikey building blocks.  She LOVES playing, "You build it and I will destroy it." 

We went for our first walk of the season this last weekend.  Woohoo!!  LOVE it!  She enjoys shopping with Mommy and Mommy loves having a little helper -- especially when there is a shopping cart!!  Otherwise things can get pretty dicey at times!  She's started saying, "Uh oh!" and that's super cute.  She also babbles, "Ma-ma!" and "Da-da!"  But her all time favorite phrase is still, "Duke a day-dee."  We have NO idea how to translate it, but there have been times when I've thrown it into normal conversation with JJ.  We crack ourselves up.  : )  One thing's for sure, MVJ has completely taken over our lives and we love her for it.  She has been doing a super awesome job with babysitters, and that makes us so happy.  We went to dinner and a movie the other weekend and of course the whole meal was spent talking about MVJ and/or looking at pictures we have of her on our phone.  We are hopeless!

Rawr!

MVJ loves to be scared. We're not sure where it came from, but she giggles with delight if we jump out of nowhere and roar at her. She prefers a more vicious game of peek-a-boo! JJ and she have a little ritual, where he will pretend to "stalk his prey" complete with baby lion-like roars. She just peels over with delight. I have to watch out, however, because if I'm holding her, or anywhere near her basically, she like gets crazy! She will bonk her head on my head in a fit, and most notably, she bites! She has bitten me on the shoulder more than once in this crazy baby state. The other day, though, she stepped it up a notch and bit me right on the boob! OW! I still have the marks, but I'll spare you the image. : )

JJ has told me that I have trouble wrapping up my stories, so I'll just leave you with this conclusion.

And then I found $5. The end.

M-M- Leroy Brown

This is MVJ's new nickname from Uncle AJ! I forgot to repost her quiz with the results!

So... How well did YOU know the birthday girl?

1. What was MVJ’s due date? b) March 7
2. What was M’s first reaction to food? a) Finally! The good stuff! Bring me more!
3. How old was M when she had her first (of many!) photoshoot? b) 2 wks.
4. What did M wear home from the hospital? c) a green newborn outfit bought by Grandma and Grandpa K while they visited
5. What unique thing occurred during M’s birth? a) her scalp was scraped when the doctor broke Mommy’s water
6. What was M’s favorite Christmas song? c) Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry
7. What special first did M have over Christmas? b) first plane (and train!) ride
8. Who gave M her first M&M? a) her hairstylist, MO
9. What does M like to do when she wakes up? c) eat
10. How does M feel about her sippy cup? b) she prefers nursing, but will take it – especially if someone else holds it for her

11. How many teeth does M currently have? 8
12. What item does M need in order to fall asleep? her pink "blank-blank" blankie
13. M was born with TONS of hair. Did this cause Mommy tons of heartburn? NO!
14. What is M’s bedtime (that she set for herself)? accept anything between 7:00 and 7:30 though it's usually on the 7:00 side
15. Name one thing M does NOT enjoy eating. This has changed quite a bit, but at the time it was definitely peaches, baby food peas and baby food green beans.
16. Who is M named after (middle name)? My grandma W.
17. How do we know M is a true Norwegian? She LOVES lefse!
18. What is M’s favorite toy? This was a trick question --- anything that is NOT a toy!
19 and 20. Name two of M’s nicknames. She has about a million and a half! : )

MVJ: TWELVE MONTHS!

We officially have a toddler. She toddles around - not TOO many steps on her own, but she zips around taking a hand from Mommy here, the coffee table there, a toy here, Daddy's hand there - you get the point!

She has also become a picky eater. She will LOVE something one day and turn her nose up at it the next. We thought pasta pickups were the bomb a little while ago- now she picks them apart and plays with them, never putting them in her mouth. We *think* she loves oatmeal, grapefruit, toast with a little raspberry jelly, water (she now knows what it is -- ask "Where's your water?" and she'll get her sippy cup.), and sweet potatoes (especially when dipped in ketchup!). What a goofball!

She had her 12-month shots last week and I think the effects have officially worn off. Today she was a Cheeseball with a capital C!

She loves to be scared it seems. Goofball - she loves it when we jump out of nowhere with a "Boo!" or "Rawr" at her. When Daddy turns towards her quickly and "scares" her, she practically dives from where ever she is with fits of giggles.

She is still a good sleeper (usually about 7:!5pm-7:00am), but lately she's wanted to take a milk break at about 5:30. Then she zonks back out.

I'm trying to start weening her. It's tough for both of us. Maybe me more than her. I have trouble saying no!

She's a smiley, happy girl who loves her Mommy and Daddy very much. We love her even more!!

MVJ IS ONE

Oh my word.  This is the first one.  The big one.  My baby girl is ONE years old!  I just have to return to that day.  Want to come with me?  That's right!  It's a 3-parter!  Part 1: Leading Up; Part 2: Labor and Delivery; and Part 3: Post Delivery.  WHAT a day.  It was so exhausting and exhilarating.  So nerve-wracking and fabulous.  So scary and joyous.  It was quite a day.  I'm so focused on the day, but now thinking back over the whole YEAR.  Wow.  It's overwhelming.  MVJ has learned so much.  JJ and I have learned SO MUCH.