vacation!

Did we have fun?!?!?!

You bet we did!! 

 Details to come in the next week.

Daddy's jet.

We took our lovely neighbors to see the C-17 last Saturday morning.  Their kids think it is neat that "Mr. Andy" flies an airplane and they pray for him a lot when he is gone and flying, so we thought it was a simple and fun idea to give them a tour.

Seeing the cockpit always reminds me of what a smart husband I have!  There are SO many buttons!  I sometimes forget that Andy has such a technical and challenging job, and a tour every now and again helps me keep some perspective.   And, as always, I snapped some photos of the fun morning!  Enjoy :)

Walking around in the cargo space of the airplane. I always forget how big it is!

Sweet friends!

Daddy, I can fly this airplane!  Now if I can only get my feet to touch the pedals!

So I just pull the brakes like this, huh?!  This is kind of fun!

Daddy and his little pilot!

Emily, Hannah, & Mason on the back ramp of the jet.  What a fun morning we had!

Clothing is optional.

When you get so wet splashing in the mud puddles created from the afternoon thunderstorm,

sometimes its easier just to go ahead and take your clothes off.

That way you don't have to worry about getting them wet anymore.

And then its probably easiest if you just go ahead and leave them off when its time to help daddy empty the dishwasher too.

I mean, mommy has enough laundry to keep up with, right?!

Emptying the dishwasher. from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.

life lessons start young.

It is never too early to start learning the importance of a good handbag.

toddler unattended.

I got busy looking up directions for our MOPS play date this morning and Baby Girl found my wallet.  Fun things happen when mommy isn't paying attention! 

Hopefully I don't discover a credit card or high dollar coupon hidden under the seat of her Mickey bus...actually, I just may go and check now ;)    Happy Friday!

Breakfast with Olivia.

Enjoy a snippet of Olivia at breakfast this morning.  She shows off some of her signing in between handfulls of scrambled eggs ;)

Breakfast with Olivia from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.

Thirteenth month recap.

 Baby Girl turned 14 months a few days ago, here is what her 13th month was like....
Weight: 23 lbs
Height: 31(ish) inches


Napping: Continues to take two naps a day.  The morning nap begins around 9:30 and the afternoon one between 1:30 and 2.  Once asleep, they last for about an hour, but it could be shorter or longer.  We read a few books and then I put her down. She goes to sleep either without a peep or with some screaming, but it can take up to 30 minutes for her to fall asleep.  You just never can tell.

Night:  Bedtime is between 7 & 7:30.  She sleeps for 11 or 12 hours, making her morning start anywhere from 6:15 to 7:30.  She does still cry out sometimes at night, but I do not go in to rescue her.  She moves all about in her crib through the night and sleeps on her belly, back, and side about equal time.  Her bedtime routine includes bath, jammies and lotion, followed by rocking and reading books while drinking her cup of milk.  She typically wakes up a bit grumpy, which she must get from her mother...

 Food:  Favorites include watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, hot dogs, cheese, and scrambled eggs.  She eats well at all three meals and has two snacks a day.  She does not like goldfish (a typical toddler favorite), but has come around to liking Cheerios!  She drinks whole milk and water.

Nursing:  This month marks when she was completely weaned!  I cut out the night time feeding early in the month and it wasn't as bad as I thought.  She screamed for 20 minutes the first night and it decreased from there.  Then a few weeks later I stopped her morning nursing.  She was fussy every morning for about a week, but it seems to have resolved itself now. 

Skills: walks with ease, tries to jump, can climb onto the coffee table and couch, can scoop food and get it to her mouth on a spoon/fork, walks down stairs while holding the railing, takes her diapers to the trash can herself ;), and picks every piece of fuzz from between her toes, as showcased above!

Language:  Receptive: follows one-step (and some simple two-step) verbal directions, points to her nose, belly, toes, feet, mouth, hair, head, and eyes correctly (she added 6 to that category this month!),  looks for particular objects when asked to find them, puts her toys away when asked (e.g., put this book back into the bin).
Expressive:  likes to have mini-conversations of extended babbling (and has the sweetest little voice!), new words this month include 'baby', 'ba' for ball, 'up', and 'ayia' for Olivia.  Signs the following words: please, more, thank you, bath, ball, bathroom, milk, and all done.  Her favorite words to say are 'hat' and 'dada'.

 Fun Facts: wears a size 3 diaper and size 12-18 months clothes, holding strong with 4 teeth but has 2 more starting to push through, loves to help empty the dishwasher and will carry the silverware over to the drawer one by one until the silverware compartment is empty (we sometimes add more in to keep her occupied and she just keeps going and going and going...), loves to watch Baby Einstein, Sesame Street, and Mickey's Clubhouse, loves to play outside, cries every time we leave her in the church nursery and anytime I leave her (even if its with Andy), likes to close doors and drawers (e.g., if I am cooking and have the pantry door open, she repeatedly walks by and shuts it and babbles at me), children's music keeps her happy in the car, if she forgets to sign please and we say "use your manners" or "how do you ask nicely?" she will do it, blows kisses when saying goodbye or goodnight to daddy, throws her balls with daddy most every day, is a total mommy's girl, can do the motions of  'Itsy Bitsy Spider' all on her own, her favorite books right now are Dog & Row Row Row Your Boat, laughs every single time when we get to a point in the book Thats how much God loves you where it talks about a dog (even if we randomly add that part in out of sequence), still likes to wear hats, and is the greatest thing that ever happened to me and Andy.