17 & 18 month update

We left for Jamaica the day after Baby Girl turned 18 months and I never got a post written about her seventeenth month.  And now we are half-way to her turning 19 months, so I decided to just post a few facts on what she is like right now.  Perhaps the new year will calm down a bit and I can get back to documenting her development better.

At her 18 month well-visit:
Weight: 27 lbs (75th percentile)
Height: 34 inches (still off the chart)

Fun Facts:
-her favorite toys right now are her baby doll, balls, and building with blocks
-her favorite books are Goodnight Sweet Pig and any lift the flap book
-we have been told "she eats like a man" and "is a bottomless pit" in regards to her eating ;)
-she is big into imitation for anything I am doing
-is starting to become very independent and wanting to do things herself or "her way"
-has suddenly become interested in Baby Einstein movies again, as long as they have animals in them.  She sits there the entire movie saying the sound for each animal that comes onto the screen!
-favorite foods are blueberries, grapes, bread, cheese, crackers, and pasta dishes
-jumps her way through a lot of the day (whether just on the ground or on our bed)
-has started to run most all places she goes
-still likes Baby Elmo
-showing early signs of potty training by holding her diaper and fussing when she goes to the bathroom
-has gotten two more bottom teeth (a total of 4 now!) and the doctor said her top molars are coming through, but she won't let me see - that makes her teeth total 8
-sleeps 11-12 hours at night with one nap during the day that lasts anywhere from 1.5-3 hours.

Enjoy two videos taken one of the few days between Jamaica and Christmas.

Dancing girl from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.



Playing ball with Daddy from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.

Christmas 2010

We have celebrated Christmas all week in our house!   But then again I can think of no greater reason than the birth of Jesus to celebrate!  Having a toddler in the house has brought a new level of awareness for the reason of the season.  

We talked about Jesus' birth as often as we could leading up to Christmas, and replaced normal bedtime stories with scripture on Christmas Eve.  Even though she is so young, I know she understands some things, so I did my best to help her understand that Christmas was not about opening presents but about our Savior being born!

No holiday is complete without cut-out cookies, and let me tell you that was sure an adventure!  There was flour everywhere! ha.

most all of the cookies have her finger prints in them ;)

she just had to use the spatula after watching me do it!

Another fun part of Christmas at this age is the boxes!

Where's Olivia?!

She loved crawling in the big ones and hiding in the smaller ones!

There she is!

Olivia also loved to "deliver" the presents to the person they were for.  However, the catch was that you then let her open it for you when she got it to you ;)

Baby Girl was blessed with so many fun toys this holiday!  Playtime has been revolutionized at our house this week! 

A coloring table and stool from Nana & Papa

A rocking horse from
 Grandma and Grandpa!

A high chair for her new baby!

An American Girl 'Bitty Baby' from
Grandma & Grandpa and this great
carrying backpack!

a pink toaster for her kitchen!

she loves her new drum!

Santa brought her a pink kitchen set and it has been a real hit!  She loves to fix food for her baby and feed her in the high chair.  She also takes the baby bottle and holds it up the faucet pretending to fill it with water before giving it to baby!  I just love watching her imagination (and imitation) skills at work!

Below are some snippets of our Christmas morning video mostly for grandparent pleasure (it is over 4 min long:) However, if you want to see something cute watch the beginning as we follow her into her playroom when she sees her kitchen for the first time!  She says 'WOW' over and over!  That made the 4.5 hour Christmas Eve assembly totally worth it!


Christmas Morning 2010 from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.

whirlwind.

The past few weeks have been a total blur around here!  We have had baby sickness, adult sickness, leaving Olivia for the first time while we went on a week long trip to Jamaica (I will post all about the fun, and the anxiety of leaving her behind, so don't worry!), hosting and attending Christmas celebrations, last minute shopping, a big Santa delivery to a deserving Baby Girl, and sending Andy off on deployment.  

I suppose I will do things in rewind over the next few days.  I will begin with today. 

We said good-bye to Andy this morning at the airport.  Surprisingly, it wasn't as sad as it has been in the past.  I didn't have a toddler to care for during the previous four deployments, so I guess my emotions were more focused on me and my hurting heart back then.  However, this time my heart just hurts for Andy and the memories he will miss over the next few months.  It also hurts for Baby Girl because  'dada' has really become a favorite person of hers lately.  However, modern technology will keep the three of us more connected than other deployments, so that is a huge bonus. 


 Now that Baby Girl is asleep, I am about to tackle the Christmas tree and the disaster that has become our house!  What is it about the holidays that make everything so messy?!  However, before I go I ask that you say a quick prayer for all of the families that were without their loved ones this holiday season.  So many of our military spend more time away from their family than with them and I don't think that is recognized enough. As much as we hated to say goodbye the morning after Christmas, it was a huge blessing to have Andy around this holiday season while so many of our friends were already overseas.


God bless our military members,
 and the little hearts they leave behind.

to get you by.

I won't be blogging for at least the next week, so here is some cuteness from today to get you by!

Olivia talks to the baby on camera! from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.



independent reading time from Stephanie Allen on Vimeo.

My future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

a Santa spotting!

Santa took a break from checking lists and building toys to catch a flight on a C-17 today!  He left the reindeer and elves at the North Pole and landed at the Air Force Base just after lunch.  Lucky for Baby Girl, her daddy has the inside scoop and had us to the flight line just in time. 

Santa taxis in.



can you see him waving in the window?!



Gillian, Grant, Olivia, & Grace wait for Santa's arrival!

A family photo!  Notice anything different and exciting?!

Olivia loved seeing the airplanes.
She kept signing 'airplane' over and over.

There was a mini C-17 on display, too!
She loved climbing in and out of it.

signing 'airplane' with Daddy.

she didn't care too much for sitting on Santa's lap! ha.

Gillian moments before
bursting into tears!

Grant with Santa

Gracie with Santa

Much happier now that she saw her
Elmo present!

What fun to see Christmas through the eyes of children!  Thanks, Santa, for taking time out of your busy schedule to help make our Saturday fun! 

Nana is sad.

She says she misses her "sweet South Carolina baby".

So we took a few pictures this morning to brighten her day!  It is hard to get Olivia to look at the camera these days and smile, so I am continually disappointed in the pictures I am able to take.

I told her to say "cheese" this morning and she got up and ran to the refrigerator.  Our photo session was then replaced by a snack (of cheese, or course) with mommy on the kitchen floor.  sigh.

So, Nana, I give you the best of what I could get!  Mostly action shots, but pictures of your sweet grandbaby none-the-less. 

And, just because I think you'll like these too, here are some from our MOPS play date this morning.  Olivia LOVES babies and was so excited when Ms. Kelly let her hold baby Molly!  (And you can go ahead and tell Papa to keeps his thoughts to himself!)

birthday wrap-up and a tree in the house.

I figured since Andy's birthday month is over (and we have now moved onto mine! wahoo!), I should conclude the details of his 30th birthday celebration.  You all remember that Baby Girl made his cake, right? If not, you can see the proof here.  After a bath, a nap, and a change of clothes it was time to decorate the cake she had worked so hard on baking!

the theme was sprinkles, lots and lots of sprinkles!

making a wish....hopefully it wasn't for a store
bought cake next year!

After cake and presents, Baby Girl was shipped over to the neighbors so Andy and I could enjoy a dinner out to ourselves.  Or so he thought......because a few friends just happened to meet us there!  Hmmmm, what a crazy coincidence!

Happy birthday, Andy!  I look forward to celebrating many more!

Now that we have the birthday details all taken care of, I can move on to another exciting event!  We got our Christmas tree on Sunday.  This is the earliest (by weeks) that I have ever had a Christmas tree!  As a child, it was always a big deal if we had our tree before my birthday, which is two weeks prior to Christmas.  That has influenced me, I suppose, because as an adult I never get into too much of a hurry when it comes to decorating.  I like to savor each holiday and I feel that Thanksgiving gets cheated if we are too focused on Christmas.  However, this year we had some extra time the weekend after Thanksgiving since we didn't travel, so I got the decorating bug! 

Baby Girl was snotty-nosed, coughing, cranky, and not really in the holiday mood, but we persevered. 

...and searched.

We searched....



then we found the perfect one!

high five for Daddy! 
Now lets get this thing in the house!