Sixteen Months Old - December 2011

This month you went to the circus for the first time.  It was the circus sponsored by American Airlines and Daddy got free tickets.  It was kind of a rinky-dink circus and it was really loud!  You got bored pretty quickly and my ears were hurting so badly that we left early.  Next time the "good" circus comes to town we'll try it - and we'll remember to take ear plugs!  Here is a picture of you and Daddy while we waited for it to start.

You met Santa for the second time this month.  He came to visit you at Nana and Grandpa's house.  I was afraid you would get really nervous about him so for about a week we looked at pictures of him on the internet and I tried to get you excited about him.  But as soon as he walked in the door you got anxious.  You did NOT want to sit on his lap.  I hope that next year you'll be big enough to be excited about him again!

Aunt Carole came to visit for Christmas and boy did she love spoiling you!  You took to her really quickly and loved following her around Nana's house.  She brought lots of her jewelry and let you play with it which you loved of course.  :)

The week before Christmas you got to bake cookies with Nana for the first time.  I'm not sure you were much help but you sure loved getting to be a part of the action and Nana had a great time with you in the kitchen!

We were very busy at Christmas time.  We spent Christmas Eve day at Grams' and Pops' house along with Uncle Caleb, Aunt Jenn, Jordan, Alex, and Tatum.  You had a great time!  You sat on Jordan's lap as much as possible and she even read you some books.  Tatum got a new table and chairs for her tea parties and you helped her break that in.  You got some great books from Grams and Pops and some Mega Blocks from Uncle Caleb and Aunt Jennifer.

We spent the evening of Christmas Eve at Nana's house.  Every year she gives you a new pillowcase with new pajamas inside.  I love that tradition!  Nana also gave you a Christmas book to read.

On Christmas morning we had just a few minutes to open presents at our house - just you, me, and Daddy.  You got an Elmo doll, and Abby doll, a new baby with a pacifier and blanket, and a new pair of sparkly shoes.  You did pretty well at opening presents by yourself.

After we opened presents at our house we went to Nana and Grandpa's to be with the Palmer family.  We had breakfast there and opened presents.  You got a really cool bean bag chair which you loved from Nana.  You also got jewelry, books, and an Aqua Doodle, which is a fancy mat that you color on with a water marker.  

After we opened presents we headed to church.  It was fun having Christmas on a Sunday and spending part of the day with our church family celebrating the birth of Christ.  We spent the afternoon at Nana's having lunch and getting ready for the birthday party we would have later that evening for Grandpa and Jessica.  We went to the candlelight service at church that evening and guess what, Aunt Carole accepted Christ as her Savior that night after church!  It was the best Christmas gift!  After church we went back to Nana's (again) for the birthday party before heading home for some rest.  It was a very busy day!

The day after Christmas we still had some celebrating to do!  We went to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to your Great Aunt Kristi's house to be with Grams' family.  You got to play with your second cousins - Hannah and Gideon - and see baby Gracie as well.  And of course you spent as much time with Jordan as you could.

More December photos...

Here are some memories I wrote in my journal about you this month:

12/04 - The first thing you said when you woke up this morning was "Zuri."  Cute!  (You pronounce it 'Soeey.')

12/10 - Your daddy gave you a bath tonight.  You peed on the floor before he even put you in.  And once you were in the tub you laughed and squealed for the longest time in there playing with him.

12/11 - You are getting so good at animal noises!  You do a lot of them without even being prompted when you are looking at animal books.  It's really cute!

12/12 - You walked around the house saying, "Nice!  Nice!  NICE!"  It was silly.

12/19 - You smiled and flirted with a sweet old man while waiting in line at Target.  It made his day!  You also love love LOVE books!  You would sit with a pile of books and let me read to you all day long.  Another funny thing you do is that you head butt your daddy.  He loves that!

12/25 - You said "Jesus" for the first time today at Baby Bible Class.  What a better day than Christmas Day to start talking about Jesus!

12/28 - When I ask you a yes-or-no question you usually respond with "No.  Okay!"  Its the silliest thing.

12/29 - You have started singing a lot.  You sing a little made-up song and sometimes dance along.  It's so cute.

Here are a few more pictures of your busy December:

Cheering on the Sooners with Zuri!

Waiting at the doctor's office.  You managed to get your sucker before you saw the doc! 

At Orange Leaf enjoying frozen yogurt and fruit.

Fifteen Months Old - November 2011

Here are some fun memories I have from November with you:

11/01

• You took a drink from your sippy cup with a straw and then held the straw up to my mouth and made pretend drinking noises so I would take a drink.  You did this over and over again and I thought you were really cute!

11/16

• You started to do the motions to some of the songs we have learned at story time at the library.
• You frequently say two-word phrases like "Hi Daddy!" and "Up please!"
• You are very sweet and gentle with our beagle Pixie.
• You finally went up to Miss Michelle at story time by yourself today to get your stamp.
• You love getting your box of shoes out of your armoire to play with them.
• You pick out your shoes by yourself every day and you almost ALWAYS choose the sparkly ones.  :)

11/19

• You say "No way!" and I have no idea where you learned that!

11/25

• You LOVE your cousin Jase.  You get so excited when you  hear his name and super excited when you see him!
• You are also fascinated by Jordan.  You love to follow her around and touch her hair.  She thinks you are hilarious.

11/26

• You call a squirell "go-go" and a necklace "ga-ga."

11/27

• Sometimes you cry when I drop you off at the nursery.  :-(
• You are really babbling a lot!  You mimic the things we say and put a lot of inflection into what you are saying.
• You do the motions to "Open and Shut Them" at home.  You ask to sing it all the time!

You got your first molars (on top) on November 25th and 28th.

Here are some pictures from November:

Sick day

Thanksgiving - playing with Uncle Norman and Jase

With Uncle Jacob and Jase on Thanksgiving Day

Time to decorate for Christmas!

Fourteen Months Old - October 2011

On October 5th you cut your eighth tooth - your upper left lateral incisor.  But much more exciting than that is this - you also went on your first vacation this month!  

Daddy was in recruiters training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.  Our friends the Gonzalezes live in San Antonio, so you and I were able to go stay with them for a couple of weeks and see Daddy while he was there.  This was also your first time on a plane and I sure was nervous to fly with you but you did so great!  You were very quiet and sweet.  The only time you were noisy was on the first leg of our flight home when you were very excited.  You played with the window shade and made lots of happy noises and squeals.  You seemed to really love the airport too.

While we were in San Antonio we got to go to Sea World and Six Flags.  You absolutely loved the animals although you wouldn't pet the dolphin.  When we went into the lorikeet exhibit you got really nervous having those birds landing on you but I loved it!  We took you to the Shamu show and you squealed and squealed and pointed - it was the cutest thing!  At Six Flags you rode every kiddie ride that you were allowed on.  I hoped that you would love them and you did like them but you usually got bored before the ride ended.  I thought that was kind of funny!  

This month I decided to start a little journal of funny or cute things you do and say, so I will include that here:

10/06

• You put your baby doll's pacifier clip on your arm to wear it like a bracelet.
• You chug your milk like you haven't had a drink in days.
• You tried to put your bib around your waist like an apron.
• You love to eat the sausages off my pizza!
• You absolutely LOVE to accessorize.  You are constantly bringing me headbands, bows, hair ties, jewelry, and shoes wanting me to help you put them on.  :)

10/07

• Today you made your first "drawing" with crayons.
• You love your "baby" that has a pacifier clip.  You carry it everywhere!  This morning it was the first thing you asked for when you got up.
• You walked around saying, "No no, don't touch, no no, don't touch." (You pronounce it 'do-ta.')
• You like to wear lots of long necklaces.

10/08

• You dumped all the toys out of your collapsible canvas box and played with the box instead - carried it around like a purse, sat in it, stood in it, etc.
• You called chicken "chikee."

10/09

• You carry your purse into church like a pro.
• You love to play with your shoes!
• You like to "pat pat" our dog Pixie.

10/11 

• Your first encounter with stairs (at the Gonzalez' house) - you were great at going up but could not come down!

10/13

• First time to throw up.  :-(

10/15

• Went to Sea World with Mommy and Daddy
• Got your first "boo-boo."

10/16

• Tasted dirt for the first time.
• Starting to say "thank you" without being prompted.
• Getting snuggly.

10/19

• You love balloons, which you call "boos."
• You call buttons "butty."
• You lifted up your shirt and flashed a smile when I asked where your belly is.
• You LOVE shoes.  LOVE them.  You want to wear them, look at them, play with them, try them on, and buy them!

10/28

• I think a lot of your baby babbles sound Asian.  :)
• You said "bu-fy" (butterfly) for the first time.

Halloween - For your second Halloween we visited the pumpkin patch, dressed up and went to enjoy the festivities at downtown Broken Arrow with Grams, Pops, Uncle Caleb, Aunt Jenn, Jordan, Tatum, Alex, Grandpa, Nana, Uncle Jacob, Aunt Jess, Jase, Uncle Sam and Uncle Drew.  (You are very loved!)  On Halloween night we were home by ourselves (Daddy was still in San Antonio) so we just passed out candy to the Trick-or Treaters.  You loved seeing all of their costumes!

PICTURES FROM OCTOBER

San Antonio with the Gonzalezes

Playing with Troy

Your first glimpse of Shamu at Sea World!

Six Flags - Your first ride

Playing (wrestling) with Zuri

You loved to "walk" your dog.

Halloween - a princess fairy :)

With Jase at the pumpkin patch

Thirteen Months Old - September 2011

You got your sixth tooth on September 5th, 2011 - your upper right lateral incisor; and your seventh tooth on September 7th - your lower right lateral incisor.  You also learned how to walk in September!  

You took your first three steps with no help on September 22nd.  Within three days you were walking all the way across the living room!  You took those first three steps on a Thursday night when John, Hailey and Bentley Krebs were at our house.  I was in the kitchen and you were playing with Bentley and you just decided to stand up and take those three steps!  I was very surprised.  

That Saturday Uncle Drew came by the house for a while and had fun encouraging you to walk.  He would move you three steps away from him and you would step back towards him over and over.  You only took three or four steps each time.  That evening while the Boleys were at our house visiting I gave you a bath and then you snuggled with Daddy on the couch in your towel.  Daddy put you down on the floor and with your little hooded towel on your head you just walked all the way across the living room - probably about 14 or 15 steps - with your towel trailing behind you like a little cape.  Andrew Boley just kept saying, "What?  Does she know how to do that? What?"  It was really funny.  After that you never crawled again.

Play time with Zuri

Story time at the library with Natalie

At the zoo

At the fair

Pumpkin Patch!