Baby Girl turning ONE!

Our sweet baby girl will be turning ONE next week! I can't believe it! This year has just flown by.

I thought I would take the time to write down what she's up to.. if I don't do it now I know I'll forget.

At 12 months she is walking, practically running, and talking. She has her two bottom teeth and FOUR top teeth coming in all at once. My kids seem to get their teeth late. But she took her first steps, unassisted, at 8-8.5 months and has been walking everywhere since 9 months! She was my earliest walker.

She's been talking since around 5-6 months. Her first word was "mama" :) and her second word was "dada". She also says "bubba, nigh-nigh (night-night), nack (snack), doll, dog, dat (that), baa (bath), hi, bye, wuv you (love you) and probably some other things I'm forgetting. She just learned to hold up one finger when you ask her how old she is. We've been practicing so she's ready for her birthday. :) It's the cutest thing ever. :)

She has loved playing with cars and balls since she was really tiny so we call her our little tomboy. If she sees a little car or football she's all over it! We were visiting friends recently and she found a regular sized football sitting around (they have teenage boys). She was so excited and started trying to carry it around lol! So cute! She also keeps up with her 4 year old brother very well.

But she also loves girly things, loves looking at and "picking out" pretty outfits to wear and she absolutely LOVES baby dolls. We were visiting friends today and she found two baby dolls to play with right away. There was another little baby also visiting who was a little smaller than Baby S. Baby S saw this little baby girl sitting on the floor.. looking all the world like a little live baby doll.. and she ran over to her, started yelling in her face "doll! doll!" and tried to pick her up! It was hilarious and absolutely adorable! Fortunately the baby seemed un phased by the whole thing. :) S is quite the character from her loud voice, get up and go personality and her little temper. :)

She also loves music so much and tries to sing and dance. She's a great eater. She's been on table foods since 4-5 months. We did/still do purees but have also done a lot of solids and "real food" since early on. She has been a formula baby since birth and has absolutely thrived on formula.. as I knew she would. :) She still drinks a few bottles a day but we'll probably start cutting back soon.

She's wearing size 3 diapers (about to move up to 4, I think) and size 12 month clothes. She has yet to really wear shoes although she has too many pairs to count. :/ I think she's either size 4 or 5 in shoes.

We think she's going to be right handed. Before she was born I heard a theory that if you're right handed you'll have a cowlick on your head going in the right direction, if you're left handed you'll have a cowlick going towards the left. That was totally correction for my husband, our older kids and I. After S was born I looked for her cowlick.. anxious to see which direction her's was going. Well, she has identical cowlicks side by side.. one going right and one going left. You can imagine how fun it is to keep her hair neat with all that confusion and hair growing in every direction. :) Right after she was born I said she'll probably be ambidextrous lol! By the time our older kids were her age we knew if they were going to be left handed or right handed (even before we heard the cowlick theory) but with S we really can't say for sure although we're guessing it'll be primarily right although I'm thinking she has some ambidextrous tendencies as well. It'll be fun to see for sure as she gets older.

She has a ton of hair that has a lot of curl to it. Some days the curl really shows up and her hair is everywhere and then, other days, her hair is flat and smooth. I think it depends on the weather and humidity a bit.

She is quite a character and has quite the personality. Both of our girls are very strong willed and have nice little tempers (ahem.. not sure where they got all that) while C is pretty laid back like his daddy. S is charming, almost always happy, smiles easily, entertains herself all the time, stands up for herself very well, is VERY loud, has a ton of energy, is silly and cute and sweet as can be. I will try to post pics soon. I'd like to start blogging regularly again one of these days..

J at four and a half

It's hard to believe J turned 4 and half in July!



At 4 and half she is... 



- Talking non-stop. And I mean non-stop.



- Has known all her shapes forever



- Has known all her colors forever



- Can recite the alphabet and can identify almost every letter



- Learning to write letters



- Learning to write her name. (I'll just stop here and say we have never focused much on teaching letters, shapes, numbers, counting or writing at home. What she's learned she's pretty much picked up on her own or from day to day life and I think she's doing really well.)



 - She can count pretty well



- Is learning to add



- Has been potty trained for over a year and a half



- Loves to sing and dance



- Has a huge imagination. Her and C spent a good part of the day in "pretend play". The will spend hours playing house, school, church, camping.. you name it. It's so cute to hear them play together and listen to the funny things they come up with. :)



- Loves to help bake and clean.



- She already loves to shop! I'm so glad. :) I know we'll have tons of great times shopping together as she's growing up.



- Loves playing outside, loves to swing, loves riding her bicycle and swimming. Swings are always the first thing she'll run to at the playground although she hasn't quite mastered swinging by herself. She learned to ride her bicycle, with training wheels, right after she got for her 4th birthday.



- She's very active and is pretty much in perpetual motion a good part of the day (someone described me that way as a kid and it seems to describe her as well).



- Although she will sit still and quietly draw, read books, play with play dough, etc at different times as well.



- She LOVES drawing and art and is really into cutting up paper and/or folding it and taping it up and handing it out to different family members. :)



- We bought a little stuffed giraffe before she was born. She ignored it for the first few years of her life but in the last several months she has become really attached to it. She has to have the giraffe to go to sleep, wants to cuddle it when she's tired, etc. It's really sweet. She has always gone through phases with her other dolls and animals.. has a favorite for awhile, then switches to something else.



- She stopped taking naps several months ago and now spends C's nap time having quiet time on the couch and watching a movie. I'm not sure if she was quite ready to stop taking naps since she gets pretty cranky every evening but at least she goes to sleep quickly every night without a fuss.





And in her words:



- Favorite toys: baby dolls and doll [accessories], stuffed animals, tools, playing kitchen



- Favorite books: "Danny & The Dinosaur" and "Berenstein Bears & The Slumber Party"



- Favorite movies: "Danny & The Dinosaur, Richard Scary's Busy Town, Miffy, Barney, Angelina



- Favorite color: all colors (She definitely favors pink and purple though.)

Little Miss J

I stole this idea from my friend Brandi and asked J these questions around her 4th birthday. 





1.     What is your favorite color? red, purple, pink

2.     What is your favorite toy? doll house

3.     What is your favorite fruit? banana, apples

4.     What is your favorite show? Olivia

5.     What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter & honey sandwich

6.     What is your favorite thing to wear? leggings w/ a pink dress

7.     What is your favorite game? Memory

8.     What is your favorite snack? fishies, applesauce

9.     What is your favorite animal? elephants

10.            What is your favorite song? Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

11.            What is your favorite story? Bible

12.            Who is your best friend? Evie and Claire

13.            What is your favorite cereal? Chex

14.            What do you like to do when you go outside? Ride bicycle, ride wiggle car

15.            What is your favorite drink? apple juice

16.            What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Halloween

17.            What do you like to take to bed with you? 2 Care Bears and 1 blanket

18.            What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? toast, chocolate (Carnation)

19.            What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Panda Express

20.     What do you want to be when you grow up? a mommy