three.

Somehow I blinked and my girl turned three.

It was that fast. Seriously.

I've done the monthly updates and I've updated y'all on BG as she's aged, but I don't even think there are words I can say that can even remotely describe my kid.

But I am going to try. ;)

Baby Girl, you are three. And you are far and away the coolest kid, heck, one of the coolest people I've ever been lucky enough to be around. You do not meet a stranger. Though you may have a shy moment, it takes you no time to warm up to people and to start talking their heads off. And talk you do. A lot. Your vocabulary meets and exceeds any expectation one could have for a three year old. You wake up talking and you go to bed talking. There is no breather at all during the day. You've even taking to talking in your sleep. You are a talker. That is for sure.
You have the biggest heart. You love people and you love animals. You do not like to see anyone get hurt. A few weeks ago a girl fell off the swings at the park while we were out there and left very upset. It bothered you the rest of the day that she got hurt and you asked over and over if we thought she felt better yet. You just feel for people. It is one of the things I love most about you. I hope that sticks with you. I hope you never stop loving others and wanting the best for those around you. It's an admirable trait sweet girl and one so many these days are lacking.

You are not a big toy person. You prefer to be around people and talking and laughing and playing with them than sitting with a toy any day of the week. You do love books though. If you ever disappear to your room for a bit, we can bet we'll find you on your floor surrounded by a stack of books. I was just like that. I love seeing that love of reading passed down to you. You are starting to dig puzzles and you enjoy doing them, though you still prefer to do them with us and not on your own. Like I've said, you are a people person. Not a loner at all.

Your favorite people are your family. You LOVE your family. A close second is still Miss Brittany followed closely by Zoie and Miss Stacy and your buddy Livingston and her parents (you ask about these people daily). You are starting to really enjoy your school (just in time to move to a new one) and are a favorite among all of your teachers. What can I say? People love them some Baby Girl.
You are such a sweet kid. I actually wish there was a way to pause time because I cannot get enough of the kisses, hugs, nose kisses, and "Mommy can I sit in your lap"s that I get on a daily basis. You are just so loving. And your Dad and I absolutely eat it up. You're quickly learning the way to getting whatever you want with the two of us.

But to balance out all that sweetness, you have a stubborn streak a mile wide. You are hands down the sassiest child I have ever been around. You wear us out daily. You are always quick with a retort and I have yet to find a situation that you didn't have something to smart about. And if we're wrong? you are more than quick to inform us of the fact. Your pediatrician even remarked "that's a spirited one right there" about you after first meeting you and you were even on your best behavior then. I can only hope that your quick wit, your sarcasm, and your stubbornness will find a cozy niche in your life. Hopefully it's small niche.
You still have the loudest laugh and an infectious joy. It only increases daily. You still like to bust into dance moves at any given minute and the "Get It Girl Get It" and "Shake Your Booty" songs your father and I randomly burst out singing are always guaranteed to bring out some hip shaking. You still prefer your music loud and your singing even louder. We've found a few dance classes we are going to sign you up for and I cannot wait to see how much you love those.

You still have a love for Dora that knows no bounds but you're venturing out more and more. We found this random show on Netflix, Pingu, that you can't get enough of. Disney movies are finally making it into the rotation but your attention span is still only about 30 minutes on a good day. You much prefer outdoor activities to anything inside. You do love to draw though and your easel from Aunt Kiki and Uncle M is still a big time favorite in this house.
You and the cat are finally finding a way to coexist though I'm pretty sure you still love him far more than he'll ever love you. That's okay though, he's a cat. You'll learn his opinion doesn't matter. Lacy and Cash are still your favorites along with Sammy (the grandparents' cat).

Your Dad and I just plain adore you. While three is not easy, I have to say this age is quickly finding it's way into my "favorite ever" category. You and I have developed this relationship that I just plain can't get enough of. We laugh so much, talk so much, and play so hard that I find my moments with you to just be full. They leave my happy tank full and leave me wanting many, many more of them. I love our little secrets and our music filled car rides and, well, just about everything with you. You are my favorite little person.
Words will never be able to describe you sweet girl. Your personality is too big for this page and words cannot even begin to do you justice. Also, words cannot even begin to describe what you've done to me and your Daddy. You turned our worlds upside down three years ago child. You sent us on a ride we had no way to prepare for and we cannot get enough. You are our entire heart and soul sweetheart. We love you more than the world. Always.

maggie mae

The other night as I was driving home, Rod Stewart's "Maggie Mae" came on the radio.

All of a sudden, it was three years ago and I literally gasped as a memory came over me so hard that I was in tears in mere seconds.

When I was pregnant, car rides were some of my favorite times. I would crank up the radio, open the sun roof, and let the music detox my soul from the day. What was really cool was there were a few songs that Baby Girl also seemed to really enjoy. "Maggie Mae" was one of them.

One time driving home, that song came on and I cranked it up (because one should always crank up Rod Stewart) and instantly my belly started shaking and moving and I laughed as I felt my sweet girl show a love for music that she had to get from her Mama. It was one of the times that I felt so connected to that sweet baby in my belly. And as I listened to that same song some three years later, my heart literally ached at how fast time has gone by.

That baby bump turns three tomorrow. Three. Every single day there is less and less baby, heck, less and less toddler and more and more big girl. Like a real kid.

What amazes me most about this whole parenthood thing, is by welcoming this little creature into our lives three years ago, we really gained three new lives, not one.

Baby Girl stormed into our world and absolutely rocked it. And I mean in the best way possible.

While there are times where tempers are super short and patience is non-existent, most of the time, our times with her are filled with pure joy and so much love and laughter.

I know, I know, I am super cheesy. But she's turning three y'all. How on Earth did this happen so quickly?!?

For weeks it rained on and off here. It was gross and humid and destroyed my hair. It left things muggy and sticky in the afternoon. Just blah. Our backyard was a disaster. A lake.

One afternoon, BG and I got home and went to the let the dogs out. As we were watching them, I could see her eyeing the puddles. One toe kept dipping into the water as she watched me closely out of the corner of her eye.

The next thing I knew, I was allowing her to jump headlong into said puddle. My OCD, afraid of messes self, watched as my kid tore through the puddles, jumping, kicking, and laughing her head off.
She absolutely loved it. And if I could bottle up the sound of that laughter, I would. Because it's amazing and I would do anything to hear it over and over again.

In three years, she's wrecked us. She absolutely took our worlds and flipped them upside down. We try to see things in her way now. In a fresh, different way where rain puddles are not annoyances, a drizzle is not a nuisance, and where even traffic becomes a reason to turn the radio up and dance to a few extra songs instead of a reason to rant and moan.

Her view of the world has completely flipped ours. And I love it. I love seeing things through her eyes. I love watching my baby grow.

But I can't lie, I really, really miss the dancing baby in my belly. I wish we could slow it down just a tad.....

mark it down: a first

Last month when I heard the circus was coming to town, I got a bit giddy.

I absolutely loved the circus as a kid. It was amazing. It was big and loud and there were all these animals and trapeze artists and guys jumping through fire. So much to see and take in. I loved going.

So obviously when I heard the circus was coming to town, I immediately purchased tickets for the three of us to go. It was going to be a Valentine's Day present of sorts from me to Mr. P and BG. I just knew she would love it.

And if it had been the circus in my head, I just know she would have.

This circus was a bit different though. I guess I should have read a bit more about it but this was one called "Fully Charged" and had more of just people doing different tricks. It was also a one ring circus; scaled down a ton from the 3 ring circuses I remember from being a kid.

Mr. P and I really enjoyed it but BG? well she spent most of the time perfecting her "Mackayla Maroney is not impressed" face.

She perked up a bit at the dog exhibit (dogs?! where are the lions and tigers?!), and she enjoyed the elephants but... let's just say we'll wait a few years before taking her again.

Next time I'll be sure to pick the show with more animals. Or Mr. P and I will go alone.

She had fun though. I think she just enjoyed being out and doing something special with her Dad and I. Next time, we're just going to the zoo. That's a bit more my little animal lovers speed.

on potty training

Potty training is a doozy no?

I know I've said multiple times during this phase of parenting that if one is ever feeling a bit too big for their britches, they should attempt potty training a toddler. There is pretty much nothing on this planet quite as humbling.

True story.

As seems to be the case with most toddlers (at least from what I gather from Twitter and blogs), BG started going though cycles of being really interested in the potty and then losing interest back around 18 months old. It may have even been before then, not sure. But they were always phases.

However, as each phase came, we entertained it; letting her sit on the potty when she wanted, buying her a potty of her own and setting it up before she was two, and answering any questions she might have had about what went down in the oh so fun bathroom.

I heard over and over that this was something you couldn't push, so we decided to do just that. She was going to lead this little adventure.

At the beginning of June, she was showing big time readiness that it was time to get serious about all of this. But we had so many trips planned and would be out of town so much that truthfully, I wasn't up for the task. So I tried to put it off some. I kept her in diapers while we traveled to the beach and to Charleston and other places, but we also packed her little potty and stopped when she said she needed to stop for multiple potty breaks.

I can't even tell you all the random places we stopped and set up that potty. There was the time we pulled into an abandoned farm/slaughter house thing, or the time we were hanging out in some random driveway praying no one would shoot us or our naked toddler hanging on the tailgate, or the time time I sat on the dash while she did her business in the passengers seat. Good times. All in the name of potty training.

She was getting it. Her teacher told me to start sending her in Pull-ups to school to help the process, so we did.

And then we backslid.

I honestly think BG thought of those things as diapers and for some reason, she went back to just going in them even more than she had been doing in diapers. I was frustrated because we were flying through Pull-ups and they are not cheap. So I made the decision it was time to switch to "big girl pants".

*I should insert here that most of our issues were with peeing in the potty. She's been telling us she needed to, ahem, poop in the potty for months. She doesn't like a dirty diaper, but a wet one, doesn't phase her. I realize this is completely backwards, but it's how she works. Back to my story*

The weekend of June 23rd, I decided to buckle down and potty train. I went and bought tons of stickers, M & M's, and made a fun little potty chart for her to earn prizes for successful trips. I was totally ready to spend the weekend at home and have a potty trained toddler by Monday.

Ha.

She fought me every inch of the way. She would cry when I tried to make her sit on the potty, she'd tell me "no!" when I asked her if she needed to go, and then she'd promptly pee on the floor. After she peed on literally the only rug we have in the house, I could feel my frustration hit epic levels so when I literally landed on my back in a puddle of pee in the kitchen, I was done.

We marched right into her room, both of us sobbing, and strapped a diaper back on. Not so fun.

It was not my best moment, but I was out of my mind frustrated. Give me a dog. I can potty train a dog. But you can't rub a child's nose on the carpet as punishment and you also can't throw them in a crate and allow them only to come out to pee (well not legally).

I was back at square one.

The following Friday, I got a text from BG's teacher with a video of BG telling me (with her teacher's prompting) that she didn't want diapers anymore. Only big girl pants (I loathe the word p*anties). To which I promptly replied that Miss B was more than welcome to come to my house for the weekend and train her.



So that was that. I decided to take BG's excitement in those videos and run.

Saturday morning, we woke up, put on our big girl pants, and she promptly peed on the floor in my room. But we just talked about why we didn't pee in our pants, put on dry ones, and went on about our day.

And there were no more accidents.

Her potty chart was quickly filling up and she was excited about it. I should say though, that the whole take them every 15 minutes thing did not work for us. Asking her that often made her frustrated and mad so I quit and only asked her every half hour or so. If she told me she didn't have to go, I let it go. If she did have to go, she went.


The next morning, we went to church, her in big girl pants. She had zero accidents and received a special lunch afterwards. I was on cloud nine.

We haven't been in a diaper since. She naps in her big girl pants at school and has only had one accident while sleeping there and one at home. She's only had two accidents awake at school and both involved her not being able to get her shorts down fast enough (send her in dresses Mom). The accidents at home have been related to us not getting her there fast enough, or being in the car with nowhere to stop. She now will go on her own if we don't come fast enough. In the potty I mean.

The transition has been easier than I could have ever imagined. We went to Savannah the week after we made the switch and as nervous as I was, we only had one accident. It was in the car after she drank way too much at dinner. I can handle that.

My only advice with potty training is the exact same advice I was given; let the little one lead. Honestly, BG just up and decided she was done with diapers and she was done. We haven't looked back since. She sleeps in a diaper at night and that's it. Most of the time she wakes up dry, but sometimes she doesn't and that's okay. She gets up in the morning and immediately puts on big girl pants. She knows diapers are just for sleeping and she's still supposed to holler for us if she needs to get up at night and go. And she totally will do that.

This whole thing really brought out my bad side because I don't handle frustration well, but in the end, it was ridiculous easy. She did all the work. I just had to supply the M & M's and the big girl pants. My part was simple.

I'm so proud of my girl. She hit this head on and tackled it. It also makes me sad to see that little butt running around in big girl pants. She's definitely not a baby anymore. Sad...

one for the books.

This weekend was one of those weekends.

You know, where Monday comes along and you're battling the sads just because the weekend was so freaking awesome that there's no way it can be over.

Yea that.

It was definitely one for the books.

It was hot here. Which if you've logged onto any sort of social media recently, then you've been subject to more than your fair share of pictures of temperature gauges. But y'all; it's freaking hot. I think we're just all in a state of "109 say what?!?".

It's hot here in a way that takes your breath away. It's just hot.

However, I'm not complaining (just stating the obvious). I'll take the heat over the cold any day.

But knowing the temps were going to be atrocious, I went into the weekend with some fun indoor plans for BG and I.

On Friday, I got a video text from BG's beloved teacher with BG and her best friend singing about how they wanted "no mo diapers! We want panties!" (hate that word beetedubs). Being as how our last weekend of big girl pants ended with me on the floor in the kitchen in a puddle of pee, I wasn't too gung ho. But then, considering we'd be indoors anyway, I decided to give it another shot.

So we did. And then she promptly peed on the floor in front of my jewelry box.

We moved the party outside for a while just to get in some outdoor time before it got unbearably hot. And she promptly peed on the deck. Things were clearly looking up.

We had a blast playing in her pool, going down the slide (yes, both of us and you're welcome for that scary image), blowing bubbles, and just having a grand 'ol time.

Lunch time seemed to come way to early but we headed in and after lunch and nap, it was Operation Potty Train.

And y'all? she spent the rest of the weekend in big girl pants with no accidents.

None.

It's like she just up and decided she was done with diapers and then she was done with diapers.

Wow.

I couldn't help but burst with pride for her. And not just over this, but over how even at this age, she sets her mind to something and she just does it. It's insane. She is the most go with the flow person I've ever met. Nothing phases her.

I'm sort of jealous of my kid. She's just so dang cool.

So we went to church. In big girl pants. With no accidents. She then got to choose a "special lunch", so cheeseburgers and french fries it was. I let her know that not having to buy diapers meant more cheeseburgers and french fries. She was pleased. We speak a similar food language.

Oh you know... just hanging out watching some tv in my BIG GIRL PANTS.

I was riding a high all weekend. A high fueled by her successes and the grand 'ol time we were having. A high I rode straight into last evening as the three of us packed up to watch our churches fireworks display.

what pictures with her usually look like...
Which was a blast. I knew it would be.

She oohed and aahed and yes, cried out a few times that they "scare me!", but over all? she loved it.

Not loving it here...



And guess what? no accidents there either.

Yep. I'm so stinking proud.

A great weekend. We were stuck inside most of it, but it didn't matter because it was so much fun. And she figured out so much. Her mind is just picking up so much and I can't get enough of watching her.

These weekends are great. Definitely one for her record book.

two year well check? check

AT BG's one year well check I was pretty stoked to head up to the doc and hear all about how well she was doing and where we were development wise. We didn't spend a lot of time with her doc at that point as she was healthy as a horse so the only time I got updates on her health wise was at well checks.

This year? couldn't be further from that.

My hope from her two year well check is that we would leave with a "your child is healthy and everything looks great". Being as how we were at the doctor just two weeks before for yet another round of her coughing and breathing, I thought that was a long shot.



Well.. my child is healthy and everything looks great.

Thank you Tom Cruise.

Not. Whatever.

She was well above where they say she should be developmentally. In fact, the doctor had no sooner asked if she was putting two and three word phrases together when BG got his attention and asked him if he "See? See that elephant right there? Up in the sky. See?". Sure enough, she found the elephant on the border at the top of the wall. He skipped the rest of his speech questions.

She was just over 35 inches tall and weighed 34.8 pounds. She is a big girl. He does want her to chill out on the weight gain, but y'all, she's gotten so picky about eating. So I have no clue how I'm supposed to help her there? She only drinks one glass of milk a day and water the rest. There are minimal snacks and she prefers fruits and veggies to everything else. I'm at a loss. Oh well.

Her ears looked great for the first time in a sweet forever. Her ENT confirmed that at her appointment on Tuesday. Those tubes are doing their jobs finally.

Her umbilical hernia is still there but is still not causing any issues so we're going to continue to leave it alone for now.

He is concerned about her right eye which we've noticed "wandering" for a while now. She has a recheck appointment with her opthalmologist this summer, so we'll have that checked then.

The newest combination of Singulair and an inhaler seem to be keeping her breathing issues at bay which means everyone is this house is sleeping again. Praise God. That was awful.

All in all, she's doing great. She spent the whole time waiting on the doctor narrating what everyone else was doing. It's not embarrassing at all when your two year old tells the crying baby next to you "stop it baby" over and over and can't figure out "why won't baby stop Mommy?". So that part was fun.

That kid cracks me up. And? we get a break from the doctor til she's three! Well, fingers crossed.

11 months.

I think I've handled every month of BG's life very well. They go way too fast, but each month is so fun to watch her learn and grow and become the awesome little person that she's becoming.

However, eleven months might do me in. I cried mixing a bottle this morning. One more month of formula. One more month of mixing bottles.

Gah. I'm crying again.

But this post is about her. So Baby Girl, this is what you've been up to this past month.

You are currently still wearing mainly 12 month clothes, some 18 month. You're wearing 18 month footed jammies. We got your foot measured the other day and you wear a four and a half wide. You have a chunky little foot! You weigh around 24 pounds and about 29.75 inches long(your height was not done correctly at the doctor's last month). You still sleep from 7:30-7:30/8. You take a nap from 10:00-11:30 and then again from about 2:00-4:00. You are an excellent sleeper. You take a bottle (8 oz) in the am and a 6 oz. bottle before bed. You get a sippy of formula with lunch and an afternoon snack.

You really, really like holding onto our hands and walking now. You like it so much that it's pretty much all you want to do. You do not like when we try to make you quit and carry you.

You threw your first fit in public and I almost died of embarrassment. You were walking around Stride Rite and when I picked you up, you lost it. I had to carry you out screaming. That was good times.

You are showing quite the stubborn streak. You clearly understand "no", but sometimes you choose not to listen. At least you turn and look at us, so I know you can hear us!

You cruise from a piece of furniture to another piece now. You still won't walk without holding on to something.

You shake your head "no" and say "no no" now. In fact, I asked you to come to me this afternoon and you looked at me and said "no no" and shook your head. So glad you can do that now.

You've been pointing at items for a while now, but now you'll try to label what you're looking at now. Last week while we were in MD, you pointed at a a flock of geese and said "du!". You're so smart little one!

Current word count: "mama", "dada", "du" (duck), "da" (dog), "ba" (ball), "no", and "book".

If we hold our hand out and ask you for what you're holding, you will give it to us. Then you want it right back. We can also ask for the "blankie", "wubbie", ball, book, and doll and you will get those for us. My smart little girl.

You can stand on your own for about ten seconds or so, but you won't move. You can easily sit down though. You only do it if you get excited and grab for something with both hands, or if we let you go.

This past month, you've started showing a fear of some things. You are freaked out by dogs (except for ours) until you get used to them. You do NOT like it when the come and get in your face (once again, except ours). You also are not a fan of many stuffed animals, but you adore your super scary baby doll. Weird. "Scary Bear" is avoided like the plague in our house.

You give "high five".

You still only have four teeth; top two center and bottom two center.

You learned that if we pick you up and you throw your arms up at the same time, it's really hard to pick you up. You love that trick. It usually leads to a fit since we pick you up anyway...

You get very little baby food now. You want we are having nine times out of ten.

We have yet to find a food you don't like. You LOVE bread, cheese, avacados, sweet potatoes, and bananas. You eat everything though.

You've started dancing and it is beyond adorable.

You started working on drinking out of a regular cup. You don't have it figured out yet, but you give it a good effort.

You and I went on your first picnic.

You are showing so much personality. You are stubborn and hard-headed (you can thank me for that), but you are also so, so sweet. You laugh so much and so hard most of the day. You still don't love reading, but you're getting to where you will sit and let me read a story to you every now and then. You are so adventurous. You want to see EVERYTHING. You are non stop all day and while it wears me out, I love how excited you are about everything. I hope you stay like that.

You learned to climb stairs.

You played in the sandbox for the first time this month. You hated it at first and didn't want to get your hands dirty, but now you are all over that thing.

I say this every single month, but love, you are so, so special to us. You make us laugh so much. Every single day when your Dad gets home from work, you light up and take off crawling for him. You love sitting with me and playing with toys. You love when I brush your hair. Every single morning when I wake you up, you start my day with a big smile and reach up for me and I can't help but laugh. You are still obsessed with phones and remotes and you light up when one of us is talking on the phone.

I can't believe you are eleven months old. It makes me sad because you are quickly becoming a "big girl" and are no longer my baby. The cuddles are few and far between now. Sometimes I go into your room at night and pick you up and hold you. My heart nearly bursts every single time I look down at your face.

Little one, thanks for being the biggest joy in our lives.

10 months.

**Her Dad is literally holding her back for this shot, and it's the only one we got as right after I took this, she threw herself backwards, hit her head, and went into a meltdown. Awesome.**

I feel like this past month you spent a lot of time perfecting what you already knew how to do. You have gotten so good at all your skills. You crawl like you've been doing it since birth, you babble all day, you eat like a pro, you pull up with ease, can squat down, and sit down with ease. It is such a joy getting to watch you learn every day.

Currently you are wearing mainly 12 month clothes. You wear size 3 Pampers Crusiers during the day and size 3 Pampers Overnights to sleep in. At your appointment the other day, you weighed 23.7 pounds and measured in at 28.5 inches. But you were squirming in that measurement and we usually get over 29 here at home. You wear a size 4 shoe.

Here's what you've been up to this month:

You figured out that while wearing a dress, it's easier to crawl on your hands and feet and you are good at it. Sometimes you'll be crawling along fine and you'll decide to pop up on your feet. Not sure if this is a step closer to walking, but it's funny!

You've been giving "kisses" for a while, but this past month they've gotten so much bigger and more frequent. You give huge, wet, open mouth kisses but you usually give them to me. I think Daddy's goatee bothers you!

*Giving kisses through the window*

You learned how to use the furniture to cruise around. You will go around and around the coffee table. You don't go from furniture to furniture very often, but you will transfer from the table to the couch since they are so close together.

You word count is growing. Your Dad and I are convinced that you do know who "Dada" and "Mama" are based on when you use them. You'll also look right at us and say who we are. You say "du" (duck) and "ba" (ball) and are getting good at saying them clearly. You can pick those two out of all of your toys.

You had your first snow day and you loved it!

You just stared making the "ga" sound. You cruise around saying "ga ga goo" all day. So funny.

You are really starting to show an attachment to your Wubbie and your "blankie". When you get tired, you'll go looking for them two to curl up with. It's so stinking precious.

You and your Dad sing "wobble wobble bobble bobble" to each other. It's become your thing. He's pretty proud that you can say that.

You moved up to the big tub. You are a trip in there. You crawl, stand up, sit down, fall down, pull on the duck on the faucet, play with the metal cover. You are a crazy girl in there!

You started taking two of your bottles each day out of a sippy cup and you didn't even blink. You started taking your afternoon bottle out of a cup and had no issue so I turned your lunch bottle into a sippy cup as well. You do so, so good with both of those transitions.

You can stand on your own for a few seconds. However, this only happens if you get distracted holding something and let go of what you were standing against, or if we let go of your hands. Once you realize you aren't holding on to anything, you sit down.

You are not afraid of anything. I vacuum all around you and you try to crawl on the thing. You will crawl into anything and dive off of anything. I hope you aren't going to be as big of a daredevil as your Dad. My heart can't take it.

You LOVE to play peekaboo, but won't do it by yourself yet. You also love to "find" things under blankets, especially if they jump out at you (ie: us).

You are a pro at finger foods. You still eat some of the baby foods, but you really prefer to just do it on your own. You have had ham, turkey, cheese, eggs, green beans, wheat bread, yogurt, cottage cheese, and applesauce. You eat every single thing we put in front of you.

You are up to four teeth. The bottom two are completely through. Your top right came up on 1/10 and your top left came through on 1/31. Currently something has to be coming through as you are having a time right now. I can't tell which tooth it is though...

You went to the park for the first time and you absolutely loved it. We have been back multiple times since then.

Your screams are back. You aren't as loud as you once were, but you now scream if you aren't a fan of something or don't want to do something.

You are big into mimicking us. We have to watch what we do and say now because you're trying to say and do whatever we do. You smack your lips, cluck your tongue, and I've noticed you say "huh" noises a lot. Didn't know where you got that til I listened to how many times a day I say it. Whoops.

You learned how to wave "bye-bye" and "hello". You are much better at "bye-bye". Not going to lie, that little wave absolutely melts my heart. Sometimes you keep the movement going for a while and focus it on you and you are just so proud of yourself.

You have completely mastered the "pincer grasp". You find so many tiny things to pick up now. I vacuum at least twice a day now.

Current nicknames: Kiddo (Dad), Booger, Boog, Boogaloo (Dad), Ellabelle (Mom), Munchkin (Mom), and Love-bug (Mom).

You've started really snuggling into us and hugging on to us.

You absolutely melt us little one. After your Dad checks on you every night, he comes out and says "that is the most precious thing on this planet". You've got him wrapped honey. Well who am I kidding, you've got me wrapped too. You will never understand the joy you've brought to our lives. We love you forever.