18 Months

Height: 34.5 inches (98%ile)

Weight: 29 pounds (96 %ile)

It is hard to believe you're already a year and a half. It's even more unbelievable how much you've grown in just the past three months. Looking at my last post, I still see my sweet little baby Isabelle. Now, you are a full blown, independent, confident toddler with boat loads of spunk! I mean, are you kidding me with that look?!

You have almost all of your teeth now. The only ones missing are your four eye teeth... Your hair is getting longer (which is hard to tell because it's so curly). You've also grown about two inches and gained about 3 pounds. I swear you get more beautiful every day. We still get stopped practically everywhere we go by people commenting on your big blue eyes or curly blond hair or how you look just like the Gerber baby.

Your daily schedule consists of happily waking up sometime around 7:30. I am alerted by your singsong voice babbling and singing away. You prefer to wake up slowly (just like me), so I leave you be for a bit while I get myself and Jax ready for the day. Then you have breakfast, get dressed, and we take Jax to preschool. Then we go to the gym, or to ECFE, or (if we're having a lazy day) we just go back home and hang out for a few hours before we pick up Jax and have lunch. The problem is you often fall asleep in the car, which has messed up your naps a little bit. You seem to believe that a 5 minute car nap is equal to a two hour nap in your crib. At least once or twice a week you completely forgo your afternoon nap (which leads to a very cranky Izzy by about 4pm). This winter bedtime has been pushed earlier and earlier. Most nights you are asleep by 6:30 or 7pm. I guess I can't complain too much about the naps since you sleep so well at night!

You are becoming a great little helper and seem to have inherited my desire for orderliness (something the male members of our home lack). As soon as we enter the house you take of your coat and hang it on your hook and you have me help take your shoes off, which you then place nicely in the closet (along with any other shoes that happen to be laying around the mudroom). Whenever you hear me open the dishwasher you come running to help. You've actually gotten really good at putting away the silverware, measuring cups, and your sippy cups and bottles. You even put your dirty dishes in the sink and throw away your garbage! It's really quite impressive!

Your vocabulary is expanding rapidly. Some of your favorite words include dirty (see above), mine, no, more, yay, banana (you would eat three a day if I let you), bottle, KG, and mommy. You also love pointing to and naming body parts.

It seems like so long ago, but we had a great time celebrating Halloween. We went to a haunted horses night at our favorite pizza farm. You loved watching the chickens and got to go on your first carriage ride.

We also went to downtown Victoria's Halloween party and on a Halloween story trolley ride. The trolley ride was a little too long for your taste. Thankfully, a bottle prevented you from having a complete meltdown. It was a close call, though.

You absolutely LOVED trick-or-treating and lasted way longer than expected! You toddled along with Jackson and our next door neighbor and went up to every single house they went to.

 

We were lucky to have a relatively warm Fall, which we took full advantage of. These were taken on a NOVEMBER afternoon. It was so nice to have a bit of a late start to our winter.

Needless to say, just a month later, we were facing this!

Which meant it was time for the Christmas festivities to begin! Of course seeing Santa was top on the list! You were definitely a little apprehensive at first. You watched Jax and Santa for a little bit before you went to sit by him.

Another afternoon, you helped Jax and I make gingerbread cookies (you were mostly just interested in eating the dough).

Another highlight was the North Pole Express (which was actually in downtown St. Paul). You were very entertained by the singing and dancing elves, as well as Santa. It was a much more successful trip than the Halloween ride...

Christmas itself was fun, but busy! Jackson was up before the sun (as usual) because he was so excited to see what Santa brought. You, on the other hand, were less than thrilled to be awoken from your beauty sleep. (We did make Jackson wait an hour to let you sleep, which was pure torture for him, so give us a little credit). At least you found a comfy new chair to sit in...

...and a cozy new bunny pillow to cuddle with. It took a little coaxing to get you to open your presents, but eventually you got the hang of it, which was good because you had lots more presents to open at Grammy Ginny's and at Grammy & Papa White's houses that day.

 

We had a fun little family game day and New Year's celebration to ring in 2016! You loved dressing up in your tutu and devoured king crab and candy sushi. (Sorry you did not get to indulge in any of mommy's champagne!)

Another fun adventure we had was visiting a park (with some unbelievable pine trees) for a winter walk. Jax was sweet enough to pull you in your sled so mommy could take pictures. You tried to return the favor, but you didn't get very far...

When we're not out having fun adventures, a lot of our time is spent at Target or grocery shopping...

...or just hanging out at home building forts and playing with your big brother. I'm afraid you're going to be pretty bored at home without him all day when he goes to Kindergarten next year...

I better wrap this up- there's so much to cover in three months! The bottom line is, you are an absolute delight and I am so lucky that I get to spend my days adventuring with your sweet little self.

Happy 18 months, sweetie!

Love, Mom

15 Months

Height: 32.75 inches (96%ile)

Weight: 26 pounds (94%ile)

Oh, sweet baby girl, you are 15 months now and are getting soooo big (as you are demonstrating below).



You are a girl on the move and practically run everywhere you go (probably because you are trying to keep up with your big brother). You can climb up and down stairs and love sitting in chairs at tables. You've earned the nickname "go go girl" at ECFE because you just love exploring every inch of the room.

You still just have your two top and two bottom teeth up front, but all four of your one year molars have broken through now. You're teething a little out of order, but the dentist assured me that you will get your other teeth eventually. Ha! Anyway, you're getting by just fine with the teeth you have for now. You are an excellent eater! As soon as I bring you downstairs in the morning, you walk over to your high chair (which is your way of telling me to feed you). You will eat pretty much anything we put in front of you, which I am so thankful for. Much to my surprise, we are not done nursing yet. At this point we're down to one nursing per day or even every other day. Most often this happens after your nap. You point to your rocking chair and pull down my shirt while grunting... That's my cue. As I said before, I am savoring these moments.

Your hair is getting longer (and curlier). In fact, it is now long enough for a cute little pony tail!

Your little personality is really starting to emerge- you are extremely sweet, funny, sensitive, and tough. You LOVE to give out random kisses and hugs! You're also talking more, well it's more like babbling, but I'm starting to make out more words. You say dada, mama, Ja (for Jax), KG, hi, uh oh, ba (bottle, blanket), mo (more), ya (yes, but you usually just nod yes), and no, no (again, you usually shake your head no, except when you're really mad, then you use your voice), and wee (your favorite). Most recently you've been saying "o is it?" while pointing to or holding up and object. I have a feeling it won't be long until you're talking non-stop (like your big brother).

Your sleep schedule is still pretty predictable. Your bed time and wake up time have shifted a little earlier to account for us getting Jax to school by 9. You typically are asleep by 7:30pm and sleep in until 7:30 or 8am (or until I have to wake you up). You are down to one 2 hour nap around noon. You seem to love your bed and go down without a fuss (most of the time). (I know I shouldn't even be mentioning that because it could change any day, but I am crossing my fingers that it stays that way!)

The most exciting event over the past few months was your Aunt Nicole's wedding! It was in Tofte, MN along the North Shore. We spent the long weekend in a beautiful condo, overlooking Lake Superior, with grammy and papa. We were a little nervous for the 5 hour drive because you have never been in the car for longer than an hour or two at a time, but you did great (until the last half hour or so). Thankfully, most of your ride was spent like this...

We did make a couple fun stops along way to stretch our legs, including Franconia Sculpture Park....

...and Jay Cooke State Park.

The wedding was beautiful! I was standing up for Auntie Nicole throughout the ceremony and was afraid that you'd start crying for me, but you behaved yourself. Thankfully, you were even able to sneak in a little cat nap between the ceremony and dinner! (You were getting a little feisty at that point.)

A couple of weeks later we headed up north again with our family friends. We visited Itasca State Park where you got to ride on daddy's shoulders through a redwood forest.

You also got a tour of the Mississippi headwaters (led by your brother). I think he was hoping that you would dive in with all your clothes on (like he did on his first trip there), but you were much more civilized cautious.

Besides that outing, we spent most of the time at the resort. You had a great time playing with your friend Camden and her big brother. You loved sitting at the beach and playing with the rocks and sand, but didn't really like getting wet (except for your toes).

You were also not a big fan of your life jacket...

...or sleeping in a pack and play. We have been so spoiled by your excellent sleep habits, that this came as a bit of a shock. You basically would only sleep ON me... (Which meant I got no sleep). I would try to transfer you when I thought you were sound asleep, but you would wake up shortly after. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep caught up with daddy and I and we ended up leaving a day early. It was a bummer, but we were all in desperate need of our own comfy beds.

Some other adventures over the last few months included your first trip to the State Fair in August...

...and our first trip to Dearfdorff Orchards to kick off the Fall season. We picked apples (well you picked apples off of the ground)...

...and played in the hay.

You LOVED looking at the horses and goats.

However, I believe the highlight of your trip was getting to eat your first honey stick!

We also made lots of visits to the arboretum. In my opinion, Fall is the BEST season to explore there! You loved the scarecrows and pumpkins.

 And, of course, strolling through the gardens...

...and playing in the leaves (since we don't have any in our own yard to play with).

We made our annual trip to Minnetonka Orchards, too, but you were having a bit of a rough day...

...maybe because you were too little to do all of the fun things your brother got to do. For example, you had to sit on this pile of hay while he road on the kiddie train.

Or maybe you'd just had enough of all of my "fall activities." Little do you know, Halloween activities are just starting to begin... Thankfully, your costume is in hand! You make one cute little lady bug!

It is unbelievable how much you've grown and changed over the past three months. We love you more every day!

Happy 15 months, sweetie!
Love, Mom