During my previous pregnancy with Lilly and this pregnancy people are constantly telling me how small I am. With Lilly I measured about 1 week off but the doctors/midwifes never thought anything of it (aside from changing my due date) and reassured me that things were progressing normally. This time around the same thing has been hapenning (measuring a bit small with no change of due date) but we decided to do an ultrasound today just to make sure that the baby was growing at a normal rate. He/She is right on track at 2 pounds 3 ounces today and everything looks great. I’ve gained 15 pounds so far and will probably gain another 10+ these last 3 months. So when people tell me that I look small I’m just going to be thankful that I’m not huge, I feel great, and I have plenty of space for this baby to grow!
18 Months
Weight: 23.4 pounds
Length: 33″
Head: 47 cm
Hard to believe that Lilly is a year and a half old today! It’s amazing how much more of a ‘kid’ she is now. She has a super-sweet temperment and, as grandma would say, is a very ‘reasonable’ child – she understands everything we ask of her and much of the time will comply with our requests. Lilly loves to ‘help’ (and ask for help) and spends about an hour a day playing with dishes in the sink. She is definitely more prone to tantrums, although they are very predictable and usually occur when we take her away from something she is interested in. Lilly is purposeful in her actions, thrives on her routines (wonder who she gets that from?), and likes things to be done in a certain way or put in a certain place. She continues to show interest in the way things work and are put together and is our little engineer. She is talking constantly and knows over 100 words. She gets very concerned when someone acts in an unexpected way or something breaks, and will have entire ‘quiet’ conversations with people during down time or just before she goes to bed (usually me).
We just returned from our 3+ week stay in Arizona with my parents. It was wonderful to see aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. and then have some time alone with Grandma and Grandpa. We went for golf cart rides every day (Lilly LOVES the golf cart) and I was able to run every day as well. Lilly was especially sweet with my mom and called my parents ‘MOM’ and ‘DADA’ or ‘BA’ (she says it differently than she does for me or Bill). The weather was colder than usual but I was completely happy with mid-sixties and sunny every day! It was a wonderful time and we are looking forward to heading back there soon!
So this afternoon Grandpa made a mistake: he put Lilly in a swim diaper instead of a regular diaper. Well, swim diapers don’t actually hold any liquid so Lilly’s pants quickly became wet (to say the least). When we got home from a ride in the golf cart I realized this just as Lilly was squatting in the living room saying, ‘pee pee’. This was odd behavior for her so I asked if she wanted to go to the potty. She started to say, ‘potty potty’, and ran to the bathroom. My mom and I put her on the potty and…she peed! A minute later we took her off, she asked to pee again, we put her on the potty and…she peed again! It hasn’t happened since (probably had something to do with the swim diaper?) but she is definitely more interested in the potty now. Planning to buy her a ‘play potty’ this weekend! I’m sure there will be lots of updates on this one…
Let it be said that I was NOT prepared for this and have done nothing to encourage Lilly to use the potty aside from acknowledge her when she said ‘poop’ or ‘pee’. Wasn’t planning on facing the potty training thing until after the baby arrived until now.
I just returned from our Babymoon in Disney World! Bill and I met in Orlando Thursday evening and spent the long weekend together in the ‘happiest place on earth’. We could not have picked a better place to celebrate this time together. We stayed on the Disney property at the Swan Hotel, spent most of Friday at the Magic Kingdom and finished off the afternoon/evening at Epcot, dining at San Angel’s Mexico Restaurant at the World Showcase (I was surprised by how delicious the food was – best Mexican food I’ve had outside of Mexico!). Saturday we toured Hollywood Studios and returned to Epcot, where we ate dinner at Via Napoli. Our favorite rides were the new Toy Story temed interactive rides and the Monsters Inc. ‘laughing’ film, as well as the classics. Unfortunately I was pretty sick with a bad sinus infection and cough that kept me up most nights, but that didn’t take away from the excitment. Sunday we had brunch with the Disney characters and walked around Downtown Disney before parting ways in the evening. Lilly had a blast staying home with Grandma and Grandpa and loved the gifts we brought back for her. Now it’s time to focus on baby #2 – less than 13 weeks to go!
Christmas Eve Dinner
Christmas Day
We have been enjoying the holidays in Arizona since Lilly and I arrived on the 22nd. I was a bit nervous about flying solo with her this time but she did great! If there is such a thing as over-packing with an infant/toddler than I did it. The rest of the family, including Bill, arrived shortly after we did so that we were all together on Christmas Day. We had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner at mom and dad’s house followed by our traditional Christmas morning rituals, where we all promised to ‘cut back’ on gifts but as usual there was a big amount for everyone – especially the kids! The Christmas forecast was 75 and sunny so we spent lots of time outside with the kids playing pickle ball. It was a wonderful holiday and we look forward to the remaining time we have in Arizona.
For the complete set of photos, click here.
We celebrated Christmas early in Michigan since we are headed to AZ for the holidays on Wednesday. Last night we went to Nana and Bapa’s for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. Jack, Gordon, and Jessica joined us. This morning we headed over early for Christmas brunch and the gift exchange. Lilly was very involved in opening and passing out the gifts this year. She had lots of fun with her new toys (loved placing them in exactly the right spot), especially her baby doll and stroller! We had a fun morning and are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family.
For the complete set of photos, click here.
This video was shot on our way to Nana and Bapa’s for Christmas morning.
Lilly picks up new habits so fast that it’s hard to keep track of, so I thought I would take the time to write about a few of my new Lilly ‘favorites’.
She can say well over 60 words now (probably over 100?) and there are a few that I just love to hear: ‘outside’ (out-ssiiide), ‘good girl’ (goo-gurl), and ‘baby’. The way she says them is so darned cute you just can’t help but smile.
Lilly is VERY invested in her routines. Once I introduce something new (like feeding Roary treats or putting the wet bath mat over the edge of the tub) she catches on right away and wants to repeat my actions. I recently asked her to hand me my towel when I was taking a shower and now the moment I get in she pulls my towel down and stands outside the shower door waiting to hand me my towel. 🙂
My #1 most favorite new Lilly ‘thing’ happens at night when she’s getting ready for bed. She knows most of her body parts by now and after we finish rocking and just before she goes to sleep I say “I love you” and Lilly says, “eye, eye, eye…”, smiles and points to my eye. I just love it…
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