18 months

How is this girl 18 months old?? That means we are now getting closer to 2! WOW!! Happy year and a half birthday to my most favorite girl ever!

The last 3 months have gone by fast like the rest of them. We had a good 3 months though! She did get strep again which was no fun! I'm starting to wonder if removing her tonsils are in our future. Other than that she was healthy as could be! I am glad to be in the summer months and hoping we can stay healthy all summer. Since she is in daycare now I think it is easier for her to catch illnesses but on the upside it is building her immune system. But there is nothing worse than watching your baby be miserable because they are sick.

She weights 22lbs 8oz and is 32.1 inches tall. She definitely hit a growth spurt with her height. At her 15 month appointment she was 29.75 inches tall. It was a nice surprise to find out she wasn't getting any shots at this appointment. She was due for the next Hep A shot but it hadn't been 6 months since the last one so we had to wait. I wasn't complaining and we know Kinley wasn't either.

So lets do a little update on how things are going.

Sleep: There haven't been many changes since her 15month update in regards to sleep. She is still sleeping through the night, usually 630p-630a. Let me tell you how amazing it is to be where we are with sleep. It took us a LONG time and a lot of tears. It was awful. If you told me we would ever get to this point there is no way I would've believed you. She has an occasional night where she will wake up and cry or scream but I never go in unless she doesn't stop screaming. It is usually a few wails and she is done. I think she might just be dreaming. I think her naps have gotten better and for the most part are finally consistent. She is still napping 2 times a day about an hour and a half each nap. She goes down for her morning nap around 8:30a and then her afternoon nap around 1:00p. The times are not set and she lets us know when she is ready to go to sleep. It is truly amazing. She walks to the stairs and points to upstairs or says nite nite. We take her in her room, turn on her music, give her a bink, lay her down, cover her up, say I love you and leave the room. There are sometimes she likes a few snuggles so we sit in the chair and rock for a couple minutes. Before bedtime if she isn't too tired we read a few stories. But she is sure to let us know when she wants in her bed. Matt and I still wonder how we ever got to this point of having an amazing sleeper after looking back to where we were. It took a lot of work but with consistency it paid off.

Eating: We are still dealing with a picky toddler. I think she eats Mac and Cheese for lunch and dinner every day. She will eat whole grain waffles or a whole grain bagel with peanut butter or cream cheese for breakfast. She continues to love yogurt. She was going through the squeeze pouches so fast and they are expensive! We invested in some reusable pouches by mysqueeze and we love them. She does have a few other favorites such as black beans, edamame, broccoli, any fruits, nutri grain bars and whole fruit Popsicles. There have been a few mornings she has eaten a Popsicle after breakfast. Hey let them be kids right! She cracks me up, she goes to the freezer and tells me to open in and knows exactly what she wants. She is still drinking whole milk in a straw cup. We stopped breastfeeding about 2 weeks ago. My schedule changed at work and she was only nursing before bed so it seemed like a great time to stop. It went WAY better than I expected. I didn't have any expectations with nursing and I am truly proud to have made it to 17 months of breastfeeding my baby! I hope I can make it that far with the next.

Play: This girl loves to be outside. It is that simple. She doesn't care if she is at the park or sitting on the front patio watching the garbage truck. I love that she loves to be outside and not stuck in front of the TV, though it's not like that is an option for her. We let her watch a show in the morning while she is eating her breakfast and then the TV really isn't on anymore throughout the day. Once in a while she will get another show before bed, but that is rare. She still really enjoys reading books. Some of her favorites are Llama Llama, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Biscuit and her books with flaps. She loves to play in her kitchen and make food for Matt and I. She has quite the imagination. It's unbelievable to watch. She really loves her animals and playing with them when they let her. She has started to sit on the dog like a horse and she thinks it's hilarious, the dog not so much. We play at the park many days while the weather has not been too hot yet. Though this week it is really heating up so I am sure it is on the way. We are hoping to get to the beach a few times before it gets too hot. She loves the water so I am very interested in how she reacts to the ocean.

She has 12 teeth with 4 left to come in then the 2 year old molars. She continues to do a really good job with brushing them. She has really started to expand her vocabulary these past few months. She says mama, dada, please, thank you, up, down, dog, cat, cheese, ball, water, drink, and again are a few that come to mind. She does a lot of blabbing which we can't understand but she has entire conversations with her babies. It is pretty cute.

This past 18 months have truly been amazing! I can't believe how fast it has gone!! I miss my baby but am really loving this age! It has always been a favorite of mine!