17 Months Old/ 3 Months Pregnant

At 17 months, Leah:

- Is sleeping from about 7:30-8pm until about 6-6:30am. When she wakes up, she is AWAKE, and ready to goooooo, but she has trouble making it until 2:00, after school when she can take her nap. She is grumpy for her teachers most of the day. I would love for her to sleep in a little longer.


- Still has the morning "ba-ba"-- and can now say the name of the bottle, so I'm guessing I've just made it harder on myself waiting this long. Typically this is the most milk she gets in her all day, so that is why I still let her have it. She will drink milk from a cup, but prefers "juice." She has about 3 cups of watered-down juice a day, usually sitting down & drinking the whole cup at one time, and then asking for more! She doesn't usually drink much with her meals, though.

- Favorite foods include: bananas, graham crackers, yogurt, chicken nuggets, cheese, and anything mommy or daddy have. She is able to eat applesauce & other "messier" things with a spoon on her own now, and actually won't even let us feed her with a spoon anymore if she's in her high chair. She has also reached the toddler stage where, one day she loves a food, and the next day she won't touch it!


- Is saying even more words. Sometimes she'll carry on entire conversations (that no one understands), complete with facial expressions & gestures. Most of the time she is able to communicate to me what she wants (and if she doesn't get that, everyone better watch out!) somehow or another.


- Figured out how to climb stairs. But she has to have something at the top worth crawling towards. And she gets too scared to come back down. So I'm not too worried about her coming downstairs from her bedroom. But we're putting the gate up just in case!

- Likes to take her shirt off. And doesn't mind walking around without one.

I have already reached the 2nd trimester in my pregnancy-- it seems to be going by so fast! I don't really have anymore sickness, and I'm really not even craving anything. I just like to eat A LOT! I can't believe I've already got a little belly, and people are starting to notice!

As a perk of volunteering at the Crisis Pregnancy Center, I got a free bonus ultrasound the other night-- the sonographer didn't have any clients so she offered to just take a look! And we got some great pictures. The baby was so active. He (I will refer to him as "he" just because it is easier) was sucking his thumb, kicking his legs, waving, and flipping back & forth. He looked straight at us one or two times. She did try to see the gender, but he wasn't that cooperative. We have an appt. at the doctor for the "big" gender-revealing ultrasound on February 16th.

Funny Toddler Things

Here are some funny things Leah has said/ done the past few weeks:


- When I tried to tell her the stove was HOT, she started to blow on it, like we do to her food when it is hot.

- When she sees the hair dryer, she tries to imitate its sound. She likes to stand right underneath me when I dry my hair and make the noise.

- She LOVES to go to school. Apparently, she also likes a little boy named Jack in her class. Every time I ask her if she likes school, or if she wants to go to school, her reply is "Jack Jack!"

- She is also in LOVE with Elmo and says his name very clearly. Pretty much 6 out of 10 hours she is awake during the day, I hear "Elmo! Elmo!"

- She has a bit of a shoe fetish and if Brett or I ask her to get our shoes, she will go to our closet and pick out a matching pair (the shoes match each other, but not necessarily what I'm wearing-- although Sunday she sized me up when I asked her, as if she was trying to decide which would look best).

- She is obsessed with her belly button. Anytime she sees mine, she has to check for hers'. She also likes to pick up small crumbs off the floor and put them in her belly button (or her toes, or her ears).

- When she is getting ready to pick up something she is not supposed to have, sometimes I will say, "Oh, no you don't!" Now, when she goes to grab the remote control, I believe she thinks "Oh no" is it's name, because she will reach for it, saying "Ohno!"

- She seems to understand when we are praying, and at the end she always says "A!," her version of "Amen."

12 Weeks

I can hardly believe I'm almost to the end of the first trimester of this pregnancy. Minus the expensive doctor bill we've already gotten, I'm getting very excited for the new baby, and it seems like it's coming faster than I know! This time around, I don't spend much time at all thinking about the baby or the pregnancy, and I'm certainly not taking care of myself as well as I did the first time. I'm still trying to eat healthy & take vitamins, but when I have a 16-month-old Energizer Bunny to chase after, it's difficult to focus much attention on her baby brother or sister. Thankfully, I still fit into most of my clothes, although with a tighter shirt on, I can tell that I'm pregnant when I look at my side profile.

I'm still feeling sort of yucky every once in awhile, but as long as I eat, the sick feelings stay away. Now I'm at the stage where I constantly have a weird taste in my mouth that nothing can get rid of. My cravings are usually homemade (or restaurant) biscuits, or French fries, and every night I like to have a Freezer Pop.We still haven't told people at church yet, and even some of our more distant friends, but I'm anxious to do that soon, to make it feel more real!


Meanwhile, the 16-month-old is talking ALL the time. Most of the time I have no idea what she's saying, but she looks as if she knows exactly what she's trying to say. She does say new words all the time. She can name 2 or 3 of the kids in her class. Her favorite new thing is to point to "Momma," "Daddy," and "Baby" (herself). (She even recognizes herself in a picture now!)


2010 is off to a pretty good start. There hasn't been anything exciting yet, but we're hopeful for all it has in store!








Won't she make a great big sister? :)
























I'm the baby!!

Here's a video of Leah at play. She loves to play with my keys. She tries each one in the door. Eventually she will find her way out, I'm sure! (Good thing for dead bolts.) She also likes to take the pillows off the couch & lay down on them. You can hear her talking a little in this too. Watch how fast she moves!