Libby is 18 months!

Libby,

Holy cow, I cannot believe you are a year and a half old!! What a big girl you are! I wanted to be sure and document what all you're up to these days because you are just the most fun right now.  I've heard people say that 18 months is the "sweet spot" and now I see why. You are my little buddy and I love spending my days with you. You are so funny, sweet, chatty, loving, energetic, curious, and smart. I am literally amazed by everything you take in and learn on a daily basis. You understand so much of what I tell you and you know too many words now to even begin to list. You are such a copy cat - you say everything!! Can't imagine life without you, Libby girl!!

So let me jot down a few fun things to remember from the past few months:

-You love to talk. Seriously. All day. You probably say "mommy" 1,000 times a day. If I'm in the kitchen you'll just walk in and say "mommy, mommy, mommy" in your squeaky little voice which is the absolute cutest. You're even starting to put more than one words together. You are also very consistent with saying "please" and now "thank you"…so proud!

-You also love to say "hi". We've met most of our new neighbors because of you. So friendly. Sometimes you'll also be back in your carseat and let out a little "hello" and wave just to make sure I know you're back there.

-We've gotten in a routine of reading your bible and saying prayers before bed. You have caught on so well! Now after we brush your teeth you say "bible" and go get it and get in daddy's lap. Then when we say pray you know to clasp your hands. Melts my heart. Praying that you know the love of Jesus early, sweet baby. 

-You love the nursery at church! We always get the best reports from your sweet teachers when we pick you up. They say you love music (of course), you are attentive during lesson time (would love to see that) and you're very loving. 

-Puppy and lovie are your best friends. They go everywhere with us. I try to have you leave them in the car when we go in places so they don't get lost or dirty. But if we are home, you better believe you are making sure that puppy and lovie are nearby at all times!

-You've started hitting. Not hard, but little swats at our faces. It's not nice, Libby. So here we are working on how we're going to discipline. Whenever daddy and I lower our voices and tell you that you aren't being kind, you scrunch up your nose and make this pouty face. It's crazy how that just started one day…yikes.

-You also make this guilty smile when I catch you doing something you're not supposed to be doing, like climbing up to play with the computer. Usually I can divert your attention and all is well :)

-You are saying No quite a bit more these days but you've still yet to throw a full out tantrum so I'm thankful that you get over things pretty easily.

-You've randomly started trying to stick everything down your shirt. Nail polish, the remote, my phone, whatever. The other day I found a comb in the leg of your footie pajamas?

-You love to list all the people you know. It's the sweetest thing. I'll hear you in your carseat or in your bed after a nap saying "Mommy, Daddy, Noo-Noo, Howie, YiaYia, Uncle, Papa…." and so on. I love that.

-You still love music as much as ever. And you especially love the "pee-no" or piano at YiaYia's house. Now every time you see one, you freak out. Even on TV.

-You love to watch Bubble Guppies on NickJr.

-You listen to basic directions very well!

-And my absolute favorite thing you do lately is called your daddy "honey" if you can't find him or need him for something. You heard me calling for daddy in the garage by saying "Honey, Honey" and ever since then you think that's what you call him when you need him or you're looking for him. It is the cutest. Daddy and I laugh so hard.

So here are some picture updates as well!

Well we moved into your first home! Here you are helping mommy unpack and helping daddy at Home Depot and in the yard. You also had fun your first night in your new room!

Becton came to visit twice from Tyler!! Yay for little friends! 

Papou was in town for work and stayed with us one night too!

CC came to visit in October! You had so much fun together!

Sleepover with Noodle!

We went to the arboretum a bunch in October and November to see the pumpkins and take pics in our Halloween costumes with our friends! YiaYia went with us one day too!

We also took you to the fair again this year with the Bowens! But this year was clearly better than last year because you got to have your first bite of a Fletcher's corn dog - you're welcome. You also loved seeing the animals and went on your first ride with daddy - not sure what you thought about that :)

You are the queen of making the transfer to your bed for a nap after you've fallen asleep in the car! You never used to be able to do this but I guess now that you're down to 1 nap you are just too pooped to care. I took these pics of you just passed out and then proceeded to change your diaper which you slept through as well…crazy!

Working on eating with utensils! You have really improved on this a ton in the past few weeks but it's quite messy at this point. On the food note, you love to eat. As soon as I change your diaper in the morning, you look at me and say "Mommy, eat". You also love to go into the pantry and bring me random things that you want and say "snack". It's so hilarious. I swear you'd eat all day if I let you. If the pantry door is closed I hear you in there saying "open mommy, open…peeeeaaaase". One thing you really love these days is chili. I've been making it lately since it's getting cooler and it's so random that you like it because it's actually a bit spicy bit. But you love it! You say "bean, bean, bean" when you run out.

Uncle Michael came to visit as well!! We had so much fun taking him to Klyde Warren Park and introducing him to the food trucks. The Carbys also made a visit so we had some of the cross fit Richardson gang over - some of the big kids showed Libby how to climb up on the ottoman - can you tell she's a little excited??

Daddy let you get in his lap in the drive way and "drive". You thought it was the best thing ever.

We celebrated Halloween a few ways this year! Some young adults from church kindly included us in their chili and pumpkin carving night and you had a ton of fun. You are so blessed to be loved on by so many people, sweet girl! We also had a play group get together and gave out candy to trick or treaters at our house, which you LOVED. Every time the doorbell rang you ran to answer it and loved seeing the kids all dressed up!

Daddy and I took you to the zoo for the first time! It was such a great family day and the weather was awesome. The african animal area was the coolest by far - we got SO CLOSE  to the giraffes. But you also loved seeing the tiger eat his lunch! And you got to pet the barnyard animals which you thought was pretty fun.

Well sweet Libs, that about wraps it up!! Daddy and I love you so much we can't even stand it. You are the absolute best gift and make us smile every day. It's a blast watching you become the little person that God created you to be. I love being your mommy so much!! LOVE YOU, LIBBY MUFFIN!

15 months!!

We just got back from Libby's 15 month check up and since I haven't done a Libby update in a few months, I decided I MUST document all of her quirks and cuteness these days! So here's a little 15 month update on our Libby girl.

Ok so to start, she is just out of this world cute. Obviously I am little biased, but I just look at her and want to squeeze her. And wow, her little personality is shining through more and more every day. She is super loving, engaged, curious, chatty, active - and she is rather funny and makes the best faces. It blows me away how much she is learning and understanding lately. It's like we're actually communicating back and forth at times - so amazing! I'm just in awe watching her transform into this little person. The past 3 months have been a blast with this baby muffin - not sure how that nickname started but it's seems like it's sticking?

Here are some things to note at 15 months:

• Weighs 19 lb 3 oz. Not even on the chart. She was 10th percentile at her one year appt and Dr. Neeley isn't worried. Officially a peanut.
• However, she is in the 70th percentile for height! What?? Obviously this means nothing at this point but it is rather hilarious.
• Still wears size 3 diapers. Size 6-12 month or 12 month clothes for the most part. Most 12-18 month outfits are big on her at this point.
• She talks up a storm! I mean, babbles to herself and to us all day long. It is hilarious. And you can tell she's really trying to say something because she looks right at you like, "hello?" Multiple people have commented on her cute little voice - my mom says she sounds like a little martian, ha. She can also say quite a few real words like: mommy, daddy, puppy, ball, boom, uh uh, up, eyes, tummy, yiayia, papou, papa, wow, no, oh no, oh my, hi, bye, abby, down, please (sounds like psss), coffee (umm what does that say about me??), noes, toes, bubble, night night & nani (Greek), baby, backpack....and literally other new words every day. She usually happily says hi or bye to people throughout the day at the grocery store, Target, the post office. She actually has quite a few friends at the post office.
• If you ask her a question she actually shrugs her shoulder, lifts her hands up a little and says "I-oh-no" or "I don't know". It's so cute. How did she learn that??
• She has started to follow directions. Bring me the shoe, give me the phone, sit on your bottom, drink your milk, blow me a kiss, etc.
• She dances. A lot. This kid LOVES music. In her car seat - dancing. In her high chair - dancing. In the living room - dancing. Sandra got her a little boom box for her room and she will go over and want me to turn it on so she can dance. She even demonstrated a little shimmy recently and Aunt Nicki taught her how to say cha-cha-cha when she does it. Cutest thing ever.
• She's turning into a climber! Always climbing up on the couch, the ottoman, window sills, or trying to get up into chairs. She also has to be seriously locked down in her high chair as well or else she is up in 2 seconds. 
• One new thing she does that I love is she backs up into my lap and sits down. It's the sweetest. Love her little cuddles.
• She's happy. I'm so thankful for this. Of course she has her moments but by and large she's a pretty easy going kid. She gets used to new people fairly quickly which is nice because we've met a lot of new people lately. 
• The little curls in the back of her head are my favorite. She also gets a seriously case of bed head after naps.
• She still doesn't cry when she wakes up in the morning or from her naps. Sweet girl just hangs out in there with her stuffed animals and lovie until I go get her. And she just has the sweetest look on her face when I get in there. The best. She also knows to throw her lovie & paci back in her bed after she gets up and if I forget to remind her she goes and does it herself.
• She loves standing up on her toes. It's really cute. Get used to it, Libs - it looks like you're going to be short like your mama.
• She's trying to jump lately. We show her and then say jump. She tries so hard and just kind of reaches up but doesn't go anywhere. She thinks it's really fun, though.
• She does peek-a-boo herself with her hands now and says "boo".
• She brings me books to read to her which I love!
• She can throw & kick a ball and already loves to shoot baskets. John Paul is so proud.

Libby loves:

-helping Mommy unload the dishwasher

-helping Mommy fold clothes

-playing with her baby and walking her in the stroller

-stacking blocks or cups

-opening every kitchen cabinet - opening anything really

-trying to put the tops/lids back on things

-to give kisses on the LIPS - if you offer her your check she will strain around to get to your mouth

-playing with big kids

-blowing bubbles outside

-bath time

-playing the keyboard

-pool time - she went off the diving board with her daddy and it didn't phase her at all! What?! I was scared of the diving board until I was like 12, ha.

-to smile showing all her teeth - which she has 12 of by the way. And 2 more are coming in now.

-Pocoyo - they are these short videos for babies that you can play in English or Spanish (thanks Sandra!) and she is mesmerized by them! She's not really into any other shows - but she does love the Bubble Guppies theme song.

-jewelry!! She is immediately drawn to people's necklaces & bracelets. She really enjoys YiaYia Christie's collection. Such a girl.

-anyone's Iphone

-playing chase with Daddy

-riding in the cart at Target or any store. So much to look and so many people to say hi to!

-carrying stuff around - she constantly has something in tow. A little gift bag, shopping bag, camera case, my purse. She also loves filling up the bag with random things.

-dogs. She could play with Howie & Abby or anyone else's dogs for hours.

-looking for her belly button

-her friends! We are so blessed to have friends with babies her age - and although they don't all live here, we are thankful for each of them.

-her family! This lucky girl has so much family that loves her and is a blast to play with. Between her Dallas family & her Shreveport and Corpus family (who we got to see in August) she gets a lot of loving!

What does she eat?

Pretty much everything! Whole milk in her sippy cup. Trying to up her intake though! She also has a little water but no juice. For meals she pretty much eats what we eat. She loves FRUIT - raspberries, bananas, oranges, watermelon, strawberries, kiwi, pears, blueberries, etc. She also loves: string cheese, yogurt, turkey, turkey meatballs, black beans, scrambled eggs, chicken, pasta, cheerios, green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, whole wheat waffles, PB&honey sandwhiches, graham crackers, goldfish, frozen yogurt, popsicles. I also like to make these little frittatas in muffin pans because she'll eat vegetables like spinach and tomatoes that way. And she actually ate ceasar salad and salsa recently and LOVED it - which I think is really weird. We try to limit sweets but I feel like in the summer there are just a lot more reasons to eat ice cream/frozen yogurt/dessert! 

Challenges lately:

-Since she can't communicate as well as she would like, there are some whiny moments throughout the day. She will just look at me and say "uuhhh, uuhhh" over and over again. It's hard when you don't know all your words yet! So I've been trying to be really intentional about teaching her the correct words to use and when she learned "up" it was a game changer. She'll say that when she wants me to hold her or wants out of her high chair, etc. So much better! She's also learning to point to the things she wants which helps a lot! I've been asking the Lord for patience on a regular basis these days :)

-In her 15 month handout at the doctor's office it said that it's normal for tantrums to start about now. And although we haven't a full out tantrum yet, I am definitely starting to see more of her defiant attitude showing through. It's definitely in us all! She is displaying more resistance when she doesn't want to do something or get what she wants. So I know John Paul and I need a good game plan moving forward. I've read Give them Grace which I thought was great but I've also heard great things about a book called Love and Logic so I'm going to check that out - I'm needing some more practical ideas.

-Not sure if this counts, haha but her hair is also a challenge. It's so long in the front that it gets in her eyes. She will not leave a bow in for more than 2 seconds. I tried getting those little rubber bands thinking that would work, but no - she hates those too. Shocker. And she cries & flails when I try to put them in. So that's fun :) Therefore, if she has a bow in when you see her, that day was a success!

-We're also transitioning from 2 naps to only 1. It seems like 2 is too many but 1 isn't enough at this point. Some days she's fine with 2 but other days she's starting to fight her morning nap. But she really can't last until 1pm yet without getting pretty cranky. So we're still doing 2 for now...but we'll see how much longer that lasts. Dr. Neely said that's pretty normal at this point.

-Brushing teeth. Libs HATES it. A lot. It takes both me & John Paul and it's still hard to do. We've started letting her do it herself but I'm not sure how effective that's been :) Dr. Neely suggested getting one of those kiddie electric toothbrushes because you don't actually have to brush back and forth so which us luck!

I know EVERY parent says this and I'm a broken record but I cannot believe that we have a toddler on our hands now! She is such a joy. Literally, on our trip to Mexico John Paul and I just thanked God over and over that we've been given the gift of our sweet Libby. 

We love being your parents, Libby girl! You make us smile and laugh so much. On our trip this past week Daddy and I wondered who you might turn out to be. What a crazy thought. We are praying for you to be a kind, loving, passionate, generous girl that loves Jesus and others. Mommy & Daddy will fall short often but we hope & pray that you will see His love and grace displayed in our home. We're asking God for this and to continue growing us!

Happy 15 months baby girl! We love you!!!