First of Many...

You recently moved to a new class at daycare. It's the Young Toddlers class and is home to the 18 month to 2 year old kiddos. It amazes me to see how much you have changed and how much you will change over the next six months. My favorite part of the new class is how much you and the other kids play together. In your previous class, everyone loved playing with the teachers, but when it came to the other kids, you were all just kind of in your own world. Now, it's like you are friends with the others. You all say hi and bye to each other, and if you drop your paci when i pick you up in the evenings, there's always a sweet little girl who picks it up and hands it to you. it's just so fun to witness! The other major change is the amount of "talking" you now do. You have plenty of words that you can say, but you will have a full-on conversation by "babbleing". I imagine you and your friends at school probably do this all day long! Whenever you get the itch to conversate at home, we can go on forever! I'll often try to call Gma and Papaw to let them listen, but when you see me with the phone you become more interested in the screen and button then talking. That was not the case earlier this week, though. I called them on speaker and as soon as Papaw said hello, you replied instantly, "hello!" The three of you talked for about ten minutes and you had plenty to say, including "I love you too," or a slight variation of the sentence. Gma and Papaw would both say, i love you, and you would reply with something that sounded like "I lovel u too" We all heard you say it multiple times and we all agreed that you were saying, I love you too. Now THAT is a sweet sound:) It was a memorable phone call for all of us. The first of many, i'm sure!

My Little Fishy

This past Saturday, you had your very first swimming lesson! You'll have one every Saturday for the rest of this month, then I think we'll start going every other weekend! It's a 30 minute class at the Houston Swim Club, they have a very nice, indoor, saltwater pool. You really liked being in the water! We sang songs and clapped our hands. We practiced kicking, blowing bubbles, monkey walking (this is when you hold onto the wall and scoot yourself along!), floating on your back, and going down the slide! I'll admit...mommy was a little nervous about letting you go under water, I need to work on my nerves, and you need to work on learning to blow bubbles instead of trying to drink the water:) You were not a big fan of being on your back in the water, but you loved sitting on the wall and "jumping in" and you really loved putting the barbells under your arms and floating along (you are actually supposed to practice kicking with the barbells, but at this point, i think you just prefer to float along...we'll get there! Below are some pics of your first lesson. They aren't the best pics...daddy was watching us from the other side of the glass, but he still managed to get a few good ones!

 This is you at the house, before we left for your first lesson!

 Here we are singing "row your boat", and flipping our hands through the water

 here's one of your favorite parts, using the barbells to float

 here we are singing "motor boat, motor boat"...you loved spinning around in the water

and your not-so-favorite, floating on your back!

Moving Right Along

You had your 18 month check up this week, and according to Dr. Kagan, you are right on track! Yeah! You are 31 inches tall and your tipping the scales at 23lbs! I explained how I was worried at the fact that you don't seem to eat enough, but he explained that as long as your getting the basic food groups over the course of a few days, and your not losing weight, that you are just fine. Don't get me wrong though...I still worry that you're going to be a hungry girl when you refuse to eat! By the way, you are getting really good at telling me "No" when you don't want what's on the menu.
On another note...
You are still in a rear-facing carseat, and I have a mirror in the backseat so that I can keep an eye on you when driving. Well, you've now figured out that you can also see me! You wave and giggle all the way home from daycare and it is just so funny:) Thanks for always brightening my day!
Below is a pic of you enjoying your new chair in the backyard last weekend...

Three Things...

There were three things about this past weekend that stood out to me!
1) you are really getting your laugh down! you've always giggled, but now you have this cute little laugh...it sounds like a little girl more than a baby. that's kind of happy/sad for me.
2) you said thank you...well, "tankou" multilple times, and couple of times, it was at the RIGHT time! i love it, and i celebrate you every time you say it because it is just so sweet to see you taking the first steps to good manners!
3) we got to see the pictures that we had taken while in Oklahoma! there are some GREAT ones:

As of Late...

Well, it is official...you are changing every day! Doing new things, saying new words, surprising us with your funny little personality. Here are some notes (and of course some pictures) of some of my most favorite moments...as of late.
You love to give kisses now! When mommy or daddy say they want a kiss you don't hesitate to plant you slobbery little mouth right on us. (who knew someone else's slobber could be so cute!!) And even better, is when you give a kiss without being prompted. The other night, I was rocking you to sleep. I thought you were long gone, but you all of the sudden lifted your head up. I quickly closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep in hopes that you would do the same when you saw me. Instead you decided to give me a kiss, twice, right on the mouth (hello, melting heart!) I opened my eyes, smiled, gave you a big hug, then continued to rock you to sleep!

Most babies your age aren't big fans of hats, suglasses, or anything out of the normal...but you LOVE the accessories...bows, headbands, hats, sunglasses, and apparentely Tutus!! One of your teachers, Miss Taura made tutus for all of the girls in your class, it was her birthday and she wanted to dress you guys up and take pictures. I hear it was quite a sight seeing you and all your friends parading around the school in your matching tutus. Sure enough, when i arrived to pick you up that day, you were the only one still wearing one. You even got upset when I took it off that evening to get you ready for your bath!

This is something you've done for a while now, but I just recently captured it on camera. When it's time to eat you refuse to set anything your are holding, down. I once gave you chicken nuggets to eat when we went grocery shopping. I gave you a container to put them in that was sitting right next to you but you insisted on eating out of one hand and holding all future pieces in the other hand. You had 4 nuggets in one hand and you're hands are tiny!! The same thing happens at home, you will have five pieces of a waffle in each hand, yet pick the pieces up off your tray to eat, and when you need a drink, you find a way to hold your cup in your wrists so you don't have to let go of any of your food. And you refuse to let anyone empty your hands. I dropped you off at school one time with a bite of toast in your hand that was at least an hour old...you had a death grip on that thing!!
These pictures are from earlier this week. You are holding an art project (a flower) that you made at school, some food, and a pacifier, all while taking a drink.

You are also becoming more and more interested in your babies. You love to feed them, try to give them your paci, cover them up and put them "night night" bathe them and cutest of all, you love to pick them up and pat them on the back to love on them.

Your new favorite word is SHOE. You love to say it and you will go around the house, picking up peoples shoes and bringing them to their rightful owner, then pretty much demand they be put on:)
You also now say NIGHT NIGHT, HI and ME.
You are beautiful, funny, entertaining, loving and sweet and I love you to peices!

I Was Right!

I predicted this past visit to Oklahoma would be the best yet and I was right! To say we had a great time is an understatement. Jade truely bonded with her extended family and it was a true joy to sit back and witness it all! It started when she saw G-ma, her eyes lit up and a big smile followed...from that moment on, she was G-ma's girl (even when mommy was near). This was the first time she really remembered everyone from the previous visits, no "warm-up" time necessary and that made me so happy and proud! She also really took to Sydney, following her around and wanting to hold her hand, it was too cute:)
We squeezed a lot into four days and of course, took plenty of pictures. One of my favorite things about our visits is that Jade always comes away saying new words and learning so much. G-ma and PaPaw have a fish pond in their backyard (which became a quick favorite for Jade) she can now say fish, make a fish face, and rub her fingers together to get the attention of the fish! She learned how to smell flowers, say Ben (kind of just sounds like "B" but we all took it to mean Ben) and from her big girl cousin Sydney, she now knows how to use her "high-pitch" voice to get our attention. In other words...she can SCREAM!! it's loud, but i have to admit that it's also kind of cute...for now! But my favorite of her new words is LOVE! G-ma taught her how to pat her heart and say love. We are working on the full I LOVE YOU, but she definitely has the most important part down! And of course, she got all kinds of gifts in her "treasure chest" Each grandchild has their own treasure chest at G-ma and PaPaws house, and the "fairy lady" always leaves a little something in it for each visit. This time she got her own little laptop to help her learn shapes, numbers and animal sounds, a little pink car, a touch and feel kitty cat book (we LOVE the touch and feel books right now) and her very own "baby stella". Sydney has had a baby stella doll for years and now Jade can follow in her footsteps. She's already a big fan, sleeping with her new baby! We were sad to say goodbye (really...Jade did NOT want to let go of G=ma!!) but it helps knowing we'll be visiting again in just seven short works...let the countdown begin!

 Jade and Sydney saying hello to the fishies

 The OKC Thunder lost the the Miami Heat in the NBA finals while we were there, but we love our Thunder anyway.

 Watching Ben's hockey practice (hence the pants and heavy coat in mid-june!)

 Showing Sydney the Buckle Bear

 G-ma and her girls! (and of course, their baby stella's!)

 Jade sharing her toast with PaPaw

 mmmmm...

 PaPaw giving Jade an up-close look at the garden

 Jade waving to her new friend in the garden

 PaPaw teaching Jade how to feed the fish

 G-ma helping Jade to ride the duck (she watched Sydney do this the day before and wanted to give it a try!)

G-ma and Jade waiting for a snowcone!

With Great Anticipation

There are few things I look forward to more than a trip to see my family, or a visit from them to Houston. I've been in Texas for almost ten years, and while I've ALWAYS looked forward to seeing them, it's even more exciting now with Jade. She's just shy of 18 months, so she is constantly growing and changing. I love for everyone to "catch-up" on all the new things she can do and say. It's one thing to skype, send pictures, and talk on the phone but there's nothing like the real thing! And of course, seeing the cousins play together is SUCH a treat. I'm thinking this visit will be the best yet. This will be the first time they've all been together since Jade started walking and I just can't wait to see them entertain each other. We're also having some pictures taken with all three of them together, and G-ma and Papaw, too! (those fun images will be posted as soon as I can get my hands on them!)
G-ma and I talk EVERY day (sometimes twice...especially when we're getting close to a visit) we love to count down the days, hours, minutes and talk about all the fun we're going to have. But, it always comes up, one of us will say..."okay, we want time to rush by, until we get there, then let's just slow things down." of course, no matter how hard we wish for time to slow down it always ends up flying by. (you know what they say about time and fun). Though the visits go by to quickly we make the most of every moment and are always left with the best of memories. Here are the few of the pics I've sent to Gma with messages like, "can't wait to see you guys!" and "only 5 more days!" As you can see by her smile, Jade is just as excited as her mommy...