16 Months - So Many Words!

Ugh, you guys, this post is way late.  Lemon will be 17 months (what?!) on December 2nd and I just feel like I have absolutely no time.  Having a full time job, an almost one and a half year old, a new ring business (visit our new Etsy shop!), papers to grade, laundry to do, social media to keep up with, students to tutor, clubs to sponsor, floors to sweep . . . it's all just so much.

Any other moms out there feel just stretched way too thin at the moment?  Like, when am I supposed to find time to even Christmas shop?!  And, I am tired all the time.  Lemon has FIVE (yes, FIVE) new teeth coming in at once and so no one has slept in months.  I am completely over it and sometimes feel like I'm about to throw a serious fit.  But, what good would that do?  So, I'm barely holding it together and complaining here instead.

I am very lucky and being a mom is awesome, more awesome this past month because our girl is actually talking and understanding.  But, man is this tough (as I sit here yawning while my students are playing grammar games on the computer on this short day full of meetings).  Will I ever sleep again?  I hope so, I miss it terribly.

So 16 months flew by and here I am, at 16.5 months writing about a month I hardly remember (and am too sleep-deprived to even try).  Thank goodness a lot of this past month went in this post, this one and this one so I don't have much to write about here.  But, I do have some days I wanted to remember:

10.8.13          You sang and did hand motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" unprompted to get us to sing it to you.

You fell down backwards, in bed, to lay your head on a pillow like you had just had enough.  Super funny!

10.9.13          Points to everything in her books and wants us to name it.  Your favorite things to point to are things with eyes - all of the bugs and animals.  You say something that sounds like "what's this" but it isn't because how would you know how to say that?

Pointed to a ladybug today in her book and when I named it you pointed to the ladybug rocker in your room and said "Hiiiiiii" and waved at it.  You made the connection that the ladybug in your book is the same thing that's in your room.

Says bye and waves at the end of every book and when I put you down for her nap yesterday and left the room you said bye to me too.  You are learning what words actually mean instead of just repeating them.

10.14.13          Sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" today in the car after I sang it, you would repeat it.

You started making a crazy excited face and it is my favorite.  You open your eyes really wide, open your mouth wide or kind of clamp your jaw and breathe in and out really fast with your mouth open.  So cute!

 Got it a bit, right in the beginning!

We had an awesome mom/daughter day when you were sick and I stayed home.  I wished, today, that I was a stay-at-home mom.

{Remember our A + I = Lemon?  This was the first time I snapped a pic of her with it!}

10.15.13          You have a new cry, it sounds like a fire engine - "oooowwaaaaahhhhhh."  It is the worst!

You said "bye" to daddy, unprompted, on your own when he left.  

10.18.13          Grandpa was trying to pinch your feet today, on the ottoman outside, and you looked up at him and shook your finger at him, that one little finger, like "No, no, no!"  It was so funny!

10.21.13          When you look up at me and whisper "hi" it melts my heart.

You waved at Linus this morning and then laughed at yourself for saying hi and waving to him.

You were going to pick up and play with your plate at dinner but when we looked up at you, you put it down and said, "no."

Said "Hi Nemo" to Spike, the clownfish, and blabbed to him for 20 minutes today.  You talked more than I've ever heard you talk before.

You had great hair today (so superficial but oh so important), wavy on top and curly in back with tight, ringlet curls.  It is getting so long it's almost in your eyes!

Wiggled your finger, that one little finger, at music unprompted.

10.28.13          You sang a tune today, your own, without us singing to you first.

You said "zebra" and loved looking at your animal flash cards.

And, right when we wondered why you weren't dancing more (about a week ago) you really started dancing!  Rocking back and forth, side to side, bending your knees and moving your butt up and down and then stomping with your feet, like a maniac!  It is the absolute cutest.

When we have the long lighter and light the candles outside for dinner we whisper, "Fiiireeeeee."  You started grabbing the lighter (it's childproof) and holding up to your face and saying, "haaaaa" in the same whisper, mimicking us.

10.31.13         You love music, dance all the time, wiggle your butt, stomp your feet and raise your arms up and down.  Your daddy has a playlist on the computer just for you and your favorite song is "We Built This City on Rock n Roll."

Said "blah, blah, blah" while trick or treating tonight (in a vampire voice) and it only took you a couple of tries to get it down after we said it.  Loved the people coming up to our house and handing out candy.

You danced during the piano song on The Corpse Bride, even while dead tired, laying and drinking your bottle.  You sat straight up and started dancing because you liked it.  I think dancing is born into babies, they don't learn it, it's already there.  I love it when you like songs so much you kick your legs out if you're sitting down.

11/1/13          You open and shut everything.  You hid my vampire teeth in a cabinet yesterday but I understand that you were just putting them away because you see us do that with things.  You closed a screen door on someone while they were talking to you when you were trick or treating last night.

You like to do the same thing over and over again.  Up the curb (you say "up" and raise your arms up) and down the curb (you say "down").  Up and down over and over.  You also like to walk between the pvc pool net storage thing - it is the perfect width for you to walk in between and you do it over and over again.

You started saying "motorboat" at swimming and said "water" after when I handed you your water (instead of just signing it).

You got up on the couch on the patio today, all by yourself.

11/2/13          You repeated about 20 words back to me today while I was making dinner.  I said, "Lemon say cow" and you would say "cow."  It was so cool!

You can put change in your Hello Kitty bank all by yourself, through the little slot!

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It is so tough to find the energy to take Lemon places after he second nap, before bedtime, and when we get home from school (at 4pm).  But some days we muster up some energy and head to the zoo! 

 

Or, on Fridays, out to dinner!  This girl loved chowing on this whole cob of corn, looking at this picture reminds me that I should make her some every night.  So good for teething!

Post nap snuggles on the couch, this was the day she talked more than I had ever hear her talk before.  She is just getting to be so much fun!

 

 

Ashley still brings to Lemon to school to visit with us once a week.  Have I told you before how much I love having Ashley in our lives?  And having a nanny in general?  We are so lucky and Lemon absolutely adores her, she doesn't even cry when I leave every day and just says "bye" and blows me a kiss!

We made it to swimming a couple of times this past month but decided to change our days from Saturdays to Fridays just because there is so much to do on Saturday it seems.  Plus, swimming was at 12:30, right in the middle of our Saturday.  I will keep you posted on how it goes!

Open House at our school, we teach at the same high school, was fun and a family affair!  (Weird angle and weird picture of us, but Lemon looked too cute so I had to post!)

Arizona in the fall means dinners outside!  It is slowly becoming one of my favorite things and I will be sad when it's too cold to do it anymore!

 Faker  :)

Sometimes we yell, all of us, but this one's are the cutest!

Saturday mornings are my favorite.  Lemon wakes up around 6:30 and comes running in to get me.  Then that gives me almost 2 hours with her to lounge around and make her breakfast before I head to yoga.  Then, we try to do something fun every Saturday with family or friends!

The Hullaballoo at Hissyfits (in Phoenix) was fun this year, and we got to see two of our favorite babies (and mamas) Nora and Ingrid!  I can't believe I had never gone before!

An afternoon bike ride to the park with my love (while Ian worked on rings) . . .

. . . and a dinner visit with a cute little girl named Phoenix.

Sleep is not even something I even want to attempt to write about here (I will save it for next month's post) but it went pretty well last month.  We had more rough nights than easy ones but it was cake compared to now.  We started giving Lemon a bottle (and boobs) before bed on the couch, rather than in her room in the recliner - to start letting her know that her room is for sleeping at night and not for eating.  It is better for us because, we hoped, it would be less time allowing her to climb all over us when trying to put her to bed, and time where we could all be together watching something at night instead.  Then, when we finally move to her room, she will just fall asleep faster because she has been relaxing.  Well, no.

Lemon actually falls asleep around the same time (between 8:30-9pm) but still climbs all over us for an hour when we take her in her room.  The "down time" doesn't seem to be helping and we are wondering if bed time is too late.  But, when we have tried to start at 7pm, in the chair in her room, she doesn't fall asleep until 8:30-9 anyway.  We are at a loss and are at our wit's end.  More on this in next month's post!

Tickles and cuddles before bed.

This girl had a couple of sick days this month and I think the second one was more teeth than sick.  She was sick after our Palm Springs trip so I stayed home and then I stayed home another day, a couple of weeks ago, because she had a cold and then another day that week because I was convinced I caught her cold (stupid germy park!).  It was fun spending the day with my girl, none-the-less, and that's why we have them.  These days at home really made me wish I was a stay-at-home-mom. 

My girl is just the prettiest.

Oh Lemon, you are definitely trying at times.  The not sleeping is really the only complaint I have, other than that you are a super good baby.  You don't cry during the day, you don't get frustrated and throw fits (because you use your signs instead) and are really easy-going and carefree.  Being working parents has made you into a really independent little girl who can adapt to her surroundings and entertain herself.  You are perfectly happy wondering around, playing with your toys and reading books.  

Reading is your favorite and when I think of things to buy you, besides cute clothes of course, books are what I wish we had more money for.  We work so hard so that you can have everything you want and I think we've done pretty well.  Being a teacher is definitely the best because I do get so much time at home with you.  I miss you terribly during the day and am sad that I don't get to do all the fun things with you that Ashley does, but know that one day you will appreciate the fact that I worked really hard for you and that I'm setting a good example for you that you can have it all.

Your belly laughs when the dogs chase you, run into you or lick you are my favorite.  Your excited face and fast breathing is the best and your cuddles after naps and while you are nursing are the reason I don't mind all of the lack of sleep.  You are super funny, you mimic everything we do and your words this past month are just extraordinary.  I feel like things are finally clicking in that little brain of yours and it is so awesome to watch.  Putting it into words, what it's like to watch a baby learn and grow, is tough but so amazing.  Indescribable.  The unprompted kisses, the hugs and cuddles and the smile on your face when we walk in every afternoon makes it all worth it.

We love you so much baby girl and can't wait to watch you learn and grow even more.  It is hard to find the time to write these posts but I am so happy that I do, I don't want to miss a moment of you growing up.  Now if only you'd learn to sleep so I am not a zombie who accidentally misses something!  :)