18 Months

She's not a baby anymore. We've got a full fledged toddler on our hands. Complete with temper tantrums, talking, and running away from me at the store.

 Awesome.

I have yet to take her to her 18 month appointment yet, so I'm not sure on her stats. But I'm sure they won't be good and I'll get in trouble for her weight. She's so tiny. I know she's only barely over 20 lbs, because we weighed her weekly on our scale until we knew we could switch her to the forward facing carseat. We did a dance when it finally hit 20. What do you do? Unfortunately, she is still drinking a lot of her calories by taking bottles. At least we're down to whole milk only, not plus formula, we finally were able to break that money draining need. I'm dreading weaning off the bottle, even though I know she should be old enough to just do the cup, the daycare gets kind of annoyed, she's the only one on a bottle still. But that's the only way she'll take milk, and the only way I know she's getting some calories. Ugh. She's getting better at eating, but not great.

Currently she eats lots and lots of goldfish crackers, string cheese, red bell peppers, greek yogurt, popcorn, cooked carrots, potatoes, any kind of pasta, small bites of chicken, and big bites of beef. She likes her red meat.

And chocolate chip cookies.

Along the lines of weaning... she still uses the bink to sleep. The orthodontic assistant in me cringes every night, but I haven't had the nerve to get rid of that either. It's like the immediately-fall-asleep push button.

She started nursery last week and was a champ. Didn't even look back, just like when she started her new daycare last month. She does so well. She loves being in new places, being with the big kids, and doing the activities. She's really started getting into drawing and has been found with a pen in hand drawing me a pretty picture on important papers. She loves books.... loves!!! She brings me a Boo-boo (book) about every two minutes to read, then turns around and backs her bum right into my lap.

She loves her doggies, says hello to them every morning. Lately, she's been enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba (cringe) while I get ready in the morning. Along with the standbys of Phineas and Ferb, Sesame Street, and My Little Pony on Netflix. The other day we were listening to music and Aristocats played which made  me immediately have the desire to watch it with her. Quick rental online at Amazon and stream to the XBOX (I love modern technology) and we had ourselves a movie afternoon. She sat through the whole thing, almost, but super close. She really only gets about one 'show' a day, but she won't just watch any old boring thing.

We've both enjoyed the new home and all that goes with it. She helps me put the clothes in the washer, unloads the dishes, helps me cook, and vacuum. Our routines for meals, cleaning, and playing are starting to get figured out and I love it. It feels so... normal. We're planning on getting her the Ikea play kitchen for Christmas. I've been saving links for felt food, to test out my sewing skills, we'll see if it happens. I'd like to try to put together a apron and mitts too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Post shot of a busy day playing

Her speech skills are coming along, she's got the normal Ma-ma, Da-da, Dogs, Kitty, Turtle, Fish is more like -ish, Car, Cracker, Nose, Socks, and Shoes. I'm sure there's more, but that's good enough to prove she's smart. She knows most of her body parts, loves the belly button, as most kids do.

Basically she's just super amazing and the cutest dang kid you ever would have the privilege of meeting. You are welcome.

'Hi!'

My Ups & Downs

Let's get real here for a moment...  Life sucks. Sorry, Life. For the most part I love every little bit of you; the experiences, the flavors, the relationships. But you can just be draining!

Only a few years ago we were struggling to conceive a child, and that always seemed to have me down. The last five years have jailed Avery into schooling ie us being broke as a joke. The last three years we have had to depend on the generosity of friends and family for something as necessary as housing. The last year has been a lot of major changes for my extended family, which has been mostly downs... minor hiccups of lifts. The last five months of unknowns and transitions were at first killing me slowly with stress: no job, no hints of a job, no home, no money, no vehicle. Then suddenly... hope.

Not the Obama campaign slogan kind. The Godly, "I never forgot you," kind. The kind that drops you to your knees in gratitude. Thank you for not letting us starve. Thank you for not letting us go homeless. Thank you for the many blessings and gifts we've been given to survive this ordeal. I'm sorry when I was angry or frustrated and may or may not have some certain cuss words.

Avery had a job interview... in August. It looked really positive. A good job, a good opportunity, a good change. The unfortunate side, it was at Hill Air Force Base. The move was not the problem, that's the change. The problem would be, he would be employed by the government. Politics aside, I don't care, his job directly affects the Air Force; the military, the soldiers, and that's a good thing. What I do care about is that like anything with the government, the process takes an unnaturally long time. He interviewed in August, we had tentative contact from his future supervisor regarding gathering necessary paperwork for a couple weeks. Then nothing for four weeks. By the end, we thought the job was gone, another disappointment, and no more hope.

I think having hope, then losing it... can be far worse than never having it in the first place.

Then a preliminary offer. Not at all what Avery was expecting, but we honestly had no choice. The job market was not our friend. He accepted. We started looking for a rental home. More downs. Another story for another day. Finally, found a semi-decent one, that would require a lot of work to even be livable. Then the coordination of moving all of our belongings from Utah County, hiding in a 5x10 storage shed and our best friend's basement, to Ogden. Within a week.

Yeah, no. Sucks. And tiring.

But... new home! Uppity, up, up!

Bills. Rent. Groceries. Toilet paper. Cleaning supplies. No income. Depressingly down again.

Avery started training this past Tuesday. Very exciting, and uplifting. He's bored because it's mostly sexual harassment and security training. But... job! YAY!

Then we needed a second car to get us to our separate places of employment. More searching. Maybe a yes. Stress about the auto loan. Hand the check over. Drive it home.

Up?

Try to register it the next day. Doesn't pass Safety.

Down.

Yeah, Life, no you suck. You are just not my friend lately. You just can't let us win one, can you? Everything has to feel like this nail gouging hill climb of a battle to achieve the smallest victories. For every upward movement we feel, there's this sudden rock slide of disappointment to knock us back down.

But guess what?

From the bottom, the only direction is up.

My Evening Being Puked On

Toddler puke smells... badly.

Baby vomit, is light and almost sweet smelling. I had lot's of experience with infant puke. Audrey had acid reflux the first 10 months of her life... no exaggeration. Only recently had that little joy righted itself. Even our last bout of stomach flu was during the more infant phase.

Then last night happened.
At least four times.
And I almost joined her... it was that nasty.

Toddler puke is chunky, and thick, and smells way worse than anything I EVER remember coming out of me. I have a huge, adult, probably-got-a-ton-of-stuff-floating-around-in-there tummy. But she wins... *gag*.

And we're not still not sure what triggered it. She's been having some mucus, drainage issues for a bit now. We figure just allergies, since she's not running a fever. She also happens to be growing some molars, my little tooth gardener. We'll hear her cough throughout the night, and occasionally start gagging on some slime, as we run in like frantic first-time-parents, that we are, to tip her upside down. She always hates that, being half asleep and flipped upside down with suddenly bright lights... I can't imagine why.

Then last night *cough*cough*stomach contents.

Sick.

Ave bathed her while I mopped up the mattress. *gag* Brushed her teeth, because I'm a freak like that, and laid her back down. 30 minutes later... AGAIN!!!

This time, we tried keeping her up for a while to try settling her stomach, she drank some water, watched some Avatar: Last Airbender. Luckily, we had a popcorn bowl from earlier close by, because she wasn't done. A soaked couch, cleavage full, and two hours later her stomach was completely empty.

Poor baby.
Today she's fine, just acting starving and completely ornery, and tired, very tired.
And she stole my sandwich.
She would only, finally, take a nap when her giraffe lovie finished drying.

I joked with Ave... let's have another!