Amaia at 18 months

**Warning a lot of pictures and a lot of (possibly pregnancy induced) sappiness below**

My baby is 18 months old!!!  Clearly, she is not a baby, she is a crazy toddler and I love her! Amaia is just SO happy, such a joy to be around....I could go on and on about how great I think she is.  She is smiley, giggly, silly and wonderful.  Really, I am more over the moon about her than ever and I feel so proud that she is mine!

This is mostly, so I can look back and remember, but this is what my girl is up to at 18 months.

Stats

We still have one tall and big headed baby girl!

Weight: 24 lbs. 8 oz.  (74%)
Height: 33.75 inches (95%)
Head: 19.25 Inches  (97%)

Talking

Her babbling has greatly increased over the past few weeks.  Many times it sounds like she is telling me something in long drawn out sentences, BUT in a completely different language.  I am trying to listen and respond, because seems honestly disappointed when I tell her that I have no idea what she is saying.

Her words are increasing: Da, Mama, rock, cookie, nigh nigh, yeah, no, Ash (Aunt Ashley), amen, shoes, and she says the first syllable of a lot more things: eyes, nose, mouth, dolly, duck, doggie.  I am sure I am forgetting some too.

Although she doesn't have a lot of words right now she understands so much - almost everything I tell her she understands. She loves to point out body parts and say what they are....and often pokes me in the eye in the process :)  She can (if she wants to) obey almost any command we give her as well.

Isn't she just a little beauty?!

Eating

Amaia is becoming a bit more picky about what she eats.  She is quick to give to the hand if she doesn't want something.  But all in all she is a great eater and she likes or at least will eat most fruits and veggies, which is awesome!  She eats lots of fruits and veggies, but I would say her favorite food is cheese and Annie's bunnies, but mostly she goes crazy over cheese!

Sleeping

Amaia is an awesome sleeper.  She sleeps 11 hours at night, still takes two good naps during the day and  is perfectly content to hang out in her crib until I am ready to come get her after she wakes up.  I am kind of ready for her to switch to just one nap, just so we have a longer stretch of time to go out and do things, but mostly I am just so thankful that she is a great sleeper.

Play

Amaia is my crazy little woman.   She is a proficient walker and is almost running.  She loves the simple things in life: balls, stacking blocks and cups, and anything she can make into a push toy or press buttons on.  She loves to walk around outside and explore.  Most afternoons we go on a little walk to go get the mail and she loves it.

I make her hold my hand most of the time and she complies, but doesn't always like it :)

And she loves to check out the rocks.

She also LOVES going to the park and particularly going down the slide and then attempting to walk back up the slide. She loves to go to her grandparents house, after all they have fabulous toys and cookies! She is recently really enjoying the ABC song and loves Elmo videos.  She gets really excited when she sees doggies.

She loves to climb up in her chair and rock.

She loves to tackle pillows and fall down on pillows :)

She is starting to enjoy her puzzles and shape box and she is even getting really good at matching the shapes with the holes they fit through.  Oh, and she loves her dolly and is too sweet for me to handle with her....dolly gets lots of hugs and cuddles.

She loves books too!  Her current favorites are her word books, the Foot book, the Eye book, the Very Hungry Caterpillar, God's Little Lamb and the Baby Bible.

Other cute things she does these days...

Blowing kisses!

She also says "mmm" when she eats something she likes,  she is starting to get shy and snuggle up to me in new situations, which is super sweet.  She scrunches up her nose when she smiles, is full of hugs and kisses and loads of other sweets things that I am forgetting right now.  Basically, she lights up my life!

The Great State Fair: 2012

Our little family of 3 ventured out to the state fair again this year!  Neither Adam or I are big fair people, but we do enjoy the food (of course!) and I thought Amaia might enjoy seeing the animals this year.  Also, I did discover that getting to the fair bright and early, which for us means 9 a.m., will win a great parking spot!

The first thing we did was eat - duh :)  We had cinnamon rolls for the first time and they were sooo good.  Then I wanted to do something Amaia would enjoy so we went to see the baby animals.  I was sure that Amaia would enjoy this, she usually gets excited when we see dogs, birds, etc. but she was unimpressed.  She also got poked by a little chick while her hand was up on the fence and she was even more unimpressed by that, but daddy was there to save the day!

To be perfectly honest, other than that we pretty much just walked around and ate our favorite foods and made a brief stop in the varied industries building in search of free Hawkeye tattoos.  I'm just not sure what other people do at the fair other than eat.  Please do tell :)

My new favorite at the fair....the hot beef sundae....it did not dissapoint.

And of course a few customary pics of my beautiful girl with the state fair signs....

All in the all, the weather was perfect, it was a great morning out and I am again inspiried to eat healthy :)

The Big Reveal

Yesterday was my favorite day of pregnancy - ultrasound day!!!  I love having ultrasounds so much! They make you forget about all of the inconveniences of pregnancy and focus on the fun part and the real part- we get to have another sweet little baby!!!  It made me so much more excited for everything to come and our littlest one is looking great and measuring exactly on my due date, December 14th.

Adam and I wanted to find out in a fun way if we are having a boy or girl, so we basically copied and idea from our friends Matt and Allie :)  We ordered a custom ice cream cake and had a blueberry filling if it was a boy and a raspberry filling if it was a girl.  At the ultrasound I had the tech write down on a card in an envelope what we are having and after our appointment I took that card and showed it to the folks making the cake.

Let me tell you it was HARD to not peek at the results.  This envelope holding the answer sat in my purse ALL day long and keeping surprises are not my strong suit.  To give you an idea, I have been looking up the Olympics results online all week long because I just can't wait to find out.  Also, I tend to read the end of books first, so that I know what is going to happen. I am honestly surprised that I did not peek, but I made it all day long.  

We asked everyone to dress in something that would signify their prediction.  You can't see in this picture, but my dad was wearing a pink bracelet :)  And Amaia and I are not pictured, but we both predicted girl.  That is 6 for boy and 5 for girl.

The cake was really yummy.  Coldstone is the best.

And....the big moment....

(scroll down if you don't want to watch the video)

That's right it's a boy!!  Obviously we are excited!  I was predicting girl, but I have to admit I did have a "boy" vibe after our ultrasound this morning.  If anyone has any boy related advice for me, please do tell, because I feel like I have no idea what to do with a boy!  Ha :)  But I am excited!  I think knowing how much love I have for Amaia and just how happy she makes the both of us, makes the anticipation even more exciting. We do want more children in the future, but this already feels like our family is complete.  Let the shopping begin! 

20 Weeks with Baby #2

Today is actually the last day that I am 20 weeks, so I thought I better get this post up!  We are officially half way now - woot!!  I am not one that particularly enjoys pregnancy (love the outcome, but not as much the process), but I think I have actually had it pretty easy.  I have been feeling very good for the most part ever since we entered the second trimester and mostly I just can't believe that we are over halfway now.  It has gone by SO fast.

How Far Along: 20 Weeks

Maternity Clothes: It has been 90-100 degrees almost every day for what seems like all summer and thusly I have been on a mad hunt for maternity shorts.  However, I have yet to find a pair that I like well enough to purchase and it is August, so I am giving up.  I have one pair or pre-pregnancy shorts that do still fit, so at this point I am just pining away for fall, cooler weather and more clothing options.

Gender: Still a mystery to me!  But we are (Lord willing) finding out next week!

Movement: I have been feeling lots and lots of sweet little baby flutters.  I feel a lot of movement at the end of the day while I am laying on the couch watching the olympics.  If my memory serves me correctly this baby is much more active than Amaia was at this time.

Sleep: Sleeping great!  I do have to get up at least once to go to the bathroom, but I get back to sleep right away.  This also might be because I am TIRED! :)

What I miss:  I don't know of much that I miss other than having more clothing options :)  Maybe this is weird, but I am already missing or anticipating missing one on one time with my Amaia.  I already feel bad for the shocker that she is going to get in December and I "miss" being able to give all of myself to her, BUT I know that she will love having a sibling so much once she gets used to the idea AND it will so good for her.  So....I'm working on not thinking that way.

Cravings:  So far this time around I have been all about cheese & crackers.  Weird! This might be partly due to the fact that Amaia LOVES cheese.  It may even be her favorite food of all right now, so I always have it on hand.  Other than that....I crave specific things, but what I am craving is always changing.

Symptoms:  Tired, tired, tired, hungry, hungry, hungry

Best Moment this week: Starting to feels lots of movement and planning to find out baby's gender!


And just because she is beautiful....