18 Month Update & Doctor Appointment

WHERE has the time gone?! I can't believe we have a a year and a half old on our hands!  We have really been having the time of our lives with her, I don't think it's possible but she just keeps on getting cuter and we keep enjoying ourselves more and more!

Favorite Foods: Mila has recently became OBSESSED with yogurt; maybe it's because of it's taste or maybe it's because she can reach it in the fridge but she wants to eat it all the time. Other than that she is still good about eating mostly everything. Some things that are new to her diet are avocado (previously hated; now loved as guacamole), hummus, crackers and lentils.

Signature Moves:  Mila loves getting into anything and everything but always in a cute, sweet way (if that makes sense).  She's constantly trying to "sneak" over to play in Roscoe's food bowl even when she knows that it's wrong. The good news is that she almost always listens when you tell her no.  She also has been obsessed with trucks and airplanes lately and constantly points at them.

She likes playing and hiding in the closet and Kira is her sidekick and absolute best friend.

Mila now gives hugs by laying her head on your shoulder and if you ask for a kiss she will lean in to receive it but will rarely smooch you back (although I have found if you ask for a kiss with her mouth she will try to french you!).  Whenever she sees a picture of a dog in a book she lays her head down to hug it; it's adorable.  Here is a video that is SURE to make your heart melt.

She's started having some temper tantrums, thankfully only at home, and Robert and I do our best to ignore them and then they are over almost immediately after they start.

Current Words:  wassat (what's that), no no no no (usually said trying to be funny, like when I ask for a hug), woof woof, mememe (mommy), duck, eat (after month's of her not saying it, it's back!), maaow (meow...which I my favorite word right now; see the video below).

She has learned how old she is, as well as her nose, mouth, toes, ears and belly.  She will now walk up to Robert and I and lift our shirts up and point to OUR bellies too...let's hope that doesn't start happening at the grocery store.  She's also started nodding "yes" (which is always in slow motion) and this past weekend with Grandpa and Grandma she also learned to shake her finger at Roscoe while saying "no," put her arms around herself when you say it's cold, and to bring her finger to her mouth and say "shhh."  She's a genius!

Favorite Activities:  She still loves dancing and reading and has a couple favorite books that she wants to read over and over again. One is Blue Hat, Green Hat, which is pretty cute; every time the turkey has the article of clothing on wrong and it says "Ooops!" she giggles.

We bought her some sidewalk chalk recently and she likes to be outside, running around in the yard, playing on her slide and drawing lines on the pavement.

We went to the beach this month and I was surprised by how much Mila enjoyed it...I guess I expected her to hate the sand as much as me!  Between Mila trying to eat sand covered strawberries, drop a shovelful of sand into the beach bag and/or eat shells, it definitely wasn't the relaxing time that it used to be but when you're this adorable, how can anyone be irritated with you?!

I took off work one Thursday and Robert and I took Mila to lunch (AHEM. to watch the KU game) and then to Pretend City.  We went here when Mila was just crawling around and it was much more fun for all of us this time.  I found myself realizing what a control freak I am because I had to stop myself from saying "Mila, come over here; Mila, look at this; etc.," and just let her run around and do what SHE wanted to do (it's much harder to do that then I would think!).

18 Month Doctor Appointment

Mila's last "baby" doctor appointment was this week and she is doing great!  She weighed 24 pounds, 11 ounces and was 30.5 inches long (which I feel like is wrong because that means she only grew .5 inches in 3 months...but maybe we've got a late bloomer on our hands!).  Today she had her last shot until Kindergarten and now goes to only one check up appointment every year.  Her doctor thinks she's right on track with her growth and development and even said (without my questioning) that her stomach was "all guts" which was a poor translation to tell me she's not obese! Hooray!  She claims Mila will stop eating as much soon, too; I'll believe it when I see it ;)

To view all of this month's photos, click here.

17 Month Update

In addition to going on a field trip getting her first haircut this month, Mila has been keeping us busy. Just in the last week or so she has been an absolute nut. She's always been fun for us but lately you can tell that she is just having a ball.  She has started running now and is constantly giggling (and sometimes even doing a fake cough; where that came from, I have no clue).  She is so proud of herself FOR EVERYTHING and will pretty much clap for herself any time she does anything.

She has started saying something that sounds like "what's that" and points up in the sky when she hears or sees an airplane.  She loves to read and has started somewhat playing by herself for small periods of time. It's still amazing the amount she understands; sometimes I just have a full on conversation with her and I can't believe what she picks up on.  Now, after undressing her for her bath, you can tell her to go put her clothes in the dirty clothes and she will run right over and do that.

Bryan, Shawna and Johnny came down for Superbowl weekend and, as usual, it was fun to see our babies together.

Valentine's Day came and went and Mila gave us her first piece of artwork and she and I created some Valentine's Day cards for our friends and family. It's much harder to do a hand print in paint than you might think; halfway through I gave up and just started tracing her hand!

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so we've been outside a ton, just enjoying it.  We took Mila to the Orange County Zoo last weekend and she loved all of the animals.

One of her all-time favorite things right now is to go on a bike ride in her seat on Robert's bike. I think she could do it for hours and not get bored.

Mila has started "hiding" behind the curtain in the dining room; she thinks we can't see her (and of course we pretend we can't) and she just giggles away.

Her favorite place in the house is Roscoe's bed. She usually runs in there fresh from a bath and all of his hair (who knows what else) sticks to her wet skin.  It's not uncommon to find her books, sippy cups and blocks in his bed. Poor guy doesn't have any spot to call his own anymore!

She has, however, started giving him hugs, which is absolutely adorable.  Here they are watching TV before she went to bed one night and she leaned over and hugged him <3

She's totally getting into the Rock Chalk chant now and even knows how to wave the wheat. I told Robert that as soon as she starts talking I am going to teach her to answer the phone, "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!"

Prepare for a heart melting; I sneakily shot this video of Robert and Mila in the kitchen one afternoon.

To view all the videos and pictures from this month, click here.

Mila's Field Trip to the Farm

Yesterday Mila's weekly tot class went on a field trip to a local elementary school to visit farm animals.

Kerry said that as soon as they got there Mila went off pretty much on her own and LOVED the bunnies.  She's so cute.

It was so cute to see all of the pictures but both Robert and I commented that we wished WE would've been there with her. We're are so glad and lucky that she gets to go do all these fun things but we're sad we couldn't be there too!

Mila's 1st Haircut

Bye bye baby mullet.  Today I took Mila to get her first haircut.  It was actually pretty easy and I think I spent more time deciding if I should do it than the actual time it took to get it done.  We went to a local place called Cool Cuts 4 Kids where they cater to little kids.  They had cars as chairs and a TV with movies playing (Mila requested Thomas the Train) at each station.

Mila was great, didn't cry once, sat pretty still except when she wanted to see what was going on behind her.  The stylist was great, very fast and extremely patient.  We went with a girly bob and hopefully the mullet will stay at bay!

P.S.
Contrary to what I said yesterday, Mila now likes blueberries :)

16 Month Update

Usually I am in awe of how fast the months are flying by, currently I am not; this little girl is keeping us busy!

Robert started his new work schedule this week so he is now working Mon/Tues/Wed nights (5:30p-6am). It makes for a long start of the week for us both but we are SO happy to finally have the weekends off together.  Right before Robert's shift change, though, Mila got sick with her first real cold and, boy was it rough!

She started with a runny nose and a fever at 103.8 that had us rushing to the doctor.  Dr. Brouwer tested for both RSV and the flu and both tests came back negative; she did say, though, there might be the beginnings of an ear infection in her left ear so she was recommending a prescription for that.  Parenting compromise at it's finest occurred right there in the doctor's office with me being anti-antibiotics and Robert wondering when I had turned into such a hippie.  We ultimately decided 'yes' to the ear infection antibiotic and to go with a probiotic (to help promote a healthy immune system) and a humidifier to get rid of the rest of the symptoms. 

However, I am still not convinced it wasn't just teething side effects. As soon as I put Mila's amber teething necklace back on her the running nose and drooling stopped immediately.   I noticed today that Mila has cut her upper left molar (for those of you keeping track at home, that's the same side the "ear infection" was in).  In the end, whatever it was only lasted 5 days and then she was back to our happy little girl, which we were SO happy to see.

Favorite Foods: I was considering making a list of Mila's favorite foods but, let's be real, this girl has not met a food she doesn't like (except blueberries).  From the moment she wakes up in the morning (literally), she starts signing "more" and doesn't stop until she goes to bed at night (and is usually signing as I am laying her down to sleep).  She is almost insatiable and I have googled approximately 32535645 times that it's nearly impossible to overfeed a baby/toddler so I just keep giving her all the fruits/veggies/healthy snacks I can find.  It's not uncommon come Friday afternoon she has already eaten all of the food I had bought for the week and there's nothing left in the house (I'm not even kidding!).

Mila's dreamland: Costco. of course she's signing "more"!

Signature Moves:  Walking around on her tippy toes but not having enough balance and then falling over, onto the floor.  Helping "feed Roscoe" by taking handfuls of food from his bin, walking over to his bowl, and throwing it in. 

Dancing at ALL times.

Sticking her tongue out, trying to lick things (including one quick lick of dad's toe!). "Hiding" in plain sight (behind the table, in the fridge, in the corner of her room).

"Waving the Wheat;" we're working on this one during every KU game.  She's got another month or so to make it her signature move ;) 

Favorite Words:  Woof Woof.  She's still not speaking many words but it does sound like she's starting to say "What's that" and pointing at everything.  Just recently I told her she has to say "Up" if she wants up, so now she says "Uhhhh" when she raises her arms. 

Favorite Activities: Running around the house like a mad woman.  Playing in her new tent, reading her books.  Going to a pre-preschool tot class with some of the other kids in our mom's group (according to Kerry the food station is her favorite; you can't make this stuff up).

look closely and you can see a pigtail!

picnic with mommy

on the carousel at knott's berry farm with daddy

just a couple of buds loungin' around

For all the pictures from this month, click here.

Mila's 15 Month Appointment

We went to the doctor this past Monday for Mila's 15 month check up.  All was well and we were in and out in less than an hour (including wait time!), which is quick for this office!

Mila weighed in at 23lbs, 10in (80th percentile!) and was 30 inches long. The doctor was happy with her growth and said that they will stop measuring her head circumference soon because her brain now is 3/4 of the size of it will be as an adult.

We spent most of the time talking about safety and how most of the accidents that occur now are a result of babies being little monkeys and climbing all over everything.

She had to have three shots this visit and will have one more at 18months and then none until she is 5 years old and ready to start Kindergarten!

Christmas 2013

I've heard people say it but I've never believed it until it actually happened to me:  Christmas is WAY more fun when you have a kid!

This year Nana and Papa were out here to celebrate Christmas with us but we missed my sister and brother, Bret.

I had been eying a felt tree on Pinterest but didn't feel crafty enough to make it. Fortunately, without even knowing this, my sister made one for Mila and sent it out with my parents! Mila LOVED it.  She spent so much time taking all the decorations off and putting them back on.

I was off work on Christmas Eve so we decided to (finally) take Mila to see Santa Claus; unfortunately the line was at least 50 people deep so we skipped out on that and went and had lunch by the beach!

Last year Mila was way too little to even understand what was going on; this year she *kind of * got it and loved all the wrapping paper, handing out presents and seeing what everyone else was doing.

Then on Christmas Day we all drove up to Palmdale to celebrate with Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma Bunker, Pops, and Uncle Daniel.  It was so great to have (almost) the whole family together just enjoy each other.

Mila received so many nice gifts and was the star of the day.  It seemed like Christmas lasted an entire month with all that she was spoiled, and by so many people. Life just keeps getting better :)

To see all the photos from Christmas, click here.