Happy Halloween!!!

So originally we bought a ladybug costume for S. It was cute, but a little too dreary for such a cute little girl. So later on I found an adorable fairy costume (on clearance even) and it was too cute to pass up. But, what I didn't know was that the costume was sewn with really scratchy thread so she cried every time I put it on her. She was the saddest fairy of them all. I finally caught on that she would wear the costume as along as something was under it so it didn't scratch her.A nice surprise on Halloween was that we got a visist from Cousin D (and my brother and sis-in-law). He was a dinosaur and we took the kids trick or treating on our street. They didn't get the concept that they weren't supposed to enter other people's houses and every house we went to, we had to rescue one or the other out of someone's living room. They caught on to the idea really quick and as soon as we left one house, they would toddle off to the next one. They were so cute to watch.

Sarah even rushed up to a trick or treater's dog and tried to pet it. Seriously, the kid is not afraid of anything! I'm so proud. :)

15 months and eating with a spoon!

So Tuesday was shot day, and for those of you with kiddos, you know that this makes for a fairly miserable day. But we do have new stats and updates on Little Miss S!

She is now 24 lbs 14 oz
She is 30 inches tall.
She little noggin is still 18 inches in circumference. (It hasn't changed since March!)

I'm not sure how noticeable it is in the pictures we post, but it has been a concern of ours that her eyes are a little crossed. Not too much mind you, but enough to make her pediatrician want to send her to the eye doctor. It seems she has a condition called strabismus, which may require patches, glasses, or surgery.

Also, for those of you who remember - we had a scare back in the spring that her head was growing TOO fast, but now we have the opposite problem. Now it is not growing at ALL!! We have another appointment in 3 weeks to get her head remeasured, but it looks like we will be back to a few doctors in the near future. Bummer, since I was enjoying the doctor free (and co-pay free)time we've had lately.

And last, but certainly not least, here is some video of S eating with a spoon for the first time. And yes, we strip her down to eat dinner (don't mind the fat rolls...we still think they are cute!). Much easier than trying to get food stains out of her clothes all the time. She goes right into the bath after anyway!

How do I love thee, let me count the ways...

Last night S had a stomach ache from her new switch over to milk. She couldn't get comfortable and woke up many times throughout the night. I went in and held her for almost a half hour. While we were snuggling, it occured to me, as it always does in the dark as I feel her little warm body snuggling close, how much I love her.

I love the way that she likes to snuggle right before she goes to bed, usually with her face pressed to mine.

I love how her hair gets damp when she plays too hard and curls up into these little ringlets, especially at the base of her neck.

I love how she wanders around our living room with half of an english muffin, snacking and playing at the same time. I don't even mind the crumbs...

I love that how she pretends to touch the buttons on the tv, then shakes her head no because she knows she's not supposed to touch them.

I love the look of pride and accomplishment on her face when she learns something new.

I love to hear her laugh.

I love that she remembers where she hides all of her toys. (Hidden in pairs around the house, in pots, cabinets, and under tables).

I love her kisses.

I love that even though she is already fairly chubby, she makes the sign "eat,eat" over and over in the hopes that someone will feed her more.

I love watching her dance.

I love the way she climbs into my lap to read a book.

I love that she knows that she can trust 100% that we will come to her rescue when she needs it.

I love that even though she can walk independently, that sometimes she still takes my hand. Maybe we both still need that sometimes.

I love how she claps after she knows she did something right.

I love watching her play.

I love that when she's sitting in her high chair -she knows she's not supposed to throw food on the floor so she hides it under her instead. I pick her up and find mushed up food stuck to her.

I love how she has started to tell us what she wants.

I love how if you ask her if she wants to go "nite, nite" that she will walk herself into her room, gather her toys, and wait patiently for you to put her in the crib.

I love how protective I am of her.

I love how she gets jealous of me when I snuggle with M.

I love how she tries to give the cat kisses, and misses her face and usually plants them on the cat's back. What a patient kitty!

I love how she runs to the door every night when M gets home from work squealing with delight.

I love how she runs into the bathroom when she hears her bathtub being filled and tries to take off her clothes to jump into the bath.

I love how she hates brushing her teeth unless Daddy brushes his too.

I love how she runs to the door when you tell her it's time to go bye-bye.

I even love how she runs her fingers through her hair when they are covered with food.

I am blessed. We are blessed. And so in love.

Li-BERRY as M would say

Today we went to the library. I needed new books to take my mind off of educational theory and curriculum buzz words. So we went. S loves the chair in the corner by the kids section. She loves walking around the library touching all the books. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES books. She finally is starting to sit in my lap and listen to a story. Before she just liked to turn the pages, but now she is realizing that there is a story trapped within those pages. Amazing. I love watching her grow!

She loves climbing up and down on the ball glove chair. Here are some pics and some video! Enjoy!

Laughing Girl

Labor Day - Over the river and through the woods....

We had a leisurely Labor Day. Slept in, got some work done around the house, went to S's favorite place in the world (TARGET) and then headed out to my Mom's house for dinner. Walt cooked a great stew and we even managed to make it home at a reasonable hour to put S to bed. What a nice day!

Playdate with Baby D -Thanks to Tropical Storm

So today we got to spend a few hours hanging out with our nephew, Baby D. The kids had a great time together. Here are some pics and a video. Too cute!

New Nanny and Friend...

As many of you know, I am headed back to school to work on my doctorate. I wasn't ready to put S in full-time daycare, so we came up with the plan to find a part-time Nanny. I posted an ad on craigslist and got your assorted 20 year olds with no experience or the lady who wanted to charge 20 bucks an hour...and then I got a message that sounded perfect! And wouldn't you know - it has been!

C is a stay at home mom with 2 girls. One is in school already and one is a few weeks older than S. S went over to her house today for the first time and had a blast. She was so tired tonight which means she played super hard today.

Oh, and C and I are becoming fast friends as well. It's so refreshing to have someone you like take care of you kid. How lucky are we?

The spoils of summer....

Today's Photo Shoot

Today S was wearing the cutest overalls,

and so I grabbed the camera and took these shots! Look at this face!
She now has 6 teeth with 4 new ones coming in!
We got her a new toy shelf and now she can choose her own toys to play with. She loves it!
What a cute face! She loves books.
Reading her book!
She thinks everything is a phone. Here she is trying to talk on the remote control. My favorite is when she tries to use her stuffed animals as phones!

More Walking

Daddy is at work right now, and S just let go of her toy car and started walking across the room on her own. I boo hoo'ed for a minute, then grabbed the camera to document for Daddy! Here you go!

Any day now!

S has been taking some steps for a while now, but something has changed in the last few days. She has started letting go and walking on her own. We took this video tonight. Sorry it is so dark and excuse the saggy diaper...BUT CHECK OUT HER WALKING!!!! Wow!

Rubber Ducky, You're the One

So my friend Michele had one of these for her daughter when she was much younger than S is now, but I found it at Target and couldn't resist. She loves it, we use much less water (yeah for the environment!) and S actually NEEDS a bath every day now. (Toddler eating is so messy and S has a thing about putting her food in her hair. YUCK!)

Happy Birthday Mommy!

So I turned 31 today and was treated to a wonderful breakfast at DeLeon Springs. They have an old sugar mill where they let you cook your own breakfast on the grill in the middle of the table. After that we went for a dip in the COLD spring fed pool. S liked it for the first 2 minutes and then screamed to get out. Too cold. Poor girl was so excited when she saw the water too.
Here are so adorable pics of S that I took....I'm rather proud of how cute she looks in these...

First trip to an art museum!

So when we went back to San Francisco to meet up with Liz and Fabien, we went to S's first art museum. It was a Chihuly Exibit at the de Young! S was so fascinated by the colors, and the rest of us enjoyed it too.

We went to this little park near the museum and let S swing for a while. She loves swings, and this park had so many Gaudi influences. There was a little bench like Parc de Guel and this cliff/cave thing that reminded me of the area under the park benches. Too cool.

We went back to Liz and Fabien's apartment after the park and had a quick glass of wine and cheese and crackers. It was wonderful to visit with Liz and Fabien and they were such gracious hosts- especially since they were leaving in 36 hours for a 2 month trip to France. Fabien even introduced S to Schnappi, the song that I love, and hate now...:)

From the Redwood Forests...

We pulled off a windy road in Northern California and found this grove of huge redwoods. Look how small the baby looks compared to the huge trees. The bottom pictures is three pictures stitched together. It was absolutly beautiful!

Picnic in Northern California

On the way back down to San Francisco, we stopped and had this amazing picnic at a campground. We hiked down to the water and put the baby's feet in. (It was COLD!)