My 18 month old Lucky Charm :)

She’s a year and a half!!! Agh!!! When I stop to think about how fast its gone, I also can’t believe we’ve only been a family of 3 for a year and a half. Often, when I tell people what its like to have a baby in my life, I describe it as closing the last page on my previous life and writing a new volume all together. Sure, I am still the same Anna on the inside but my life has evolved so much with Bridget that its like starting a whole new one. It’s hard to look back even just 18 months (or 28 months if you include pregnancy) to think about that old me. Sheesh!

Back on track…

My Bridgey Bear is the light of my life and takes up more and more space in my heart everyday. It’s hard to imagine that your love for them can grow any more, but it just keeps on keepin’ on. Life is precious!

It used to be so much easier to list new things B would introduce to us each month, but as she becomes a little lady everything is so much more complicated, internal, and scientific. Here’s my best effort at jotting down some new elements in B’s little life:

-loves jumping! When she gets going, she’s like a little bag of popcorn….pop! pop! pop! pop! pop!

-she’s started forming full sentences and phrases, though we rarely are able to decipher her thoughts. However, she’s really fond on speaking with possessives: “This is Abby’s” or “That’s Daddy’s”

-She can officially sing “ABC’s/Twinkle Twinkle”…in tune, in rhythm….its music to my ears!

-loves her some “Quah Quah!”

-knows how to open doors and turn on the faucet

-with the exception of bathtime, I can no longer skip any parts of our bedtime routine (teeth brushing, then book, then song/rocking, then laying down to echo sing)…at least I know she’s flexible if its anyone besides be putting her down. Phew!

-Loves saying people’s names: Ee-ah (Lydia and/or Olivia – the pig on TV), Oh-ah (cousin Noah), Nee-nah (Aunt Christina), Mommy, Daddy, Abby (BFF!), Op (Pop – my dad), Oh-ee (Joey – the neighbor’s dog)

Here’s a few silly pics from our St. Patty’s photoshoot together after I took out her pigtails and started getting her ready for bathtime. She’s such a stinker!

  

And yes, she did topple into the tub right after I took this :). Mom of the Year!!! Hehehehe…at least she’s done it enough now that she catches herself and knows to call for Mommy. Love her!

“Quah, Quah!!!”

That’s right all…we’ve been whole-heartedly in the “duck phase” for about a month now and I love it! I’m so proud to have a little outdoor adventurer who already holds a special place in her heart for animals, plants, and all things nature. Sharing new experiences with her is always a delight, but I take particular enjoyment in those that take place outdoors.

Spring Break brought us many different play dates with our teacher friends. One of the best was when we met some good friends at Kid Country at Coppell’s Andrew Brown Park. This place is awesome! Reminds me so much of Victoria Park in Grapevine where my Mom would take us on a rare occasion and we all loved it…plus its next to a big, beautiful duck pond! Also, its a lot safer than any of the other playgrounds we’ve visited because there’s way less opportunities for Bridget to fall (which she did on Monday at our neighborhood park – got bumped by another kid and fell in the exact right spot that allowed her to slip under the railings – and I swooped in with a one hand grab! One hand!). She’s bound to fall off stuff and get hurt in her life, but man is it nice to have a huge place for her to explore and I don’t even have to follow her every move! Judging by this picture, she wasn’t interested in me keeping up with her anyway:

I took the big leap and stayed at the picnic table for a few minutes while I let her go on her own. She may seem young (it was hard for me to do!), but I wanted to try to see what she did. Well, she decided to stay off the equipment (yay! She DOES want me to be there when she plays!) in favor of playing with his cute older girl who was “cooking” inside the tires with the wood chips. One of Bridget’s favorite “toys”! I watched these two for about 15 minutes just playing and talking to each other…B’s not a baby anymore (tear!) but I do love to watch her grown into a young lady:

Our sweet picnic with the babies:

Did I mention how much she loves wood chips?? Look at the enthusiasm on her face!!!:

Before we left for naptime, we joined our friends on a walk to the duck pond across the park from the play area. Becky and her girls, Maggie and Riley, had extra bread that they generously shared and B went crazy. She loves playing with these girls!

Riley loves ducks, too!!! And those birds loved them some old bread…

“Quah, Quah!!!”

I took Jonathan and B back to this same park on St. Patrick’s Day to see the ducks again. Tons of cute pictures and a sweet video of her talking about her latest favorite animal (in addition to monkeys, dogs, birds, cats, and mice!). Stay tuned!!

Precocious Princesses

Over Spring Break, Julie and I took the girls to the Arboretum to visit the Princess Castles theme. It was a little chilly upon arrival, but once we got out and about the day became just beautiful! Such a gift to us busy mommies!

Our first stop was Ariel’s castle:

  

As soon as we got the girls out of their bundled strollers and put them down, the first thing Abby did was sit in a muddy spot! Such little stinkers!

 

Aren’t they adorable in the mermaid princess throne? (no comment on how incredibly difficult it is to take a good pic of two adventurous toddlers!)

            

I love how the Arboretum puts up these great story boards for their exhibits. This one was for Jack and the Beanstalk:     

Each Monday, the Arboretum hosts Mommy & Me Mondays, featuring fun activities for the toddler set including free story time and Kindermusik! We caught the story time session, but I’ve got plenty of Kindermusik in my life as it is (plus, the music class was at noon). Here’s Julie and Abby enjoying a nice stop down for a story:

  

Do you think they’re engaged in the lesson?? Hmm??     

They’re totally scheming up a plan for what’s to come, I just know it:

 

Sharing snacks!

On our stroll to lunch, I saw some of my favorite people – the twins from my Kindermusik class, Ellie and Finley, and their sweet Mom, Tren and her Nanny, Maria! I love these folks and see them in the silliest of places (I also randomly saw them at last year’s Turkey Trot – twice!). So adorable!

 

Pretty babies!

Seeing one of my favorite areas of the whole place: the frog fountains:

 

Someone had alerted me to the strange sign that had recently been added to this spot. Notice its oddity??

       

Bridget: “Whoa! Do you see that water, Abby?!?!”

  

Well, we found a good lunch spot and Bridget quickly let us know how she felt about it….tired :)

  

They were way to distracted with each other and the expansive green lawn to eat much lunch. Check them out as they escape our picnic blanket….mischief!

     

Our self-portrait…not bad, if I do say so myself!

  

I just think she’s the prettiest little one in the world!

 

We saved the best castle for last: Beauty and the Beast! (Abby even brought her Baby Belle doll to the park…so sweet)

  

Venturing in:

       

My outdoorsy girl, stopping to smell the roses :):

Abby loves Belle:

 

Well, both girls were getting tired, but we managed to get a few pics on the lawn with pretty flowers (the sprinklers were on when we arrived – just a tip for your future visits!)

     

Who is this big girl?! What happened to my baby?!   

Look where we were this exact time last year (we took pro pics at the Arboretum over Spring Break last year with a friend and Bridget was not yet sitting up on her own. It’s simply the miracle of life!):

 

On our way home, I desperately tried to keep my little princess awake so she’d nap at home (success! go me!). I’m the master of distractions, so I made sure to keep this pamphlet handy for this very reason. When I reached back to show it to Bridget, she immediately said, “Abby!”. These girls are the cutest!

 

Grr!!!

Why is Windows Live Writer not letting me post my latest piece?? I have gotten two different error messages, and those same two keep popping up when I try. It's a lengthy post with numerous pics, but I've certainly had longer before and it work just fine. I will be really mad if it doesn't work again tonight and I have to copy and paste into Blogger so I can put it up...any suggestions? (FYI: getting a Mac is not a helpful suggestion...hehehehe)

Until it works, I'll continue to enjoy reading all of your fun posts!

Letting us in on a little secret…

My precious is getting really good at communicating. She’s got over 10 words (I loose count, but I know its over 10!), a variety of signs, easy-to-read fussiness (don’t even get me started on the fake cries!), and also quite a few signals of what’s about to come. This one is totally my favorite:

Anytime she’s getting sleepy, even if nap time is still an hour away, she will lay down wherever she is and rest for a couple of seconds. It can be mid-run during a Penny chase and all of a sudden she stops, drops, and chills out! It’s totally adorable. Daddy got to participate in this new ritual at a recent Spring Break trip to the WillowBend playplace. He may have enjoyed the relaxation time most of all!

 

“Ok, Daddy. You know I’m sleepy now, so we’d better get a few more minutes of play time while we still can!”

(Reminds me so much of our y0ur little Scooter Bear, Jill!)