16 months

Dear Little P.,

Did you know, you are my little treasure? I must tell you this a million times per day, but it's no less true. In the wee hours of the morning, when you are sitting in my lap having your milk, I like to kiss the top of your head and nuzzle my nose in your soft wispy hair. I like to breathe in the scent of your shampoo from your bath the night before. Your hair kind of sticks to my lips and I press my cheek against your head while I think about how precious you are to me. This makes the early morning something I can deal with!
You've been so busy this past month! Learning, growing, dancing, exploring. You joined Gymboree and enjoy going to the class each week. And I'M in love with the free open gym there so you can go run your little legs off in the afternoons on rainy days. You've been learning to climb there; as well as how to get down stairs/places of height on your own. It's such good practice! We've also just put a fence in so you can run and explore our yard without worrying about the danger of the road or predatory animals from the woods (hello Mr. Fox and Mr. Coyote!) and Maren the Wonder Dog can run and play freely with you without getting tangled up. I think every time we are outside she is in ecstasy now. You are enjoying your play house out there...opening and closing the shutters and doors and cabinets while you run around making busy work for yourself. It is my great joy to watch you play and exist in your world. Your attention span isn't what it used to be; although I read this is normal for your age. But, we manage to sneak in some reading time here and there through the day despite your interest in running off after 2 pages. That's ok. You have many important things to accomplish!
15 months was a great wonderous time, and now it is sailing into the past. Welcome to 16 months, my sweet pea, what wonderful things will we encounter this month?

I always have your smile; such a wonderful gift. My treasure, I love you more than the sun, moon and stars.
Love you forever and always,
Mama

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Rainy Day

As I mentioned in my earlier post, we are finally getting some much needed rain in our neck of the woods. That means a lot of playing inside where Paige is enjoying making a big mess of toys, shoes, and running all around. She's also doing a lot of "reading" and "cooking" with her play food. She sure does love the comic exploits from "The Far Side."
This when she's not desperately clinging to me and fussing for no real reason (but I suspect she wants to go outside). Today's visit to Gymboree class only did so much for her energy. Sun is in the forecast for tomorrow; so we will be taking full advantage of the outdoors. That much is certain!

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Many faces

Hi friends!
For those of you who have been following along with Paige's morning sleep chronicles, here is my latest update. It's going well! She's making it to nap time at about 12:15 or 12:30. She's usually up around 2:30 or 2:15 or so. But, she's never ready to go to bed 4 hours after that, so we just stick with 7:00pm for being in bed by. Knock on wood, she's been typically getting up at 6:15AM as the average. MUCH better than 5:15 or 5:30, right? Every minute counts darnit! I'm thrilled with the results so far. Now, I'm working on introducing more activities during the day that will tire her out.

WHAT??!! TIRE ME OUT!!??? NEVEEEEEEEERRR!!!!


(Isn't that photo hilarious? She was walking around shrieking as loudly as she could at the moment)

As I was saying, I want to tire her out more during the day. Now that she's walking so steadily I figured now was the time to try out a Gymboree class. She loved it! Paige runs around that place like a wild woman, trying out all the climbing stuff and getting into everything. She certainly isn't interested in the "class" part of it...the circle time and such...but she loves the music, bubbles, and playing on the equipment. I'm looking forward to seeing her have fun there and also enjoying the open gym times they offer. Great for indoor play when it's raining or cold!
I also have a membership for her at the gym where she can use the pool with me. It's another great way to kill a chunk of time while tiring her out. (Although I think I'M the one getting more tired out).

I thought you only wanted to tire ME out!!!??????


And..... we have a picket fence going up around our yard...I'm so excited to be able to let Maren the Wonder Dog out to run freely (no more stupid doggie run where she gets tangled or pushes her toy out of reach) and Paige can zip around without me having to worry about her running to the road or any number of dangerous "treats." I dream of being able to sit in a chair to watch her play. Because I'm a lazy bastard. C'mon, you know what I mean. Chasing her away from the street or the front steps of doom become pretty boring AND tiring after the 100th time and a girl needs to sit every once in a while, right? Again, my goal is to tire HER out, not ME. I'm tired enough for all of us anyway. So, there's a few days left until the fence is done, but now there's a rainstorm from hell blowing through for most of this week so we shall see! It doesn't rain most of the summer, and when it finally does, it's right when I'm most excited for this fence. Not that we're going to be playing out in the rain anyway so I guess it doesn't matter, does it? Indoor playing here we come! I'll stop rambling now and wish you a great start to your week!!! I hope all is well with YOU!

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Laundry

Where's Maren the Wonder Dog? Can you see her?

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Paige slept late Vlog 3

Hallelujah!!!!!

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Sleep Solutions Vlog 2

Thanks for all your thoughts and tips on my last post!!!! See you soon (my camera just got back from being cleaned/serviced so hopefully I can start putting some more pictures up)!!

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Vlog 1...on Mornings

Hello! I thought I'd try a vlog post today...not for the faint of heart as I look like poo. But, I thought it would be a good way to illustrate how I feel every day in the morning. It's the real reality, baby! woo! If you decide to watch; the topic is about our daily EARLY wakeup and how I hate it and hate feeling alone at that time of day. Anyone out there in a similar predicament with a wee one who is an early bird?
(edit) In the video I say Chris lets me sleep in one day on the weekend. ACTUALLY on Sundays I let him sleep in and when he gets up I go back to bed! haha! So, really, I'm getting extra sleep during the WHOLE weekend and not just Saturday. :)

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Silos

Hey friends!

Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend! Ours was filled with swimming, fun, and visiting family. Paige learned to jump yesterday...so she's officially walking, running, jumping, climbing and dancing! It's all happening too fast; it seems like yesterday she was a little worm in her Miracle Blanket. She's been pretty sassy today, but I love her anyway.

I wanted to share a pair of silo portraits I did recently...they were printed on fancy paper and the client framed them and hung them side-by-side. You can see the resemblance between the baby brother and his big sister. Fun!

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