18 Months

Lofton turned 18 months on 11/19, but I was waiting until her check-up to post so I could do the all exciting stats.  Really the check-ups are just to say what percentile your kid is in and to brag to your pediatrician, right?  I sure hope so b/c that's what we do :)  So...

Weight: 22lbs (15th%)

Length: 31.5in (44th%)

Head: 18.5in (64th%)

L has definitely had a BIG growth spurt.  This is the first time that she's ever been in double digits for weight and she continues to be shaped like a blow pop... tall(ish) and skinny with a big fat head!  She takes after her Gigi and her Uncle Justin on that big head.

Here is what Miss Priss is up to these days.

* Talking!  She talks all day long.  Everything she sees she either names or describes such as "mama. sweater. blue." if i'm wearing a blue sweater.  She says a few phrases including "Hold you, all done, hi (whoever), and wuv you".  she is also REALLY into saying thank you.  She has been saying "please" forever, but that one was necessary to get what she wanted.  "Thank you" is just polite and it's adorable. 

* Playing pretend.  Her babies now wave and say "hi mama".  they also color which is a little difficult.  they take rides on the slide (ottoman) while letting out a rather high pitched "weee!". oh, and last week since Lofton isn't allowed to touch the Christmas tree, her teddy bear did.  Bear needed a time-out.

* She understands temperatures and emotions now.  If I give her heated food, she initially says "hot!".  Once I tell her it's ok she changes her description to "warm."  She signs while she says an absolutely pathetic "sad" if she hears a baby cry or she herself is upset.  I keep telling her that is she can pause to say "sad", she loses credibility in the tantrum.

* Sleeping.  Well...my early to bed/early to rise love bug is only holding up the early to rise side of that combo.  She used to be out by 7 or 7:30 every night, but is often awake until 9 these days.  She still wakes up around 6:45 most mornings.  I leave her in her crib until 7 unless she's upset.

* Cuddling.  This is new for my busy busy girl.  When we get her out of bed in the morning we grab a cup of milk and snuggle her between us in bed while watching a little Sprout.  I love this new development. 

* Tempermant: Lofton is still very happy and extremely friendly.  she says hello to everyone in a restaurant or grocery store.  I took her around to a few different people at my grandmother's senior living center Christmas party.  She blew kisses to the masses until the band started....  Then she had to join her big cousins for a dance party which included clapping and yelling "yay!  more!" after each song.  She is MUCH less defiant that she was several months ago and only goes to time out about twice a month.

* Potty:  So we are about to take the potty training plunge.  She is starting to tell me before she needs to go and often wakes up dry from a nap so here we go! 

* Name: She can now say her name "yofton" or "yofton's" if she's referring to something she believes to be hers.

LOVE LOVE LOVE her more each day.  terrible assortment of pics below.  she just doesn't stay still.  a couple playing outdoors in the cold and one at mcdonald's breakfast before her dr.'s appointment.

Santa Smiles

daddy took a "personal day" from work today so after our mommy and me My Gym class we headed to see santa for the first time.  i know, i know...technically this should be our second time since i had a 7 month old last december.  however, my residency schedule failed me and when i finally had time to go (dec 23rd), i had a teething baby with a fever.  arriving at 9am awarded me the 4:30pm time slot.  yeah, that didn't happen.  SO this year we're on it!  Willowbend is SO much easier and less crowded than Northpark in general.  We got there at 10:45am and saw Santa at 11am.  yippee!!  We had been talking Santa up and how awesome it would be to see him.  L is a pretty happy go lucky girl, but occasionally she'll stick those little arms out and yell "mama!!!" if she isn't interested in entertaining a stranger.  Not this time!  She said "Santa!" and then smiled at the camera.  After the pic, she turned to him and said "thank you!".  What a doll.  Fun memories..

Daddy snapped this one while we waited in line

Gobble Gobble 2011

we had a wonderful thanksgiving this year and clearly have MUCH to be thankful for.  we headed to justin and tiff's house around 11:30, enjoyed appetizers followed by lunch at 1.  the kids' table looked like southern living and potterybarn  pow-wowed.  it was complete with coloring sheets, pilgrim boat name plates, colors, candy, and goodies.  i am so jealous of tiff's skills, but thankful i can enjoy them!  we tried to put L down for a nap around 2.  she ran circles in her crib for about 30 min until we decided it was a lost cause.  she may have missed her beloved 2-3hr nap, but you would have never known it.  she didn't stop giggling until we strapped her into her carseat (at which point she promptly said "night night" and conked out).

new thanks this year include:

1) thankful to be within 20 miles of all of my immediate family since the north dallas invasion of summer '11

2) thankful that my work days start at 9 instead of 6 which means seeing my lovebug almost every morning

3) thankful for a supportive husband that is willing to commute to dallas from frisco (aka oklahoma...)

4) thankful that we have found a new church home and excited to see the Lord's plans

5) thankful to be the mommy of an adorable, hysterical, smart, beautiful, chatty, sweet TODDLER

6) thankful to be paci free! (for non-facebookers we said bye bye 1 week ago and it involved one nap refusal, one 15 min fuss before bedtime, and one 10 min fuss before a second nap).



 Presley (6 mo), Parker (8), Abigail (9), Lofton (18 mo), Kendall (7), Peyton (4)

 Family Photo 2011

 Love Bug!

 Goofy girl saying "hi" to Parkerman

What a difference a year makes...

Dog!

this is what i'll remember about Lofton's "first" halloween.  technically it's her second, but does it really count before you can consume sugar??  i don't think so.

1) i thought long and hard about what overly girly, but still devoid of sassy and full of sweet outfit my little one would wear.  i am well aware that these years are numbered...in the end, it only made sense for her to be a dog.  that is her obsession right now.  that and elmo, but elmo is a little gender neutral for me.  i did manage to find a pink dog :)

2) daddy wasn't with us ;(  he was in the midst of a heart-wrenching trial that he had been pouring hours upon hours into. 

3) you loved the "choo choo!" and talked about it long after your back-to-back rides with your cousins

4) you wore your poodle hat for less than five minutes and then just looked like an adorable pink bath mat with a tail...

5) abigail and kendall claire wanted nothing more than for you to be happy.  there were a ton of super fun big kid bouncy houses and bungey cords.  i asked KC what she wanted to do and her reply, "whatever baby lofton wants to do".  melt my heart.  and big girl abi wanted nothing to do with the baby train until her sister got to ride with lofton.  she then magically wanted to take a ride as well.

5) you ate 2 suckers, but you didn't know to swallow the sugary goodness, so it just ran down your chin and onto your costume.  i NEVER thought we would get all of the black fuzz off of your neck

6) you said "night night" and "hot dog" the entire way home.  you were having too much fun at the carnival to eat much of your dinner.  you quickly devoured a hot dog upon our return home, had some deep cleansing in the tub, and were fast asleep by 8pm.  the next night you got your first tummy bug and spread it to your nanny and daddy.  good think abigail refused your offer to share a sucker!

7) we had a ton of adorable trick-or-treaters.  definitely a change from our old neighborhood!



 couldn't be more in love

 later poodle hat. you threw it on the sidewalk and continued to stroll toward the fun...

Sweet, Funny, and Just Pathetic...

I feel like everyday I have several funny Lofton stories.  She is just so funny and I don't want to forget anything.  So...here are a couple of things from this week that made me smile

1) L now says "hold you" with her little arms reaching toward you when she wants to be held.  it is just so sweet when my fiercely independent daughter wants to be held that the answer is always yes!

2) I have put Lofton in time-out like 3 times for coloring on furniture while she stares at you and says "no no"....this morning she ripped out a page of her coloring book which is SO no big deal.  i gently said, "lofton, don't tear your book baby."  a few seconds later i looked over and she was sitting in her time-out spot.  so funny.  she then walked over to the torn page, handed it to me, and said "trash". :)

3) Lofton went to her cousin's build-a-bear bday party this weekend.  This morning she went running to her bear as well as a winnie the pooh yelling "bears!!!!" followed by big hugs.   she then pulled up her bear's sweater and looked at me with total concern and confusion saying "belly button???".  she just couldn't understand why that bear didn't have a belly button.

 nobody better lay a finger on this highly-sought-after-mommy-won't-buy-caprisun!

 one of the big kids

in less fun news Lofton has been fighting a cold and a cough for about 3 weeks now. we finally went to the dr. b/c she was wheezing and we were given albuterol with this tiny ($65!!) mask. we were told to give it to her before bed. terrible idea!! i did it for 3 nights and decided she wasn't better or worse (but definitely becoming a little psychotic) and called it quits. it made her completely nuts for several hours. she was exhausted, but could not go to sleep until 9 or 10 at night. i realized that we hadn't experienced any sleeping issues since she started talking and the sounds of "mama, hold you! hold you!!" coming from her room were too much. i'm not a cry it out kind of mama, particularly with a sick baby. at least i got some extra snuggling and she doesn't have an ear infection :)

 the funny

and the sweet....

Fall Fun!

Little bit is getting bigger by the day and loving every minute of the fall.  she actually gets to play outside!!  she often points to the door and say "out!", "swing!",  "roll" (which means stroll) "scarecrow", or "hop hop" (with her hand bouncing up and down b/c there appears to be a bunny boom in our neighborhood...)

after dinner is often spent using sidewalk chalk on the back porch or running in the front yard searching for "dOgs".  L says "dog" with a long "o" and it is too cute!  less cute words include "sock" which she thinks starts with a "c" and "fox" which is a 4 letter word.  hey, she spends her entire day trying to name everything she sees so naturally a few are going to be the Lofton original version!

 this was on what I like to call "mommy tuesdays" where L and I spend the morning playing and I sneak away to work or run errands during her nap

 she has eaten every meal like this since her feet would reach the tray.  it's adorable

 first pony ride at our neighborhood block party.  she giggled and said "neigh!!" the entire time

 weeknight cousin time.  running around with a piece of pizza and a chocolate chip cookie=perfection for miss priss.  she did say "night night" the whole drive home :)

occasionally she stops talking and colors instead

xoxo L Pie!

what we've been up to...

we have been busy adjusting to our new little life, but i clearly have not been busy taking pictures or blogging.  so here are a few things that have been going on (in reverse chronological order b/c i can never remember how to upload them correctly...)

 fall weather with a cute cardigan.  big bruise on the forehead because she DOVE head first off of our bed and onto our cedar chest.  so scary.  she is just so fast and i'm positive that whoever invented those little kid leashes (which i think are terrible) had a little one with L's activity level.

 well hello mr. scarecrow

 playing at willowbend mall before getting some pictures snapped at janie and jack.  we got a "free" pic session after spending $75 :)  i love those little bishop dresses.  makes her look like a baby doll

 my little artist.  she is all of a sudden completely obsessed with coloring.  she grabs the paper and hands you a crayon requesting "melmo" which means "please draw elmo"  when i hand her a purple crayon she repeats "purple" which sounds adorable

 swinging at mimi and pop pop's house.  i think she's saying "weeee!"

 these are a few of her 1yr pics from http://www.andiehamilton.com/ if you didn't see them on facebook

 first time to leave my girl.  i flew to kansas city for a whirlwind 24hr trip for aimy tran's wedding.  look at all of those cute doctors :)   love these girls and it was so wonderful/such a tease to have a few sweet hours.  we forgot to book a second hotel room so for sure 5 of us stayed in 1 room like we were in college.  too funny :)

it's my logo for my first REAL JOB!  i think it turned out pretty so just wanted to share.

big things in Lofton's world

1) hugs and kisses.  she now says "hug" and sticks out her little arms and hands out hugs and kisses USUALLY when we request them.  occasionally she'll say "no" and laugh.  pretty sure she's running the house

2)coloring-like i meantioned lofton loves to color.  for a total wild child she sure will spend forever coloring.  just sometimes that involves the floor, or her leg, or a baby doll...  our nanny colors with her everyday and she even strips to her diaper and finger/toe paints on the driveway

3) she says everything.  seriously i have no idea how many words she has because she repeats almost anything she hears.  this week new words include "shirt and pants (while pointing to each), scarecrow, purple, color, big bird, cake (her name stickers on her sippy cups have a cupcake on them), apple" and i'm sure a million more. 

4) when i'm holding her she'll periodically say hi and give me a hug and a pat like "i'm so glad you're here".  melts my heart.  dewey and i talk about what a doll she is almost every night

5) she says "no" to herself whenever she does something she's not supposed to.  not that it keeps her from throwing food on the floor.  constant battle.  i see some parent/teacher conferences in our future...

love love my family!

Stats

Forgot about the 15 month stats!
weight: 18lb 9oz (5th %...back on the curve!)
length: 29.5 in (12th%)
head: 33rd %  smart girl!

this is over a month ago but oh so funny!

we're still in size 3 diapers.  for fall we'll be moving up from 9month to 12month clothing.  we will officially have to stop using the bucket carseat which is sad b/c it was so easy to just have a zillion bases floating around the family members.  she eats EVERYTHING, but daily staples include baby oatmeal, sugar-free applesauce, bananas, and avocado.  and clearly she's had a cookie or two since she wakes up asking for them :)

15 months, etc...

It's official.  I no longer have a baby.  I have a little girl.  She is SO different than she was when she turned 1 that I can hardly believe it.  At 15 months Lofton LOVES dogs (she says the word, then signs, then woofs), baby dolls, being independent, and ...her paci.  we'll work on that one in due time.  but due time is definitely not when you're moving into a new house, your mommy stays home with you for two months, then you meet somebody brand new and they become your M-F caretaker. (our nanny, Lori, is wonderful by the way!).  Lofton runs everywhere and still giggles constantly.  Her language has exploded over the past month (she's technically 15 and 1/2 months now).  She says mama, dada, dog, door, duck, bye bye, night night, hi, please, cookie, thank you, rock rock, eyes, toes, belly button, more, up, no no, ball...just to name a few.  she recently started saying "there you go!" and "one more please" while holding up her little finger when she wants something.  it is crazy to see this 15 month old (that looks like a 10 month old) talking like CRAZY out of nowhere!  and it's really hard to say no when she wakes up in the morning and right away says "cookie please".  she is still super sweet but not quite as easy as she once was.  she is extremely independent and as such eats most of her meals with a spoon and fork and somehow figured out how to get a shoe on by herself this afternoon.  it's a battle everyday to dress her b/c she really wants to do it herself  :)  she has become very attached to dewey lately and after being awake for only a few minutes starts asking for him and running to our room to find him and give him a great big hug! 

below are a few pics from our visit to the grapevine sealife aquarium (which she loved), looking cute/mischevious, testing some chips/guac, corn on the cob, and rocking her baby.