Mikey is 18 months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Looks like I need to hand the camera over to daddy more often so I can be in some pictures with you)

(Pictures are from our trip to Point Lobos,Halloween, and the Monarch Butterfly sanctuary in Pacific Grove)

My dear little monkey, you are 18 months old! The last 3 months have brought with them so much growth and development that I find my self having moments where I just stop and watch you in awe. With no younger siblings (yet....hopefully) you remain in my head a baby. My little baby Mikey. So when I say that you are currently wearing a size 7 shoe and are just a tad over 35 inches tall  and weigh 25lbs it just doesn't compute.

In the last 3 months your vocabulary has exploded. You are forming short sentences and will try to repeat any word that we ask you to. Watching you have you have your own thoughts and feeling and being able to express them is so much fun for your family. You have several words that you have made up in your own language that we just love. Honestly, we don't want you to start saying the words right, but alas, you have already started to. Some of our favorites are...

"Shu-Shu"- That means airplane.
"Na-na"- Much to your Nana's dismay this means water. During Nana's last visit with us she spent countless minutes trying to convince you that she is actually Na-na and that water is Wa-wa. What did you do? You made up a different word for her name and kept calling water "Na-na". Hahaha! It was awesome.
"It'ss-a-weeewl"- Now this one is trickier. We don't actually know what you  mean but you say it with such conviction sometimes that we know you know exactly what you are talking about.

You have also started saying "Dane" which has been so fun! I would list the other words but honestly there are just too many. Just know that you are a very vocal 1 and a half year old. Whether you are talking or singing or screaming...you are usually making noise. Unless you being sneaky and getting in trouble. Then you are perfectly silent.

You are so fast now. You run and jump like a champ. You love to play chase with your brother  and throw balls and paper airplanes with your daddy. You still fall a lot but it probably has to do with the rate at which you are growing and the size of your feet. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon.

You had your second Halloween. It was the first one where you were able to walk/run around to all the houses. It was so cute! You were a dragon this Halloween and you would start off running with the older kids to the next house but instead of stopping and turning to the house you would just keep on running and we would have to chase you down and and walk you back to the house. It was pouring down rain this year but you loved it! You were much more interested in playing in the puddles and rain gutters then getting candy.

You are turning into a little clown and love entertaining us at the dinner table. You make silly faces and goofy sounds. You love the game "no, no, NO...Ughhhh!) Where we pretend to tell you not to eat the food but then you do and we all say UGH! You will even do it to your self when you are eating alone. So funny! Speaking of eating, you are a great eater and will on most occasions out eat the rest of us. One thing I find interesting is that you will go through phases where you will only want to eat meat and fruit for a few days and then you will only want to eat carbs and veggies for a few days. Never do you seem to want to eat it all at the same time.

You love to be held and snuggled. If I want you to come to me all I have to do is ask for a kiss and you will come running.

You sleep through the night now about 85% of the time and I am so grateful for the nights that you sleep soundly.

You are in nursery now at church! This was so exciting for so many reasons. To be honest with you the last 3 months have been kind of terrible at church. We get through sacrament meeting okay but when it is time for Dane to go to nursery you would run in there and start playing too. Then you would through a huge fit when I would have to take you out. After that you just would not have anything to do with sitting in a class so we would spend the remainder of the time roaming the halls. One time I was attempting to go to Relief Society and was handing out invitations to a baby shower. I had turned my head for about 2 minutes and when I looked back where I left you, you were gone. You had managed to escape the room! You were no where to be found in the building or outside. We had pretty much the whole ward looking for you. Your daddy was running circles around the outside of the building to make sure you hadn't escaped the building and wondered into the street. About 10 terrible minutes later we found you happily walking the isles in the chapel during another ward's sacrament meeting. Which by the way, was the first place I looked but you must have been hiding...or on the stand. That afternoon I started researching tracking devices for children.

Your personality is so fun and loving. Your silliness and happiness is contagious. You are our love. Our Monkey. Our Joy. Our baby. Our trouble maker. Our stubborn but oh so sensitive little boy (this makes discipline tricky).

We love you and cherish you little Mikey! Happy 18 months!

Dane is 2 1/2 years old!

 

  

 

 

 

 

There you are sweet Dane. 2 1/2 years old and able to hit a ball over the garage. You amaze me.

Dane, Danee, Munch, Big Brother,

You are 2 1/2 years old now and you are rocking it! Everyday is a new adventure in emotions, discovery, vocabulary, messes, eating, boundaries, and owies. You are full of energy and impulses, emotions and boundary discovery, and love. We are both learning so much right now. I'm learning how to be a mommy that can keep her cool and help guide you through this time that can be down right hard and you are learning how to be a member of our family and society and deal with all these ginormous emotions that you are feeling. You are learning how to express your self and play with others.

As of 3 weeks ago you are sleeping in a big boy bed! You have a twin bed that your "Yaya" (Aunt Laura) gave you after she moved and you are loving it. You never did show any interest in getting out of your crib and to be honest I liked having you in it but it was time. The transition was easy! It was probably harder for me than for you. I was so worried that you would fall out of bed or get scared in the middle of the night or just not stay in it. Your Dad on the other hand was completely confident in you being fine in the bed. There were only two nights (the first two) that I had to come in and put you back into bed after you fell asleep on the floor. You are an old pro now and look so grown up in that huge bed. Your favorite thing to do is get out of bed after we put you down for the night and sneak toys and books into Mikey's crib. So cute.

We have not really made progress on potty training. I thought you were ready about 4 months ago but you seem to have changed your mind. However, we are getting close!

Your vocabulary is huge! And you know lots of words in Spanish too. You are getting creative with what you say and now say things like "No thanks, Mom. I've got it", "Mmmm, breakfast smells so good", "Oh sure! I'll have some blueberries" "Maybe you should make a snack". Geesh! Are you 2 1/2 or 12! You also like to say thinks like "Go away", "Go inside", "Don't touch me", and my personal favorite "I DON'T WANT TO...(enter a fun activity that I suggest that isn't your idea)". We are working on picking some better things to say to express these feelings like "I need some alone time" or "I need some space" or "No thank you". Also, we are enjoying your pronunciation of the following:

Popsicle "Popisel"
Spaghetti "Pisgetti"


You have become obsessed with listening to "daddy's song". Daddy's song is on a Cd that your daddy recorded while in college. Your favorite song is "Trashin' the Camp" and you love to listen to it over and over and over again. You now know most of the words and have started to want to listed to the song "Fools Rush In" which also has your daddy singing a solo. When you sing along to that one my heart just melts.


You are a natural at all physical things. You just need to see it a couple of times and you can do it. You are so strong and your hand eye coordination blows me away! You can hit a ball with a bat right out of the air! I still can't do that. You swing left handed but have a right handed grip. You do pretty much everything left handed at this point. You can also dribble a basketball! It's so cool to watch you practice.

You enjoy going to nursery at church but HATE playing pretend. For a long time every time they would pretend to go to the zoo you brake down into a screaming fit and they would need to come get me. We worked on it at home and you now just watch them pretend and join if you feel like it.

Your favorite places to go are The Farm (in Salinas) and "The Rocks" which are the rocks on the cost of Monterey Bay.Your favorite books right now are the Berenstine Bears books.

You are reserved with your emotions. Even if you are having the best time you hold your smiles and giggles in...unless you are with your brother Mikey. You are a sweet kind boy and when it comes to discipline you react best from kindness and direction. I've tried yelling and really, it doesn't do anyone any good. But if I pull you aside and tell you what is going on you will usually figure out what to do. You love having choices and always choose to do things on your own without help from me.

Here are you 2 1/2 year stats:

39.5" tall
33 lbs


Still tall and solid. Your hair is the prettiest blonde. Your Aunt Janice said that people would pay lots of money to get so many highlights and low lights put in. Your eyes are getting even lighter and some yellow has been added into the bright green. They are stunning.

Dane, you amaze me everyday. I can't even describe to you how happy you make me. I love you so much that I try to smuther you in kisses and hugs every chance I can (much to your dismay). You are still best buddies with your daddy and you two are inseparable. He gets you like no one else.

You made us parents, my dear Dane and are just the sweetest son. You couldn't be a better bigger brother to Michael and our family wouldn't be complete without you. We adore you and see so much good and love in you.

Like I said, you are an awesome 2 1/2 year old! But, I'm pretty sure I say that at every age.

Love you to pieces my little baby Dane.

Here are some pictures of you and your best friend "Dootee" also know as brother :-)

Mikey is 15 months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello there my little Mikey! It feels like a long time since I have done an update on your little life. You are 15 months old now and such an important member of our little family. Your personality is getting stronger and more distinct and you are learning and growing so fast I can't even handle it!


The biggest news is that you are sleeping through the night! You started sleeping through the night about 3 1/2 weeks before turning 15 months old. This is a big deal and I am so excited for us to be both sleeping at night. I have to admit I was just starting to wonder if you would ever sleep at night and if I needed to try something different to help you learn how to. But, I kid you not, the night that I went out with some girlfriends and told them that I didn't know what to do and that I wasn't sure I could continue without sleep...you slept through the night and have been doing so ever since. Thank you sweet Michael. You sleep in a room with your big brother (who is now in a big boy bed) and you two love to stay up way past when we put you in bed giggling and talking and jumping. I am so glad you have each other.

You have mastered walking and are moving on to learning how to run. You like to run in a circle in our house from the living room through the hall into the kitchen and dinning room and back to the living room.  You and your brother play chase like this for a good 20 minutes every night and your favorite is when daddy jumps in and chases you both (growling like a bear). Now, when I say you have "mastered" walking I should mention that you still fall a lot. Not because you struggle walking you just are a little tippy. I think it is a combination of you growing so tall so fast and your feet. Your feet are huge! You look like a little hobbit! At 15 months old you are wearing a size 6 shoe. I'm not too worried about it though. You'll get the hang if it soon enough and grow into those feet. Till then we have stocked up on band-aids and Neosporin.

You have 7 teeth now. 4 front on top, 3 front on bottom, and two molars. I can tell more teeth are going to be popping up any day now. You are chewing on everything and want to be with me as much as possible.

Your favorite foods right now are berries (blueberries, strawberries,blackberries) and meat (any kind). This has led me to calling you my little bear cub. You also eat A LOT. Most of the time you will out eat your brother and eat almost as much as me! Go baby go!

Here are you stats at 15 months:

34" tall
24 lbs


You are off the charts tall and normal for weight. You have long legs and big brown eyes. You hair is a bright blonde now. Gone are the days of my brown hair, brown eyed boy. You have the cutest tong (I never knew someone could have a cute tounge) that you like to stick out regularly.

Your vocabulary is expanding and consists of the following:

Mama
Dada
Hot
Hat
Up
NumNum
ChooChoo
Truck "Cruck"
Car
Dump truck "Dum Cruck"

You do a lot of baby babble that is in complete sentences. You also like to wave "hello" and "goodbye". You have also mastered the scream defense. As in, you will scream a high pitched scream when things aren't going as you would like them too. You wear you emotions on your sleeve. If you feel it, we hear about it. You are a lot like me as far as that goes.

Oh Michael, I want to tell you so many things. I want to write down every single detail about your life at 15 months old so that I can remember it always. The way you crinkle your nose, dance like crazy to music in the car, give kisses on demand, and wrestle with your brother. The way you are independent and confident but love nothing more than sitting and snuggling with me. You are a leader and a natural to music, you get a mischievous look in your eye often, you can imitate any sound, and won't fold your arms for prayer. There are so many things to say about you that I could never write them all down. And even if I could, it wouldn't do you justice.

I just want you to know that you are so loved, Michael. Loved and cherished by every single one of us everyday. You are happy and secure and know where you belong. I want you to always know where you belong and be happy and know you are loved. Loved not only by your family but by your Heavenly Father and Jesus. Your best friend is your brother and it is a Heavenly design that you came to our family when you did. I know that you need Dane and he needs you.

You adore your daddy and he is gaga over you! You have his nose and mouth and love to imitate anything he does or says.

I want to tell you not to get bigger and not to grow up but, than again, every age that you have been so far is my favorite and I can't wait to see what is in store for you and the developments that are soon to happen.

I love you so much Michael. My heart could just burst!

Giveaway TIME!

Everyone likes a giveaway, right?

Well, over on my new photography blog Marlena Marika Photography I am having a giveaway for a $15 credit to put towards a back to school mini session! That means you could get a mini session and 5-7 digital images for only $5! WHAT?!

Since I'm sure all of you have already checked out that blog and started following it (hint, hint) you may already have seen some of these pictures but juuuuust in case here is a little sample from a back to school mini session. Each session is customized to the age/grade of your child/children.  Even if you personally don't want to win you can enter and win for a friend!

So go ahead over to the facebook page "like" it and enter to win! Good luck!