18 Months

Of this little girl!  I would say it's hard to believe.... but that goes without saying!  She really doesn't seem like an 18 month old!  :)  Nursery age, seriously?!  No way!  She is still my cute, squishy little baby girl!  :)  I can't even begin to express the hope and love this little person has and shares and inspires!  She amazes us all the time! 

She has kind of hit a developmental growth spurt.  She has been rolling onto her tummy for a few months now.  But she has added rolling (as in: over and over), scooting and even getting up onto her knees!  She is also getting to a sitting position on her own too! 

She is getting better and better at using her hands and manipulating things! She plays peek-a-boo and covers her eyes!  :)  It's SO stinking cute!  She has even started feeding herself crackers!  (Eating normal food/self feeding is something we are working towards!)

And she is getting a mouthful of teeth!  Literally!  She has had 2 bottom teeth for a while, then 1 on the top for a couple months.  But in the last couple weeks she has gained 5 more!  Ouch!  But it's great!  ...And should help with the feeding thing too, chewing is a lot easier with teeth!  :)

She is a funny little girl!  She loves attention and is a ham when she gets it!  And she still has the best belly laugh ever!!  :) She is also pretty good at playing and entertaining herself!  Getting more and more independent every day! (Um... this pic is just for sweetness!)  :)

And the hair!  It's so out of control and it's getting so long and curly!  All the rolling around on the floor doesn't help, but I really do comb it!  :) 

She has been working really hard lately at repeating sounds.  She makes a lot of normal babbling sounds, but her biggest accomplishment yet... Dada.  And with intention, she knows who he is and she calls him that!  It's been the biggest area of question, whether or not she would ever be verbal.  And while this doesn't make it absolute, it's a VERY good sign!  ...I wish I had gotten a picture of Patrick's face the first time she said it to him!  We both got so excited she just kept saying it and smiling at him!  Amazing!  (No, development on "Mama" yet, but it's cool!  I already knew he was her favorite!)  :)

It's so exciting to watch her grow and change!  Endless are the possibilities and high are the hopes!  I feel that way about all 3 of them!  And I've learned to appreciate every stage and new thing so much more!  I got so used to "expecting" our kids to do or learn things.  She has taken expectation out of the equation... and in its place we have the joy of surprise!  I don't find sadness in the things she can't do... because truthfully, she is capable of doing anything, in her own time!  It's just overwhelmingly wonderful when she does do something!  They are the kind of surprises we love to get!  :)   

Beautiful Baby Girl... is getting so BIG!  :)