2 word utterance?

So today I picked up Morgan and Mary announces to me that Morgan said a two-word utterance. What?! A two-word utterance? For a brand-new 11 month old?! I asked her what she said and Mary said she told her little friend, Adelle, "No Adelle!" (she said Adelle 2 other times today too.) I totally believe it too, as we've been working on telling Jessie "no ___" (insert anything, such as licking, being crazy, barking) and she's been doing pretty well imitating or attempting to do so. Today I told Morgan to tell Jessie "No barking!" and I heard, "No bahbah!" So anyway, I was pretty proud that I was able to post this since I usually ask my parents in the 0-3 program if their newly 2 y/os are putting two words together. Hee hee!!

Off to see the hubs who just walked through the door and will be traveling tomorrow through late night Friday. Very eager for next week but that's for another day. :)

Bows. BOwS. BOOOWWWWWSSS!!!

So tonight I learned how to make bows from the "experts" - my friends Abbie & Heather. Sarah (another work friend) was there too and had a better learning curve than I did, but in my defense, there was a little monkey signing "more" and trying to crawl up my chair half the time so I claim mommy on that one. :) I've got lots of work to do, but not until chores are done. :) So far I have two plain pink ones (that will have something added), a large bow-y rainbow colored one, and a Halloween one in the works. I thought I could get the last one done, but giant crocodile tears and a looming/past bedtime called it quits before I had the chance. LOVE this new hobby!! In my (pre) defense, Adam's been telling me to get a new hobby...now we just need more baby girls in Muscatine so we can have bow-making parties on a more regular basis. :)

Off to find a healthy-ish snack...and not dread tomorrow's craziness that is work. :-/

Locker Room Antics

So last night we decided to take Morgan to another Muskies football game since it was gorgeous out and she loved it last time we took her. When we got there, the game was about a 1/2 hour behind so unfortunately, we were only able to stay through the 1st quarter. Morgan had been "sensitive" (Mary's so kind with her words) all day at daycare, hadn't slept the greatest the night before or for naps Friday, had a minor runny nose, and was filthy (=bath night) so I didn't want her home too late...so anyway, we get there and forget to change her diaper at the car so I took her to the bathroom just before the game started to take care of business. Well, the bathrooms had no baby changing stations or counter top so I decided we'd quickly take advantage of the empty locker room I saw on our way to the bathroom. JUST as I realize Morgan's peeing everywhere and I catch it with her new diaper, I hear the click-click-click of cleats...and in comes the VISITING team. Poor Morgan. She didn't care, but the poor thing had her pants half on and all items were stuffed into the bag as we bolted for the door...but couldn't get out from all the padded teenagers making their "mean gruff yelling" way in. Nice. Then she threw her car into the sea of smelly boys and thankfully one of them picked it up and gave it to her. Not what they planned to see when they came in, I'm sure!

Our college friends Luke & Sarah spent the night since they had a Scottish Games Festival in the Quad Cities. It was great to see them, but much too short. Next time we'll plan better than 36 hours in advance. ;-)

Today, Morgan received a new friend into this world, as our good friends Nick & Melanie had their very first child, a boy, Carson Douglas, this morning at 8:11am. We're VERY eager to meet Mr. Carson tomorrow and see how the little family is doing. I got the text that it was a boy JUST as I was leaving the baby clothes dept. at Kohls...perfect timing to whip around and get some goodies. :)

They had Christmas stuff out at Kohls today. :( Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Christmas. LOVE IT. But this is too early. So I promptly bought Morgan her Christmas jammies since I had a great coupon and they were on sale. :-P

Morgan never ceases to amaze us. She's now ducking her head to peek into/around things. She is almost able to go from a 1/2 kneel (one knee down, one foot down) to a stand but juuuuust isn't quite there yet. Tonight I was talking through this tube/stacker toy and tried to get her to imitate...and she did. Neat to watch her think through it. She signs 'please' on command with no difficulty to request. She also signs "cracker" but uses her other hand instead of her elbow...I don't know if she actually knows this sign yet or just thinks it's a cool one to imitate. I'm hearing some really close almost words that she's imitating. She's working hard on "no no Jessie" and is really good at the 'no no' part. She says 'ah dah' for all done. There are several more but I can't think of them right now. Mary thought that Morgan was trying to say "patty cake" yesterday at daycare. Doesn't surprise me. And to think at one point a long time ago I was petrified (we both were) that she was behind. Smart smart baby. :) Tricked us both.

I'm SO excited for Monday night. Morgan and I are heading to a friend's house to learn how to make bows for her hair. I bought (too much) ribbon today along with some feathery-boa material to contribute to the already tons of ribbon that will be there. FUN!! ::prays Morgan is good so I can increase productivity::

Obviously, it's now football season and just like last year, the child LOVES watching football. Not in the Adam-sense of it (sitting, staring, minimal movement) but when the crowd gets loud she stops, looks at the TV, and either claps or puts her hands up for 'touchdown.' And we have an athlete, folks. ;-)

Last thing. Then laundry and budget. Blech. I wonder if Morgan's top teeth are thinking of making an appearance. She's been up a tiny bit more than usual, a little more "sensitive" around the edges, and (the kicker) drooling like a crazy person. As in almost as bad as tiny Morgan who went through 8 bibs a day. I'll keep you posted.

PS. I now love my hair. LOVE it. :-D

Ooo...it's DARK.

So I got my hair and toes did tonight...and it's daaaaaaaaarrkkk...and reddish!! And blondish!! So I walked in knowing I was going for my fall color but skipped it and went right to winter coloring. Morgan's going to be shocked in the morning. But I loved my stylist's color so much I asked her if she minded if I had something similar/same. Off we go! It was really gross when she was putting all the red in, but now I really like it! And of course, it's so soft after having someone else do it for 2 hours. Yeah! Will let you know what Morgan thinks tomorrow....

Bonus pic...so tired that she went "nai-nai" on the pillow on her table instead of throwing it off in typical Morgan fashion. Aw. Cute bebe'.

Pops and more - grab your ice cream. I did.

Our family at the Riverfront Pops Concert Sept. 11, 2010

This might get to be a longish one...so what better to help than a bowl of ice cream? I've got one. :)

So Adam's parents were here for the weekend before heading west to a condo they had in Pandora, IA. All I have to say is thank goodness they were here b/c the Lopez (Casey, Joe, and JoJo) send off got a bit out of hand and I really appreciated their help Sunday morning. And into the afternoon. 'Nuff said. :)

SLPs galore! Abbie, Denise, me, and Sarah

Cammie was so great at asking for help with the puzzle

So anyway, on Saturday, we (Adam, me, Al, & Sherri) took Morgan to the Riverfront Pops Concert in Davenport. My good work friend, Abbie, has had this be tradition in her family for quite some time so I was excited to get to go and begin exposing Morgan to other things - especially music - she danced a fair amount of the time.

Dancing low...

Dancing high!!

There were three Broadway singers and they were magnificent. Morgan held on until 9pm (!!) and even tried singing with these talented people...at the top of her little lungs. Thankfully we were able to quiet her relatively quickly and only got a few laughs instead of stares/glares. :) It was too cute anyway. She also had fun with her friend Cammie before hand and Morgan did a nice job of sharing her bus driver toy. It was great and I'm pleased that we will make this a family tradition as well. Morgan also got to witness her first fireworks which she enjoyed...before curling up against me in the middle of them b/c she was SO tired.

Morgan and grandparents by the Mississippi

Takin' a ride with Daddy

Ok, what's next. Sunday was all about recovery and then errands and gearing up for the week. Adam was crazy busy with processing all this venison we'd had accumulating in our freezer to be smoked and since I finally went crazy enough, we've (well, he's been more so) been working our tails off trying to get it done. Lawn was mowed by yours truly with the help of a tiny peanut and then it was off to the races for the week. Monday was the kickoff to the 9th last week of Adam's classes. I knew it was going to be a long/tough week b/c he's busy with class, but it still was difficult last night. Geez. I'm so sick of feeling like I'm out of control emotionally. Maybe it's really just the normal me b/c I was a crier before Morgan, but sheesh. Sometimes I'm a little ridiculous. :) But I'm feeling good now so here we go!

In Morgan news (which is really why any of you read this, I know, so sorry for all the "fluff" above), I was worried that she'd forgotten how to say the word "mama." She hasn't said it in forever and a day but must have heard me say that to Mary yesterday when I picked her up from daycare b/c guess what I heard all night? Mama! Fine by me. LoVeD it.

Morgan is now standing all the time. She gets up, free stands, and then will creep along whatever furniture is holding her up or sit back down to play. She's bringing toys along when she goes to another room - typically her phone, but also other small toys. She's also playing catch with any ball she can find that someone will throw back to her. Sometimes it's funny to watch her try so hard to let go and have the ball seemingly "stick" to her hand until it finally falls out. Morgan and I, while she was swinging tonight, practiced putting her hands over her eyes...so instead of putting two hands over two eyes, she put one hand over her right ear. Silly kid. She knows the body parts nose and belly button, but only on me/picture/baby doll - not herself. I take that back - she attempts to find her bb, but the angles are all wrong. :) Big ol' baby belly.

I weighed Morgan with me and then figured out her weight yesterday and she's sitting somewhere around 24lbs. What!? I asked Mary if I'm overfeeding her but she said no. Morgan doesn't look too chunky monkey or anything - definitely a healthy baby who does not miss a meal though. ;) Just like her momma.

Quick funny - Morgan was squatting at the open door of the dishwasher while I tried to load it and keep her from crawling in at the same time...when it happened. She was squatting at such an angle that when she pooped, it came out the bottom of her diaper and shorts and made about 5 piles on the floor. Which she then put her feet in. Right after Adam left. What to do? Well, grab feet while trying to convince her not to move so I could crazy-fast grab paper towel to attempt a clean up. It all worked out fine, but whose kid poops on the floor fully clothed!??! Mine. Thank God she was wearing shorts or we'd have had a different atmosphere to this paragraph.

Sorry for all the randomness that was this post. At least there were pictures, right?

Please and Blown Kisses!

Apparently, a bunch of neurons have connected in our daughter's brain b/c it's been 48 hours of firsts!

In the mornings now, when there is time for me to have cereal, Morgan has taken to coming to me and practically mauling me to have a few little pieces. I've taken such opportunities to teach her how to sign "please" to request this cereal. So model, hand-over-hand, model, HOH, and guess what. This morning, I got her first "please" sign!! It was great!! It was also really funny b/c instead of making a circular motion with a flat hand on her chest as is the sign for please, she began tapping the side of her belly/ribcage area which was close enough to me!! She did it probably 2-3 more times and then I was done eating and she was off chasing a dog. :) Woo hoo! Signs to date: more, all done, please.

Then...Adam's parents are here this weekend before heading to a condo for the week in western/northwestern Iowa. Adam was still on his way home from Madison and Al, Sherri, Morgan, and I were hanging out outside talking and walking Morgan all around. Al was off doing something and Sherri, Morgan, and I were talking. Morgan suddenly stuck her hand out in the air in such a way that almost looked like a song leader at a Catholic church mass. I looked at her and imitated that movement, and all of a sudden she put her hand to her mouth and then stuck her hand out again. I understood and blew her a kiss back. Back and forth blowing of kisses ensued and I almost teared up but was too excited. How great to have your daughter blow you her first kiss. So very sweet.

One more thing - tonight, Morgan adopted what we now call "crazy baby." She crawls fast, stops, turns around, hands up, hands slam down on the floor, and crawls fast, repeat. Sometimes she's too excited and just sits, swivels, hands up/down, crawl two steps, sits, swivels...and so forth. She really gets going when someone's saying "crazy baby! crazy baby!" in a high pitched voice...but I don't know who would do such a thing. :)

That's all. I'm very very tired. I'm still working on getting into the mindset of FT work and constantly thinking on my feet and hoping it's not obvious that I don't always feel like I know what I'm doing. That said, I need to finish making up the guest bedroom so I can go to bed in mine. :)

PS. Morgan went to bed somewhat difficult last night...come to find tonight when I went to get something from her room, that she had gotten sick a little. Odd, as I felt on her sheets b/c I had suspected that had happened...UGH. Which means it was not boogers on her bunny after all... :-~

Straws and puzzles

More firsts! I have a feeling with a little more practice, Morgan will be drinking reliably from a straw. We were on our way out the door this afternoon so Morgan could go back to Mary's and I could go to class while Adam's out of town. My water bottle with a straw was full so I thought it might be a good time to give straw drinking another try. I made a kind of sucking sound while she had it in her mouth and all of a sudden up came the cold cold water and shock! Morgan gets water. She swallowed and kind of looked at me like, "did that really just happen??" and went back for round 2. She needed a few more tries but then got more. I had to get going so we didn't practice any more, but woo! I see sippy cups fading from our futures when we go out to eat. :-D

So last night Morgan must have spent at least 20 minutes working SO hard to get her letters that are on the fridge into the little "hub" (for lack of better term) that, once said letter is in and pushed, sings the song about what sound the letter makes. Morgan could have cared less about the sound, as she wanted to figure out how to get the letter(s) correctly back into the hub once she pulled them out. She did this over and over, and finally realized that when she had had a hard enough time, she looked up at me, yelled a little, I modeled the sign for "help," and I sort of helped her get it in. By the end of this little time, Morgan was able to get the letters in on her own with some reliability. Today I walked in to get Morgan from daycare the first time, and the first thing Mary asked me was if we'd been working on puzzles at home. I said no, but then told her about what I just wrote about the letters. Apparently, Morgan had taken a GREAT interest in the puzzles at daycare, especially a NINE piece puzzle that a 4 year old had been playing with. And she was trying to use the puzzle appropriately!! I thought that was pretty great for a 10 month, 3 week old baby. :)

I'm so super tired today. It's just lack of sleep, don't get all excited about pregnancy or anything. We're not there yet anyway, so no worries. So now I'm going to post the pictures in the previous post I'd promised, have a cookie, let the dogs out one last time (and pray they don't bark like they're trying to at the moment at nothing), and then crawl in bed as early as possible and try to touch base with the He-man today. Enjoy the pictures, and TG(tomorrow)IF.