Easter Weekend 2011

We had a FABULOUS weekend this past Easter weekend. I easily remember pictures from last year's Easter and to pair them with the child that is Morgan this year really blew us away. Last Easter, she was just starting to sit up on her own for short seconds of time. This year, she's going up steps by holding a hand on the wall. Last year, she had no words and I was praying she'd get the sign for "more" any day. This year she's speaking in 1-2 word utterances, has a few spontaneous 3-word utterances, and will repeat anything (beware!) we say. It's amazing the difference a year makes. I'm sure we'll think of much of the same next year. Sigh.

adam's parents were down this weekend so G&G means grandma & grandpa, FYI. Morgan took a few more giant developmental (in my eyes) leaps this past weekend.

1. I looked down the stairs as Morgan and G&G were coming up. Morgan was leading the way...on her FEET. She had one hand on the wall and going up the stairs like I do, except she was going two feet per step instead of one...I almost teared up a little. Too big, too fast.
2. Morgan's verbal  skills continue to grow. See first paragraph. :)
3. She now recognizes where we are locally when driving. Any time we come near our subdivision, she starts saying, "Ays house?" (Mary's house) and we tell to wait until we actually get there. This also happens when we leave church - she says, "himming?" - you guessed it - church is very near the YMCA where she has her lessons. Unbelievable. 
4. Morgan's fine motor skills are way ahead of where they need to be. She can put tiny things in tiny holes, use a spoon with ease and minimal-no spilling, and is getting better at opening things on her own. 
5. Shoes...she loves shoes. This past weekend she was obsessed with wearing her grandma's shoes all over the house. She also tries to put her own shoes on all the time and then looks like she's walking in heels since they never get on all the way. I told Adam she's just getting ready for heels later. He swears she's getting ready for cleats. ;-)

While I'm writing this, she's fighting her afternoon nap. Bah. Of COURSE she'd do this on the afternoon she has to be at the doctor at 4pm for her 18-month well-check. Now she's yelling potty! poop! instead of mommy since I'm not answering. Too bad she did both right before she went down. Sigh.Silence? Could it be? Nah. That was too fast. I'll keep you posted.

Speaking of 18 month well check, I'm going to take a stab at what I think her stats are (ps I have NO idea how these guesses relate to percentiles at this point): Height: 33-33.5", Weight: 25-26.5lbs, Head Circumference: huge as it always has been. :) We shall see how close I am. And damn! A giant squeal-giggle followed by 10 billion more "mama"s.

Let's see, what else did we do this weekend...well, G&G came into town just before 9 on Thursday night. Friday morning it was junky outside so we had an indoor Easter egg hunt since it was raining and Adam was scheduled to be at an all-day softball tourney on Saturday. It went well except it took a while since she had to eat every teddy graham that was in each egg. :) Later that day, it was still gross outside but had cleared up enough for the guys to go golfing locally. Sherri and I hung out with Morgan and planned how we were going to attack making Easter dinner. We got a late start but it was very good. We then went to check out the flooding Mississippi which is currently at the 6th worst flood on record. It's really not a big deal but it's almost funny to watch other people freak out about it, especially on the news.

Saturday, Adam's tourney was canceled since the fields were so wet so we went to the QCs for errands, shopping, and lunch. Morgan did very well the entire time which was nice. We went to this place called Teske's that I'd heard about but didn't know where it was until we sort of stumbled upon it. It's this garden/pet store and I was in heaven as soon as I saw this little tiny black Schnoodle. Oh she was SO so so so cute and I would have done anything in my power to have this little black 8-week-old fluff ball except then it would mean I'd have to potty train it, make sure Jessie didn't destroy it, and then have THREE dogs and a toddler to take care of when Adam travels...so I opted out. Sad though...she was lovely. I told Adam that at some point I'm getting a lap dog who really IS a lap dog and not just thinks she is and is huge. :) Naps all around in the afternoon before Adam and I went on an impromtu date to see the movie "Water for Elephants." It was the best of the 5 movies playing at tiny Muscatine's theater and it turned out to be a really great movie. Neither of us had heard of it and when I saw the word 'circus' in the description, I kind of wondered how good it was going to be, but I'd highly recommend it. Adam also enjoyed it. And of course, we ate WAY. TOO. MUCH. Popcorn.

Sunday we went to late church and out for lunch before G&G left for the weekend. We're always so excited to have visitors and have a great time. It was the conclusion of the first of two visitor weekends, as my brother Ross and his wife, Kristen, are coming next weekend. Adam's brother Tom, and his fiance, Carrie (this is new information!! HAPPY ENGAGEMENT guys!!) are planning to come in May and we'll be home back to back weekends in May/June.

I have more to say but I'll say it later with her 18 month stat post. It's 3pm. She's still yelling for me. We have to leave in 45 minutes for her appointment. 30 minute nap this morning. We might be so very screwed...wish us luck.

"Beh hoo"

You will now find that anyone who says "Achooooo!" will receive a "Beh hoo!" (bless you) from Morgan. I don't know if she just picked this up by listening to us say it to her, but it's dang cute.

Why is it that Morgan pretends like she hasn't eaten for two weeks on swimming lesson nights and I sit there and wonder as she's asking for more "noodohs!" (noodles) if I'm going to see them in reverse in the pool. So far, so good. ::crosses fingers for the future::

Morgan's been getting up earlier and earlier each morning this week. This morning it was 5:50am right after I got in the shower. Dear Morgan, we have a FOUR day weekend starting tomorrow. Sleep until at least 7am, please, and you will have SUPER happy parents to come get you in the morning. Sleep, child, sleeeeep.

Have I mentioned that I'm super excited for this weekend? I am. I guess Morgan did very well at her daycare Easter egg hunt today so I have high hopes that she will do the same here...if the rain holds off tomorrow. We are having it tomorrow b/c of Adam's softball tourney all day Saturday and then all the busy-ness that will be Sunday morning with church, breakfast, and sending off Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Al.

Off to finish up last-second pick ups as G&G should be here any minute!! Let the 4-day weekend begin!!

18 Months (and a day late)

Oops. Lost track of time in all my proud-ness for being a "fit and active" (ha ha ha, you can laugh with me, it's ok) mom and forgot to blog on her 18-month birthday!!! And what an 18 months it has been so far...Here goes! Stick with me if you can...

• Morgan is a genius. I'd have put a cuss word in front of 'genius' but I'm trying not to act like I'm 15 anymore. (good luck, self) We love watching her figure things out and it's beyond amazing what that kid picks up such as...
• Letters. She continues to learn more of the letters of the alphabet and was easily entertained yesterday while we were picking up Papa Murphy's pizza to wander around and check out all signs at her level and tell me the letters she knew on them. Sweet Jesus, that's amazing to me.
• Numbers. What. My kid knows numbers too now??? Monday night while playing, I started counting with her as part of our play and sure enough, she almost made it to ten (with some initial word prompting) but I didn't even know she could go past three!! THEN, while in the bath that night, she was playing with her numbers and letters and she knew the number 5. Then she nonchalantly hands me the 7 and says, "heben." Woah. Maybe all kids do this? Still floors me.
• Morgan is sleeping well now (hello, jinx). I've heard it gets harder as they get older. I'm savoring it now while friends of mine with kids a year or so older than Morgan go through the difficult bedtimes and up at night for random things. Our nights of sleeping are numbered...
• Sometimes I feel like I don't challenge her enough to learn new things. I realize I'm paranoid. I'm over it.
• Potty training is pretty much complete. She hasn't had an accident for quite some time and if we're only counting waking hours, she's potty trained. Sweet.
• Morgan can now complete a 9-piece shape sorter and even identify some of them if we name them for her. I think this is awesome.
• Morgan continues to explode with her vocabulary and her 2-word utterances are increasing. This makes me a happy SLP-mommy camper!
• She continues to follow 2-step directions with greater ease and accuracy. Go brain cells!
• Morgan now LOVE going up and down steps with alternating feet while holding our hands or the wall. I know I said this in a previous post but she giggles when she does this. Tee hee hee...

I think that's all for now mostly because my brain is on off since I'm tired. In-laws are coming tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it! Should be a GREAT Easter weekend and we're eager to finally spend it with family this year. 

Who was this good girl at church?

Morgan was SUCH a good girl in church this morning. Since Adam didn't go to his softball tourney yesterday with all the rain, wind, and SNOW (WTH) (it was postponed until April 30th), he went golfing this morning (I have feelings about this but whatever. I'm not changing his mind this summer). But back to my good little girlie...it's always a gamble taking her to church alone but today she was my cutie in a green dress and white tights. She could have used a little more whispering than loud "HIs!!!" but meh, we sat in the back where that sort of thing is expected. I just have to say that she was SO good for me all by myself. Yesssss.

We've had a good weekend so far save for the YUCK weather we had yesterday. Friday night I met Adam at Keiblers' after his flight landed and we participated in "Stir Crazy: Mexican" (or something like that). It consists of people coming with predetermined ingredients, getting into 2 teams, divvying up the ingredients and "stealing" the good ones from each other until they're all sorted, and then cooking a three-course meal from those ingredients with sheer talent alone. No recipes. It was a great time and showed me that I'm better at cutting items than cooking them when it comes to Mexican food. I might have to start working with this more on the weekends...it was SO good! We stayed until about 10:45 and then left to relieve the sitter...speaking of...

We braved (and by we I mean I) a new high school sitter on Friday. Her name is Tia, she's the daughter of someone Adam works for, and I had no problems with her but was more concerned that Morgan would cry the entire time, not go to sleep, and just be a naughty little monkey. Tia got here a little early so I left them in the playroom (basement) so I could go write down phone numbers and make dinner for Morgan (mac n cheese, yum). Morgan didn't even notice I was gone and then wouldn't come upstairs to eat when I was leaving b/c she was having too much fun. Needless to say, I practically skipped out the door without nary a tear from the she-child to go have all the fun. Whew. New Year's Resolution, complete. I have NO problem leaving Morgan with Tia from here on out. Yeah!

Saturday, we decided to go run errands in the morning to the Quad Cities since Adam wasn't playing and I had a few things that absolutely needed to be purchased there this weekend (thank you lovely Muscatine for your "fabulous" shopping selections). Things went...well...ok. Morgan had taken a 15 minute nap which will once in a while suffice on a busy morning. Today was not that day. So there was often fussing, crying, and overall her being "that kid" in the store. It eventually frayed my nerves and I was SO. READY. to go home it wasn't even funny. Thankfully I got a majority of my errands run (stupid victoria secret for not carrying undies in my size...I'm not THAT huge) and could go home and take a nap with Morgan. Adam worked on a few bathroom projects that have had items purchased for months to do but not done yet. Yeah! I'm pretty excited about these new transpirings and hope they continue.

The rest of the day after her giant 2+ hour nap (and mine too - whew! I had needed that), we hung out around the house while we played, Adam worked on his projects, and eventually we all made our way down to the basement to watch some Dora and hang out as a family. I could not seem to shake my bad attitude, unfortunately, and was just overall crabby most of the rest of the day. Thankfully today I seem to have shaken that so onward, ho. I have no idea why I was crabby. I can't tell you how many times I'd snap or say something dumb, look at Adam, and almost start laughing b/c it was so stupid that I'd get crabby about whatever just happened. Meh. Day over.

I'd like to take a nap right now, but yesterday I didn't hear Morgan wake up from her afternoon nap (A heard her) so I'm worried she'd be yelling "mama! potty!!" and I'd be comfy on my couch and not hear her. We shall see...if I doze off, I'm not complaining.

Off to said potential dozing off. I'm not doing anything until Adam comes home. Except playing and relaxing, of course. :)

Swimming Lessons!

So we finally restarted swimming lessons after a rather long hiatus and Morgan....LOVED it. She splashed, kicked, *tried* going on her back but wasn't the biggest fan, blew 2 bubbles (otherwise licked at the water), CLUNG to these two toys when the toys came out while desperately wanting to play with all the other ones, and put both ears in the water 3x each. She was fine with coming out but when she realized she wasn't going back in, it got a little rough. :-D Nothing a raisin snack chaser didn't help with. But oddly enough I'm rather tuckered out from swimming lessons, so it might be an early night for me...after some apple pie and whipped cream, that is.

But now I'm tuckered out, glad it's Friday tomorrow, but also am a little nervous b/c I'm testing out my New Year's Resolution and we're trying a new sitter. I've heard she's great but I'm just scared that Morgan's going to cry the entire time. We're going to a party where you bring a few pre-determined ingredients and then have to create based on what you have and the knowledge in your group. No recipes. Should be fun....so long as I don't find out Morgan's at home bawling. Get over it, self. Get over it.

By apple pie, I meant grapefruit. Suddenly citrus sounds better. Maybe I'm still sick. Who wouldn't want apple crumb pie and whipped cream!? Too bad I don't have room for both.

Obviously I hated the old font I tried. I think this one is significantly better and maybe one that might stick for more than 4 days.

Holy random thoughts post, batman.

Morgan's New Skills

I realize I haven't updated solely on Morgan's skills in quite some time and noticed a few things this week that were new, so if I put anything in that I've already mentioned in the past week or two, well, then don't read it. ;-) Morgan's hot new skills include:

• Gross Motor: Morgan now prefers, with hand-holding (one up, two down), to go up and down stairs on her feet instead of hands and knees. She started doing this going UPstairs, but down was tricky as only one little leg was allowed to bend and bear her weight...but she's getting good and giggles while doing it most of the time.
• Fine Motor: Morgan has now pretty much mastered using a spoon. Her wrist coordination is quite impressive, actually, and she can eat yogurt and cottage cheese on her own save for the little shnivels at the end. Soup or cereal? Not so sure there.
• Expressive Language: Morgan now uses many many single word utterances (primary), several two word utterances (still emerging), and some "pat" three-word phrases (I did it, There it is). She continues to improve and gain new language daily. 
• Receptive Language: Morgan follows one step directions (save for the fact that she's a toddler and likes to refuse some) and has gotten a pretty good grasp on two step related/unrelated directions especially if there's something yummy involved ("Morgan, put your shoes away and then we'll have a snack). We're working really hard on first/then to help decrease her frustration and tantruming even though I'm very aware that much of that is her age. 
• Morgan would spend 99% of her waking hours outside if she could. If we're not eating and it's nice outside, chances are Morgan is at the door yelling, "Ow-side!!" and out we go. Favorite outdoor past times include: writing with sidewalk chalk and standing on the letters mom writes/says as well as naming many of them, kicking/throwing/playing ball with her balls and Jessie's balls, swinging (endlessly), walking around taking in the world around her, finding the moon and yelling "MOON!" (what's the poor kid going to do when it's not daytime moon anymore?), helping get the mail, going for walks, bubbles, and pretty much any and everything we can think of to do outside. I heart this time with her. It's great watching her explore (but not so great watching her fall and skin her knees). 

I think those are the major highlights for now. After a sort of craptastic start to the week, I must say today was a great turn-around. I feel a million times better, Morgan, although grumpy most of the day, was absolutely adorable in her pink and purple sparkly outfit we broke out (think pink/purple/gold tutu with matching leggings and tshirt), and low and behold a bouquet of my wedding lilies showed up at work for me this afternoon. Now it's starting to smell like my wedding in my house and I love it. Feeling like a pretty lucky girl today...

I got the sickness

Morgan had a stomach bug on Saturday but you'd never know it b/c she was constantly running all over the place and only taking time to "be sick" while going to the bathroom. Well, being the "careful" mom I am, I wasn't careful and totally got it. I was up at 4am this morning wondering why my stomach hurt and then wham from all directions. Oh well. Just like that my crazy day got much slower after all the cancellations I had to do and sent Morgan off to daycare. 1) She was SO good for me even though I felt like junk and 2) thank you God that Mary lives two doors down. And of course I drove there. :)

"Negotiations" last night went very well. I feel better about the whole thing and can't wait for a hug on Friday night. The end. Back to resting although so far I'm keeping fluids in so maybe this is going to be a short bug like Morgan's was on Saturday. Whew.