14 Months Old

 

4/22/2014
Just shy of 20 lbs.
Size 3 diapers
Size 12 month clothing

 My baby girl continues to turn into a toddler and I'm not sure how I feel about it.  She is absolutely all over the place.  This new found adventure of walking sure keeps me on my toes.  She follows me all over the house and gets into everything.  She still falls down every once in a while, but she  has really found her balance in the last few weeks.  She no longer has to hold her arms out to the side when she walks.  Her eating and sleeping has been a little finicky this month due to teething (still at 5 teeth, but 2 more have been going up and down all month).  She loves tomatoes and any fruit that we set in front of her.  She points her finger now at everything, it helps me figure out a little better what she is wanting, but she has also developed a little bit of an attitude when she doesn't get what she wants (I knew it was only a matter of time).  It has been fun teaching her different body parts.  She finally knows where her nose is, although sometimes she gets it mixed up with her toes since they sounds so much a like.  She also know where her tummy(her favorite), ears, hair, and toes are.  She loves the song head, shoulders, knees, and toes.  She still loves books, we read at least 20 a day.  She has figured out how to back up and sit down all by herself.  Her favorite place is the bottom step, it is the perfect height for her.  She loves to sit in all chairs, but especially the ones that are her size.  We were at a friends house for a birthday party and they had a little rocking chair and she did not want to get out.  We have been on the search for a little chair for her but have yet to find one.  She also loves her purse.  I brought out one of my old purses and she loves to walk around with it on her shoulder.  She will also drag anything she possibly can all over the house, i.e. my gym bag, her bag of legos, her stuffed animals, etc.  One thing that I'm not a big fan of is that she has figured out that the DVD player and cable box has buttons that she can press.  We are constantly having to turn the DVD player off or closing it and she always seems to turn off the cable box when we are watching one of my shows and not while we are watching a cartoon.

She dragged this balloon around the house for almost 2 weeks

 The weather has been nice this month so we have tried to get outside as much as possible.  We have gone to both the zoo and botanical gardens a couple of times and we try to hit up the park at least once a week and Daddy has even been able to come a couple of times. She loves that she can walk around and be more involved with the other kids.  Playgroup is now a lot more fun for her, she loves to follow the other kids around.  She absolutely loves the swings and slides, the higher we push her and the bigger the slide the better.  Whenever we get to the park she gets so excited and starts pointing at everything and laughing.

she fell asleep on the way home from the zoo with her balloon (yes the same one)

Here's a few more pictures from throughout the month and if you can't tell from the pictures, she's got herself quite the personality.

trying on mom's slippers

Her new stuffed animal (a doggy)

Happy Easter!

 We had a wonderful Easter Sunday together as a family.  We didn't do an Easter egg hunt or a basket for her (I promise I'll do better next year), but I don't think she knew she was missing out on anything.  Our ward choir did a beautiful Easter program.  Brooklyn loved the music like always.  After her nap we were able to enjoy the sunshine by going on a walk around the neighborhood and then we had our Easter feast.  We did a ham, funeral potatoes, green salad, rolls, and a banana cream pie.  It turned out great, if I do say so myself.  All-in-all it was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to remember the sacrifice our Savior made for us and how we are so blessed to be able to be a family forever and i can't explain how much that means to me.  I will forever have this wonderful family of mine and no one and nothing can't take that away from me thanks to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

On Saturday, April 19th, we went to our first Redbirds game of the season with some friends from school.  It was perfect weather and we were excited to get out of the house and out into the sun.  We laid out a blanket and brought our dinner and watched the game from the bluff.  Brooklyn loved being around so many kids and people.  She didn't care that she only knew a few of the people sitting around, she was just happy that there were people everywhere.  For the most part she just hung out on our blanket eating all of the Kowallis' Pringles, even though we had a can of our own, and then every once in a while we would take turns walking around with her.  The mascot came over by us and Brooklyn just took off after him, so I handed her to him, but then she had a similar reaction to him as she did to Santa.  I guess they are just better from a distance. She loved to dance anytime they put on music in between innings. After the game was over they had fireworks and this was Brooklyn's first experience with them and she was totally mesmerized.  I just laid back on the blanket and she laid on top of me and she just stared at them.  She fell asleep on the drive home and luckily fell right back to sleep when we laid her in her crib, I was a little nervous since we don't transfer her super often.  It was a super fun night and we can't wait to go to another game.

Taking in the ballpark

Best seat in the house

Watching fireworks

The National Civil Rights Museum

On Monday, April 15th, Craig had the afternoon off so we decided to check a few things off our "Memphis To-Do" list (this list contains things we want to do and see in Memphis before we leave, but mainly it is a bunch of restaurants we want to eat at).  Luckily the museum gives free admission to Tennessee residents on Monday afternoons, which is awesome because it saved us $30.  We could have easily spent 4 plus hours going through the museum, but with an antsy 1 year old we felt pretty good about being there an hour and a half.  The museum is located at the Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed) and just had its grand re-opening last weekend.  They did a fantastic job with it.  It is hard to even imagine the cruelty that was suffered for hundreds of years and that sadly is still felt today at times.  They kept referring to it as an act of terrorism, I had never thought of it that way, but it definitely fits the description.  We learned a lot and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

After the museum we walked over to a restaurant that was on the show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, which you could say I am slightly obsessed with, called South of Beale.  It was just a small gastro pub with no high chairs, but the food was delicious.  We got a few small plates to share including duck fried rice (my favorite), chicken and waffle sliders (Craig's most recent southern obsession), and cat fish and chips.  It was all really good.  We've got just over a year left in Memphis and a whole lot more places to cross off our list.

Joining Rosa Parks on the bus

Brooklyn contributing to the sit-in

Making herself comfortable in the jail cell

She kept turning the knobs, luckily it didn't do anything

she loves when she is tall enough to reach things