Dear Little Peanut,

You are FOURTEEN MONTHS OLD! (And a couple weeks...I'm quite behind on the updates).  I'm going to go straight into the list of amazing things you can do.  You are my favorite and I love you.

Fact about YOU:

- Size 3 diapers, size 12-18 month clothing (still big), size 4 shoes (but I bought some SUPER cute size 5 shoes that I'm just dying for you to grow into).

- As of today you weigh 20.2 pounds.  Still my teeny peanut.  

- We transitioned you to whole milk b/c you started refusing all alternative milks we offered and I was sure you were not getting enough fat in your diet which would lead to slow brain development (don't tell me I overreact...I'm a mom).  HOWEVER.  You are sick now, and have been sick for a week, and today we took you to the doctor.  After a prescription for breathing treatments and antibiotics if you don't get better, the nurse told me it was probably because I started you on dairy.  Milk is evil.  I'm a terrible mom.  We're dumping the whole milk tonight and I guess we'll just hope your brain does ok.

- You got your first skinned knee yesterday and you took it like a champ.

- You can go down the big kid slide at the playground.

- You love Stella and play so well with her.  You lean over so she'll lick you in the ear and just DIE laughing when she does.

- You can throw a ball pretty far.  Your daddy has high hopes for your athleticism.

- Your hair is finally getting longer, but I think we'll have a typical baby mullet before it looks normal.

- Favorite foods are avocado, hummus, puffs, and eggs.

- You have 11 teeth!  3 molars are in.  You were absolutely miserable while they were coming in and ran a low-grade fever the whole time.  At least we had some good snuggles in the middle of the night.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things.  I'm really going to try to be better at documenting your fabulousness.  We love you punkin!  

And now, some iPhone pics since I wasn't able to take an "official" one:

Lovin the Valentines bear Nana gave you

 Playing outside with your puppy

 Hangin with me while I was terribly sick

 Rocking the summer sandals

 This is how I dress you for outside play.  But don't worry, it's just when we're in our backyard and no one else can see you.

 Searching for pebbles

 I seriously turned my back for one second after I undressed you for a bath, and this is what I found

 Helping build our raised vegetable bed

 Daddy worked hard

 Out at our favorite Italian restaurant

 You sleep with these three friends every night

Dear Little Peanut,

You are 13 months old!  I just love spending time with you right now.  It is hilarious.  You are the funniest little person I know.  And you have tons of energy!  We can chase each other around the house for EVER.  But you also like to snuggle, and  those moments are so precious.  Our favorite time of day is after your bath.  You get in your PJs and all of us cram into your room for some play time and book reading before bed.  If I could bottle up those moment to re-live later I would.  We love you so much!

Some facts about YOU:

- Size 3 diapers, Target brand.  Size 12-18 month clothes, although a lot are still baggy.  Size 4 shoes, but I'm thinking you will soon be a size 5.
- You sleep from 8PM to 7AM consistently unless you're teething.  You have a very regular morning nap from 10AM to 12PM and you are trying to drop you're afternoon nap.  I still fight for it when I'm with you :-)
- You still suck your thumb, but only when you are sleepy.
- You are completely weaned.  It wasn't a very hard transition for you, since I wasn't making very much milk.  We tried plain almond milk, which you love, but it doesn't have very much fat.  We're now on to coconut milk and I think you're starting to really like it.
- You still have your dairy sensitivity, but we're used to it so it's not hard to find things to eat.  Your favorite foods are sun butter sandwiches, salmon, avocados, puffs, and sweet potatoes.
- You are getting in your bottom molars right now, and they look so painful!  Poor baby.
- I get worried sometimes because you don't say many words (I may have had a certain someone do an informal evaluation to ease my mind...I can't help it), but I can tell you are on the verge of breaking out all sorts of vocabulary.  Right now you say "yes", "hot", "hi" and "shoes" very clearly.
- You can sign more, please, and all done.  You use "please" all the time.  It's so hard for me to say no to that!
- You love Stella.  She is the first person you want to say Good Morning to.  You two play well together, even though you pet her a little too hard sometimes.
- You love to dance and clap and listen to music.  Itsy Bitsy Spider is your top fave right now.
- When we ask "Where is blank?", you hold up your hands and shrug your shoulders. When you find whatever it is you're looking for, you point and say something that sounds kinda like "there it is!".
- You LOVE playing outside in the backyard.  Even when it's freezing cold out.  You point at your shoes and coat to let me know when you want to go.  Stella chases you and you throw the soccer ball for her.  You both try to eat bark.  I took some pictures of you on your 13th month-day.  It was cloudy and you were in your bummy clothes, but you still look precious to me!

This is your serious face

 Feeding Stella bark

 Throwing the soccer ball

 I'm pretty sure running with the ball isn't allowed

 Your first taste of dirt.  You liked it.  Gross.

From my iPhone

A photo montage of our past week or so:

Check out that super fab jean jacket, compliments of Nana.  We were at our favorite local Italian restaurant that we frequent quite...um...frequently.

 I just love the sunsets from our backyard.  Too bad it's too cold to hang out on the porch!

 Sometimes I'm a bad mom and let her run around outside in socks.  She likes it.

Her first Sunday NOT in the nursery.  Here she is in a big girl chair.  I seriously had tears in my eyes watching this.  She also had her first taste of crayon...

 Baby butt crack

 She has a tendency to throw everything out of her crib one by one when she wakes up.  She removed her blanket, two stuffed animals, and her socks.  She looks super angry in this pic, but she was just playing around.

 Pasta face

I hit the button on my phone where you can see yourself when you're videoing and this is what she did...

Birthday Girl

Ok, here it is.  The big birthday recap.  I think I've been putting off writing this post because the fact that my baby has been here for a whole year truly affects me.  I couldn't help but constantly reflect back last week.  I would be like, "hey P, remember what we were doing EXACTLY a year ago...I was walking the mall/crying about still being pregnant/etc".  When Saturday rolled around I went through that whole day back in 2010 over again in my mind.  Mom was in town (of course).  She drove me to the mall and we walked and walked and walked.  Nothing happened.  We got back to the apartment that night and decided we would have pizza for dinner.  I remember sitting there waiting for the delivery guy, thinking, ok I'm done.  I'm just going to settle for an induction on Monday and in the mean time eat as much pizza as I want!  Then my water broke.  The rest is history you can read about in my birth story.

Saturday was an amazing day, at least for me, and I hope it was for the Peanut too.  I did not plan her party very far in advance.  In fact, it could officially be called "last minute".  Why, you ask, would a mom choose to plan her daughter's VERY FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY at the last minute??  I'm a terrible planner.  The holiday season completely overwhelmed me and by the time Christmas got here I was so behind, I was lucky to get presents under the tree.  So by the time that was over, the BIG DAY was in two weeks.  So, there was no theme or cute personalized purchases made in advance.  But there were several people that came to celebrate my baby.  And that's really all that matters.  Plus P made a slideshow that just kills me.  Dead.  On that note, I'll go to the monthly update.

Dear Little Peanut,
You are one year old!  We're still trying to get you to hold up one finger when we ask you how old you are.  Technically you have graduated into "Toddler" status, but I'm still going to call you my baby.  Actually, I'll probably call you my baby forever.  Get used to it.  You have grown so much this year!  Maybe not a whole lot in size (you're a teeny punkin), but you know how to do so many things!  I watch you play and learn and it's amazing how you can figure things out for yourself.  I love hanging out with you.  It's completely different from when  you were a newborn.  Back then I loved holding you because you were so sweet and snuggly and tiny.  But you just slept the whole time and could barely open your eyes long enough to give me confirmation that you even knew I was there.  Now we really get to enjoy each other.  You make me laugh and I make you laugh and we really have fun together.  Being your mom is amazing.  I couldn't imagine life without you.  You are so happy and sweet and funny and brave and smart.  And I'm only a little bit biased :-)

Some facts about YOU:
- Still in size 4 diapers.  We've been using Target brand, but had to buy emergency Pampers last week.  Surprisingly, I prefer Target.
- You're in 12-18 month clothes but they're big on you.  You wear size 4 shoes but only have  few pairs because I can't find any that I like.  They all have stuff on them!
- You go to bed around 8:30 and wake around 7.  It's AWESOME.  You are also still on a two nap schedule.
- I only nurse you in the morning and before bed.  I'm not sure how long I'll keep it up, but I'm not quite ready to give it up yet.  You are off of formula and now drink almond milk.
- Your favorite food is hummus.  Or anything that mommy or daddy is eating.  You're a very good eater and haven't hit the picky stage yet.
- You love Stella to pieces and you two play well together.  You will go get one of her toys and hold it up so she bites it, and then you'll play tug of war.  It's super cute.
- Your favorite toy right now is your birthday present, the slide.  You climb up the slide then turn around and slide back down.  We clap and make a big deal out of it so you'll keep doing it.  You also love the container your bath toys came in.  Go figure.
- You have started to pick out your own books.  You'll grab one and hold it up to me.  When I take it you sit yourself down in my lap ready to read.
- You aren't saying words yet (which freaks me out a bit but the pediatrician told me to chill out), but you will repeat "hot".
- You sign "more" and "all done".  We're working on "please", which you've done a few times already.
- At your 12 month Dr. visit you got a gold star.  At 18 pounds you are in the 15th percentile for weight, which is right where you've been.  The Dr. also told us you're getting some molars in.  Poor baby.
- You watch Yo Gabba Gabba with Nana every day and you love it.  You like to dance to the songs.
- You know what "No" means, but you hate to obey it.  You will most of the time, but you can see that it's a struggle for you.  Especially when it's about getting into dog food.

That's all I can think of at the moment.  I love you to pieces.  You have my heart.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

And now, some pictures:

Homemade cupcakes

Homemade banner

Homemade cake (but I bought the candle!)

Homemade tutu wreath (which now hangs on her door)

First time on the slide

 Birthday girl!

 Trying to hang with the big kids

 Sliding with Uncle Nene

Peanut and Stella

Trying to hang with the big kids again

Peanut and Mommy

 The big moment

 She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do at first...

 Then she got it...

 

 And even tried to share

 Happy Birthday precious girl!

Christmas Morning in Pictures

I'm tired.  I'm recuperating.  I'm in birthday recovery mode.  Therefore, Christmas will be summed up with the following Peanut pictures.  I wish I could narrate a bit more, but that would require multiple full sentences.  Can't.  Tired.

First glimpse of the tree Christmas morning.

 New toy cars.  Girlie toy cars.

 Bath toys.  This girl loves to bathe.

 Surrounded and doesn't know where to start.

 The tissue paper was a hit.

 Introduction to her new lion.

 His name is Cordy Roy.  Clever.

 Don't mind me.  I obviously chose to sleep in instead of get dressed Christmas morning.  

 BOOKS!!!  Her favorite toys.

 Giving her new bear some love.

 Rocking the gingerbread PJs

 Merry Belated Christmas from the Peanut!

Birthday pictures to come.  I promise.