Oh, Gracie Girl, you are already 14 months! How did that happen? I hate so much that I have not done a very good job of documenting on our family blog your first year.... I don't think I will ever forgive myself for that.... I promise to make it up to you, though, sweet girl. Over the past several months, we have just been busy living and enjoying life; just loving our family of four! Our family that you came into and so perfectly filled a gap that we didn't even know was there. Things are busy these days, that's for sure, but we're busy living, loving, laughing, just eating up all this goodness that God has so generously thrown our way! And oh my goodness, is it good, and you, my dear princess, are the cherry on top ;). You are a happy ray of sunshine that keeps us on our toes! A social little butterfly that spreads smiles on the lips of everyone you meet. I cannot even think about you or say your name without a smile on my face. I think that's how you get away with what you do. You're so used to getting your way that one little "no" leaves you with your head down, in tears, heart broken. Yeah, you're slightly spoiled and VERY dramatic.... Daddy blames Mommy for this. Mommy blames Mommy for this. Yep, it's my fault. But, you're Gracie Girl, our Lil' Mama, my Little Princess, Daddy's Little Buttercup, Tucker's "Gra Gra". You're Anna Grace :).
Here's a little about you at 14 months:
1. At your 12 month check up you weighed 22 pounds (50%) and were in the 75th percentile for your height. Not quite the chunker you were in your earlier months. You've definitely slimmed up since you began walking (at a little over 9 months!). Now you run everywhere lol!
2. You wear size 4 diapers, 18 months in clothes (mostly but your wardrobe ranges from 12 months to 24 months these days), and size 6 shoe.
3. You have 10 teeth, 4 across the front, 4 across the bottom, and your top molars. We're waiting on the bottom molars and those nasty eye teeth. You are an awesome teether. I didn't even realize you had cut your molars until we were at the doctor for your well check and Dr. Lyon checked your mouth and said, "Oh she has her molars already!"
4. You nurse about 4-5 times a day and a TON at night.
5. Which leads to sleep.... You go to bed fine at about 8:00. Our bedtime routine is to take a bath, get a night night snack, brush teeth, read 2 books, nurse, pray, sing a song and you go in your crib awake. You go to sleep just fine. But, then you're up around 11:00 and 1:00. After that, I don't really know how many times you get up because we usually just bring you to bed with us at that point. All I know is you nurse at least 3-4 times after that... We gotta get this sleep thing together Buttercup!
6. You take 2 good naps through the day. Typically about 9:00 and 1:30 and for about 1 1/2 hours each.
7. You LOVE bath time, especially with your brother. Whenever we say, "Gracie, are you ready for a bath?" you will immediately run to the bathroom no matter where we are in the house. At the end of your bath, you love to wait until all the water is gone from the tub and then "swim" and slide around. You crack up, it's so much fun!
8. You also L-O-V-E your brother. You will run into his room when you hear him wake up from his nap. You follow him around all day, trying to do what he does. You love to play with him, in his room, with his trucks.
You prefer the booster seat at the table to your high chair so you can be like him. You want to drink from a big girl cup and sit on the potty to be like your brother. When he gets his silky, you go get yours. When he's pushing his trucks around, you go get a truck and get down on your hands and knees and push the truck around just like him.
9. Which leads into my next number - You need to stop trying to do things you are not yet big enough to do! You climb on EVERYTHING. You get into EVERYTHING. Sometimes (most times), it's hard to keep up with you! But I got to because I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself trying to do all the things that you aren't big enough to do yet! Seriously, it is impossible to get anything done while you are awake.
10. You sign more, nurse, all done, book, open, thank you, water, eat, please, at?, no, and pray.
You also say lots of words. From the top of my head I can think of Mama, Da Da, ball, mo mo (more), Maemew (nurse), Duttur (Tucker), at, sheese (cheese), cacka (cracker), day (pray), bibe-a (bible), bay-bay (baby), wawa (water), stop, baa (bath), bubba (paci)...... I'm sure there's a few more...
11. You LOVE to read books. You will sit by yourself and flip through book after book. You will also get a book and bring it to Daddy or I and crawl up in our lap and want us to read to you. Of course, you have to be the one to flip the pages, and we usually cannot make it through the book before you are climbing down for another. On the rare occasion that you become quiet in another room, I can pretty much bet you are on the floor flipping through a book.
12. You know where your hair, nose, mouth, belly, ears, eyes, and toes are.
13. You LOVE to brush your teeth. You climb right up on Tucker's stool. You can barely reach the water with the tooth brush, but you manage. You go into the bathroom, get under the sink, and drag your tooth brush out all the time. We have to close the bathroom door just to keep you from brushing your teeth all day long!
14. You love spinach, broccoli, and edemamas. You'll eat about anything, but a few bites is enough. I'd say you don't have a big appetite, but I think you just nurse so much that you're not that hungry at meal times. I'm hoping once we're done nursing your appetite increases (though I am in NO hurry to wean!). I'm not worried about it; your brother was the same way. What I am worried about is how messy you are when you eat! I joke that you're lucky we love you because it can be a huge chore just feeding you lol! Miss Messy Pants!
15. Oh, and I have to go over by one... You LOVE shoes. You will bring me shoes to put on you all day long. You want to try on Tucker's shoes, Daddy's shoes, Mommy's shoes, and will even stop when we're out somewhere and check out stranger's shoes lol! This does worry us somewhat!
Oh Gracie! We love you to the moon and back times a million times infinite! I could not imagine being the mommy to any other little girl. In the book "God Gave Us You," the baby bear asks his mommy, "Do you ever wish God gave you a different baby, like Samuel the Seal or Fredricka the Fox?" His mommy responds, "Never, ever. God gave us you and we wouldn't trade you for the world."
Gracie Girl, you are so perfect. Everything about you. No matter how busy you keep mama. No matter how much you do not like to sleep at night. No matter how messy you are. I would not change one little thing about you. The thought of your smile can make gray skies blue. That may sound corny, but I'm serious. One smile from you and if it's a bad day, suddenly everything's okay. My heart overflows with love for you. I want you to stay little forever, but I also can't wait for you to grow up and for us to be best friends. I hope you know that you can always come to me about and for anything. Daddy and I will always be here for you, and I have no doubt that your big brother will be right by your side as well :).
Love you Lil' Mama!
Love,
Mommy
