Hannah: 18 Months

24 pounds

31.50 inches tall

I haven't done a Baby update since Hannah turned 1, so this one is long past due! This big ole girl blows us away every day with her cuteness, sweetness, intelligence and sass. She's just the most perfect little girl we could have asked for and we thank our lucky stars every day that we were blessed with her little life. Now enough mushy stuff, how about some updates?!

Size: This little chickadee weighed in at 24 pounds and almost 32 inches tall. She's in the 40th percentile for height and 60th for weight. I think about half of that weight is in her belly. Girl friend rocks one of the best Buddha bellies I've ever seen! It's the funniest thing. I think she's gone through a height growth spurt lately because she's starting to flood a little bit in some pants that were previously too long. She's still a shorty like Mama, bless her short little legs! Not only are the pants getting short, but her belly hangs out the bottom of some of her t-shirts. Andrew has taken to calling her Rachel when her belly hangs out (Rachel from Friends, when she was pregnant she continued wearing her old t-shirts and rocked the underbelly lol).

Clothes: Hannah is currently on the cusp of 18 month and 24 month clothes. The 18 months are getting a little tight around the shoulders and are harder to get on and off, but the 24 month stuff is still a little too long for her. She'll probably always be built like me where getting things to fit her girth makes them too long in length. 

Vocabulary: Big girl currently has about 20 words, some more clear than others. We keep a running list on a dry erase board to track her vocabulary development. Her first word was baby (still a favorite), but her favorite words are shoes, cheese, uh oh, what's that, Mommy, Daddy and Stella. A funny thing, her words for shoes, cheese and juice all sound almost identical. Shoes is the cutest and sounds like "chew-ssss" in the sweetest voice.

She also has one word in Spanish: hola. Neither Andrew nor myself are fluent in Spanish but we both speak varying amounts. My hope is for Hannah to love the language and have the appreciation for it that I do, so we speak to her in Spanish a fair amount. So far she enjoys saying hola to people, particularly while we're grocery shopping. haha

Food: Hannah loves to eat. She does 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. She loves fresh fruit and most vegetables. Her favorites are: broccoli, tomatoes, pears, blueberries, green beans, yogurt, cereal, french fries (she is still a kid and human!), chicken with marinades like lemon pepper, catalina, teriyaki (sometimes). She does not like macaroni and cheese, many pastas (she's particular about noodles), carrots, potatoes a lot of breads. I guess she's not a carb eater. Wonder where she got that from!?

Drink: We weaned Hannah off bottles and the little bit of formula she was still taking around 17 months. We'd planned on weaning her sooner but she kept getting sick and the bottle was her main comfort. Finally we bit the bullet and expected it to be a long weekend, but she did great! We had one last bedtime bottle on a Friday night, then when she woke Saturday morning bottles were no longer a thing. She only asked a few times but was satisfied with her sippy cup of milk. Hooray!

We do about 3 cups of milk a day, plus ice water (water without ice just isn't good enough I guess), and fresh made juices. She doesn't get bottled juices, so when I make a juice for myself I pour some over ice in her sippy and add a splash of water. I don't dilute her juices very much since they are fresh and she only drinks an ounce or two anyway.

Sleep: Hannah wakes up around 7:30 or 8 each morning and usually plays happily in her crib for about 20-30 minutes before she starts fussing. Once she starts that we go in and get her up. She takes 1 nap around 11:30, which usually lasts about an hour and a half, sometimes 2 hours. She has pretty much cut out her second nap, but she can't quite make it to dinner happily without it yet so we do "quiet time" where we lay her down just like any other nap, but she doesn't sleep. She lays down, tosses and turns, sits in her crib sucking her thumb for about 45 minutes to an hour. Sometimes she'll take a 10-15 minute power nap, but usually she just lounges. Honestly I'm surprised she doesn't pitch a fit every day, but the quiet time lets her decompress and calm down enough to be mostly renewed and happy when she gets up. Then she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30. I didn't think I'd ever put her down that early, but when she cut out the second nap she naturally moved her bedtime up and it seems to be working. Surprisingly Daylight Savings Time hasn't affected her sleep very much. It's very strange putting her down when the sun is still up, though.

Skills: I'm not exactly sure what skills she should have now, but she seems pretty perfect to us so I guess she's on track? She walks, runs, climbs, jumps (very awkwardly!). She hasn't figured out silverware yet and can't always get the right shape into the right hole in the sorting toys, but she tries (until she gets frustrated and throws it...can we say like Daddy?!). If you ask her to go fetch you an item she is familiar with she most always complies (especially if it's her beloved shoes!). She understands "close and open," "on and off," "Yes and no" (although she doesn't always obey. She knows what Sit down means, but definitely doesn't always listen to that. She's a work in progress but doing better when it comes to gentle pets for the cats. She still grabs fur if they linger too close.

Favorites: She still loves talking about Stella, shoes, purses, jumping in her crib when she wakes up, calling Mommy & Daddy, visiting Grandma and backpacking through the neighborhood, zoo trips, walking at the park and playing on the swing. She loves standing on our back porch and "helping" throw sticks, acorn hulls or leaves over the edge. Any baby we see she has to point out and yell "Baby!"

School: Baby is a pro at Mother's Day Out and attends 5 days a week from 9-2. Every day when I pick her up and ask how her day was the teachers say, "Awesome, like always!" Teacher reports say she's one of the most social and easy going kids. She likes to pick up lovies and pacis from the floor to return to their rightful owner, she always helps make the new kids feel welcome and rarely has a bad day. She really is the sweetest! Just recently she's stopped running to me when I walk in the door. Now she wants to come say a quick hello, then go back to playing until I make her leave. Glad she loves school so much!

Sickness/Health: Girl friend got tubes in her ears in January and they've made a huge difference! She's had a few bugs over the winter and can't seem to stay well, but I'm hopeful once the cold season passes she'll be better! She keeps a cold and runny nose like nobodies business. We are currently trying to fend off some congestion and get her back to 100%.

Our girl is sweet, smart, sassy, playful, affectionate, loves to give big, sloppy open-mouth kisses and is generally the best baby I could have ever asked for. It's such a joy to watch her grow and learn and develop new words, tricks and skills. Each day is more and more fun with the new things she's learning. I love the age she's at now, but love watching her grow and learn even more! Love you Baby!!

Healthy Eating - 2.5 Months In

On January 1, 2016, I decided to make some dietary changes to improve the quality of my life for both short and long term results. I didn't look at it as a New Year's resolution or a diet to follow until I lost XX about of pounds. I went in looking at it from the perspective of health and an example for my daughter. After a couple of days in Andrew realized I was being serious this time and not just looking to cut calories for a week only to fall back to old habits yet again. He decided to join this journey and lifestyle change and let me tell you, having a partner and someone with similar goals makes it SO much easier and more enjoyable. It also helps since he makes almost all of our home-cooked meals :) While Andrew and I have similar big picture goals, our methods and reasons are slightly different so I won't speak for him in this piece.

We are now 60+ days into the "New Year, New Me" campaign and things are going great. We've stuck to long enough to become mostly habit. I was juicing (making fresh juices at home) twice a day, but produce is quite costly so we've dialed that back. I try to have one juice a day but lately it's been more of every other day. We both use My Fitness Pal and log our calorie intake, which is the main tool that has helped us be successful. I've also stopped drinking sodas, which was huge for me. I was a 2-3 diet cokes a day kind of girl, now I only have soda when I'm drinking my bourbon and coke, and that isn't very often. Maybe once every week or two. I could do better at drinking more water, but I'm still a work in progress.

Because I was smart and married a wonderful cook, we've been able to eat healthy meals when we are home together (which sadly isn't often enough). We've replaced pasta with spinach, bread with smaller portions of rice, and tried to work in healthy choices in all of our meals. Because we most always have fresh produce for our juices, we also have fruit around for healthy snacks.

I'm proud to say that Hannah is a big fan of most healthy foods, and even prefers fresh produce over processed foods that most toddlers love. Her favorite foods right now are steamed broccoli, pears, tangerines, blueberries, green beans. She won't even touch macaroni and cheese (say what?!). Not to say she eats perfectly or doesn't like cookies and crackers, but she truly does love fruits and veggies. Go Baby!!

With all of these lifestyle changes we have both seen big success in our weight loss goals. I'm down 15 pounds, but still have plenty to go to get to a more ideal healthy weight. Andrew has lost even more (I'm not certain of the exact number). What is it with guys having an easier time?! But he has worked hard for it, so I'm proud of us both! Stay tuned to see how far we can take this journey!