{ What I don't want to forget about 19 months }

Note: This is in no way a finished post. What follows below was written on January 20th, with the intention to finish it up and publish it ASAP...and that never happened. But since Lainie is now 20.5 months old, changing faster than I can blink, and I don't appear to be acquiring any more free time for blogging, I'm sending this out into the world as is. I really don't want to forget.

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The way she curves around my belly when I rock her to sleep. The way her head fits perfectly in the crook of my shoulder. Her silky-soft golden brown hair; that wispy mullet in the back. How she can now pull open drawers that {moments ago, it seems} were too high and too heavy for her to budge. How in the past week she's starting saying "UP!" in a commanding, deeper-than-normal, slightly annoyed voice, complete with arms up, but no eye contact. The way she hopefully suggests "Ba?" {bath} during every diaper change. Her obsession with "ee-ee" {Caspar Babypants music videos}, and the somewhat disturbing fact that she knows how to plug the HDMI cable from the TV into my laptop to make "ee-ee" happen. Her delight at turning on and off light switches, also known as "ight." The way she loves to help pick up clothes and put them in the laundry hamper or washer--and how just a few days ago, she realized she can open her dresser drawers, and now delights to "put away" her own clothes {never mind that they are never folded or in the right drawers by the time they've traveled from me to Lainie's drawer of choice}. How she has started calling herself "Nee-nee" and refers to herself with giddy delight. Her fascination with earrings, and frequent conversations that go something like this:

Lainie {touching her earlobe}: "Ear!"
Me: "Yes, that's Lainie's ear."
Lainie {furrowed brow and shaking her head, still touching her ear}: "Dada...no!"
Me: "No, Dada doesn't have earrings."
Lainie: "Bapa...no!"
Me: "No, Bapa doesn't have earrings."
Lainie: "Nee-nee...no!"
Me: "No, Lainie doesn't have earrings!"
Lainie {triumphantly pointing to my ears}: "Mama!"
Me: "Yes, Mama has earrings."
Usually followed by a discussion of why I'm not wearing earrings today {if I'm not} or a detailed examination of said earrings if I am.

{ Halloween 2013 }

Pretend with me, for a moment, that it is not already the middle of November. Literally the middle.

 

*gulp*

 

Pretend it's November first and it's still cool to talk about what you did for Halloween, k?

 

K. Our friends Luke and Joanna threw a Halloween party. Joanna is pregnant with their first baby {he and Jellybean share a due date by some calculations, by others Jellybean is due five days later}, and in spite of the fact that I'm not "into" Halloween, I was excited to go because you just never know how many opportunities you may have to dress up a pregnant belly in a costume. However, I couldn't figure out anything to "be" that I really liked...

 

...until Mike's parents came home from a trip to LA and gave him a luchador mask.

 

I will be Nacho Libre.

 

Yesss!!

 

Now, I am not a Jack Black fan--matter of fact, I can't stand him except in Nacho Libre, which is doubly ironic because I love that movie. It is one of the funniest I've ever seen, and in it Jack Black is perfectly brilliant. Absolutely spot-on.

 

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you Nacho Libre, a leetle Mexican orphan, and the very well-dressed {obviously wealthy and highly successful} luchador who accompanied them:

 

Lainie's little dress was also a gift from Mike's parents, from this same LA trip. Little did they know they were outfitting 2/3 of our family for a Halloween party!

 

Lainie was super excited to see her friend Julia. For some reason she found the popcorn in Julia's cup much tastier then the popcorn in her cup, so poor Julia {aka Marathon Baby} found most of her snacks were consumed by Mexican Orphan.

 

Somebody asked if we put makeup on Lainie's face to make her look dirty...nope, she just falls down and bruises her face a lot.

{Don't you love Olive the dog's face here?! "Please can I have some of your food? Please please please?"}

 

Four of the five pregnant women who came that night: me, Joanna as Paula Deen, Kristina as Facebook, and Krissy as a marathon runner.

 

Shhhh...don't tell, but it was my first time ever dressing up for Halloween, and it was actually fun!

{ Elaina: 16 Months }

Dear Lainie,

 

You are sixteen months old, and I don't know where the time has gone! You are a chubby-cheeked toddler who is constantly trotting around the house, pointing and making insistent noises at things you want, babbling nonsense baby words nonstop {many variations on "dada" constituting a large portion of your vocabulary}, and still super snuggly when you are tired or not feeling well. You have grown and changed so much the past few months, and with the whirlwind of moving and the tiredness of growing your baby brother, I feel like I've already forgotten so much. I definitely haven't remembered to take as many photos!

 

So here are some snapshots of you now, sixteen-month-old Lainie Rae. Tomorrow I will wake up pinching myself for not remembering this or that, I'm sure!

 

:: old-ish photo...taken just before we moved ::

 

You love to pretend to talk on my phone, which you also call Dada. I turn on the screen {a photo of Daddy holding you the day after you were born} and you jabber away. Actually, anything suffices as a phone in a pinch, from your own hand to a spoon, doll, or sippy cup. If you're playing with my phone and the screen goes to sleep, or if you somehow unlock it and get into a program, you immediately march over to me moaning, "Oh no no no no no!" through pursed lips.

 

"Oh no no no no no no"--repeated ad infinitum, with your mouth half-closed and your brow furrowed, is your new phrase of choice. It may be used to announce that you are bringing me a book from the bookshelf you're not supposed to touch, or that you dropped something, or that you got into the text messages in my phone. Whatever disaster precipitates the announcement, you definitely understand that "no no" means bad things.

 

Your most-used word is still Dada, which applies to anything and everything you desire. Including me. If I ask you to say Mama, you grin and yell, "Dada!" Mama is reserved for the most dire of emergencies, when you really need to get my attention.

 

You know how to say dog {doh}, duck {duh}, ball {ba-ba}, bubble {buh-buh}, Bible {by-buh} and maybe cat...I can't remember, I haven't had a nap today...

 

Your hair is getting thicker and longer, especially in the back, and you are in love with the little clip on hairbows I got you last week. You ask for them {by pointing} if you see them, and when we get dressed in the morning, if I ask you if you want a hairbow, you get a huge grin and point at them. They don't always stay in for long, but they are well-loved.

:: wearing your friend Julia's headband when we stayed at their house, between moves ::

 

You are a lot more interested in the dishwasher now than you were before we moved. You enjoy helping me unload the silverware, but you're especially fond of gathering a few toys on the open dishwasher door and sitting with them while I clean up the kitchen. It's such a nice spot to swing your legs and read a book!

 

The last few days you've started singing. A lot. For a month or two, you've cradled your milk cup in the crook of your arm at every single meal and rocked back and forth, splitting into the biggest grin when I start singing "rock a bye baby" or "twinkle twinkle little star." It seems you think you are rocking your milk to sleep. I'm serious. You do this at every single meal--and now you know enough of the tune that your baby syllables are recognizable snippets of twinkle twinkle or rock a bye baby.

 

 

 

Ever since you were born, we've sung Jesus Loves Me to you as your lullaby. You sing bits of it now too, including the word "Bible," which is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever!

 

You are also quite interested in your dollies, frequently carrying one or two of them around and very sweetly swaying back and forth and singing to them.

 

You weaned yourself at 15 1/2 months. For a month or more, you'd only been nursing once a day, first thing in the morning--which I was happy to let you do, since it meant long sleepy snuggles in bed with me. But one morning two or three weeks ago, you made it clear you wanted your binky while we snuggled...and that was that. It was much easier and less stressful than I anticipated; ever since you've never asked to be nursed or even expressed interest. It's still such a bittersweet milestone! Every day it becomes clearer that you are a toddler, not a baby, and while toddler Lainie is sweet and precious and hilarious and so much fun, I miss baby Lainie. I suppose this is how parents feel about every one of their kids' stages in life.

 

In the past few days, you have also taken the initiative {read: Elastigirl arms can reach ridiculously far onto the table} to start feeding yourself with a spoon. Your skill and aim is MUCH better than I expected--you actually hit your mouth with almost every bite!! A fair bit of yogurt/applesauce/etc. still ends up on your face, the spoon is usually upside down, and half the fun seems to be "mixing" whatever food is in the bowl, but you are doing really really well. And so far, you seem to be right-handed.

 

 

 You still take two naps most days, though missing your afternoon nap is no longer the catastrophe it once was. Morning naps are leisurely affairs, often 2-3 hours.

 

Your favorite place in the house is the garage...in place of that, you will gladly trot up and down the sidewalk as long as I'll let you. You are also quite enamored with the neighbors' cats, Daisy and Theodore.

 

:: one day as I unloaded groceries from the car, you carried a bag of coffee up and down the sidewalk, stopping to sit on the stoop and talk to and pat the coffee with each trip ::

 

 

There is so much more I could say, but this post is already pretty long.

 

Love you Lainie Bug,

Mama

{ Pumpkin Patch }

Last weekend, we went to a pumpkin patch.

Turns out that not only was it Lainie's first time, but Mike's and mine as well. Work has been demanding a lot of Mike's time recently, so it felt deliciously indulgent to be going somewhere together, as a family, during daylight hours, just for fun. Lainie was obviously bewildered by her parents' seemingly crazy and out-of-character decision to wander aimlessly around a muddy field full of funny-shaped giant orange balls. She was more interested in chewing on the tab of her new {hand-me-down} jacket than perusing the pumpkins.

In spite of the cloud cover, it was a delicious afternoon, with gorgeous trees, enormous pumpkins, and plenty of very excited little people.

 

 

 

:: obligatory family selfie to commemorate first baby's first time at a pumpkin patch ::

 

Once we left the pumpkins and walked by the cornfield, however, Lainie was on! She was determined to find her way through the corn maze all by her little self.

 

 

...Until, of course, she fell down in the mud approximately five steps in.

On the way home--after coffee and pastries to warm up--I was craving homemade macaroni and cheese, so we swung by the store to get what we needed. Mike and Lainie watched an episode of Baby Einstein and munched on goldfish crackers while I made the mac and cheese. {I'm not sure who made out best with that deal: Lainie got uninterrupted Daddy time and a movie; Daddy got to snuggle with his girlie, and I got to make a meal without fourteen dozen interruptions!} 

 

One more to close...just because they are so.darn.cute.

 

{ Taking a Breath }

We've been in our new house--this is the ninth day, I think?--and I am just now sitting on the couch {still un-slipcovered because a. Mike just found the second half of the slipcover in a box in his office last night, and b. Lainie is still terrified of the vacuum but I MUST VACUUM THE COUCH BEFORE I PUT THE SLIPCOVER ON, and I can't bring myself to vacuum during a nap and possibly wake her--do you see my predicament?!} with my feet on the coffee table {much too small for our new living room, but at least Mike put felt pads on the feet to protect the newly refinished hardwood floors} and feeling like maybe...just maybe...we will someday get this chaos under control. We've never moved an entire household before. I can hear some of you guffawing: How can they possibly count an 842 square foot condo as a legitimate "household"? That's 1/3 the size of many family homes these days! Nonetheless, when we got married 4+ years ago, each of us literally had a bedroom's worth of possessions, nothing more. Well, I also had a couch that a roommate gave me. But seriously. Four years + a toddler = way more stuff to sort through, pack, unpack, and put away. I don't even know how it's mostly done already, with all the Lainie-entertaining and feeding and we-must-go-to-a-park-NOW-or-I-will-lose-my-mind moments I've had.

But. Here we are. Lainie is napping, and I probably should be too. I've been more exhausted than I can even tell you, staying up way too late unpacking and then getting up at 7:00 {or 6:45, depending on the day} with my cuddly little alarm clock and furiously cleaning and organizing during her naps. It's not the greatest life plan for 22 weeks pregnant, I'll tell you that!

Please tell me I'm not the only OCD person who goes around wiping grime {perhaps imaginary--I am pregnant} off all the doors and light switches after moving. Or that I'm not the only person who has lived in a previously vacant house for over a week, with large swathes of multi-colored mold growing in both toilets, before cleaning the bathrooms. Or that we won't get a foot fungus from a week of showering in a bathtub whose state of cleanliness prior to yesterday is unknown.

Have I mentioned that there are no overhead lights in the living room, and for the life of me I cannot find the harp for our main lamp?! There's the lamp base, the lightbulb, the shade...and no harp. At this point I think there is only one box in our entire house that hasn't been opened on a quest for that harp, and I am about to go batty with that one bare lightbulb illuminating the living room. Oh, and all our lightbulbs have apparently decided to die--I keep frantically switching bulbs from less-important to more-important lamps, chiding myself for letting our stash run out and yet forgetting to buy more when I'm at the store.

Have I also mentioned how much I love my new washer and dryer? And my new fridge, which inconveniently doesn't fit in the kitchen {hint: don't let a pregnant woman measure the dimensions of the spot for a fridge!}. Or how much I want to join Lainie in Zzzzz-land.

That's her I hear waking up, so I've got to run for now. xo

{ Slices of Summer, Part II }

:: Family date after church ~ ferry ride to Kingston ::

:: Fascinated by the wake ::

:: She ALWAYS gets this distracted by airplanes--she loves 'em! ::

 

~*~*~

:: A recent date night {date date night} included a trip to Fainting Goat Gelato ::

:: Mike had mango habanero and raspberry, I had lemon grisbi and honey lavender ~ so delicious! ::

 

~*~*~

 

:: Baby loves milkshakes, too ::

 

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:: Who knew this face happens when you put her in a leotard with rhinestones and a tulle skirt? ::

:: Or this pose... ::

:: Or that our little photoshoot would end in such sorrow! ::

 

~*~*~

 

:: Saturday stroll with Daddy ::

:: "I heard a boat! Or an airplane! OVER THERE!" ::

 

Summer's not over yet, but this post is plenty long!

{ Slices of Summer, Part I }

I've been sporadic in my blogging this summer, preferring to spend Lainie's naptimes snoozing myself. Here is some photographic evidence of what we've been up to this summer.

 

 

:: playing at the park ::

 

:: playdate with Violet, my former coworker's daughter who is 22 days older than Lainie ::

 

:: Lainie's first gyro, on our way to the Washington coast in June--yum! ::

 

:: At the local farmer's market, slightly worried about how cold her first ice cream bar is! ::

 

:: Date with Mr. Mike...you know it's good when it ends with gelato :-D ::

 

:: She really wanted this trike from a consignment store. {Doesn't her expression look like she's thinking about how she can convince me to buy it?!} ::

 

:: Very serious about occupying this chair at the coffee shop ::

 

:: She's really into putting things on her head/neck lately. Good thing this was a clean diaper. ::

 

:: Playing in the dishwasher ::

 

:: On this particular afternoon at the pool, she preferred wearing her {new} flip flops and eating goldfish crackers to getting in the water. By the way, goldfish crackers are her new obsession. ::

 

:: Ahhhhh....the day she discovered Daddy's sneakers! ::

 

:: Chillin' on a park bench ::

 

:: Lainie absolutely glows when she is in a swing: the biggest grin, belly laughs--she just sparkles. Of course, when I stop the swing to get a non-blurry photo, she gets all serious. ::

 

:: What? You don't practice the splits after your baths? Why ever not? It's the perfect time--you're all warm and limbered up! ::