18 Months

I can't believe our baby is 18 months already! Where does the time go? If I blink, I feel like she might be in preschool by the time I open my eyes. Bridget certainly is becoming more and more of a little girl these days as she continues to surprise us with the things she says and comprehends. We had a quick trip to the doctor for a check-up today, and luckily there weren't any shots with this visit. She's still over the 90th percentile in everything with the following stats:

Height: 33.5 inches

Weight: 28 lbs.

Head: 19.5 inches

With her vocabulary growing so quickly these days, Nate and I started keeping a list about a month ago for two purposes: 1) so we could remember to tell each other the new words she learned while one of us was at work and 2) so we could actually see how large her vocabulary was becoming. Now that she's learning words faster than we can keep track, the list isn't up to date but my guess would be around 100 words. She makes a good effort to repeat most words you ask her to (if she's in the mood) and some are more intelligible than others. The most common words she says on a daily basis are: Mama, Dada, Bridget, Bapa (Grandpa), Jess, Matt, Jesus, baby, kitty, pasta, cracker, bottle, pee, poopy, shoe, woof, paci, up, ball, clock, kids, boss (that's what she calls the remote control), and Eh-yee (a.k.a. Ellie her stuffed elephant).

Being the social butterfly that she is, she loved the opportunity to go into the nursery at church for the first time last Sunday. Nate was debating about taking her because she wasn't quite 18 months, but as they were standing outside the closed door he told her if she wanted to go in then go in. So what did she do? She reached up and opened the door herself and went in. She didn't miss her parents one bit, and had a great time interacting with the other kids.

I should also mention that we're getting very close to being completely rid of the pacifier. About a month ago we started restricting it only to naps and bedtime which she didn't like at first but has since adjusted. And now she'll even go without it if she's tired enough. Now we just need to work on getting rid of the bottle. She still refuses to drink milk out of anything else, but drinks water from a sippy cup all the time. Ugh!

Now that the weather's warm she loves being outside exploring the yard, collecting rocks, playing with her ball, and destroying my flowers. I'm just loving that she's so great at keeping herself entertained while I work in the yard.

We love our little girl, and even though she has her difficult moments, we're grateful she's happy and healthy and can't imagine life without her.

P.S. Obviously no picture with this post - that was one of her "difficult moments" today where she wouldn't cooperate and hold still.

My Name is ...

Bridget learned to say her name today! When she said it the first time, it was actually without any prompting, and I was so surprised I had her say it over and over again just to make sure that's what she was really saying.

Resourceful Climbing

Oh no...we're to that stage that I've been hoping would never come. This afternoon I was doing some dishes while Bridget was playing with some toys nearby, and all of a sudden I look out of the corner of my eye and see this. Somehow she decided it would be a great idea to use her drum as a stepstool and brought it right over next to me so she could see what I was doing. She was so proud of herself, and I actually couldn't help but laugh. Up to this point, she's used her drum for a chair, so I guess it shouldn't be such a surprise to see her standing on it too. I can't wait to see what she climbs on next.

Mother's Day Weekend Tradition

This year was my fourth year participating in Race for the Cure, and it was so much fun to have my sisters Megan and Jessica and brother-in-law Matt join me. I love how this race always falls on the day before Mother's Day and the opportunity it provides to reflect upon my own mother. It's hard to describe to anyone who's never seen it or participated in it what this event is like. Every year there's more participants and this year was no exception - 18,000 people compared to 16,000 in 2008. It's amazing to see so many families and friends walking or running together to support breast cancer survivors or remember those who've lost their lives to it.

Megan and I don't love running as much as some of our other siblings, so we chose to walk the 5k, but Jessica and Matt forced their way through the crowd and ran it.

Afterward we hung out at Megan's new apartment and Nate and Bridget came down to join us so we could also celebrate Megan's birthday a little late.

Megan and I also played a little Dr. Mario on her Wii, and she creamed me. I have many memories of my mom coaxing me into playing this game with her on our old school Nintendo. She was so addicted to it and would not be proud of how poorly I played on Saturday.

My First Wedding Cake

Yesterday two of my very good friends (Corey and Desaray) got married, and I had the opportunity to make my very first wedding cake for them. I was very pleased with how it turned out in appearance as well as taste, so it made all the labor and stress worth it. Making this cake was a definite learning experience and should I attempt to make any more in the future, hopefully it will be a little easier. One of the big things I learned is that attempting a time-consuming project like this with a toddler who constantly wants my attention is not an easy task. For this reason, I may have to postpone doing this as a possible side job/hobby until we're done having children and they're all a little older. I also now understand why wedding cakes are so expensive because they are extremely labor intensive in addition to the cost of the ingredients and decorations.

The bottom and top tiers were white cake with a strawberry mousse filling, and the middle tier was a white/chocolate marble cake with a chocolate mousse filling. The cake is frosted with a white buttercream and topped with chocolate ganache.

So, congratulations Corey and Desaray! And thanks for allowing me this opportunity to challenge myself and advance my cake decorating skills. I also have to thank Nate for being so patient with me the last few days when I was more than a little stressed. He pitched right in and helped me as much as he could, and I wouldn't have survived the last couple of days without him.