15 months and well baby check

bella has been 15 months for a little over a week now. this "landmark" just doesn't strike me as something that requires a special post. for the first 6 months, each week is special, after that, each month is pretty important. they change so much each day. but once they hit one, it's like....time kind of hovers. people ask me how old she is and i say, "she's uh....wait. what month is it? oh. right."

since there is a well check, i figured i would post her stats, if only for posterity.

height: 30 inches

weight: 23 pounds 8.5 ounces

last weekend, she had a pretty mean ear infection, so we also made this a follow up appointment for that. 

her ears were clear.

as of today bella can say a pretty good amount of words, including: mama, dada, lola, duke, turtle, shoes, food, up, down, open, apple, bath, banana, slide, swing, brooke (her aunt), yaya (her grandma), diaper, dirty, 

she can point to her eyes, ears, nose, toes, hair, mouth and tongue. she will go get a diaper out of her drawer if you ask her to. she throw things in the garbage when asked to (and sometimes even if you don't ask her to). 

she can sign milk, water, food, more, open, and all done.

she loves going down slides, and will go down them all on her own. including big curly slides, which scares mommy sometimes. if you ask her to swim, she lays downs on her tummy with her arms out in front and kicks her feet. she loves being outside and would probably stay out there all day if i let her. we recently blew up the pool and she spent over an hour playing in it.  

she is still rear facing in her carseat, and since it's recently become a new policy by the AAP that children remain rear facing until they are 2, i'm glad we chose that path. we have chosen to keep her rear facing until she hits the height and weight requirements for her car seat, even if she is 2. we got her a graco myride 65 for her 1st birthday, so she can safely stay rear facing up to 40 pounds. we made this decision after reading about the benefits and seeing this video. 

aaaaaaand, i think that's all of the pride i can vomit into one post.  this is as bad as those "my kid is on the honor roll" bumper stickers. well, maybe worse....

i did get a voicemail when i got out of the pediatricians office from joel. it said " just calling to make sure my most adorable little girl passes her inspection." i kid you not. i can not make this up, people. this man's man, military, car fixing, furniture building, rough and gruff man, loves his daughter. and i love him even more for that. 

wordless wednesday......kinda

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and because i'm NEVER able to be completely wordless.......

bella just took 3 steps.

who IS this kid?

i need to talk about my baby. because i do NOT do that enough. really. ok. so not really, i talk about her all the time. 24/7. maybe too much. i don't know. can you talk about your baby too much? can you talk about MY baby too much? i mean, look at her.

gah! she is so cute. i just want to nom on those little cheeks.

so here is what i want to talk about. my kid is amazing.

i don't want to talk about last night. because i don't want to jinx it, like last time. let's just say, it was monumental in the sleep department.

but yesterday, the girl stood on her own, for the first time. well, the first real time, at least. she has been "practicing" all week, letting go of things, only to flop down on her butt. but yesterday, she let go of me, and stood for 5 WHOLE SECONDS! for those of you without kids, this probably seems silly. but if you have babies bella's age, give or take a few months, this is pretty exciting (or, it's incredibly terrifying. it's a fine line).

for one, she just made 7 months last week. and while i know every momma thinks their baby is a "person prodigy" because they are better at being human than any other baby their age, i think my child is pretty incredible.

i am that mom. i always said i wouldn't be. that i would humbly make it through her childhood, never bragging, just being secretly proud of her every movement. but i lied. you just can't predict how those little hands will tug at your heart strings.

putting the ME in momMe

cute, ain't she?

that devilish little smile. she is a little devil, that is for sure.

8:30am, i hear her squawking over the monitor. usually i hear her rolling around a little then start crying. but not this particular morning. this particular morning, it sounds more like she's fake crying.

like "waaaa" ::looks around to see if anyone is coming to get her:: ""waaaaaaa" ::looks around again. still no one?:: "WAAAAA!!!"

but never a real cry. just like she is yelling, "hey mom! get in here and see what i just learned!"

so i go in, and see her.....doing this. and grinning ear to ear. like the little stinker she is.

i hate to admit it but, while i am overwhelmingly proud of my little munchkin, i am also terrified of her new confidence in her ability to pull herself up. and now shimmy across the furniture. this means a lot. it means she is growing up (way too fast) and it means more bumps and bruises. it means more frustrated wails when she gets "stuck" half way up on the couch. it means more baby proofing. and it means less autonomy for me.

yep. i said it. i am a selfish mommy who would like a little freedom. it's a sad fact of reality that balancing the tables between "mommy" and the person i used to be is almost a full time job in and of itself. before i got pregnant with that little lady, all i wanted was to be a mommy. i had many hats i wore-wife, daughter, friend, athlete, swimmer, teacher. but the one i wanted more than any of those (except maybe the wife-daughter-friend trifecta), was mommy. and this was compounded by the fact that i couldn't be a mommy right away, and even more so when i saw all the people around me having babies.

and i LOVE my new job. i don't even want to call it a job, because it makes me so happy, and no job is as rewarding or beautiful or magical as being a mommy has been.

but now, since bella has found this new "dangerous" activity of scaling the couch, and, her favorite, the glider ottoman, which often sends her sailing across the floor as i leap up to catch her, i find myself having fewer and fewer moments truly to myself.

honestly, there are ways to solve this problem. put her in the pack-n-play, put her in her excersaucer, but about 10 minutes in to either of those activities, she finds herself unable to go anywhere, and she starts screaming. i don't know about you, but the sound of a screaming baby kind of puts me on edge. the kid does NOT like to be confined. i don't blame her. like my husband so aptly pointed out, "you wouldn't like it if you were tied up and stuck in a fence either." he was actually referring to our old dog daisy who was an escape artist, but it is still fitting.

i am not complaining. really, i'm not. i am the first one to encourage her to keep going, and grab the next rung higher on the motor skills ladder. but i definitely think i underestimated how much that would cost me.

::insert ooey gooey mommy feeling, that makes you go awwww.....::

i wouldn't change a thing. i just have to get a little more creative.