Thursday, June 10, 2010

18 months

Wow, is Devin really a year and a half old? I can't believe how fast it has gone by! I am not sure that I will keep doing monthly posts but will from time to time just so I have some of the milestones she is meeting etc documented somewhere since this is in essence her baby book.

From May 10


*Devin weighs around 25 pounds.

*Devin has outgrown all of her 18 month clothes and is in 24months/2T now. I tried to put an 18 month dress on her the other day thinking it would be OK, but it was not OK. She was just too tight on her little armpits!

*She is still wearing a size 4 diaper.

*We moved Devin into a size 6 shoe this past month.

*Devin is nursing about 1 time a day. Last thing before we start the bedtime routine. As of a few days before her 18 month birthday, we officially dropped the night time nursing session. I can tell that our nursing days will be over soon and I cherish it each and every time now. I will be sad for that relationship to end. :( I will most likely let her drop the last session herself. She still asks for it and shows great excitement each night when it is time!

From May 10


*Devin still as 12 teeth. We are almost positive that she is trying to get her canines in.

*Devin went from being a great sleeper to a horrible sleeper this month. She has been waking more at night and much harder to get back to sleep. She is skipping some of her naps at home too. We think between possible new teeth coming in and all the new words she is repeating/saying, she is just too busy to sleep and are hoping things will improve in the next few weeks.

*Even with the bad sleeping, we have had more nights that she has slept all the way through the night this month as well.

*Devin has suddenly started repeating a ton of words that we say. Her language is exploding and she is so cute when she repeats words. She has added a few voluntary words this month like bye, water (wa-wa), baby, and no.

*She now also shakes her head no all the time....we knew this was coming.

*Devin started gymnastics at the Little Gym this month. In her true fashion, it takes her awhile to come out of her shell, but once she does, she is a wild woman and loves it!

From May 10


*Devin has learned how to climb on and off of our bed using the bench at the end.

*Devin has been trying to climb on the bar stools too everytime we are eating dinner or sitting at the bar. The other day, she made it onto the bar stool, and was on her way onto the counter to pet the kitty! I stopped her before she could make it all the way up!

*When we are eating dinner every night, Devin always wants to have bites of what we are eating. I always have an extra spoon on hand and she always takes that spoon and tries to dig into my bowl.

*Devin is pretty much eating what we eat for dinner only the next day as lefovers since she can never wait late enough to eat with us! She has had shrimp and peanut butter and loves them both!

*Devin has always liked books, but everytime I turn around she is pulling a book off of the shelf that used to be too tall for her to reach and reading it. She LOVES to look at books these days!

*Devin has really been into puzzles, shape sorters and other problem solving activities lately. I can constantly see those wheels in her head a turning!

From May 10

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Visitng Grandpa

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went to visit Chris' dad's grave. His birthday is this weekend so it was the perfect time to see him.

A few years ago, we got some river rocks and painted on them. One said "We love you" one said "Dad" and one said "Grandpa". Our thoughts were always that by doing this, if anyone wanted to, they could add their own rock to the stack with their own word. The paint was surprisingly still legible but they were fading fast! Chris' Aunt Patsy asked if it would be OK for her to order some rocks for us like the ones we had made and have them engraved. We thought this was a great idea and were even more excited when we saw them!

We took them to the grave this weekend. We also got another river rock and wrote "brother" on it for Chris' Aunt Patsy. :) The big rock had "love you" on one side and "miss you" on the other.
From May 10


From May 10


Devin climbed all over him and checked out the flowers...
From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


George always wanted a little girl and never had one. I know it joys him immensely to look down from Heaven and see his 3 beautiful granddaughters!

From May 10

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Hideout

I have decided that Devin really needs a fort! We spend so much time trying to get her out of the dog houses it is amazing! She loves to get in them and cuddle up in their bed and blankets and is even happier if there is a dog int here with her. They never stay for long though. Those poor dogs get no rest when she is home because when she fixates on their beds, they go back and forth between their beds and the couch as she goes back and forth to pet them...

From May 10


Thinking we may have some teeth coming in..
From May 10


From May 10


I think we will set up this little tent/house thing my mother has once we can rearrange some of her things to make a little more room!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Children's Museum

Last week while I was off for the long weekend, Devin and I met up with one of my very best friends from high school Melissa, and her little girl Madeline. We went to the Children's Museum and the girls had lots of fun doing all of the activities there!

The favorite part is by far the shopping area....
From May 10


From May 10


After Devin spent time organizing all of the hand held shopping baskets, she sat and looked out the window at all of the fun water features outside...
From May 10


We will definately check these out next time...
From May 10


From May 10


Madeline was sweet and brought her some fruit to play with. They would not cooperate and sit for a picture together though!
From May 10


From May 10


From May 10

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Flowers

I planted our front flower bed a few weeks ago. Devin loves to walk over to the flowers every time that we leave the house or some home from somewhere and bend down and point at them and touch them. I wonder if that means she will have a green thumb someday? With the way she currently bangs on the flowers, they won't last long in her care. Maybe some day she will take a more gentle approach. :)

From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


The hydrangeas by the front door are always of great interest to her as well!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Silly time with Daddy....

Devin and her daddy are so silly! Chris loves for me to scrath his head for him. He finds it really relaxing and it will almost certainly put him to sleep if he is in a place to relax. One night I came in and saw them taking turns scratching each other's heads.

That Devin adores her daddy so much!
From May 10


She must do a pretty good job of it too because he looks mighty relaxed!
From May 10


Now he is giving her a little scratching too..
From May 10


From May 10

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Uncle John

Chris' brother John moved to Fort Worth recently from New Jersey. While he was getting on his feet and finding a place to rent here he spent a few weeks living with us. It has been a lot of fun having him around and Devin especially loved having one more person to adore her and play with her all the time!

She became really attached to him really fast!
From May 10


From May 10


He started playing this little cheerleading game with her that she just LOVES! It gets great expressions out of her too!

From May 10


From May 10


From May 10



It had actually become part of her nightly routine!

From May 10


From May 10

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Videos

Here are a few cute videos from my phone. Double click on each video to make it play.

This one shows how she really acts at home! She talks non stop and is loud and animated! She is often more shy in front of other people...
From May 10


I love how Devin is laughing in this one...
From May 10


In this one she is a dancing fool!
From May 10


The weirdest part is these were all taken on different days, several weeks apart, and she is wearing the same dress in all of them! I do love that dress, but gah! She same thing happened with a few posts back and an outfit that she just happened to have on on two or three different days!

Mommy's Little Helper

Devin is such a little helper in her own little way!

The other day while I was trying to convert her crib from a drop side crib to a stationary crib, I put the matress on the floor in her room next to me. She quietly went back and forth from her bookshelf getting books to read then sitting on the matress and reading. Every now and then she would come over and pat me on the head or look to see what I was doing.

From May 10


From May 10


Then later that afternoon, I was in charge of the main course for Supper Club. She refused to take a nap this day, and we had already had a very busy day so she was getting really tired and wanted to be held and see what I was doing. In a moment of pure deperation, I got out one of my mixing bowls and a real spoon. I put a little shredded cheese in the bowl and asked her if she could stir it for me. She was MORE than happy to help me with this task and it gave me just enough time to finish preparing my meal.

She had to taste test the cheese as she was going...
From May 10


I had also brought out a step stool and placed it far enough away so that she could step up and see what I was doing, but not get her hands on the stove burners or my knife.

From May 10


Once she was done stirring and tasting, it was time to play with it...
From May 10

Spoiled

There is no greater joy I am told than being a grandparent. I can only base my opinions from what I have heard because right now for me there is no greater joy than being a parent. It is obvious to me though how much my parent's LOVE being grandparent's.

Devin often stays with my parent's for a few hours in the evenings when I may have somewhere to go and Chris works late, or sometimes just so he and I can go do something alone! A few weeks ago my dad decided that Devin needed a swing set for their house so he would have a little something extra special for her to play with outside. She absolutely LOVES it and has learned to swing and climb almost on her own with just a little supervision and spotting.

These pictures are from the day that he showed it to her for the first time!

He brought her around the house and through the gate to get to it....
From May 10


From May 10


She wasn't so sure what to think at first...
From May 10


From May 10


But she quickly started checking it all out...
From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


From May 10


Such a big girl!
From May 10


From May 10


I love the sly look on her face here!
From May 10