21 Months

Weight: 26.6 pounds

Length: 34.5 inches 

Favorite activity: coloring, her alphabet puzzle, reading books, bouncing the ball, pushing Tiger around in her potty

Favorite food: tangerines, cheese, anything she can dip

Favorite spot: on the couch, with Tiger

Cutest moment: Playing hide and seek (around mommy) with cousin Logan.

Important milestones: Nothing major

Teeth: 15

Words: 30 - dada, mama, woof, yes, dis (this), kack (quack), hi, thank you, uh oh, bye, wa (water), pees (please), goat, puppy, ah duh (all done), no, shoe, socks, bawll (ball, but sounds like a southern belle when she says it!), Poppy, BeeBee, Tigee, truck, airplane, cat, cheese, spoo(n), eye, nose, Gamma, book, apple, pear, dip

Signs: 12 (more, all done, dog, please, berry, cheese, grape, water, milk, help, thank you, cat)

How Mom's Feeling: Happy the month is just about over! It's been an absolutely crazy busy month of parties and playdates and teething. So much teething.

A few new things we've started this month: 

-Farmers' Market Thursdays. The Daly City Farmers' Market is pretty amazing and at a time I can actually go. Which means, I don't have to go grocery shopping Saturday morning. Yay! I can get almost everything we need at the market and it's fun to boot. So win!

-Family Day. We've started taking one day a month and doing something just the three of us as a family. Something on the schedule, so we can plan around it. This month it was Ardenwood Farm and Pumpkin Patch. We visited the pumpkin patch, took some pictures, then explored the farm. Next month, we will be going to Lemos Farm.

As for Lorelei this month, in some respects, I feel she has gotten needier and clingier, but also so grown up. It could be the cooler weather, but in her little jeans, sweaters, Converse sneakers, and pigtails, she looks so much more like a little girl!

20 months

Weight: 26.6 pounds

Length: 32.5 inches 

Favorite activity: coloring, blocks, reading books, bouncing the ball

Favorite food: pears, rice, beans

Favorite spot: at her coloring table

Cutest moment: Giving kisses to her favorite stuffed animal, Tiger.

Important milestones: First (and hopefully last) case of Hand, Foot and Mouth.

Teeth: 13

Words: 22 - dada, mama, woof, yes, dis (this), kack (quack), hi, thank you, uh oh, bye, wa (water), buh (book), pees (please), goat, puppy, ah duh (all done), no, shoe, socks, bawll (ball, but sounds like a southern belle when she says it!), Poppy, BeeBee

Signs: 12 (more, all done, dog, please, berry, cheese, grape, water, milk, help, thank you, cat)

How Mom's Feeling: Pooped. Nothing to do with Lorelei, so much, as how things are going at work. I got a promotion (yay!) and a pay increase (double yay!), but I've also got an extremely young and very challenging group of kids to work with. Each day I feel like I come home completely drained.

On the plus side this month, I had a lot of days off for various Jewish holidays. It's kind of a nice way to ease into the school year. Lorelei got to spend a lot of time with me running errands and going to fun places. Of course, that makes it harder when I have to go back to work on a regular schedule!

Another positive addition this month is that we found an interesting new church to go to. We've been hunting for a good one since before I was pregnant. We want one with a relatively young demographic, young families, with a perspective that doesn't just accept what the bible says, but also questions it. I feel that this church meets most of these goals. They also meet on Sunday evenings and serves dinner after. This is so much easier for us! It means we can go down to Gilroy for the weekend, and still come back without missing church (and I don't have to worry about cooking dinner one night a week). Time will tell, but I'm hoping this will be a good fit for us.

Pics of our Week

We're getting to that time of year again, my very favorite time of year...Indian Summer! While June, July and August are summer for most, it was generally foggy and cool here. But this weekend, the forecast is for 80's in Daly City (what what?)! The other reason this is my favorite time of year: The Jewish High Holy Days--which means I get a lot of days off!

Some pictures from the last few weeks:

Bath time!

Proud to master the stairs!

And the slide!

Happy morning baby!

Cuddling with Tiger

Pizza is so delicious!

Reading to the dogs!

19 Months

Weight: 25.9 pounds

Length: 31 inches 

Favorite activity: coloring, reading books, playing with her mini play kitchen

Favorite food: berries, milk, cheese sticks, pancakes

Favorite spot: sitting on the couch

Cutest moment: Giving smacking kisses to everyone!

Important milestones: Separation anxiety. It doesn't last long and it's only with me...but it's no fun.

Teeth: 12

Words: 17 - dada, mama, woof, yes, dis (this), kack (quack), hi, thank you, uh oh, bye, wa (water), buh (book), pees (please), goat, puppy, ah duh (all done), no

Signs: 11 (more, all done, dog, please, berry, cheese, grape, water, milk, help, thank you)

How Mom's Feeling: Good. A little relieved as for a large part of the month, I thought I was pregnant (I'm not. And no we aren't trying. We aren't even thinking about trying.) But it did put in sharp relief that A) I would like to have another, and B) I really don't want another right now. Right now, I'm feeling confident about our parenting, Lorelei is doing really well and I just want to be present with her right now.

I've been working hard on being present with her, spending less time behind the camera, and more time enjoying being with her in the moment. She is funny and independent and she certainly knows her own mind!

Pencil Frame

I love this song. It just speaks to me, especially the last four verses:

Pencil Frame 

(by Connor Garvey)

There’s an empty frame about head high
except eggshell paint there’s nothing in side
but oh, what great potential, so much can fit
in this frame of pencil once you commit

A young couple moved in a real fixer-upper
made renovations, good love and healthy supper
but oh, what great potential, so much can fit
in this frame of pencil once you commit

And once a year they’d climb the stairs to the unfinished room
they’d grab a chair and sit and stare and wonder what to do
to put a mirror or a window in their frame on the wall
or nothing at all

So they got engaged and they chose a date
for June the 4th why should they wait?
because oh, what great potential, so much could fit
in this frame of pencil once you commit

The family grew and they built new walls
and little feet ran down the halls
but oh, what great potential, so much can fit
in this frame of pencil once you commit

Now they all grew old as all things just do
halls and walls and little shoes
kids moved out on their own
And they left the folks in the unfinished home

Now they spend their time atop the stairs
with the same sight from the same chairs
but the empty frame each day it changes
as their life slide show rearranges

And oh, what great memories, so much they fit
in this frame of pencil without touching it

Pics of Our Week(s)

Yet again, it's been more than a week since our last post, but well, life happened. I went back to work, so there's that. It's only from 2-6, but it does cut into our fun time. And then there was that whole thing where my computer hiccuped and I lost about a month and a half worth of pictures (back up, people!) Thank god for Facebook and this blog!

Tea party! (with milk and scones!)

Morning at the SF Zoo!

Hanging at Diddalidoo

Someone get this girl a kitchen (just not her mama's!)

Loved how she checked each item before putting them in the basket!

"Snacktime" with buddy Nicholas!

Look at this cutie pie!

Mama's new office/craft area

And now to back up a whole lotta pictures on Shutterfly!

18 Months!

Weight: 24.6 pounds

Length: 30.5 inches (I must have mismeasured last month)

Favorite activity: coloring, reading books, playing in the dirt/sand/water

Favorite food: berries, graham crackers, macaroni and cheese

Favorite spot: sitting at her activity table or sitting in her rocking chair.

Cutest moment: Too many to choose from! It's got to be a tie between playing hide and seek behind the living room curtains with Grady or waving and blowing kisses while riding around in Logan's new wagon! 

Important milestones: She's officially one and a half years old!

Teeth: 11

Words: 13 - dada, mama, woof, yes, dis (this), kack (quack), hi, thank you, uh oh, bye, wa (water), buh (book), pees (please)

Signs: 11 (more, all done, dog, please, berry, cheese, grape, water, milk, help, thank you)

How Mom's Feeling: This month has been really fantastic. I had two full weeks off, so I had two weeks to be a stay at home mom, which was a lot of fun. I did better during these two weeks. When I had my first week off, I packed it with so many activities that by Thursday, I was exhausted. This time, we stuck closer to home and spread out our activities. It was great because I was able to get a routine down with her (and see how she actually naps, eats and plays). In the mornings, we would get up and eat breakfast, then play until about 10-10:30. Then nap until around 12:30-1:00, eat lunch and go out to run errands, go to the playground or Golden Gate Park. We'd come home and nap from around 4-6, play, watch some Sesame Street while I made dinner, eat dinner, bath and bedtime.

This month Lorelei has also taken to mimicking and "helping". She's really working on talking, and while sign and speak at the same time. She frequently tries to repeat words that she hears (so watch your language, people!). She also wants to help: putting away the dishes, putting away her diapers and cleaning up her toys. Most interesting, she wants to put garbage in the trash can. We can't walk through the playground without her picking up every piece of trash to throw away!

And just for reference: