18 Months Old

My baby is a year and a half old!  How is time flying by so quickly? We finally got settled into our new house and Lexi is adjusting to life in a two story!  She can get up and down the stairs without assistance but likes to hold our hand sometimes just so she can go down without sitting and scooting :)  She likes to be a big girl and do things that Mommy and Daddy do.

I'm going to start keeping track of her words once a month for a bit, just for personal reference, so sorry for the list :)  She still says most words with emphasis on the beginning consonants but it's amazing how much she is soaking things in and trying out new sounds especially in the last couple weeks.

Here are some new things about Lexi this month:

-She loves to draw with crayons (or pens she finds in mommy's purse) and markers, with playdoh and paint.  She especially loves printing with random objects.  Anything is fair game to be used as a printing tool when painting....Little People, mini animals (fun tracks), marshmellows, bubble wrap, old paper towel rolls have been some of our favorites.

-She likes to pour and scoop.  She has always been very interested in this but this month she has mastering pouring her own juice and water from a mini pitcher into her cup and drinking out of a cup with no lid or straw.  As you can imagine, we have had lots of pouring activities in our sensory trays because she loves it so much!

-Lexi loves helping mommy.  She likes to help me cook and clean and can often be caught "cleaning" her play kitchen with a cloth when she's playing independently.  Now she also likes to color on furniture if she finds a rogue crayon, but she loves to help clean that up too :)

-She is obsessed with any toy that can drive...she really wants a barbie car like our sweet neighbor across the street but for now we are settling for playing outside with hers.  She loves the carts at the store that have a car attached or the cool Firetruck carts at Stonebriar Mall....she'll spin the wheel and make a vroom sound.  In fact, the same goes for trains...she LOVES them!

-Lexi loves to "pretend".  She likes to mimic things mommy does.  I walked into her room to get her thinking she was calling for me in her crib this week and she had her hand up to her ear like she was talking on the phone.  She was saying "Mom...mom....mom...uh huh....uh huh" She cracked up when I walked in on her private conversation.

-She loves to play outside, love bubbles, walking while holding peoples hands and likes to do things by herself...she's my little independent lady. 

-The move has disrupted her sleeping a bit but she's getting there!  I've heard there is some sleep regression at 18 months plus I think she's cutting her canines so we probably have a lot going on to disturb sleep right now!

-Words she knows: Mommy and Daddy (this just started in the last two weeks from Mom and Dad), This, That, Moo (Cow), Nigh (Night Night), Juice, Ehh (Egg), Dah (Dog), Boom Boom (Whenever she here's loud sounds or hammering), Choo Choo (Train), Vroom (Car), Hars or Neigh (Horse),  No, Uh Oh, Uh Huh, Yeah, Oh Yeah, Duh (Done), Wa Wa (Water), I (she uses this sound and points to herself or for her eyes), Row Row (row row row your boat), Mine, Oh No, Chee (cheese)

-She is great at following directions...her receptive language is awesome. Nick and I can tell her or ask her almost anything and she can figure out what we want.  I think she's aquiring this type of language more rapidly than expressive.  For the last few months (from about 15 months on) she'll answer when we ask her questions with no or uh huh.

-She is crazy about dogs! 

-She loves to play on playgrounds and freaks mommy out because she always wants to go on the tallest or highest slide on the playground.  The girl LOVES to climb.

-She loves boy stuff...cars, dirt, dinosaurs, sports, but seems to be pretty girly too.  She likes to walk around in mommy's shoes, carry a purse, and take care of her babies.

I can't even describe how much I love being a mommy and a stay at home mama at that.  I would sacrifice anything to get to be with my little lady everyday and I'm so blessed that I get to watch her grow and be a huge part of her development and learning everyday!  I love you so much Miss Lexi Loo!

Dusting off the Blog

I am ashamed at how long it's been since I've blogged.  I've been so busy blogging over at www.happyorganizedlife.com for my business that I have forgotten to keep everyone posted on what matters most, my sweet family. 

Lexi is a wild woman....she's now moving from toddling to running everywhere.  That will change your whole world, because every moment is a chase.  In the winter cold, we just pray that it won't rain so that we can bundle up and burn off some steam outside.  I also got the cutest DVD called We Are the Laurie Berkner Band and Lexi goes crazy when "I'm Gonna Catch You" starts playing.  It's a great way to burn off some energy while moving and grooving when we're stuck inside.

She's got 9 teeth, is saying new words all the time (right now her favorite is "dis" while point to EVERYTHING)

We also have officially put our house on the market, which involved a lot of purging, packing and cleaning!  And even bigger news is that we're building a house in Prosper.  Nick was set on Frisco when he was still working at TXU, but since he started working from home, we have so much more flexibility.  We are able to build our dream house, design it exactly like we want, and get the benefit of living a little bit away from the congestion of Frisco. 

Here is a mockup of the front of our new house. It's been crazy keeping the house "show-ready" with a toddler, try to work on designing our new house and be keep up with all my Happy Organized Life orders, but we are blessed to have so many exciting things in our future. So lots of changes going on in the Mauldin house...can't wait to see what the next few month hold!