Zoolight Safari

Tonight we bundled Miss P up and went to Zoolight Safari.  I've been wanting to take her for the past few weeks but we just weren't able to work it out before now.  And yes, I do realize that she is only 14 months and that at this point it is probably more for me than for her but what fun is having a little one if you don't get out and do fun things?!?!  Did I mention that I am still wearing this big black boot on my right foot but I was NOT going to let it stop me from walking all around the zoo!  So we pushed P in her stroller and took in all of the pretty Christmas lights.  Then we rode the train which was the best part of the night.  Once we were on the train there was a second where I started to worry about how Peyton would react to one riding on the train and two riding on it in the dark.  Thankfully my adventurous little girl isn't afraid of much and she seemed to enjoy it.

Getting ready for our train ride!! 

Taking it all in!

Sitting with Daddy on the train

You can barely see it but this is a pic of a minature pony

Merry Christmas!!

This was a bittersweet Christmas for us for several reasons. First, this was the last Christmas that we would spend in our house, which technically isn't our house anymore :( I have so many wonderful memories of the past 6 Christmas' we have had this house, especially the last two that we have spent here with Peyton.  As Matt reminded me though, we will have a bunch of wonderful new memories in our new house.  The second reason Christmas was bittersweet this year is that the Monday before Christmas my parents' 16 year old dog Zack went missing. We spent every day leading up to Christmas searching for him, including driving and walking through the neighborhood and woods an insane number of times, asking neighbors if they had seen him, calling local vet clinics and shelters, and posting flyers. Unfortunately we never found him. Although we all felt like a piece of our family was missing, we still had a wonderful Christmas with a lot of quality time together as a family.

Our Christmas celebration started on Christmas Eve when we all went to Mass at 4pm.  Mass was very different this year with a toddler compared to last year with a newborn.  Peyton and I had to spend some time out in the vestibule of church because about 40 minutes into it she was over sitting still and was ready to move!  While we were in the back, I decided to go to the restroom, so I took her in the stall with me and one second I see her bending down to look under the stall and then the next thing I know she is crawling out of there!  This is one curious little girl!  After Mass we all headed back to my parents' house and had a delicious dinner of baked ziti.  Peyton enjoyed playing around with her cousins and then we headed home to get ready for Santa.

 

The next morning we woke up to find all of the fun presents that Santa left for P.  She got so many new toys that she didn't know what to do.  I thought that she would be into the wrapping paper and opening her presents but she didn't really want much to do with it.  In fact, we ended up saving three presents to giver her later because she seemed over the whole thing and we knew that she still had more presents to open later at GP and Granddad's house.

We had a little time to play with all of Peyton's new toys before we headed back over to my parents' house for lunch.  We were all looking forward to it because my mom had made kibee (a Lebanese meal that is everyone's favorite).  After we enjoyed our yummy meal, it was present time.  Things were a little hectic with 11 people opening gifts, one baby, and Jamie's new puppy (Will surprised Jamie on Christmas Eve with a Jack Russell puppy they named Bailey) but it was a lot of fun!  Then we all just spent some time hanging out and enjoying the rest of Christmas.

Gotta love that my child has her finger in her nose!

Needless to say by the end of the day we were all worn out...but not too worn out for a little playtime in our diaper cover....

14 Months

This last month has brought lots of changes for Miss P. Her vocabulary has exploded, with the addition of "ball," "duck," "more," "HoHo," "teethees"(teeth), "GP,"(what she calls my mom), "book," "nana" (for banana and Matt's mom), "Pops" (Matt's dad), and "thank you." She points to let us know what she wants and she shakes her head for yes and no when we ask her a question. It may not always be the appropriate answer but a lot of times it is. She also understands so much more than I give her credit for. I can say "let's go brush your teeth" or "time to take a bath" and she will head to the bathroom! It's hard to believe that my little baby is getting so grown up! Now that she is this little person with a mind of her own, she has become very good at throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. The worst tantrums happen at nap time and bedtime when we lay her in her crib. We had struggled with this several months ago and thought that we were past this, and then all of the sudden it started again. Except this time the crying has turned into screaming. Makes for a tired Mommy and Daddy!

Peyton still loves to eat cheese and fruit with very little interest in eating meat with the exception of hamburger meat and meatballs without sauce. She has a terrible habit of throwing food on the floor when she doesn't want it and thanks to Ellie it's usually gone before I can clean it up. For the past few months Peyton has been doing the sign for "all done" when she is finished eating and has now started saying "more" and doing the sign for "more". She also says "momma" when she wants something to eat/drink or when she wants more of something. She LOVES her paci and has started calling it "nona." Matt and I have no idea where she came up with that name but think it is hilarious. She absolutely loves to read books and could spend most of her day having someone read to her. Sometimes she will even sit down and flip through a book by herself (which has unfortunately led to several ripped pages).


P is busier and more curious than ever, and is generally not afraid of much. She is super sweet and loving, always waving and flirting with strangers and freely giving lots of kisses to everyone in our family. Although she wears me out, I am having the best time with her right now!

13 Months

13 Months and on the move!!! Once this little girl started walking there was no going back! I was so sure that Peyton was going to be walking by her 1st birthday and although she was close, it wasn't for a few more weeks that she was officially walking. And now her walking has turned into running! She has got places to go and things to see! It's funny how at first it was so strange to see her walking from room to room in our house, and now it's hard for me to imagine that there was ever a time when she wasn't walking. She does still have falls (quite frequently) but is completely unbothered by them. She continues to show little fear and is into EVERYTHING!

Peyton has 7 teeth, four on top and three on the bottom (the two middle ones and then one to the left of the middle teeth).  She has become a little more of a picky eater these days. Before I could put anything in front of her and she would eat it. Now, if she doesn't want something that I have put on her tray she will simply toss it over the side of her highchair onto the floor. We have tried sternly telling her no, popping her on the hand, etc. but it doesn't seem to work. There is no denying that this little girl has a mind of her own. These days some of her favorites are monterey colby cheese, cucumbers, pasta, and chocolate. She absolutely will not drink milk or juice but loves water. Peyton has become pretty consistent with taking a morning nap around 10. Her naps usually last 1-1.5 hours. After that, it's hit or miss whether or not she will take an afternoon nap and usually it's a miss! This makes for a tired baby by dinner time, resulting in her oftentimes going to bed at 6:30. If she makes it to 7 it's a late night for her haha!

She is definitely full of energy and keeps us on our toes at all times. P LOVES LOVES to dance, especially to the intro for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which I let her watch after breakfast. Lucky for me it only holds her attention for about 5 minutes before she is ready to move on and play. One of the new things she is doing this month is pointing.  If she sees something she wants she will now point to it and make a sound kind of like "huh huh huh" over and over again until I figure out what it is she wants.  She is full of affection and gives us kisses and hugs freely! That is probably my most favorite thing about this stage...all of the affection that she gives us. As busy as she is, she constantly stops and takes a minute to come and lay her head on our shoulder or sit in our lap. I'm hoping that this is something that she won't outgrow anytime soon!

12 Months!!!!

If I am going to be honest, I think that I have pretty much dreaded seeing Peyton turn one since the day she was born. I just knew that the day she turned one meant my little baby wasn't a baby anymore but I completely disagree now that we are here. Although she is growing and changing by the second, she still seems like my little baby and at times is more needy now than ever before!

We are definitely at the stage where P knows what she wants and isn't very happy if she doesn't get it. She stopped letting me feed her baby food around the time she turned 11 months old and hasn't wanted much to do with me feeding her off of a spoon ever since. I can usually get her to at least let me feed her a little oatmeal at breakfast or some yogurt at lunch but that is only if she also has finger foods that she can pick up and feed herself in between me feeding her with the spoon. She does great drinking out of a sippy cup and loves loves loves to drink water. I have given her 2% milk a few times and even a little juice and but she didn't seem to really like either of them. So far she seems to be a good little eater, eating most foods that I put in front of her, with her favorite being fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries). She also really likes to eat chicken, sliced cheese, scrambled eggs, and ritz crackers. She likes chocolate just like her mommy and daddy, although she has only had it a few times. Earlier this week Matt was holding Peyton while we were talking to a neighbor and I had just taken a bite out of a chocolate chip cookie when Peyton reached out and grabbed it out of my hand and proceeded to eat the whole thing!! I think that might have been her first real experience with chocolate and she did not hold anything back!

Peyton is sooo close to walking on her own but just hasn't quite mastered it yet. She can walk across the room using a walking toy or walk with someone holding her hand. She has learned to climb onto the couch and the recliner (with a little help) and does this multiple times a day. This seems to be one of her new favorite things. Her vocabulary has expanded a lot in the past few weeks. She's been saying "momma," "dadda," "byebye," "dog," "granddad," "night night," "no no no," and now can also say "baby," "nana," "girl," "P," "one," "go go go" (for ghost), and my favorite "warrrrr" (for War Eagle!). She is super social and is not afraid of strangers, oftentimes reaching out to older men and wanting them to hold her haha. She is still not a big napper, usually napping anywhere from 1-1.5 hours a day and that is usually fairly early in the morning. Although I shouldn't complain because she generally sleeps for a good 12 hours at night.

So far this age is a lot more fun than I expected it to be. I am loving how much she interacts with Matt and I and am amazed at how much she knows. I can already see that this little girl is going to have a love for shoes just like her mommy. If she sees a pair of shoes lying on the floor she will pick them up and try to put them on her feet. It cracks me up to see that she can actually put two and two together and realize that shoes belong on her feet, especially considering the fact that it is rare that she wears them. One of the funniest things to watch is when she pulls her bow out of her hair and then tries to put it back in. She also loves to take my sunglasses off of my face and then try to put them on her face. She is such a mess and we wouldn't have it any other way! We love you P!

12 Month Stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. (75th-90th percentile)

Height: 31 inches (95th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17.5 inches