Dear BGT

Dear BGT,

You are fifteen months old!!! We can't even believe for one second how quickly you have grown. When you were a newborn we wondered what you would be like as a toddler. We could have never imagined how quickly we would find out.

You are in to everything. You do not walk, you run. You have the biggest smile and the tightest hugs. You laugh all the time. You love to be silly and you can be very sweet. You talk all the time. If you are awake you are chatting. You love to explore and to ask questions. You are amazing and we love you so much.

Here's a little of what you've been up to over the last three months:

-July 19th we had your 15 month well checkup with Dr. S. you were 20 lbs 13 oz (50th percentile) and 29 inches long (10th percentile). Dr. S said you were very smart! You walked around his office pointing at all of the animals and telling him their names and the noise they make. He was telling mommy how good your speech development was for your age when you started naming off all the parts of your face. Then you pointed to all the parts on mommy, Dr. S and the animal pictures on the wall. He was impressed that you could make the connections . Obviously mommy was proud :)
-You just moved up to size 3 diapers when we ran out of size 2. They are a little big on you and look a little funny :)
-you are still in mostly 9-12 month clothing with a couple of 18 month.
-you talk ALL the time! You say well over hundred words, use 3-5 word sentences and can say your ABC's through letter G. You know many animals and their sounds, shapes, colors, foods, body parts, household items and peoples names. you wake up talking and spend the day naming off everything you see. We are so blown away by you every single day. We are so grateful so have such a smart funny baby.
-you are a really good eater and love to feed yourself. We are working on using a fork and spoon and you are getting very good at it.
-you have spent most of the summer with Mimi with a few days with Gigi in between. You have spent a lot of time outside playing with bubbles, your water table and your motorized car. You love to go to the park and the zoo, but your favorite thing to do is to go swimming. You love the water and you love to try to swim on your own. You have no fear when it comes to water which is quite scary for mommy and daddy. We aren't quite ready to let you go just yet and you are too small for floaties so it is a challenge to keep our eyes on you.
-you start daycare in just over a week! You will go three days a week and then stay with Gigi two days.
-you love to blow kisses, give kisses, high fives, fist pounds and best of all bear hugs.
-you love blocks, balls, puzzles, stuffed animals, things that make noise, electronics, and things you can climb on.
-you love to show off to new people. You know how to turn on the charm. You smile and bat your eyelashes and say HEY!! People are instantly charmed by you. When we take you to the grocery, we call you our little greeter because you say hey and smile and wave to everyone. If someone is by chance not looking at you or not paying attention you keep waving and keeping saying hey! Louder and louder until they respond. Then you smile and your whole face lights up. It is precious.
-you love to take baths and brush your teeth and hair. You say brusha brusha and baaaaaath!!! And demand to get "all clean". We will see how long that lasts!!

We love you so much sweet baby girl. We are so thankful every single day that you are in our lives. We can not wait to see what the rest of this year has in store for us!

With love, 

Mommy and Daddy

** this post was written at the end of July but it would seem that I forgot to post it!! Oops! Mommy brain!

Summer time and the livin' is easy

I. Am. So. Glad. It. Is. Summer!! I wish I had summers off with my munchkin but we are making due with the weekends and the long daylight hours. She is loving the back yard and we got new patio furniture so as soon as the hubby has time to build it, I intend to spend lots of afternoons outside with her.

She is absolutely loving her baby pool. Who knew a teeny blow up pool would be so much fun! I also built her water table tonight so we will have to see how that goes over.

We spent the day at the "real" pool with my family and Bennett Grace went swimming with her Uncle Matt, Aunt Lala and Aunt Morgan. Bennett Grace floated around in her float and greeted everyone who would swim or walk by. she cracks me up with her Hey! and nonchalant wave. We ate a late lunch and by the time we got home none of us were very hungry for dinner so we had watermelon in the backyard. As you can tell, somebody loved it.

Have great week!!

My Own Little Hourglass

I am once again behind on my blogging and for good reason! We have been SO BUSY LATELY!! Not to mention that Bennett Grace is in to everything. All the time. Every single thing. Her current obsessions are hats, balls, stuffed animals and dolls, animals, and Gigi.

She is so freaking smart it blows my mind. I know she's my child and I'm totally partial but in my head she's a two foot tall genius. She walks around the house naming everything she sees. I can not even count how many words she says and how many things she points out. It is to the point that not only does she repeat back what you say when you say something like "can you say sprinkler?" But she has started walking up to things I didn't even know she knows and calling them by name. My favorite thing is when she makes connections in her head when things are the same, like her dolls eyes, her eyes and my eyes, etc. For example today she was playing with my ponytail and she said "hair" and "OooooOooooh pretty!" (Copying my mom of course!) then later when she was playing with a rocking horse at my mom's house she touched it's hair which was made of yarn and said "hair!" and smiled at me. Then tonight when Sean was changing her diaper she looked at his arm and pulled on his arm hair and said hair and just beamed! It cracked him up so much.

She also is in this busy body phase. She pulls everything out all the time. Drawers, cabinets, toy baskets, blankets, you name it. It is hard to keep things clean for sure. She also runs. Literally runs. I feel like I should be burning major calories chasing her. She loves to play or should I say demands to play "OUTSIDE!! OUTSIDE!! OUTSIIIIIIDE!!!" We are working on patience, asking nicely not screaming and saying please and thank you. Reasoning with a toddler is more difficult than I imagined, however she has started learning and she actually seems to be understanding when i talk to her so apparently it is working.

We took our first weekend trip away and she stayed with Mimi and Pop. We are also transitioning to our summer schedule so she is splitting days between Mimi and Gigi. I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL JULY so that I can finally get a few full days with her. I can't believe this time last year she was only just over a month old. Mind blown. I don't think I really ever appreciated how fast time goes by until I had her. She is a physical representation of time for me. She is ever present and ever changing. My own little hourglass.

Here's a few pictures from the last few weeks :) Now on to catching up on all of your blogs!

Happy summer my little blogger friends!

Dear Bennett Grace (1 year!)

Dear Bennett Grace,

Sweet girl, mommy and daddy can not believe you are ONE! It is amazing to think that one short year ago we were waiting anxiously for you and wondering what you would look like and what your voice would sound like. You never cease to amaze us. You are a little sponge, soaking up everything around you all the time. When you walk over to us and reach out your tiny arms to be picked up, we melt. We love you so much sweet baby.

Here's a little of what you are doing at one year old.

-As of your one year old check up on April 23, 2013, you weighed 19lbs 5 oz. (40th percentile) and were 28 inches long (10-20th percentile)!
-At your one year old visit, Dr. Soong asked if you had started saying any words and you said "I see you" right back to him, Mommy, Gigi and Dr. Soong laughed and he said "I guess so!"
-You are still wearing size 2 diapers and 9-12 month clothing with a few 18 months too! You wear a size 2-3 shoe.
-at one year old you still only had 2 teeth! Both on the bottom.
-you started walking a few weeks before your first birthday and by the time your party rolled around you were moving everywhere! Your daddy says you speed walk or run!
-your first birthday party was a pink theme and you had your very own smash cake. You loved it! You also had tons of guests and got lots of great presents :)
-your favorite toy is currently a stuffed pink polka dot puppy dog that you have aptly named "puppy". You love him so much, it is precious!
-you say more words than we can count. People always comment on how well you can talk. We joke that it is because your Gigi talks to you all day and your Mama talks to you all night!
-your favorite foods are cheese, bananas and sweet peas.
-you switched to whole milk at 1 year old and you love it! You have 18 oz a day, 3 meals and 2 snacks. You feed yourself most of the time and are learning to use a spoon. You like to pack your cheeks full of food like a chipmunk :)
-you are into everything! You head straight into the "no no zones" shaking your head no like you know you are going to be in trouble!
-you love to pull things out and sort them. You stack things and transport them from place to place. You also love putting small things into bowls or larger toys and carry thing them or pushing them from place to place.
-you are so thoughtful with your playing. We can really see your thought process.
-you love to pick up and carry things that are way too big for you or are close to your size.
-you love to play with the puppies, Jackson & Olivia.
-you also love children. When we are out shopping you say hey to everyone and waive. If we pass a child or baby, you squeal and say BABY!!
-you are so curious. You ask "what is it" or "who is it" constantly.
-you love hats! They remind you of Papa D. You excitedly say hat!!!! And we tell you to put on the hat like Papa D. You put it on and smile. If Papa D is around, you try to find him to show him your hat.
-you have more clothes than any child we know.
-you love to give kisses and hugs. You also love to be tickled and to show people your tummy.
-you have the best smile and laugh!
-you love to climb in and out of things and love to go up and down the stairs. Papa D taught you to go go down the stairs and get off the couch backwards on your tummy so that you can get down safely.

Sweet angel, in our wildest dreams we could have never imagined how much fulfillment you could bring to our lives. You make everyday more fun and interesting. We are so proud of you every single day. We can not believe how fast you've grown and how smart you are! When you stop playing to give us a hug or kiss, we melt. We can not wait to enjoy this next stage in your life and watch you grown. We love you so much sweet baby.

Love, Mommy & Daddy

Water baby

Who knows how long it will last but for the time being, we've got a water baby on our hands. BGT and I headed back to the beach last month for spring break with my parents last month and it was so fun to compare how much she has grown since we were last there in October and the July before. She LOVED it in October and even more so this time around. I left my camera at home but still managed to take 537951 pictures on my iPhone.

The pool is heated at the condo so BG loved swimming and although the ocean was still a little cold, she loved playing in the sand. Not to mention I got to try out some of her summer clothes and bathing suits and best of all her sweet little sun hat and Waterbabies sunscreen with is my favorite smell in the whole world! We had a blast! Daddy was a little jealous he didn't have any time off work to go with us.

I CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL WE GO BACK! Really I can't wait for summer in general. I'm dreaming of a pool day. And I think we might start to teach BG to swim this summer. She has started dunking her face under water in the bathtub and blowing bubbles under water. She did it the first time trying to avoid getting her face washed and now she does it all the time! I know it sounds early for swimming lessons but i figure we should strike while the iron is hot and she's interested in it. Not to mention that my sisters and I all started swimming early.

So here are some of my favorite pictures from the beach.