7-23-10

Here it is July, and I have thought about blogging for so many days now.  Laney has changed even so much since the last time I wrote, and so have I!  I am 28 weeks pregnant with Liam and am getting bigger every day.  Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary and we are celebrating by a small vacation to Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara.  We exchanged some new right-hand rings on the beach yesterday and went out to a nice dinner in town. 

Laney has turned two and is just a joyful little girl to be around.  I finished work in June and have really been enjoying my month home with her.  She seems to enjoy having me home too.  She wakes up early and then we put her in our bed so we can try to sleep until seven, but are up most mornings at 6.  Laney really loves to have her back rubbed and also loves "cratchy back".    We got her a special booster that raises the height of a regular table chair and she likes to climb into it and declare "dinner" when she is hungry, no matter what meal it is.  Usually she asks us for a cheese quesadilla or chicken and rice, her two favorites.  Lately it seems that her other favorite food is whatever mommy is having and I find that I usually have to give her bites from my plate too!

Laney moves at full speed now, declaring "Laney fast" as she runs laps around whatever she can.  She loves to take the pillows off the sofa in our living room and then jump off the sofa onto them.  No fear!  She also likes when I help her do somersaults on the pillows and laughs hysterical and proclaims "again." 

Her hair is getting much longer, with beautiful golden ringlets in the back.  She rarely lets  me style it, but loves to shake her head and mess it up with her hands declaring that she has "crazy hair".  Laney is also in a major "self, self, self" stage.   She wants to do everything from putting her socks, shoes, clothes on to washing herself with soap and climbing in and out of the car/stroller by herself.  She often needs help, especially knowing what shoe goes on which foot, and freaks out if you try to help her. 

5-10-10

Well, Laney has a new word and it is "dammit". She heard me say it and now any time she drops something she says it! So embarassing :) I am trying to get her to say "rats" instead, but so far she seems convinced that dammit is the right word.

Patrick commented tonight that reading with her is so amazing because she is really beginning to point out the names of things in her books without being asked. She knows some key words in favorite books too, and likes to yell them out as we read (especially in Go, Dog! Go!)

5-7-10

Laney said "hungry" this morning and "chicken". We are so excited because she hasn't been able to tell us when she was hungry before. Hopefully this will make it easier on us!

Boy does this kid love milk and chicken. I stop at the deli counter at Albertson's to get her a chicken tender to eat while we shop and she is so happy!

5-6-10

A complete stranger commented on my pregnancy this morning(17 weeks). Guess I have reached that point where I definitely look pregnant enough that strangers are comfortable commenting on it! I guess that is better than people just thinking I am fat!!!

4-30-10

Last night while giving Laney a bath, I asked her, "What's your name?"  "Naney!" she responded (she just started answering this question correctly this week.)  Then the following happened:

I asked Laney,
"What's his name?" pointing to Patrick's chest.
"Daddy." 
"What's his other name?" 
Patrick."
"What's my name?" I asked, pointing to my chest.
"Mommy."
"What's my other name?"  I asked, pointing to my chest.
"Boobies!"

4-28-10

Laney is now 23 months old, and is in full swing with the terrible two’s behavior:  throwing things, crying, and saying her favorite word, “NO!”

She has become obsessed with milk and chicken in the last two weeks, demanding both constantly.  I am fairly sure that she is getting ready to go through another growth spurt soon.  Last week we had to re-sleep train her after she woke up one night at 1:30 and didn’t go back to sleep until 5am.  She is getting up at 5 am now, and we don’t know what to make  of it.  We have let her cry it out several mornings until it got light out, but that doesn’t seem to help.  Patrick thinks that she is having growing pains like he did when he was little!

Laney is really into walking places right now, and still wearing her necklaces all the time.   Her hair is long and ringlet curls in the back.  She can wear little pigtails all the time, and looks soooo cute with them in.  She is also really into the swing and the park.  We have to go to the park for about an hour each afternoon so she can climb on all of the equipment and go down the twisty slide over and over.

On another note, she actually answered my “What’s your name?” question with “Naney” yesterday.  So proud of her.  We are getting a little better restaurant behavior out of her, as long as we sit in a booth where we can block her in and she can stand on the seat.  She only wants to eat our food right now, and really only likes to eat my food.  We have been setting a spot for her at the dinner table and letting her eat from my plate.  Sometimes I give her turkey and tell her it is chicken so she will eat it. 

We are able to bargain a little with her now, things like take 4 bites and then we can play choo-choos.  She is really loving choo choos right now, and seems interested in the Thomas the Tank Engine show  (thank God, because I cannot take another minute of Baby Einstein!).  We are encouraging this new interest, and I took her to Target yesterday and let her pick out some trains.  We have a set in the front room for her to play with and it is the first thing she runs to in the morning. 

She still only wants Daddy a lot of the time, but will settle for me at bedtime and when he is not around.  She does only want my food, however.  Her vocabulary increases by leaps and bounds daily, and she is really using phrases a lot, and repeating everything she hears (including dammit when I stubbed my toe!). 

Right now I am 16 weeks pregnant and just started feeling the baby move last week!

4-8-10

Laney is 22 months old now.  I have been on Spring Break with her for the last 2 weeks.  2 weeks ago we decided one morning to go to Tahoe with my mom and the dogs.  That afternoon we landed in a winter wonderland.  We had all 4 dogs there, and found out that Laney can easily tell the difference between all of them.  We had a lot of snow while we were there for a few days, and I was really looking forward to playing in the snow with Laney.  However, during our trip, I came down with a cold as did Laney.  We both had fevers, but hers spiked to 103 degrees!  That night she kept waking up shrieking because she was shivering and scared.  We took lots of cool showers and baths with her.  The next day we flew home and she saw Dr. Schmottlach who prescribed Augmentin.  He said that because she is getting her back molars, she may have been getting an ear infection due to extra digestive juices blocking her eustachian tubes.  Wednesday night was no better with the fever, and she slept in our bed between us in only a diaper because she was burning up.  Every 2 hours or so we would pop her into a cool shower and bring her temp down to 97.  What a long night it was for us.  Finally she broke that fever by lunchtime, but it took me until Friday to completely kick mine. 

Easter was that weekend, and Laney did not really have a good time.  I think she was overwhelmed by all fo the people at my mom's house (our family, the Olsons, and the Millers).  She did not even want to egg hunt!  Kiersten was so sweet to her, helping her find eggs but she only wanted Daddy.

Last week was the peak of tantrums and bad behavior by Laney...lots of time outs for throwing things.  This week has been a completely different story.  She has been such an angel and so loving and cute towards me.  We have made it to Stroller Strides this week and have had lots of play time together.  Yesterday she made her first "friend" at the park. Another 2 year old boy was playing on the playground and she grabbed his hand.  They rna around the lawn holding hands and laughing.  Later they hugged each other.  She told me to go sit and wanted to play and go down the slide by herself.  WE are working on the concept of sharing with her, which she likes to yell at the other kids ("Share!")  Occasionally she would sit down in the middle of the stairs to block the other kids from the slide, as she thinks the slide is hers! 

Patrick and I have noticed such a change in her the last few days.  She is using more and more words, even remembering to say thank you and excuse me.  She seems to be maturing a lot right now.  She even had  her first haircut today with Sonny.  He trimmed her bangs for me, and she looks like a preschooler now.  I just can't believe that my Laney Bug is growing up so fast.

When I was getting her ready to leave the house today, she ran back and got one of great Oma's necklaces to wear today (she plays dress up with them).  So precious!  We bought her some necklaces in the Brass Plum at Nordstroms.  She was in heaven.  Lately she has been layering on mardi gras beads left over from my 30th birthday party.  She puts so many on that she looks like Mr. T!