Raleigh Grace: 13 Months

I do realize that Raleigh Grace is now 15 months old (no, I swear I'm not in denial) I have just been a slacker (as usual) and I'm behind on posting.  I have a note that I keep open on my phone where I can jot down important things I want to remember about each month.  I don't really have a format so to speak, just details that I don't want soon forgotten *my memory is the worst!*

After trying to pick some of my favorite pictures from this month I am a)ashamed that I didn't blog more about some of these fun things that we did! and b)utterly shocked at how much Raleigh Grace has grown and changed in just two short months-- she looks so different to me in these pictures compared to now, her expressions are different, she is bigger, and she has more hair! ;) I hope you all enjoy looking at these pictures and stat's as much as I have!

On November 17th you turned 

13 months old!! 

Milestones: 

Got TWO MOLARS! (sometime the last week of month)

                                                              Blowing kisses bye

Kissing things- actual smacking noise

Gives kisses to people. 

Looks you in the eye and opens mouth as she goes for the lips ha!

Babbles and screams yells a lot- babab dada no doeh doeh duh etc

Mimics LOTS of things we say. 

Gets lots of sounds correct!

Loves bringing books to you to read but changes books every two or less pages ha

VERY busy- always has been but always on the move and into something

Loves playing with her bday balloons... Will shake them as she carries around.

Laughs in response to laughing.

Knows when you are laughing at her

Knows her eyes, nose and belly button, toes and feet

Tries to put shirts on her head and tried (11/10) to put pants on her legs.

Identifies airplanes when she hears them -- she points up to them... She can see them at night and during the day.

Raleigh Grace's 1st Birthday (smash cake)

In her birthday outfit!

playing with my mom at the Japanese restaurant

Eating a chocolate chip cookie ;) 

I'm not sure what she is doing but she looks like she's trying to escape mischief ;) 

just pitiful!

Favorite toys/activities:

Pulling books off the shelves and going through the pages of them

Any musical anything (including tv show intro songs/commercials)- she starts dancing- shaking hips tilting shoulders back and bouncing knees.

Plays peek a boo on her own (did before bday too)- usually hides behind blankets or clothes :)

Carrying clothes on hangers (specifically hers)

Putting clothes on (or trying to)

Clothes in general

Pulling things out of her diaper bag or other containers

Bath time and splashing big time

Squirting her bath toys herself

She loves being chased and thinks its SO funny!!

She enjoyed her 1st trip to Monkey Joe's on Halloween for a friend's birthday party-- it's an indoor inflatable play place and we both did the HUGE slide together! FUN!

Playing with Peyton and Eli

Raleigh Grace's 1st Halloween to go trick-or-treating! She dressed up as a Zebra... and boy was she the cutest zebra I have ever seen!! 

She was so excited about her own candy bucket that Emma Claire sent her! It even had her name on it!! :)

RG and my cousin-- RG wasn't sure what to think about the face paint (and yes, all night she carried around this hand colander that she found in my aunt's cabinet.)

Passing out candy before trick-or-treating herself. 

Going to the first house!!

We announced our family was growing by an additional "pumpkin" :) 

Following commands:

                                                                   Put this in trash

Come here

Sit down

Watch your head

Where's your baby/ bunny/ passy/daddy- she looks for them

Give this to daddy, mommy, ggdad, etc

Put the baby in the bed

Get down

Be careful (climbing into her chair- very cautious)

No (ma'am)/ don't do that

Give me a kiss

Can I have a bite (she feeds me)

Went to my great aunts funeral :( but got to see some family... Here is RG with Great Grandpa! 

My cousin, his son (Drew) and RG

So laid back enjoying lunch! 

Sleepy head just waking up... milk face and all! 

oh! thats more like it :) 

Sleep:

Amazing 13 hrs ish

Sleeps from around 10-9 +\-

Naps twice for anywhere from an hour to two and a half or three.

BEAUTIFUL BLONDIE! 

Obsessed with the flowers

Playing with/ Smelling the flowers! 

Eating:

She eats a ton if you give her what she wants: hush puppies, bread, rolls, hot dogs, lunch meat, applesauce, oatmeal, yogurt and almost any fruits.

We can not get her to eat veggies unless it's in a pouch mixed with fruit. 

We have tried fresh veggies, steamed, mashed up, solid, whole, bite sized, puréed. None work for carrots, broccoli, green beans.  

She sometimes eats peas and potatoes.  

She loves apple juice but only gets it on special occasions. 

She loves drinking mommy and daddy's drinks out of big cups and a straw (or without that just equals more backwash ha)

Loves sweets and chocolate (duh, she's my child!)

Such a good helper with the laundry! 

Raleigh Grace and Santa 2012!

This year our trip to see Santa Claus was so much more enjoyable than last year!  

This year, as soon as Raleigh Grace started seeing Santa around she started to wave at him and he really became her "friend"! We would see Santa in ad's in the paper and she would kiss him and wave to him and when we saw Santa statues in stores she would always wave, rub his beard and then want to hug him.  I was so anxious to see how she did with the "real life" Santa!  We didn't make a huge rush out of it this year so about a week before Christmas we finally got her all dressed up in her Sunday's best to go see him.  (I'll admit the week previous we were in Bass Pro and they had free pictures with Santa! I was so bummed that RG was wearing a pink plaid shirt and jeans and didn't want her to clash with him in the picture so we skipped that opportunity. ha! She did wave at him from afar but that was about all).  

This year we decided to go to a different mall thats a little (okay, a lot) fancier than where we went last year.  The company that was taking pictures was so much more professional and even let us "work" with Raleigh Grace to get the perfect picture.  Oh, did I mention we waited in line for less than 5 minutes? AND they had a TV in line with Santa cartoons on! How cute is that!?  As we were waiting in line, Raleigh Grace was sooo excited, she kept pointing and waving and Santa and kicking her legs and smiling.  Success- no tears this year!? As it was our "turn" I sat her in his lap and she just stared at him-- I was for sure she was going to pet his beard but she didn't.  She just kept looking at him- straight faced.  Not sad, not happy, just observant.  I pulled "bunny" out and played peek-a-boo with her until we got a PRECIOUS smile!  I loved the photographers- they probably took 10 or 12 picture (that can be viewed and saved online for free) and they even let us take our own pictures with our cameras! Score!  We had so much fun and ordered one 4x6 and 4 wallets for $25dollars.  What a steal :) 

Moral of the story- go to the nicer mall, and wait until almost the last minute to avoid lines :) 

Princess Raleigh Grace and Santa Claus 2012

my favorite! 

K's favorite

 and a fun comparison from last year! :) 

oh okay, and a few out-takes ;) 

RG by the Week: 38 Weeks

First of all... Late Happy 4th of July!!! Did you see the awesome post my hubby did about our fun Fourth of July (technically 3rd)? If not you should go check it out!! I was out of town and had no idea he was going to take over my blog but I'm happy he did- he's much better with words than I am and thats the truth! 

Also, I do realize I have missed a few of RG's weekly posts and plan on catching up as soon as possible but I wanted to go ahed and post this one while it was still fresh on my mind. Enjoy! 

July 3-9

Stats: sorry, Ill have to get back with you! 

Check out that fuzz on her head in the pic to the right!

First time cousin Paul has held you! 

Milestones/ Firsts:

4th of July!! 

Playing in the Rain

WAVING! you did this for the first time when we were at dinner on thursday night- there was a little girl (probably about 7 or 8) at a table across from us... she was waving to you and you looked right at her and waved back.  I have only seen you do this one other time so far.  

you have found the door stops and think they are so much fun!!

you have also discovered the toilet... and that there is water in there-- you really want to play in it... :-/

not really a first- but you are now standing for about 5-8 seconds alone!!! 

first race!
You have stayed in the church nursery here at FH Church twice- both times they have commented on how well you play and entertain yourself!

 left: watching the fireworks from the patio at the beach! Right: You and Mari hanging out

you pulling up and getting into everything

this is your version of crawling- right knee down left leg pushes... both arms up! 

Behavior/ Loves:

As usual you are just such a happy baby! You have really loved learning to explore some more on your own via crawling or being walked around.  You want to walk so bad! Sometimes when get frustrated you will clench your fist, make an angry face and grunt.  I feel bad that you are at the stage now where I feel like you want to be so independent yet you don't have words to express what you want to.  Daddy and I have started using some baby signs with you and are hoping that soon you will start to learn and use them.  

You loved standing up at the coffee table at the beach and cruising around it. You also loved to hit the top of the glass and listen to the noise it made.  You fell asleep on our long boat ride and though you don't love your life vest you still enjoyed riding on the boat!

You love for people to pay you attention when we are out to eat or in public.  You will stare them down and when they finally look at you, you usually grin from ear to ear.  Everyone thinks you are the most beautiful baby.  

You love to get the attention of us by squealing (at home and out in public-- can be funny!) or doing your fake cough or by squinting your nose up and snorting haha You are such a HAM! :)  People always ask us if you are always this happy... and yes, yes you are (99% of the time!) Your hair is getting LONGER and is so cute and blonde! You also love to clap! You are obsessed with shoes and will crawl all the way across the room to grab them and get them in your mouth!! Grosses your mommy out! 

BATH TIME! How could I forget about this!? (and really any water for that matter) -- but anytime you hear the tub water turn on you will look and start crawling as fast as you can to the bathroom.  You will pull up on the tub and "dance"... moving your legs and bouncing! :)
You make the cutest little giggle when daddy eats under your arms and you also have a funny fake laugh.  When you see something like gets your attention you often go "uhh" or "huuuh" in a real peaceful tone over and over.

great gpa reading to you!

after you dove into Drew's bday cake

and clapping about it

with cousin Calvin

Feeding:

I'm not sure how or when this happened but all of a sudden you HATE carrots!! You have loved them for so long so I'm not sure what the deal is.  We re-introduced squash (which you formally HATED -- as in would cringe and not even eat anymore) and you seem to take it just fine now.  Today I gave you avocado's and you seem to LOVE them (you had them when you were younger too but it wasn't something you just loved. ) Today you ate about 3/4 of an avocado that I cut up into pieces for you.  You really love your yobaby yogurt! If I accidentally give that to you before you other food you don't take your food well so I have to save the yogurt for dessert :) 

You are still eating two meals a day and eat anywhere from 3.5 oz to 10+oz of food per meal. 

You are nursing ever 4 or 5 hours during the day now and during the night I still prefer to nurse you when you wake up. 

Speaking of nursing--- TMI Alert-- you have started to like to be an "acrobatic" eater (for lack of better words) ... I usually nurse you laying down and now that you know how to pull up on things and climb you are wanting to climb all over me and stand up and lean over me to nurse... you are a hoot!

your first time playing in the rain- you LOVED it!! 

 Sleep:

This week you have been better about putting yourself to sleep.  All of your life I have nursed you and you have fallen right asleep and I can just put your passy in your mouth and move you to your bed without waking you.  This week that has been a little different- usually you still fall asleep nursing but when I try to move you or give you your passy you sit straight up like you are wide awake.   Sometimes you will fold over forward onto my belly or legs or the bed and fall right back asleep folded over (and then I can move you successfully without waking you) but other times you just seem to want to crawl all over me and get down and play and you get frustrated when I'm trying to give you your passy (you have always been a fighter when it comes to sleep!) So now, when you start wiggling like that I will give you your passy and lay you in your bed.  I kiss you and walk out and more times than not you will sit up or stand up but not cry (praise God!)... you usually end up falling asleep on your tummy- I'm thinking because you sit up and just get so tired you fall over forward ha!  That can take anywhere from about 5+ minutes depending on how tired you are.  I do NOT miss the scramming and fighting we have been dealing with the past couple of weeks! You usually take two naps a day- one in the morning (sometime between 10:30 and 1 depending on how late you slept/ what we are doing at that time) and one in the afternoon (again ranging between 3:30pm and 5pm) for an hour and a half to two hours usually!!!  I'm so thankful that you have been napping so well!  You have been going to bed anytime between 9 and 11pm... (I know- we keep such a strict schedule with you! ha!) We have been so busy this summer and you adapt so well to whatever is going on-- napping in the car, staying up late, going to bed early, etc... you are the BEST baby!

ready for your first race!

going to your first race! 

helping mamma take out the trash

4th fun!

so obsessed with this cutie in her stars and stripes!

our 4th

Clothes: 

you are wearing everything from 0-3 to 6-9 months... I would say most outfits that are six months fit best. Size two diapers still.

someone has to be the captain! :) 

eating wayyy too much sand probably

sandy baby!

Favorite Moments:

Celebrating your 1st 4th of July on the 3rd with Daddy and I and our friends and on the 4th by eating lunch at the country club with the family then heading to the beach.  

Playing at the beach with you. Seeing Great Gma and Gpa L -- and watching Great Gpa read to you!

Swimming with you at Drew's 1st birthday party and watching you try and show him how to get into his birthday (smash) cake.  You didn't seem to have a problem getting messy one bit!

Our morning cuddle time that is becoming fewer and further between but its soo special to me! 

Watching you become better at crawling and getting into things :)

belly sleeping

doing a little shopping with daddy

Most Challenging:

Not too big of a challenge ... yet... but you are really getting into things like crazy! I can't keep your books on the shelf!
You hate having your diaper changed... I seriously don't know what the deal is- your daddy thinks you hate laying on your back because the first 6 months of your life thats where you were 99% of the time ha!
You get sad when mommy leaves you- even when its with daddy, but as soon as he starts playing with you you are fine.
Sometimes getting you to sleep can still be a little challenging but its getting better I think.
Being on your back. period.  

grabbing cheese fries

 Looking forward to:

more fun moments with you learning and growing! :) 

perfecting that pouty lip Miss Drama Queen ;) 

practicing her fake cough with her tongue curled and all

Mommy Moments:
we have taken more trips together without daddy (to the beach) and I still don't know how single moms do it-- ya'll rock! I get so exhausted when I don't have an extra set of hands to relieve me at some point!