Birthday at the Farm!!

I love my baby girl!

Happy Birthday to Mommy....the best present ever!

I spent the day with my sweet little girl for my birthday. We went to my friend Brooke's mini farm and saw the animals. We also made a fun birdfeeder craft, had a snack, and played with all the kids. It was a really fun time and we can't wait to go back once it gets warmer!

Tonight Dan gave me my birthday present....A BIKE!! I'm so excited and he even got a seat for Tessa to ride in! I'm going to have to practice a bit before taking her it has been a few years!

Baby Chicks and Ducks for Easter

My little farm girl

She was just quietly watching the horses eat...so curious.

Making crafts

Tessa loved this airplane rocker, she was giving everyone rides!

Rain Rain Go Away...

It can be a challenge to entertain a 1 year old on a rainy day; especially one who adores playing outside! We spent most of the day in the playroom at our house. She has learned how to go down the slide on her bottom now so it is a who new experience. She also has found her loud voice so it involves a lot of screaming! It really is quite entertaining.

so big

As a way to help the hours pass we (I) decided to do a craft. I was inspired by my crafty friend Brooke, but there is only so much you can do with a 1 year old and scissors! So, for most of the holidays this year I have sent a custom card to the grandparents. Here is our Easter card...I traced her fingers for the bunny ears and she helped glue on the flowers. So fun and cute!!

I was able to squeeze in some cute pictures before she wanted the camera! When looking at these I realized what a little girl she is becoming and growing out of the baby stage.

I love her button nose

photo shoot over, now she wants the camera :)

Easter Festivities Begin

Our church had an Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast this past weekend. Dan and I had a debate about having her wear her new Easter outfit, he said she shouldn't and I said she should, go figure. :) He was right in the fact that the other kids weren't dressed up, but we both agreed we were happy she wore it because it was SOOO darn cute!
Daddy teaching her how to throw rocks, oh my!

She loves to be outside all the time and she was so patiently awaiting the hunt; just staring out the windows.

I just love how she is so girly in her mannerisms, little dainty princess.

Carrying her basket like a purse, it was really cute.

She actually liked the Easter bunny, this was a huge improvement from Santa. She really doesn't know a stranger. All day she would just run off and visit with other kids and care less where we were.

This is her new princess outfit from Mamaw and Papaw, fits her to a T. She loves to try and dress herself and she is our little princess! As soon as she puts it on she smiles and starts spinning in circles.

We also went to Layton's 1st Birthday party which was really great. I know others took pictures so I just sat back and enjoyed!

No Good Excuses....

I have no good excuses for why I completely skipped blogging in Feb and basically March. Here are a couple trys....once you get so far behind you don't know where to start, Tessa was sick with a sinus infection for 2 weeks in Feb and had her first round of Amoxicillin, Dan was on vacation in Feb for a week, we're trying to enjoy the nice weather we've been having, now that we are down to one nap I try to cram all the house work into that window of time and blogging doesn't get done, and lastly Janelle and I have been spending our extra time launching our Etsy site! Check it out http://www.indiesisters.etsy.com/

So, please forgive me and I will give you a quick rundown of events missed over the last month and a half!!! I will be better...PROMISE. I have such wonderful blogging friends to motivate me to do better!

These are pictures of Tessa at 15 months (Early Feb). She had 3 shots at her doctor appt. Had a great check-up. She walked right into the office, waving at everyone, cried with the last shot, then waved bye and we were gone!

Stats:

20 lbs 15 ozs

32 1/2 inches

This is my favorite 15 month picture

She loves to ride in my baby stroller when she is at my parents house. Those are also my babies from when I was little, so glad they kept them.

This is in the AM, she takes her cup of milk, sits on the couch, and watches some cartoons. Then the day can start and she never stops!

These pictures are more recent. I don't even know where to start with what she is "doing" right now. Every day is different and so incredibly fun and hilarious. Here is my attemp at summarizing a 16 month old.

• EVERYTHING must be done a certain way, she points and directs everything from where you sit to when you take a drink
• Her main word for everything is DaDa. She calls Dan dada and Me DahDah and Zayne Du.
• other words...nini(night night), dat(that), der(there), done, nahnah(no no), and waves bye bye and hi
• Her favorite thing is playing outside
• She is getting better about trying new foods, specifically meat
• We are doing one nap and with the time change moved it to 1pm and she's been sleeping 2-21/2 hours!! Yeah finally!!
• She gets about 12 hours of sleep at night 8-8:30ish

I'm sure I'm forgetting a million things but those are the basics.

Our big girl enjoying the pretty weather

I took Tessa to the zoo on a Wed last week, it was empty and all the animals were out, she was so funny and really interested.

Very girly, doesn't want to have her hands dirty

This was our dinner experience, everyone has a pasta face picture!

Sleep.....or should I say... lack of

O.k. well as many of you know Tessa didn't sleep through the night until 9 months!!! Then gradually got into a great routine of 2 daytime naps and would sleep at night from 7ish to 7ish....things started getting a little off around 14 months, so we worked down to 1 daytime nap and the same bedtime routine! Now.... after a couple weeks of an inconsistent nap routine and waking at night I've turned to the internet (my fave website askmoxie.org) and found that I'm not alone!

She has hit every "sleep regression" so far 4months, 9months, and now (should've known) 15months!! Here is what we've been currently facing:

Naping:

Some days she goes down perfectly and others she completely resists for up to 45minutes. Some days I've been putting her down for 1 nap and others 2, neither seems to help the nighttime sleep. She sleeps anywhere from 1 hour to 3????

Bedtime:

She is very opinionated about who is putting her to bed...she wants me and clings to my neck, but will give in to letting Daddy do it. We give bath at 6ish and then wind down/read books, then at 7pm we give her a cup of milk and rock her to sleep then put her down....she sleeps between 1hr and 5hrs then wakes up and needs put back to sleep. Usually Dan can get her back to sleep easily with patting her back if she wakes up early....but here is the bad part.... if it is midnight or after she has been awake from 1 to 4 hours while we try to get her to sleep! For me she can not tolerate being separated, as soon as I put her down she screams...and now Daddy's method isn't working either!

Today's Research:

Others have experienced these exact same issues around this age...and most found that by around 20-22 months it abruptly stops and they sleep great again!!! O.k. so that could mean 5-7 months of this....seriously?!? CIO (cry it out) doesn't seem to help she just won't give in...we've tried it for 2 hours!! We don't co-bed and she just plays if she comes in our room. So....a couple things I read I'm gonna try; having CONSISTENT nap time and not varying from day to day and establishing shifts in the night so that neither Dan nor I have to feel like we are at it alone and can at least get a stretch of sleep knowing the other is caring for her, and lastly just rock/pat/sing or do what it takes to get through this stretch in hope it goes back to normal sooner than later. If anyone who has been there done that recalls this time and has suggestions I'm all ears!!!!

I also always try to remind myself....."this is just a phase and she is a baby"

On a lighter note...in between the troublesome sleep she is the most adorable, loving, hilarious 15 month old out there. We just have a blast with her....so here are the pictures to remind me of this even if I'm awake to a screaming toddler from 10pm to 2 am....seriously this is no exaggeration!

We went to visit Matt, Janelle, and Rufus yesterday. Tessa loved Rufus and he loved her...she really tested his new doggie school training!! At times we weren't sure who was walking who!!

She thought she was so big (and so did we); she'd go off in the back bedroom and lay on the futon and peek out at us. This is the view we saw...full of mischief!

Little button nose, baby blues, and girly smiles

You can see the learning in those eyes

Watching Daddy take down the Christmas lights...she wanted to wear her hat inside while she watched. It is crazy how she can put 2 and 2 together!

Little Cinderella, cleaning the floors

She rides this bouncy horse all the time...it is really hilarious, and she will do it and then wait to see if you think it is funny or not....quite a sense of humor

Touchdown Colts!!

Testing out her wagon from Mamaw and Papaw from Christmas. It was finally warmish enough last week to try it out...we're going to get a lot of use out of this!