20 Months on the Horizon

Toddler Update
Actually she will be 20 months at the end of the month but hey......

Over the past couple months my daughter has turned into a little person. A little person with opinions, who plays games and repeats every word we say.  EVERY. SINGLE. WORD, you know like the word SHIT :-)....that parenting award goes to Dad.   My sweet daughter gives the best hugs, especially when she has been bad. I’m talking arms-wrapped-around-the-neck and squeeze tight kind of hugs. I get one every morning when I get her out of the pack n play and it makes my day. She’s such a happy and loving girl. She likes to tell strangers hi, then waves and says BYE-EE whenever she leaves. She waves bye to Dad in the mornings too.

Tantrums are a plenty but slowly she is understanding things better & learning to deal with her emotions.
She is super clingy to me when she first wake up in the morning and sometimes at night. After I have changed and fed her, she is ready for the world.  She does not like to see another baby in moms arms. Just this weekend I was holding a friends baby ( 13 month old) and I had to also pick her up as well. She’s eating better but not as great as I would like. She wears size 18-24M and 2T & my sweet girl is tall.  Her shoe size is 5 but I put her in some 6's and  she’s still in diapers (size 4) though I am playing with the idea of potty training. I am in the beginning phase, I have the toilet and try to have her sit on it. All in all things are going well.

This parenting thing is such a great ride that I do not take for granted. To be honest, parenting is EXTREMELY hard especially to full time working parents. I find that when I take vacations and still send her to daycare by the time she is home, I am more rested, relaxed, and just in better spirits. I may or may not have mentioned that I am looking for find a part time position in my field and I hope I find it in 2020. Taking a day here & there is great not only for her but for us. We try to take her around other kids all the time so she can play her heart out.

Life is great, there has been many ups and of course some downs but we are getting through it.

I am thankful to be able to experience this and continue to pray for the other women still waiting.

18 Months Old & an Island Trip Down

Where to begin....
I am trying so hard to keep up with life that blogging takes a back seat. 

Mommy has also not been great with the milestone pictures. I take at least one every week or every other week but we live so much in the moment that I forget.  Having the memories will be good for her, I have absolutely no baby pics of myself to share with her, the most I have is an old passport pic that is not that clear. Unfortunately growing up in the Caribbean there was not too much money to go around, and pictures were a once in a while thing or extremely important occasions. I never even had a birthday party growing up, my first was at age 18 and the 2^nd at 30, I really do not plan on more.  

Our daughter seems to be absorbing everything these days and I’m continually shocked by how quickly she picks up new skills and tricks. She watches our lips move so intently to try to replicate words and noises and loves pointing at her nose .

She is very vocal and loves to sing, babble, scream, laugh and talk all day long.
Her diet is not that great.  She goes through phases when it is difficult to get her to eat proper food and not just rice!  At the moment she likes chicken, white rice, fungi (Antiguan dish) and she adores fruit.

All in all, life is good, we cannot complain and I am still on the fence about going for number 2. I am staring down the barrel of 40.

Note to my Daughter.
So much has happened in the last six months, the changes in you are immeasurable.   You have gone from cruising around, and nervously walking to full on running from Daddy and I.
You are so active and we rarely see you walk anywhere.  You much prefer to jog and run.  I think your brain works to fast to allow you to walk.  You want to be everywhere as quick as possible.  There is always something in your hand, you like nothing more than collecting things and sometimes struggle carrying your stuff around but mainly you put them in your mouth. Mommy & Daddy absolutely hate that.

It seems as if every day you learn something new.  Your vocabulary is coming along and the new words this month have included no, stop, salute (Spanish for bless you), “oh shit” courtesy of Dad plus a few others.  You adore chattering, and you spend most of the day talking.  You are so bright and have a smile that could light up even the darkest of days.
Taking after Mummy and Daddy, you are really tall.  People are always surprised when they learn your age.  You still don’t have much hair, but it is coming along.  

You love to try to do things yourself and it is a struggle to feed you because of this. Mummy and Daddy and are gaining much more understanding of what we are saying.  Being able to carry out tasks and it is so nice to start this proper communication with you.

The last couple of months have been challenging.  I think you are being bothered by your teeth and have been throwing major tantrums and meltdowns. I exercise more patience than Daddy but we both love you so.  The meltdowns have resulted in lots of crying and shouting, which is draining for us all.  We know it is just a phase and it will settle soon. Your sleeping has changed and I have been sneaking you in our bed at night, Daddy wants me to leave you in your bed but I love to snuggle with you.

You are bright, funny, beautiful, determined, loving, independent and I hope you always will be. Every day you make me laugh, you make me smile, you make me proud, and above all you make me very grateful to be your mummy.

Oh, before I forget, we went to Antigua for a few days. You did aright on the plane but we think a 2-hour flight is your limit, 3 hours and we were pushing it. We went from July 4^th to 8^th and your family were happy to see you and upset with us that it was such a short trip.

In reality we wished we could have stayed longer and planned better. It was incredibly hot so we have decided as a family, travel will be in the spring or the fall/winter for the islands. 
Thinking about this more.......the island will be hot year round. :-) 

We stayed at this Resort.
Starfish Jolly Beach Resort and we loved it.

Life keeps trucking on by

 

Not my images both from Google

Yesterday was Easter and we had a great family day.

We were invited to his friends for dinner and our little munchkin played and enjoyed her time out with the other kids. Next Week she is 15 months and I will go into more details about her at this age but for now I am basking in the joy of our toddler.

Mini Word Monday? No? Ok enjoy the memes I am in a rush as always.