A sad moment....

(Oh but this face makes it ALL worth it!)

...of realization that our days of having a quiet, tranquil child are O-V-E-R. Now that Megan is mobile, the girl never stops moving. And I mean NEVER. She's really mastering the art of crawling. Both last night, earlier today and tonight she moves so much she is drenched in sweat. Like almost need another bath sweaty (of course it being so hot and humid here doesn't really help the matter any).

She has also began practicing the extremely high pitched, ear bleeding, head spinning squeal/scream. She loves to "release" the worst of it when she is being rocked to sleep (even when she's ready for bed). It almost makes us jump it's so high pitched.

I stopped at the OshKosh outlet yesterday to see if they had any good hats. I truly cannot believe how difficult it is to find a hat that has a chin strap, with a brim that doesn't come down to her nose (and thus preventing her from seeing). I had found one at Old Navy, I wasn't overly crazy about it, but after checking a number of stores and not finding one, I got it. Anyways...these I got at OshKosh are absolutely adorable! And they were on sale (even better)! I wish I would have checked for other options of the wide brim hat...it is cuter on than I realized in the store. But then, we were coming up on nap time and my time was limited.

And these were just a FEW of the ones I took! I got some REALLY good ones!

Oh my...

Yesterday afternoon...Megan was being SO SILLY!!!! She was pouting at her table. I have no idea what she was pouting about, but it was absolutely hilarious! I literally was on the floor, tears coming out of my eyes I was laughing so hard. (If you know me well, you know tears and laughing is not really that far of a stretch for me!)

Anyways...so I had to get a video of it. Unfortunately, by the time I found the camera to video it, she was not pouting as much, but still pouting. Seriously...it was SO FUNNY! So, here's the best I have on video. And let me just say...we have a SERIOUS drama queen who LOVES attention! We are in such big trouble.

Crawling

Megan is changing so much! She's added biting to the list of things she likes to do...that is biting Mom & Dad, who aren't so crazy about the idea. She tries to bite Dad's toes and Mom's leg. Hopefully this phase will pass soon!

Here's her beginning to crawl. She started doing this earlier this week, then on Friday night at Grandma's house she really started taking off. So, we were able to capture it today on video before she gets way too fast!

13 Months Old

Megan is now 13 months old! She has made such progress over the past almost 3 months. She can now:

• Stand for a few seconds without holding onto anything.
• She signs "more" all the time...even when she's sleeping! (I've witnessed this.)
  
• She loves being outside.
• She praises the dogs when they go potty by clapping her hands saying "hey, doggie!"
• She can play by herself for quite a while (if she's feeling well).
• She now has 4 teeth (the top 2 have come in now). She's working on 2 more.
• She grinds/grits her teeth...yes, the top 2 are barely poked through and you can hear her grinding/gritting away. Funny thing is, I used to grind/grit my teeth when I was little. It's a horrible sound!
• She weighs over 18lbs! And is over 28 inches tall. That means since our updated information before we traveled, she's gained almost 6lbs and grown about 4 inches. That's a lot for 10 weeks

She is such a joy...even when she's whining all day (aka yesterday!). We love her to pieces. Every time I rock her to sleep and see her peaceful sleep I give prayers of thanksgiving for the little squirt.

On a sad note...please pray for one of my cousins and his family. My cousin, Nathan, committed suicide on Fathers Day. He was in his late 20s and newly married with a young child. I cannot imagine the pain, sorrow and frustration his wife, siblings and parents are feeling. Pray that God would bring them comfort and peace.

Are you carrying any sharp objects?

She was playing at the refrigerator while I was on the phone...I saw her lean forward like she was going to stand...and yep, next thing I knew...

Up against the wall...I need to pat you down!

Notice the look of "oh crap, now what? I'm stuck."
Yep. It took Mom's help to sit back down.

This the first time she's pulled herself up on something other than her LeapFrog table. I think we're close to walking! If only she could figure out how to move her feet...

Ball Throwing Fun...and other photos

Relaxing on Mom & Dad's bed while watching Signing Time video

(her favorite! And the only thing that allows Mom to take a shower in the morning!)

Here's a face that has been in hiding for a while...
(it was replaced with the ornery eyes)
But it's BACK!!! (with a vengeance too!)
See our cute teeth?

We're such a big girl!
(Daddy's on "catching" duty--just in case!)

Today when we were playing, Megan was really hamming it up while playing catch. So, I thought I'd turn the camera on...she's really getting good at throwing the ball now! And you can see the scrunchy smile we hadn't seen for a bit, but are now seeing a lot of.

(By the way....2 months ago today we got home...boy it seems like it's been longer than that since we got home!)

Updates

Megan is sleeping fairly well through the night now. For the past several nights, she has only woke up once sometime between 11pm and 1am. (Although last night she was up for about an hour during that time! She just wouldn't go back to sleep, although she was SO tired.) She wakes up again around 4am. As long as we go in there and rock her back to sleep, she'll then sleep until about 5am or 5:30am. We also began leaving her in her crib in the morning for a bit. Yesterday morning, it didn't go so well. (But it was my mistake, I know what I did wrong.) This morning she went in and out of sleep until about 6:15am! WOOHOO! I NEVER thought I'd be "sleeping" in until 6am! Last night I slept in my bed with Dad and I taking turns answering her cries. It worked pretty well, except we are both exhausted. Hopefully, we've turned a corner and tonight will go even better.

She's working on yet another tooth...top this time. Looks like the left side bottom has cut through, or almost cut through. She's really chewing on her paci and moves it to the right side.

Oh, I think she might be a lefty. All along she has favored her left hand to pick things up, do things with and throw things. And while she uses her right hand now so much more...she still favors her left hand. So...verdict is still out, but I wouldn't doubt if my parents finally have a lefty in the family! (Both of my parents are left handed, but all of us kids are right handed...I don't think my biology teacher could ever explain that one since left handedness is a recessive trait...meaning all of us kids should have been left handed--from a genes perspective. But we aren't...although I can do several things with the left hand including writing and eating--both of which came in handy in China while holding a sleeping baby!)

So...that's all I can think of right now...sorry, but there're no photos on this computer...so I'll put some up in the coming days...

For those so far away...

Here is a video of Megan playing on her Leap Frog table. She's grown up so much!!!! You'll also see her ornery eyes in action...followed by a huge smile. We also threw in a "all done" at the end for ya, too!

She is just the cutest darn thing!!!

It's been 2 months...

Sitting in a lawn chair on the patio...
she loves sitting in that chair.

Two months....it seems like a lot longer than that ago that we brought this cute little squirt home! But, two months ago today she became our daughter. Wow. We've made such huge advancements...I thought she was getting so big, until I met a friend yesterday with her niece who is the same age as Megan. Hmm, yeah. Megan is small...very small in comparison! Not that that is a surprise...I think she's always going to be small. I just wonder when she'll peak in her extremely fast growth that's been experiencing lately. Doctor appointment in a few weeks...guess we'll find out how much she's gained in a month!