18 MONTHS OLD

"I found my bows and put one on all by myself..."
-little miss mischief

Little Miss Kate turned 18 months old 2 days ago.
What a little personality she has. She is a funny, and silly, and inquisitive, and she is also STUBBORN and soooo persistant... she'll stare you right in the eyes while doing something that you just told her not to do, and then when she's done it, she'll look at you and laugh... my naughty little girl.
She's really a little firecracker!

She is also such a girl... she LOVES shoes! She frequently gets a pair of her shoes and brings them to me to put on her feet. The other day I found an adorable little pair of white mary janes for her to wear to church. I tried them on her in the store, and she refused to take them off again. We eventually came to the compromise that she could hold them in her hand (out of the box) and take them to the checkout, where we could pay for them. lol
She loves trying clothes on, but she hates getting into her pajamas after bath each night.. I guess pjs aren't fun/stylish enough. haha

Yesterday was her first Sunday in the nursery at church...nursery kids are 18 months to 3 years old.
She did better than expected. We dropped her off in the nursery room, and left. I peeked in on her about an hour later and she was enjoying a snack on one of the leaders laps.
She fussed a little, on and off for the a little over an hour (nursery is just under 2hrs), and then she got pretty upset after that so came to hang out with me again. I honestly didn't think I'd get to leave her at all on her first Sunday.. let alone for over an hour, so I think she did great.

Today was her 18 month check up.
She's had a little height growth spurt, but she is still a skinny little thing.

Her 18 month stats are:

Height: 31.75 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 19lb 7oz - 8.8kg (3rd percentile)

She fits into the length of most 12 month pants, but her little skinny waist and legs still fit comfortably in 6-9 month clothing. lol. I have a couple pairs of tights, that aren't so 'tight' on her, and fit more just like regular pants. :) She weighs at 18 months what Luke weighed at about 5 months, so it's been a very different experience having such a petite little girl.

She is so fun, and so silly. She's still a big daddy's girl, but I do seem to get a few more cuddles lately than I used to, so perhaps it's starting to even out a bit more.

I think we're going to be in for some interesting 'twos' with Kate and her fiesty little personality, but we just love her. She's such a little sweetheart.

THE BIG MOVE...AND SOME SNOW

My blog has been a bit neglected lately. With the 'cross country' move, things got a little busy.
We did the drive to NC over two days. My great friend, Julie drove with me and the kids in my car, while Jake drove the moving truck, and towed his car on a dolly on the back.
We stayed over night in the Hampton Inn, in Cambridge Ohio, and then in the morning Jake went on the MI, and Julie and I stopped with the kids to have breakfast with her parents in Akron, OH.

The first couple days in Michigan were CRAZY... we had boxes EVERYWHERE and I couldn't find anything. It's been 2 weeks now, and we're mostly settled in. There are still a few boxes stacked up in our bedroom that need to be sorted through and organized, but otherwise I think we have the apartment in pretty organized, liveable shape.
It's definitely been an adjustment downsizing back to an apartment, but I think so far we're making it work pretty well. The rooms are nice and big, so we've comfortably fit the kids and their toys into their room, and the living room is a good size too, so we still have room to move around and let the kids play. The kitchen is kinda outdated and small, but we're making it work.
Hopefully our house in NC sells in a reasonable time, so that we don't have to pay 'double' for rent/mortgage indefinitely... once it sells, we'll start getting ourselves ready to buy again.
I think despite the temporary not so great changes... like living back in an apartment, and the frustration with having to sell our house in this terrible market, we still feel really good about this move, and have actually settled in here in MI really well.

We haven't done too much since getting here.. mostly just been settling in.
Today however, the kids had a fun time playing in the snow. (I think spring is going to be very late. lol)
There was snow when we arrived in MI, but it melted after a few days, and then it was pretty much all gone over the last week. Then last night we got fresh snowfall, which the kids loved.
A couple weeks ago I ordered snow bibs and mittens etc, for the kids to wear next winter (love those end of season clearance sales)... so they were all bundled up this morning (in slightly big snow bibs), and went and played in the fresh white snow with Daddy for a while.
Luke calls snow, "Winter".. look mommy, the 'winter' is blowing, or look mommy, there is 'winter' on my boots. So cute! Love my cutie and his funny words. We've really been enjoying how much his speech has taken off over the last little while.