18 Months

It has been 18 months since this little beauty entered our lives:

On a side note, this picture will forever make me laugh. Her pouty lip, the way she is holding on for dear life... it cracks me up. Even funnier is that she STILL to this day cries when we put her on the scale at check-ups. She barely cries when she gets a shot, but don't put her near that scale! (I get it peanut, I don't like stepping on the scale either.)

These have been the fastest 18 months of my life.

At the same time, I can hardly remember life before Mikenna. 

She continues to surprise me everyday with her knowledge and funny little personality.

I know she has to grow up, but a part of me wishes I could keep her at this age!

We had miss Mikenna's 18 month check up. As usual, everything went great!

Age: 18 months, 13 days

Height: 34 1/2 inches (99th percentile)

Weight: 26 lbs 5 oz (68th percentile)

Head Circumference: 49 1/2 cm (off the charts! She has to store that genius brain of hers somewhere!)

As always, I tried to prepare Mikenna for the doctor visit, so we talked all morning about the doctor and what he would be doing. When we got there and went to check in, she told the receptionist all about it.

"Go to goctor. Say hi goctor! Shot... oowwwiieee. Mmmmm.... sucker!"

Mikenna loves going to the doctor, I think because she likes to say hi to all the kids in the waiting room. There was a newborn waiting with us and she politely asked his mommy to give the baby a "head kissy."

Once we got into the room and the doctor came in my little chatterbox started chatting away. He said he was impressed looking back over her chart at how little problems she has had (yeah!), and told me her speech continues to be very advanced (double yeah!). As usual she was a happy camper until she had to lay down. But, she was quickly distracted by the stethoscope and light. When the doctor checked Mikenna's eyes she said, "Preeeeeetty." When he looked in her ears he said, "is that an elephant in your ear?" She made her elephant noise for him (if you know her, this is the funniest thing ever. She loves her elephants). Then, when he went to look in her mouth she told him, "we no bite!" She is not a biter, so where that came from is beyond me! It's always reassuring to go to check ups and hear that everything looks great, she is showing no signs of illness, autism, etc. Of course I think she is perfect, but I always feel like a weight is lifted after hearing that.

Some fun things about Mikenna at 18 months:

She calls me "Maymi", Daddy "Da-ey", and calls herself "Nenna"

She LOVES animals, any and all animals, and has no fear of them no matter how big they are. Her favorites are elephants, cows, and pigs. Future vet?

She is fascinated with body parts and can name just about every one of them. (Also, watch your belly button around her. Those little fingers come out of nowhere!)

She knows just about all of her colors, her favorite seems to be yellow.

She can name a circle, star, heart, and square.

She knows the letters "A" "B" "M" "R" "H" and "F" and their sounds. (Why these letters? No clue...)

She has a newfound love for play-doh:

She still prefers to be outside, and loves taking walks and playing in the water.

She can climb the play-structure at the park and use the slides all by herself.

She has 16 teeth in that cute little mouth.

She is starting to "pretend play." She plays with her babies more and more.

She loves to give "kissies", "eye kissies", "nose kissies", and "big hugs."

We have successfully mastered painting with watercolors (yay!)

She likes to put things in groups and sort things in and out of basket. (That's my girl!)

She has started putting her toys away on her own... I am hoping that lasts, but not counting on it.

Temper tantrums are now a common thing in our household... she has her spot near the door where she sits to take a break and calm down. She will put herself there when she's upset!

She is fully potty trained if I leave her naked at home, but with clothes on it's another story. We will be working on that this summer :)

She makes THE BEST elephant sound I've ever heard, no joke.

Happy 18 months sweet girl!

Santa Cruz

We took a trip to Santa Cruz this past weekend.

We stayed from Friday until Tuesday, and would have happily stayed longer!  

I never wanted to come home (except for the sand everywhere thing, that gets old quickly).

We stayed in this cute little beach house right across from the wharf and boardwalk, so everything was in walking distance. It was perfect. Check out our view:

Pretty amazing.

I tend to get a little camera happy when we do new things, especially outdoors, and especially with my child.

So, please excuse the picture overload.

Anyway, we got to Santa Cruz in the late afternoon, and after unpacking everything we decided to walk along the wharf to see the sea lions.

I'm a sucker for sea lions, I love them. So did Kenna, she barked back at them each time they would "talk."

I love that serious face she gets when she sees something new... like she's soaking it all in.

After seeing the sea lions we chased the "beer-dies" around for a while and then ate dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant on the water.

My good little eater loved the calamari, salads, and clam chowder!

After dinner we took a walk down to the ocean.

I love the ocean... and I LOVE the ocean at sunset.

We let Mikenna put her feet in the water.

It was freezing, but since it was her first time at the ocean, we couldn't wait until the next day.

She LOVED the water. She would laugh, jump and dance each time a wave hit.

Favorite picture. Ever.

We had to pull her away from the water kicking and screaming.

After getting a much needed good night's sleep (I'm referring to you miss overtired Kenna), we ventured back to the beach the next morning. 

We spent a lot of time building sandcastles (or dumping the sand on our pants, either way) and playing in the water, then went for a walk on the boardwalk.

The excitement on Mikenna's little face melts my heart. She loved that ocean!

Heather, Randy, and the boys came up that night and stayed with us. 

We enjoyed more seafood (yum) and played on the beach together the next day.

Ok, so Heather and I laid on the beach while everyone else played. 

Laying on the beach with my sister while the boys played with the kids = best Mother's Day ever.

My beautiful sissy

Mikenna playing with her cousins :)

Jalapeno loved the beach too, see:

We jokingly buried him in the sand but he loved it. He almost fell asleep.

Such a weird dog, I love him...

Corn dogs and fries on the boardwalk are a must, I'm glad I could share these amazing things with my little.

Beautiful girl back at the house

We were supposed to leave the next day but decided to stay another day and take another trip back to the beach and then the boardwalk.

Would you want to leave this? Me either.

Grammy and Aitachi came to stay on our last night and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach and dinner on the water.

Kenna and her "Gee" aka Grammy

Seeing things through the eyes of my little boo for the first time is amazing.

I can't wait for our next vacation together!

Mommy's Day and a Photoshoot

Happy Mommy's Day!

I had a little photoshoot with Mikenna a few days before Mother's Day to try to get a good picture for presents for the grandmas.

When I uploaded the pictures to my computer I couldn't stop laughing.

They are such good snapshots of my little girl's big personality.

She is such a goober, I love that kid. Pure entertainment.

On a serious note, I really do feel blessed every day to be a mommy.

It is by far the best unexpected surprise that has ever happened to me.
I don't need a day to remind me of that, although spending the day on the beach with my little family was definitely a great way to celebrate!

I don't think anyone really understands a mother's love until they have their own baby.

I thought I did, until I had Mikenna.

It is a whole different kind of love than I could ever experience for anyone else's children.

Having her has turned my life upside down, she is my whole world... and I wouldn't have it any other way.

After having a baby, I have a whole newfound appreciation for my mama.

All the hard times, the tears, the happy times... all make me think of my mom.

Thank you mama for always being there, for teaching me everything I know.

Thank you for always correcting my grammar, for always cooking dinner, for running me around 1,000 places a day before I got my license.

Thank you for listening to my problems and giving me advice, and for letting me cry on your shoulder when I learned the hard way that I should have taken your advice. (And never saying "I told you so," even though I know you were thinking it)

Thank you for being my friend as I've grown older, and for being there to answer the phone every 5 minutes when I became a mama and had no clue what I was doing.

You are amazing and I hope someday Mikenna loves me as much as I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas I know out there! It's definitely not an easy job, and we all deserve a day to be a little spoiled!