19 Months

Do you know what this means!?!  Leighton is closer to TWO than she is to ONE!!!  C-R-A-Z-Y.

Most of the time, she is the sweet little baby we all know and love.  And then there are times when she gives me a glimpse of the terrible-twos... and I'm not a fan.

(this is what I get when I ask her to smile - she is her father's child)

Between 18 and 19 months, Leighton started putting two words together (i.e. Dada bye-bye, Mama's shoes, puppy eat).  Her favorite phrase, "No, no Mama",  just so happens to be my least favorite... nonetheless, we are pleased with her progress.

We bought her a little Sesame Street potty, and she tee-teed in it twice.  She will sit on the potty and read a book or sing songs with me, but she still seems scared to actually "use" it.  So, although I think she is ready to potty train, I am trying not to push her.

This month Leighton started gymnastics, and WE are having a blast with it.  I am also happy to report that she is doing SO much better in the child care center at the gym.  She got moved up into the 2-year-old room, and I think that made all the difference in the world.  We are doing our best to keep busy these days, so you would think that you-know-who would be napping like a champ.  NOT. SO. MUCH.  I am lucky to get an hour out of her these days.  Not enough for either of us.  I know I shouldn't complain because she sleeps so well at night... but I'm afraid that the days of napping (and me getting anything done) are quickly coming to an end.  I am holding onto hope though... I want to keep her a baby for as long as I can.

South Padre Island

While we were on vacation, my sister introduced me to the world of Instagram.  So, I present you pictures of our trip (mostly Leighton), courtesy of my new addiction...

Then and Now

Here is a picture I snapped of Leighton at the beginning of July when she fell asleep in my arms while we went for a ride on Mr. Goldman's big boat...

Leighton - almost 17 months

When I took the picture, I couldn't help but think about this picture of the first time we took her on the same boat...

Leighton - almost 3 months (original post here)

So precious :)

Summer 2012: The Highlight Reel

Like most everyone, we love us some summertime around here.  In my opinion, the summer encompasses all that is good in this world: warm weather, water, beaches, sunshine, cold drinks, fishing, fireworks, weddings, and LOTS of family time!  With that said, summertime is usually crazy busy for us (like we were home three weekends in three months crazy)... but we wouldn't have it any other way!!

So, here's a quick recap of what we were up to this summer.  I wish I had more pictures for you... but that's just not my strong point, so please forgive me!

We kicked off the month of June with a trip to San Antonio to visit our friends, the Seales.  I blogged about our trip previously, but here's a picture of two of the prettiest babies to refresh your memory...

This weekend was followed by our one-and-only weekend at home for the month when we attended our friends, Justin and Paula's, wedding (wedding #1 of the year).  Sorry, no pictures.  After that, we were back on the road to POC and Victoria for Father's Day weekend, Victoria for a bridal shower, and then back to POC for another weekend with family.  I can't forget to mention that baby Carson Seale was born on June 28th and we picked my sister up from the airport on June 29th!  Whew... what a month!

The first weekend of July took us back to Port O' Connor to celebrate July 4th and my Mamie's 80th birthday!

During the weekend, we took Leighton fishing the first time and I took a million pictures.

No doubt, Lyn and I enjoyed it WAY more than she did, but I think she had fun.  

The next weekend we stayed home and had three parties to host/attend.  We threw a dinner party for the Flessners Friday night, and we had a first birthday party and a reunion of sorts with friends on Saturday.  Relaxing weekend at home, right? We were back to POC on Thursday of the following week because Lyn fished in a bay tournament.  The next week we had a full house as the Flessner bunch (Jenny, Jeremy, Evan, Clara and Camden) camped out with us their last week before moving to Malaysia for three years.  BOO.  (I will keep the fishing pictures coming because the picture of their departure wasn't pretty.)  So - needless to say, we are dearly missing them... but we wish them the best.  Thank God for Skype!

So, we sulked at home for a few days after they left, then hopped on a plane for Las Vegas!  Enter, August!

Lyn's cousin, Travis, got married in Vegas on Saturday, August 4th (wedding #2 of the year).  We left on Thursday so we could make a long weekend out of it... sans baby, of course.  

 (the view from our hotel room)

The wedding was really nice, and we enjoyed our mini-vacation.

(our prom pic)

Miss Leighton enjoyed her time with her grandparents, too... and thankfully they brought her home Sunday so we could see her that night before she went to bed.  The following weekend we had NOTHING going on, so we were able to stay home and relax for once!  Yay!  Then it was back on the road... a weekend in Victoria for cousin Charlie's 1st birthday party...

good clean fun on the slip 'n slide :)

...followed by a week long trip to South Padre Island with my parents and sister (Lyn had to stay back for work... someone in our family has to do it).  It was a pretty terrible routine we had in SPI... pool in the morning, lunch/nap, and beach in the afternoon.  It was so much fun, we didn't want to leave.  Thanks, Mom and Dad for a great trip!  (I am planning to do a separate post with pictures from the beach).  When we got back to Victoria, we headed straight down to P.O.C. so Leighton could see her daddy.

The following week we headed back to POC for a long weekend to celebrate Lyn's birthday and Labor Day.  We had lots of family in town... aunts, cousins, grandparents, great-grandmas, etc.... so poor Leighton got no attention at all...

(with Matt, Nat, Annie, and daddy)

(helping daddy open his birthday presents)

So here it is, September... and things are not looking like they're going to slow down at all.  We have FOUR more weddings this year (three of them we are in) and many showers, to boot!  However, we are really excited about the new things that fall is bringing our way... like gymnastics and playgroups!!  So, with any luck, I will post more pictures before next summer.  Hope you all had a wonderful summer and are happily welcoming fall!

17 and 18 Months

Who says you can't do two monthly updates at once?  Seriously, I have been working on this post FOR-EV-ERR... so it is high time for me to wrap it up (especially since someone will be 19 months tomorrow)!

 We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY these past two three months, and it seems like every day brings something new with Miss Leighton.  I think the biggest change over the last two months has been her ever-increasing vocabulary!  She says so many words (I won't list them all), but here are some of the most popular: mama, dada, ball, blue, Pops, more, please, puppy, purple, Na-na (aunt Natalie), baby, up, out, bye-bye, no (not my favorite), yes, Elmo, and.... tee-tee, poo-poo, and potty!!!  YES - we have entered the world of potty awareness!

 Believe it or not, she tinkled in the potty 1.5 times... but I think my excitement scared the pants back ON her because she hasn't wanted anything to do with the potty since.  So, we're not pushing it for right now and hopefully she'll be ready again soon!

As I said before, our summer was jam-packed!  On a good note, we welcomed my sister back to the States (for a little while, we hope)... but we had to say goodbye to my dear cousin, Jenny, and her family for three years.  I hope to do a mega recap post soon... but for now please enjoy the pictures of our sweet big girl!  More pictures of our even bigger girl coming soon!

Just because...

It doesn't get much cuter than a mohawk and a sweet smile...

17 and 18 month updates coming soon, I promise!

16 Months Old

Here we are again... another month has flown by!!  Leighton turned 16 months old last week, and she is getting bigger by the minute.  This past month she cut her first molar (Lyn noticed it had come through when they were playing one day).... and three more quickly followed.  Now she has a total of twelve teeth, so we're cooking filet mignons over here!!  She also started babbling a ton in the last week or so.  It is really cute to listen to her... I just wish so badly that I knew what she was trying to say!!

Leighton has also gotten really comfortable in the water and loves to swim!!  I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we did a mommy and me swim class at the YMCA last month.  She made a lot of progress over the course of the class and she continues to make progress every time she is in the water.  If only I could get her to keep her mouth closed and NOT to drink the pool (or bath) water.  She has also been doing really well with her sleep these days (likely due in part to the aforementioned swimming), so I am enjoying that ;)  Most days, she takes a 2 hour nap and she wakes up around 7:30 in the mornings!!

One thing I am not a big fan of is her spitting her food out.  She has gotten a little picky over the last couple of weeks and recently she decided if she didn't want something, she was just gonna spit it out.  I told my mom what she was doing, and she just laughed and said she thought it was cute.  While I don't agree with that, I understand that all kids do it, and I'm afraid if I make a big deal out of it, it will only make it worse.  So, I'm struggling a little bit with this one.  However, she's still cute... so I hope you enjoy some of her 16 month old cuteness!!

She looks so big to me in these...

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend Recap X 2

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to share pictures from our nice, long Memorial Day weekend.  Lyn had Friday and Monday off, so we headed down to Port O' Connor Thursday night!  Leighton is at the age where she can start to enjoy all of the fun things that POC brings, so we are really looking forward to many fun weekends down there this summer. 

 Some family friends gave Leighton a house that their kids had outgrown, and she could have played in it all weekend long if we would have let her.

She also went on her first ride in the bay boat and wore a big girl "boat jacket" without fussing!!

We also enjoyed a long day on the beach with the family.  Leighton had a great time playing in the sand with Camden and splashing in the water with Granny!

 

 

This past weekend we headed to San Antonio to visit our friends, David and Tiffany.  Their son, Colin is 3 1/2 years old and he played so well with Leighton.  They had a blast!!

 

Could they be any cuter??

We would totally approve if they wanted to get married :)

 

This was sister girl at lunch on Sunday... fast asleep in a VERY loud restaurant!

 Next time we visit the Seales, they will be a family of four!!  Baby Carson will be here at the end of the month.  We can't wait to meet him!!

In a related story, Miss Leighton is the big sixteen months old today, so stay tuned for an update!