Pictures from the last month

For some reason when I posted the last time I wasn't able to upload photos. Here are a few from the last month.
Whitney is 18 months old.

A Wisconsin Christmas and 18 month check-up

Wow these past few weeks have gone by in a whirlwind. As many already know, we typically take our “Christmas vacation” in early January to tie in a work trip in WI for me and then we take vacation time to spend with family and friends. It’s nice to extend the holiday season, but it really makes the months of December and January fly by and blur together.

This year we flew to WI on Thursday the 3^rd. It was a great feeling knowing Andy was flying with both Whitney and I this time, I had zero anxiety and was actually excited to fly with all of us, our little family. Whitney did great, of course, and I think this must have made her 9^th trip back to WI, I have lost count by now, but know she has surely taken full advantage of “kids fly free” under 2 years old.

After some work obligations on Friday and Saturday vacation finally began on Sunday when all of my brothers and sister-in-laws got together at my parents house for another Christmas celebration. We did our name exchange and saved the kids Godparent gifts for this day. It was great to see everyone and I was excited for Whitney to get a chance to play with all her cousins. Whitney makes number 9 for grandkids on my side of the family, so there are plenty of kids running around wanting to “play” with her. They are all so good to her and it was nice to see her not afraid and go off and play with them, just watching them and trying to keep up. She also had her first experience playing in the white wonderful snow of WI. Her and Grandpa went sledding down the hill and she was not happy! She cried the entire time and was perfectly happy getting back into the warmth of the house. I can’t blame her, we ARE the ones who moved to warmer climate.

After a few days in the Green Bay area we headed to WI Dells to spend the rest of the week with Andy’s family. His sister, her husband and three kids also made the trip from Florida, so we got to spend more time with family and Whitney enjoying more cousins. She has two cousins (twins) who are only 3 months older than her and they really could pass for triplets. It was neat to see them all playing together, and don’t even THINK of getting a picture of all of them together including a 4 year old. We had a great time playing in the water park and Whitney seemed much more at home in the water than in the snow. In the wave pool she squealed with delight and could not stop smiling and laughing. She would pull our hands to go back in the water if we were resting on the side. I guess a true water baby, my kind of girl.

After leaving WI we have now been back home for a week. It feels great to be settled back into a routine. The Christmas decorations are down and put away and we are just ready for spring. We were welcomed back home with 75 degree weather, a nice chance to open the windows and air out the house. Granted it is back in the 40’s now, but those few days of unexpected sunshine and warmth was just what we needed coming back from WI.

This past Monday Whitney had her 18 month checkup which I was thrilled about since she wouldn’t be getting any shots, and just a well visit. She weighed in at 25 lbs and 33 inches (both 75% for her age) and surprisingly her head was at 50%. The doctor was so happy with her progress and basically cleared her of all things. Autism, no signs. CP, nope. Growth deficiencies, nothing. He said we should have named her Miracle, because we look at one every day. The one thing he said we now do is just wait until school starts to see if she has any types of learning disabilities, but with her acting, growing and talking the way she is, he is not worried in the least bit right now.

What an absolutely wonderful doctors visit it was. To hear those words, not that I had doubts, but to hear them from her doctor still brings tears of joy to my eyes. Even telling Andy brought tears to his eyes. Our little girl is doing so awesome. She is turning into a little person who is independent and curious. Her sweet demeanor has captured our hearts.  

Whew, that's a long update and I've meaning to post sooner. I'm not even proof reading this, but just hitting submit I'm so eager to get this posted.

So this is Christmas...

I’m still relishing in the post Christmas bliss we experienced the last two days. I do love Christmas, everything about it. The excitement, the hustle and bustle, the reminiscing, the spirit of it all.

Whitney is still entirely way to young to “get it”, but for me, just the extra day off with Andy and her and getting to spend time together is what I love best. Since we spend the holidays with our families in early January, that leaves Christmas Eve and day all to ourselves, making memories and traditions as a family. Here is a small recap of Christmas 2012:

I was thrilled to find out Andy was getting off work early on Christmas Eve, this allowed me to go to church at 6:00, rather than 10:00 pm. Andy opted to stay at home with Whitney while I went to St Andrews Catholic Church, the first time I was able to attend one of their Christmas masses. It was beautiful and packed, as I suspected it would be. Mass lasted only an hour and they sang beautiful traditional Christmas hymns. I surprised myself by not even needing a hymnal to sing along to all the songs, since I've been getting much practice listening to Christmas music the past 1.5 months. This was a great way for me to kick of Christmas Eve and the holiday in general.

By the time I got home we still had time to play with Whitney together and be silly. We took some photos and had time to relax.

Christmas day Whitney woke up around 8:15 and we immediately skyped with my parents, since they were going to go to church in the morning and would then be preparing for their 40+ guests that afternoon. They had shipped a few presents to us to open on Christmas day and we had such fun opening them. Whitney got a puzzle and a picnic basket and some clothes, she was a happy little girl. She loves skyping and I think she is starting to think Grandpa and Grandma live in the computer! She puts the computer right on her lap and usually puts on a show for them, always being silly while on camera. She then walked over to her highchair and signed to “eat”, so I guess that was our cue it was time to go and have breakfast. Getting to see them on Christmas morning is the next best thing to being there with them. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad.

We then ate breakfast and skyped with Andy’s Mom, who was at his sister’s house in Florida. They have three kids, ages 4 and under, so they were up to their elbows in Christmas cheer as well. She opened up a few more presents, a rocking chair from Grandma JuJu and a “worm” crawl through toy from her cousins – her favorite new toy. She opened a few more things, and the present we got her, a shopping cart. We will try to milk this period of her not “getting it” for a few more years when she doesn’t understand Santa and feel no need to spend too much on her, she gets spoiled enough as it is with family and grandparents.

All in all, a great day, a really special day to spend with our small, but growing family. I treasure the memories we have already made and look forward to so many more Christmases together. Next year will surely be different with two children in the house, a 2.5 year old and 6 month old. Being with Andy and Whitney make me so happy I could burst. I wish I could capture every smile, smirk and silly thing she does. Obviously I try to take many pictures but she’ll do something and I just say to myself, “man I wish I could remember this forever.” And days like Christmas are days I wan to remember forever.

(Whitney is 18 months old)

17 months - December 2012

This morning I am posted up in a new spot in the house. Instead of sitting at my work desk, I'm relaxing by the soft glow of the Christmas tree and morning sun breaking on the horizon. Mornings like this, when I wake up early (it doenst happen often), and the house is quiet and waiting for the busyness of the day is when I feel most content. And hey, who doesn't love sitting by a Christmas tree?

Wow, OK, Whitney is already 17.5 months, it's so cliche, but so hard to believe. So what is new this past month. Whew.
These past few weeks I've seen a big change in her and her vocabulary. She is very consistently saying Mama, Dada, Tilly, ball, one, byebye, night night, hi and Grandma. Her vocabulary is something I have always kept in the back of my mind and have working and working on with her. I know some kids have upwards to 50-100 words at this point, so her measly 10 or so words is just killing me. However, she is making more and more sounds each day and is try to hard to say things so I am thrilled about that. Both Andy and I were late talkers, not until after 2 did we really start, and I know heredity plays a fairly big part in speech too, so I'm trying to not let this bother me too much.

She continues to love to climb and is comprehending things like crazy, another thing that makes me feel as if she is "learning". She may not be saying many words, but she understands throwing things in the garbage, retrieving certain items and what she should and should not be doing.

She's learning how to dress and undress herself and most recently getting pretty good at using a fork when eating. She enjoys taking our hand and leading us places. Whether it be someplace she knows she should go (like up the stairs) or to her room to play or to the kitchen, wherever.

The one thing about her getting is older, is my fear of her falling behind. Despite her slow start we have been blessed with her meeting or exceeding all her milestones during the right time frame. I have always felt that she was right on pace with where she should be. Now that she is getting older, there can  be more of a separation of how kids are developing. I understand kids develop at different times, but no parent wants their child to be behind. I know my personality and although I would never push her to do something she's not ready to do, I also like the fact of knowing she is doing what she is supposed to be doing or is where she should  be.

Take for instance, her head size. I feel silly just saying this. No one would ever think she has a small head by looking at her (maybe from her massive amounts of hair!) I do know though the doctor wants to see her head growing proportionately to the rest of her. I measure her head circumference 2 days ago and noticed it had not gotten bigger since her 15 month appointment. Boom. Instant worry. Her 18 month appt is the 28th, so I'm sure we'll be talking about it, but c'mon, am i going insane? Is her brain growing? Will she be OK...the never ending question.

So anyway, here we are less than 2 weeks away from Christmas. We're in the wake of a horrific, tragic event and I'm rambling about head size. One thing I noticed are so many comments on Facebook about holding their babies tighter during this time of morning. Shouldn't we be holding our babies tight all the time? Sure it's easy to get caught in the daily routine, but these are precious beings, we need to handle with care, each and every day, despite what is happening in the world around us.

This is the time to be so extremely thankful for what we have, and having Whitney here and with us each day is on the top of my list. Forget all the milestones and charts and graphs, she has already done more than I could have imagined and certainly a miracle from above.

Why me?

After some more persistent prodding I'm back at the computer writing an update on Whitney, and I suppose a little about myself. I often think of topics I could write about as I'm driving, or running, or sitting lazily in front of the TV. Should I write about her new found "screaming" and how it's awfully cute and endearing and very very annoying at the same time? Or what about how she gives the best big hugs and kisses? Or how she prefers to give the dog the biggest hugs of all? Or what about how she still remains to be the best sleeper and eater we could have asked for? She's really a good girl. Or her clever ways to climb onto the couch, and knows enough already to not stand on the couch?

I keep coming back to the question I shamelessly asked myself a few times in those first few months, "why me?" In those tearful nights and long agonizing days, "why is this happening to me, how can this truly be happening to me?"

And now, almost 17 months later, I am asking myself the same question, but looking at her, and seeing her smile and babble and play and asking "why me?" but thinking, she's here and she's doing great and she's perfect and she's mine "why me, Lord, why me?" Why have you blessed me and my family, so? I look forward to each day I get so spend with her. Through every scream and every piece of food thrown on the ground and every time she pulls the dog's tail, I love it. I cant get enough of it. So yes, quite possibly everyday, I ask myself now "why me, how did I get so lucky?"

We're still alive

I've had a few requests to update the blog and Sunday nights are usually the best, so here I am. Looking back it looks like I missed a month, I guess we have been busy. We DID go on an almost two week vacation to WI over Labor Day. It was such a great vacation. We got to spend time with family, friends and make it to the home opener Packer game. Whitney got to see many of her cousins and hang out with both sets of Grandparents and Grandma Great Jackie. It really was a very relaxing trip, I wish we could go that long more times throughout the year. What a great way to recharge!

Whitney had her 15 month checkup 2 weeks ago, she has now moved up to the 75% for height (31.5 in) and 60% for weight(23.5 lbs. For the longest time I thought she was so short but these past few weeks she seemed to have a growth spurt and sure enough, she shot up on the charts. She got three shots and for the first time had a small fever a few days afterward, which the doctor had said might happen. In the past she has shown no symptoms or problems, and this fever was minor, she still kept up her happy demeanor.

A few weeks back we took advantage of gift certificate I had won for a free photo shoot. I was going to use it for Whitney's first birthday but it didn't fit into the schedule and it certificate was expiring the end of September. Since we have a fairly decent digital camera we never thought it necessary to get professional photos taken, but since it was free I couldn't let it go to waste. We had a great time and Cassie was able to get some cute shots of Whitney.

I know it has been awhile since i wrote and now that I'm sitting here I'm trying to remember all the things we have been busy with but I cannot remember anything. We've just been busy playing and having fun. She is learning to shape sort right now and also enjoys putting things on pegs. She's learned to throw, luckily just balls right now and not throwing cups, food and anything else she's not supposed to, but I have a feeling that may be coming. She also loves to climb, but what 15 month doesn't? She is still  babbling up a storm, I sure wish I knew what she was saying. She still doesn't say too many words but if you use your imagination you can almost make out what she's trying to say. I'm not too worried yet that she isn't saying much, but Andy and I were late talkers and she sure is babbling lots, so that is easing my mind.

I'm leaving with a few photos. Happy Fall!.

Just a typical weekend

Weekends are obviously my favorites. Whitney's late mornings spent in pajamas, tickle time in our bed, and usually absolutely no plans. Since Andy works most weekends, I have really grown to love the time Whitney and I get to spend together. She loves being outside, and the weather at night is a bit cooler, so it's a great time for us to get some fresh air. It feels good to be back home, after spending a week in WI. I wouldn't trade that time in WI for anything though. My parents have been fortunate enough to spend so much time with her, and watch her grow up this past year. They've seen so many tears and smiles (on my part) but have stood strong and patient. I can only pray that Whitney will see the same in Andy and I some 30 years from now.
These weekends make so thankful for this little girl. Here she is, babbling, walking, playing all while her personality is budding. She brings me literally to tears sometimes when thinking about what a miracle she is.

I get it now, this is it - this whole parenting thing that gets you choked up. This child, who just a year ago came into our lives and we knew nothing of each other, here she is. She loves me and I love her.