18 Months

It is so hard for me to believe that my little baby is 18 months old! Where has the time gone? I do have to say that I love this stage so much-Mia has become more independent and is getting pretty good at communicating her needs-it is so neat to watch her grow! This is going to be a longer post since this blog is somewhat serving as a baby book and a record of Mia's growth. If you're bored, scroll down to the pictures. :)

To start with, Mia had her 18-month appointment about a week or so ago. You can see that Mia is losing her baby fat and getting taller. I miss those chunky thighs she used to have! Here are the stats:

Weight-23 lbs, 11 oz (25th-50th percentile)
Height-32 1/4 in. (50th-75th percentile)
Head (have to include the big noggin!)-19 1/8 in. (90th-95th percentile)

Mia is talking up a storm these days. Mainly she is using one word at a time, occasionally two. Some of her words include mom, dad, ball, gone, whee, up, no (she is great with this word!), yes, that, this, ow, poop, papa, Mick, Minnie, Pete (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), duck, hot, more, glo-glo (her glow worm), and book. I am sure I am forgetting some, but that is what I can remember off the top of my head. One of Mia's favorite things to do is point to things and say "that." She wants you to say what it is (even if she knows) and then she will repeat it. She has been doing better with "please" which we taught her to counteract the whining we get when Mia wants something. We have been working on "thank you" but it has been a little more difficult for Mia. It sounds more like "you."

Mia also loves to make animal sounds. Whenever you ask her what sounds certain animals make, she says more and makes you go through the list again. Mia's favorite's inlcude dog, cow, monkey, duck, cat, sheep and snake. Mia can't get enough of her animals!

After being a late walker, Mia is doing great with it now-she actually can get up some speed, although she is certainly not the world's most coordinated child. :) She is now able to climb up and go down both the slides we have in the basement on her own. Mia is also having a lot of fun at her gymnastics class practicing her motor skills and doing lots of climbing and jumping. Waiting to take her turn and transition from one activity to another is a more of a challenge, but I think this is a great experience for her to have some structure.

Eating has become more of a struggle these days. Some days she will eat a ton, other days not so much. She gets pretty stubborn and doesn't want to eat certain things, which has limited our variety of choices these days. We will keep trying!!!

Mia has a lot of obsessions these days. First, Mia is obsessed with books. As a teacher and reading specialist I am proud of her love of reading, but I have to admit sometimes I get a little tired reading 20 books in a row, or the same book 20 times!! Mia's favorite books we have been reading lately are her Alphabooks from the Faulkner family. Another obsession of Mia's is the potty. She always wants to always play with her little potty, wants to come in when I go to the bathroom and wave when I flush (I know-too much info!), and will say "poop" when she has to go poop. And finally Mia still LOVES watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She gets so excited when it comes on in the morning and cries for "Mick" when the t.v. is off.

We have been trying to prepare Mia for the baby, although we know that she won't truly understand what is going on until the baby is here. However, if you ask her where the baby is she will point to my belly (most times!). She also will always kiss my belly whenever I am getting her out of the high chair. Hopefully she will be as loving when the baby actually gets here. :)

And now, here is my 18-month old big girl....

Reading on Mom and Dad's Bed

Look at those chompers!
Peek-a-boo
Miss Blue Eyes-looking outside at the clouds

Catch-Up

I have added a couple of new posts below that may be a little out of order, so you may want to scroll down to catch some posts you may not have seen...

Your First Look...

Allright folks, here it is, your first look at Baby Boy Graske. I think I'm in trouble-he's already hiding from the camera (look at those hands in front of his face!).

The Skelator shot

Baby Graske was not super-cooperative for our ultrasound. He is currently breech (which isn't a big deal because we have a long ways to go and I will have a c-section regardless) and was all scrunched up. The tech kept jiggling and poking my belly and even had me go to the bathroom, but he was still being stubborn. After about 45 minutes or so she finally got the shots she needed (and seemed very positive it was a boy!). The high-risk OB also came in and took some additional shots as well and let us know that everything looked great.

This was a fun high-tech experience as we got to watch the ultrasound on a large flat-panel tv mounted on the wall in front of us. Plus they flipped the machine to the 3D/4D setting a couple of times to get some cool 3D shots. I have to say though I was pretty shocked when she told us it was a boy. I think Cort and my family had me convinced that we would just have girls, so this was a wonderful surprise. I already went out and bought a couple of boy things. :) We will head back in about a month for the fetal echo, which is a closer look at the heart when it is more developed. We did the same thing for Mia as well. I guess it is now time to start planning!

It's A ......

It's a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!! We are shocked and excited! I will come back with more details later, but it has been a long, long day (work, Mia's 18 month appointment, big ultrasound, and then back to work for a parent night). But Baby Boy G is healthy and looks good!

Celebrating with Friends

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get together with my ISU girls (although sadly a couple were missing!) and celebrate both mine and Kristy's 30th birthdays. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening of relaxation. First we headed to get our nails done-sooooo nice!!! After that we went back to Kelly's for pizza, salad, and a yummy giant cookie. We also broke out some games which encouraged both Kristy and my competive edge. :) Thanks ladies (and Pam for organizing), I am lucky to have such a great group of friends!!!!!

Kristy and Me

Kristy concentrating on Brain Warp-a blast from the past!
Kelly with Brain Warp

Busy Birthday Weekend

This was a busy weekend of birthdays and half-birthdays. On Saturday I turned 30 (yikes!), Mia had her half-birthday and is 18-months, and Baby G turned 18-weeks (and we just started feeling kicks on the inside about a week ago, on the outside this week). Boy did we have a busy weekend! On Friday night Mia, Cort and I went to dinner at Mongolian BBQ to get my free birthday bowl of stir-fry. Afterwards we headed over to Bass Pro Shop where Mia nearly fainted with excitement seeing the fish and boats-that girl is pretty easy to please! I was wishing I had my camera, but of course didn't think Bass Pro shop would provide the opportunity to want to take pictures. :)

Saturday morning Cort took off from working Saturday detention so he was able to come along to Mia's gymnastics class which was so nice. After going home and taking a nap (all of us!), we headed over to the DuPage Children's Museum where we had a ton of fun. Mia's favorite thing to do there was playing in the water and with the bubbles.

After the museum we headed home where Mia napped again (she is still on 2 naps) and Cort and I got ready for a night out. We dropped off Mia with Grandma and had a nice dinner at a little Italian restaurant in LaGrange called Via Bella (get it, like Mia Bella). Afterwards we got some icecream and hung out at Borders (we are old!), got Mia and called it a night.

Painting with Water

Hey, Let Me Out!
Banging Away
Who Wouldn't Love a Giant Lite-Brite?
Mia loves her rubber duckies
Playing in the water
Mommy and Mia (she was not interested in posing)
Daddy and Mia (wearing the goggles for the wind tunnel)

Finger Painting

First off, Mia and I had a minor car accident yesterday. We were rear-ended while stopped at a red light waiting to make a right turn. I was hit by a Honda Civic and it gave Mia and I a good jolt and did some damage to the bumper. I was a little freaked out obviously since I had Mia in the car and I am pregnant, so I called the police to file a report. I also called my doctor and they advised me to go to the ER. So Cort and I headed over to get checked out and luckily everything looked okay. As we left the hospital we ralized we had a flat tire. What a Valentine's Day! We are just happy that Mia and I both were okay.

The other day I picked up some finger paints for Mia when I was at Target. After the excitement of yesterday, today seemed like a good day to take it easy and break them out, so Mia had her first experience finger painting. At first she was a bit tentative-lately she has not loved having things stick to her fingers. But after she realized the fun of smearing the colors all over the paper, she was hooked. Unfortunately, her finger painting came to an end when she pressed her hand against her face and was not pleased with the result!

A little unsure at first

Getting more into it

Having fun!


Oh no!

Have a Sweet Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Here are some Valentine pictures of Mia enjoying her first lollipop. Unfortunately Mia (or her mom) was a little late with Valentines this year, so those of you with kiddos may be getting theirs a day or two after Valentine's Day. :)

This one cracks me up! What is this fabulous tasting thing???I love this little girl so much!

Visiting the Great-Grandparents

This past weekend we headed over to my grandparents house along with Jen and Noah, my mom, and my aunt. It had been awhile since we had seen everyone since the weather has been bad and we had been sick. Mia seemed to enjoy the change of scenery and also all the cookies she scored!

Enjoying her cookies (look at those cheeks!)

This is kind of a funny picture-

Mia was watching the clinkers that my grandfather was swinging above my head
Noah and Mia

Mia and Great-Grandma

Mia and Great Grandpa
Aunt Cathy and Mia
Aunt Cathy and Noah (trying to learn my new speedlight)Playing
I threw in this one because I thought Mia's bedhead was cute!

Baby #2 Update

There hasn't been a lot of news in the last month to report in regards to Baby #2, but yesterday afternoon I had my monthly update (16-weeks). One thing that made me laugh was that a nurse that I saw a lot towards the end of my pregnancy with Mia (when you are going weekly) was the one who called me in and I hadn't seen her yet. The first thing out of her mouth was something like "Wow! You're already back!" :)

Everything looked good with my blood pressure, etc. I am up 3 more pounds for a total of 6 right now. I saw the new nurse-practioner my office has this time. It took a little while to find the heartbeat again, which I hate, and it required some serious pressing on my stomach. Once the nurse-practitioner found it, it was a strong 162. I looked back at what Mia's heartbeat was around this same point and at 15 weeks with her it was 150. So we will see if the old-wives tale continues to be true that higher heartrate means girl.
Speaking of finding out the sex, we have our level-2 ultrasound scheduled for Febuary 21st. If the baby cooperates, we will be finding out at that time. I also had an echo to monitor my heart valve and a follow-up with my cardiologist and everything looks good! I will go back for one final echo and appointment about a month before the baby is due to arrive to make sure everything looks okay.

That's about it for now! Picture to come later...

Snowy Days

So there has been A LOT of snow around here lately. And unfortunately, both Mia and I are battling colds, so we haven't been able to go out and enjoy it at all. So what do you do when you are stuck in the house all afternoon? Well, see for yourself....

Playing with the strainer

(makes you think twice about having pasta at my house, doesn't it?)

Playing peek-a-boo in the curtains



Coloring

Concentrating
And pretending and playing with random objects

Mia has also been loving bath time more than ever. As soon as I ask her if she wants to take a bath, she drops whatever she is doing and pretty much bolts for the stairs. She is like a little fishy and would stay in the tub for hours if I let her. Here are some bath pictures...

"The Spike" inspired by cousin Noah

(Yes, Mia is trying to swim in the tub-she is a crazy little girl!)

Splashing around


No more bath pictures Mom!!