Smart Cookie

Just recently, Carys has really been picking up things we are showing her, especially her signs and body parts.  I'm going to have to brush up on my signing, so I can start teaching her new ones.  It's really cool when she is whining and I ask her if she is hungry, and she'll stop whining and sign "eat".  I'm all for anything that stops whining!!

10-10-10

Happy Birthday Uncle Hoon!

Since Mom is in Germany, she asked us to share the presents they bought for you today!  

So here they are....

And to give you a better look, we had Bug Pickle model them for you,

We think she's a pretty cute model...bed head and all!

Happy Birthday David - we love you!!!

Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!  We'll give you our present then!

14 Months

Carys is 14 months old today and I can't believe that a year ago we were getting some of our first smiles from our sweet girl!  So, first a flashback to last October when Carys was 2 months old.

Carys, those first few months with you felt like a magical blur.  Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but there were so many nights before and even after I met your dad that I felt like it was never going to happen.  When you were born, I can't even begin to tell you the overwhelming joy that you brought both of us.  Even today, I'm so unbelievably thankful that God has given us such a precious gift, and has chosen me to be your mommy.

Now, at 14 months, you've become quite the busy little girl and are always keeping us entertained.  You look so much more grown up to me now, and you always impress us with how much you are learning everyday. 

You are constantly on the go, and have gotten so much faster.  It's getting harder to keep up with you!  You still love to read, but don't have the patience for more than one book at a time.  You have decided that you hate to get dressed.  You love playing with clothes and carrying them around the house, but have no interest in actually putting them on.  Shoes on the other hand are a different story - you love shoes and always bring them to us to put on them on you!  We are definitely starting to see your stubborn side, and have learned that you can be VERY expressive when you don't want to do something - like getting dressed!

You are very affectionate and are always giving hugs and kisses to mommy, daddy, your toys, and even yourself if you happen to pass a mirror!  The only real word you say is Mumma - you used to say Dada, but now when I ask you to say anything, the response is always Mumma.  Can't say that I mind that one bit though!  Your other "word" has been and still is ah-dah.  You say this ALL the time for everything! 

You are officially done with bottles.  A few weeks ago, I finally was able to get you to drink milk from a sippy cup, so after that I put all of your bottles away and we've never looked back!  You never seemed to miss them, so I'm glad it was easier than I expected. 

  

We can't believe you are getting big so fast, but we are having so much fun watching you grow.  We love you sweet girl!

Oh, and we have to say...

 Happy Birthday to Grandma Alice!  

She is an amazing Mom and Grandma, and loves her Bug so much.  

We are so blessed to have her in our lives.  

Grandma, We hope you are having tons of fun in Germany, but hurry home because we miss you! 

We love you so much!!

Note:  I just have to say when I started this post it was October 7th, but since it is now past midnight it will post on the 8th - the days just aren't long enough! ;)  Anyway, now I really need to get in bed!

Bowling Anyone?

When Scott comes home from work, Carys latches on to him and won't let him out of her sight.  Yesterday, she grabbed him and gave him her ball from her bowling set, so he decided to try teaching her how to bowl.

She didn't quite get the concept of rolling the ball,

but she definitely loved knocking them down!

Smells Like Fall

It rained a lot this weekend, but it finally cooled off and really felt like fall.  I love just hanging out in comfy clothes and chilling at home on days like this, so that's exactly what we did! 

Carys decided to dress up her jammies with a few accessories and was running around the house in her new hat with stickers on her hands.  She loves stickers! 

I was inspired by Darby's guest post on B*spoke to make pumpkin butter this weekend and it was SO good!  I used the same recipe, but tweaked it a little, using pumpkin pie spice, cutting the sugar in half and adding some maple syrup.  It was SO yummy and made the whole house smell awesome!  

I spread some on toast while it was still warm and I think someone really liked it!

Later that day, we decided to build a fort and Carys loved it.  Especially with Daddy peeking in!

 

She loves snuggling up with blankets and is always dragging them around the house.  Here she is putting her sleep sacks (blankies) in the fort!

 

I LOVE this face!

And one last action shot, our Bug is finding more and more places to explore!  

Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend!

Fun Thursday

Scott didn't have to go into work until late this afternoon, so we were able to spend the day together.  Carys had her swim lesson this morning, so it was really cool that Scott was able to go with us.  Carys finally had FUN!  It started a little rocky at first, but we decided not to put the water wings on her after she screamed anytime they came near her!  This is a new thing - she has learned to scream and scream loud - really loud.  Not exactly our favorite thing that she does, but we're working on helping her tone it down - at least that's our goal.  It's TBD if we'll be effective.  It's hard to know when to ignore undesirable behavior and when to address it - especially at this age, so if you have any words of wisdom feel free to share!  Anyway, back to swimming -- after steering clear of the water wings, Carys had tons of fun practicing her water skills.  She 'jumped' into the pool and went under water 3 times today and did awesome.  It's pretty scary letting your child go under water, but she did great.  After swim, we decided to grab a quick lunch since Carys had a nap before her lesson.

We started out okay, but Carys quickly went downhill and after refusing to sit in her highchair any longer, Scott took her outside while I grabbed the check and a doggy bag.  We headed home after that and just relaxed together for the rest of the day.  Carys is definitely starting to show signs of wanting to be more independent and that she has a very strong will.  I think this will be an asset for her when she gets older, but I can also see that this may be a little more challenging for us along the way! ;)  Thankfully at this point, she is very easily distracted, so when she's upset it never lasts long.

 She had just woken up from her nap here (note the hair) and wasn't happy that I wouldn't let her put her doll down the laundry chute.

2 seconds later:  Oh - hi Daddy!  I'm fine now!

It      

Sitting Pretty

We bought Carys her own chair for her birthday and she loves it.  It took her a while to figure out how to get up on the chair, and then once she mastered getting up we had to work on sitting down.

She would get up and then sit down - without turning around.  Good thing mom and dad were there supervising because we had to save her more than once from hitting the ground!  She eventually mastered getting up, turning around and sitting down and now that's all she wants to do.  Up and down, up and down, up and down... she has to be reminded to sit down sometimes, but she most of the time as soon as she sits, she's flipping back around to scoot off and start all over again.

Just chilling watching Elmo - this didn't last long.

I love watching her have fun.  She is really starting to play more on her own and sometimes I'll walk into her room and find her sitting in her chair smiling.  She's so sweet - I love seeing her happy!