Little Pumpkins

This week we tagged along with Mariam and Leila to the Arboretum!  Our little pumpkins had fun in the pumpkin patch...

Trying to make them hold hands... 

 That didn't work, so we told them to hug each other....

Maybe Leila loved Jillian too much??

Down they went...

 I couldn't stop laughing.  Jillian, on the other hand, didn't think it was that funny.

16 Months

It's been a while since I have done a post highlighting what Jill's been up to lately.  I figured 16 months is just too fun, so why not!

I feel like Jillian understands just about everything we say.  If she minds me or not, is a different story.  She shakes her head no to anything she doesn't want to do - like changing diapers, going to bed, bathtime, ect.    I'm trying to teach her the 'yes' head nod, but so far telling me no is much more fun.

Loves horsey.  Unchie taught her this, and if she wants to ride the 'horsey' on our legs, she get in front of us and shakes her whole body until we ask 'do you want to ride the horsey?'  and her face lights up, she waves both hands out of excitement and giggles.

She's right on the cusp of saying tons of words.  She obviously knows Mama, Dada, and 'mo' for more (usually referring to wanting more food).  She is definitely an 'Expressive' communicator as our Dr. says.  It's like Charades - she acts out with her body and pointing exactly what she wants.  It's fun to try and figure it out when she wants something new - like when she acted out Horsey to me, it took me a second to figure it out.

Knows all the parts of her body, and has for quite some time.  My favorite is when I ask 'Where's your hiney?' She smacks her little tushy. I was so excited to teach her that.

Loves her wagon (thank you Nana!).  She loves to ride in it, just sit in it, and she keeps her outside 'treasures' inside it.  If she likes something she found outside (like a cool stick) into the wagon it goes for safekeeping.

Loves her car (thank you Bama!).  We keep her car inside, and we find her climbing in and out all the time.  She even takes snacks inside the car, and eats them there.

Still loves books.  I didn't stage this picture at all.  On our walk the other morning she wanted to take her book with us.  She stared at it and turned the pages for half our walk.  So precious.

Over the past few weeks, she's started being so cuddly.   She has never been like this before, and I love it!!  When she wakes in the morning or right before bed, she loves to snuggle and totally relax on me.  She also loves to give hugs, kisses and blows kisses.

At 15 months she was 23 pds 3 oz and 31" long.  She has 6 teeth.  Wears size 4 diapers.

Still sleeps from 6:45pm - 7:30am.  She probably wakes up around 7am, but happily plays until I go get her.  She takes 1 nap, from about noon for 1-1.5 hours, but plays for 30-45 mins in her crib after waking.

Here are a few pictures of Jillian at 16 months:

We sure love you Jill!!!!

Bow Head

This morning Jeff was playing with Jillian while I was in the kitchen.  I hear her round the corner and this is what I see....

I couldn't stop laughing.  Of course she didn't really mind all the bows in her hair, she loves her bows.

San Antonio

We just got back from 4 days to San Antonio, and we had a great time!  Jeff had a conference to attend, so Jillian and I tagged along.  I have been looking forward to this trip for weeks; I was so anxious to take Jillian to the Riverwalk and of course Sea World!

The start of the trip was a little shaky.  To say the least.  We left Wednesday at 5pm, thinking Jill would sleep half the way.  WRONG.   About 8:30, I'm driving along and she has finally just fallen asleep.  Two minutes later she wakes up screaming and then we hear it.  Throw up.  Everywhere.  Jeff jumps in the back to help her and I quickly pull over.  It was nasty.  I have never experienced a child throwing up in the car.  And I never want to again.  I was terrified we were in for the stomach bug.  But Jillian only threw up that one time, and was happy as can be the rest of the trip.  No Tylenol needed.  Strange.   Whew.... it didn't ruin our trip.

The next day Jill and I had a nice leisurely walk and lunch on the Riverwalk.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  We couldnt stay too long, Jillian was getting ansy being strapped in her stroller.  Until you have a little one, you dont realize how CLOSE the river is, with no railings.  So strapped in she was!

The following day Jeff hung out with us!  We decided to hit up Sea World.  Thankfully there were no crowds (oh, do I hate crowds) since it was the off-season.  So that was a plus.  A minus was we didnt see Shamu.... booo!!!  The only Shamu show was at 6 (Jillian was wiped out by 4) and it wasn't the real Shamu show.   So here we are the fake Shamu.

Jillian's favorite was proably the dolphins.  LOVED them.

Visiting the Sea Lions.  It's kind of scary holding your squirming toddler, trying to push out of your arms while we stand over Sea Lions. 

Lovin' the gift shop.

The Azul Show. 

We were so lucky to stay at a gorgeous hotel, the JW Marriot Hill Country.  It was an amazing resort, I would seriously go back to vacation there.  They had their own little water park, tube slides - everything. 

They also have all sorts of fun kid activities.  Check out the 1300 pound pumkin.  YES, I said 1300 pounds!!

Ginormous!

We had so much travelling as a little family.  Even with Jeff and I trapped inside our hotel room once Jillian went to bed at 730, we made the best of it with take-out and having littles 'dates' on the balcony.

30 Years.

The man I love turned 30 this weekend!  How can he be 30?!  How can I be just a few short months away from 30 myself?  We don't act 30.  We  don't seem 30.  And most importantly we don't LOOK 30 :)

Jeff had a great weekend. Despite my earnest attempts to throw him a huge party, Jeff really wanted a quiet weekend with his little family. So Saturday we did all the typical family things in the morning, big breakfast, walk, ect.  When Jill napped, we got ready for our afternoon adventure.  My parents arrived at 1pm, and Jeff and I were free the rest of the day and night!

Jeff had mentioned on many occasions he wants to learn how to fly. Maybe even get his Pilot's license... gasp!!!  If you know Jeff, he does NOT like to fly.  At all.  So this would definitely be conquering his fears as well.  I didn't tell him what I planned for day.  I wanted to surprise him.   I think I had him pretty convinced we were going to the UT/OU game - and he was less than thrilled.   Five minutes after we left our house, I told him to look in the glove compartment for a clue.  He found a little toy plane.  He mouth flew open, got nervous and asked if were going on a flight lesson today.  I said yes.  He was definitely nervous, but sooo excited.  We had a 2 hour 'discovery' flight lesson that afternoon and Jeff loved it!

 

The instructor let Jeff drive with the Yolks (I think that's what it was called??) and help with take-off.

Here I am happy before take off.  Not for long.  I got really nauseous.  

 A Happy Jeff after his lesson!  

I, on the other hand, was happy to be back on the ground!!!!

After our flight lesson, we went to a great neighborhood hangout and watched the end of the Texas/OU game.  Then we quickly went home, changed, and I surprised Jeff with dinner at Ocean Prime.  It was so yummy.   The night ended quite hilariously.   Jeff's brother was in town for the game (he attends UT) and we wanted to meet up.  So Shale tells us where he is, and we head that way.  We assume it's a hotel bar and we are going to see a few of his friends.  Nope.  We walked into his Fraternity's FORMAL!!  We stayed for about an hour and stayed very VERY close to the corner of the room.  No dance floor for us.  We had so much fun seeing Shale, but want to know a great way to feel old - go to a college Frat party!  

Happy Birthday Jeff!!  You are such a great husband and dad!  LOVE YOU!!