19 months

19 Months!

Enjoying watermelon

Height: not sure

Weight: 28+ lbs

Hanging out at the park

New Tricks: Learning her colors! She can usually pick out blue, green, and yellow. Pink, red, and purple are all about 50/50 (otherwise she still says blue- ha ha).

Lots of jumping! Jumping up and down, jumping off steps, and jumping into our arms when we are at the pool. 

Cute things: Running around in circles to make herself dizzy.

Just lounging

Language: No new signs but lots of new words like "rock", "chalk", "color", "key", "buckle" and some actual names of colors. She now mimics at least one word of our sentence every time we talk to her (example: we say "Izzy you have stinky feet" and she will say "stinky"). She has a couple two word phrases like "one more cracker?" or "more peas please".

Enjoying the jump house

Personality: Still shy when meeting new people. Missed Daddy while he was in Thailand and China for a week; she asked for him every day while he was gone. She had quite the happy dance when he came home.

Teeth: No two year molars as far as we can tell but she is no longer excited to brush her teeth these days.

Obsessed with the balloon

Favorite Toy: Rocks. Izzy's new favorite pastime outside is picking up rocks, holding them in her hands, putting them into containers, transferring them to other containers, etc. She is constantly worried about her rocks.

The inside activity that she is obsessed about is coloring. She does it a lot at daycare but we recently got big sheets of paper for her to draw on and a box of crayons. If she isn't coloring then she is putting the crayons into one of her megabloks.

Intense coloring session

Favorite Book: Izzy has been obsessed with the book "Those Darn Squirrels" recently. Every night she is very excited to read the book and loves to shake her fist at the various parts of the book when the old man also shakes his fist. The past two weeks she hasn't been interested in reading her normal board books- she wants to read the longer books with more involved stories.

Izzy found a new friend while helping me pull weeds

Sleeping Habits: Izzy generally falls asleep anywhere from 7:30-8 and sleeps through the night. Most days she will take one two hour nap starting around 12:30 or 1. 

Eating:  Every month Izzy's veggie intake is getting better. This month she started to eat raw cucumbers and snap peas from the garden. I was able to make these baked zucchini bites and Izzy actually enjoyed them! Izzy has enjoyed corn on the cob and watermelon on the rind too. Last night at dinner she ate two tomato slices. Yay for Izzy!

Mmmm corn on the cob

Cucumbers!

Diapers: Seventh Generation Size 5 diapers during the day, Pampers Overnight Size 5 at night.

Clothes:  Mostly 2T clothes

Digging for peas fresh from the garden

Illness: All good the entire month until a cold at the very end....which she gave to me. :-(

Getting a pony ride at a neighbor boy's birthday party. She probably rode the pony more than any other kid at the party and LOVED it.

Other highlights: First time in the community pool- Izzy has decided that she loves the pool! Not so much a fan of the sprinkler though. 

This past weekend we went to the local Farmers Market and went on a wagon ride afterwards. Izzy had a great time!

Our horses Ned and Jeff

Test results and other snippets

How is it almost July?!? Work has been insane this week so I have had literally no time to blog. So I have snippets for you....

*This morning was Day 2 of my cycle so I went in for bloodwork and ultrasound. The good news is that my HCG is less than 1 again. My results:

Luteinizing Hormone: 2.04

Follicle Stimulating Hormone: 3.18 
Progesterone: 0.470 
Estrogen (should be less than 50 at baseline): 142

Ultrasound: Lining 9.2mm, 4 antral follicles – Right ovary 5.7mm, Left ovary 26.8mm clear cyst – which could be left over from last cycle.

The doctor wants me to come back in on Monday to recheck my hormone levels and get another ultrasound. My lining is still pretty thick and then my stupid estrogen. *sigh*

*This week has not been a good week of eating. Tonight I ate Chinese food for dinner after ordering pizza earlier this week. At this rate I will be 250 lbs by next month. Thank goodness the rest of the week I have been eating salads and black bean soup.

*Tonight I read the book "I Love You Forever" to Izzy. I usually cry a little bit after reading it but the extra hormones running through my body had me bawling after reading the story. Izzy was very concerned with me crying as she hasn't really seen me cry. Poor girl was so confused.

*Then after we brushed teeth and sang songs, I put her in her crib. I told her that I loved her and that I would see her tomorrow. I could have sworn that she said "I love you mama" as I was leaving her room. Amazing.

*The fun thing about a husband that travels for work (CP is currently in China until Saturday afternoon) is that he brings back fancy pajamas for Izzy. She can finally fit into the ones that he bought for her a few months ago.

*Tonight after I got home from work I got a call from a concrete contractor about our cracked garage floor. I explained that the floor was not level and that we had some large cracks. I'm not sure what else he wanted me to explain but he then said "can your husband give me any more information?" First off, I didn't even tell him that I had a husband. And even if I do what makes him think that CP could explain it any better? He made a couple other sexist remarks before asking if I could send him pictures. I hope that we are able to find another company to work with as I'm not sure that I could deal with this guy.

What's going on with you guys?

Microblog Mondays: Transformation Complete

This weekend CP and I became the ultimate suburban parents- we bought a Honda Odyssey minivan. I had been resisting a minivan for quite some time now so CP has slowly been wearing me down. I always made fun of minivans and said that I would never get one. 

Fast forward to 18 months with Izzy. When she was an infant it was sometimes hard to get her carseat in/out of the car if the person next to us parked too close....along with having to worry about not dinging the car next to us with the door. Not a problem in the minivan with sliding doors!

We haven't been up to my parent's place in Southwestern MI recently because they have been having some work done on the place and I thought it would be easier to keep Izzy away. But when we have gone in the past between the pack n' play, weekend bags, Buster's food, other baby-related items, etc. the car could get pretty packed and Buster didn't have much room. Now we have essentially doubled the amount of cargo space and Buster won't know what to do with himself back there this weekend when we make the drive.

The safety features on the car are awesome- a camera on the side of the vehicle gives me a view of cars/bicycles/etc. whenever I am turning right, a huge backup camera, lane drifting beeps, and even an alert when I am coming up too fast on someone else's bumper. The car we turned in (a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid that we bought from my parents) didn't even tell me the temperature outside!

I posted on Facebook about how our transformation to suburban parents was complete with our purchase of a minivan and found that there were lots of minivan haters out there. I used to be in this camp but after driving the new car for only two days I am totally sold. 

Want to read more Microblog Mondays? Go here.

Mama

Just a short, happy post for this Friday. This week Izzy FINALLY started to say "Mama" consistently- something that I have been waiting to hear for MONTHS now. It makes my heart soar every time I hear it. I love how I will be across the room and she will say the word that is magic to my ears. CP has heard "Dada" since Izzy was about 13 months old so it's been a loooooong 5+ months for me. I can't wait to catch it on video!

Izzy's daycare picture. I'm amazed that she isn't crying as she was a total mess that morning.

18 months!

18 MONTHS!

The coolest 18 month around

Height: 34" (2'10")- 97.15%

Weight: 28 lbs 2.8oz (95.83%)

New Tricks: Izzy continues to be fearless whenever we go to the park. Two weekends ago she climbed a rock wall (with a small incline)- CP only had to help her once! Izzy also enjoys walking backwards- she gives us a wide smile and is very proud of herself while she does it. She also enjoyed using chopsticks that were still stuck together to pick up items while we were at dim sum.

I can use chopsticks!

Cute things: Bedtime has changed once again. Now when I put her in her crib I give her a big hug and a kiss. I have also started signing "Mommy loves Izzy" while saying it. She then signs "more" and I have to sign and say it a couple more times. It's also been raining a lot so I have been singing "Rain, rain go away. Come again another day. Busy Izzy wants to play." She often wants me to sing this song over and over- maybe because I put her name in it?

Whenever we ask her what color something is her answer is blue. LOL.

Says hi and bye to random cars while on walks or in parking lots. Also says beep beep and makes a honking gesture when random cars pass by while out and about.

Not sure about Lake Michigan....

Izzy likes to walk around in our flip flops which is only partly successful. :-)

I'm amazed at her memory already. A couple of our neighbors have had bounce houses this month for birthday parties and she has been invited over to jump before the party. She was a little nervous at first, but LOVED it. Now a few weeks later she points to the house and tries to jump up and down. Sadly I have to tell her that the bounce house is gone.

Enjoying the bounce house

Language: I don't think that she has any new signs this month as she is mainly working on her speech. New words include blue ("boo"), purple, cracker "(ack-er"), red, thank you ('dank ou"), Buster, block, truck, beep beep, eat, cheese, please, go, rock. Right around Mother's Day she started saying something like "mama" and directed it to me but it is not consistent. I know that the pediatrician will likely only be worried about if she didn't have any words but I am wondering if her pronunciation should be better? 

Personality: Izzy doesn't like loud noises (like lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, etc) and she constantly wants to be outside. She LOVES to help us with whatever we are doing- picking veggies, putting things in the trash, dragging garbage cans to the street, etc. She is definitely a shy kid so CP has been asking her to say hi and bye to all kinds of people- including lots of different people we encountered flying out to Ohio this month. He definitely wants to push her to be less shy.

Helping Daddy with the trash cans

Teeth: Has all of her teeth for right now.....we get a brief respite before her two year molars but the ped did say that she is an early teether so she may get them soon.

Helping to pick lettuce from the garden

Favorite Toy: She is a big fan of all of her outside toys- especially her new (to us) wagon. When we get home every night she wants to ride in the wagon or push it around. She also likes to store different rocks she finds in the cup holder of the wagon.

Favorite Book: Jamberry. She will often ask for us to read it a second time in the same night.

My little ham

Sleeping Habits: Izzy generally falls asleep anywhere from 7:30-8 and sleeps through the night. Most days she will take one two hour nap starting around 12:30 or 1. 

Eating:  First time eating tofu and she actually liked it (twice in one weekend). That same weekend she finally decided that she likes to eat apples not just applesauce. This month was her first time eating Vietnamese food (a noodles, tofu and veggie dish). We went to a sushi restaurant for Mother's Day and she had a few bites of sushi (salmon and a white fish), daikon, and edamame. We were impressed with how willing she was to try everything! I am feeling a bit better with her veggie intake- peas, lima beans, sweet potatoes, and edamame always get eaten by Izzy. Oh and this month she decided that she liked eating radishes from the garden.

Eating a fresh radish from the garden

Diapers: Seventh Generation Size 4 diapers during the day, Pampers Overnight Size 5 at night.

Clothes:  18 month clothes, some 2T clothes

Illness: Izzy had a 24 hour bug with fever/puking/diarrhea while CP was out of town (of course). I stayed at home with her that day and despite her not feeling great, we had a great day!

Trying out her new water table

Other highlights: First bike trailer ride. First ride in the new wagon. First time playing with her water table. First time meeting much of the extended family. First time using the potty (two nights in a row!). First time at the beach and touching Lake Michigan (it was too cold to put more than your toes in and Izzy was wary of the waves).

Excited about her first ride in the bike trailer

Meanwhile, I can't believe that I have an 18 month old! When we meet other kids that are her age or even a few months older I realize just how tall Izzy is- she seems to tower over all of them!

Mudderella recap

Mudderella was quite an experience! All I have to say is thank goodness we had an early start and thank goodness we rented a school bus! We had 20 women on our team; I only knew a few of them ahead of time. It was about an hour drive out to the Hunting Club and when we arrived it was 60 degrees and drizzling. It had been raining a lot the past few days so the entire area was slippery and muddy.After going to the bathroom, dropping our bags off (which cost $10- sort of ridiculous), and then putting on our team tie-dyed shirts, we left earlier than our 8:45 start (I have no idea the exact time because I intentionally left my FitBit at home).

Note: All pictures are from the Mudderella Facebook page and all taken earlier in the morning at the Chicago event so I am not in any of them. I'm still waiting to see pictures from my group.

Mud EVERYWHERE

From the beginning it was TOUGH. The course was wet and muddy which meant a lot of energy was expended just staying on your feet while trying to run on the course.  I tended to stay on the side of the course where there were weeds/plants that helped me from slipping around too much. It took a while to get to our first obstacle but it was a messy one- crawling in muddy water under a cargo net. I tried my best to keep my mouth closed and to not get my hat too dirty.

Getting dirty early!

The second obstacle was to carry your partner. At this point 15 of the faster ladies sped ahead while there were 5 of us slower ladies that did a lot of the course together. Since we had an odd number two of us carried another lady- it was hard not to slip!

This next obstacle was deceiving. There were random drops (that you of course couldn't see because the water was so muddy) so there was a lot of falling during this obstacle.

Up and over the hay bale. Not too difficult, but hard to get your footing.

 Crawling under a cargo net.

Up and over a wall.

Mini hills where you would climb the hill (often needing help from someone already up the hill because it was so slippery), then sliding down into muddy water, then up another hill, then sliding down into muddy water, etc. At this point the faster group saw us and waited for us so that we finished all at the same time.

Up and over a higher wall- this time needing to use ropes. I wasn't a fan of the top of this obstacle- I was definitely worried that I would fall because the walls were muddy and slippery but I did just fine. Definitely not a fan of heights these days.

Tire swing

Head first down a tunnel into muddy water

Crawling through foam

 The final and most fun obstacle was this one- it was a rope ladder on the backside that you had to climb up and then at the top you slid down and landed in muddy water. 

Our whole team then ran to the finish line holding hands. (Unfortunately I didn't see a photographer there so I don't know that anyone caught it on camera.)

Obstacles that I can remember that I couldn't find pictures of: downward dog over a hole (you had to move sideways through the obstacle), a balance beam.

Sadly the event was the most poorly run event I have ever been to. The course organizers marked mile 1 too soon and then forget to mark mile 2 entirely.  There were only two water stations for a 5.5 mile course and I only saw two photographers throughout the entire event. There were a few volunteers at some of the obstacles but I'm not sure that I even saw a medic anywhere on the course?!? By the time we finished it was 10 degrees colder and raining harder so it was pretty miserable. The warm rinse-off was nice but they only let you use it for a few minutes before turning it off (and it was open so you just kept on your dirty clothes). And then there was a women's tent to change into clean clothes and for some reason they made it just as big as the men's tent despite the fact that 90% of the participants were women. We were packed in there like sardines trying to change into warm, dry clothes. Unfortunately the ground was muddy underneath us so we didn't stay clean anyways. Afterwards we huddled into a tent where there were a few ATM machines drinking our free Shocktop beer, shivering, and hoping that our rented bus was coming soon.

I always said that I wouldn't do one of these races because they are always on a farm 

and I read that tons of people have stomach issues afterwards from all of the bacteria floating around. I just tried to keep my mouth closed as much as possible and not think about the manure smell that was prevalent the entire day. Needless to say, I have been having "stomach issues" the past two days so it's possible that I picked something up from the farm. :-(

Would I do it again? I'm not sure. People who did the race last year said that this year was 10 times harder because of the mud and the weather (that made me feel better). I was exhausted by the time we got home, took a long hot bath/shower combo and then took a nap. I was sore by the time that we got off the course, but that may have been because it was so cold out. Am I proud of myself for doing it and finishing? Absolutely considering that I ran three times in the month of May and was sick most of the month. The Mudderella Facebook page has seen a deluge of comments on the race and it seems like the later you finished, the more sh*tty the race became. The event organizers don't have control over the weather but knew that the forecast called for cooler than usual temps and rain so they could have prepared a bit better than they did. Thankfully we got out early enough and had a rented bus so our experience was better than others.

Have you ever done a mud run? If not would you ever do a mud run?