18 Months Old

My little Anastyn is quickly becoming not so little. 18 months old - the time has flown by so quickly.  She is such an important part of our lives that I can't imagine what life was like without her.  Here are her stats from her 18 month well checkup:

Weight: 22 lbs (25th %)

Height: 31 in (25th %)

Head: 49 cm (97%)

*apparently she has a rather large head - it probably just makes her look like she has more hair than she really does :)

*she has the cutest little laugh ever, and laughs frequently
*she also gives pretty good scowls - she has a lot of facial expressions

*she's a little ham - loves to tease

*she loves her little tykes car, she drives in it at least once a day and gets a little possessive if an outsider tries to ride in it.

*she loves shoes, she tries to put them on all day long.  If I ask her to go get her shoes on she quickly runs to her room and gets me a shoe.

*she insists on being wrapped up after baths, she gets angry when I take the towell off to get her dressed or if it falls off

*I rarely get her in her highchair anymore, she insists on sitting up at the counter, or should I say standing at the counter.  She will hang out there for hours if I would let her!

*she is a monkey and wants to climb on everything

*she is a mama's girl still - gets sad when Gordon come home because she thinks that I am leaving (in her defense, most of the time I am leaving)

*she signs all the time, but often just starts moving her hands around and around in hopes that I will figure out what she wants

*she can point to her nose, head, tongue, mouth, eyes, hands, toes, belly button, bum, knees, ears

*she knows the sounds for dog, horse, cat, cow, owl, tiger, duck, monkey

*she says tae (taeya), mah (mom), by bow (diaper), dada, nana, tay too (thankyou), ma (more), wa wa (water), eye,

*she signs sleep, all done, more, cracker, please, thankyou, milk, water, shoes, socks, mom, dad, car, she points to her mouth when she wants her binki

*she loves to push things - mainly her stroller and shopping cart

*loves jumping on the tramp and is actually a great little jumper just on the ground

*anytime we are in the garage she gets in Taeya's jeep and presses the radio button, she can sit in it forever

*seems like she runs everywhere she goes

*she hates to have her teeth brushed

*loves books

*takes 1 nice nap a day

*still prefers the "baby sighning times" movies

*has about 5 onces of milk in the morning and before bedtime

*likes to eat burritos, yogurt, toast, turkey, cheese, mac and cheese, anything sweet, gum (she always finds it in my purse), fishy crackers, oatmeal, fruit snacks (doesn't like quesadillas and fruit like she used to)   

Sunday Morning

I curled Anastyn's hair for the first time.  I have always been a little worried I would burn her which is a valid concern since she is one and she doesn't hold still when I do her hair!  I thought I would give it a try this Sunday morning.  She was watching "Signing Times" so she held fairly still and I'd like to think I was pretty fast! Doesn't she look so darn cute with her hair curled and wearing the skirt Nana gave her for Christmas?

Taeya also looked beautiful with her curly hair. She let me put it in rollers Saturday night. It didn't turn out as great as I hoped it would, but she loved it and it was easy. I think it's the cheap sponge rollers I bought at sally's. Does anyone out there have a good suggestion on where to buy good sponge rollers??

Ferdinand

Taeya has a hard time going to sleep at night.  This girl goes and goes all day long and when she finally lays still in her bed, she actually falls asleep, but it has to be in a bed.  It has to be after at least 2 stories, and lots of talking and usually a snack.  So, in order to avoid many additinonal fights, we pretty much let Taeya wear anything she wants to bed and sleep with anything she wants in bed (any snuggy).  This night she chose Ferdinand, her giant bear.  This bear is much bigger than she is and I tried to tell her that it wouldn't be very comfortable because he would take up more than half of the bed, but she didn't care.  So I shoved him to the side as much as I could, and the two of them went to sleep together peacefully all through the night. 

Weekend at the Cabin

We went to the cabin right after Christmas but we were anxious to go again. We finally found a free weekend and happily the Bailey's came with us. We all have so much fun at the cabin during the winter. We love to play in the snow. The girls all played together so well.  We ate yummy food, relaxed, watched movies and had a great time.



Alayna and Anastyn loved the keyboard, not sure that the rest of us loved that they loved the keyboard but we tolerated it for the sake of the little ones!




Sledding was the highlight of the day.  As is the custom, we started the day sledding down the goomed road that is not too steep. After we got bored of the groomed road Gordon hiked up the mountain and paved a little path for the bigger girls to sled down, this hill was very steep and fast, the girls spent hours on this hill.  They would walk up the steep hill (usually on all 4's because of how steep it was) and slide down on their bums!  Taeya especailly loved this hill.  The girls were soaking wet when they finally came in!



I love that cute smile on Anastyn's face!

Seth and Alayna - I just had to include this picture because this is the only one I took of Seth and I didn't get any of Alyson.



Aren't these marshmellow's so darn cute?  They loved to just walk around, when they fell down they had a hard time getting up!!



Our little family

Anastyn laughed and laughed as Gordon threw her in the air.

Anastyn loved eating the snow.  She couldn't grab it very well with her gloves so she resorted to putting her face in the snow!

I love this shot of all the girls together - Brynn, Kira, Taeya, Alayna, and Anastyn

Gordon, me and Anastyn watching Taeya sled down the big hill all by herself.

Kira, Brynn, and Taeya with the snowcat and snowman they built.   Gordon made a giant snowman but he wouldn't take a picture of it for me! (I went inside with Anastyn cause she was tired and onery!)

Pillow Kids

We all got together for lunch and these 3 little people enjoyed watching "Baby Einstein" together. We were really missing McCoy this afternoon.

I mention this a lot, but it's impossible to get a good picture of kids together.  This was the best we could get!

My Monster's

This week's playgroup was a Monster day. They made monster masks, monster feet, and ate a monster treat. It was so cute.

My cute little monsters showing Dad their monster masks.

Girls Weekend

For mine and Alyson's birthday Heather came back "home" for the weekend and we celebrated! We had so much fun talking, eating, shopping, and just being together. We even had a sleepover at Lawni's on Friday night. Heather, please come back again soon, we need another day of shopping!  Thanks for the celebration girls.



After doing some shopping we ate dinner at "The Cheesecake Factory."  Since it was mine and Alyson's birthday dinner we got candles in our cheesecake. 



Benita and Mary came to dinner with us also but we forgot to get the camera out.  Can you tell that we stayed up way too late the night before this picture was taken, man I look tired!  I really love these girls.

Firestation

My ward started a Thursday morning play group. This particular Thursday was a trip to the local Fire Station. The girls loved it.

Taeya had an especially great time.  She was one of the older kids so she got to be the fireman's helper.  She told him her name was Emily, he kept asking for "Emily's" help and I had to remind her that that meant her!  I laughed to myself everytime!

They let the kids take turns holding the water hose.

It was pretty powerful!



Anastyn had fun running around.

The kids also got to get in the truck - so cool!

They gave them these cute little hats, Anastyn wore her's for a whole 2 minutes and Taeya didn't even try her's on.

Every firehouse need a pole right?

The kids really enjoyed the ambulence also.

We would help Anastyn inside the ambulence, she would quickly walk through to the back where the fireman would lift her out and she just kept repeating this walk through.

More Swimming

I know I take way too many pictures of swim lessons, but I got out the camera because Bryce joined the swimmers this week!  He did awesome.  We also wanted the girls to be able to swim together once more before the Milligan's move.  

Anastyn floats really well on her own, she gets angry during lessons if they make her work too hard but she is "safe."  The other day Chelsea (one of the instructors) gently pushed Anastyn in the water fully clothed just to see how she would do.  She was mad, but she went right to her back and floated over to the side of the pool.  We are so happy that she is doing so well, especially wil summer right around the corner.



I have a lot of pictures of these girls swimming together, but sadly this is probably the last time at JoD's pool. :(  Taeya and Brielle have so much fun together in the water.




Bryce and Anastyn hung out on the steps together and had a great time.



Lawni and I made them float together just so we could take a picture and Anastyn wasn't to happy with me.  The girls were splashing on her so that didn't help her sadness.

Happy Bithday to Me

I turned the big 32 this year. Crazy how the years are flying by, I can't believe I am 32. I sure don't feel 32, but then again, what does a 32 year old feel like??

Despite the age change I had a great day.  Gordon made me breakfast in bed, then we had a nurse come and take our blood and all that fun stuff for Life Insurance (cause 32 year olds need life insurance, right??). I did a little exercising and got ready for the day, then we headed up to park city to check out the outlets. I am gone alot during the week between working and young women's so I hated to leave the girls home another night. So they came with us. Shopping would have been a whold lot easier with out them, but they did good considering. By the time I was done shopping (I shouldn't say "done" because I definitely could've spent more time but Gordon and the girls were "done") we were all starving so we ended up at Cafe Rio for dinner, since it was my birthday I did splurge and got a Tres Leche, yummy! After dinner we headed home and got the girls to bed then Gordon and I watched "Charlie St. Cloud."

Gordon got me some new gloves and some workout clothes. I got 2 pair of pants, 2 shirts, a pair of shoes, and some more workout clothes at the outlets. I was so proud of myself, the only thing I got for the girls was a pair of pajamas for Taeya! What a great day! Happy Birthday to Me!



Me and My Girls - it's impossible to get a great picture of all 3 of us!