Weight Loss Update

So I posted a few times at the beginning of my journey with Weight Watchers. There have been plenty of ups and downs along the way, but over the last 8 months or so, I've lost 45 pounds. I have a half a pound to go before I'm officially in a healthy weight range. I'm not sure how long I'll keep going after that. I'm so proud of myself for getting to this point, even though it has taken so long. I'm glad that DH and I decided to make these changes for our family.

And it's good timing, because we plan to officially start TTC this month. Just waiting on my period. We haven't been avoiding for some time, but the biological clock is a-tickin', so I'll be pulling out thermometers and OPKs soon. I can't say I'm looking forward to it. I was really hoping for a surprise before it came to that, but so it goes! I'm so happy that I'll start any new pregnancy in a much better place than my last one.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Just because I skipped a week doesn't mean Sprout hasn't been busy. We've both been pretty sick and are finally getting back into the swing of things.

She is still talking like crazy! She adds new words every day. "star," "goose," "toes," and "teeth" are among her most recent additions. Our official refrigerator word count has 36 words on it, but I know we are missing some. Craziness.

Oh, one more word, "uck!" She says it when she has a poopy diaper. I guess I say "yuck" a lot when changing her diaper. So, instead of poo, it's "uck." Love it.

And she has learned "flag" and "frog." The problem is that when she says either they sound a lot like a very different four letter word that begins with "F." We were in church on Sunday and during the processional, DH pointed out the flags. I shot a look at him and we were both worried she was going to show off her new word, but she didn't. She was too mesmerized by all of the other distractions. It would have been a funnier story that way, though.

She started clapping again! She learned how to clap and did it all the time for awhile and then just stopped. I guess she thought she was over it. Now, we sing "When You're Happy and You Know It" and she claps her hands in the appropriate places.

Speaking of music, she is following along a lot of songs these days and doing the hand motions. It is so nice to know that she really has been paying attention all those months of silly singing I've done! "The Wheels on the Bus" is her favorite. She has a board book with the song in it and she brings it to me about 20 times a day to sing/read. Now, sometimes, she reads it to herself and tries to do the hand motions. It's so cute to see her "bumpity-bumping." Her favorite is "shh, shh, shh."

She has finally started giving hugs and kisses, mostly to her daddy since he has been working harder at teaching her.

Our newest project is working on her learning to feed herself with a spoon. It's messy, but she's making progress. We hadn't worked on it at all until last week, but it's time, I suppose.

She has her 15 month check-up today and she's every bit a 15 month old, so we are expecting a lot of screaming. Hopefully, she will behave herself!

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Sprout discovered her belly button today. She has been obsessed with other people's belly buttons and thanks to Sandra Boynton and The Belly Button Book, we call them "bee-bo." Well, she finally figured out that she had one, too (even though we had pointed this out before) and walked around half the day with her shirt pulled up so that she could see and touch it whenever she wanted.

We took her to the doctor on Monday. She had a sinus infection and a mild double ear infection. No wonder she was so miserable! She's on antibiotics now and this morning she woke right up and was quite the happy, energetic, get-into-everything toddler that we remember. So while I'm glad she's feeling better, I'm exhausted!

She points to her eyes and says "eyes." When she points, though, she points with her thumb. Her forefinger is up straight and the rest of her fingers are clasped so it looks like she's doing the whole "loser" sign we used to do in middle school. Too funny. I hope she's not really just calling her parents losers.

She also consistently points to the following when asked: nose (finger always goes up her nostril when she points out her nose), ears, head, hair (she has to move her hand and mess up her hair on this one. Don't ask her if she's wearing a bow or it won't be there for long), mouth, and toes. If you ask her where her tongue is, she sticks it out like she's trying to touch her nose with it. I've been trying to teach her "tummy" but she still always points to her chest.

She got her new rocking horse from daddy today. It was back ordered, so it was a little late, but she loves it! And she is so cute riding on it. I was surprised that she liked it so much.

She fell two days ago and is still sporting a black eye. Poor baby. The same morning she slammed her hand in a drawer and she was also feeling miserable from her illness. It was a bad day!

Wow! That's a lot for just a few days. It's been a memorable week.

Merry Christmas!

What fun we had! Sprout was a trooper, but she felt miserable on Christmas. Even her Dr.Daddy was concerned. But she soldiered on and enjoyed all of her new toys and books. We took her to the (other) doctor today and it seems she has a sinus infection and a bit of an ear infection, so we're starting a round of antibiotics. Poor baby!

We had a fantastic trip to San Antonio, though. The warm weather was fantastic. And once again, Sprout was an A+ traveler. We were able to use her car seat on 3 out of the 4 flights even though we were traveling during Christmas week. We considered ourselves pretty lucky.

I have lots of things to remember and not much time to get them written down, but I continue to feel so blessed to watch her grow and think about how far we've come in a year. Her newest word - circle!

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Sprout has continued to add to her vocabulary. It is amazing to me. New words: Food, diaper (which sounds more like "baaaaaaaaper"), pen (while she's trying to steal her daddy's), frog (though I won't post what it actually sounds like), Turtle, and probably a few more that I can't remember right now. We've been keeping track and she's at about 20 words already ! Wow!

She's had a rotten cold this week. She's just been miserable, poor baby. She's had quite a few colds, but this one has hit her the hardest. Luckily, she's feeling better today. Unfortunately, she decided to share her germs with me and how I'm sick. Boooo!

When you ask her where her hair is, she puts her hand up and rubs it all over her head. Then she starts laughing hysterically.

She has figured out that our house goes in a circle. We are trying really hard to teach her to stay on the carpet, but I fear it is a losing battle. We don't have a play yard anymore because the Christmas tree is in it. I'm afraid of what will happen when we try to restrict her again after the holidays. I'm foreseeing a few tantrums!

Her favorite book right now is "The Wheels on the Bus." She brings it to me to read/sing over and over and over again. I actually hid it this morning after the 5th time I read it. Don't worry, I'll give it back, eventually.

I was practicing my flute this morning and she was quite interested - so much that she wouldn't leave me alone. I really need to practice a piece that I'll be playing Christmas Eve at church. Anyway, I stopped and started playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and she got so excited I thought she might explode.

I've also been playing Christmas Carols in the piano more with her and she loves the music. I'm so happy she enjoys it and reacts. Too bad I can't do any serious practicing anymore!

Sprout is practicing passive resistance. I mentioned before that we are trying to keep her on the carpet. Well, when I hear her on the hard wood floor and go get her, I usually say, "Sprout where are you?" She immediately splats herself on the floor. Face first, sprawled out on the ground and gives me this look like "gee I wonder how I got here!"

Her molars are starting to poke through, but not enough to give her any real relief. Cold + teething + diaper rash = a lot of crying in this house this week!

She has a farm animal puzzle and I have started to ask her to bring me certain pieces - and she does! I can't believe she understands so much. It's kind of scary. And now when I do it with her toys and books, it's the same. She know what things are called. Better watch what we say around that little girl.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

When we were putting on her coat, we were trying to explain that we need to put on her coat because it's cold outside. So now, every time she puts on her coat, she says "cooooooold" with the appropriate quiver in her voice. She often adds "brrrrrrrr!" Cutest thing ever and she has cracked up plenty of people in parking lots.

She loves all the trees and lights everywhere we go. Our tree is behind a gate, but she likes to hang out and stare at it. Yesterday, she recognized an ornament the shape of a cat on my mom's tree, and immediately pointed and said "at! at!" She's brilliant, I tell you ;)

I've been pointing to body parts and saying names forever and I'm pretty sure she understands most of them, but has never said the words herself. What's the first one she picks to say? "Eye" And she insists on sticking her finger in her eye and then gets the funniest expression on her face as she is trying to point, but not poke her eye, but she still wants to see. Too funny.

To add to her animal repertoire, when she sees the pig piece in her puzzle, she tries to say "oink, oink!" but really just gets the "K" part with lots of huffing and puffing and bouncing up and down.

After learning "cookie" last week, on Saturday, I was carrying her down the stairs and I said, let's go see daddy!" Her response was, "Da-da, da-da! Coo-kie! Coo-kie!"

This hilarious girl is keeping me on my toes. I'm having so much fun with her!

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Sprout is an amazing little girl and she keeps growing and learning. I really can't believe my eyes sometimes. Do you see that little girl in those pictures heading out to church on Sunday morning? It's hard to believe that's my baby!

She is walking everywhere and gets steadier and more confident every day.

She stood up from sitting for the first time yesterday without pulling up on anything.

She loves leaves. She walked around the yard for the longest time this week just picking them up and stuffing them into one hand and then getting frustrated when there were too many and she couldn't hold any more.

New words: cookie (thank DH for that one), shoe, sock, dad, off. She also answers, "uff uff" when you ask her what a doggy says and she said "oooo, oooo" every time she turned to the owl page in The Very Busy Spider. "ka" is duck and she recognizes them in all sorts of books and pictures. "dul" is candle. She learned that one when we lit the first Advent candle on Sunday.

We went to visit DH's office and there is a giraffe painted on the wall as you enter the building. She got very excited when we went in, ran up to it and yelled, "affe! affe!" She's brilliant, I tell you.

She loves walking around the house carrying the bucket part of her shape sorter. I call her the Easter Sprout because she looks like she's hiding Easter eggs as she scatters the shapes about and then picks them up and puts them back in - along with whatever else strikes her fancy. Yesterday she stole my iPhone. I couldn't find it anywhere until I looked in her basket. Little thief :). She also had a pair of socks in there and a puzzle piece. She also likes taking out the shapes one by one and showing them to me so that I can name them. But she hasn't tried to say any of the names herself yet.

We were in Target and I picked up some Earth's Best graham crackers. I put them in the cart. She turned around and pointed and started saying "cookie." Then she got mad and tried to demand one. Oh boy. We're heading into toddler temper tantrum times! Luckily she was distracted pretty well by a toy.

Speaking of tantrums, we had a similar moment today when I took out sour cream for dinner tonight. It looked too much like yogurt, apparently, because she started pointing and yelling, "gu, gu." And I didn't even know she knew yogurt. Anyway, we ended up having to take our sour cream and put the container away so that she would eat her dinner. I'm not sure what she would have done if I had given her a big spoonful of the stuff. Maybe I should have tried.

She likes to play Hide-and-seek. Well, basically, she walks around the couch or chair and you say, "Where's Sprout?" Then, she reappears and you are sooo surprised and she just cracks up in giggles. It's a very fun game for everyone.

Her hair is getting longer. I try to keep bows in it, but it's tough because she inherited my thin, wispy hair, so they tend to fall out. I hope I can find some to work because otherwise, I'm going to have to cut it to keep it out of her face and I don't really want to do that!

Sprout had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed seeing her grandparents and showing off her newest skills for everyone. She is a charmer, for sure.

As you can see, it's been a busy week!