Happy 16 Months Birthday!

Gosh. you are just getting so big. i think maybe it has something to do with your hairdo today, but you sure are looking more like a big girl to us.

this last month has been a big one. you have gotten two new teeth, which brings your total up to 14. (i think it's just two... it's hazardous to stick a finger in between all those chompers.)

you walk pretty much exclusively now. once you made the decision to really do it, you were committed. it's so funny to see you walking everywhere now, all of a sudden.

you use some funny phrases that we don't really understand. when you want something, you reach for it and say "MY MEESE!"... we'd like to think this means "Mine, please," but we kind of doubt it.

you also point at a lot of things and say, "appeee"... you used to point at an apple in one of your books and say that, but now you point at everything and say it.

we went to chuck e. cheese tonight for a fundraiser for sam's school. you rode some rides and tried to climb up the ski ball ramp, but mostly you just wanted to run around and look at everyone and everything. i'm sure it looks a lot different now that you're standing up.

it's hard to think that you are growing up so much and so fast. but then we look at pictures like this, and we realize that you are still our little bitty tiny girl.

love, mom

Happy 2nd Easter!

i am so glad you can walk now, because it made Easter egg hunting a little bit easier for you than it would otherwise have been.


first we went to church, and there was an egg hunt afterwards there. then we went to lunch at some friends' house, and then we came home and got easter presents and hunted for eggs again, with the ones we had painted yesterday.


you ate a lot of candy, including some bunny peeps and your second chocolate rabbit in as many days. you tried to eat the plastic eggs and the real eggs too.
you made a big old mess, so daddy took off your goo-smeared dress and put your bunny shirt on. you decided to stand on your head. this was one of my signature moves as a child. i will try to dig up a picture of that for proof!

i'm glad you and sam had a fun day.
love, mom

you are into everything!

you get into a lot of stuff, still, and with your ever-increasing mobility (the walking, and the more climbing), you have access to all kinds of stuff we don't think you can get your hands on. earlier today you somehow got daddy's easter bunny, and you unwrapped it and had already bitten off the ears before we figured out what you were doing. you were just sitting under the table, quiet as you please, wolfing down chocolate. later on, we used the same bunny to distract you while the rest of us painted easter eggs. i think maybe you ate a bit too much. i know, chocolate is very tempting.
love, mom

you are quite the animal lover.

you still love dogs, but you also really like bunnies. like this one you and isaac were petting.

i love the way your face lights up when you see an animal. someday we'll get you and sam a dog or cat. or a bunny!

love, mom

you've been having lots of fun lately!

we have been visiting lots of family lately, so you have gotten to see all your cousins and over half of your grandparents in the last couple weeks. here is a picture of you and your cousin Jacob at their house in Oklahoma. they sure do like you. i do too!

love, mom

you really really do love dogs.

here are a picture and video of you pointing to a youtube video of a dog and saying, "Dog!!"... sometimes you point at the computer and say that just to try to get us to show you some videos.

you remind us of your big brother.

it's neat that we can see the things you do and remember sam at your age, and see how similar you can be, in some ways, or see you doing and experiencing and learning the same things. here are some pictures.











this is sam on his first trip to the drive through zoo, at about 19 months. and you at yours at 15 months.


and here's the two of you driving cars for the first time. sam was 13 months in this picture, and you're 15.

happy birthday to bella!

we were not surprised that you loved seeing all the animals when we went to the drive through safari in Gentry for Bella's birthday party. you got super excited and called everything "dog!"...

there were a lot of animals to walk around and see and pet, and a lot of animals to drive through and look at from the car. you were not scared of any of them, even when the monkeys screeched really loudly.

i think this picture of you eating the bread that we're supposed to be feeding to the animals is pretty funny. it reminds me of sam when he was little, eating bread that we took outside to feed the ducks.


love, mom