16 Months

L'ie Bear recently reached the 16 month mark and our days together have never been more fun!  She enjoys mimicking our actions and especially loves to play on piles of pillows.  Also, she is only saying a few words ("Baby", "Mama", "Dada", "Aye-Aye", & "Yeah") regularly, but it feels as though she is right on the edge of saying more.  She really is changing faster than ever before!  Some other examples include:

1.  EATING - L'ie has become more adventurous in her food choices, and LOVES noodles.  Now, she also likes pancakes, bacon, spicy sausage, eggs, chicken nuggets, bbq chicken, and corn mac-n-cheese.

Devouring spaghetti!

2.  NEW SPORTING EVENTS - She attended her first MLB game.  Go Nationals!  Oh wait...who brought the Giants fan?

DANCING & MUSIC - L'ie Bear has recently started to enjoy slow dancing with Daddy (To Frank Sinatra...of course) and she loves to play her little wooden instruments.  She just got a drum, xylophone, and maracas.

4.  MEETING NEW PEOPLE - L'ie successfully met Ella Levy.  I think it helped that Ella is 11 months younger.  Chad and I were happy to see this, because recently, the Bear has become very scared of meeting new people.  She refuses to let anyone hold her and cries whenever they try to touch her.  She never used to be this way, and we hope that this is a phase that passes quickly.  

5.  NEW CLOTHES - Although she did not attend, the Bear got her 1st Havertown Pub Crawl shirt this year.  Chad and I both love this Pub Crawl and these shirts, so we were so happy for L'ie to get her very own...how cute!

6.  PLAYING OUTSIDE - L'ie has decided that playing with bubbles is more important than worrying about 100 degree heat.  She really enjoys being outside with the bubble machine.  Luckily, our courtyard is mostly in the shade during the afternoon, and the temperature is not too bad in small doses.

7.  BABY - L'ie still loves her Baby Doll (aka Baby) and has even found the perfect babysitter.

                                     

Thanks Wrigley!

8.  KNEE WALKING - The Bear is not crawling much these days, but she isn't really walking either.  It became too hard to carry toys and crawl around at the same time, so she developed a new way of moving...on her knees.  We have coined the term "knee-walking".

9.  ASSISTED WALKING - Although L'ie took two independent steps a month ago, she seems to be lacking the courage to try again. But she is more than happy to walk by our sides, while holding our hand, and she loves to walk behind Baby's stroller.  After all, it is very important to take Baby for walks.

10.  SHOES - Since the Bear has begun to take small steps toward walking, we decided it was time to get her used to wearing shoes.  As a baby, she loved to pull off her socks and shoes and throw them to the ground, but now she seems to enjoy wearing pretty shoes.  I am sorry Chad, but she came by this trait honestly.

The girl loves her flip flops!

L'ie Bear Speaks!

Over the past 15.5 months, Chad and I have disagreed on some of L'ie Bear's "firsts".  

I thought she said "Mama" first, and Chad swears she said "Dada".   (This is a common disagreement between parents)

I saw L'ie crawl for the first time, on February 28th, while Chad napped, and he does not believe she crawled until he was awake to witness it.  (Which fortunately happened later that evening)

L'ie took her first 2 steps, on June 19th, before Chad got home from work.  He does not believe those were her first steps because he did not see them and she has not walked further than a step since.

BUT, we both agree on L'ie Bear's first word.  Although she has been saying "mama", "dada", "yeah", and "aye-aye" (bye bye) for quite some time, she has not started using any real words.  Until last night!

While playing with the doll she received from her great grandmother, L'ie looked at us and said "Baby"!  We could not believe it.  She was very clear and she was definitely talking about the doll.  The Bear continued saying "baby" all evening.  And then this morning, she crawled over to the doll, picked it up, and said "baby" again. 

L'ie loves her doll, and Chad and I love watching our little girl take care of her baby.  She is such a good mommy...

She always checks to see if Baby needs something to eat!

And she loves to rock Baby to sleep

I am excited about recording L'ie Bear's first word in her baby book without dispute.  She has such a sweet little voice and we look forward to discovering what words she will speak next!

A Storm Was Brewing

On June 29th, we experienced quite a storm, which left approximately a million people in our area without power.  And unfortunately, we were a part of that group!  Earlier that evening, Chad and I put L'ie Bear down to bed and sat down in the living to wait out the storm.  Our power went out around 10:30 pm and we had to decide what to do next.  So we made up the sofa bed in the basement, set up the Bear's pack-n-play, and moved her downstairs with us.

And when she woke up around 8:00 am, the power was still off.  The expected temperature for that day was 102 degrees and the power company was predicting a few days to a week before our power would be restored.  We were not interested in waiting that long for AC.  So we quickly packed up both of our cars with people, animals, luggage, toys, and coolers of frozen food, and by 11:00 am, we were all on our way back to the Eastern Shore.

We arrived in Hebron around 1:30 pm and began unpacking our belongings in the glorious AC!  Although it was an unplanned visit, it certainly was not an unhappy trip.  L'ie spent the afternoon playing smack dab in the middle of the Fisher's kitchen, while her Grumpa attempted to make dinner, and Wrigley was more than happy to join in.

That evening we sat down at the kitchen table for an amazing snitchzel dinner with spaetzle and duck sausage.  We did not have a high chair for L'ie Bear, so Grumpa set up Chad & Ryan's chair/step stool.  Once she was strapped in with one of his belts, we were ready to eat.   L'ie enjoyed some of the spaetzle, and the rest of us chowed down on the rest! 

After dinner, we climbed in the car and headed 2.5 miles to the Hebron Carnival.  Grandpa and Mee-Maw were volunteering at the carnival for the Rockawalkin Methodist Church, and we wanted to stop by and say hello.    As a child, Chad came to this same carnival many times and probably rode the exact same rides.  He has many fun memories from this carnival and I am sure he felt a bit of nostalgia walking onto the grounds.

We quickly found Mee-Maw, who was running a pony ride, and Grandpa, who was running an airplane ride...which was so appropriate!  Since I could barely fit into the cart on the pony ride, we decided that L'ie should go for her first carnival ride.  And I think she really enjoyed herself.

After that successful first ride, we headed to the carousel.

And then Chad was ready to introduce L'ie to one of his favorite Hebron Carnival memories...SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM!  Apparently, he would always ask for cotton candy and he was always told NO, but he was allowed to get a soft serve ice cream cone.  And he always loved it.  I think L'ie Bear will too!

Since it was way past L'ie Bear's bedtime, she posed for a few more photos and we headed home.

The next day, the power in our townhouse was restored, so Chad headed back home.  L'ie and I stayed one more day.  The Bear had a sleep over with the Fishers, and I headed to my parents house for a much appreciated night off.  

On Monday, L'ie and I headed back home.  But not before stopping off for a quick visit with one of my friends, Chante, and her family.  She lives in Easton and it was the perfect time for a stop.  Wrigley was with us and he enjoyed playing with Chante's husband, Joel, and her children, Cooper and Lorelai.  L'ie enjoyed playing with their toys!  It was a wonderful visit and the Bear was exhausted during the remaining half of our drive.

Don't worry, we were sitting in traffic during this photo!

After a few amazing (unplanned) days, we were happy to be home and VERY happy to have AC.  And I couldn't finish this blog without one last photo...

I guess I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow!

I am so grateful that our family is only a short 2.5 hour drive away and that they are always willing to help us in any way that they can.  I am not looking forward to another bad storm, but I am looking forward to our next adventures with Grumpa, Granny, Grandpa and Mee-Maw!!