11 and 12 Month Old Post

I have been so far behind on my blogging that I never got around to doing Hallie's 11 month post. And now that she is a year old, the last two months have all mushed together and I can't separate what was going on from one month to the other....so I'm just gonna have to combine the two.

STATS
(At her 1 year check up)

Weight: 23 lbs. 15 oz. 89%
Height: 30 inches 76%
Head: 46 3/4 cm. 92%

If you compare those stats to the last few months her height and weight gain has slowed down, but her head growth has increased. 92%! What a noggin! It's a Gallier trait to have a big head. But if you ask my father in law, and now Mikkele as well, "Having a big head just means you have more brains than everyone else." So there you have it people...be jealous of the brains that my girls have. :) A 3 year old neighbor girl even commented on it one day, and you know how honest 3 year olds can be. She tells me, "Your baby has a big head" I just said thanks Lola, I know! It was funny.

OTHER FUN TIDBITS

*She can stand up for quite a while without holding onto anything. Now she just needs to try and take some steps. (Sorry the video is sideways)


*She can walk with assistance. One of these days here soon she will get brave enough to do it without help.


*She has 7 teeth and is working really hard on the 8th one.
*She is on straight cow's milk and she is eating big people food. (Well at least the things without eggs in it.)
*She goes to bed around 7:30-8:00 and gets up around 7:30. She usually sleeps all night long, but has a night here and there where she will get up once or twice, but can get herself back to sleep.

*She takes 2 naps during the day. Her morning nap is about 1 1/2-2 hours after she wakes up in the morning. And she will usually sleep for 2-2 1/2 hours. Her afternoon nap is usually a lot shorter, only 45 minutes-1 1/2 hours.
*She loves to go outside. It doesn't matter what is going on outside, she likes to be apart of it. Anytime the door opens, she bolts it. She loves to swing, go on walks in the stroller or wagon, jump on the tramp with Mikkele, or just scoot around the grass or cement. She has a new funny crawl when she is on the cement and doesn't have pants on.

Going on a walk to the park with her friend Kameron.

*We turned her car seat around. She is loving this new adventure. She can be found giggling and squealing while riding in the car for no apparent reason other than being able to see everyone.

*A lot of the time when she is sitting you can find her ankles crossed. It is so funny. Such a lady at such a young age.

*She loves to give herself kisses in the mirror while I'm getting myself ready or helping Mikkele do her hair.

*She loves to sit on Grant while he's in his chair and give him loves. She loves her big brother.

*She is already getting quite the little attitude. She will throw her head back and kick and scream just like a child in their terrible two's. I think I'm in for it when she's 2 and 3 since she's already pitching fits.
This is how she tells us no!

*She is saying a few words that have meaning. Mama, Dada, "K" sound (for kitty), dodo (for dog...Mikkele said dog the same way. CUTE!), a slight uh-oh when things are dropped, and a bunch of other jabber that doesn't make sense yet.

*She can do the sign for more, all done, and milk. She is the most consistent with "more" though.

*She is into EVERYTHING!!! I can't take my eyes off of her for a second! She is a fast little punk!
Example #1: It got quiet for a few minutes one day, so I went to find her. I found her in the bathroom playing in the toilet with certain womanly items she had found in the garbage. She was dunking it and then shaking it in the air. After throwing up slightly in my mouth, I stuck her in the bathtub to quarantine her and start cleaning the bathroom, and then gave her a bath. YUK! We now try our best to keep the bathroom door closed, but anytime it's open, she knows, and beeline's it for the toilet.
Example #2: Somehow Grant's diaper gapped open and ball of poo dropped out onto the carpet in the front room without me knowing. When going to check on Hallie at another quiet point, I found her playing with said poo ball. It was all mushed into her hands, on her face, and her breath smelled like it. Again...after throwing up slightly in my mouth I went and cleaned her up. No matter how hard I scrubbed her, the poo smell would not leave. YUK!
Example #3: She likes to eat dirt. Whether it's from outside in the flower garden or in a flower pot, she gets a handful and shoves it in her mouth. I just don't get it. At what point do kids quit putting things in their mouth??? Mikkele and Grant were never ones to put things into their mouths.

Despite her nasty habits, we love our little girl so much! She is already turning into an older baby and pretty soon she won't be a baby anymore. It's kind of sad! I have really enjoyed the baby process a lot more this time around. I think it's because I appreciate the things she is doing a lot more (for good or bad). I think with Mikkele I took things like sitting up, and crawling for granted. And since Grant can't do those things it makes me appreciate it more. It is a miracle how quickly children learn and how much they change daily. Take time to appreciate the little things your kids do!
LOVE YOU HALLIE MAY!


*birthday post to come soon...I promise*

Preschool Graduation

Grant graduated from preschool on May 19 and 20. It may seem a little excessive to have 2 graduations, but he is just extra special, so we thought we should do it twice. :) But really...most kids come to the preschool on Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday so Miss Rachael does a graduation for both classes. Since he goes Monday-Thursday he gets to do it twice. But it works for us because saying goodbye to these ladies just once wouldn't work for us! Grant has been SO lucky to have spent the last 2 1/2 years with the most incredible teacher and aids!!! They have been a huge part of our lives for the last few years, it's really going to be hard not coming back next year. While I know Grant is ready for Kindergarten (and I am too...all day kindergarten!!!) I just wish they could all move with him everywhere he goes. I really love each one of them for who they are and what they have done for my little boy! I'm really going to miss them! Good thing Miss A is employing Miss Britt and Miss Shea at the snow shack this summer. And since we frequent the snow shack and keep them in business, we'll still get to see them all the time. :)

Onto the graduation....the kids sang some cute songs, we watch a video of things they did throughout the year, and then had the graduation ceremony. Miss Britt helped him do the actions to the songs. I love the look in his eyes as he looks up at her. He loves her so much!

Can yo see the little hula Grant on the chalk board to the left of Grant and Britt? So cute!

Check out that smile. What a handsome boy! Love that kid!!!

Grant accepting his graduation diploma and goodie bag from Miss Rachael.

And he got a bear crown since he is a "beary special graduate".

Getting some last snuggles and kisses from his Miss Britt. Oh how he will miss her. She found out on the morning of graduation that she is going to be staying with Miss Rachael's class for part of the day and then a rover for the district the rest of the day, so there is a good chance he will get to see her on occasion. What a wonderful graduation present!

Now when is August going to be here??? Let's get this kindergarten thing started!

Spring Break-Park 5...The Finale

SUNDAY

We started on our journey back to Utah. We left on a drizzly morning, and come to find out it didn't stop raining for almost 2 weeks straight. So we were glad that we came and left when we did. We went home a little different way than how we came down. Jeremy wanted to stop in Roswell, NM and see the aliens. We had driven that way once before when Mikkele was a baby. I remembered it being pretty lame, but Jeremy didn't. Maybe I just don't have an imagination. We stopped in Albuquerque for the night. Mikkele requested that we find a hotel with a pool since she wasn't able to swim while we were in TX. This was Hallie's first swimming experience. She liked it for the most part. She was funny though; when she would splash in the water it would hit her in the face and then she'd have a minor freak out that the water was in her face. I don't think she ever figured out that she was the one causing the water to hit her face. She really liked it when her big sis would carry her around in the water.

Check out that budda belly sticking out the bottom of her swim shirt.

We made it home Monday evening. It was so nice to get home. What is it about the trip home that always seems to take double the time than the trip down? Overall the kids did GREAT!!!! I couldn't have asked for them to be any better, especially Grant! He was such a trooper. The last time we drove down to TX he was horrible and cried almost the entire way down and back. What a change from that time. Hopefully that's just him getting older and more mature. I can only hope. We had such a fun trip. Saw lots of family and friends. And most importantly, made some great memories to last forever.

Here are some random pics taken during the drive down and back.

Anytime we see a tepee we have to stop and take a pic and send it to our Aunt Holly to let her know we saw her relatives. We sent her a lot of pics this trip. :)

Again no pics of Grant during the drive. I'm a horrible mother! Good thing I know he'll forgive me. :)

Spring Break-Part 4

SATURDAY

We ended up going downtown since we had ruled out Six Flag because Jeremy can't hack the big boy rides. We walked around on the River Walk for a while....

Stopped at the River Center Mall and walked around. Of course we had to go in the Purple Store for Alisha.

Mikkele on the bridge going out into the river next to the mall.

Jeremy can't come to San Antonio without seeing the Alamo. I told him that we were NOT going inside and taking the tour. He was satisfied with just getting a picture.

Jeremy and Mikkele on the left side. The ones not going inside for the tour. :)

Across the street from the Alamo they have a bunch of different tourist attractions. Ripley's Believe it or Not is one of them. As we were walking by a couple of things caught our eye. Mikkele liked this scary dinosaur.

And these mirrors were pretty funny.

After the River Walk, we went over to Aaron's house for dinner and a little birthday party for Mikkele. Since we were gone at Sea World all day on her birthday we didn't have time for cake and ice cream. And you can't have a birthday without being sung to.

I opted for an empanada from one of our favorite mexican food restaurants instead of cake. We weren't able to eat there, so we brought the empanada to us. And in true April fashion, I had to have a see food picture to show it off. :)

Chrisitan enjoying his cake.

Miss Otter Potter has learned to be ambidextrous since she has had her cast on. What cute nieces and nephews I have! It was so good to see and spend some time with Aaron and his family while we were down there.

Spring Break-Trip to TX-Part 3...Sea World/Mikkele's Birthday

FRIDAY
Was Mikkele's 10th birthday. We started the day out with some birthday spankings from Grandma and Papa.

After a birthday breakfast of strawberry waffles, we got the kids all dolled up and took some cousin pictures in the blue bonnets. It's really hard to get 7 kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time. These are 2 of the better shots that we got. Not too shabby.

After pictures, we changed and drove over to Sea World.

We rode rides.

Mikkele

Emma

Christian

Mikkele was terrified to ride the bigger rides. She kept saying she was going to die. I told her I would not let her die on her birthday. After riding on the Great White once, she changed her mind and started saying AGAIN...AGAIN! Jeremy on the other hand was sick for days after riding this ride. It was decided then and there that we would not be going to Six Flags the next day.
All strapped in and ready to go.

The Steel eel also looked a little scary to her. She did not love this one as much as the Great White, but still figured out I was good on my word to not let her die on her birthday.

The little kids stayed in the kiddie area while we went on the big rides. Hallie got her first feel of sand. We found sand in all sorts of places afterward.

They had a 4D pirate movie. Each of the chairs were equipped with air and water that would blow at certain points in the movie. We left a little wet.

And of course we saw the different shows that they have.

SHAMU

The sea lion show. Hallie really liked the shows and watching the animals perform.

Azul...the new dolphin and beluga whale show.

It's kinda hard to see, but there are 3 dolphins jumping in this pic. Click to enlarge. You can also see baby Ronnie in the bottom right hand corner.

We saw different animals.

We saw alligators. I asked Mikkele why she would touch an alligator, but not a butterfly. I still don't understand that girl.

And fish in the aquarium.

And dolphins. We didn't get to feed them. We got to the pool during a non feeding time. :( Hallie still thought it was neat to sit next to the water and have them swim by.

And we saw the penguins.

And got a stuffed penguin for Hallie and Grant to play with. The hair is stretchy. Good sensory toy. I don't know why, but we somehow didn't get any pictures of Grant. Woops. Sorry buddy!

After a long day of walking around the park Mikkele hitched a ride with Hallie.

Mikkele wanted Chinese food for dinner, so we got some take out and brought it home so we could put tired kids to bed. What a fun way to spend Mikkele's 10th birthday. Happy Birthday to my awesome daughter. She is such a great big sister! We couldn't ask for a better girl. Love you Kell Bell!