18 month check up/ Vacation

Clint and I at Adrienne Bower's Wedding








Friday we took Melanie for her 18 month doctor appointment. Surprisingly it went better than her 12 month. Melanie only cried when the doctor checked her ears and obviously when she got her shots. For whatever reason she hated the ear check more than the 3 shots. She loved the band aids though and called them stickers. She had pulled them all off before we pulled out of the parking lot. Melanie weighed 25 lbs 2 oz (56th percentile) and was 33 1/4 inches tall (89th percentile). She is getting talller and thinner (if you can consider her bubble belly skinny). I love her doctor. He answered all my questions for me. I have this fear of her in a big girl bed and her roaming the house while we are sleeping. He said I can leave her in a crib until she figures out how to get out- right now she has no clue. I read in magazines how babies should go to the dentist as soon as they get their first teeth and my mom (who works at a dentist) tells me I am crazy and kids don't go to the dentist until they are 3. The doctor sided with my mom. He said unless Clint and I had awful teeth there is no need to go until 3. He checked on her diet (which I think is pretty good). He made sure to remind us only 4 ounces of juice a day and only 2 sippy cups of milk a day. We are great with the milk and we water down her juice a TON however he said just put juice in one of the sippy cups and the rest for the day need to be plain water so she gets used to the taste. Melanie does not love that plan. She only likes water in the bottle (like the Aquafina bottle- not baby bottle) not so much in her sippy cup. So we are trying. He said her molars are coming in now also. Holy cow- the teeth never seem to stop!!!

Clint and I got back from the mountains yesterday. We had a wonderful time. We were bored after a while and needed Melanie and Shelby back around. But, it was nice to relax and the place we stayed was beautiful (and huge!). We shopped around one day but it was mostly antique stores, which as you all know is not my pick! We went to see Harry Potter at the most run down podunk theater I have ever been to. Clint and I appreciated the theaters in Gwinnett for sure! We hit a terrible rain storm one night driving to a restaurant up a mountain and thought we would never make it and I was sure we were going to be eaten by bears getting in our cabin each night from our car (I am soooo out doorsy...yeah right!). We went fishing and didn't get a bite but we laughed a lot after getting caught on rocks. We were happy to get back to our little girl though. All of her grandparents said she was great!

New Pics

I LOVE this picture!!!!

Clint's dad sent me these pictures that he took of Melanie a couple of weeks ago. She loves to cook with her Nanna. I get an "F" on being a mom the past 2 days....I am sooooo addicted to the new Harry Potter that I have not been the best playmate. Every time she gets into an activity I see it as my chance to pick the book back up. Clint and I are going to the mountains this weekend so I should finish the book up and get back to being a normal/involved mom again. Enjoy the pics!

Melanie's Fun Games

This was a forward roll that she learned in gymnastics



Melanie is continuing to be so much fun. We have a lot of fun every night just sitting on the couch and unwinding. Melanie loves to give hugs and kisses at this time (notice in the pics).

She continues to be obsessed with her babies. I bought her a playpen for her babies but she likes to put them in a laundry basket with blankets and pillows better. She also likes to get in the basket (as you can see in the pics).

We included a couple of shots of Shelby b/c she is getting left out of the blog these days.

Enjoy the new pictures!

GREAT Week

Melanie after her hair cut enjoying her first lolipop. They had all kinds of "doodads" in her hair- it was cute.

We have had a great week. Monday morning Melanie went to gymnastics and is continuing to improve. Her shining star moment occurred at the beginning. The teacher has us all sitting in a circle and was giving the adults the following directions, "since there is a small number of students today we will have each one come to the center of the circle and do a forward roll while their parents introduce them." Well the next thing I know Melanie is in the center doing a forward roll. She heard the teacher and followed the directions- WAhoo! Both of Clint's parents and my dad came to watch and Melanie was showing off for everyone. We went to get her hair cut later that day. I recommended Snip-Its on 124 for anyone in need of a kid haircut. The people were wonderful and it is the neatest little store. Melanie had a great time. She just got a trim to kind of even things out. Overall we have had a really fun week just hanging out. The cutest new thing Melanie does is "tell" stories. Her top 2 go like this....
Mom (me): Melanie what did you and Nanna see on your walk? A big...
Melanie: Mess
Me: What was in the mess?
Melanie: Box
Me: What was in the box?
Melanie: A cat, jump, jump!
Me: A cat jumped out of the box! What did you and Nanna say?
Melanie: AAAHHH!

Story #2
Me: Melanie, what was in Chris and Aileen's back yard?
Melanie: Oh, no
Me: Oh, no what was it?
Melanie: A bird, tweet, tweet
Me: A bird? What was wrong with the bird?
Melanie: Oh no, bird, nest, oh no
Me: What happened?
Melanie: Oh, no, toe
Me: Oh, no the bird hurt it's toe?
Melanie: tweet tweet
(the baby bird was no longer in the nest and had a hurt leg and couldn't fly very well)

We are having conversations!!!

Potty training is continuing to go well. For whatever reason she is doing better at initiating pooping. For peeing we are still on me taking her and hoping to catch her at the right moment. But, she understands when she needs to poop and will freeze and say "potty, potty" and we run to the bathroom and sometimes she will then go (before I pull down her pants) and sometimes she will make it to when she sits down. I was so excited last night. She stood up in the bath, pooted, and then said "potty" and made it to the potty. Thank goodness! I am tired of cleaning poop out of the tub. It seemed to happen every couple of months and I was over it!

Overall things are going quite well. We almost made it one hour at dinner last night. Clint is learning to eat much faster- he used to enjoy his food. I explained how now food is for nourishment only- eat quickly so we can finish before the behaviors begin!

Well, as I guess you all heard Clint and I placed 2nd and 3rd in the Peachtree Road Race :) We had a good time, Melanie spent the night with Clint's parents so after the race we got to go out to eat with my parents and our friends Jeff and Craig. Also in the pics are Ruth's dad (John) and brother (Joe). The other 2 pics are Melanie with the BEST babysitter, Mary Evelyn. Mary Evelyn found these pictures on her camera from one of Elizabeth's baby showers.

Pictures from today

My friend, Elizabeth, got Melanie a jumper talking about her tantrums b/c in the last 2 outings we have had with Elizabeth and her new baby she has seen Melanie throw her fair share of tantrums (mostly due to the fact she cannot hold/touch the baby). DRAMA!

Pictures from the Game Ranch

My dad and I took Melanie to the Game Ranch last Tuesday. It went very well. However, we got there right when they opened (to beat the Daycare crowd) and I guess the animals are super hungry at that point. The deer were trying to eat crackers out of Melanie's mouth. She would say "no, no deer." It was funny.

Pictures from Ruth's Wedding

Sorry it is so dark...

It Gets Better and Better

Since the last post naps have become increasingly better. We did have to add back in the afternoon nap but she is consistently sleeping for 1-2 hours again at nap time. Also, she is sleeping a little bit later in the morning...waking up around 7:00 which is just fine. Gymnastics is fantastic!!!! Melanie has 0, yes, you read it right, 0, tantrums these days- WAHOOOO! The instructor, Ms. Melissa (who is fantastic by the way), even commented on the lack of crying when it comes time to put the supplies away. I think Melanie has caught onto the routine and realizes that something fun is coming up and there is no need to pitch a fit. Out to eat still poses a bit of difficulty but it seems to mostly happen at dinner, not lunch, and especially at Mexican. She loves the candy machine and is focused in on the candy and nothing else. But all in all the summer days keep improving.

I had a nice grown up weekend. Ruth got married Saturday so I dropped Melanie off at my parents on Friday afternoon and didn't see her again until Sunday afternoon- it was a long time to be without her! I don't think I have been gone from her that long since the Hawaii trip. Clint and I went to the rehearsal dinner Friday night and came home afterwards (it was in Athens) and we were able to go out with Brian and Dawn without a curfew!!! It was funny to come home and not have Melanie here asleep and we didn't have to tiptoe around or anything- the next morning was very weird- not waking up to her crying- but I did have to set my alarm so I would be in Athens for my hair appointment on time. The wedding was beautiful Saturday night. It was weird yet again the next morning to just get up whenever I wanted. I stayed in bed until 10:30!!!!!!! I don't know the last time I did that- it was wonderful. Checkout was not until 12:00- I wanted to stay in bed until then but I did miss Melanie so we hit the road to come home. Clint picked her up from his parents and when she saw me she said "Hi" and gave me a big hug and pulled my face to hers so she could give me a kiss...How sweet! I will post pictures soon.