Jabberin' Girlie

Blake is quite the jabber jaws. She just talks and talks and talks. She tends to be especially talkative right when she gets up from naps, so Lauren had the video camera ready to go today to catch it on film. Of course, she didn't go all out like she normally does, but it's at least a taste. She's just getting so big, so quickly. You'll hear her say hi, bye (and go bye), Grandma and/or Grandpa, shoes (there are a couple pairs of shoes sitting on the shelves next to her crib), down, please and who knows what else. ENJOY!

"Cars" and "Wild" at 18 Months

Blake turned 18 months old on February 5th! My, how time flies?! She LOVES the Disney movie Cars. The last couple mornings she has asked for Cars before she even gets out of her crib. In fact, the other day Lauren was trying to get Blake's breakfast ready when all of a sudden she heard the movie playing. Lauren hadn't turned anything on, but Blake had somehow figured it out. So, she doesn't need Mom for that one any more either ;) Blake also has a fascination with Lauren's iPod touch. She loves to play "wild" as she calls it...Peek-a-boo Wild is the name of the game. When Lauren took her to her 18 month well baby check yesterday, Blake had to get 3 shots. We skipped 2 at the last appt. so she could get flu shots...and not have to get 5 shots all in one day, but that meant she'd have to get 3 at her 18 month appt. when they usually only have to get 1. Lauren took the iPod along for support. Sure enough, after her last poke when Mom asked, "Do you want to play wild?" Blake immediately stopped crying and said, "wild, wild, wild" until Lauren gave her the iPod. The nurse was cracking up! So, our "wild" and "car" lovin' 18 month old weighed in at 23 pounds 7 ounces (45th percentile) and is 31 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile). And, her noggin is still in the 75th percentile...big enough for all those brains ;) Well, hope all is well with everyone! We're back in the low single digit temps and STILL have snow on the ground. It's been like 50+ days with snow on the ground here...YUCK! We'll leave ya with a pic of Blake watching Cars. We've had to establish an ottoman's length away from the TV or she'll stand 3" away from the screen. And, our stupid TV randomly activates the closed captioning, so that's why there are words on the screen. ENJOY!

A Quiet Shower?

Bob is out ice fishing, so Lauren & Blake are hanging at the house. Lauren went to take her shower this morning and surprisingly enough it was very quiet. Blake's usually popping her head in and rustling the shower curtains the whole time. She was being such a good girl...yeah, right!!! Here's what she was doing...UH, OH...BUSTED!"Blake?" she asks. She always asks to see "Blake" in the screen on the back of the camera after we take pictures.WHAT A MESS?!Blake was definitely looking for mischief this morning. After she cleaned up her mess, she was carrying around a little bowl of snacks. She didn't know that I could see her. She was in the kitchen watching Copa, who was laying on the floor minding her own business. Blake stared at Copa for a while then Blake picked up one foot and started to act like she was going to step on Copa's tail. She pulled her foot back and got the biggest grin on her face...then she did it! She stepped on Copa's tail; Copa jumped up; Blake went flying and her snacks went crashing all over the floor. She cried for a second then helped pick up all her snacks. We'll see if she tries that one again :) Then, as if she hadn't experimented enough for the morning, she was helping Lauren get the diapers out of the dryer (we've been using cloth diapers). In the midst of it all, she set her snack bowl on the dryer door (front loading dryer) and then decided to be a big helper and close the door for Mom. You guessed it...snacks went flying into the dryer. At least it was empty. Ahhh...the joys of a snowy, Saturday morning!

Potty Time

OK, so this was a little too funny not to post. Blake is a horrible diaper changer in that she will NOT sit still at all. Even if Lauren has everything ready to go, our little girlie finds a way to stand up and try to bolt...that is amongst the kicking and giggling and rolling over, you name it. We have a little strap on our changing table that you can put around her waist, and she's even escaped that a few times. Anyway, Lauren was changing Blake the other day and Blake did her normal flip-over-stand-up-in-less-than-.3 seconds routine. She pulled a decorative hanging off the wall (that's normal - she can reach it when she stands up on the changing table), looked at Lauren very innocently (without a diaper on) and peed all over her socks, the wall hanging and the changing table. So, I guess we know what she thinks about that :)

In other news, Lauren got a chance to hang out with some of her friends from college and their kiddos this weekend. It was so nice to get to visit and we even got to swim at the hotel Kyle & Jess were staying at. We didn't get any pics, sorry! It's a little difficult to hold on to a kiddo in the pool and a camera...O WELL! Hopefully, we'll get another chance for pics soon! A post wouldn't be the same without a picture, so here's a pic of Blake modeling the newest hooded towel that Lauren has made.Hope all is well!

Playin' Around

Lauren & Blake got a chance to visit Suzi, Claire & Gracie last week. The girls had a ton of fun playing. Blake crashed on the way home...she was exhausted. Here's a pic of little Gracie hangin' out on Claire's bed.All three girls: Claire, Blake & GracieAwww...such cute sisters!Our crazy-haired maniac :)And, Blake has recently taken an interest in climbing up on the toy that she got for Christmas. She's been sitting at the top and playing with her phone (or chewing on a travel tooth brush holder).It was so great to get Blake around some other kids. She even learned a few things. Claire had a little plastic hammer and she was walking around hammering on the walls here and there. When we got home Blake decided to hammer on the dishwasher, but she used her phone...guess she couldn't find a hammer ;) Anyway thanks to Bob watching Blake all day yesterday, Lauren got some more sewing done...BUT the hooded bath towels that should have gotten posted late last week won't be up until next weekend or early the following week at http://DeCoteauKiddos.etsy.com (link on sidebar). Hope all is well!!!

Wild Child

Blake has pretty much outgrown the infant hooded bath towels that we have, so Lauren decided to figure out how to make her one. Here's the final result......it's still a little big, but it's cute. And it definitely didn't cost between $30 and $60 to make...that's what these things retail for - CRAZY! Anyway, Lauren will probably add a few of these to her online store late next week if you want to check them out. http://DeCoteauKiddos.etsy.com
There's also a matching wash cloth to go along with the towel...awww...gag, right?! We're not too sure what has happened to the real Lauren lately ;)

Blake got to color today. We've been trying to color every once in a while, but Blake usually just wants to pick at the crayons and put them in her mouth. Today she actually sat down and colored for a little while.
Notice her crazy mop. Lauren has been trying to put it up in a pony tail, but it still seems to get back to crazy mode pretty quickly. But there's no worse time than right after a nap...
...yep, leave it to Mom to snap a pic of our little cutie sporting a little Conan O'Brien looking comb over right after waking up from a nap.

In other Blake news, she has recently starting putting words together. The other day she was being pretty fussy and Lauren asked her what was wrong. Her response "ouey teeth" (as she pointed to the teeth in the back of her mouth). As you probably guessed, she's been working on pushing those molars through. Blake also likes to put our canned goods in her shopping cart and push them around the house. No big deal...until Lauren caught her ripping labels off of cans. O JOY! But she did put the pieces that she had ripped off in the trash, so we'll call that a win :) And last of all, our crazy little girl LOVES to chase Copa around the house. Here's a short video clip of our wild child.

As always, best of wishes to all!!!

BOO!

We had to move Blake's crib away from the wall quite a while ago. She was banging on the walls and pulling at the blinds. Anyway, she now thinks it's fun to run around her crib and have Mom chase her before diaper changes...lucky Mom, huh?! Well the other day when she was running around the crib, Lauren creeped around the opposite way and said, "BOO" when Blake turned the corner. It gave Blake a pretty good scare at first, but then she just started laughing. So, now our pre-diaper change routine is to run around the crib and say, "BOO!" Here's a short video of Blake showing off her knowledge of a few animal sounds and body parts. She's very hard to get to stand still, so this is the best we've got. At the end, you'll get to see the "BOO" routine.

Otherwise, things are good here. Lauren did decide to go ahead and try to sell the travel diaper change pads that we posted pictures of earlier, so here's the web address to see all that she has for sale:

http://DeCoteauKiddos.etsy.com

The link is also permanently posted on the left side of the blog under the blog archives and pictures. There are currently only two different gift sets on the website, but if you're interested, I'd be more than happy to do custom orders or break up the gift set...just e-mail me. Hope all is well with everyone...oh, and I almost forgot...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us! It's been three years now :o)