Just Because She's Cute...

16 Months Old and 34 Weeks Pregnant!

Conlee is 16 months old today! I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. 16 months doesn't seem like that long, and yet it's almost impossible to remember life before we had her. She is growing so fast and getting smarter and sweeter every day! Here are some facts about our baby girl at 16 months:

• She is all over the place! She walks, runs, dances, climbs...nothing is too scary or off limits. I have a hundred heart attacks a day watching her scale various pieces of furniture, play ground equipment, etc. She is fearless!
• She says 'Mama' (usually accompanied by tears and drama), 'Daddy' (always accompanied by squeals of delight!), 'Ali' & 'Mia' (always with a huge smile on her face), 'Nanny', 'Elmo', 'up' and a few other babbles that only Brent and I understand.
• She understands everything we say. It's amazing! We can ask her to dance and she'll start dancing, go get her milk and she'll return with a sippy cup, ask her for a particular toy and she'll find it, ask her where her baby sister is and she runs to point at my belly...I am just waiting for the sentences to start flowing out of her mouth.
• She's a pretty good eater and she'll try anything once. She signs 'more' and 'all finished' so it's easy to know what she wants. In hindsight, I should have taught her 'please' and 'thank you', but I didn't really believe she would ever understand sign language. I'll do better with Reece! She especially loves to eat whatever we're eating, even if she's already had a huge meal.
• She's SO sensitive! (She must take after her daddy!) I think she has a strong feeling for right and wrong, and when we tell her 'no' it breaks her little heart...like she's truly sad to have disappointed us. I've learned that she doesn't respond well to harsh tones, but if you look at her and say, "Conlee, nooooooooo" in a quiet, sincere tone, she falls to the ground and buries her head. It's funny and sad all at the same time!
• She loves her wagon, cozy coupe car, the park (mainly to climb on the picnic tables!), her popcorn popper push toy, blocks, anything musical, anything Elmo and puzzles. The girl is obsessed with puzzles!

My personal favorite thing about this age is watching her run to Brent. Brent tries to come home for lunch as often as he can...especially now that our new house is so close to his office. Conlee hears his car in the driveway, runs over to the window, sees him and starts shouting, "Daddy! Daddy!". Then she runs to the front door and jumps in his arms. It really is so priceless...then she always looks back at me with a look that says, "Do you see how my daddy is playing with me?!" They truly delight in each other, and it melts my heart every time I see them together! Here's a little video of Brent and Conlee when he came home for lunch today. They are so cute!

Now for the 34 weeks pregnant part. I cannot believe we are so close to meeting Reece! She moves all the time like a maniac. She's much more active than Conlee was, and I love feeling her move. I will be induced at 39 weeks, and that means only 5 more weeks to go! It's hard to believe that there will be a 4th member of our family in just over a month!

Dancing Queen

Conlee absolutely LOVES to dance! Here's a little clip of her showing off her moves the other night over at Matt & Ali's house. Mia is quite the dancer too, but her Elmo video was apparently more interesting this time. She does get some good chair dancing moves in, though!

Girls At The Park

Two weeks ago we had such a treat when Courtney & Audrey Frazier came back to town for a visit. We all met up at the rec center, and it was like Audrey had never left! The girls had a great time playing, and if I do say so, they were the cutest girls on the playground for sure! Here are a few pics of the girls in the little fire engine. We asked them to raise their hands if they were cute, and naturally all arms went up!

We're Back!

I was going to say that I'm the worst blogger ever, but my cousin hasn't updated her blog since April...so I'll give her that title instead! We are still alive and kicking over here, just moving a little slower these days. We got all moved into our new house, and we are loving it. We're soaking up the last month of having only ONE child. I can't believe Reece will be here in a little over 5 weeks!!! We're so ready to meet our sweet new baby girl, and I am so ready to NOT be pregnant!

Here are a few pictures of Conlee loving her new backyard. She's so happy playing at her water table, helping her daddy water the lawn, running in the sprinklers and even sweeping the porch!

Balboa Park

Well, we're home from our vacation, but we're still playing with Mia every afternoon! We took the girls to the carousel at Balboa Park, and they both loved going up and down on their zebras!

Estes Park

For the past 13 years, I've been hearing Ali talk about her family home in Estes Park. This summer, Conlee & I were lucky enough to be invited to spend a week there with Ali, Mia & Ali's mom. I have never been to Estes Park, and I've never been to Colorado in the summer time. It was just gorgeous! We had the best time picnicing, feeding ducks, going to the park and just playing with the girls around the house. Thank you so much Annie B & Ali for having us in your home. We now totally understand why it's such a special place. We can't wait to go again!

Conlee feeding ducks for the 1st time. It was all I could do to keep her from wading into the lake to splash with them! Both she and Mia kept eating the bread we were trying to get them to throw at the ducks. They had a good time though!

The girls love the double BOB. I'm not sure what Conlee is going to do when Reece gets here and she has to share a stroller with her. I may have to see if they sell a triple BOB so Conlee can still ride with Mia! This picture was taken right after I asked them to raise their hands if they were cute...they both shot both of their hands up...naturally!

Again, one of my favorite things to do is ask Conlee to raise her hand if she's cute. She thinks it's hilarious!

Dinner time on the deck!

Between pregnancy brain and just not knowing where we were half the time, I have no idea where any of these beautiful pictures were taken. I do know we went on an 11 mile drive, one-way, up hill and it was so beautiful. We got to the top and it was really just breathtaking!

This was taken on the stairs at the Stanley Hotel. Stephen King stayed here when he wrote The Shining...I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but I hear both are scary & great!

2 Little Indian Girls!

These are my favorite pictures. It was such a beautiful day, and the girls were in such a great mood after our picnic lunch. They really are the cutest things ever!