18 Months

Height:  31.5 inches

Weight:  25.4 lbs

Teeth:  Currently has 8 teeth, 2 of which are her first molars.

Words she likes to say:  Brinleigh has reverted to making noises instead of using words, however, she has added a few new words to her vocab recently.  She now says "shoos" (juice), "mo" (more), and "Mama" has turned into "meh"?  She waves bye bye, blows kisses, and can sign the words "all done" and "more".  She recently learned what and where her nose is and can even find Mommy's nose and Daddy's nose.

Favorite Toys: Little people Noah's Ark & animals, Singing Minnie Mouse, purses & baskets, Minnie mouse ride on toy.

Favorite Foods:  Squeezable fruit pouches, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese.  We are still experimenting with what foods she likes since we just recently started having her eat the same food that we eat for dinner. 

Dislikes: Diaper changes

Nicknames: BooBoo, Brinleigh D

Sleep Schedule:  Bedtime is at 9pm and she sleeps until 10am.  She will wake up once or twice throughout the night and play in her crib and then go back to sleep until the morning.  We have her on this later schedule due to our work schedules.  Since I am working during the day and Kolt doesn't get off until midnight, this schedule works well for us so that he can get a decent amount of sleep.  She also goes down for a nap between 2pm-3pm and sleeps for about two hours. 

Favorite Activities:  Absolutely obsessed with watching TV.  We only allow her to watch the Disney Junior channel and we have had to limit the amount of time she watches it.  It has now become something to keep her entertained while we are cooking or cleaning up after meals.
Favorite Song:  "Brave" by Sara Bareilles

Favorite Book: Go Dog Go and her Jungle Animal Book.  She absolutely loves to sit and read her books, or look at the pages rather.  Sometimes she will get really quiet and when we look to see what she is doing she will just be sitting on the floor looking at her books.

My January goal for Brinleigh was to get her completely off bottles and I am proud to say that as of today, we no longer have any bottles in our kitchen cabinets.  Brinleigh has officially been bottle-free for about two weeks now so I packed them away with all of the other baby stuff that she has outgrown.  She still gets her warm milk before bed, we just give it to her in a sippy cup instead.

Changes

Let's be honest.  This isn't my "families" blog, it's mine.  I just mostly write about my family.  Since I am now acknowledging that this is "my blog" I'm going to change a few things up.... again.  I am making it a goal in 2014 to not only write about Brinleigh and our family, but to also start blogging about my attempts with cooking (a 2014 goal) and the crafts and projects I work on throughout the year as well.  Which leads me to another 2014 goal, dedicate more time to MY new found hobby.... crafting.  Along with blogging as well.  I have really found a love for writing on my blog and that is another goal for 2014.... to stay more updated and blog more frequently.  Especially with my busy life as a mom and wife, this has pretty much become my personal journal, my record keeper, a small photo album, and a way to update all of our family.  I will try not to offend anyone with my sense of humor or my sailor mouth, but I am also warning you that this blog is mine.  You will read my personal thoughts and I will write what and how I want to write.  So if the word "shit" offends you, I suggest you cease and desist any further reading.

I've recently become obsessed with decorating and celebrating every holiday.  Yes, this includes Hallmark Holidays such as Valentines day and St. Patty's day.  But I am also using the holidays as an excuse to dive deeper into my crafting hobby.  So I have recently become well acquainted with hobbylobby.com and plan to make a lot of my own holiday decorations.  I just placed an order a couple days ago for all of the Valentines decorations that I want to make and I will keep you all updated on how it goes.  I'm not gonna lie, most of my craft ideas come to me via pinterest, so if they turn out good, don't go thinking I am a creative crafting queen.

My first attempt at the holiday crafting was in November.  I don't have any Fall/Thanksgiving decor so I decided to make some.

This tulle wreath idea came from Pinterest, I just chose my own colors.  I ordered a round foam wreath and several different colors of tulle from hobbylobby.com.  I did make the mistake of ordering glitter tulle (I thought it would be really cute) and it ended up looking like someone dropped a glitter bomb in the middle of my living room.

 This "Give Thanks" banner is inspired by one that I saw on pinterest.  When I see things I like I don't usually follow specific directions on how to make it.  I take note of the items I might need to make it and then go from there.  I ordered the burlap triangles, some metal eyelets, and brown ribbon from hobby lobby.  I had stencils and brown paint already, so I stenciled the letters and then painted them in.  Once the paint was dry, I used a hole puncher to put "holes" in the burlap.  I inserted the eyelets and used a hammer to flatten the backs of them.  Since the burlap shreds really easily some of the eyelets could fall out so I added super glue around each of them to glue the eyelet to the burlap.  Once the glue was dry, I added the ribbon and then proceeded to spend two hours hanging and re-hanging the banner in different locations all over my house until I settled on the doorway from the kitchen into the dining room.

 

 

18 Month Check Up

Today we had Brinleigh's 18 month check up and it was .... interesting, to say the least.

First off, Brinleigh seems to hate the doctor's office more and more every time we go.  Today she was fine in the waiting room, playing with the toy table and reading books.  When the nurse called our name, Brinleigh walked right through the door on her own.  She followed the nurse over to the scale and even let her take off her coat.  As soon as the nurse went to take off Brinleigh's shoe, our sweet one year old completely lost her shit.  I set her on the scale, which mind you, she absolutely loves to stand on at home, and she literally jumped into my arms.  Taking her height? Oh you can forget about that, she started stomping around and kicking her feet like a little baby ninja.

Once we were in the patient room we had to wait for thirty minutes which for some reason seems to be the normal routine nowadays.  (This is a recent development and we are not fans of the new doctor visit routines.)  However, it was our doctor that came in and not a nurse practitioner, which was nice.  The more the doctor tried to touch or interact with Brinleigh, the more upset Brinleigh got.  She pretty much cried through the entire visit, up until we had to lay her on the table and remove her jeans so the doctor could check her hips and her legs, which was when Brinleigh launched herself into a hysterical coughing fit.  So, as any mother would do, I picked my baby girl up off the table and held her to try and calm her down.  And that is the moment that she decided to stick her fingers in her mouth, gagging herself and then projectile vomited all over me and the patient room floor.

Kolt was pissed.  Vomit free, but very upset.  He absolutely can not stand to see Brinleigh get upset.  He leaves the patient room when she has to get shots because he can't stand to see her cry from pain.  So after Kolt and the doctor cover me with towels and attempt to wipe me down, Kolt grabbed Brinleigh and bolted for the car.  I got to sit, covered in baby vomit and continue the visit with the doctor.  Sans vomiting ninja baby.

The doctor did tell me that she thoroughly believes that Brinleigh has a recollection of the doctors office and knows that she gets poked with needles every time she comes there and therefore, does not like the office or anyone who works there.  Since I have never seen my child #1 get so upset as she did today or #2 vomit..... EVER! I will say that I agree with the good doctor.  Brinleigh remembers and hates the doctors office. 

During this visit we didn't have to get any vaccines or shots, except the flu shot which was optional.  Obviously we chose not to get the shot and we might try again later.

I couldn't even tell you what the nurse recorded as Brinleigh's weight or height, but according to my own personal records of what we do at home, she weighs 25 lbs and is 31 inches tall.  The doctor said she passed her autism screening, which I'm not even sure what she did or checked to screen for autism.  But I wasn't in my normal "ask a million questions" mindset that I usually am in when we go for check ups, so I didn't ask.  Brinleigh is in the 30th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.  I can't remember what she said about her head circumference but she did say it was perfect.

Brinleigh was absolutely fine as soon as Kolt got her in the car and she carried on her day as though there was never any temper tantrum, ninja kicking, projectile vomiting doctor visits.  Thank God she isn't due for another check up until 24 months.

Happy New Year!

Another year gone and a new year to start fresh.  2014 is sure to be a very busy year for our family.

We have decided to make a list of our goals for this year and aim for accomplishing those rather than listing "resolutions".  I have even gone a step further, thanks to my obsessive compulsive perfectionism (is that a word?), and decided to make monthly goals for the year.  Of course, my list is a mile long and I guarantee I will add at least five more things every month that goes by.  I'm very ambitious when I'm laying on the couch not doing anything else.  It's a whole other story when it comes down to actually getting things done. 

Kolt's 2014 goals:  Make E5 and buy a bass boat.
Lexi's 2014 goals:  Get to my goal weight, start cooking more, create a financial budget and stick to it, start eating healthier, and keep more on top of my blog posts. 

The monthly goals are focused more specifically on Brinleigh and things I want to work on with her.  January's goal:  Get her completely off bottles.  She will be 18 months at the end of January and that is when I plan on packing up the last few bottles that we have sitting in the cabinets.  She really only gets one bottle a day and it is usually warm milk before bed.  The bottle before bed has been part of our bedtime routine for over a year and is now mainly a comfort thing.  So no more bottles after January.

 Since the monthly goals will most likely change.... often.... I won't post a list but I will write a post every month giving updates on what the monthly goal is and how it's going.

Other exciting things that 2014 will bring.....
Kolt will become a flight mech
Brinleigh's second birthday
Transferring out of Sitka and moving to a new state
Traveling.  Lots of traveling.

Living, Laughing and Loving in 2013!

2013 was an absolutely amazing year for our little family.  I will admit, I'm a little sad to see it go, partially because of how busy 2014 is going to be and partially because it makes me realize how fast our baby girl is growing up.  2013 was full of fun with celebrating holidays, having visitors, making new friends, taking vacations, watching Brinleigh grow, making changes, and starting new traditions.

Some highlights from 2013....

Our trip to North Carolina for three months.  Since we were there for a few months we experienced quite a few firsts while we were there.  During this time Brinleigh got to meet some family, learned to crawl, met the Easter Bunny, and went swimming for the first time.  We went to the beach, shopped at the mall, spent a day at the lake and rode around on a pontoon boat.  Brinleigh became well acquainted with my favorite store (Target), she got her first two teeth, and we celebrated my first Mother's Day.

We had an absolutely beautiful summer in Alaska this year so we spent as much time as we could outside.  We bought Brinleigh a swing for the back porch and spent the evenings grilling dinner and swinging, we put about a hundred miles on the jogging stroller and we even went to the beach for Father's Day since it was so hot here.

Kolt's Dad, Jim, and his girlfriend, Lidia, came to visit and celebrated Brinleigh's First Birthday with us.  After they left, my sister, Mandy, and her boyfriend, Patrick, came to visit us and were able to celebrate Brinleigh's Birthday again at her Birthday party.

The Fall was spent crafting and decorating for holidays, taking Brinleigh to some Halloween party's, going trick-or-treating and hosting Thanksgiving dinner with our close friends.  I went back to work part-time, giving Kolt and Brinleigh more one on one time with each other and giving me a nice break from staying in the house all day and living in leggings and sweatshirts.

We were a little disappointed with the lack of snow this winter but made sure to make it a very festive Christmas.  We baked treats, made some crafts, decorated the house, shopped for gifts, wrapped presents, attended Christmas party's, and cooked delicious food for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners.

2013 for us was a year of growth and learning, adjusting and teaching, and exploring and playing.  It was a year full of kisses and hugs and laughter and smiles.  It seemed to fly by but we made a ton of memories and took thousands of pictures.  Even though it was a great year for us, I'm hoping 2014 will be just as good, if not better. 

 

A Very Merry Christmas

Kolt took leave for a few days this last week as to be sure that he didn't get scheduled for duty on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  He is on Holiday routine right now so he is pretty much off for a month but has a day of work or duty about once a week.  He's also been going in for a lot more scheduled flights since he's going through his flight mech training.

I had to work on Christmas Eve day however, the bank closed at one (I usually get off at two) so I only worked a few hours.  At work we had an ugly Christmas sweater day, played games, and ate some Christmas treats.  When I got home I baked some gingerbread cookies and we got ready for our dinner.  We had our close friends Kate, Cooper, Camille (her husband Ed, had duty) and their baby Eddie over for dinner.  We decided to keep it simple since we were going to have a big Christmas dinner the next day so we stuck to lasagna and salad.  A few weeks prior we had each drawn names for a gift exchange and on Christmas eve we all exchanged our gifts.   After everyone left and Brinleigh went to bed, Kolt and I continued our Christmas Eve tradition of exchanging one gift each.

On Christmas morning we woke up and Kolt made some cinnamon rolls and his mom's breakfast casserole that she makes every year on Christmas day.  Brinleigh loved both!  Once we were done with breakfast we started to open some gifts, starting with Brinleigh's gifts from Santa first.  We took loads of pictures as she gently tore the wrapping paper on each gift, we laughed at her funny facial expressions, and then had to move her new toys out of reach because she became fascinated with knocking boxes over so she could stand on them.  In between Brinleigh's gifts, Kolt and I would take turns opening our gifts.  Kolt and Brinleigh got me a Kindle Fire HD with a rapid charger and a pink case.  I absolutely love it!  I was so surprised, as you can see by the pictures Kolt captured.  They also got me a chalkboard that I had been wanting with a few boxes of chalk.  Kolt got a nice thermos, a button up shirt/jacket from bass pro shop, flannel pajama pants, a coffee mug, a phone charger for his truck, U of A tervis tumbler cup, a bottle opener that can be mounted along with a bottle cap catching bucket to go underneath it, and a few other things.  (As you can tell, I wasn't expecting such an awesome gift this year so I didn't get Kolt anything extravagant.  Hopefully he still loves me though.)  Brinleigh made out with the toys!  The girl didn't receive not one outfit or piece of clothing (other than some socks I put in her stocking)..... isn't that every child's dream?  (I mean, maybe not when you're one, but still.)  Brinleigh received a little people Disney princess castle, little people princess klipity klop horse stables, little people Disney Cinderella carriage, little people Noah's Ark and a ridiculous amount of animals to go with it (notice a theme yet?) a couple cabbage patch cuties (Thanks to Aunt Mandy for going on the hunt for me), a tea party set, some stuffed animals, a few books, sippy cup, Minnie mouse plate, and a ton of other toys that I can't remember off the top of my head right now.  Kolt and I also got a few gift cards and a dual screen portable DVD player system to put in the car for our future road trips with the baby.  (Thanks Mom & Cordale!)  

We Skyped with Kolt's mom while Brinleigh opened her gifts from her Grandma D, Grandpa Dave, Aunt Paula, Aunt Rayne and Uncle Kenny.  Thank You all so much! And then we just hung out in our pajamas and started cooking our Christmas dinner.  

Around four o'clock Kate and Cooper and Camille and Ed and baby Eddie all came over with all the food they made.  Brinleigh wore THE most adorable little Santa dress that her Grandma Jen bought for her.  The cuteness was just too much!  I did strip her down to eat dinner but then the dress went right back on.  We had a turkey, ham, green bean casserole, broccoli cauliflauer casserole, jalapeno cheddar biscuits, mashed potatoes, marshmallow fruit salad, and rolls for our Christmas dinner.  Everything was so delicious!  And I was so excited that Brinleigh actually ate it! (If you remember, she wasn't a fan of the Thanksgiving food for some reason.)  After dinner we all opened stockings that we had all contributed little gifts to and enjoyed some desert.  Kate made some cake pops and Camille made a chocolate cake.  We put Brinleigh to bed, our neighbors, Jon and Kelly, came over and then we all played a card game.  It was a wonderful Christmas.