My little Peanut had her 15 month check up this morning. She got two shots and it was pretty terrible! She has just started saying “Nooooo” the last week or so and so she showed off her refusal skillz to the doctor and nurse today by saying Nooooo every time they tried to do something like check her ears, get her head circumference, etc. She threw a wild fit when we laid her down to try to get her height, panicked when we set her down to be weighed, freaked the ef OUT when we tried to get her head circumference and lost her marbles when the doctor tried to look in her ears. You could very EASILY say we are on the cusp of seeing some new teeth sometime VERY soon.

Needless to say, I am letting her watch Toy Story right now. It is the only time she is SOMEWHAT quiet and entertained. She has been crying and whining constantly while playing with her toys, chewing on her fingers and slobbering all over the place! My poor girl is not feeling well at all. Thankfully, her sleeping habits haven’t (yet) been interrupted by the Teething Monster.

She is such a smart little cookie though. Last night at Grandma’s house, Grandpa gave her my car keys and so she spent quite a bit of time trying to hold the key just right in her hand so that she could stand on her tippy toes and try to stick the key into the keyhole on the front door! I couldn’t believe it.. I had never seen her do that before and didn’t even REALIZE she had been watching us lock and unlock the door all of this time. It just goes to show that they are constantly absorbing information into their little brains.

I need to change her diaper. I can smell the pee!! Since we used cloth diapers, we sometimes get a strong ammonia stench coming from her diapers if she has been in it for 12+ hours. Why am I writing her instead of being a good Mother and changing her diaper? Because changing a diaper in this house has become a true EPIC battle. There is a lot of back arching, head throwing, crying, screaming, yelling, wiggling, rolling over and attempted getaways. You see, having your diaper changed is a VERY torturous and painful process!! Poor little babe.

I’m going to go ahead and cross my fingers now that this next Pumkin doesn’t mind much to have his/her diaper changed. Actually, I am going to take it a step forward and cross my fingers that he/she LOVES MORE THAN ANYTHING to have a diaper changed!

• Zoey is starting to RUN. Well, “baby run” that is. In the last 24 hours, she has become WAY TOO CONFIDENT FOR HER OWN GOOD. It stresses this Mama out beyond belief. She is everywhere!
• Grandma taught Zoey to say “uh oh” over the weekend and she says it in the proper context now. It is adorable when she drops something, falls down or purposely throws something and then says “Uh oh!”.. Melts my heart!
• She mimics you when you sneeze by making a “shhppfffhggfffshhhh” sound from her mouth. It is adorable too. Did I mention that I think every single thing she does is adorable? Even pooping, yes!
• My right foot is acting up bad. It is tingly and achey. I’m guessing a pinched nerve in my leg or spine. Sucks! I need to see a doctor but I keep putting it off.
• Summer is here! It is consistently 90-95 degrees here every day. Yowza. My body is still trying to adjust to sweating every time I step a foot outside.
• Zoey LOVES red grapes. I am scared to DEATH of choking, so I cut each grape into TWELVTHS. No, I am not even kidding! I cut a grape in half and then cut each half into sixths. Yes, I am overly paranoid. So what! Grapes are on the top list of choking hazards for kids/babies. Don’t judge me!

Well, my little peanut should be waking from her nap soon. Better go get her lunch ready. After lunch I think we are gonna throw a suit on and go outside for some pool fun.

She throws a fit when you change her diaper so I figured if she was already throwing a fit then it could not get any worse. Did you read that last part correctly??? I assumed that a child throwing a fit could not get any worse. All of you experienced Mamas that have toddlers can stop throwing rotten vegetables at me now!! I realize my mistake! I know it can get worse. It can ALWAYS get worse! I promise not to break the Mother Code ever again. Pinky swear, even!

As you can imagine by now.. It got worse. She started arching her back. Kicking frantically. Thrashing around. Hitting things. I handed her things (a pajama shirt, pair of shorts, drink coaster, toy, ball, sock, clean diaper, sunglasses and then I began to get desperate so I tried a CELL PHONE, REMOTE CONTROL, MY SOUL) to occupy her and she just threw them away. She cried and the crying turned to screams. She choked and coughed on her own saliva. Her voice (or SCREAMING, I should say) started to become hoarse. I tried comforting her and she would not have any of it. Finally, I got fed up and put her back into her crib with her paci and she was out for another 1 1/2 hours.

This daycare thing is throwing her for a loop. Her daily nap and eating schedule has changed quite a bit. She has so much fun at daycare and is such a good girl but she just does not nap there. The most I got out of her today was about 45 minutes, so by time we left she was absolutely exhausted! She threw a fit yesterday evening after we got home from daycare but it was nothing compared to this evening’s show that she put on! Phew. She also threw another fit right before bed. Poor baby!

Tomorrow we are taking naps, eating on schedule and we might run a few errands if we are feeling up to it. Being a kid is HARD work, ya know?

We took our little princess to the doctor yesterday morning for her one year check up. She is healthy and doing wonderful! Her weight growth has slowed down a little bit but that is completely normal since she has become so active. She did receive 3 shots and that was absolutely terrible :( She screamed, cried, arched her back and tried to get away, all while gigantic alligator tears rolled down her rosey cheeks. My heart was aching. Those few minutes felt like hours!

Height: 30 inches (75%)
Weight: 21.2 pounds (48%)
Head Circumference: 92% (not sure on the measurement)

Daddy apologized profusely for passing on his Big Head Genes to her. I kissed her tears away and pretend-blowed her nose. She smiled and half-laughed. We headed out of the doctor’s office, only to stop and schedule another shot-filled appointment in 3 months. Growing up is hard work!

Zoey had a ton of fun rubbing greasy, buttercream icing into her hair, all over her tummy and in-between her fingers. Gene said he had a really hard time getting the cake and icing off of her hands and from in-between her fingers. When we sang Happy Birthday, she did her absolutely adorable shy-smile and I couldn’t even sing along with the crowd because I was just so intently watching her in all of her cuteness glory.

My dad grilled amazing hamburgers and hotdogs. We had chips and a persian potato salad (called Salad Olivia). The birthday cake was half lemon and half strawberry vanilla swirl. I made Funfetti (you know, the box?) cupcakes for the kids. It was a general good time with friends and family. A lot of people, a small house, a short-lived rain shower and just lots of chatting and hanging out.

We didn’t get to open gifts until after most of the crowd had wandered out. In all honesty, it was a little less chaotic opening gifts without as many people there. I think we took too long eating & doing cake and people got tired or bored or Claustrophobic. I love being together with friends and family and good food but I gotta say, I am not a huge fan of being the host. I feel like I never get to sit and talk with the people I wanna talk to because I am so busy trying to make sure people have what they need or that bubble machines are functioning properly and full of bubble juice.

Zoey stayed in good spirits through the whole party. The only time I heard her cry is when Gene was trying to clean her up after eating that cupcake. She was awake from about 10:15 AM to about 5 PM when she finally crashed for an hour or so. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a Radio Flyer wagon for her birthday and she absolutely hands-down LOVES it. She smiles and babbles when we take her for a ride around the neighborhood in it. It is absolutely the cutest thing ever!

I will post pictures whenever I get around to uploading them all. It is almost midnight and Zoey has her 1 year check up at 9 AM tomorrow.

Goodness, has it already been a whole year?!?!?

We had a great time at Disneyland. She rode lots of rides and she enjoyed them. I thought the loud music in a few of the rides would scare her but she didn’t seem to care. She particularly liked the Pooh ride and the Buzz Lightyear one. The two loudest ones we went on!

I am still trying to come to grips with the fact that she just turned a year old (April 14th). We were in California for a week visiting my in-laws and Zoey had an absolute blast with her Nini (Grandma in Chinese) and her Yeye (Grandpa in Chinese). This Saturday is her big birthday party with our Oklahoma friends & family.. I’ll try to get back on track with posting and updating then. I may even spill my heart out onto my blog about how I am a mixture of happiness and sadness that my little peanut is already a year old!

She loved the beach too!

And drink out of a “big girl” cup?

And shovel said cheese into her mouth by handfuls?

Sometimes I feel like every time I blink she grows another inch and learns a new facial expression, new skill, or makes a new sound. People warned us about time flying. They warned us to cherish each moment because they are going off to college before you know it. There was a lot of eye rolling when given such unsolicited advice but now I see. Now I understand what they were saying. Now I find myself warning others of their fate.

Now we are approaching her very first Easter. And not too long after that, we’ll be celebrating her first year on this earth. How??? Someone please pause the clock. Just for a second. My heart desperately needs to catch up.

I love her. More than I ever thought possible.

Wait.

What do you mean you don’t watch Family Guy? Oh, you say your maturity level is above this show? Well, you may have stopped by the wrong blog then because that kind of 14 year old prepubescent boy humor is right up my alley! Anyway, back to what I was saying:

There is an episode where Stewie is standing next to Lois, she is laying in bed exhausted and he is trying to get her attention, “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mama! Mama! Mama! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Lois! Lois! Lois! Lois!” Lois jumps up and shouts “WHAT?” and Stewie mischievously shouts “Hi!” and runs off laughing like a mad man. I felt like I lived this exact same scene today, except on a completely different level.

You see, last night I only got about 4 hours of sleep and only in two separate 2 hour increments. I was exhausted this morning and Zoey was especially fussy. She would constantly follow me around the house, whining and fussing, sometimes hollering. At one point I put my feet up on the coffee table and decided to have myself a little Mom Break because I felt like I was about to lose my grip with sanity at any given moment.

You’re laughing at the Mom Break comment, aren’t you? Because we all know there is no such a thing. There are variations. But not really.

So within just a few nanoseconds, Zoey was standing next to me, holding on to the couch for dear life and half crying, half fussing and half sweetly saying “Mamamamamamama.” (ok, so maybe you can’t technically do half of something three times, but c’mon just work with me here) At about that point I didn’t know whether to be annoyed or overwhelmed with the cuteness. She was doing her fake-sad squinty face (the one she does to get attention. did I mention that her genius is starting to scare me?) and interchanging between three different moods. All I had wanted was a break and just moments earlier I was feeling on the edge of desperation, but that adorable little mad squinty face and cute babbles just erased every single thing that I had previously felt and all of a sudden I was picking her up and snuggling her, giving her More Than She Bargained For Neck Kisses and blowing raspberries into her tummy.

She got what she wanted: my attention. Again, the genius thing comes back into play. I’m afraid I’ve been wrapped around a tiny, chubby and mostly slobbery finger. Send. Help.