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!

- My Daddy had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. He is ok and doing better. He is eating better, exercising and taking care of hisself. It was the scariest thing ever. As a kid, you feel as though your parent’s are invincible and then as you get older, you realize how fragile life really is but at the same time, it is hard to let go of that notion that Parents and Grandparents should be immortal!

- My Mama is having some medical trouble as well. I’m confident that everything will be ok as long as she takes care of herself and goes to her doctor appointments. If you pray, could you please say a prayer for her? If you don’t, you could send some happy vibes our way.. Either way, we need some good karma and positive thinking send towards our family!

- I am PREGNANT! Crazy, I know! Hah. I just found out recently and I am due February 25, 2011, which means I am only about 4 weeks along. I wont get to see my OB until July 23rd, which seems soooo far away. It is my first time seeing this guy and I can’t wait to meet him.. I’ve heard amazing things about him! I wish there was some way to fast forward through the first trimester. Between worrying about miscarriage and baby’s health and the nausea and exhaustion.. It really isn’t a pretty time at all!

I’m gonna try to get back into the bloggy swing of things here. I’ve been such a slacker lately. I have a 14 month old little girl to blame THAT on. Describing her as a hand full would be an understatement at times ;)

• 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.

We were only in the store for less than an hour but when I put Zoey in her car seat to leave, she was acting whiney and fussy. Luckily, I know better than to leave the house without a sippy cup of milk so I handed her the cup and she was a happy camper after that.

On my way to Sonic happy hour I looked in the rear view mirror only to find that her Cool 80’s Headband had fallen down over her eyes. She was turning her head from side to side and when I looked back up after a few seconds, she had given up and fallen asleep! Hah. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that but by time I got to Sonic, she was awake again! I reached back while I was in the drive-thru and lifted the headband up. She started cracking up laughing. She’s got a sense of humor, that girl.

And one of the best things about summer, besides cute headbands, capri tights and sleeveless shirts is…. SONIC HAPPY HOUR!!

There is something SO satisfying about looking at your phone to check the time while you are out running errands, only to find that you still have time to make a mad dash to Sonic for a happy hour drink! I wont lie, sometimes I plan my outings around Sonic happy hour! More times than not though, I just get lucky. On the flip side, there is not many things worse than looking down at your phone to see it is 1:30 or 4:15 (Happy Hour is from 2PM-4PM, 1/2 price drinks and slushes!). The sinking feeling you get in your heart is something you wont ever forget!

I love my little girl and I feel so fortunate to spend days like these with her. She makes me smile on a daily basis and I can’t remember what my life was like before she entered it. She has turned Gene and I’s world upside down, in a good way.

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?

Ok so here is the thing, my kid (like almost all other kids, I’m sure) loooves remote controls. She has a fake one (the black one seen at the beginning of the video) that her Grandpa gave her but somehow in her genius baby mind she KNOWS it isn’t the real deal. Therefore, she could care less about it. Now, I keep all of our remotes in the little basket on top of the stereo speaker so that they are all in one place and are not getting lost every day (related: DON’T YOU HATE THAT THERE IS FIFTEEN BAJILLION REMOTES?!?! IT DRIVES ME NUTS!!). I can’t help but think that when she stumbled upon this basket once she topped Fireplace Hearth Mountain, she MUST have felt like she had found the Holy Grail.

I moved the basket and she hasn’t gone back up there… Yet.

My kid can really climb. Someone please hold me.

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?!?!?