Monday, May 11, 2015

louisa currently



1. shooooooes! she is obsessed with shoes! minnie's flip flops in particular. and it's kind of unbelievable how good she is at walking in shoes that are 10 sizes too big for her...even my high heels. and oddly enough, she usually only has one on, or at least a mismatched pair.

2. my grandma mecham made lou a taggy blanket for her before she was born and I figured she'd love it when she was around 9 months or so. well, at that age she could care less about it, but at about 13 months it was like she discovered it for the first time and now it's her go-to comfort object. if she gets hurt or is sad she runs and finds her blankey and then brings it over to me to snuggle. there's also a certain tag on the blanket, the smoothest, thickest one, that she rubs between her fingers and then against her face, especially if she's tired. it's hilarious.

3. she has this shrill scream when she's angry that will make you pull your hair out. thinking about it now it's a pretty great tactic because I honestly want to get her anything she wants just so it will stop (although I try not to). I just watched a video of her from about a year ago and she had the very same scream then. here's hoping the volume and intensity of it diminishes with time.

4. the double-finger suck on her left hand is still going strong. I remember when lou was about 3 months old she would stick her fingers in her mouth so far that she'd gag herself and throw up. it drove me nutty! little did I know that within just a few months those fingers would become her own sort of binky. when her mouth was finally big enough to hold them she stopped gagging herself and just started sucking on two of them about 90% of the day. those two fingers are always pruney and the fingernails are so soft from being sucked on that they are kind of deformed. hopefully they can be corrected once she stops. I'm giving myself until she's 2 to start weaning her from them, but for now I kind of love it because it makes me feel like she's still my little baby.

5. when she talks it's kind of with a lisp and she sticks her lips out, kind of like a duck beak or a major smooch.

6. her hair is almost long enough for teeny pigtails. I keep wondering if I'll ever have children with a good amount of hair before they're 18 months but I'm highly doubting it. her hair also still has a bit of a strawberry tint to it, which I really love. the girl is going to be pastey as they come so I have bought about a gallon of sunscreen for the summer.

7. lou is a major observer. at the park she will stand there with her fingers in her mouth and just watch all of the kids before she starts doing anything. I love this about her because I feel like even though she doesn't say a ton yet, I feel like she knows and perceives way more than we can imagine.

8. when minnie was almost 2 she was saying quite a bit more than lou, but it has been interesting to see how different both girls are. lou, however, is really starting to put words together and it's amazing to see how much more she's learning every day. some of her go-to words and phrases right now are: "help you" when she needs help and "hold you" when she wants to be held - "I got it!" - "my turn" - "baby sad" (sad said like "thad" thanks to her cute lisp) - "shoes off" - "ewww gross" (said ghossss) - "Coat on" (coat said like coke) - "daddy bye-bye" (when robert's not home) - "where'd it go?" - "c'mon minnie!" - "mommy snuggle" (one of my personal faves) - "more cheese, more chocolate, more berries..." - "ow-side" (outside) - "ice keeem" - "lala" (which is actually water...so weird) - "sit down" while patting the seat next to her - "see ya later" as she closes the door behind herself (a new favorite game of hers) - "don't like it" when something isn't quite to her taste - "minnie sleeping" which she says super loudly in the morning if min's not out of her room yet (usually waking her) and she especially has to make this known if minnie falls asleep in the car and she thinks we can't see it

9. louie loves to tickle people but when she does, it's more like little scratches more than anything and sometimes it's so soft I can barely even feel it. the only way I know she's doing it is because I hear her mumbling "tick-a, tick-a, tick-a" and she has a huge, squishy grin on her face.

10. when I'm trying to put her down for bed, either for a nap or at bedtime, lou always asks for a banana (nana) and milk (meeeooook) in an effort avoid going to bed. every night before robert and I go to bed I go into the girls rooms to check on them and recover or reposition them. it is one of my favorite moments of the day because they just look so peaceful and sweet and I can kind of just soak them in. both of them are usually so zonked that even if I have to move them around a bit they barely wake, but the other night when I walked into lou's room I must of roused her enough that she was in between sleep and awake and she shouted, "nana! meeeeoook!" at me and it scared me to death. I laid her head back down and covered her with a blanket and she was out again.

11. lou always have to have her sweatshirt or coat zipped or buttoned and if there's a hood, the "hat" must be on her head.


12. she thinks big kids are the coolest. when minnie's little friend charlotte rides in the car with us or comes over to play, lou is constantly trying to impress her and make her laugh. it kills me.

13. she prefers being outside to anything else. it is her happy place. she will also run away from me in a second flat so I have to keep my eyes on her, but our backyard is such a peaceful place for all of us (thanks to a fence).

14. since she's been mobile, lou has taken some major spills. she once fell down our wood staircase (probably when she was about 9 months old) and she was in nothing but a diaper. it was so tragic, but she just had a few scrapes and that was all. a few times when she's taken some major spills, she gives out one good long cry and then doesn't take a breath in. her eyes start rolling back in her head and her little body stiffens up. it's like she passes out or something. it is about the scariest thing in this world to me. the first time it happened I about lost it and immediately told robert to give her a blessing. thank heavens after about 30 seconds she started to come to again. a few weeks ago it happened at my parents house and my dad ran her to me shouting, "laura, something's going on with louisa!!" as soon as I saw her I knew what was going on. I just started rubbing her back really hard, and usually if you blow in her face it will shock her into breathing. I'm glad I kind of know what to do now, but I will never get used to it.

15. her skin is perfection right now. it has always been the softest stuff in the world (especially when she was uber chubby) but it's still unbelievable. I can't help but kiss it all day.

16. speaking of chubby, from the time lou was six months to when she turned 18 months she gained one pound. I stopped nursing her at about 13 months and the doctor said it was pretty normal for babies to thin out after they're weaned...but one pound in a year?! the girl went from the michelin man to a petite little thing.

17. lou is obsessed with snuggling. if she has her blankey with her she'll cuddle up to pretty much anyone. I love it because honestly, I just want her to be a baby forever. her sassiness is increasing every day and I fear she'll be five in two seconds flat. after seeing how quickly minnie grew up, I just want to treasure lou's little self as long as I can because I know it's going to fly by. I feel so lucky to be her mom. she is generally so happy and so easy and makes being a mom so much fun.




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