19 months

Lexi is now 19 months old. It seems she is too old now to keep track of it by months. She is such a delight. She still loves to talk on the phone and I've included a picture of her using her hand as her phone. Her conversations usually consist of the words Hello, Hi, Oh, some gibber, and then Bye. She loves her daddy and gets so excited when I tell her he's coming home. She runs to the door the minute she hears the garage opening. The first thing she usually says to him is ball because she knows he plays ball with her. The words Dada and ball always go together. She takes after Cole a lot. She is quite inquisitive about how things work. She takes apart anything she can. She loves to take batteries out and the other day she disassembled a flashlight. She also has his food preferences and loves meat although she does have a little of my sweet tooth.

She loves to be outside doing anything. One of her favorite outdoor activities are bubbles. She likes to go to the park but doesn't really like swings or going down slides. She prefers climbing things while we are there and going up and down the stairs. She loves to read stories. She loves babies. She's also become quite creative with coming up with things to use as stools. She will use toilet paper, tuberware, anything she can get her hands on to help her get a little higher. She also likes to use them as chairs. She has started to like to watch "shows" and her favorites include Curious George, Barney, and Caillou. She's a lot of company and entertains us. I am so grateful for my cute little Lexi Jane.









































This is my latest craft. It was an experiment and turned out pretty good.

Nothing too exciting

We haven't been up to much lately but Lexi is keeping us smiling. She is trying to say all sorts of new things and can say Cole and Shell. She's still at that stage where a lot of her words sound a alike and I'm trying to get better at interpreting what she is trying to say. She is really into playing kitchen right now. If I hand her a dish and a spoon she is entertained for hours. She is very generous and always brings me a sample of what she is making. I love hearing her say "mmm" while she puts the spoon up to her mouth to pretend she's eating. Here are some
pictures from the last few weeks:
Lexi playing with a new toy from Daddy



























Lexi playing kitchen






































My visiting teacher offered to watch Lexi while we did a session at the Snowflake temple. It was so nice and Lexi did well with her. I really felt blessed to have such a kind visiting teacher. We have a really hard time making it to the temple and it meant a lot that she would help us out.


















Where's Lexi?








There she is!





































When I walk in the mornings it is cold so Lexi wears a hat. She's really become a fan of hats. When I told her that her headband was a hat she got excited and kept it on for a while. It was weird to see her in one now that her hair is so long.

Priceless

This will keep me going for a long time...

In honor of Mother's Day I've been having Cole take over my responsibilities with Lexi. He's done everything. He usually helps out a lot but he's done even more this weekend. Well, Lexi has decided to be extra needy this weekend and has given him a run for his money. This afternoon Cole looked at me, sighed, and said, "I can't wait for this weekend to be over!" I've been smiling from ear to ear since. It's nice to know he understands what my life is like a little more now. Don't get me wrong, I love being a Mom and Lexi is the best, but it is also nice to know he will appreciate the parts of my job that are not so fun. Thanks Cole. I love you.

Cole's latest "craft"

Cole's been working hard to complete our latest project. We've been updating our kitchen. Here are the before pictures:

After....so much better! Cole did several things:

-upgraded all of our applinaces to stainless steel

-moved the cabinets above the oven up

-put molding on above the cabinets

-added hardware to the cabinets

Lexi has loved the remodel. She loves looking at herself in the new appliances and leaves her fingerprints everywhere:) She also got some fun new toys out of it...the boxes! Cole cut her a window and played with her in them. She did, however, get very frustrated when she tried to put her magnets on the fridge and they wouldn't stick anymore. It has been a longer process than we thought it would be but we couldn't be happier with the results.

18 month stats

Lexi had her check-up and here are her stats:
Weight: 10% (21.4lbs)
Height: 30% (31 in)
Her head was above average but I can't remember what it was.

Lexi's doing well and I was surprised that the doctor said her vocabulary was right on. I've been a little worried about it. I think she's smarter than she lets on sometimes. She surprised me at the doctors by telling me what an elephant says. I had no idea she was listening all those times I told her. Lexi is really fun right now. She can do a lot of the actions to her songs and loves FHE because we sing all of her songs. She's learning to fold her arms for prayers. She still loves to talk on pretend phones. She'll even use her hand as a phone and will move my hair so I can talk too. She loves books. She is really into her body right now and shows everyone her "button". She is also a climber. All in all it is a joy to be around her. I love her so much and am so glad she's part of our family.

Mostly For Me

This is mostly for me so I can remember this next time I go through something hard. I was recently talking to a friend when she disclosed a trial she is facing. She told me about it because she knew I had been through the same trial. When I went through the trial it was such a difficult time. I had such a hard time understanding why I had to go through it. While I still don't know why I had to go through it I am learning to be grateful for it. I am grateful for it because it has helped me comfort others facing it in a way I couldn't have had I not been through it myself. I have so much empathy for those facing it. After I talked with my friend my heart ached for her. It made me think of the Savior and the Atonement. I felt grateful for his example. He suffered all pains, afflictions, and heart aches for us so that he would know how to help us when they happened to us. I felt a small portion of this when I got to help my friend. I hope next time I face something difficult I can remember this experience and it can help me stay a little more positive even amidst the hardship.

Baba all gone

I can't believe Lexi's 18 months old! I've been stressed for this milestone because we needed to take the bottle away. Lexi loves her bottle. I decided to skip one feeding one day and she did so well that we never used it again. Whew! I was so proud of her that I made her a special "birthday" treat to celebrate how well she did. We made filled cup cakes and she loved them. She would put the frosting on her hands and scrub them like she does when she washes them. At first the frosting was the only thing she ate but eventually she discovered the cake part and the filling. She almost ate the entire thing.

We tried a new hairstyle. It looked really cute! She loves to sit in her bumbo now. When it was more age appropriate she hated it. For some reason she thinks it's neat now. She loves to eat her snacks in it.