Ila - 20 Months!

Our girl is 20 months old.

She's feisty and demanding, throwing a fit when things don't go her way and yelling AT US when she doesn't get what she wants.

She's loving and cuddly, throwing her little arms around us to hug us and using her little hands to turn my head toward her to insist that I kiss her over and over.

She's brave and adventurous, jumping off the diving rock into the pool and sliding down the biggest slide at the playground.

Her favorite thing to do is... wait for it... BRUSH HER TEETH!  Oh my goodness does she get excited when it's time to brush her teeth!

She has started sitting still for an ENTIRE book (prior to just a few weeks ago, the longest she could sit still for was about two pages), and now she wants to have books read to her constantly!  (Only if there are flaps for her to lift or touchy-feely things on the pages for her to play with... otherwise, she's not interested!)  When it's nap or bedtime, she wants to be laid down with a book in her hands, and then she'll just lay there and flip through it until she falls asleep.

She has a head full of the silkiest, softest, prettiest curls.

She likes clothes and shoes and is constantly trying to put on her big sister's shorts and shirts (because sometimes big sister forgets to put her clothes in the hamper and leaves them on the floor).  She's pretty good at putting on shorts actually, and it's hilarious when she emerges from the back bedrooms with a pair of Eden's shorts over her clothes.  She is also already pretty adamant about what she's wearing and there have been a few times that I've tried to put an outfit or a certain pair of shoes on her, and I'm met with a firm "no" and a shake of her head.  It's new territory for me as Eden still does not care what I dress her in!

She understands pretty much everything we say, can follow directions (although she doesn't always CHOOSE to), and says lots and lots and lots of words.  My recent favorite was last week when we were all swimming... Dustin, Eden and I were playing Marco Polo while Ila was floating around the pool.  I guess Ila decided she wanted to join in after watching us and hearing us yell "MARCO! POLO!".  All of a sudden she started screaming, "MARRRR-MO, MARRRR-MO, MARRRR-MO"!

She's growing up too fast.  That's for sure.

So I'm just over here, trying my hardest to soak it all up and enjoy these last few baby months!

Hold Me Close, Young Tony Danza

Eden had her first dance recital yesterday.  IT WAS PRECIOUS!  Completely adorable!  Quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen!

It was not my idea to sign Eden up for ballet last fall; she is the one who came to me asking for "ballerina lessons".  And prior to yesterday, I really wasn't all that into it.  I thought she was cute in her little leotard and tutu at each class, of course, but I was never in dance as a kid and didn't know the first thing about ballet or the dance world.  After the excitement of the recital though, I'm hooked!  I signed up to be the class mom, so I was backstage in a room with all the preschool-aged dancers, and it was so cute and fun, and I'm like, a total dance mom now!  The day was such a high!

Eden was so sweet and so adorable and so CONFIDENT out there on that stage, and I cried during her whole dance!  And even once we got back to the room with all the other little dancers, I COULD NOT STOP CRYING, and I texted Dustin all, "I CAN'T STOP!"  But I was just SO PROUD of her!  

She was on cloud nine, telling me how "everyone who loves me came to see me".  She got flowers from all her grandparents, and she was soooo excited about the little trophy all the dancers got.  She yelled out "MOMMY!" and held up her trophy for me to see from the stage!  (And when we got home last night, she was so nice and wanted all of us to be able to share her flowers with her, so she put one of her bouquets in Ila's room and one by Dustin's side of the bed and one by my side of the bed.)

on stage for the final bow and the awards ceremony

When we got home last night, I asked her if she wanted to do ballet again next year.  She said yes. YAYYYYYY, can't wait!

Ila - 19 months! (yeah, I missed a few!)

 Ila at 16 months

Ila at 17 months

Ila at 19 months

(My 18 month photos of Ila got accidentally deleted off of my camera!!!!  WAHHHHH!!!!!!)

Ok.  So.  You may notice that the background in Ila's 19 month photo is different!  That's because WE MOVED!  More on that later.  But us moving is one of the reasons why it has been MONTHS since I've gotten to sit down and write a blog post.  

The OTHER reason is this:

Don't let that sweet face fool you!  Ila has quite of few nicknames in our house... some of them include "Tiny Terror", "Little Monster" and "Bad Baby".

Always said with love, of course!  

But MAN!  This girl is something else!

For starters, she is constantly on the move.  There is not a moment's rest with her around.  You cannot take your eyes off of her for a second!  A few weeks ago, before she was big enough to climb onto the couch, Dustin called me into the other room to ask me a question.  Ila was preoccupied with a toy so I thought it was safe.  I walked back into the room less than five minutes later, and she had dragged a step-stool (I had been arranging things on shelves) all the way across the room to the BACK of the couch, climbed up it, and flung herself over the back of the couch to get on it.  These days, she can get on the couch without the use of a step-stool, which is pretty annoying because her favorite thing to do is THROW HERSELF OFF THE COUCH ONTO THE GROUND, then grin up at me from her sprawled out position on the floor and say, "BOOM BOOM!  AGAIN?  AGAIN?  AGAIN?"

NO!!!  NOT AGAIN!!!  STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOPPPPPPP!!!!!!

"Why is she trying to kill herself?", I asked Dustin recently.

I mean...

She can't just take a simple picture; she has to be all wild and crazy and try and hurt herself!

When she's not throwing herself off of furniture, she's either emptying a drawer or a cabinet of its contents OR she's standing at the refrigerator crying because she's STARVING even though she ate two bananas and a yogurt five minutes ago.  Girl still likes to eat.  Still crazy.  Because girl is also still really tiny.

Usually I can only take showers when Ila is sleeping, but last week I desperately needed to take a shower before going somewhere.  So I brought Ila into the bathroom with me, shut the door and gave her a basket of toys.  Lots of toys.  She had lots of choices.  I get into the shower.  When I get out of the shower, Ila has found a tub of vaseline in my cabinet.  There is vaseline EVERYWHERE.  Floor, walls, cabinets, new rugs... and coated all over her hair.  I mean, ALL OVER her hair.  I washed her hair four times that day, and it was still so greasy that it looked soaking wet even though it was dry.  It's been 8 days since that incident, and her hair is FINALLY back to normal!

So one time when Eden was 9 months old, she was playing with an empty water bottle while a friend and I sat talking.  When we were done talking and it was time for us to leave, I took the empty water bottle away from Eden and threw it in the trashcan.  Eden had no reaction to me doing this at all.  And I remember my friend being shocked and all, "She doesn't care when you take something away from her?'  And I was like, "Um, no?"  And my friend said, "Wow!  My son would have freaked if I would have just taken something away from him like that!"  And at the time, I remember thinking how strange that was.   Because I was so used to easy-going Eden who was such a go-with-the-flow baby, and I was thought to myself, "What kind of a child would freak out about something like that?"  

Oh!  Pick me, pick me!  

ILA WOULD!

Yeah, so Ila is totally the kind of baby that freaks out if you try to take ANYTHING away from her EVER!  People ask me if I have a hard time getting Eden to share with her little sister.  Um, no.  Ila, however, is completely incapable of sharing.  Ila is my particular child.  Ila is my feisty child.  Just this past Sunday, Ila had a COMPLETE MELTDOWN in church DURING THE SERMON because I gave Eden the green cup of cheerios and her the pink cup of cheerios, and she HAD to have the green cup OR ELSE OR ELSE OR ELSE!  I hate giving into her, but when it's Sunday sermon time... I yanked that green cup out of Eden's hands so fast to give to Ila.  Eden, of course, couldn't have cared less.

Also, she likes to growl at us.  Well at me.  If I tell her the word "no", she growls at me.  Sounds just like a dog or something.  Now, if Dustin tells her "no", she completely loses it and comes running to me to console her.  She does NOT like it when her daddy scolds her!

My brother has already told me that I gave Ila the wrong room in our new house.  "This room is easier to sneak out of.  You should have given it to Eden because you know if one of them is going to try and sneak out as a teenager, it's gonna be Ila."

To sum... Ila can be a little... shall we say "difficult"?  BUT!  We wouldn't want her any other way.  She makes life so enjoyable.  She's so funny.  And she KNOWS she's cute and funny and she's constantly hamming it up for us.  She makes us laugh.  She gives THE BEST hugs.  She wraps those little arms around your neck so tight.  She always says "BLESS YOU!" anytime somebody sneezes which I think it the cutest thing ever.  She's brave and adventurous.  She's sweet and cuddly.

She's so happy.  You know, unless she's mad.  Which happens very quickly.  But I'm still gonna go with happy for most of the time.  

She loves the dogs.  When I open the door to go outside, she'll come running and stand in the doorway screaming, "DOGS!  DOGS!  DOGGGGSSSSS!!!" until they come running.

That's her dog, Blue, on the right.  He's a big boy!

She loves books and is constantly getting them off the bookshelf and bringing them to me.  She plops down on my lap and gets sooooo excited that she starts giggling when we start a book.  Then after about one page, she tosses it aside and runs to get a different book and brings that one to me.  And so on and so on.  I'm actually not sure if I've ever made it through an entire book in one sitting with her.

She loves bath time.

She loves shoes.

She loves Elmo.

She loves to run in circles, stomp her feet, and throw herself to the ground.

She loves babydolls.

She loves to swing.

She's my super spirited little girl, and we couldn't imagine life without her!

Ila - 14 and 15 Months!

Nearly 2 months since my last blog post?  Aye yi yi!

In my last blog post I stated, "I have a thousand different things going on right now, and I'm not on top of any of them!  I have hope though, that one day, I will once again be caught up on stuff, and I will write blog posts - especially these monthly updates - on time!  Because I really do love having this little blog where I can go back and read our little family history."

Obviously I am still not on top of things.

Our Ila Bug is 15 months old!  Can you believe it?  I can't!  Why does time speed up when you have babies?

 Ila at 14 months in December

Ila at 15 months in January

Ila is feisty and wild.  She runs, trying to keep up with Eden.  She's a tornado, destroying my house in the blink of an eye.  She likes to be held upside down, swung around, tossed onto a bed.  She is not capable of sitting still; she is constantly on the move.

Her vocabulary consists of "mama", "cat", "ball", "kick" (which she screams while running around kicking the ball), "day ew" for thank you, "pa" for paci, "ma" for more, and the word she screams the loudest: "GAH" which is short for again.

She stands at my feet, pulls at my legs, and screams "GAH", "GAH", "GAH" every time I set her down from tossing her up in the air or throwing her onto a pillow or swinging her around in circles.  Her little voice is so adorable, and she's always grinning up at me when she's saying it, so of course, she always gets her way.

Girl still loves to eat.  Anything and everything.  We went out for crawfish last Friday, and she went to town on them.  Other than pointing to her cup of water more than usual, the spiciness didn't seem to bother her.  Dustin was super proud.

Besides me, Eden, and Dustin, her favorite person is Pops.  (my grandpa)

For as wild and crazy as she is, when it's time for her to go in her carseat, she is a complete angel.  I guess she is so used to riding around to all of Eden's various activities, and also, since we live out in the country, it takes us a good 25 minutes to drive to a restaurant or the grocery store or wherever, so she's used to it.  But more than that, she seems to like it.  I think her carseat is actually a comforting, safe place for her, and she gets excited whenever I buckle her in.

We have not managed to cut back on paci use at all.

She gives the cutest, softest high-fives.

She loves to kiss people, and the other night, Dustin, Eden and I, spend a good ten minutes sitting on the floor in Eden's room and having Ila kiss all of us.  "Go give Daddy a kiss.  Now give Sissy a kiss.  Give Mama a kiss.  Okay, now kiss Sissy again.  Now Daddy.  Give Mama a kiss now."  She simply just leans over and touches her face to yours and then grins.  It is so cute and sweet and precious and funny, and the other night we just kept going and going and laughing and laughing.

Oh, I totally forgot one of the words she can say now!  A couple of weeks ago, I went to take a picture of Eden and Ila in their matching pajamas, and after Eden said, "cheese", Ila looked at her and then busted out, "CHEEEEEEEEEE!"

We love her to the sun.

 chowin' down on Eden's 4th birthday

Ila - 13 Months!

Y'all, I am so behind at life right now!  I have a thousand different things going on right now, and I'm not on top of any of them!  I have hope though, that one day, I will once again be caught up on stuff, and I will write blog posts - especially these monthly updates - on time!  Because I really do love having this little blog where I can go back and read our little family history.

Ila is 14 months old today!  So here is her 13 month post...

This month she continued to eat.  A LOT.  Check out these pictures:

One morning, after nursing, Ila ate three scrambled eggs, a carton of yogurt, a bowl of raspberries and handful of cheerios.  Then she saw me hand Eden her Flintstone vitamin and thought she was missing out on some more food and completely LOST IT!

Eating is definitely her favorite thing to do!

She's also still way addicted to her pacifier!  We were trying to cut BACK on pacifier use, but we seem to have gone in the other direction.  She likes to have one in her mouth and one in her hand these days.

She also really enjoys taking all the contents out of all of the drawers and cabinets in the house.  I forgot just how destructive one year olds are!

She is so frickin' adorable.

She is part baby/part mountain goat.  I swear when she enters a room, she takes a quick scan to find the highest peak.  Then she climbs it, and I am forever removing her from the backs of couches and the tops of tables.

She makes us laugh every day.  As Eden says, "Ila is somethin' else!"