18 months!

Oh my goodness!  I had forgotten how extremely busy and tired I am when I'm working!  I am so behind on this post (LL will be turning 19 months NEXT WEEK!), but I'm better late than never!  So here goes....

Dear Lorelai,

A year and a half baby girl!  Oh my goodness!  I can hardly believe that you are halfway on your journey to being 2 years old.  Just for kicks, here's a picture of you from this time last year:

You have changed so much!  You are such a sweet, darling little girl!  You have been talking up a storm lately.  Your vocabulary is huge, but you are also talking a lot of "German" right now, too.  It's so cute.  You'll look at someone, rattle off a paragraph of nonsense, and then just stare so intently like "You got that, right?"  I LOVE it!

You went to the pediatrician for your 18 month appointment, and here are your stats: 23 lb 10 oz (45%) and 32 1/2" (75%)  I can't remember the stats for your head circumference, but you were in the 50% for that, too.  You are still tall and skinny!  I have no idea where you get that from!

You recently fell/jumped/crawled/climbed out of your crib, and scared the mess out of your mommy!  I have no idea how you did it, but you certainly can't do it again because Daddy put your crib on the lowest setting.  You have been having a rough little go a sleeping since then (I can't really blame you), but it's slowly getting back to normal.

You are still in love with Lola.  She really is your best friend!  You tell her "Wowa, mon! (Lola, Come on!)" all the time and it is so cute.  Lola loves you as much as you love her.  Especially when you share you "naks (snacks)" with her. 

You and I have had the best summer together.  We have had a blast hanging out in pj's, having play dates, going to the park, going shopping, playing in the pool, and just spending time together.  Sweetheart, I just want you to know that this has absolutely been the best summer of my life.  I can never tell you how much these 12 weeks have meant to me.  School will be starting soon, but I will keep looking forward to our next summer together! 

I'm really starting to see the little girl you are becoming.  You are strong, stubborn and opinionated (like your Mommy), but you have just enough adventurous, humor, cuddly-ness, silliness and sweetness (like your Daddy) thrown in to make you just a perfect little girl. 

I love you, little one, and I can't wait to spend the next month watching you grow even more!

Love,
Mommy

Daytona Beach - Day 4

Monday was our last morning at the beach. We started it out by watching the sunrise again. That's one good thing about having a baby that gets up so early because sunrises on the beach are so beautiful! Here is a video of LL talking to me that last morning!

I headed down to the beach to take pictures of the Parker family while Matt stayed in the room and fed LL breakfast. When we were taking pics, the sky looked pretty scary and you could even see it raining in the distance. We finished the pics and tried to get the kids ready as fast as possible so that we could at least enjoy a little time at the beach before it was time to head home. We didn't stay too long, but LL still got some good beach time in!

Matt dug his feet down in the sand until he was about knee deep.  Emily is about 5'2" if that gives you any idea how far down her went - haha!

After that we packed up, headed to Chik-Fil-A for lunch, and then hit the road just in time for nap time. We had an AWESOME time at the beach and really enjoyed our time with the Parker's. It was nice to be able to spend a lot of time with them and really get to know them a lot better. It was a much-needed vacation and one that we really enjoyed! Who knows, maybe we'll do it again next year!

Daytona Beach - Day 3

Sunday morning we got up early (as usual!) but we got dressed and met Emily down at the beach super early so that we could take some family pictures.  We figured it would be easier to do one family one morning, and the other family the other morning.  That way the kids weren't all dressed up and waiting while the other family took pictures.  These pictures will be in a whole separate post. 

After the family pictures, we went back to the room to get beach ready and then headed down for morning #2 on the beach.  This day was even better because it was a little overcast so it was sweltering hot.  A nice change!  Lorelai is most definitely a beach girl!

I love this man!

Stare-off!

Buddies!

This little girl LOVES birds!

They played so well together!  Here's a video!

This little guy popped out of the sand where the kids were playing (yes, I screamed like a moron when it ran towards me) so Matt caught it to show to the kids.  LL loved (and chased it around for the next 10 minutes) and Kye could really have cared less.

Time for some boogy boarding!

Chasing birds down the beach

Matt started feeding birds around our tent for LL.  She LOVED it!  She stood in the middle of them saying "ooohhh, bird!  oooohhh, bird!" over and over.  She was in heaven!  Here's a video of this same thing - if you listen to the end, the commentary gets pretty funny.  :)

Mommy kisses!

We headed back up at lunch time and fed the kids lunch and got them back down for a nap.  This day it was the girls' turn for some "free time" while the boys did nap duty.  Emily and I just headed down to the beach to lay out for a few hours and OF COURSE it started raining!  :(  We did manage to get about an hour at the beach in, but it still was kind of a bummer.

We decided to just order in some pizza for dinner instead of trying to take the kids to a restaurant (in the rain!) and the pizza was good, but suuuuper salty!  After dinner Matt and I stayed with Kye and LL while Zach and Emily walked across the street to get some ice cream (the 3rd night in a row!). 

After the kids went to bed, Zach and Emily came to our room to play Tripoly.  It's a game that Emily's family has been playing for a long time, and it's super fun.  It was even more fun tonight because Matt was really out of it so he was making crazzzy choices and being really funny.  Another great day at the beach!