18 Months Old

Blair turned 18 months old on May 16th and she weighed in at 24 lbs (45th percentile) and was 32 inches long (55th percentile).

 

I love 18 month olds because the world around them is coming alive, but it also means that they make ALOT of messes. Blair loves to pull everything out to look at and explore it and she has also figured out how to push the kitchen chairs around to get at stuff up high that used to be safe. She is getting cleaner with self feeding, but I think I have posted a couple of really gross pictures of what it looks like some days. Folded laundry left out is not safe, unlocked doors to the pantry where the trash is kept is not safe, markers left out by the big kids means the walls aren't safe...you get the picture.

 

Here's a few pictures of life with Blair-

 

I had such high hopes of her staying in her crib longer than the other two who climbed out at 16 months and 20 months. We will see...

 

 

And check out Blair on the far left with skates on just like her older siblings. I had no intentions of her trying to skate, but she was insistent on grabbing Blake's skates when he took them off so I gave it a try. She did really well!

 

 

Thankfully Blair does have a few friends her age so that she isn't always having to "keep up".

 

Blair and Luna

 

 

This is Blair and Maggie. I told them to hug, but still thought it was cute!

 

And last, but not least her friend Bowen.

 

 

Blair did all this jewelry by herself and had help with the shoes.

 

 

 I was surprised that she stayed in them for about 30 minutes.

 

And look at these cute piggy tales. Her hair is just long enough!

 

 

Wild What???

Wild Kratts!

 

Our favorite show around here is Wild Kratts on PBS Kids. Emmy told us all about it last summer and it's pretty much how I get dinner cooked as Bailey and Blake zone out to it after quiet time.

 

Bailey has been asking and asking and asking and asking and asking me to make a Creature Power Suit so that she can pretend to be Chris & Martin and you know that this mamma loves costumes, so here's what I came up with-

 

 

Basically, you insert different discs into the creature power suit and get transformed into that creature with all it's creature powers. (Below Chris & Martin have activated zebra powers, make sense?)

 

 

Above Bailey was a kangaroo and Emmy a Monarch Butterfly (her arms were out because she was flying).

 

 

And check out this lion!

And this cheetah!

 

Bailey's Preschool Graduation

I can't believe my Bailey Abigail is going to kindergarten in 2 1/2 months!?!?!?! She had her preschool graduation this morning and it was adorable!

Bailey thought graduation was supposed to be a secret and she told me just this morning "that she was not going to tell me that the secret she has been keeping is that she is graduating and going to kindergarten. Nope, I would just have to wait for the secret till I got to school at 12:30", but immediately after that she informed me she needed to wear a dress because that's what you wear at a graduation. Sweet girl, you are a terrible secret keeper, but your mommy is not good at keeping surprises either.

Can you believe this was 3 years ago right before Blake was born?

And then this was today.

I loved what her teacher said about her.



One with Ms Colleen, her Pre-K teacher and her one's teacher, Ms Jeri.

I thought this was cute as we had 3 different cameras to capture the moment.

One of the Mezger Crew.

And one more of the graduate!

I loved the preschool graduation and I love you Bailey! Kindergarten here we come!

Mother's Day

What a Great Mother's Day 2013!

 

The celebrating began on Wed with a Mother's Day tea at preschool that I knew would be cute, but I didn't know how cute. Here was Bailey waiting to greet me and then get me a drink & cupcake.

 

Next she shared with me the book she made for me.

 

This was my favorite page.

One with her teacher- Ms Colleen.

 

And one with me! Did I mention the tea party hats the kids had made for us?

 

Here's a better glance at the hat. Such a cute idea!

 

 Then early Saturday morning Bailey & I headed off to Fort Worth to meet my new nephew & her new cousin Colt.

Such sweet little hands.

 

 

Bailey made a longhorn build-a-bear for Colt with Aunt Tori.

 

And got a little flamingo herself.

 

Checking out the lego model of the hospital she was born in, which is where Colt is also.

 

 

Thanks Aunt Tori for watching Bailey so I got some Colt time.

 

 

 

And Sunday Bailey and I got to spend time with the Tacketts.

 



 

There always seems to be something new or different to see or do when visiting up there and this trip was no different-

 

Uncle Andrew is raising chickens to sell and we all had fun checking out the babies.

 

 

Not sure the exact count, but it's over 100 birds!

 

 

 

And back home Luke, Blake and Blair got some special Nana time! We hope you had a great Mothers Day too!

Some Self Portraits of Bailey by Bailey

 

 

Snippets of Lately

Just a few pictures of the life and times around here. "Lately" seems to be going by so fast and can feel so busy, so I am trying to capture some snippets. These are from mid-March through April.

More than any other of my kids, Blair wants to self-feed. This is what it ends up looking like. Practice makes perfect, right? although I am pretty sure she purposefully missed her mouth in this picture.



I have always thought that my kids would be good toy testers. This is Bailey & Blake's favorite thing to do on the swing lately. It's a great way of sharing in my mind.

 

How is it that Luke & I are 33?!?! This was a little fun the kids & I had to celebrate Luke.

My birthday is just 9 days after Luke's and I got to spend it with my siblings & parents right before Easter. My dad was sure he knew what my favorite restaurant would be in Fort Worth and he was RIGHT! Love me some Central Market!

 

 

More soccer!!!

 

A little post score celebration.

One of our special gameday visitors- Nana! The Murray crew also visited that game too.

A little half-time practice with lion.

 

Special visitor #2- Tor-Tor!

 

 

Blair is learning so many words, but it was so fun that Blair could say "Tor-Tor" for Tori's visit. This puts the word count up to 12 (not in order)-

Tor-Tori

mama

dada

  uh-oh

sissa

ah-du (all done)

ak-u (thank you)

ba-ba (when she wants a drink)

 sh (for shoes)

ugk (yuck)

Go-go-go (when she hears the Cat in the Hat song on PBS kids)

buh (bubbles)

 

Sorry for my voice in this video.

 

 

So thankful for weekends with my sister.

 

 

Back to soccer- I made this from pictures taken at the last game. I love how supportive the siblings are.

 

And if they aren't cheering or trying to help, then atleast they make great playmates!

 

 

This was at our preschool Spring Sing Along. The four year olds rocked it!

 

 

These are the girls from Bailey's class.

 

 

Blake's class also participated in the sing along and although I couldn't get a good shot of his class, I did get this one of him and Bailey. The cutest thing was that Blake sat right where he could see Bailey and copied her most of the time. Both kids LOVED learning Down by the Bay.

 

 

Bedtime around here has been Luke reading the kids The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe! They just finished and are moving on to The Horse & His Boy.

 

 

Bailey made this bookmark while reading-

From Left to Right: Aslan, Peter, Susan, Lucy, Mr. Tumnus, & the Lion that Edmond draws on at the Witch's Castle. I can feel school starting right around the corner... 

 

 

This is "Hurt Claw", the duck we have adopted from the Quarries pond right behind our house.

 

 

Poor guy wasn't doing too good with only one working foot until a neighbor brought him a female friend.

 

The female helped him start swimming again.

 

 

 Our garden is in full swing and strawberries are in abundance!

 

The Peschkas had their annual crawfish boil. So thankful for good friends and good food to celebrate Jeff's birthday.

 

And one last picture from the kid birthday party frontier. We went to a super cool party with face painting and a balloon artist. Bailey was so sad to have to take a bath and wash this off.

 

 I can't believe SUMMER is right around the corner?!?!?!