Oh Yeah, Bekah's 18 Months Old!

We are currently straying from the trip pics, to take a moment and remember that Bekah just turned 18 months! That's a very big deal, as of Oct. 2nd, she is closer to being a 2 year old, than a 1 year old! And for that, we simply must interrupt the trip documenting! I feel so bad for letting so much time go by!

Getting her to walk over to her growth chart can only be done by asking her to point out the bumblebee, then, mommy makes a mad dash for the camera and clicks away,

( nice releve, huh?)

Because it only lasts for so long!

But that's okay, because not only was it important to take pictures of her, I had to take a pic of the growth chart to show how much she has grown! I try to chart her height every 6 months, and I was BLOWN AWAY by how much she has grown since she turned one! Do you see where I marked just above the 2 feet for when she turned one? And then, look WAY above, between the 2 feet and 3 feet, there she is now!

 No wonder at least 3 people have asked me if she is two! She has grown so much y'all! She is in the 95% for height and is 23 lbs. What a big girl! It might be all those teeth in her mouth too, that makes her look older. This month, she has been working on her I-teeth and let's just say, that has not gone unnoticed, poor girl, many days this month she has been snotty and quite uncomfortable.

I really love her pediatrician, she honestly seems excited for us when she sees Bekah and tells me how well she is doing/growing. After this appointment, I walked away feeling both grateful and encouraged. Not to say that those shots were fun, but having fruit snacks along sure makes a difference! Oh and when Rosie got a band aid to go over her booboos too, Bekah's sadness for herself, transferred over to concern for Rosie!

Bekah continues to like:

- milk! I think she has grown an attachment to her sippy cup, she just loves carrying it around everywhere she goes, which i try not to promote.  . .

- talking about her booboos, which can be either quite helpful or very repetitious!

- brushing her teeth! every night, we brush them for her, but in the mornings, she won't let an alleged tooth brusher out of her site without brushing her teeth herself! Teehee!

- her books, most notably, her Dr. Seuss books. It amazes me that she will sit through them, they are so long! I think it is because Daddy is such a Dr. Seuss snob, he really will only read her those books! And because Daddy loves them so much and makes them so much fun, she many times will want him to read it to her again!

- She is really cute when she reads to herself too. I saw her pick up "Go Dogs Go" the other day and she kept saying, "Go! Go! Go!" The kinder teacher in me was very excited!

 - we are having fun with fall, enjoying being outside, looking for pumpkins on porches and at grocery stores, and even in books! The teacher in me can't help but put "fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving books" on her shelf right now! She really enjoys the pumpkin books and I'd like to say it's our little science lesson for the day : ).

She also really likes to talk!

- she loves to say the word, "no!" I was wondering when this stage was coming, and here it is! She says no to things she wants, to things she likes, just to say no. Many times she knows she is being silly and will say no in a very coy way with a grin on her face. She fully knows how to say the word yes, and we encourage it now, more than ever!

- Gramommy introduced the word "stuck" to her, and it has made such a difference in her frustration level! If she can't move something, can't have something, if mommy doesn't want her taking off clothes that I so lovingly picked out for her, as long as you say the word, "stuck!" she repeats it, and it's like she accepts the sad reality of not being able to get blank. It's been great!

- She tries to say anything I ask her to say and often times remembers the new vocab word so much sooner and better than I thougth she would and says it on her own out fo the blue! Pronunciation though, that's a whole other story!

- She loves to play the name game! Either I am the host, or she is. She points to things, I name them, or she points to things and names them herself, but always, no matter what, we end with Bekah pointing to herself with the last and final word being, "Bekah!" It's cute how routine like she is with that : ).

- and I am anxiously waiting for the two word combo to come out! I even had a dream about it the other day, I am looking forward to it so much!! She did say, "no more" when the milk was gone, and always says, "thank you" but the moment where she puts a noun and an adjective together on her own, will be huge!

- says thank you on her own now! I always ask her to say that to other people,but not really to me, but just a few weeks ago, when I handed her her milk, she said "thank you" to me! So sweet!

And for 3 or 4 glorious days, Bekah got to be a real toddler with her carseat turned around! But notice it was very short lived . . . At first, she seemed very happy about it, but then, that died out and I only became more and more worried, so I have decided to wait to turn it around until our Dr. says to, which is 2. We will see if we can make it!

Dress up is still neck and neck with reading books or playing outside. Lately, she has added props, such as a that lime juice holder, or a dish towel or mommy's shoes. She loves to drape things around her neck, hmm . .. maybe the girl needs a scarf for the winter?

And for the poop purse story! As mentioned, Bekah LOVES to dress up, and is quite the "purse snatcher" these days! Well, when Bekah has  a poopie diaper, I always put it in a plastic HEB bag, tie it up and set it at the top of the stairs to take down to the garage when we head that way. One day, I did just that, but the next thing I know, Bekah has that poop purse draped over her shoulder and she is waving "bye-bye!" HAHAHA! Not only is she in her diaper and certainly not ready to go anywhere, she is WEARING A POOP PURSE! Oh I couldn't have planned a funnier moment if I had tried! Thank goodness the camera was close by!

One of her favorite places in the house is, her desk! I even decorated it for fall, can you tell? Teehee!

Anyways, I can't help but treat her like a little student, so concepts I have been "working" with her on include

- on/off- turning lights on and off can be quite fascinating!

- open/closed

- hot/cold

- in/out

- we talk about colors alot but if asked what color something is, blue is almost always the answer!

- we like our magnetic letters and I have noticed that she gravitates towards the "m,o,r,b,x" so I took off the rest of the letters and we have been "focusing" on those. She can pick them out if I say the name, but she can only say the "r" and the "o" when I ask for the name.

- As I said before, we are trying to combine two words to make a phrase, closest we got was repeating "mama booboo" ( when mommy had a run in with the razor while shaving) and "MayMay Charlie", which meant that Charlie was at MayMay's house.

- I of course am a student in this wonderful world of parenting and a new, most helpful thing I have learned is, if I want Bekah to do something, as long as Rosie does it first, it almost always looks much more appealing! Such as putting on clothes, shoes, using that blue nose sucking thing that makes her so sad . ..



She is quite the helper these days, giving "Carlie" ( Charlie!) bones when I want him to go to his home and even helping daddy in the yard with is gardening!

She enjoys helping her mommy, especially on cleaning day! I don't know how I ended up with two swiffers, but it's  a good thing because it sure keeps her happy and feeling important while I work on those floors!

A big part of this month has been getting ready for Uncle Jeff and Aunt Rani's big day! It's only a month away and this little flower girl had some shopping to do! We finally found her dress and I am in love! I think she loves it too! We call her our little Angel Baby when she puts it on : ).

We also were invited to Rani's dress fitting! I think after being in England and all our talk about Princesses and castles, she though she was looking at a real princess! Look at her face, she is in awe of Rani!

 Of course, that is all you will see of that fun outing, no one else needs to see the dress until the big day!

Rani's Bridal  shower was  this month, where we got to welcome Rani into our family. We traveled to SA to throw it and as always, loved our time in SA.

Rani and her sister Brittany at the shower:

I had a great time throwing  the shower with my Aunt Robin and her two wing men, Alexis and Mandi : )

As I said, we had fun! ( I loved the way they served the mimosas where the champagne flutes had a cherry and some champagne in them, it was the punch that you got to pour in yourself. It made for a pretty presentation and if you didn't want champagne, you just got an empty glass : ) )

 MayMay and Bekah

 Since it was a kitchen shower, the party favors were mixing spoons with a note on them that said, "Thanks for coming and mixing and mingling with the future Mrs. May!" Thanks for the help on the wording Rebekah!

 My Aunt Robin is a fabulous cook and hostess, all the food was delicious!

The cake was made to match the invite:

Sweet family members, Betty Jean, Georgina, Brittany and Rani's mom

Always a treat to spend time with Aunt Pam

Mackenzie and Bekah bonded at the kiddie table:

Wish Bekah got to see her (2nd) cousin more, she is so silly and fun!

Rani was a beautiful, kind and grateful bell of the ball:

It's been an honor, being there by her side throughout this engagement : )

My mom got the future Mrs. May an apron with her new name on it!

Friends and Family

While in SA, we also got to meet Grayson, Kelly and Baker's newest addition to the family! He is wonderful and we are so happy for them! It was great to spend time with them and catch up.

Bekah was super excited to be able to help Grandpa celebrate his birthday that weekend as well! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Bekah just knew that a trip to SA was not complete without seeing her best friend Evie now that they live there! She honestly could not stop hugging and kissing her!

It made me so happy to see how happy she was to be back with her bestie!

It was a true testament that they remembered each other and as long as we keep up the visits, they will always be close : ).

As much fun as we had in SA, we sure were sad to miss our friend Samantha's  amazing Candyland Birthday party! I was happy to be able to help with one of the Candyland details,  I made Samantha's big brother Mason, an M&M shirt!

This month, we also got a Zoo membership and have already been twice, with our fellow zoo members, the Smith Family!

 Robyn and Hunter Smith on the carosel, possibly, to Bekah, the best part of the zoo!

And it was at Zoo that I once again had that overwhelming feeling of gratitude that Bekah and I get to spend our days together, whether they are lazy days at home, weekend trips out of town, or fun weekday outings with friends.

I will end this post that is about a month full of lots of mommy daughter time, with the pic of us in our mommy daughter outfit! If mommy/daughter outfits were not thought of as "uncommon" (possibly, "uncool" :  ))  Bekah and I would share many more clothes other than this set that my own mommy and I wore when I was about this age! Bekah has worn this diaper shirt that my mom made a few times before, but it was just a month ago that my mom came across the shirt that she had made for herself, so she too could have a mommy daughter outfit! Guess it runs in the family! We did go out in public together on errands and even went to our friends house, and yes, everywhere we went, we got comments. I am not ashamed. : )