The zoo is our new hangout

We bought a membership to the zoo and we love it! It is so nice to go for a few hours and not feel guilty that we didn't stay the whole day. We went on a play date one day with some mom's group friends. 

Watching the birds

Soren, Parker and Jenna

We walked around a looked at a few animals and let the kids play in the grass. It was nice to get out and enjoy the sun and have some adult conversations.

People watching

Sharing snacks

On Sunday we woke up to sunshine and decided to head out to the zoo for a quick late morning stroll. For the first time Jenna was really into looking at the animals. She would point to them and look at us for an explanation of what she was looking at. She did get a little scared when she was leaning on the glass into the monkey exhibit and one walked right in front of her. Who wouldn't? Fun family day.

Looking forward to many more outings to the zoo as the weather gets nicer!

15 Months

Jenna is 15 months and starting to look more like a toddler every day. She is very healthy and happy. Her personality is really starting to show. She can be impatient and demanding (I think mostly because she can't tell us what she wants). But she can also be sweet and loving. For the most part she is very good and we are so proud to be her parents. 

 Here are a few little things she is doing now:

• Weighs around 22 lbs. Height is unknown (still short)
• Wearing 12-18 month clothes.
• Loves music- will start swaying if she hears a good tune. Especially in the grocery store. Will start playing any toy with music as her "background noise" while playing.
• Enjoys looking her touch and feel flash cards. Especially loves taking them out of the box in a dramatic way, so they go flying. 
• Will gladly shut a door or cupboard when needed. As she crawls down the hall she will shut the bathroom door for me.
• Snuggles on my chest when tired. Will pull down my shirt to be able to put her face on my skin...precious
• Napping once a day. Sometimes twice
• A couple steps have been taken. Enjoys crawling more
• Understands more than I give her credit for. We have realized that we need to watch what we say now otherwise we might have a problem.
• Repeats a few words in her own lanuage...i.e. up=op or bop, wow=oh
• Will repeat "Yah, Yah Yah" "Mama" "Dada"
• Mimics "shhh" sound
• Touches her nose on command
• Signs for: More, Milk, Eat...going to work on diaper
• When full throws food on the floor
• Enjoys eating off our plate then her own
• 6 teeth (3 top, 3 bottom)
• Will brush her own teeth, but only if I sing the song I made up :) 
• Demands to look at the pictures on the fridge as we pass by
• Still shy at first, but is warming up more. Doesn't really worry about what others are doing unless they are in her way or have a toy she wants. Happy playing alone.
• Making more friends everyday and staying very busy!
• No eggs or zucchini
• Holds the phone, remote or any object to her ear and "talks"
• If we are on the phone she must hold it for us and then "talk"
• Uses a spoon to feed self
• Gets really excited when Jeff comes home. She will crawl over to the baby gate and stand on her tip toes and waits for him to open the door. It is the cutest thing!!

Still waiting for her to walk. Some people tell me to enjoy this "non-walking" time, but I am really looking forward to her walking. She is getting heavy and harder for me to carry her all the time. It would also make trips to the park with friends a little easier. She one of the few not walking while others are walking through the grass the the playground. I have a crawler who gets muddy...remember I hate messes! In due time we will have a walker. Until then I will have the Spray n' Wash handy :) 

Feeling Sentimental

Jeff recently purchased Lightroom for me and I LOVE IT! For those that don't know what it is, it's a photo editing program. It's probably a little advanced for me, but I am trying :) I started editing some of Jenna's newborn photos and a wave of emotion came over me. The day was so blurry for me with being tired, etc. Having these photos are so special to me and helps me remember what a special time it was.

Happy 15 months to my precious lovey!

 These pictures are absolutely precious!

Cousin Love

Cousin Kailey and Krissa came up to the valley last month for a visit and we joined them.  I couldn't resist not visiting my sweet niece and let the cousins play together. I think it's important for the two of them to see each other as much as possible. Plus we got to spend some quality time with Auntie Krissa, Gramma, Grandpa Glenn and GG. It's funny to see them play together. They are both not used to having someone else around "their" toys at Gramma's house. It was a good time to practice sharing. 

Wearing matching pj's

Celebrating Kailey's 3rd Birthday

Kailey is such a big helper and wants to help me anytime with Jenna. Whether it's getting a diaper, wipe or her bottle. She is right there ready to help. I love seeing her grow up and turn into such a wonderful little girl. I think she is smart beyond her years. I'm sure all Aunts say this, but I am serious! She continues to amaze me. I think Jenna is smart but Kailey is really SMART for a 3 year old (just my 2 cents).

We were lucky enough to have my friend Hannah take pictures of the girls. You can check out Hannah's blog here. She does amazing work and is so talented. We went to Hannah's parents house in Anacortes, which was beautiful. It had such a relaxing feel to it. It's the kind of place you want to go to and read a book and get away from it all. It was a partly-cloudy day (thankfully no rain) but it was cold and Jenna was freezing and tired. Hannah managed to get some good photos in between Jenna's cries.

At this point Jenna was done