17 months!

Gianna will be 17 months tomorrow (Halloween)!  I haven't done a great job of keeping track of when she's done new things lately, so I'm going to make a list of her all the things she's learned.  Bare with me...

Gianna can say between 25-30 words

She can show you where her: nose, eyes, tongue, mouth, hair, ear, belly, foot/feet are.

She knows where her poo-poo is.  Thanks, Uncle Josh.

She learned to say "no" about a week ago... we battled it for about 4 days, and it seems to have passed for now.  Thank goodness!

4 teeth came in within a month.  She has another one (the big one on the top) trying to come through, and it's almost there.

Her hair has grown a lot

She is still picky about eating.  Sometimes she will eat a good bit, and sometimes I am struggling to get her to eat anything.  She is also not predictable... she will gobble down carrots at dinner, and then refuse them the next day at lunch.

She drinks her milk well.  It's the only thing that keeps her from being skin and bones I think.

Gianna, you love your vitamins!  You always ask for more.

Still isn't into the TV, so Bobby and I are able to watch our programs, like Revolution and Gilmore Girls.  I wonder how long it will last.

She LOVES her shoes and socks!  She used to hate them, so I'm glad she wants to wear them now.

Bubbles are her FAVORITE thing.  She asks for them all the time.  She says, "buh-buhs."

Gianna loves bath time.  She likes to play with the faucet, but she doesn't like to lay back and have her hair washed.  She says, "ah dun,"  which means "all done."  

As long as I don't dry her clothes in the dryer, she still wears 12 months.  But she is growing and it won't be long before she's in 18 month clothes.  

She has discovered the hamper in the past couple days.  We've been finding random dirty socks around the house lately.

She likes to play in the dog's food & water bowls.  Not sure what to do about that one.  I'm just hoping her interest passes eventually.

Gianna's walking is getting really good.  She walks best without shoes.

She started singing while we were are Bobby's parent's house.  And when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle," she says, "up above" in the right place.  She also says, "up above" when she wants me to sing it.

Her kisses used to be opened mouthed & up to our cheeks.  Now she just bonks heads with us.  Thanks for teaching her that, Valerie :o)

Books are still a favorite thing.  She loves to turn the pages.

Her most favorite toy is this soft bear made of Alpaca fur.  Bobby got it for her in Peru.

She weighs 22 lbs now.

You're a blessing, sweet baby!  I love each new stage that comes!

I Won the Bet

When Bobby and I think differently about a fact, we tend to make bets.  It's all in fun, especially when I win.  This time we bet on of one of Gianna's outfits.  I said that it was long sleeves and Bobby said that it was short sleeves.  Of course, I won.  The deal was that if I won, Bobby had to go out and get me ice cream and then watch 2 episodes of whatever show I wanted.  So, on Thursday night he went to Smith's, got me low-fat Death By Chocolate, whipped cream & hot fudge so that I could make a sundae.  Then we watched my favorite episode of Gilmore Girls (Love, War and Snow) & an episode of 19 Kids and Counting (which we both fell asleep during).  It was a really fun night.  And the fact that I won the bet made it even better :o)

For the record and so that Bobby gets some credit, I still owe Bobby a movie for a bet he won a while back :o)

Fall Photos & Uncle Josh

Uncle Josh came to visit us this week.  It's been really great having him here, and Gianna loves having her uncle around to play with!  I'm am totally out-numbered when it comes to the TV, which means that I've been watching football all day today, but he also takes my side on everything because he enjoys messing with Bobby.  So, overall, a good trade-off :o)  Seriously, though, we love having him here so much that we're trying to convince him to move to Utah and help us plant our church.  Gianna is the bait most of the time.

I asked the guys to take Fall pictures, and they kindly agreed.  It's not Bobby's most favorite thing in the world to do, but he never complains and he dresses up and shaves just for me.  He's such a great husband :o)  Josh was also really great about it, and he took a nice picture of our family.

I took pictures as Bobby and Josh had a leaf fight with Gianna.  She had so much fun!  I got some leaves in my hair also, but mostly it all went on Gia.

Here are some that I took of the guys with Gia.  I want to have lots of visual memories of the sweet times Bobby gets to spend with his brother.

Here are some of Bobby & Gia and me & Gia.

Gia wanted my bow... well, it's really her bow, but I wanted us to match :o)

And I can't leave the post without putting up some pictures of Gia in the air.  I never get tired of them!

Fall is probably my favorite time of the year.  I love Christmas, but there's just something about the weather turning colder & the leaves changing that makes me feel cozy and safe.  We're definitely taking advantage of it today... we're going to watch the Gamecocks play LSU at 6pm and have cider & doughnuts.  Yum!  Happy Fall!!

Flyin' High

Gianna's new favorite thing is for Bobby to launch her in the air.  When she was younger and he would lift her really high with one hand, I panicked.  But now, it's so much fun to watch!  Here are some shots from this afternoon.  Note her facial expressions and the beautiful fall leaves in the background.  Fall is here!!

Gianna amazes me with her ability to follow directions and understand what I'm saying.  For example, she learned a couple days ago that when I say, "let's change your diaper," she walks into her room where her changing table is.  Also, last night when I said, "Okay, it's time for night-night.  Let's get a book and your paci," she walked into her room, got a book off her shelf and then reached for where the pacifier always is.  Amazing!!  She also learns new words almost everyday and can obey other "commands" we give her, such as, "go get that_____."  Fill in the blank with toy, milk, cheese, blanket, shoe, etc...  FYI, I know every parent thinks their kid is amazing, but I'm really just writting all this so that I can remember when she learned this stuff and how I felt as she was learning it.

Our friends gave us this stand-up sand box, but they suggested that we could also fill it with water.  So, we did!  And Gia had a blast with Bobby while playing in it and getting wet.  Bobby said she wanted to sit down in the water, so needless to say she was soaked.

Another fun fact:  we have added "cleaning up" to our bed-time routine.  Last night I decided that it was time for her to start picking up toys (actually, I probably should have started about a month ago, but I kept forgetting), so we put her toys away together before reading her bedtime story.  Okay, so it was more me picking toys up and Gia putting them way & taking the back out again, but oh well, it's the habbit I'm trying to focus on and instill.

Also, we got her crayons and coloring books at the dollar store so that I could follow the doctor's directions and get her coloring.  She does more licking the crayons than coloring with them, but that's okay.  She seems to like it for a short while, but it's not as much fun as being tickled or chased, or even playing with the jack-in-the-box (a favorite game!).  I think her gifting might be in music more than art, anyway, but you never know.

Gianna Grace, you're growing so fast!  What will you get into next?