18 Months

This week Rose reached the 18 month mark! I can’t believe how time is moving so quickly, but honestly, I do love this age much more then the infant stage. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely things I miss like rocking Rose to sleep and knowing she will stay exactly where I put her down. But Rose is now so much more fun and interactive. Rose is taking off with her play skills and is really a sweet little girl with her stuffed animals and other little kids. She is also turning into ‘Linus’ and loves having a blankie with her. Rose is also great at following simple directions and LOVES finger painting. Rose, however, has not yet reached the 20 pound mark! She was just ½ lb short at her doctor’s visit, so maybe next time.

Rose does well feeding herself and using utensils. I am amazed at how many parents tell me they have not given their kiddos utensils yet because of the mess they will make...um yes, that's how they learn :) 

Yes, Rose is eating an ice cream cone, but it's ok, because she shared it! 

Ah, and here is the blanket. She didn't used to care about them so much, so they were always left in her crib. Lately she has been pointing to them and 'blanket' is actually one of the words she says more regularly, so we let her have them. Luckily we have three and grandma has her own, so we can keep them clean J

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry, but this is Rose feeding Tahnee. She knows right were we keep her food and will wait until we hand her the measuring cup and then go pour it in Tahnee's bowl and bring back the cup!

Rose understands everything you tell her and shows her personality when she is told she can’t have something or gets into something she knows she is not supposed to. Rose points to EVERYTHING and if  it’s something she really REALLY wants, she uses both little pointer fingers J She points to pictures in a book on command and if you have her point to a monkey, she will then go and show you her stuffed monkey J There is even an iPad game where you have to select the correct food to give to animals and 2/3 times Rose selects the correct item. 

But Rose is not talking much more then she was. She breaks out a few words a day and is trying to imitate more, so those are good things, but the speech therapy continues… As a mother, I totally believe my child is wonderful and never knew how I could love someone so much until Rose. I would like her to just take off speaking and never need therapy; but whether it’s difficulty with language now and may be struggling with chemistry in high school, as a mother my job is to help my child do her best. Rose is different than any other child and will both excel and struggle in areas. I have parents cry all the time when they find out their child is eligible for services because of a developmental delay. Really they should feel validated that they are doing everything they can as a parent to help their child. Enough said :)

Since our trip to the beach Rose just loves all things birds, so this year for Halloween we did get her a costume (thanks to mommy)…she’s a chicken J I wanted to find a seagull costume, but no luck. 

Here is Rose with all her grandparents, who all thought she was the cutest little chick ever :)

Weekend!!!

Well it turned out to be an eventful week, which made spending time together this weekend even more enjoyable :)

Saturday was a typical morning with waffles (from my new waffle iron!) and a trip to the farmer's market. Justin then went down to church to help set-up for the Fall Fest. When we went down later in the afternoon, Justin thought it would be funny to put Rose's candy bag on her head (at least this was some use for it as we did not let her participate in the candy scramble.)

Here we are again going for a train ride...hopefully by next year Rose can ride in them by herself, because it's tight fit for mommy!

Papa showed Rose where corn comes from

Here's our best attempt at a family picture (can you spot Rose' cup in daddy's pocket?)

On to the next activity...pulling out straw! Rose was really good at this :)

We then moved inside for dinner and some more playtime with a friend.

And Nana made it in time to see Rose and play a little more outside before heading home to bed.

Sunday we went to see Uncle Bruce and Aunt Kate at the farm for another horse show.

Uncle Bruce also made Rose a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese sandwich which she loved!

 In the afternoon we decided to start pumpkin carving with Rose. As you can see we are out in the yard, just in case things got REALLY messy...Rose did great pulling out the 'guts' after a little encouragement from dad.

This week Rose hits the 18 month mark, I can't believe how fast time is flying with out little girl!

Oh, and Justin carved a picture of Rose into the pumpkin . He's a bit OCD when it comes to pumpkin carving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

So sorry to all for the late update, I thought I would wait until Monday so I could include how Rose and I spent my 30th birthday. Rose had a pretty normal week, but this week was all kinds of busy! Since we bought this house, the roof over the back bedroom has leaked and although it has been matched several times, it continued to leak, so Justin finally replaced it so that room can be finished! While daddy and Uncle Bruce were working hard Saturday, Rose and I had a play date with Rachel and Ethan at the Oley Dairy. We had a blast and Rose never went down for a nap until after 1pm. I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures, but if you are looking for something in Berks County to fill a few hours with a toddler, it will work.

 Saturday afternoon the blimp passed over our home, reminding us to donate to the Red Cross :)

So two things going on in this picture...Rose is on the 2ft ladder we keep in the kitchen so I can reach the higher shelves and she opens her own straw cups now.

Oh and Rose got a tea set that she and daddy tried out, when he needed a break from roofing :)

And little Rose is quite the dancer. She does not really 'watch' any TV, but when she hears a song she likes she will stand in front of the TV and wave her arms...it is really too cute!

So there was no way I would have rather spent my day, then with my little girl. I got a new waffle iron from my parents, which Rose and I tried out for breakfast, YUMMY! And then we went shopping with some birthday money.

After Rose's nap, I was daring and broke out the finger paints, to make a gift for me and my mom. (I made two set of the hand prints and gave one to my mom and will frame the other. The green blob is Rose's beautiful artwork!)

We ended the night with a wonderful dinner with my parents, to thank them for having me 30 years ago!

Fall has Arrived!

Fall is here and Rose, like her mommy, is loving all things fall :)

One thing I love about fall is the change of attire :) One Tuesday after a long day at work, Rose and I put on our sweatpants and enjoyed the evening comfy style!

Rose and I also sported our sweatpants again Saturday monring, but couldn't get daddy in on the act :(

To really show Rose what a wonderful season fall is, we took her to Weaver's Orchard for their Family Fun Days and Rose had a blast.

Of course our first (and last) stop was to see the chickens, this girl LOVES all things feathered!

We had some fun in huge tires with corn...

...and made a friend :)

Rose even got a Parrot balloon, really what could be better than that.

Rose was also very serious about picking out the perfect pumpkin for her and daddy to carve.

Here's how the pumpkin hunt went according to Rose.

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure about this one.

Oh, how about that one over there?

Maybe this one...

This is IT! 

I will definitely post pictures of their masterpiece when they get around to carving. 

Rose also helped me plant some mums.

Sunday was also an exciting day for all of us, although we did not spend it all together. Recently I have become a country music fan and although I have lots of artists I like, I really like Josh Turner :) Anyway this year he was I105's headlining artist at their Fallfest, so Justin agreed to take me. While we were surrounded by crowds of people (mostly well behaved) and got a bit wet from the rain, Rose enjoyed the afternoon with Papa and Nana. As you can see, she had a GREAT time :)

Here are some pics from the concert. We couldn't get very close, BUT we did get close enough to actually SEE Josh on the stage, so I can say I saw him in person and not just on a big screen ;) Before Josh was Glorianna and both preformed great live. We did leave before the last two songs, because this momma wanted to get home to see her baby before bed.

So this weekend was a great kickoff to fall and I am sure there is lots more fun we will have before the season is over.