15 Months

My Sweet Madeline, 

You are almost 15 months old. I can't believe it! You are growing up WAY too fast. You weigh 21lbs 1 oz -- you lost almost a whole pound while you were sick. You are two feet six inches tall. You are tall and skinny on the percentile scale with a medium sized head! You wear a size 4.5 shoe, size 4 diaper, and size 18 month clothes. I just bought your summer wardrobe in size 18-24months, and I don't believe it could be my baby that wears clothes that big! 

You have 6 teeth now with more coming in. I guess that's the pattern until you get them all. You smile a lot and think you are a real comedian. You do things on purpose to make us laugh. 

You climb ALL THE TIME! ON EVERYTHING! You climb from the floor into your high chair, on top of the back of the couch, into the baby swing, and pretty much anywhere else where you can get higher. You can now climb the ladder and go down the slide on your little play thing in the backyard.  It scares me but thankfully you are pretty coordinated for your age and don't fall too often. 

Daddy and I call you "girl" pronounced more like "guhr". When I can't get your attention with Madeline, I always say "guhr" and you look  up. We are pretty sure you will go to kindergarten and tell them your name is "Guhr" Richardson. 

You still LOVE your bottle. Truthfully, I am so worried about how I am going to get you to give it up. I am hoping that one day you will just hand it to me and say, "Here Mom, throw this away. I don't need it anymore." Clearly I am a dreamer. Your pediatrician says you should be off of it completely by now but I have read/heard differently from other doctors so I am not going to freak out until closer to 18months. 

Your love for being outside has only increased since Daddy bought you a trampoline. You can say "jump" and know how to jump. I think you are a little spoiled...

Your eating habits are the same. You will eat anything. You love junk food just like Daddy but you will shovel green beans down just as fast as you will cookies so I'm not really worried about it. Yesterday Daddy gave you beef jerky, and much to my dismay, you loved it. Cheese is still your fav though. 

You have become very lovey. You give hugs and kisses like they're going out of style. You talk a lot and get loud when you don't think we're listening. You laugh a lot too, and think the dumbest things I do are so funny. We spent a good 10 minutes yelling into the fan this morning to hear our voices change. I love that you think I am funny. 

You sleep so good still. You sleep until 9 pretty much every morning, and go to bed at 9 almost every night. You take 2 naps still which amazes me, but you still go to bed easily. I figure when you're ready, you'll give up the other nap. 

You just learned how to do "ta-da" with your hands and you try to say it too. It is so cute. You know where a few of your body parts are, and you ask for more when you want more of something. You still love books more than anything else and will sit for a long time and let me read to you. You also LOVE Tangled. We watch a least part of it every day now. It helps me get lunch and sometimes dinner made! 

You HATE your car seat. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that to you but you have hated it since you were born. I really thought you would grow out of it, especially when we turned you around but you scream pretty much every time I put you in it. You just started doing the limp body, throw your head back and scream thing when I put you in it. It is so fun! :) You are also not a big fan of strollers and grocery carts - I think the theme here is that you don't like to be still, much less restrained. 

I want you to always know how much I love you. Sometimes I have these terrible thoughts about something happening to me and you never knowing how much I loved you. You have completely changed my life. I'll never forget the moment you were born, hearing your sweet cry and knowing that God had answered the prayer that Daddy and I had prayed for 9 months. You were here and healthy. I remember looking at you the first several weeks of your life and bawling because I couldn't believe you were mine. I still do that sometimes. I love everything about you. Your smile, your hands, your feet, your chubby elbows and knees, and your laugh. I love getting you out of your crib in the morning. You always rub your sleepy eyes and then hug my neck and lean in for a kiss. I can't think of a better way to start my day. You just recently started pointing to your eye, your heart, and then to me to say I Love You after watching me do it to you for months. You also nod your head "yes" now when I ask if you love me or Daddy. I love the way you light up and run to the door when Daddy comes home. It's another favorite part of my day. I love that you will just run back and forth across the backyard and then sit down and play with the grass. It is so fun watching you discover the world. I love bedtime when I rock you and read to you. I love that you smile when I sing to you. You always have even when you were tiny. Probably  because my voice is horrific but it makes you smile so that's all that matters. I want you to know that being your mom has been such a blessing and that I love every minute of it...even when you're sick or teething or just whiny. There is nothing else I would rather be doing than being with you and Daddy. After you were born, I got to see a side of your Dad that I had never seen before. He lets you get away with anything and loves playing with you. His whole face changes when you come around, and I have never seen him love anyone like he loves you. I know my words can't do it justice, but I want you to have something to know how much we love you. God promises to give us the desires of our heart, and He did when He gave you to me. I love you sweet girl!