Into the Woods

We made our annual trek back to The Woodlands the first weekend in May for Nathan's triathlon....And since our babysitters were going to the Kentucky Derby we took Viv along. I was looking forward to it and kind of dreading it as well...since you never quite know what to expect when traveling with a toddler. We left really early in the morning to fly out of Moline since it saved a significant amount of money rather than flying out of Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately, I had a panic attack on our first flight and Nathan was awesome managing Viv. I had packed my flying meds since I haven't needed them for quite awhile. She was a great flyer....it's just me that needs help :) 

I found a condo to rent on VRBO and it worked out great since we had Viv with us. We played at the pool and it was very convenient having a kitchen. 

We went to my fave....the Black Walnut and Viv approved of the gelato. 

We had some early Mother's Day and Christmas gifts made. 

The morning of the race Viv and I tried to go and watch Nathan...but he had already passed us by. We didn't make it quite early enough. But he had a good race! 

We spent the morning at Market Street playing at the splash pad and shopping. 

The water was cold! Viv was interested in the water for about 15 minutes...and then all she was interested in doing was running around the splash pad and bee lining it for the street!...so we packed up and carried on shopping. 

The flights home were much better...later in the day and no panic attacks! Yay! Viv slept the entire long flight home...we were so thankful! She slept very well in the condo and it was really fun to take her along with us. 

Plane family selfie...

We also had some family photos taken while we were there with one of my old acquaintances from when we lived in The Woodlands. We had a perfect night for photos. I was very pleased with how they turned out. 

Easter

Hanging out on the couch before church. 

We celebrated Easter in Washington. We had beautiful weather! We had a nasty upper respiratory and GI bug that traveled through the family the weekend before so everyone was still kind of on the mend. We ate lunch after church at Cafe Do Dici...and the food was wonderful. 

Viv enjoyed her baskets and liked shaking the eggs to hear them rattle. 

Her Easer outfit she wore to Kindermusik. 

Our neighborhood had an Easter Egg hunt the Thursday before. Nathan took Viv since I was teaching dance. She picked up a couple of eggs but wasn't too interested in the whole process. 

We hid eggs out in the yard Easter afternoon and she finally got the hang of finding an egg and placing it in her basket. 

On a mission!...

Spring

Luckily, spring found us earlier this year than last. We've been able to venture outside and enjoy some sunshine. Viv enjoyed going outside and exploring the backyard when the snow was first starting to melt. 

Playing in the fire pit. 

She's still super into books and loves to turn the pages. We go to Babytime at the library once a week and she seems to enjoy it. We sing songs and read stories. I've taken her a few times to the library on our own and she loves to run through the racks. She also seems to enjoy playing with the toys but most of the time I end up chasing her around. We signed her up for the reading program '1000 Books Before Kindergarten'. We've already completed over 100 books...so we are well on our way. 

We have ventured out to the farm and got a 'tour' with Gpa. She got to see her first cow and check out the horse stall he had installed for when we get a pony....someday. 

We got to ride in the gator... 

She loved checking out Gpa's wrenches...

Ready for church the day after the Cyclones won the Big 12 BB tournament. The season was quite exciting this year! We've been trying to get Viv used to the church nursery with no luck. They give each parent a pager and sure enough, we get paged every. time. This particular day we didn't even get to start the church service before we were paged. She has very bad separation anxiety (especially from me) and will not calm down if left in the nursery. So, I've tried to start de-sensitizing her to the space by just taking her into the nursery and staying in there with her. She does fine for a few minutes and will go off and play....but then freaks out and runs back for me crying even if I haven't left. I know it's just a phase she has to grow out of but I'd like to attend a church service again!....child free!  

She's completely off baby food. She's eating pretty well...loves anything cheese. She will eat grape tomatoes, grapes, peaches, pears, oranges, and an occasional vegetable. She loves graham crackers and potato chips (ugh!). She's hot and cold with sweet potatoes and deli ham/meat. For the most part I think she eats pretty well...but it tends to change day by day :) 

We've been playing with scarves a lot at Kindermusik and so I pulled this one out of my closet the other day for her to play with. She loved putting it on her head and dragging it around on the floor. 

We met Daddy, GG Streeper and Gr Aunt Teresa at the Fieldhouse to watch the first round ISU game of the NCAA tournament. Here they are when we were winning....it ended up to be a disappointing game as we ended up losing :(

She's loving her chairs up in the play room. She figured out how to crawl into Nathan's old rocking chair he had when he was little and she is pretty proud of herself! 

She's finally become somewhat cuddly....she loves to play on our bed and usually roots around in the pillows and won't sit still. This Sunday morning I grabbed the iPad and we watched an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...she cuddled up for the whole show! It was surprising and nice...hopefully we have more cuddles to come! 

15 months

15 month stats...20# 14 oz and 30 inches long. She did great at her 15 month check up and didn't cry when the nurse or doctor touched her...only for her vaccines and she recovered pretty quickly. She currently has 8 teeth. She runs everywhere...or as Nathan likes to call it a 'modified trot'. She is still pigeon toed and I hope and pray she will grow out of it (her pediatrician and Laura say it is still possible!)....if not...hopefully ballet helps! She is starting to recognize language and will readily give kisses when you ask her for one. She's getting more cuddly as she gets older but still doesn't sit still very long. She's back to saying 'uh oh' a lot and properly uses it (when she drops something or falls down). She's taken a new interest in Wrigley...she likes to play chase with him and at times he seems to enjoy it too. She LOVES to feed him and walks around with her Puffs container and is very generous towards him. She likes to pet him and play with his tail and she is usually pretty good at not petting too rough. He tolerates her very well and only gets nervous when she flails around a lot. He's no dummy and follows her for Puffs and hangs out around the high chair during meal times. She finally has seemed to become 'attached' to something...she's taken to carrying around the Mickey doll we bought her at WDW...it's the most interest she's shown in a toy so far. We started Kindermusik and still go to Babytime at the library once a week. I cut out her morning nap and so now she just naps in the afternoon for usually around 1.5- 2 hrs if I'm lucky. We've been very lucky and she's really hardly been sick since her birthday, although today she's got a runny nose. Teething doesn't seem to bother her too much from what I've read from symptoms that other kids seem to exhibit. 

Her new game is playing in the window shades in the kitchen. She readily plays hide and seek anywhere but really likes to crawl in between the shades. She also likes to get in my closet and play hide and seek in my clothes. 

So sneaky....I've been trying to get it on video but by the time I get everything set up she's onto a new activity. 

Playing with Wrigley...

Viv's appetite continues to improve....kinda....she's now starting to refuse her mixed veggies and chicken babyfood. She's obsessed with cheese and she will eat cottage cheese. She's still a bit touch and go with fruits and I've gotten her to eat zucchini once. She ate pasta sauce and ground beef for a few days and she seems to like rice. We are making progress....she's down to two 4 oz bottles of organic whole milk a day. She still loves to feed me and oh what fun it is!! 

Such a good sharer...(she sure didn't learn to share her food from me!)

So much for clean laundry....she's a one woman destroyer! 

We celebrated the guy's birthday on February 8th...

Valentine's Day we traveled to Ames with Adam, Teresa, and my parent's for a men's BB game. It was Adam's and Viv's first experience with Hilton Magic! Viv did great, she danced to the band and sat on laps pretty well. 

Our seats were pretty high up, but thanks to Coach Hoiberg tickets are a hot commodity these days! 

She slept through much of the 1st half.

Checking out the frozen tundra we like to call Ames from the warmth of Hilton after our win over West Virginia!