Yep. She's 1.

Well this is my last monthly update. Can't believe we made it all the way to 1.


12 things about Megan for the 12 months she's been alive:

1. Fruit, fruit, fruit. She'd eat it all day if I'd let her.
2. Oh, and crackers. She can't get enough of those either.
3. She is starting to wave and smile and be goofy for people. And she loves waving hello to everyone at church.
4. She is understanding more and more words everyday. But can't really say many. "Pup" for puppy and "Ba" for ball are her favorites of the moment.
5. She will put on a cheesy grin for the camera.
6. Now that she is getting better at communicating what she wants with pointing and grunting, she thinks she should get what she wants all the time. Hello tantrums.
7. Being outside is like heaven for her.
   
8. She does not like milk. Warm or cold. From a cup or a bottle. She won't have it.
9. She loves her cousin Jenna.
10. She is helpful when we get her dressed. She will lift her arms or legs. Although she's only helpful if she's not trying to run away!
11. We are trying to teach her the concept of "soft." Especially around my parents dog. She is starting to catch on and is soft about half of the time. Maybe more.
    
12. And her stats for the month:

• Height: 29.9 inches (76th percentile)
• Weight: 21 lbs 15 oz (56th percentile)
• Head Circ.: 44.2 cm (24th percentile)
  

We love you Megan Joy. Keep being happy and crazy!

Happy 1st Birthday Megan

No Good Very Bad Day

Three or so Saturdays ago we had a not so fun day. Megan was throwing up for no apparent reason, Megan's room flooded through the window, and Patrick sprained his ankle really badly while playing basketball. Why is it that bad things seem to happen in groups?

Patrick's ankle is still working on healing. It is looking a lot better, but it's still swollen and giving him grief once in a while. Here are pictures from a week or so after. This is after the bruising had calmed down a bit. I'm sure you all wanted to see them. :)

11 Months

Okay okay. This post is coming like 1 week before Megan turns 1, but I still wanted to get a little something down before she has been around a whole 365 days! :)

It will be a short post because I can hardly remember what she did before she was 11 months and what she's learned since then, but I can remember a few things.

The big accomplishment for the month is walking. She started walking just a week or two after she turned 10 months. Now she is a total pro. I love watching her stomp around and seeing her legs look more and more like toddler legs. She's losing those rolls! This is a video I took of her a few days after she really started to give walking a try.

Here's what she's been up to other than walking:

- 2 more teeth. She now has 8. They are so goofy and crooked. I love them.
- She loves her blankies. It doesn't matter which blanket it is. She loves them all.
- She is getting more and more into books. But her version of reading is turning the pages as fast as she can. Maybe someday she'll figure out the words are good too. What can I say, she's a mover.
- She also has a strange love for the couch (as you can tell by the pictures above, they are pretty much all next to the couch). Laying on it, climbing on it, and playing hide and seek by it are definitely some of her favorite things lately. Pretty much anything is better when you're on the couch.

Summer 2011

Patrick and I do exist. Hard to believe I know since I only post things about Megan. But we are alive and we acutally do things. So this is going to be a pictureless update about us. Pictureless because we are far less cute than Megan and I am bad at taking pictures.

So Patrick first...

Patrick is still working for the state. He was hired as an intern in January and has worked there since then. It is not our ideal job, but it pays the bills and we are grateful that although his internship was supposed to end in June it has continued through the summer and will continue for as long as we'd like. We are looking for other jobs/opportunities for him and hopefully we will know what he should be doing soon. :)

Patrick has also been schooling. He is such a trooper. I don't know how he leaves at 6:30 and comes home at 9:30 without complaining and then does homework on top of that, but Megan and I are grateful. And we can't wait until school is over so we can have a just plain working dad (still about a year to go though...).

He also stays busy with playing basketball as much as he can and reading Harry Potter.

Now me...

I think I am the most boring person of the family. :) But I have been trying to grow a garden this summer. Things haven't gone as well as I hoped, but we had a far less than ideal piece of land to grow plants on and an unexperienced gardener. And the garden didn't stay as weed free as I'd like because Megan is a total handful outside. I can't be weeding while she crawls around because she will end up eating dirt or bugs or bark. But, we've got potatoes and beans and some tomoatoes. So it's fun.

I have also been studying for the CPA exam and trying to find some sort of flexible work to help ease Patrick's load now that I feel a little more compentent at the motherhood thing. Finding jobs has not gone as well as I'd like and it's sort of frustrating, but I hope something will come when the time is right. I passed 2 parts of the CPA exam and have 2 left. That's usually what I spend naptime doing...studying.

I have also worked on a quiet book for Megan which has been fun. I'm not done yet, but maybe I'll post pictures when I've finished.

So there you have it. A post about the parents of Megan. Maybe we'll make an appearance in a picture someday soon.