15 months already!!

We had our 15 months appointment today with our pediatrician. I cannot believe my baby is 15 months old, wow time really does fly. She is doing great, hitting all her developmental milestones, some are even ahead of schedule, that's my girl- we know she's gifted! HAHA!

She is still measuring on the small side, which is no surprise being that her birth mother is petite, she is about 21 lbs and 30 inches long. Our doctor is estimating that she will be about 5'2 or 5'3 when she is an adult. Which is just fine with me, there are way worse things in life then being petite. We are going to enroll her in gymnastics when she is 18 months, it's a mommy and me class once a week for 45 minutes. She loves to jump and flip around on the couch (I can thank her grandpa for teaching her this trick!), so hopefully she will love playing on the trampolines and mats and if she's going to be small, she may just be the perfect little gymnast when she's older.

We are looking forward to spring and warm weather, we just got back from Cabo and had a fantastic time, and Claire was so good. She was perfectly content sitting at the pool playing with her toys, she even took 3 hours naps on the beach chair under the umbrella- I guess vacation is hard work! I am now counting down the days until our next vacation, which will be Myrtle Beach for 4th of July. We will be visiting with friends and family and also celebrating Claire's adoption, which should all be final by then, my mom is planning a big party- that is what we do best in our family!

Here are some 15 month stats:
- size 4 diaper
- still wearing mostly 12 month clothes, some 12-18 months depending on the brand
- LOVES chicken, hates veggies!
- No more bottle or pacifier (YAY!!!)
- still loves Puppy and now George (stuffed monkey)
- sleeping 10-12 hours a night without waking
- is a total daddy's girl, John leaves the room and we have tears!

I am just in shock that she is getting so big so fast, she will be 2 in a the blink of an eye, but we know that means- another party to plan. I have some great ideas for her 2nd birthday, but y'all will just have to stay tuned for those.

Spring has Sprung

Finally we are experiencing some normal Vegas weather, it's 70 degrees today and just beautiful out. As we approach spring I am always brought back to 2 springs ago when we were just starting our first IVF cycle. I cannot believe it's been almost two years since all of that, it seems just like yesterday, but yet it seems so far in the past. That was the lowest point of my life and now I feel like I am on top of the world. There are days that I cannot believe I get to be Claire's mom, like seriously God chose me, and he chose John to be her parents, that just blows my mind.

On the adoption front things are moving forward nicely and we should have everything wrapped up and finalized by early summer, now if I can just convince John to have a party to officially welcome Claire to our family- we all know I will take any excuse to have a blow out party- I am seeing a pink lemonade party with shades of light pink and pale yellow accented with her monogram- since the party is all about her- we have to incorporate her new name!!

In other family news we are getting ready to take our first big family vacation, to the sunny Mexico- we can't wait! So stay tuned for lots of fun family photos!

Our second Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
I love this holiday- not because of the cliche flowers and candy, I just think it's a fun holiday, and now it's even more fun with a little girl to dress up, today Claire wore a pink top with red and pink crystal hearts on it, with a pink bow in her hair- all bought special for the occasion. Last year our little monkey was barely 6 weeks old, and this year she is a thriving 13 month old, wow how time flies!

They were having a party at her day care. How crazy is that- a party for 1 year olds! I made cute Valentine cupcakes, which I'm sure will be mostly for the teachers, and made special Valentine presents for her classmates, I'm sure she will have a fun day at school today.

Update on my favorite celeb couple!

As many of you know I cannot get enough of Bill and Guiliana Rancic. They have been so brave and have been so open and honest in the media about thier struggles to get pregnant. They are featured on the celebrity baby blog discussing their next steps to building a family.

http://celebritybabies.people.com/2011/02/09/bill-and-giuliana-rancic-taking-a-break-from-babies/#comment-387752

Happy Birthday monkey!! About a month ago we had a blow out party for monkey's first birthday. It was so fun decorating and planning for the party- it was a monkey theme and everything was hot pink and lime green, I'm sure we went over the top, but oh well! How many one year old's have a 3 tiered birthday cake? Well, ours did! She definitely liked her little smash cake- she went to town on it and had a blast doing it.

Our closest friends and family came and she was definitely spoiled in terms of presents. Everyone munched on kid friendly food, chicken fingers and grilled cheese sandwiches, thanks to some local restaurants, sorry people, but I don't cook for parties! I cannot believe how big she is getting, she is walking all over the place and into just about anything she can get her little paws on. We are enjoying her so much, and she brings so much joy to our lives, yes even at 4am when she wakes up in the middle of the night!

It's been a weekend of firsts!

I am a bit behind in blogging, and I apologize- but there was some drama that erupted on my blog- so I had to take a break, but hopefully the trolls are gone and we can get back to blogging as usual.

It was a quite a weekend at our house- we had planned our first trip to Disneyland with our little monkey. My husband and I are big Disney fans and we try to go at least once a year, it's only a 4 hour drive for us so we can do it over a long weekend. Monkey did GREAT! She loved the kiddie rides, and was a trooper- she did not fuss or cry once! She took her naps on schedule, which gave mommy and daddy a chance to ride some big people rides. Can I say how much I LOVE the ride switch pass. One parents gets to ride the ride, then when they are done they give their pass to the other parent, who walks right on the ride, with no waiting! It's genius!

Monkey even slept in the hotel crib all night, which was a relief to me- being that we will be spending a week in Cabo soon- so at least I know she will go down in a hotel crib- I am not lugging a pack and play to Mexico!

The other big news is that our little girl is WALKING! She started walking on Thursday night- and was walking up a storm in our big open hotel room. I was crying I was so happy- I cannot believe what a little lady she is becoming!

I will share the Disney photos just as soon as I have decide to upload them, along with some Christmas and her first birthday party photos! I am a bit behind in my photo uploading!

Bill and Guiliana IVF take 2!!

The Rancic's were on tonight and the episode starts with them starting their shots for their second IVF. I have to say that having been through the IVF process twice myself I think Guiliana is a BIG baby. I love her, don't get me wrong, but come on- those needles are TINY!! I did all my shots myself and never once did I cry. She was freaking out over the teeny tiny little needles. My husband just looked at me and said "you never complained once during IVF." WOW- it only took him a year and a half later to realize this.

As Guiliana was breaking down on the table before her egg retrieval all the emotions came flooding back- I remember that like it was yesterday. You are so full of hope, and it's such a roller coaster.

Guiliana also hosted her best friend and managers baby shower in this episode, I have to admit I teared up during that- she really put on a brave face and planned the baby shower, that was something I could never have done. Baby showers were evil for me- I avoided them like the plague when we were trying to get pregnant. So good for you G, that is so tough!!