18 months!

My baby is 18 months old today!! I must say that the last six months have been completely different from the first year-- in very good ways!! Although I have always thought Taylor was the most beautiful baby and have loved her with all of my heart, the first year was VERY rough for me. Taylor NEVER slept! She woke up every 2-3 hours during the night for just about the whole year with some rare miraculous times when she would sleep a little bit longer, and she didn't take good naps during the day either. She would take several 30 minute naps, but it wasn't easy to get her to go to sleep, so a lot of time was spent trying to get her to fall asleep. Yes, we tried letting her just cry herself to sleep, but she would cry and cry and cry until she threw up, and then, we couldn't just let her lie there in throw up, so it just ended up not being worth it. So, she didn't take good naps, and when she was awake, she demanded all of my attention, so I never got anything done during the day. Thus, since she never slept, I never slept. I was so sleep deprived that I often felt very stressed, nervous, impatient, and there were several days that I literally thought I was going to go insane!!

NOW, I couldn't be happier! She sleeps through the night now, and she usually takes 2 1/2-3 hour long naps, and we don't have to wait until she is completely asleep before we lay her down. We just lay her down and walk out of the room, and she goes to sleep (sometimes she will cry for just a few minutes). The other night, Jared put her in bed, and he said, "She's getting so big" because she's basically starting to put herself to sleep. She almost always does the same thing every night. We get her a small cup of milk, go to her room, sit in the rocking chair, she drinks the milk, throws the cup down, we lay her down, and she goes to sleep. Sometimes she will even run to her room when she is ready for bed. These are long awaited for blessings! It is totally amazing what having a full night's worth of sleep can do for you!! She is still pretty demanding for my attention, but since she takes such good naps, I can usually spend all of the time that she is awake with her and then do my work when she is asleep. It's so easy! I just feel so much more relaxed. I feel like I'm able to accomplish more. I feel better mentally, and I really just enjoy every minute with her.

(dancing while David Archuleta is singing)

Don't get me wrong, she still has those terrible toddler moments when "No" is just a funny word to say, but every time she smiles and looks at me with those eyes, she melts my heart. She usually really is a sweetheart. She says, "tay tu" (thank you) a lot, which makes me very happy. Now if we could just get her to say please! Oh and she LOOOVES to give kisses. There are many times when she will give me several kisses in a row and not just little pecks- she really lays them on me! MUAH! (she does the sound effect too) and they're not slobbery either so that's a plus.. haha She loves to dance and will twirl in circles. She is so smart. She is really trying to talk more and mimic everything that she hears. She started saying "Aww... man!" last week, and I had no idea where she got it from until my sil's told me that they say it on Dora the Explorer, which she hasn't watched a lot; she just happened to watch it the day that she started saying it. She doesn't say "mama" much anymore; she usually says, "MOOOOM!" Daddy, Doggie, and Duckie all sound the same- "dada" She was watching a cartoon one day, and they said, "Say azul" which is Spanish for blue. I was in another room, and I heard her say "asu" It sounded very similar to when she says, "Achoo!" but I was amazed that she was trying to say what they said. She loves to be outdoors, but she is ALL girl. If I'm sitting on the floor, she will come up to me and push me down and "wrestle" with me (I wonder who she gets that from!) I love when she laughs, and she makes me laugh all the time. She is so silly and goofy. It cracks her up when I give her nose kisses, but when she tries to give them back, she shakes her head violently, and I'm afraid she's going to headbutt me.. haha She does this thing where she bites her own hand when she's excited. I'm told that her Uncle Nate had a similar habit. I wish I could list every single thing that I love about her, but this post is getting way too long.. haha I guess I can save some stuff for future posts as I think of them.

(dancing to Under the Sea)

I am so in love with my little girl!!

So crazy!