Megan's Changes While We Were Gone

Some of you know that John and I went on a much-needed vacation last week.  It was nice to have a break from our current life, however, now I feel like I need a vacation from the vacation...  This was not a do-nothing vacation and it definitely wore both of us out.  We left on Sunday the 16th, flew down to Miami, hopped on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship stopping at Key West, Nassau and CocoCay, and spent the entire day Friday traveling home.  We were sooo ready to see our little one.

Megan changes and learns things so fast anyways but being gone from her for almost a week made it easy to see how she had developed.  The first thing we noticed is that her walking is so much better.  She barely has to have her arms up for balance anymore and stands really well on her own.  It also seems like she has more energy because she is almost running instead of walking.  Today, I let her "walk" into the sanctuary at church while holding my hand.  She was able to keep up with me for the most part, when she wasn't distracted by the busy surroundings that is. 

Here's another thing that Megan started doing last week.  She will sit on the floor, tilt her head as far to one direction as it will go, keep leaning in that direction until she falls over.  Hilarious and I don't know where that came from.  She also does the head-tilt thing in her high chair and was amusing the ladies at church today with it during the hymns because they were trying to lean as far over as she was!

Lastly, Megan has started to do more imitating with her hands and arms, including waving bye-bye.  She had already been clapping her hand but even that is getting better and more frequent, almost on cue when we start singing "If you're happy and you know it".  She also is enjoying having her arms up in the air as if she's waiting to ask a question and doing the "So Big" gesures. 

Take-Out and Blow-Outs, Toddles and Topples and Other Close-to-10-Month Trivia

This post is a big helping of things Megan's been up to lately.  She's learned a lot in the past month.  This post is brought to you by the letter "T".

Take-Out:  This continues to be one of Megan's favorite games.  She loves to take items out of the measuring cup drawer (although there is now a lock on that drawer), towels and mama's makeup out of the bathroom drawers, toys out of her toy bins, everything out of her diaper bag, laundry from the laundry baskets, clothes and towels out of the washing machine, books and toys off bookshelves... you name it - this girl puts gravity to the test. 

Blow-Outs:  Not my original intent of this topic but actually serves fit over the last few days.  Grandpa and Grandma Lewis have suggested we not feed Megan the day before they babysit due to the quantity of messy diapers they've been having lately - about 3-5 every day and we're not even doing prune juice anymore!  We are switching to size 4 diapers since she is filling them up nicely.  I'm also thinking maybe a tooth or two is on the way since we're having bad diaper rash too....  So, what I really wanted to talk about is the blowing that Megan has been doing with the other end of her body.  Want an easy entertainment idea and don't mind a wet mess?  Sit Megan down in her high chair, give her a sippy cup with water and preferrably a waterproof big.  She will sip and either spit a nice fountain of water from her mouth or spray it everywhere.  Usually after her meals she will take two good sips of water and then, to signal when she's done, the third will be a sprayer - time to take away the cup!

TV:  We are finally starting to get Megan to watch some TV.  Not that I want her to get addicted but sometimes it just is nice to have something entertain her besides us and toys.  Right now Megan's favorite (and mine) is Mickey's Clubhouse on the Disney Channel.  Luckily, it's on at the time I leave for work so Daddy can just put that on for her.  We are also trying Sesame Street and she particularly likes the theme song.

Tantrums:  Guess it's not too early for these.  Megan is starting to throw little things when we take things away from her that she really wants to have (such as objects from the drawers).  She also throws fits when she can't play in the sink or under the faucet's running water.  If I am trying to drag her away from "her" kitchen drawer where she wants to play, she's getting good at planting her feet and not letting me move her.  She can sure stand her ground!

Tub:   Another favorite activity.  Megan is so happy when bathtime comes.  We used to only do baths a couple times a week but due to the blow-outs and her enjoyment we do it almost every night.  She loves to bounce beside the tub as it fills up with water.

Treats:  We have a really good eater on our hands.  Her favorites are scrambled eggs, crackers/cheerios, french toast/waffles, and canned fruit - just introduced fresh blueberries!

Toddles:  In the three and a half weeks that we've been considering Megan a walker she has gotten so much better and picking up speed.  She's not perfect but we didn't think she would be.  We are just glad that she is happy that she can move like everyone else.  It sure is cute to watch her toddle around the house.

Topples:  Leaning to walk doesn't come without a whole bunch of bumps and bruises.  If you saw Megan in the last week you probably noticed that her face is pretty beat up.  Last Saturday she tripped several times, hitting her face against some cabinets and woodwork.  She's just not that steady on her feet early in the morning or when she's tired.  Then, yesterday she was toddling after Dawn going into the nursery at G&G Lewis when she tripped and hit her forehead on an upside down stool.  Her first cut on her forehead but it should heal soon.  I think she kind of looks like Harry Potter and her bangs are even getting long enough to cover it up.

Nope, never a dull moment around here.  Can you believe it's only 2 more months until the big birthday celebration?  Wow!

Lip Smackin'

 

Of all things, Megan seems to have taught herself how to smack her lips.  From the moment we stepped in the house tonight until I put her to bed she was smacking away.  Grandpa Gennrich, is this what you've been teaching your granddaughter while you babysit?  This new habbit ranks right up there with grinding teeth in my book.

Gettin' Busy With It

With the Busy Ball Popper, that is....

Megan still doesn't completely use this as it's really intended but we still have a "ball" with it.  She has learned how to hit the big red button to start it up.  Then either one of us or her will tilt the toy forward so the cold stream of air blows in her face.  I first thought we would traumatize her if we did it too much but she seems to really enjoy it right now. 

  

The balls are supposed to be forced out of the top by the fan blowing the air up.  Then, the balls travel down the spiral chute and the fun starts all over, all while a fun, fast song plays!

Too Cute Tuesday

Poor Megan had to watch her mama play and entire church service (plus rehearsal time) sitting only a foot behind me.  She was pretty antsy to get her chance to 'tickle the ivory' and so excited when it was finally her turn to play.

New Beginnings

I wasn't the happiest with how 2011 was rung in. Shortly after our guests left our place on New Year's Eve Megan decided that she wanted to wake up just in time to watch the ball drop. I think all this Holiday partying is finally catching up to her because she was up for over an hour that night - bouncing off the wall, completely wound up! I hope this is not a sign of how the year is going to go. Either way, I am really looking forward to this year; it's the best year yet - an open door and clean slate!

With the New Year came a fresh start for John with his transfer back to the Eden Prairie store. Today was his first day back at EP and he came home all smiles. Right away he was given a key to the computer room (he couldn't even get a single key after 9 months at Chaska) and will be given his own workspace in the store. He was told that he will be assigned many special projects including helping setup parts of the Home & Garden Expo at the Civic Center this spring and also getting Home Depot involved with community projects. John will still be helping out with the specialty departments (kitchen & bath, appliances, millwork & flooring) and pretty much functioning as an assistant manager just without the title. He is mostly looking forward to the variety and a change of pace from his previous assignments.

Other new things around here (besides everything Megan is up to which I will get to in another post)... New Fishes! To go with Megan's new Nemo aquarium figure, we decided to get her some new fishies to look at. She's starting to notice things more and wanted some more color in the tank. Previously, we only had four grey/black fishes and one hot pink one. We picked up a new plecostomus, a little white fish and a pair of bright orange fishies.

With me, the newness comes in the hopes of change in 2011. I am never that good at following through with resolutions, however, it never hurts to try. Here is the list of things I want to work on throughout the year:

• Learn the In's and Out's of my new Adobe Photoshop and our DSLR camera.
• Organization/Cleaning System - this is a must. There are papers everywhere and I need to get all like things together and filed correctly. It's gotten better but still lots of room to improve on.
• Save Money - with having Megan, John's sleep apnea, and my work hours getting cut early in the year there wasn't much going into the bank. If we want to get new vehicles or move sometime in the future we need to step it up. First order of business is to track spending.
• Use What We Own - It's so easy to go out always buy new but with tracking our spending we will see that we cannot afford to always do this and having things organized we should be able to find things easier. This also applies to using up surplus supplies of groceries, cleaning supplies, you name it. Part of my goal is to also use up all of our gift cards before the end of the year.
• Finish Projects - we're both guilty with this but I am sick of projects getting 90% done and then just sitting there with the tools out for months. It seems we get it so it's functional and then don't follow through; definitely something to work on.
• Megan's Scrapbook/Baby Book - having this blog and her wall calendar definitely helps but I still need to get some sort of books put together. With all the pictures we are taking she's going to have one humongous scrapbook if I can ever get started!
• Listen & Communication - this is a biggie and often frustrates me. I need to consciously slow down to make sure I am listening to what people are saying instead of just hearing them both at work and at home.

I think everything I listed above is doable and having goals written down is the first big step to getting things done. I hope that each one of your new years are off to good starts and I look forward to seeing how 2011 treats you. What are you excited for this year?