Bah-Bye!

No, the title isn't in reference to my blog, although it has been awhile and I probably had you wondering!  We are still here, and "Bah-bye" just so happens to be Casey's favorite phrase these days.  She not only says it to anyone who might be leaving, but also anytime someone puts on a jacket or grabs their keys, when we walk out of a room, to every car that happens to drive by when we check the mail, to her toys as we are putting them away, to the draining bathwater...you name it, it gets an enthusiastic "Bah-bye!"  She has even been known to say it to one of her therapists who was trying to get Casey to go down the stairs, when what Casey really wanted to do was go up.  And no, it was not time for that particular therapy session to be over!  To further emphasize her understanding of the word, just the other day during our Speech therapy we were trying to get her to eat some fruit from a fruit cup that she was showing no interest in.  After several unsuccessful attempts to coax her into eating some, she calmly grabbed a piece, pulled the fruit cup toward her and plopped it back into the container, all while looking at us and saying "Bah-bye" and giving the fruit a corresponding goodbye wave.  Speech was pretty much over at that point, because her therapist and I were laughing hysterically and she knew she had won that battle!

Not only is it her favorite phrase, but "Bah-bye" has also been a pretty fitting theme for our lives lately.  Our biggest goodbye has been that we MOVED!  While it was a little bittersweet to bid farewell to our first home as a married couple and also Casey's first home that we waited for four long months to bring her home to, we had definitely outgrown our little house.  Of course it was a lot easier to get over the sadness when we realized just how amazing it was to have multiple spaces to move and play in (like a designated toy room!), a house with closets and storage galore, a huge yard, and on and on! I can't say that I miss the 30 minute drive to get to work either!  We still have a long way to go as far as having this house fully furnished and decorated, and other than one little minor incident that sent me to urgent care (you would think I would be used to the ridiculous ways I manage to injure myself by now, but I'm still amazed.Every.Single.Time.), we are loving our new house!  Even better, we sold our old house in just under two weeks after putting it on the market, which was such a relief to not have to worry about having two mortgages! 

Just a little over a week after our big move, we packed up and said "Bah-bye" to Texas for my Spring Break vacation and headed on a road trip all the way to Wisconsin to visit Brian's grandmother.  It was a loooong drive, and there was definitely a moment or two where it might have been pointed out that we were a lot closer to home than to our destination and it wasn't too late to turn back, but we pushed (and at least one of us cried and screamed) on, and we had a really great trip.  There was still tons of snow on the ground and it was very cold, but since Casey was still in isolation for RSV/flu season, we mostly enjoyed staying inside and visiting and catching up with family and friends.  And eating.  There was lots of eating!  (Eating that my waistline has still yet to recover from).  Brian and I also celebrated our 3rd anniversary while we were on the trip.  It is hard to believe it has already been 3 years since our big day, but then again it is incredible to see how much our lives have changed and how blessed we have been in such a short time.

When we returned we also found out it was time to say goodbye to one of Casey's therapists.  Our Physical Therapist felt that Casey had more than met all of her goals, since she is now not just walking, but cruising, and so our therapist decided we no longer needed her services.  We were sad to lose her, but we are so very excited about how quickly Casey progressed through her goals since we started physical therapy just over a year ago, and what that means for her development.  Just one more preemie milestone she has overcome.

More than anything I feel like over the past couple of months we have said "Bah-bye" to our baby girl and hello to a toddler!  Lately, I find myself looking at her and thinking how did she suddenly turn into such a big girl?  It is really remarkable when we think about where we were 20 months ago with our two pound little miracle.  We are seeing her grow and development in so many areas.  She is saying so many new words every day, and her comprehension is just incredible.  She is on the go all of the time and is getting into everything, but then every so often she will just spontaneously walk over and sit in your lap, or stop to give you (and every dog, cat, baby doll, or beloved toy) a hug, and she loves to give kisses and "eskimoes." And wow does this girl have an opinion about things these days. She knows what she wants, and she is not afraid to let you know about it.  We are just starting to cautiously come out of isolation, so we ran into a store the other day and she spotted something sparkly at the checkout.  I made the mistake of handing it to her and quickly realized she was NOT going to relinquish it without a fight.  Needless to say, we left aid store the new owners of a glittery plastic bracelet. Not my proudest parenting moment, but I decided that the $1 bracelet was not worth the stares that her meltdown was about to cause if I tried to pry it from her deathgrip. She is going to keep us on our toes for sure! 

Here are some of the pictures from the last two months. Unfortunately, most of these are cell phone pics because I stashed my camera cord in a super safe place while we were moving...it only took me almost two months to come across that super safe place again, so at least there are a few decent pictures mixed in that I just rescued from our good cameras.

Wisconsin Family Photo

 

Going out to check out the snow.

 

 Someone was less than thrilled to be in her snowsuit!

 

Daddy trying to show her the white stuff.

 

We got to visit with some of Brian's college friends and their adorable little boy.

 

 Hanging out with Grandma Casey.

 "How big is Casey?"

 Showing off our monkey faces

 

 Mommy got in on the fun, too! Cute, right?

Visiting with Brian's cousin, Rebecca

 

This was a photo that Daddy texted me when I ran into a gas station while we were on the road.  Apparently they were having a little too much fun with the blanket while I was gone.

We saw quite a few of these on our road trip.

 

Last photo in front of her first house!

 

We were sad to say goodbye to the decals on the wall in her old room.  Someone had to give them a proper goodbye kiss.

 Exploring all of our new storage.

 

 This girl loves her pink ball!

 

So much so that she also gives it spontaneous hugs and kisses!

 

 "Look ma, no hands!"

 

One of her other favorite things to do is to plug her ears and yell.  Not really sure where she learned this one.

 

 She was not so happy about trying out her barrettes.  We are trying to tame all that hair!

 

 Our new house has stairs.  We spent a lot of time those first few weeks trying to keep her off of them or following closely behind when we lost that battle.  Thankfully we finally installed the baby gates on the stairs.

 

 Saturday morning play time in our PJs.

 

Enjoying her donuts!

 Caught red-handed trying to steal food out of the pantry!

 Casey loves to rub her food all over her hair.  In case you were wondering, this is what pizza hair looks like.

 

 We had several really warm February days, and decided to go for one last swing at the park by our old house before we moved.  She definitely loves to be outside!

 

Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought.

 

 

 

Giving her lamb a few snuggles.

 

We were very serious about Easter!



Have You Heard?!?!

There is BIG news around our house!  Last week when Casey was just two days shy of 18 months (15 months adjusted), she did it! 

She went from this:

To this:

 

Yep, we officially have a WALKER on our hands!!!  Now almost a week later, she is strutting around the house, and soaking up all the praise and cheering we are willing to lavish on her for her big accomplishment.  She couldn't be more proud of herself (and we are pretty proud parents!), and it is just the cutest thing to see our tiny miracle walking across the room all by herself. Although she is still a bit unsteady at times, she is walking further distances and getting more stable every day, and I suspect we may have a walking pro on our hands soon!

Oh, and for the record (and in reference to my last post) she did finally find her OWN "button."

"So that's where mine has been hiding!"

January Update and Funnies

I know, I know, it has been a while.  I have no shortage of excuses as to why I haven't blogged in so long, but I'll spare you my lengthy list and just get to the update.  In my last post I mentioned that Casey had been putting up a fight at bedtime.  Well it got worse...a whole lot worse.  She went from crying for 10 minutes or so when we put her down, to screaming at the top of her lungs. All. Night. Long!  At that point we knew something more was going on, but of course she chose New Year's Eve to begin the round the clock screamfest, so (after some reassurance from the on call nurse that it was not an emergency and not worth of exposing her to flu or RSV at an after hours clinic) we had to wait until after the holiday before we could get in to see the pediatrician.  When we did take her in, he confirmed a full blown double ear infection.  Not the most exciting start to a new year, but after a round of meds, she has been back to her happy, great sleeping self.

In other news, we are making lots of progress on the walking front.  She often takes several steps, and then she suddenly realizes that she isn't holding on to anything, and will suddenly lunge her body forward for us to catch her.  She gets the biggest grin on her face though after she walks a few steps, especially when we cheer her on.  Words of affirmation definitely has to be this girl's love language. I think she is still just lacking a little confidence, but she is so close! 

It seems like most every day we are laughing about something funny Casey is doing, so I have to share some Casey funnies:

1.  We were playing on the floor one day, and Casey noticed my stomach was showing a little.  I guess she was curious, because she raised up my shirt to investigate and discovered my belly button.  She has become rather fascinated by "finding" it over and over, and much to my dismay is constantly trying to stick her finger inside of it while yelling, "Button!" (Of course it sounds more like "BUTT-n").  Since it really creeps me out, I keep trying to get her to find her own "button," but so far her onesies hide it too well and have made it hard for me to convince her she has one of her own.

2. Casey loves to pretend to go to sleep.  In the middle of playing she will suddenly just fall out on the floor and go completely still like she is sleeping.  When you ask her if she is going night-night she totally gives herself away by giggling.

3.  It is never a good sign when your 17 month old repeats "Uh-oh, Uh-oh" over and over again when you walk out of the room.  Most of the time I think she just likes to say it, but the other day I ran to grab something out of the microwave and returned to find her dumping my almost full Diet Coke all over the carpet while chanting "Uh-oh!" 

4. My friend Alicia brought lunch over one afternoon and we were playing the "Where's the ______ game?"  After going through all the objects in the room and all the body parts she knew I asked her, "Where's the monkey?"  Puzzled, she looked around for a few seconds, then pointed right at Alicia. 

5.  For a while now, Casey has loved to mimic the dogs and the cat when they are whining or meowing.  Lately she has decided to start mimicking us.  She spent the entire car ride home the other night yelling "Hahahahaha!" in the deepest belly laugh. 

6.  This is more of a "You know you're a preemie mama when..." but I use a lot of hand sanitizer.  Now every time Casey sees the bottle she rubs her hands together like she too is putting some on.

7.  When I got to my mom's house the other day, Gigi was excited to show me Casey's new "trick."  She then proceeds to ask Casey, "Do you have a dirty diaper?" and Casey gets a huge grin on her face and says "Shoo!"  Now whenever she sees the diapers on her changing table, she exclaims "Shoo!"

And of course, I couldn't close without some pictures of the Doodle.  Truth be told I've been about as good about taking pictures as I have at blogging lately.  Many of these are just cell phone pics, but since this child is always on the move, it is usually much quicker than grabbing the camera.

 Enjoying our snack outside on a beautiful 73 degree January day in Texas.

This girl would seriously eat her weight in goldfish.  Please note the straw cup.  We are making some progress toward moving away from the bottle people! Slowly, but surely.

 

 Casey discovered how to push the buttons on my CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) to make it light up, and she thinks it is the greatest toy ever. 

 

We are still pretty obsessed with getting our shoes and socks off in record breaking time.

 

 "Just chilling with my teapot!"

 

Someone was just a little excited!

 

 Sweet little ear infection girl waiting to see the doctor.  I definitely enjoyed the extra snuggles though!

 Such a toy (and cat) hoarder! 

 

 And just like that, she drops everything and decides to play "night-night."

 Ready for bath time!

 

Check out that mohawk!  Her hair is finally starting to grow. Seeing lots of potential little pigtails in our future!

 Rolling around on the ground...one of her favorite activities.

 

She's convinced she is going to find a way to escape baby jail.

 

 Someone decided to pull off her extra coverage bib and wipe her tray clean with it.  I'm pretty sure it's because I'm such a great housekeeper that she just wants to follow my lead.  Wait...no, that can't be it?!?

 

 The other day she decided that it would be super fun to pull off the couch pillows and "hide" under them.

 In an attempt to keep all the little pieces from some of her toys all together, I put them in some plastic containers.  Casey is absolutely unamused and is constantly bringing them to me and whining until I free them again.

 

 She has also started playing "telephone" all the time.  She loves to put my phone to her ear and wait for me to pretend someone is talking to her in it.

I was eating chocolate ice cream the other day, and someone decided she was a huge fan!