14 BEAUTIFUL months of LIFE.

Elliana,

Princess. Sweetheart. 14 months just seems unreal. This letter will be short and sweet, because I have tons of other important things to say below. All sorts of updates! 

We just fall more and more in love with you every day. You are the absolute greatest gift on earth and we cherish  you every moment of your life.

Love, Mama, Papa, and "Car Car."

-You have 9 teeth. 4 on the bottom, 4 on the top, and 1 on the top left (towards the back).

-You weigh 22 pounds 7 ounces, and you are 31.25 inches long.
-Your noggin is in the 90th percentile. *ahem, sorry. you get that from your mama*

-You can say mama and papa but refuse to 90% of the time. In fact you said it more when you were 6 months old than you do now. Instead you will just say back to us da-da and thing giggle. I think you think you are being humurous.

-You also say car car (carson), can point to the flashcard that has a car and say (car). The dog flashcard to you is "car" also. We are working on teaching you that not all dogs are Carson dogs. Ha. You say "duce" for juice, even if it's water. You say "cot{long O}" for cat. Sees {teeth}. And {ses} for yes. And "goff" for groff {grandma and grandpa's dog}. Go. GOWAY {go away... ahem, to the dog}.

-You continue to sleep through the night. You go down around 7-730 pm and don't wake up until 7-8 am.

-You nap 1-2 times a day {dependeing on how long your first nap is}. If it is 3 hours, you will nap again a second time, if it is 4 hours, you don't take a second nap. If you do take that second nap it is 20-45 minutes long.

-Your go down for your first nap anywhere from 9-10 (depending on if you woke up at 7 or 8) and your second nap {if you take one} is around 4-5.

-This whole you napping 3-4 hours has been the biggest blessing baby girl. I can't even explain to you what it has meant for your mama. We worked on naps for so long, and now you have it down, for the past couple of months now, and I am so so proud. I know that it probably won't stay that way forever, but one can only hope.

-I think you are such an amazing sleeper because your mama and papa love to sleep so much. I am so accustomed to these naps, that now even on the days that I don't work that night, I still have to get a nap in. It's like my body is used to it and gets made at me when I don't. And let's not even start with your father. He could sleep in until 1 every day if he had the opportunity to.

- You love to people watch. Specifically kid watch. Whenever we are somewhere where kids are around, you stare. If I get in the way, you fling your body around so that you can constantly watch them. You are so intrigued by them all. As soon as you hear kids voices or laughter, your head spins around.

-You had your first "real" Christmas as I call it. You actually were aware of the presents, loved the lights, and just had such a great time with everyone around. You spent Christmas Eve here in Indianapolis at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and then Christmas day in Louisville with Grandma, grandmpa, and your aunt and uncle. And of course the dogs.

-You love dogs. Love Carson to pieces. When you wake up, that's the first thing you call for {after you drink your milk}. "Car car!" And when you see him, your whole face lights up, grinning from ear to ear. You walk over to him and start to "pet" him. But really it's a tap tap, hit hit, grab his face. That is the way you say good morning. And the rest of the day, it's all about Carson. You also love grandma and grandpas's dog Groff, and you can say his name "Goff."

-We were able to take you to the park twice this past month {actually just a couple of days ago} because the weather was 50-60 degrees. It was beautiful out, and you absolutely loved it. Adored it. We spent hours there, and you had no signs of wanting to leave. You enjoyed just "exploring." Walking, and walking, and more walking. We tried to swing and the first day you weren't too sure about it {you were fine with the big swing on mama's lap}, but by the second day, you cheesed and cheesed. So happy. You especially enjoyed it when other kids came around, and like I said before, you would just stare at them so intently.

 -You do this one funny thing that makes us giggle. Actually there are tons of things that make us giggle. But just recently you started laying yourself on the ground {stomach first} and then scooting yourself backwards. This works best on the hardwood floors. And you will scoot all the way down the hall. Knowing, that this makes us giggle.

-You also like to grab the pillows off the couch and throw them on the ground and roll all over them. Throw them in he air, and across the room {more like 2 feeet}, and roll on them again. This can entertain you for quite some time.

-We had your 1 year well visit last month and it went great. You passed everything with flying colors and the doctor was so proud of you.

-You eat 3 whole meals a day and 2 snacks. Breakfast has been the same for the past 7 months, and is by far your most favorite meal of the day, and your most favorite meal of all time period.

-You eat lunch after you wake up from your first nap and it varies on what you have. Often times I try to prepare soup for you {your favorite by far being chicken noodle} and a side of vegetables. Sometimes you have a sandwich with veggies. Shortly after you get a plum tot organic pouch {which you OBSESS over}. And then a couple of hours later {after your second nap, if you take one} you have another snack, often times a bowl of yogurt with fruit {blueberries or grapes lately} and sometimes cheerios thrown in there. Dinner time consists of an assortment of stuff {you are coming around to liking chicken more}, with a side of vegetables. You do pretty good with your vegetables, and seem to like them for the most part {peas, corn, and carrots}.

-You drink milk 3 times a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one with dinner. Morning one is usually 8 ounces, afternoon is 3-4 and dinner one is 3-4. You go crazy about your milk in the morning. Absolutely crazy. Hyperventilate. The rest of the day? You could care less about it.

-You drink water throughout the day, and go through a couple sippy cups of water. Often times I throw in an ounce of juice in there for you, although you really don't care either way.

-You recently had peanut butter and jelly for the first time, as well as grilled cheese, and absolutely ADORE it. You will stuff 3-4 pieces in your mouth at once {broken down pieces}. We often times have to tell you to slow down.

-You like to throw your milk when you're done drinking it in your highchair. No bueno missy. No bueno.

-You like to feed carson your dinner. Also, not a happy mama.

 -Your favorite time is story time. You love books like I've never seen a child love before. You are getting quite the collection already. You have your favorites though. You carry around the "little" books all around the house and pretend read. Then you have your big books that we read to you, and you love the "I am one" book, "Fuzzy Ducklings" and "F is for Farm" the most. Why? Because each one of these books has stuff that you ge to "touch" and you LOVE that. I think we need to get more of these kind of books.

 -Bath time is your other favorite thing to do. And you squeel when we say "bath." You basically run in there, and almost topple over trying to get in there. I feel blessed that we have never had to fight bath time with you. You have tons of bath toys that you play with... but you just like to "walk" around. A new thing you started doing is getting down on all fours and trying to "drink" the water. That has been interesting, as sometimes you take in too much. Oh my child.

 -You can point to your nose, mama's nose, and papa's nose. You also point to your teeth. We are working on the belly, ears, and eyes.

-We try to work on your flash cards on a daily basis. You seem to enjoy them. We are working on the "first" words ones the most. Mainly cat,dog, fish, duckling, shoes, baby, door, tractor, car. You can pick out most of these when I lay them out... when you feel like it.

-You love to bother Carson when he eats. He try to pick is food out of the bowl and throw them out for him to pick it up. And then you splash the water everywhere. He doesn't seem to mind. But mama and papa don't like it very much.

-We are also working on you giving him "treats" and showing him how to do tricks. We are currently working on "sit." You get the concept and you try to say something that sounds like it, but we haven't gotten there yet. In no time. You think it's absolutely the greatest thing ever when he eats out of your hand. When you let it go at least. You make him work for it. Silly girl.

- You are FINALLY okay with wearing shoes, and don't seem to mind them. It only took us 14 months.... Now we just need to find you MORE shoes to wear. You only have a couple in your current shoe size. Which by the way, you have tiny little feet! You can fit in 3-4 size shoes.

-You wear 12 month and 18 month clothes. You can still wear some 6 month pants, although they are getting short on you, finally. And most your pants are 9-12 months. Your jeans are 6-9 months. Your 12 month onesies are fitting you nice, although I have a feeling you will soon have to go into 18 month onesies as your torso is so much longer than your legs {hello, another thing you have in common with your mama}. Sleepers are 12 and 18 months. 18 months are still big, but for sleeping purposes, they do the job.

 -You are in size 4 diapers.

-It's hard to get pictures of you these days, but you are learning to "smile" for the camera. I say "cheese" and you give me the biggest grin. Sometimes I even have to turn the flash on just so you would look up at me and look into the camera. Whatever works, right?

We love you Elliana.
With every piece of our heart and every fiber in our body. You complete us.