mom's weekend out!

I am a lucky woman. I have the best husband in the world, one who is more than willing to let me go away for a weekend of rest and relaxation while he stays at home chasing after a very busy 18-month old. (Okay, the boys may have had a pretty good time too, but I'm still very lucky.)

I'm also lucky to have the best friend in the world, Holly, who I was fortunate enough to live next to our freshman year of college, over fourteen years ago (holy cow, can we possibly be that old?). Fortunately Holly has a pretty great husband too, so when I suggested that we leave our little boys at home with their dads and meet up for a girls' weekend, she was all for it! Holly is pregnant with her second baby too, so we figured it was a perfect time to get together and catch up before our lives get significantly more complicated again. Here we are with our pregnant bellies - can't wait for our new little ones to meet!

We had a fantastic time last weekend in Greenville, South Carolina, conveniently located halfway in between our homes - which was our prime reason for choosing it as a destination, although I think we were both pleasantly surprised at what a great little city it is. We went to the spa for massages, relaxed at our hotel, walked along the river, and just generally enjoyed spending time together. Such a great weekend!

the zoo!

Grandma Deb and Papa Tony visited recently, and Daniel had a super time playing with them, including a really fun trip to the zoo. We now have a family membership, so we hope to take many more trips there this year! We planned it perfectly - it rained all morning, and we doubted whether we'd be able to go. But by afternoon it had cleared up, so we decided to go for it. I guess the rain kept the crowds away though, because it felt like we had the place to ourselves even though it was Saturday.

Daniel wants to walk pretty much everywhere on his own now. Strollers are for babies, apparently, and he is a big kid. Fortunately on this trip he had lots of hands to hold on to.
Watching the flamingoes with Grandma.
This elephant knows tricks! Daniel was a little freaked out by her though.
How cool is it to be this close to a panda (a sleeping panda, but still)? Not totally sure Daniel realized the panda was actually a real live animal. He wasn't nearly as enthralled as I was. Or maybe the tiredness was just starting to set in.
Okay, by the end of a long day, maybe a stroller isn't such a bad idea after all. Our tired boy eventually gave in.

18 months

Happy birthday-and-a-half, Daniel!

Is it really possible my little guy is 18 months old already? He really is turning into such a fun little person. More and more personality emerges every day, and it's so fun watching the changes take place.

He went to the doctor for his 18-month checkup the other day (no shots - hooray!) and he is 26 lbs. 13 oz. (60th percentile) and 33 3/8 inches tall (75th percentile). He also has a big old 90th-percentile head (he got that from Daddy).

Daniel is such a busy boy - it's go, go, go all day long, but when it's time for a nap, he crashes. Fortunately he's a really good sleeper and still takes 2 naps most days, otherwise I'm not sure how I'd keep up with him! He loves to run around the house, and loves it even better if someone is chasing him (or if he's chasing one of the cats.)

He still eats like a horse, we're definitely going to go broke feeding this kid by the time he's a teenager. He's gotten really good at feeding himself with both a spoon and a fork, and he's getting pretty good at drinking from a regular cup, too, although we still use sippy cups most of the time (less cleanup).

Somehow he's acquired a neat and orderly streak, we're not sure quite where that came from. He insists on going to hang up his coat as soon as we come in the door, and he frequently picks up microscopic crumbs from the floor and hands them to me to dispose of.

His favorite word lately is "uh-oh", which he finds any excuse he can to use, even if he has to throw something on the floor just so he can say "uh-oh!" He doesn't quite get yet that it's usually used for accidents, not when you do something on purpose! He certainly understands just about everything we say, and his speaking vocabulary is growing every day. We suspect he's saying more words than we're able to understand.

Daniel definitely does have a stubborn streak as well (I'm pretty sure I know where that came from). We're doing our best to ignore the occasional tantrum, and so far that tactic seems to work most of the time. I'm sure we have many battles of wills in our future, though.

This is such a fun age, I need to remind myself more often to enjoy Daniel just as he is right now - he changes so fast. I have a tendency to want him to do the "next" thing, but really I need to just savor these days, because soon enough he will be onto something else.

I love you, little man!