Lauren Elizabeth

16 months

I am pretty much a month behind on blogging. To be honest though, we haven't really been doing many picture worthy things. I totally forgot my camera over our little spring break trip to Louisville and Nashville. I was kicking myself about that one. So here are a few pictures of the Vi girl and a little recap of what has been going on in our little family. I have been a pretty busy person lately. The shop has really been taking off and so my nights have been full of bow making. It is nice because Mike almost always has things he has to do or be working on at night. This has given me something productive to do while he is doing school stuff. If Mike has a free night then I usually take the night off from bows to hang out with him.  He isn't too busy this semester and is getting ready to go to Kenya this summer with the dental school. He is so excited to go!

Vi girl has been longing to go outside for weeks. On the few days that it has been nice I will take her outside but they have been few. I really can't wait for spring to get to Michigan. This winter has been just awful for all of us. 

Vi is still obsessed with books and reads them all day long. She is especially fond of her stuffed animals lately. She always picks them up and snuggles them into her neck and goes awwww while she pats them on the back. She is really loving songs lately too. She always asks Mike and I to sing popcorn popping. She calls it poppie. She loves animal crackers and calls them crackies. She is still saying more and more words every day. Mike was reading her a little book of foods the other day and she practically knew ever food item in the book. Her memory amazes me. We took her swimming at the Y on Saturday and this girl could not get enough. She was pretty much trying to jump out of our arms into the water. She kept asking to go under. We had her go around on her tummy and taught her how to kick her legs. The next day we were sitting in the living room and Vi lays down on the floor on her stomach and starts saying kick kick kick as she kicks her legs up and down. Mike and I just started laughing. 

We are still dealing with the yelling. Lots of time she is just trying to get our attention. Other times she is trying to hear her own voice and other times who knows? She is loud when she wants to be. She is always picking at her toes and wanting to brush her hair. She loves to take her bows out and try to figure out how to put them back in. she has also started to try and dress herself. She is always trying to put her pants on. She loves hats and will wear them around all day. She also loves shoes and always asks to wear them. Her most favorite thing to do is walk. She will always ask to walk walk walk. It is kind of fun. I'm usually not in a big hurry when I go to the store so it is fun to just let her cruise around and get her wiggles out. We have started walking to the bus stop to meet mike when he gets home. She has one molar now and her two top and bottom teeth. Her whole teething pattern has been a little weird. She still loves dogs and will squeal when she gets near one. We are officially over the hitting friends stage. She has learned to be soft and to ask please when she wants something. She has even started telling her friends to be soft too. It is pretty funny. She also says beep beep when she wants you to move. Over all this girl is a hoot and every day she does something that makes me laugh. 

Here are pictures of her at the house one day and at the botanical gardens last week with her friends. She was drenched by the time we left, but she had a ball.

Haha that face