10 Things I Love about 14 Months

I thought it would be fun to write down a few things that I love about Savannah at this age. She's doing so many new things, and I want to remember what age she was when she started doing them:

1. I love your "sponginess". You soak up new words and knowledge daily. I love seeing the lightbulbs go off when you learn a new word, or how a new toy works.
2. I love giving you a bottle at the end of the day. I know that very soon, we are going to have to get rid of the bottles. For now, though, I love snuggling with you and relaxing as you end your day with a bottle.
3. Even though it can be frustrating at times, I do love that sometimes, you only want Mommy, and that if you are upset, you turn to me to calm you down. I love being the number one person in your world.
4. I love seeing you interact with the world around you. When we are out places, you often wave hi and bye bye to the people who talk past us. I think it's hilarious to watch them smile and wave back at you. You bring joy to everyone, not just Mommy and Daddy!
5. I know that your days of being non-mobile are drawing to a close. Though I know that you are anxious to get up and walk, I am enjoying you being where I put you and not being into everything. Especially now that I know that your gross motor development is a bit slower, but still normal!
6. I love how well you eat. You love to eat, and eat most everything that I put in front of you! We are working on the spoon and fork, and you are good at it as long as we put the food on the utensil for you. You make very funny faces when you eat raw tomatoes, but that's about it. You love, and don't appear to have any allergies or sensativities to any foods.
7. I love reading to you. You are old enough that you are participating in books. You know the gestures to make in response to certain pages, and it's fun to watch the things that you are interested in. You are sure to let me know which books you like, and which ones you have no patience for!
8. I love that you still have some of your baby habits, but you are growing into a toddler so fast. You still rub your eyes when you are tired, you still snuggle when drinking your bottle, and you still sleep in your crib on your tummy with your behind up in the air.
9. I love how great you are at sleeping. You still take two naps- one around 9am, and one around 2pm. You go to bed between 6:30 and 7, and wake up around 6am. You sleep through the night, and generally go down without a fuss.
10. I love your little body- your round tummy, chubby cheeks, tiny hands and feet, and your legs with the rolls. I even love your mullet! As you grow older, these things will stretch out and grow away, but for now, I love them.

In 5 days, you will be 15 months- where has the time gone! I love you Savannah!

Happy Birthday Aunt Ally!

Yesterday, April 2, was Ally's 25th birthday. It is so hard to believe that my youngest sibling is a quarter of a century!

To celebrate her birthday, we went to Blueberry Hill in the Loop for dinner. Then, it was off to Pin Up Bowl, where we played a game of "Smith Family Bowling"! When we were little, we used to go bowling all the time. I'm generally a pretty AWFUL bowler. Surprisingly, Mom is pretty good.

Here are some pictures from the bowling game.

The Smith family all together. Ryan is being predictably ridiculous...

This is a milestone in our relationship. This is the first time Mick and I ever went bowling together!

Me and the birthday girl!

One more attempt at a decent family picture. We had to take the props away from Ryan.

This is also the first and only time that I can ever hope to tie Mick in an athletic competition. I am so proud of myself that I can hardly stand it!

Notice my score (top M) and Mick's score (bottom M). So proud!

Happy birthday Ally! I am so proud to have you as my little sister and Savannah's godmother!

At Savannah's baptism. With our favorite godmother!

At Savannah's first birthday. What a sweet smile!

At Aunt Ally's graduation from Wash U. So proud of our OT graduate!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter! We went to church with Mom and Dad at Sacred Heart, and then we headed down to Perryville to spend the day with the Hoeckele side of the family. Mick enjoyed the chicken and dumplings, and of course the company was fantastic!

On Easter Monday, I was off work, and we had an appointment with Dr. Dennis Altman, who is a pediatric neurologist. When Savannah wasn't sitting up at 14 months, her pediatrician recommended that we get her evaluated to rule out any other problems. The good thing was that he gave her a clean bill of health. He was a wonderful person!

Mick and I are blessed beyond measure to have a happy, healthy, beautiful baby girl. Savannah, we love you so much!

Here are a few pics from the weekend!

Driving around in the twins Easter present! I look like a country girl!

Savannah and her sweet second-cousin Joseph

Savannah's first ride on a 4-wheeler. Metzger parenting at it's finest!

The best family picture we got. Sad, I know.

This is what happens when you take away the iPhone that Savannah is playing with. At lunch with Aunt Ally!

I love this picture. We love our godmother!

Have a great week!

Easter Weekend!

So far, we have had a great Easter weekend. Mick was off on Good Friday because the market was closed, so we enjoyed having an extra day with Daddy! He played golf in the morning, and then Friday afternoon we headed off to the pediatric orthopedist to check out Savannah's hips. Because she was a breech baby, she needs to be monitored for shallow hip sockets. Luckily, hers have always been fairly normal. At 14 months, her sockets measure 26 and 28, which is within the normal range. Yay, Savannah!

Friday night, we hung out, and Mick went to watch basketball for a while.

Saturday, we took pictures with CW Photography, which is run by my friend Christina Weyers. She does such an amazing job- I can't wait to see the pictures. We went to the Botanical Gardens, which is such a beautiful place. We will definitely have to come back during the summer when everything outside is blooming. After that, we went to Fountains on Locust for lunch. What a neat place.

For dinner, we went to Grandma Judy's house, and she cooked an amazing Easter meal for us. She also gave us our Easter baskets. And yes, I'm a 30 year old who still gets Easter baskets from my mom. And I'm totally okay with it.

Tomorrow, we will go to church and then head to Perryville to spend Easter with the Hoeckele side of Mick's family. There should be a lot of people there, which is always fun.

Happy Easter!

For most people this is routine, but since it took her so long to sit up, I still get excited when I come in and see her sitting up in her bed. My little girl is getting so big!

Good morning! Ready for a fun family day!

This is apparently how we carry toys around our house. I officially think she's spending too much time with the dogs.

Rowing away in the canoe at the Missouri Botanical Gardens!

I love this picture. It shows how sweet they are together. And how Savannah has him wrapped around her finger!

Love the architecture at Fountains!

Baby's first ice cream sundae at Fountains on Locust. Actually, Mick ate most of it, but I thought it was too cute!

Man, am I bad at this blog stuff!

Obviously, since my last post (December 2011), things have changed just a bit. We welcomed Savannah Amy on January 9, 2013 through a scheduled C-section because she was breech. We went to the hospital at 9:30am, went into the operating room at 11:30 am, and she was born 6lbs, 15oz at 11:43am. The song Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera was playing on the radio in the delivery room.

Kind of an odd "welcome to the world" song, but here we are, nonetheless.

Currently, Savannah is 14 months old. She is cruising, but not walking on her own yet. She loves all food, mommy and daddy, and practicing walking. She just sat up from a prone position for the first time last Saturday. All of her developmental milestones are going well with the exception of gross motor. We are working with the Parents As Teachers people and we just saw First Steps the other day to see if we can't get her caught up.

She can say a lot of words, including "mama", "dada", "oh yeah" (which is in the style of Mr. T.), "ball", "baba" (bottle), "meow", "mooo", "dog", "whassa" (what's that?), "bath". Her first real word besides mama and dada was "E-i-e-i-o." I count it because she said it while I was singing the song to her.

Walking with her push toy- thank you Kyle, Laura and Kellen- I love it! At our house, we rock the diaper and sequined headband. That's just how we roll.

She HATED Santa, but loves the Easter Bunny. Personally, I find him a little scary, but what do I know...

Look at my eggs, Mom! I love Easter Eggs!

We are looking forward to a great Easter weekend this weekend- we plan to hang out, take family pictures on Saturday, and visit Perryville to see our Hoeckele cousins for Easter Sunday!

35 Weeks- NO WAY!

How Far Along: 35 Weeks (in theory, only 5 to go). I can't believe that in 5 weeks, this baby will be here! As of next week, I start going to the doctor weekly. Amazing how fast this has gone!


Size of Baby: Weighs as much as a honeydew melon, which is around 5.25 pounds. Over 5 pounds- that just amazes me. I feel bad for her- she must be getting pretty crowded in there!

Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants and some maternity shirts, though I still wear as many of my non-maternity things as I can get away with. My wardrobe is so incredibly limited at this point, which isn't really fun, but with only 5 weeks to go, I'm going to make do with what I have!

Movement: She does move a lot, though as she gets bigger, the movement feels different. She definately doesn't have the room to flip all over the place like she did before. But I still get some good jabs from an elbow/knee/some other sharp body part!
Symptoms: I feel pretty good. In the last week, I have been experiencing SUPER swollen feet. Mick says that my feet look like Bilbo Baggins feet (apparently that is some hobbit character from the Lord of the Rings movies). As you can imagine, this comment is less than complimentary and of course, all of my cute shoes and boots are just taunting me to wear them! My hands are a little swollen, so I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. It is definately hard to get up off of the floor/couch. And of course, there is the belly. Seems like everywhere that I go, people make some kind of comment (don't worry, you'll be here soon enough, etc.).
Cravings: Nothing specific. I'm trying to eat healthy and sensibly, though my love of sweets has definately come back after the first trimester.

What I am looking forward to: Finishing the baby's room over Christmas break! Once that is done, I feel like I will feel ready for her to make her appearance. I also look forward to going to the doctor next week and finding out if she is breech still. We found out on Thanksgiving Day (when we made a stop to L and D to make sure that everything was okay) that she was breech. According to the doctor, they will check next week to see if she has remained that way and then we will discuss what the options are as far as trying to get her to turn head down.
Thoughts: I can't believe there is only 5 more weeks. I'm still largely in disbelief. But we are so excited to become a mommy and daddy and to meet our little girl!

30 Weeks- 10 to go!

How Far Along: 30 Weeks (in theory, only 10 to go). I can't believe that in 10 weeks, this baby will be here!
Size of Baby: Weighs as much as the head of a cabbage, which is a little over 3 pounds. Everytime I look at my stomach, it just amazes me that there is a little 3 pound person in there!
Maternity Clothes: All maternity pants and some maternity shirts, though I still wear as many of my non-maternity things as I can get away with.
Movement: She is quite a wiggleworm, but I'm loving it! The feeling of the baby moving around is something that is so cool and so impossible to describe. I'm guessing she is going to be rather stubborn though, because every time I tell Mick to put his hand on my stomach to feel her, she stops moving. I'm thinking that the stubborn comes from my side of the family!
Symptoms: Physically, I feel pretty good, just big compared to what I am used to. I sleep pretty well most of the time. It is a little hard to bend over or carry things around, but no complaints for the most part.
Cravings: Nothing specific. I'm trying to eat healthy and sensibly, though my love of sweets has definately come back after the first trimester.
What I am looking forward to: The start of baby showers- my first one is this weekend from my dear teachers at the Dance Center. Can't wait!
 
Thoughts: Registering was crazy- there are so many choices for moms now, which is good and bad. It is so hard to know which brand to pick, especially since each baby likes different things! Overall, I find Katie's advice to be the best- pick the brand with the happiest baby on the front of the packaging! :-)
 
We are so lucky that we have such great family and friends. This baby is going to be one loved and spoiled little girl!