[BiG GiRL]

Maeleigh is getting to be such a big girl lately! She is walking and trying to run all over the place and doesn't even really crawl anymore. She has also started eating with a fork and she does it very well I might add. She can show you where her nose and her mouth are, we are working on her other facial features one at a time. But she learned those two so quickly I'm sure she will know the others in no time. She also likes to "honk" your nose, which sometimes can hurt because of her little finger nails. She has also learned that a rooster says cock-a-doodle-do and it is the cutest thing when she does it. She is still loving her gym class and has really gotten over feeling shy with her new teacher and new friends. She still loves her prune juice, milk and regular juice and when she has drank all of her drink she turns her cup upside down and brings it to you so you can fix her more. She is definitely my little country girl and is loving her stroller rides more then ever! Most days it is the only way that you can get her to go to sleep. She gets SO excited when she sees her stroller and points to it and tries to climb in it. She also points to the door when she wants to go outside and starts squealing when you ask her if she wants to go outside or for a stroller ride. Not that I'm complaining because I can use the exercise and I enjoy being outside as much as she does :)

On that note, I started my new lifestyle today. I'm not calling it a diet because that is not what it is. This is my last first day of losing weight. I am going to do it this time, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I am ready to feel better and look better. And I owe it to Maeleigh to be healthy just as much as I owe it to myself. So anyway, my goal is to lose 65lbs. and I WILL reach that goal! :) Its going to be hard for a while but it's going to happen.

[WE HAVE A WALKER!!]

As of this evening it is safe to say that we officially have a walker on our hands!! Maeleigh has been walking more and more and more recently but today she has been walking all over everywhere!! I am so proud of her! I think that she learned how to walk pretty quickly from the time she took her first step to now. She looks so cute and such like a big girl walking around. Now she just has to learn how to walk with shoes on because she definitely doesn't know what to do with them on. I got her some walking shoes from Stride Rite a while back so I guess its time for her to start wearing them when we go out now. :)

We have been trying to teach her to say "more" but she refuses. She must more prefers to do her own sign language for more which is where she puts her hand out and does a grabbing motion. She has been doing it for a while but now she REALLY does it a lot. She is also learning a lot from her gym class lately. She LOVES to do forward rolls and has even done 2 of them by herself. If she wants to do one and you try to pick her up she will put both of her hands on the floor and tuck her head, which is what she learned she is supposed to do in class. Another example of something she has learned is how to swing on the bar. The other day we were at a clothing store in Madison and there was a clothes rack that didn't have any clothes on it (it had 2 bars 1 on the top and 1 on the bottom), well as soon as she saw it she had a fit and we were not really sure what she was wanting so we stood her up on the floor to see what it was that she saw, well she immediately reached for the bottom bar and was trying to hang on it. It was so cute and we were so amazed that she saw it and remembered that she plays on one of those in gym class. She is just so smart! I cant say it enough :) She has loved to dance for a while now but now she has started copying what you do and I must say it is the funniest thing ever to watch her break it down and shake her little booty! She started giving high 5's about 2 months ago but she does it really good and every time you ask her to give you a high 5 now. Its so cute!!

Maeleigh is an outdoors kind of little girl. She LOVES to be outside and would much prefer it to being inside. Since I had my surgery I still cant carry her for long periods of time, I cant go up or down steps with her and I cant stand up with her if I am sitting down. This being said, I cant get her to sleep, I would always rock her to sleep but since I cant stand up while holding her the job of getting her to sleep is up to MiMi. Now back to the part about being outside, 9 out of 10 nights Maeleigh will only go to sleep outside, literally. I will either push her around outside in her stroller and MiMi will get her out and put her in her bed or MiMi will rock her or swing her on the back porch until she goes to sleep. I think it is so nice that she loves to be outside, I love to be outside too. Even when she was a little baby and was crying if you walked outside she would stop crying almost instantly. She is definitely my little outdoor baby :) I guess Daddy is going to have to put a swing up at our house so that when I am fully recovered and we go home I can stroll her, rock her or swing her to sleep. 

Like always, I don't think I left anything new out but if I did I will include it in the next post. We hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend, even though it is supposed to start raining tonight : /  blah. My little outdoor baby is not going to like all of this rain coming in.