Sydney the Kangaroo & her baby Joey

I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. I don't know where the time goes. Actually, maybe I do, my day consists of chasing, cleaning up, feeding, changing and repeatedly saying "no!" as Sydney climbs up on chairs and uses her arms like windshield wipers to clear whatever may be on the table. Today it was my cup of coffee (luckily no longer hot), a remote, magazines, salt & pepper shaker... I think you get the point :) Bringing her to the store with me is no longer easy. She insists on standing in the cart in order to get down and run. I have about 5-10 minutes until that happens, so most of my errands happen in the evening now, after Geoff gets home. I'm making her out to sound like a monster, but she's really a good baby... or toddler? She still sleeps all night. We put her down around 8pm and she wakes up around 7:30am. She's officially off the baby bottle. I was dreading it, but it really wasn't bad at all. She was having a bottle before her afternoon nap and before bed. I weaned her down to 2 oz. of whole milk and on the day she turned 15 months I ditched the bottle. I now give her a sippy cup of milk before she goes down and read her a few books. She's completely fine with it. It took 1 day. She naps from about 1-4pm. Yeh, I know... I'm lucky. It keeps me sane :)

Sydney got a Dora 'lil Quad for her birthday, but I didn't want to put it together until she was walking steadily. Can you imagine if she went from crawling to driving and completely skipped walking? Luckily we've had a mild fall so she's been able to use it outside quite a bit. She's not a fan of her helmet, but she doesn't have much choice. She doesn't ride long before she's off and running to the neighbors playground or into the road.

Sydney and I went to Critz Farms in Cazenovia and got to see a pumpkin patch along with some goats, ducks, donkeys, bunnies, horses, etc. She loves animals so she certainly enjoyed herself there.

There was also a play area that she had fun on.

Maybe she was more interested in the rocks & dirt than the pumpkins.

Sydney was an adorable kangaroo for Halloween.

She loved the baby Joey that came with it. She's squeezing him in this picture.

I was surprised she didn't seem to mind having the hood up on the costume.

Happy Autumn!

For those of you that live here in CNY you will agree that fall is definitely here. I think that winter is here, actually. Sydney and I miss our summer walks around the block with bare feet and spending our weekends at camp, but thats okay. She's already been tailgating for the SU football games and had fun running around the parking lot and pushing around her baby stroller.

Sydney's new favorite thing is talking on the phone. For at least a month now she'll hold something... anything (it can be a green bean, her cup, toy frying pan, etc.) to her ear and say "o?" which is hello in her language. Within the last few weeks she has started talking on the real phone. She'll jabber away walking around the house not even letting the other person talk at all. Then she'll throw a hissy fit when the phone is taken away. It's pretty funny to watch. She'll even start laughing like the other person just told her something funny. Is she mocking me? Probably. We have a talker on our hands. She can talk for up to an hour before she eventually falls asleep for her nap. Kathy said she thinks she's telling jokes to her stuffed animals and then laughing at them. Its hysterical to hear.

Geoff and I had our first non-family babysitter a few weeks ago. We put her to bed before we left, so it was pretty easy, but the sitter has been back since to watch Sydney while she's awake too. My nervousness is much better now that she's older. As we left Geoff said, "I feel so old... we have a babysitter at our house!" It just doesn't seem that long ago that I was babysitting!

As for other news, my brother Adam and his wife, Tammy, are expecting in March and find out soon what they are having! Geoff's cousin, Bryce, and his wife, Mary, just found out that they are having another boy also. Congrats to them both!

Yes, I have Sydney's Halloween costume - I'll post pictures when I have them.

Cracking up at Dad

She still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!

What are these things and why am I allowed to play with them?

My favorite picture!

Carrying around the mini pumpkin

Corn on the Cob

It's hard to believe how big Sydney is. We looked at some of her old baby photos the other day and had to laugh at how chubby she was. She's completely thinned out now that she's all over the place. I call her my little monkey. She's a very cautious child, but she has no fear when it comes to climbing things. She tries to put her feet into the sink of her kitchen set so she can stand in it, she climbs up slides, and I found her on top of our glass coffee table the other day on all fours.

I can't leave anything out. If I leave the pantry door open she is immediately in it ripping things down. I left the garbage out from under the sink the other day. I heard a little evil giggle and it was way too quiet. I found her digging through the garbage AND she had something in her mouth. I scooped out what looked like carrot. I had just cut some and she found the ends, so it wasn't that bad, but honestly... she sees the refrigerator open for one second and b-lines it to climb inside and pull things out. I'm sure all of you parents are laughing and remembering those days! Here are some of my recent photos:

I love the little curls of hair on the back of her head

Sitting in the sun coming through the window

She loves corn on the cob and it doesn't even have to be cooked! I tried it raw for the first time the other day - it's really sweet! You should try it.

12 month visit to the doctor

On August 5th Sydney went to the pediatrician for her 12-month check-up. She weighed 23 lbs, the same as her 9 month visit, which shocked the doctor. I explained that it's a good thing... she was pretty chunky and is now moving and burning calories. She was 31.2" long, which means she's grown almost 3" taller. So, she's dropped to the 85th percentile for weight and is just above the 95th percentile for height.

She got 3 shots - varivax, hepititus A, and MMR. She didn't cry, again, for her first two shots (still a toughy!), but the MMR shot stings, so she cried after that one. Then the nurse came in to prick her finger for a lead test, which came back fine, but made her cry even harder. She couldn't stand the band-aid on her finger and managed to bite it off shortly after it was put on.

About 3 days after her shots she had a fever of 102.2, which lasted a couple of days, and then she had a minor rash on her back, belly and a little on her neck. She also lost her appetite and just wasn't herself. The doctor said that she could have some reactions from the shots for up to 2 weeks. She seems to be better now.

We went to Saratoga for our annual family visit with friends the weekend of August 8-9. We stayed with our friends Joe, Jess and Jack. We had a good time with them at the track and Sydney and Jack got to play together. Sydney was good considering she was sick with a fever and not eating well. Sydney also had her first non-family babysitter when we all went out to dinner. Sydney and Jack were already sleeping, so Joe's cousin, the babysitter, had it pretty easy :)

In this picture you can see the Dora the Explorer band-aid on her arm after the shots :(

Grandma & Grandpa got Sydney a chair for her birthday and she loves sitting and lounging in it.

Sydney loves all of her new birthday toys. Here she's sitting next to her new kitchen set and playing with her tea party set.

She wants to brush her teeth by herself, which is really more like chewing and biting the brush. I try to brush her teeth quickly before she grabs the brush, but she gets mad when you don't let her do it herself.

Playing in her pool in our backyard

She drinks pool water, bath water... pretty much anything that resembles a cup, like this sandpail, becomes her drinking glass.

Floating in Panther Lake at camp

Playing in the sandy shore at camp

Playing squirt guns with Aunt Kristin & Dad

Flying high with Dad

Sydney's 1st Birthday!

Sometimes it's hard to believe it's been a year since Sydney was born and other times, when I look through the thousands of pictures I've taken of her or the days when she's not her best, I think yup, we've been at this for a whole year. I wouldn't trade one day of it though. She's the best thing that has happened to Geoff and me.

We had a birthday party for Sydney up at camp and the weather couldn't have been any better. We managed to squeeze a beautiful day in between two rainy ones. Sydney's a lucky girl to have so many 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins her age. She'll be able to grow up with them and have life-long friends. Here are some pictures from her party:

Lily (2nd cousin) and Sydney

Eating lunch

Lily and Sydney swimming and wading in her baby pool

Grady (2nd cousin) and Sydney

Her enormous birthday cake and believe it or not, there wasn't much left-over. It was a banana split cake. White cake with banana and raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting...mmmm.

Lighting her candles

Excited before digging in!

Mmmm... sugar.

I think she's had enough. She often gets this bitter/sour face when she can't bear to take another bite. Of course, most of what she ate was frosting.

Sharing some frosting with Tyra

Family pic

Riding her new train the next morning

Figuring out how Elmo Live works...

Talking and more talking

Sydney's vocabulary is expanding. She can say mama, dada, bye-bye, tata (Tyra), dat dat (pat, pat - petting the dog), bat bat (backpack), and a few others that are escaping me. She's still shaking her head yes and no also. Her bedtime is creeping to closer to 8:00pm and she wakes up anywhere between 6:30am and 8:00am. I can see 8 teeth now and a few more white spots where more teeth are coming. She's still putting everything in her mouth... and I mean everything! On the up side of that, she eats just about anything I put in front of her. She's pretty much eating food that we eat now. I switched to whole milk last week and she didn't mind at all. She sucked down her bottle and took a 2 hour nap.

Sydney climbs. She's figured out that if she's in the grocery cart, hangs onto the bar in front of her and lifts her leg, she can stand... IN the cart. I turned around in line to find her like this. Pretty scary. The straps on the cart cover don't hold her in either. She now tries to climb out of her stroller too. There was a toy drum in her pack n play she used as a step stool to get out and figured out that if she stands on cans from the pantry she can reach the second shelf to rip things down. Four more days and she'll be 1... how can that be?

Riding her rocking horse... or lamb

Pushing her baby stroller. She uses her stroller as a cart. Notice she has loaded in it a few blocks, her toy remote and, if you look closely, she has also borrowed a spoon that she is pushing around (she nabbed it when I was emptying the dishwasher). I just think it is so funny that she pushes around her favorite things. She's a little person that saw what others do at the grocery store and wants to do it too... or she's on her way to being a bag lady :)

He loves me, he loves me not... she loves plucking off the petals on flowers.

Playing with Sean and Madison in her baby pool.

Cozy & warm with Mom after a swim

Hi!

Driving the boat with Grandma Kent

4th of July Family Pic