Just another hot summer day indoors

It has been soooo incredibly hot this summer that Savannah and I have been spending more time indoors than usual.  I know, it's probably not the most beneficial thing for a rambunctious toddler, but it is seriously HOT!  And I'm not the only one complaining about it.  Whenever Savannah and I have to go outside--let's just say we're going from the grocery store door to the car--she immediately says "hot hot hot".  So it's pretty easy to convince her to play in the house nowadays.  Here are just a few things we do to pass these dog days of summer:

She chats on the phone

 She plays (aka traumatize) with Lilly and Max

She plays hide-and-seek

 She listens to her favorite tunes on the ipod

 She feeds her babies

 She helps mama bake

 And for a brief moment we attempt bubbles in the shade

As much as I love summertime, I can't wait for the cooler days of fall.

Fun Times in South Texas

Savannah and I just returned from spending a week with my family in Harlingen, TX.  They left Spring about 4 months ago so this was our first time going to their new house in a not so new town.  I must say, Harlingen hasn't changed a whole lot in the last 5 years.  

We arrived on Wednesday evening after a very long day of traveling (I sure do miss the one flight to Houston) but Savannah actually took a nap on one of the planes so she was super excited and wide awake when Grams and Grandad met us at the airport.  As always, she ran right up to Grams and surprisingly she even ran up to Grandad---the effects of Skype are amazing!  We stayed up way past bedtime because of all the excitement but that didn't stop her from waking up early.  In fact, she stayed up way too late every night and still managed to wake up early every day.  I think she was nervous that she would miss something if she slept while everyone else was still awake.

Moments after arriving and it's already an hour past bedtime. No sign of sleepiness. 

On Thursday afternoon my grandmother and Uncle Chuck drove down from Kerrville to spend a few days with us and go the Island for the weekend.  My parents had rented a house on South Padre so we all crammed in for a cozy beach weekend.  Even Uncle Harlan, Mark and their 2 dogs met us down there.  We all had such a great time relaxing at the house, playing in the ocean, and making sand castles.  It was definitely hot so when Savannah started waving to the ocean and putting her shoes on, we knew it was time to head inside for lunch and a nap.  

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the beach:

Savannah and Grandad playing around the first morning.

the whole family, except me, out in the ocean 

me and my hot little girl

"Is anyone going to help me with my digging?!"

Savannah, Uncle Harlan, and Maya

She loved her umbrella as long as it wasn't attached to her chair.

water break

digging with Grams

building sand castles

Her first time taking Buster for a walk

The boys drove back to Houston on Sunday and Granny and Uncle Chuck left early Monday.  That left Savannah, Grams, Grandad, and I to hang out in Harlingen for our last couple of days.  Savannah had such a great time playing outside (until it got too hot), playing with new and different toys, and getting into lots of things that she shouldn't have.  While at the grandparent's house, there aren't too many rules so she definitely gets spoiled rotten.  I think she made it all the way to the last night before she got into any real trouble.  After a pop from Grams (for trying to hurt Buster), Savannah finally gave Grams a "no no no" while shaking her finger.  Considering that I get that daily from her at home, it was surprising that 7 days passed before she did it there.  Like I said, not a lot of rules over there.  And here's a first for the record books: my mom has had the same glass-topped coffee table for my whole life.  It has made it through me and my brothers, cousins, and cousins kids.  The first grandchild comes along and after repeated attempts to climb on top of it and repeated scoldings, Grams had to remove the glass.  So with the glass gone Savannah used it like a new playhouse.  One day I took her swimsuit off after playing outside, she came running in the house, climbed into the coffee table, and as she says "go potty" inside of it.  If it had been my house I probably would have freaked out but since it wasn't, I laughed hysterically.  That girl of mine is just too much!  

Here are some other pictures from our time in Harlingen:

Grams and Grandad don't have a real pool yet but this one worked fine while we were there. 

it's one of the best kiddie pools I've ever seen

Savannah with Grandad

Savannah with Uncle Chuck and Granny

Her new favorite chore--helping Grams water the flowers.

They also have a hot tub but it's more like a cool tub since they keep the temps low. 

She kept pointing and saying "pool" at the hot tub. Notice that she took her jammies off so I think she wants to get in. 

"No pool, fine then. I'll just help Grams with the water hose."

And now the diaper is off. FYI this is only allowed at the grandparents house.

Bath time

the little diva

One of her new favorite things is to ride in Grandad's truck. She has an obsession with trucks.

Another walk for Buster.  It starts out nice.....

...but very quickly went down hill.  Poor Buster!

Buster playing dead while Savannah is trying to kick him out of his bed.

Cool tub fun!

She filled her watering can with rocks so she had trouble dragging it around the yard.

Getting ready for bed with Grandad.

Savannah and I were both sad to leave Grams and Grandad but luckily we will be seeing them next month when we meet up with them in Dallas en route to San Diego.  Thanks Grams and Grandad for having us!!  We sure did have a lot of fun!!

Savannah turns 20 Months!!!

It's official....Savannah is out of the teen months and is now the big 2-0, as in 20 months!!!  Just 4 short months until she turns 2---yikes!  I thought turning 1 was going to be the difficult one for me but this birthday has me just as anxious.  Oh well, I'll continue to cope with that over the next 4 months.  

My Sweet Savannah Grace at 20 Months

 She's really beginning to look and act like a big girl and not just because of the sudden growth spurt in hair; although, it definitely makes her look less like a baby (something I am less than thrilled about).  At 20 months Savannah's favorite things to do, see, say, eat, and play are as follows:
~She loves pretend play.  She is always carrying or pushing one or all of her baby dolls around the house.  She even has one that she bathes in the shower.  She also loves to pretend to cook.  Her favorite being hotdogs on the grill.  She also loves to dress up with her fancy jewels and lots of her hair bows (so happy she's becoming a girly-girl).

~She loves exploring and getting into any and everything.  Wether she's digging for treasure or going through cabinets, she always needs to know what is in, under, behind, and inside everything.  

~She loves creative arts: drawing, finger painting, coloring, play do, stamps, and stickers.  Since Uncle Michael has been away we now have a good reason to get messy more often.  I sure hope he appreciates all the pictures we mail him.

~No, she's not working on potty-training yet but she likes to "go potty".  At anytime throughout the day she'll want to just sit on the potty with her clothes on or off.  I'm hoping since she already has good feelings about the potty then maybe she'll be easily trained, but I may just have wishful thinking :)

~She has an obsession with shoes--my shoes, her shoes, Oscar's shoes, anyone's shoes.  And she's even able to put her shoes on by herself and sometimes they're even on the right feet.  

~She is now fully able to walk up and down our stairs alone.  She accomplished going up quite a while ago but going down has always been tricky because our stairs are so steep.  She now refuses to have any help going in either direction but we often try to discreetly spot her just in case.  

~I have noticed that her aggressive behaviors towards other children don't occur as often as they did a couple of months ago.  The ladies in the gym nursery say that she hasn't hit or pushed another child in quite a while.  

~She experienced her first ear infection (see prior post) and she handled it better than I ever did when I was little.  In fact, I never even knew she had it until the doctor examined her.  She gets more upset about her skinned up knee, which she got 2 days before she first complained about it.  Now whenever she looks at it, she grabs my hand and wants me to rub it until she forgets about it and moves on to something else.  

Notice the tiny skinned up knee. And yes, she's sitting in her baby's stroller.

~She is becoming quite the little monkey.  Savannah loves to repeat most everything I do.  After our morning shower when I brush my hair, she brushes her hair and then her baby's hair.  I put on lotion, so does Savannah and baby.  I brush my teeth, so does Savannah and baby, etc... Also, she loves to follow me around the house while I'm cleaning and her favorite thing right now is the vacuum.  I can't wait until she can really clean all by herself :)  

She may be copying the face I make while cleaning.

~Her favorite phrase for the month is "no, no, no!" while shaking her index finger at you.  If it wasn't so cute it would be very annoying.  Oscar and I have been wondering where she got that from until I noticed myself repeatedly saying "no, no, no" to her (always 3 times, never just once).  But we're still trying to figure out the finger thing.

And of course, there are always the not so pleasant things going on this month:

~She is becoming more and more difficult with diaper and clothing changing.  It's not uncommon for her to escape from me and run around her room bottomless.

~She's not the best dinner companion.  We have often been "those parents" with "that child" while eating out in restaurants.  I'm starting to think our dinners out as a family will become few and far between.  She's also not an adventurous eater.  Foods she once enjoyed, she rarely touches now and I often can't keep new foods on her plate for more than a second before she puts in back on my plate.  I always feared that I would have a picky eater (that must be Oscar's genes at work).  

when all else fails, the s&p shakers will amuse her for a short amount of time

~She really is becoming much too big for me to hold all the time which is causing way too many tantrums from her.  I had a 90 minute massage last week and the masseuse spent most of that time on just my lower back due to all the spasms it has been having lately.  Just so you know, she now weighs 26 lbs 12 oz.  I only gained 23 lbs while pregnant so I'm now amazed that I was even able to run with all that extra weight.  I get exhausted just walking up the stairs while holding her now.


And here are just a few random pictures from the past month that make me smile:

If you only knew how many of her dolls and animals she is sitting on inside her car--sooo funny!

say "cheese"

silly face

check out those tan lines

I sure do love my sassy, sweet, and spunky Savannah!!!  If only I could keep you this age forever.