18 Month Stats

Last weekend Calla hit 18 months already. This week we went in for shots and then in for her checkup. She weighs 19.3 lbs and that puts her in the 3rd percentile. She is 30 inches tall and that puts her in the 10th percentile. She is little, but I am not tall so they don't expect her to be huge at any point. Dr. thought she looked great in everything else!
She continues to be amazing! She now can tell you what sound an owl makes and also a snake. We read, and read, and read, and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?; Polar Bear, Polar Bear; Baby Bear, Baby Bear; and Panda Bear, Panda Bear! She loves these books and loves telling us what sound each animal makes!
She can say about 25-30 different words and understands many more then that. It is also fun for her to repeat things you ask her to say. Elmo is a favorite of hers now too! We really have not exposed her to many Sesame Street things, but at daycare they enjoy it and so now when she spots Elmo she yells out his name. We found an Elmo at Wal-Mart and bought it so she has carried him around since we got him home!
We are just hanging out as a family this Holiday weekend. We had a garage sale at church today and did well there. Tomorrow we have a picnic in the evening and are hoping to find some water to play in before that! On Monday I think we are going to GI to go shopping and play some disc golf. Tuesday my new class starts and I am excited to see what this year brings in the life of 3, 4, and 5 year olds!
We hope that you continue to be well. If you have a minute visit Gavin's site and leave some encouraging words for my friend Gina. She is really missing her Mother and could use some encouragement in her day.
Enjoy the new pics!

Going "night, night" on her Dora couch with her pillow.

At the races with Great Grandpa Marvin!

Chillin at the park!

Watching the dogs swim in the pool. (It was a fund raiser for the Humane Society)

On the front porch.

I did it!!!

Just a quick update about myself. This morning, I ran in my first 5k race. I finished at 37 minutes and 29 seconds! When practicing, I would run about 40 minutes or a little more, so my goal was to do it under 40 minutes.
I have not really talked about my running on here much. I started the Couch to 5k program at the beginning of June. When I first started, I ran 5 days a week. Now I have cut down to 3 or 4 days. I have also added water aerobics, biking, walking, and yoga ball exercises to the mix.
It was such a great feeling to know that I can run 3.1 miles in one setting! I encourage you to go to www.coolrunning.com to check out their running programs if you are interested!

Knock, Knock...

Yeah...we are still here! Well the last few weeks of summer went too fast, but I am really excited to be back into the the swing of things. All of our staff started back to work this week and it has been great. I have a new, wonderful teacher assistant that I am really excited to work with!!

How about Team USA in all of the Olympics! I don't know about all of you, but we have watched WAY more TV in the last 5 days then we have all summer. Michael Phelps is a-ma-zing! May and Walsh also have a special place in my tv line up!! Oh, and the gymnasts! The runners are still to come...after this summer they have a very special place in my heart!

I do ask for prayers for my friend Gina and her family. Gina's beautiful, funny, kind mother passed away on Sunday. Go to the link to the side, Gavin, to leave them some words of strength.


Calla! She is doing wonderful. She impresses us more everyday. Seriously, every night she does something that is so adorable that we just laugh at and think about how lucky we are to have this beautiful girl in our lives!! Tonight she was playing with this hammer that makes noise when you hit it on something or if you just shake it in the air. She has had this toy since Christmas and has not really played with it, until tonight. She was so intensely looking at it when it would light up and make noises and just shake it more to make it work. We could just see the gears running in her head as she was trying to figure out how it works. She loves to give us kisses and can do the sign for 'love' when you say it to her she will do it...talk about melting a Mommy's heart!

I do have to brag on my little brother a bit too. He got 2nd place in his car race on Monday night in Belleville! Way to go Jedrek!! Hopefully we will make it to McCool this weekend to watch him. This is his first year racing his own car and has just improved a little each week and has gained some very valuable experience along the way.

Thanks for checking in on us. Hopefully the updates are not so far between next time, but no promises.

She looks like a "Toadstool" from Nintendo!!

She loved to sit in the baby swing when we had it out to give to my mom!

She loves to play piano!