Holy cow … I’m not sure how but our baby is a year and a half old! I simply cannot believe it. If you missed her 15 month update, you can see it here. It was over a year ago that I decided to take a parenting leave and took this past school year off from teaching and now that it’s already June, I cannot believe that my year off will be quickly coming to an end in under two months. Needless to say, I’m trying to soak up every single minute while willing time to just slow down please! (If you’re just here for the cute pics, scroll all the way down!)
Juno had her 18 month well check last week and goodness has she grown! She is 31 & 1/2 inches tall and has grown three inches since December! I’m also excited to report that we now have a twenty pounder on our hands … weighing in at 20.4 lbs (with her clothes, shoes and diapers on because she wouldn’t let us get a naked weight at the doctors — ha)! Sweet pea is in the 4th percentile for weight, the 39th percentile for height (hello growth spurt!) and the 16th percentile for her BMI. Juno gets pretty nervous, scared and shy in certain situations (especially recently) so going to the doctor has been really scary for her, but we practiced so much before this appointment and overall she did so much better than the last time we had to go. We had been playing doctor for weeks, reading books about the doctor, talking about it a lot and her lovie giraffe got to come with this time to have a check up too! Over all our sweet girl did so well getting two shots and getting her blood taken for some blood work. After our last experience at the doctor (around 15 months) I left and told Brandon that I was never going to take her to the doctor by myself again. Well, guess what? Because of COVID they are only allowing one parent to come to appoints so I found myself at the doctor by myself with Juno yet again. But, it went so much better this time around. I’m so proud of this brave girl! We are so blessed and do not take for granted for one second that our girl is healthy and growing and happy.
She is still in size three diapers, but we just moved her up to size four nighttime diapers at night so that she isn’t soaking through her jammies anymore. Juno basically skipped right over 12 months clothes and went straight from 9 months or 6-12 months clothes to 12-18 months or 18 months clothes now. While 9/12 month onesies do fit her, 12 months pants are too short on her after her big growth spurt … she’s just tall and skinny, that beauty of ours. Dresses have become our best friend so far this summer since Juno hates getting changed and dressed so much. With a dress, I can chase her around and quickly slip it over her head and then all we have to worry about are pulling her arms through real quick. No pants, buttons or zippers to deal with! I just bought her a bunch of new dresses since she’s going to be living in them! Juno would still prefer to run around naked with no diaper on and now she knows how to cleverly tell me that she has to go potty, even though it’s all just a ploy to get me to take her diaper off. She actually does like to sit on the potty and has gone a handful of times, but usually she will just sit there for one second and then run around around naked until I can capture her again. June Bug is in size 4 shoes and I think we are going to be in trouble with this one because she LOVES putting on and taking off her shoes all day long. She changes shoes multiple times a day. We may need some bigger closets in our house someday :)
We have a major update to report in the sleep department; although I am scared to even put it down in writing in case I jinx it, but holy moly WE HAVE A SLEEPER!! I know I talked about our progress a few months ago, but goodness within the last month Juno has officially started sleeping. Like I’m talking about napping for 2-3 hours a day and sleeping for ten hours at night. I still can’t believe it. Every morning when I wake up, I can’t believe it’s morning and that she has slept all night. Ha! It has been a L-O-N-G journey, but here we are! (Insert all the praise hands here!) It feels amazing to get a full nights sleep every night. Every once in a while we will have to go in, but I think every time that has happened recently it’s because she has a tooth popping through and then she seems to get right back on track once her little teeth are feeling better. She is even napping so well over at Yaya & Papa’s when she is there multiple a times a week so she finally is letting my sweet mama have a nice break during the day while she is there.
Juno now has 8 teeth and her 9th is ready to come through at any moment. She has four on top, three on the bottom and then her first top molar just came in the other day and I can feel the other top molar on the other side about to come through. Molars are no joke … it’s been a bit of a fussier week, but Juno is a champ! She still loves to eat and is just the best eater you’ll ever see. Her favorite foods right now are eggs, hash browns, noodles and mac n’ cheese, grapes, cherry tomatoes, ranch dressing, cuties or mandarin oranges, asparagus and she will do anything for a fruit snack. We are still staying away from avocado (she has an FPIES allergy to avocado so she throws up pretty bad a few hours after having avocado, but we are hopeful she will grow out of this so we will try this again once she turns 2) and cow’s milk because she does have a mild IgE allergy to dairy, but most dairy she does pretty well so she can have yogurt and most cheeses now. Hooray!
Juno is talking more and more all of the sudden and she continues to learn more signs every day. Her favorite words to say right now are: mom, dada, dog, more, cheese, uh-oh, and she’s really perfecting her “b” words and has started saying bubble, bath, baby, ball, bebo (belly button), and butt. She also just started saying papa and yaya too! She can sign pretty much anything and everything and sometimes I have to go look up what sign she is using because she knows more than I do at this point. Being able to communicate with us through sign language and now that she has started saying more words has helped so much with her strong-willed personality. She knows exactly what she wants at all times and she won’t hesitate to grab your finger and drag you along anywhere and everywhere she wants you to go … that is as long as she knows you well! If she doesn’t know you, then you’ll find her in my arms with a handful of my shirt clenched in her fist and her face snuggled into my neck - oh goodness. It takes quite a while for this little love to warm up, but that’s okay. That’s exactly how I was when I was little too … like mama like daughter I guess!
Some of Juno’s favorite things right now are:
-playing in the water (her water table or splash pad have been big hits)
-gardening and watering the flowers
-sidewalk chalk
-picking and smelling the flowers
-exploring the backyard
-bubbles
-the sandbox at Yaya & Papa’s house
-dogs
-playing with her cousins
-her baby dolls
-dancing
-reading books before bed
Some of Juno’s not so favorite things right now are:
-going to the doctor or anywhere new or unfamiliar
-diaper changes
-baths (these used to be a favorite, but now she wants to get in and out quickly and does not want water to be poured on her head at all)
-teething
-getting ready for bed
-new settings and social situations (sweet pea is so shy until she warms up and feels comfortable)
-not getting her way
We can’t believe our BABY is 18 months old. We love her so stinking much and think she is practically perfect in every way. We thank the Lord for her all day long and we love love love watching her grow and learn every day. Right now I’m looking forward to soaking up all the summer-time, outdoor, family fun while we can. Come August I will be going back to the classroom and Juno will be starting school too! I never thought I’d be returning to work during a pandemic, but that’s what the reality is. While I am excited and ready to go back to work, I know it’s going to be a big adjustment for our family especially while we navigate COVID19 in the midst of all of it. We have Juno signed up for three days of daycare and then my mom will watch her the other two days. I think it will be a great mix of socialization and “school” and special time with her grandma too. I know that the first few weeks of daycare are going to be hard while Juno gets used to it, but I know that she is going to do great and everything will work out. I know that she is going to eventually love going to school and will love being around friends all day. I’m so glad I was able to take this whole year off to be with her — to watch her grow, to spend every day with her, to be more flexible, to be able to be home to put her down for so many of her naps, to spend time with cousins and family on the daily — what a huge blessing it has been. So for now, I’m going to soak up this time with her, enjoy the summer and be present! I wanted to end this post by giving a HUGE thank you to all of my photography family (new and old) because without all of you, taking a year off from teaching wouldn’t have ever been an option! I’m so, so grateful and I’m cherishing every last single second of parenting leave and I’m so grateful for every single session I have had over the past year and that I have scheduled over the next month and half. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
