Hartley Caroline!

you are twenty months old!

This is the perfect picture to describe you at this time...

I know one day you're going to ask "Momma, what was I like when I was little?" This is what I will tell you..

You are into everything..

Trash is one of your favorite words. As soon as we change your diaper, "trash?" You like to help throw away your disposables. You also bring me bits of paper or anything actually.. "trash?" Most of the time you're right. But I'm pretty sure you threw my Hobby Lobby gift card that had $4 on it. That's a lot of money to me. :)

You love helping me cook! I'm glad because I can actually get dinner on the table as soon as Daddy gets home! You have also started setting the table... haha.

What aggravates me the most, is that you get into everything. Everything.

You especially enjoy finding my wallet and pulling out every card. This is how my HobLob gift card went missing...

You love coloring.. on yourself. (check out the PEN marks on your belly)

You love jumping on our bed!

As with everything else you get into, you got into some lipstick in the above picture. At least you keep it contained to the mouth area. And you like talking on the phone or taking pictures with phones (cheeeeese!).

You are obsessed with getting the mail. It used to be shoes. But now it's "meal? meal? meal?!" One evening, Daddy was tinkering in the garage and we checked on him. You started heading out of the garage and he asked where you were going. "Meal." Duh, Daddy.

You also beg to get in Daddy's truck.

You like making fish faces. And you've started puckering for kisses.. especially when you kiss yourself in the mirror.

You're going to be a gymnast. You love when Daddy swings you around.

It scares me.

You're not going to be the baby cousin anymore (Baby Luke will be here in a few months). You love babies and you will love him! There's a little boy at church named Bear and you talk about him all the time.

You make us laugh all the time. You make funny faces and funny noises. You copy everything we say and do. You're getting so good at repeating words!

Your top favorite words are: trash, mail (meal), door, and poopoo. You say "I poopoo" all the time.

You ask for cheese and raisins (ree rees) at all meals.

You have 14 teeth! Those top canines came in during the past week. And you like to bite us.

You love going to Mema's! As soon as we get there you say "Fish! Nana? (Anna). Saiah? (Isaiah)." And then you head to ride the toy tractor or to the trampoline. We were at Walmart last week and you saw a little black boy. You kept saying "Saiah?!" You talk about him all the time!

You are growing and learning everyday! It's amazing! Your vocabulary is exploding! Daddy and I love hearing all your new words. I especially enjoy it when you say Marshall! Haha. There are times when I get so frustrated with you because you get into everything, but I know it's part of this stage and one day you're not going to be my little toddler.

We love you, Hartley!

potty training book

We haven't made any progress with potty training. Boo. But Hartley has becoming extremely interested in a very old, very worn book from Marshall's childhood.

Once Upon a Potty. Before Hartley was born, Marshall's mom sent over some of his belongings from when he was a baby. Cards he received. Lists of every.single.gift. And check marks noting which gifts had thank you notes sent.

I was a little confused when I first read the book. I laughed. I even wondered who would actually read this to their kids??

It talks about anatomy. And Hartley's favorite part- the bottom.

Hartley recently realized the dogs have bottoms. She likes to lift their tails and laugh at it, saying "poopoo!" No, there's not any poopoo dangling..

H has become really interested in this book, though. I heard her earlier, while looking at the bottom picture, laughing and saying "poopoo!" Like she does with the dogs.

If you're interested in the book.. guess what. It's still published. You can get it on amazon. And there's even a version for girls.

Happy Poopoo training!

labor day weekend

Momma and Jim came over the weekend to see the favorite grandbaby, of course..

H sitting with Jim, saying "cheese!"

We finally used the new patio set and braved the heat, gnats, mosquitoes and flies. I'm thinking about putting up sheers to keep out the pests- how purdy would that be!

Although it was a short trip, Hartley enjoyed visiting with her Grandmommie "Wibby." Wibby learned how to read every book and all the sounds dogs make. And Jim learned how to color. 

When H was only 3 months old, she got a picture with Wibby on the front steps. Back in April, we happened to get similar pictures so I've continued the pose..

Hartley never smiles for these shots though..

There's that Bulldog cheese-grin!!

Momma and Jim left Sunday afternoon and H and I napped while Marshall got called-in to work for hours.

We finally relaxed on Monday with a cold trip to Splash and Hartley took a good 3-hour nap! We spent the evening looking through magazines and pulling out inspirations/ideas for our future home- ya know, what we all did before pinterest started...

orderliness.

I've slowly realized I let myself go.

Before having Hartley, I vowed to myself that I wouldn't have toys strewn across my home.

I wouldn't have crayon and pen marks on walls and upholstery.

Toys would be kept in bedrooms and returned to bedrooms once finished playing with.

I would have a clean house.

Instead, I have a little one that rearranges everything constantly. Contact solution belongs in the dogs' water bowl. Shoes belong in the bathtub. Pepper and every other item from the pantry continuously find their way to the living room.

There were once 26 magnetic letters and 10 numbers. I have no idea where 90% of them are.. if that.

There's a place for everything and everything in it's place - all according to where Hartley believes things should go.

At least she's cute and sweet and funny.

19 months

Hartley Caroline

you are nineteen months old!

• We took the paci away. Finally. And it's like your vocabulary has exploded! Not sure if there's a correlation, but it's surprising how many new words you say on a daily basis. And you repeat everything we say! You've most recently started combining words. Like Bye. Shoos. Bow. Which means "Let's get outta here! Let me put some shoes on and get a bow in my hair!" Another cute one was Bible. Read? You also tell me what belongs to whom. A lot of things belong to Hah-ee...

• Some of your most recent favorite words include: more, rash (trash), gasses (glasses), eyes, bed, ride, Madmad (Maddie), bowl, mee! (mail), car, book, read, nack (snack).
• Your favorite song is "Row Your Boat" except the only words you know are row, row, row. You "paddle" your arms and request the song all the time. And playing "Ring around the Rosie."

• You love books! This week you wanted to get on the couch and read, so I helped you get up. Once you got situated with your book, you patted the couch, telling me to sit down with you. It was pretty cute.

• Please stop saying "NO!" And especially with that attitude.
• Potty training is going very slowly. You tell us when you're peeing in your diaper (or just after) by saying "sss." You haven't peed on the potty in forever! But you have pooped in the potty because I see the poop face happening and hurry you to the potty. Much easier than cleaning mushed poop in a diaper.

• It's like every other day you're nice. I haven't figured it out, but one day you are as sweet as you can be and the next you hate me and whine, whine, whine.
• You have 12 teeth and those top canines are on the way. You gnaw on your fingers a lot.

• You got your hair cut and it looks so much better! You look like a little girl now. You even call yourself a "gul."

It's true. You are a little girl. You have so much personality, sometimes it's too much.. but you are mostly sweet. You're very daring, too..

We sing, dance and read all day. You've really gotten interested in coloring, which is what you're begging me and Daddy to do right now...

**After reviewing this later, I would like to note that my child does not like to wear clothes anymore. She tugs at shirts until they are removed and we may or may not have duct taped her diaper on before.. **

 So excited about my new dress from Ms. Laura!

 Cheese!

so long sweet mullet

 The before.

   The cut.

 

 The distraction (raisins).

 The after.

 The little girl.