18 Months

     18 MONTHS:

• 1 bottle of baby shampoo
• 7 40L bins of baby clothes
• 8 doctor's visits
• 260 loads of laundry
• 546 nights of interrupted sleep (minus maybe like 10)
• 3820 diaper changes
• 5694 photos 
• infinite amount of love

     Yesterday, our little monkey turned 18 months old. 

     Now, I have considered her a toddler for a while... but a baby toddler. ;) I think the general consensus though, is that by 18 months your baby is officially a toddler. There are so many things that remind me every day that she is growing up so quickly. The other night we randomly decided to go to McDonald's since we were out and about at dinner time, and we ordered her her very first own meal. A cheeseburger Happy Meal with chocolate milk. And she even ate most of it. This was very emotional for me for some reason. I guess because she is, like, officially a kid when you have to order her her own meal.
     In the last two months, she has been increasing her vocabulary almost daily. She has well over 40 words by now, I'd say. It is so much easier to communicate with her now (which is great) but at the same time, it's just another one of those things that reminds me that she isn't a baby anymore.
     We are going on vacation next week, and when we come home and are settled back into routine we are planning on taking the rail off her crib. I'm thrilled that she is becoming more independent and learning/ doing new things, but I don't know quite how to describe this feeling I have about her leaving babyhood behind.
     Another sad fact about the 18 month mark is that I am going to have to go back to work now. I rationed my maternity leave money so that I would be able to stay off longer, but sadly, it is almost gone now, and I have a student loan to finish paying off. So back to work I go. Hopefully I will be able to pay it all off before #2 arrives (don't get too excited, there is no #2 yet, we're still in the planning stages), or at least be able to finish paying it with maternity leave money then. The plan right now is to get a waitressing job in the evenings (probably part-time) so Josh can stay home with Laura and we won't have to pay for/ send her to daycare. Wish me luck! (Or just give me $15 grand...) :)
  
Happy 1 1/2 Birthday, Laura!

PS I don't know why Photobucket won't let me add the 17 month caption... also thanks to Josh for helping me embed the slideshow <3