Shortly after Whitney Paige's first birthday, she started walking with a walking toy. She was so cute, pushing the walker all around our house. It took a couple more weeks after that for her to brave a step on her own. She finally did it and two weeks later, was offcially a toddler. She now owns her first pair of stride rite shoes and never crawls anymore. I must admit, I miss the crawl already. She was the worlds fastest crawler and I loved watching her little self zip around our house. Now, I will get to watch her zip on her toes.
Our baby girl is growing so quickly. She is smart as can be and can sign and say several words! Signing: milk, more, eat, fish, hat, banana, Grandy (my dad taught her that one!), shoes, bird, and more. She says: momma, dada, nana (which was first used for nana, but, we think it's now for Hannah, she says it every morning and points to Hannah's room), Paul, woof, baa, elephant noises, tack-tack (quack quack), milk, Papa! She very clearly, and frequently, says HI! and BYE! She especially loves saying that to strangers. They all seem to get a kick out of her.
She can also do theitsy bitsy spider, both the spider and the rain washing the spider out. She can climb up all of our stairs, on and off of the couch and onto her rocking sheep, where she successfully rocks herself saying baa, baa, baa! She is so animated, too, making the cutest expressions.
She knows her nose, her eyes, teeth, washing hands, moisturizing her tummy (yes, I taught her how to rub in her lotion and it's adorable.)
Life in the Connley house continues to develop, in addition to our little star. Clark's new work schedule is going well, I think he loves his days off with WP and forces his way through the days at the bank. He and Dad recently ran the Air Force Marathon. They are planning to do the half marathon at Disney in January. I have to admit, I am thankful for the plan to only run half, as the training for the full is immense. It was tough to be patient with the training schedule...and often I wasn't too patient.
My work has been so busy, I often feel that I am not doing a great job. I am torn, constantly between the work/life balance. My work is fairly flexible and understanding, but my heart hurts most of the time now days. Monday's are dreadful...it is tough to leave the comforts of Vail court after the weekend with my sweet baby girl. To top it off, it's been a busier year than ever, with several out of town trips. I have had to be away overnight seven or eight times since January, which isn't crazy, really, but it is tough to leave her now. I think there is only one more away trip this year (next week).
Life in the Connley house continues to develop, in addition to our little star. Clark's new work schedule is going well, I think he loves his days off with WP and forces his way through the days at the bank. He and Dad recently ran the Air Force Marathon. They are planning to do the half marathon at Disney in January. I have to admit, I am thankful for the plan to only run half, as the training for the full is immense. It was tough to be patient with the training schedule...and often I wasn't too patient.
My work has been so busy, I often feel that I am not doing a great job. I am torn, constantly between the work/life balance. My work is fairly flexible and understanding, but my heart hurts most of the time now days. Monday's are dreadful...it is tough to leave the comforts of Vail court after the weekend with my sweet baby girl. To top it off, it's been a busier year than ever, with several out of town trips. I have had to be away overnight seven or eight times since January, which isn't crazy, really, but it is tough to leave her now. I think there is only one more away trip this year (next week).
We put our Christmas decorations up this past weekend. It's incredibly early for me to do that--we are actually the first on our street to decorate. One neighbor has Halloween decor up and we have Christmas. It is kind of sad, but I love the decorations so we'll go with it! It felt right, for some reason. I am ready to celebrate all the good and wonderful things-and leave behind some of the not so good and wonderful things. It is amazing that one year can have a host of highs and lows. I know that our lows are not really as low as what many people deal with every day. I have a little ray of sunshine that is brighter than anything that life could throw my way. Even saying that we have had lows when I see her face. How thankful I am to have Whitney Paige as my daughter.
She makes it easy to cherish what is important and to be thankful for all the wonderful gifts I have in my life.
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