Get ready for a ton of pictures of our little 1 year old. She is the funniest baby, except the scream she has developed when ever things are not going her way. She says hi, mom, dada, boo, oh, owee(like when you get hurt, not sure how that would be spelled). She plays peek-a-boo, patty cake and thinks Alexis is seriously funny, she walks everywhere and loves to push her new stroller around, hugs and talks to her babies. She is very serious though when people talk to her and intently watches them. She loves to feed herself, but still won't drink from a bottle, straw, every once in awhile a cup. She loves to be outside and doesn't complain about being in a stroller if it means she gets to be outside. Megan loves to get into the bathroom cabinet and Alexis room. Her party was a blast and the weather turned out perfect a bit chilly so Britt started a fire and the kids roasted marsh mellows! Love this baby girl and can't wait to see her grow this next year! We also taught her to hold her little finger up and say one! She claps at everything and waves hi and bye, She will not wave bye to me though and if I am near the door she will cry thinking I am leaving.

Bad

Sometimes I feel bad for Megan. Being the second child I have forgotten things that I should be teaching her. With Alexis she would hold up 1 finger when we asked her how old she was, haven't even thought of that with Megan. We also had her pointing to parts of her body when asked, Megan just started with nose, today. I feel like Megan is still a little baby. I think the difference is Alexis started walking at 9 months and was cruising around at 1, while Megan is just starting to walk. I am repenting and as of today will be educating my youngest child. She does say hi, mom and dada, bampa(grandpa), and bah. This morning she looked at daddy and said "hi dad." So I guess I am not completely slacking, I just like to hold her and hug her tight. She also does most of the actions for patty cake and dances when I sing other songs. Such a silly thing since I have taught and worked with so many kids through the years that I slack on one of my own kids.

What a difference 4 days makes. Today is 1 year from her due date and she is walking all over the place. It is so cute and exciting. She walks about 20 feet without falling and will crawl over to something stand up and do it again. She hasn't figured out how to stand from a sitting or crawl. I just love being a mom! I am in a bit of mourning though that my baby is walking and will be turning one in a week. We are working on going to sleep without nursing down, it is lots harder. I am not done nursing I just need more freedom in the evenings...Britt needs to be able to put her down too.

Alexis has been such a great helper lately and I am doing my best to thank her each time, she is relishing the positive attention. I love that she is self-correcting her behavior now. I am not asking her if that is the right or wrong way as much, so nice! She plays her last soccer game on Saturday, not sure what we will do with her next dance, gymnastics, swimming who knows but I am sure it will be exciting! Alexis is the best at remembering to pray and is always willing to "help" in primary. If one of the assignment chairs isn't occupied when she feels it should be she will ask if she can do it. I love her willingness to serve and want to encourage it as much as possible.

Megan is still not walking full time. She does take a bunch of steps toward something she wants and then sits down to crawl. Crawling is much faster. I consider her a semi-walker, she walks really steady when it suits her. It is funny though when she is unsure of depth, her little face gets a panic look when she doesn't get to something when she thinks she should. Alexis is done with preschool, sadly they didn't have a program because her teacher got sick and is moving to Utah. She has improved so much this year. They do a kindergarten placement test and Alexis scored 88 of 100. Her teacher said that is what they hope kids score leaving kindergarten. We are going to work hard on sight words and start teaching her to read this summer. I am kind of nervous about this because I have never worked with kids past preschool, so kindergarten is a new thing for both of us. Should be a fun summer. We just got back from her reward for learning to control her temper and behave at school, Great Wolf Lodge! We had a blast, fun times!

Playing songs for me! The high chair is the perfect height.

Megan loves to take things out so if I want to keep her busy I just put stuff in a basket or bag and she will entertain herself for awhile.

Alexis is trying to earn money to buy Megan a birthday present. It is so sweet. She already has it picked out and will have to earn 16.99, so she is helping me a lot more. Sadly it does make simple tasks take twice as long, but I welcome the time it gives me to hear the cute things she thinks and says.

This is how we all look right now as I post. I was fixing my memory card and so I snapped some pictures to see if it was working. Get ready for the rare picture of me! Alexis is watching Barbie so Britt is watching a movie on his phone, although he did watch Barbie with her last night. Gotta love the toys all over in the back ground, I have decided it is the mark of children having fun and not a messy house.

Mmmmmm right from the carton.


Cutting banana's and eating whip cream on Mother's day.


We have had so much rainy and chilly weather and Alexis begs everyday to go swimming. If the sun peaks out for even a second then it must be time to swim! So I put some water in the pool and let them play. Alexis actually quit before Megan did.

Fell asleep while I did dishes and cleaned the kitchen up.

First little hair cut by Jaclyn. It was just a tiny bit off the front so that she wasn't looking through the fringe anymore. She didn't want to sit still.

change

Walking! So Megan has been walking, or taking steps while falling for a few weeks, she cruises around the furniture and even walks up and down the hall using the wall but today she would stand up to the couch turn her body and take 3 or 4 steps away before falling, without help. I don't consider her a walker, but she is getting so close it is crazy! I actually can't wait for her to walk I really dislike the crawling stage because their hands are on the floor...eeeeeeeewwwwwwwww! It is very cute though. So I think before she is 1 we will have a walker. She is pretty silly when daddy comes home. Big smiles and laughs, hugs and then she wants to play. She has this weird fear with Grandpa though. I left her with him a while back and she cried the whole time after he took her jacket off and now if he even touches her hand she will force a cry. I am trying really hard not to just pick her up and soothe her. I will sit by her and give her a hug and tell her it is ok but she is going to have to get used to Grandpa being around. I won't however leave her with him alone so that it doesn't make the situation worse. It is really sad though. Megan and Alexis are starting to play together it is really great, although noisier. Sunday night they were playing and Megan fell and put her tooth into her gums again, this time it was right behind her other tooth. After a blessing we felt a lot better and not so worried about her tooth falling out. We don't even think it will discolor. Kids, they make us worry so much!

Last night for Family home evening we told Alexis her birth story. She embraced that we had prayed for a baby to come and that Heavenly Father needed another mommy to grow her for us. When we told her this she said you prayed for me, Alexis Bergman, Yes my sweet girl we wanted you more then anything else! We told her that she slept in her room before she was born. We told her how she didn't hardly cry after she was born and was placed right in my arms and I was able to cut her cord, she then inspected her belly button. I never wanted to let anyone else hold you, but I shared because everyone was so excited to meet you! We told her about going to court and the judge asking us questions and us promising to love her and take care of her. Next we talked to her about the temple and how she got to go inside and upstairs where kids go only when they are given special permission so that they can be sealed to their mom and dad and that Megan won't get to go up there until she is an adult. It was such a spiritual Family Home Evening and she loves having a special story that is just for her. I am sure she will have more questions as time goes on, but for right now she is happy. We also told her that she is our first born daughter and that she had to come to us this special way and that because she came we can now have other kids come to our family and that she has a special job of being the big sister! We are not however telling her anything about the biological parenthood, it is to close and would honestly be detrimental to her right now. One day we will feel the time is right and we will tell her. I just would like to thank everyone who knows and hasn't told Alexis until we felt it was right. I also truly appreciate my friend who was adopted and shared her story with me and helped me understand why it is important to make this a part of who Alexis is instead of dropping this on her when she is older. I love Alexis with all my heart and am so blessed to be her mother.

It was only about 67 and the puget sound was not warm, never is. It makes me cold thinking about them playing in it.