Sawyer Grace at 1.5 Years Old!

She's 18 months old!!! AHH! Can't believe it. She'll only be 20 months when baby brother arrives so time feels like it is passing very quickly now!!

Here's a little recap of the last month :)

Sawyer cracks us up while any football game is on the TV - she yells "ball" over and over and holds out her hands as if we are supposed to go into the TV, retrieve the football for her, and hand it over.

• She does the same thing with babies…when she sees one or hears one crying she says, "baby" all sweet and holds out her hand to hold them.
• Sawyer has hit an all-time attachment-high to her momma. She wants me to hold her if possible and will not go to anyone else without a struggle if I am around. It's sweet, but also tiring. ;) She doesn't do it at home if it's just the two of us, only if someone else is around. Casey drops her off in the nursery because if I do it, she will, without a doubt, cry!
• Sawyer has finally started wearing clothes for her age… she is in size 3 diapers and 18 month clothes! She wears a 4 or 5 shoe, just depending on the shoe.
• She is 32 inches tall (we measured her on her growth chart in her room on her 18 month birthday)…I'm guessing she's still around 21 pounds.
• She has 16 big ole teeth. Haha.
• Sawyer identifies her…mouth, teeth, nose, eyes, ears, hair, belly button, toes, shoes, and hair bow. She is also kind of obsessed with my belly button and constantly tries to lift my shirt to poke it…maybe because it is sticking way out there these days…haha!
• Sawyer is a dancer! The girl loves to get down to some good tunes. ;)
• We kind of slacked on potty training because she got sick, but she knows to go get on the potty when she needs to "poo poo" and will sit on it with her clothes on. Haha. Also, if it's not around, she'll tell us afterwards that she went. She will even run to her room for her diaper to be changed.
• Sawyer gives her babies kisses and gives momma & daddy kisses too. While we were at the cabin she even gave her cousin Caleb a kiss! ;) She likes to hug and gives other little boys and girls hugs when told to :)
• Sawyer is still obsessed with Elmo and finds him and has 2 favorite books with Elmo in them. She can point to dogs, balls, and other objects in the books that she knows, too. She will sometimes point to a man and say "da da!" haha. 
• If I talk about Casey to someone when she is around she will say "da da" even though I have said "Casey." Smart girl! She has no idea that I have a name other than "momma" though ;)
• Sawyer's bedtime is 8pm-8am and usually (unless sick) she sleeps really well for those 12 hours plus a 2 or 3 hour nap around 11am-2pm. 
• Sawyer loves to carry things around in buckets or bags…one of her favorite toys is a little bucket full of shapes that she takes around the house. She also likes the new alphabet magnets on the side of the fridge!
• Sawyer says over 30 words now and learns a new one close to everyday. We are definitely in the "vocabulary boom!"

Sawyer's current words:

1. momma - her most used word next to…

2. NO!

3. dada

4. Lucy

5. dog

6. Elmo

7. baby

8. bottle (sounds like bobble)

9. outside

10. uh oh

11. thank you

12. meow

13. door

14. ow

15. woah!

16. weeee

17. poo poo

18. hi

19. bye bye

20. Poppy

21. Mimi (she's only said it around me a few times, but she can say it)

22. ball (still a favorite;)

23. boo!

24. bo bo (but she's talking about her belly button…haha)

25. bow (for her hair:)

26. go

27. keys

28. banana

29. cheese

30. shoes

31. book

My sweet girl on the first "cool" Fall morning…taking her baby doll for a stroll. :)

 

 Princess in her tutu about to go to church! :)

 And she always falls asleep on the way home from church ;)

Haha, she's wiped out after running errands with Momma & G-Momma on Mondays!

Grocery shopping :)

Cutie during dinner :)

 

 Showing off her new (to us!) shoes!

 Feeding ducks with momma & daddy!

 

 

Great Grandmother babysat her one morning and pulled her around in this cute little wagon!

 Friday Night Football with Daddy! :) She danced and clapped as the band played. :)

Plano Balloon Festival!!

 

 

 

Poor sick baby…

Checking out the pumpkins at North Park

 

Fun at Harry Meyers Park!

 

 1st pony tail in the back :)

Cabin Trip with the Coats/Carroll Clan!

Our 5th annual trip and Sawyer's 2nd!

  

 

 Cousins- they are only 10 weeks apart!

 Coloring!

 Running around on the cabin porch :)

 

 Duck face;)

 Cousin Love!! :)

 

And then they fell down hugging, so cute!!!

 

Our family pic, haha :) 

 

Little Streaker! Haha!

Happy 18 months to my sweet baby girl!! :)

(these were taken the day of…on October 14th)

Baby #2: Weeks 26, 27, 28, & 29!

Yep, I know, I'm a whole month behind, but I refuse to give up ;) Here are weeks 26-29 of my pregnancy with….

Dayton Lee Coats

Week 26

Baby Changes: The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. And he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

Best moment this week: Lots of good moments this week: 1) I came home from my internship this week and Casey had painted the nursery!! YAY! 2) Going to Rachel's baby shower this week and seeing her open up cute little boy presents:) 3) Going to Jill's shower for baby Julia from Ethiopia! 4) Starting my weekly women's Bible Study from Beth Moore over James!

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: This boy is a little kicker for sure.

Food cravings: I crave caffeine like a crazy person.

What I am looking forward to: ordering the crib!

Symptoms: relentless back pain. :(

Week 27

Baby Changes: This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

Best moment this week: Several good moments this week again… :) 1) Plano Balloon Festival with Sawyer & Casey! 2) Laura's bridal shower with my mom and friends! 3) Getting fabric for the glider & ottoman with my mom, Sawyer, Ginni, & Mathis :)

Gender: Boy :)

Movement: I'm growing a soccer player or a boxer in my belly.

Food cravings: Starbucks, Dr Pepper, McDonalds iced mochas…chocolate ;)

What I am looking forward to: we ordered the crib and are waiting to get it in the mail!!

Symptoms: back pain to the max.

Week 28

Baby Changes: By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Best moment this week: I got a prenatal massage from my friend Kristen!! It was amazing and really helped with the back pain ;) Casey preached, and we also got to see Mathis dedicated at church.

Gender: Boy! We officially decided on the name DAYTON LEE COATS ;)

Movement: Dayton is a mover! I think he likes sitting on my bladder, too. ;)

Food cravings: caffeine and chocolate

What I am looking forward to: putting the crib together!!

Symptoms: acid reflux is hitting an all-time high…TUMS are still by my bed and still having some back pain.

Week 29

Baby Changes: Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Best moment this week: Casey put the crib together!! YAY! We also went away with Casey's fam for the weekend for our 5th annual cabin trip in Oklahoma - we always have a fun time:) On Monday Casey took the day off and we cleaned out the garage and part of Dayton's closet…still a lot more to go in there, though! BUT while cleaning out the garage I found our engagement video that I had lost 5 1/2 years ago!!! We watched it and I cried. :)  I also had my 28 week appt this week and heard Dayton's heart beat at 138 BPM and my BP was 100/60 (still good!). I gained 7 lbs this month, oops! Overall gained 17 lbs for the pregnancy now weighing 134 lbs. 

Gender: Boy! Dayton Lee

Movement: This baby boy wants to keep me awake at night and definitely lets me know when it's morning…I lay on my side and hug a pillow and can actually feel him kicking the pillow! Haha. 

Food cravings: like I've said many times before, Starbucks, Dr Pepper, etc. Wish I didn't!

What I am looking forward to: continuing to work on the nursery…we're slowly making progress :) Also, I am getting a fancy 3D/4D sonogram at La Bella Belly on Saturday - a gift from Casey's parents! YAY! :)

Symptoms: back pain & acid reflux

Here is my 29 week belly pic…I didn't take one for weeks 26-28. Oops!

:::Sawyer Sayings:::

This is just a little tidbit of information, but it's funny enough {to me anyway} to document!

Last night Sawyer was up on and off talking in her crib and at one point she just yelled out "Elmo!!!" While I was annoyed that she kept waking me up {it was around 3am} while I'm trying to sleep {and pregnancy sleep isn't so great anyway} Casey & I still laughed out loud becuase that's just too darn cute and funny.

I know for a fact one day I will miss the random ramblings of toddlers in my home. For now, I am going to embrace it, even though it often comes wtih a very severe sleep deficiency. ;)

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Another cute & funny thing that Sawyer does right now is get out a "boo" {book} and read it to us. She has a favorite book about Elmo & Grover that my mom got her and she points them out and says "Elmo" {she calls them both Elmo so right now I refer to Grover as the blue Elmo, haha} although the way she says Elmo actually sounds more like "Welmo" or "Welbo." Some people might even think she is saying "elbow," haha! She also points out "baby," "dog," or "meow" {for cat}. Other than pointing out the objects and words that she knows she just rambles on and "reads" to us. It's super cute and I love that she likes books, or in her words, "boos."

Balloon Fest!

Last weekend Casey & I decided to take Sawyer to the Plano Balloon Festival on Saturday night! Casey & I both grew up going to the balloon festivals that use to be held at Pascall Park in Mesquite. I loved it as a little girl and Casey enjoyed it too and we hadn't been to see hot air balloons since so we were pretty excited ourselves! We got there right at take off so many of my pictures are of the hot air balloons right in front of us! Sawyer definitely wondered what those "balls" were in the sky! Everything round is a ball to her :) At dusk the hot air balloons came back and did a "glow" on the ground which was really pretty! I don't ever remember seeing the balloons glow before although my mom says I did. Here are some pictures of our fun evening :)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Balloon Glow!

Now with Instagram...

  

 

  

It was a fun family day :)

Sawyer's Swim Lessons

I'm a couple of months behind on this post, but I wanted to make sure I got it in there because it was kind of significant in the life of Sawyer! 

Sawyer had swim lessons this summer in July and August! She was 15 and 16 months old and that's pretty much as young as you can do them (some people start at 6 months but that's more of teaching a baby how to float in water, not actual swimming). Sawyer learned how to jump into the water and go under, hold her breath, keep her eyes open, turn back around and grab the side of the pool! In case she is every near a pool or water and falls in, the point is to teach them to come back up and grab the side of whatever they just fell off of. Obviously I don't trust that she could save her own life…if anything, swim lessons were just fun for us to do and it got her use to the water! ;) She also learned the correct technique for swimming (on her stomach, chin up, and kicking her legs). We worked a tiny bit on floating on her back, but she was NOT a fan of that so we didn't do it much. We'll try more on that next summer. ;)

It was interesting because a couple of weeks after Sawyer finished her swimming lessons our church had baptism at a big water park in Canton (Splash Kingdom). Sawyer played in the kiddie-pool and would sometimes fall down and have her head under water and wouldn't be phased at all. Before swim lessons that would have freaked her out and she would have cried and wanted to be held. Instead, she would just stand back up and keep on going - playing and splashing and having a ball! It was so fun to see the growth she made in just a couple of months! She loves the water!

I was in the pool with Sawyer during all of her swim lessons (they were private lessons so it was just me, Sawyer, and the instructor). Casey got to come watch 2 times and he videoed and I took some pictures and videoed a couple of times as well. We also got her "graduation" under water picture from the instructor.

Here are some cute pictures of our little water bug! ;)

Here is Sawyer's underwater picture :) I love it!

She's a pro at keeping her eyes opening and holding her breath :)

Can't wait to get her back in the water next summer and see how she likes it! :)