Mid-life Crisis

So if you think of us, we'd really appreciate your prayers as we (well, Dave really) are trying to decide what to do next. I only say that because Dave is the one who makes all the money in our household, so it is only fair that he enjoys his next job. Dave's original work contract for us to be in London was a 2-year contract, and although we could probably stay here longer, we are feeling like it is time to move on. We just don't know what that next step is. Honestly. Dave has had several different offers and suggestions (Thank you, God for such a hard-working husband!), and they all have their pros and cons.  And we will definitely tell you when we figure out what our next adventure will be! (So please don't ask us what our future plans are.... we don't know!!)

I thought I'd add this picture in just for fun. We were blessed to have Grandma Wallace come stay with us a week ago when Dave was in Africa. We went to a working farm and Georgia now has a love of sheep.

16 months

This month, Georgia has been an absolute joy. Last month was definitely a phase - not sleeping, challenging, exhausting. This month has been the complete opposite! We had some time at home - a couple weeks between Dave's trips. We decided to do a little sleep training. For a couple nights I fed Georgia less and less milk in the middle of the night when I'd go into her. Then Dave would go in instead of me. Then one night she slept straight until 4am. The next night she slept until 4:30. If she was a good temperature and her diaper was dry, I would try not to go into her at all. One night she cried/sleep-talked for about 30 minutes. That was all. She started sleeping through the night! Its still not every night, but in the last two weeks she has slept through the night probably 9 times and the other nights only woken up once.

Weight: 24.4 pounds (first gain in a while)
Height: 33 inches (above 90%.... hahaha!)

Diapers: size 4... starting to do a little potty training! She has been telling me when she needs a diaper change, so I bought a potty 3 months ago. She hated it until a couple weeks ago, and now everytime she goes into the bathroom she tries to sit on it. So, I'm doing "light" potty training. When she wakes up from a nap or we have a little time, we'll go sit on the potty. The rest of the time she wears diapers. She's peed on the potty 3 times. After Easter I think I might do some more official potty training and see what happens.

Words: imitating/copying words a lot. Not sure how many she's "learning" enough to remember and use appropriately. Some new words are: no, Nathan (uh-uh), "baba" which can mean blueberry, grapes or other fruits, "t" for Uncle Tim, papa for Grandpa, buba for bubbles. She has also learned quite a few animal noises and the names of several animals. Cat is pronounced much better - "at" and she knows cows go "moo" and she can make a monkey noise.

In other news, she has been eating (mostly) gluten-free the last month. She had a patch of eczema that wouldn't clear up for 2 month prior. She was also getting sick all.the.time. (which might be completely normal for a toddler in the wintertime). She wasn't sleeping well. Since going gluten-free, she seems to have more energy (lucky me!), hasn't been sick once, is gaining weight, and started sleeping through the night. I know this doesn't mean for sure she's gluten-intolerant, but I think we will keep her gluten-free for a while longer and then re-introduce gluten one more time to see what the reaction is.

Georgia is becoming a girly-girl. I will often give her choices of clothes to pick out, and most of the time she will pick out whatever is the prettiest or has the most ruffles and sparkles. She loves shoes and will bring them to me throughout the day to put on and take off.

Georgia has been singing a lot lately! And by singing I mean humming. Her favorite songs are Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and If you're Happy and You Know It. She asks for these songs throughout the day and knows all the motions. She can hum most of Twinkle Twinkle all by herself and a couple times hits most of the notes!

The last thing I should mention is her activity level. She just never stops! (unless she finds a cell phone or laptop!). She goes down the big-girl slide at the park all by herself (the picture above is of the little kid slide). She is starting to run. She loves playing soccer. She can walk all the way to the park by herself (probably 1/3 a mile). She pushes her baby doll in the stroller on walks. She is climbing on top of everything - standing on top of chairs, highchairs, couches, etc. She seems to have no fear and will probably be covered in bruises and scrapes the next few months.