Ok, time for me to admit...I've been horrible about sending pictures.  I have actually been horrible about taking any the last few weeks.  There are simply not enough hours in my days anymore.

 

Shelby's doing great, growing by leaps and bounds!  She'll be 16 months next week.  She's running around like crazy, of course, she's had more busted lips than I thought possible.  Poor thing, she still doesn't get that she needs to put her hands out before her face hits the ground.  She's not saying a ton of words, but she knows more signs than we thought.  This morning at breakfast, we were looking at her sign language cheat sheet and I was amazed at how many signs she can do on command.  She knows the sign for dad, and I swear every time I take her out, she's looking for her dad.  She's still my little buddy.  Today I left for 20 minutes to run to the mail box, and I could hear the poor kid crying inside when I got home.  She's very attached to me - my mom says that Daniel didn't cut the cord good enough when she was born.

 

This week, she's tall enough to stand on a chair next to me in the kitchen.  After dinner, we made a lasagna for tomorrow -- I was able to stand her on a chair and she could watch exactly what I was doing.  She's been cooking right along side of me this week.  Yesterday, it was a handful of gold fish in her pot.  Today, we put about 5 big sprinkles in there and she had a blast!   I'm feel like I can finally get back some kitchen time we've all been missing.  Eventually I'll get some pictures of us in the kitchen, but it's been a lot of me and her while Daniel is working, so my "messy-ways" and her "toddler" ways keep my hands quite full!

 

Ever had a sour patch candy?  She's like that a lot, too.  When I'm in the kitchen, she'll run up behind me and hug my legs and grunt -- that's a "tight, tight hug".  But with every hug, I'm always a little worried she may try to bite!  I don't know where she learned to bite, pinch and hit, but when she's not happy, those things just may pop out!  She may just turn into a little firecracker one day, very, very soon!  Of course, she's sweet too.  Especially after a bath, she'll grab my cheeks in her little hands and just plant a big kiss on me, then a big hug.  I try to remember those sweet moments when I'm examining my most recent bruises as a result of the bites.  :)

 

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!  Know that we'll be hanging out and enjoying her as much as we can!

 

Hugs!