She amazes me...

Every.Single.Day. Be warned, this is a blog post for me to put down some of the things I don't want to forget that Bridget is doing at 18 months. 

Bridget is amazing to me. I can't believe that she's a part of Mike and me some days. She's so smart and seems to learn something new every day. Some of her newest developments:

*She is really grasping ASL now.
*Her favorite show is Signing Time on PBS.  We have all learned so much from it. Animals, family members, manners, food, toys.  It's great!
*She recognizes any letter in sign or print. 
*Same with her numbers to 10. 
*She can count out loud to 13.
*A few days ago, she put together words in sign to make a sentence using no voice.  She said, "Please Daddy cheese" asking Mike to cut her off some cheese.  We were so proud of her!
*She knows most of her body parts and LOVES to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."
*She builds block towers and then laughs maniacally when she knocks them down.
*She still loves to read.
*She helps clean up and put things away.  Her favorite "game" is to get something from Mommy and bring it to Daddy to put away.  We do this often when emptying the dishwasher (Mommy's least favorite chore).
*She repeats pretty much any new word she hears.  Daddy has had to start being REALLY careful with his words.  It has also really made me realize how often I say some things as I now hear them out of her mouth.  Most often heard: "Oh boy!" when she's excited, "mm hmm" (with a higher pitch at the end) in confirmation of anything, and yelling the names of the animals (oops).
*Dancing, singing, laughing, coloring, puzzles, and just learning about life.

There's so much more but I'll leave it at that for now.  I can't believe how much she's grown.  She's such a little girl now and not a baby anymore.  I love it but it's a little bittersweet.

Coming clean

Alright, this here blog has been neglected long enough. It's time for me to just get the big stuff out in the open so I don't feel like I'm hiding things and can get back to my regular posts with random bits of crappiness thrown in. I'm going to work in bullet points because it seems the best way to keep from the total crazy ramblings going on in my head.

*First and foremost, know that we are all healthy. Aside from the random cough/cold/flu type stuff, we're all good.

*Biggest stress right now: our home. We're losing it. There are many, many reasons for this and it's extremely stressful and heartbreaking. Adding to this stress is the fact that we're so up in the air about it all right now. We don't know how long we'll be able to stay in the house before they foreclose on us. We also don't know where we're going to go after they do. HUGE STRESS!

*A very close second stress: money. Isn't it always? As of right now, Mike is the only one in our home working. I resigned from the school district last year as we were planning to move this past summer. That fell through and so I am without a job. *sigh* So now, were in the position of me needing to find a job that makes it worth it for me to go back to work and put Bridget in daycare again. This is NOT easy in today's economy.

Ok, so that's out. There are several other stresses going on but they fall far behind after these two. I'm not posting this for any kind of pity or fix-it solutions, but just to get it out there so that I can move on and start spending my brain power on something a bit more productive than constant worry. *sigh*

And now, just to end on a positive note and because I never did post about Bridget's first trick or treating, here's the best shot I got of her in her costume. Isn't she the cutest butterfly?