I always take her monthly pictures on time… it’s just getting all the text put together with it that takes me so long. We also only just had her 18-month check-up two days ago, and of course, I wanted to include her statistics!
Height: 31.75 inches (45%)
Weight: 18 pounds 6 ounces (4%)
Head Circumference: 17.75 inches (19%)
Clothing size: 18-month everything. Grandma Gina did bring her some new dresses this month that are size 2T, and they fit perfectly! Size 4 sneakers, and size 5 church shoes. She really doesn’t like her church shoes though… I don’t think she’s worn them for more than an hour because she’s constantly taking them off!
Eye color: Blue.
Hair: The curls are really coming out! For her pictures this month, I just scrunched a little water and conditioner in there and this is what happened! I tried some texturizing spray on her a couple days ago, and that worked even better. I love her curls so much, but right now, her hair is still short enough that she wakes up with the most insane bedhead.
Teeth: 12!!! I can see another one up top just under the gumline, too. It’s been a little bit of a rough month with teething… It breaks my heart to see her cry and not feel like her happy self.
Eating: She’s still eating just about EVERYTHING! She is now obsessed with my homemade muffins and starts asking for one as soon as I put her in the high chair (“Muuuuh muuuuuh”)! She really loves her whole milk, which is so important now, because she officially weaned from nursing a few weeks ago. I was pretty emotional about it, despite knowing that it needed to happen soon, anyway. I just cherish our snuggle time so much! I think she really wasn’t getting much milk at all for a while there before she quit.
Sleep: She’s still a super sleeper. We get about 12 hours at night and a 3-hour nap in the afternoon.
Words: I don’t even think I can list them all, because she basically will try to repeat almost any word you say to her. Her favorite word of all is “baba”, which she uses to mean “baby”, but she recently has started using it to just indicate anything she wants (i.e. she will point to an object and say, “baba!”). Other words include: bye, hi, hello, puppa (puppy), dog, go, mama, dada, diaper, uh-oh, and she even said “Socky” (my parents’ dog’s name) when we visited them!
Favorite things: BABIES! She’s obsessed and pretty much has a monopoly on all the baby dolls in the house. 
She also loves dogs, balloons, books, and riding on her rocking horse. She can even climb on and do it all on her own! Peekaboo is her favorite game.
Dislikes: Getting her face wiped and taking baths! I’m really sad she doesn’t like bath time anymore. She likes to splash in water (don’t let her anywhere near the dog’s bowls!), but she doesn’t like getting washed and rinsed off.
Nicknames: Nellbells, Nels, Nella Bella, Nellie Belly, Nellie, Nella Sunshine.
Milestones, etc.: -In the last few days, she has FINALLY, OFFICIALLY, started WALKING! She is trying to walk everywhere now instead of crawl. I’m so happy and feeling a little relieved that we’ve finally met this milestone!
-If she sees me or Daddy sitting on the floor, she will almost always crawl into our laps. She is our most cuddly little toddler!
-She pretends to “read” books and will babble as she turns the pages.
-She’s gone to nursery at church once, and she was completely fine with it! Michael took her in, and as soon as she saw a baby doll, she was ready to go play. She didn’t even care that he left! It’s nice to have an easy transition to nursery, but it breaks my heart a little that she’s so grown up and doesn’t “need” us there with her.
-The TOILET… she’s obsessed with putting things in it. Ugh. I keep our master bath toilet closed all the time, but it just takes a second for her to walk into the girls’ bathroom and drop something in there.
-I can ask her to say “cheese!” for a photo, and she makes the funniest little grin. I love it.
-She’s getting really good at climbing, and can easily get onto our dining chairs and then up to the table. I’m just crossing my fingers she doesn’t figure out how to get out of the crib like Kaya did at this age!
Dear Nella,
It’s been a little bit of a rougher month for you. You are becoming so independent, and you have your own ideas about everything, so some days, we end up with big tantrums. You’ve had a few timeouts!
You are still my little sunshine girl, though. Your smile melts away any stress or worry from the day. I love you so much, and I love how easy it still is to get you to laugh (you were just rocking in the chair in this picture)!
You have a baby doll with you at all times these days, and you absolutely love looking at pictures of babies, so I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be such an amazing big sister. I can’t wait to see you hold your little sister for the first time. I just know you’re going to be best friends!
Love, Mommy