22 Months Old

November 3rd: 22 Months Old

Happy Halloween, y'all!! This month has been so much fun, but has had its toll on my car. I literally abused the gas pump with how frequently we filled up, had two oil changes and one new tire. We have literally been beating the pavement between here and Lexington- visiting family, going to the zoo, and the biggest news of all... BUYING A HOUSE!! It is official. We are under contract for our dream home, and we are scheduled to close November 22nd! Pictures to follow in the November blog!

Best pictures we could get of these two in their Gigi creations!!

Highlights from the Month:

 

- Alyssa and Banks lived with us for 2 weeks!! This tiny little townhouse is full to bursting!

- Richard took her pulmonary boards.

- Halloween fun: Trunk or Treat at ECBC, Fall Festival at Gigi and PopPop's church, and Trick-or-treating.

- Under contract officially on 124 Alston Circle!! Back yard is amazing for our little adventurer.

- Running everywhere!! Learned to climb the climbing wall at the park.

 

Picture Highlights from the Month:

 

 Daddy reading to Blakely. She loves to point to the animals and tell us what sound they make. She thinks bunnies say: "Hop-hop-hop-hop-hop." It is truly adorable.

 These two babies were more like siblings this month than cousins. They played together, ate together, bathed together, lived together. They also became book and animal obsessed! Watch out if they get a hold of an animal book!

Starting to play appropriately with her kitchen. She puts the oven mitt on to handle pots and pans, stirs and tastes the food and loves to load up her grocery cart and stroll the "aisles."

 Watch out y'all!! Blue light special on aisle 5!!

 Trunk-or-treat with Daddy at ECBC

 A little blurry, but it is so rare to catch that smile these days!! She is happiest, giggliest little girl, but the minute the camera comes out she refuses to smile!

 Our little China Doll

 We have finally figures out how to get these two to sit still together... hand them a pumpkin! Best photo shoot we have ever had together!!! Will be trying presents at Christmas!

 P.S. Banks is hamburger. HAHAHAHAAH! So cute and hilarious!

 Trick-or-treating with Gigi and PopPop

 Gigi monogrammed little candy bags for the kids!!

 First stop, Papa C and Mama C's house. Blakely was brave at first, and I even taught her how to say "treat!"

 

 Was sad to put away this costume. Blakely looked so cute in it!! Will definitely be saving this one for Katy Ellis!!

21 Months Old

October 3rd: 21 Months Old

September was a little on the crazy side for the extended Tober family!! Lots of packing, lots of moving, lots of major changes!!

September 15th- Mom and Dad sell their Charleston townhouse in 3 hours.
September 19th- Alyssa and Matt close on their house in Charleston.
September 20th- The Cogdill's close on their NEW HOME in Lexington.
September 23rd- Alyssa and Banks move in with Gigi at her Townhouse (because Alyssa's job in Charleston was not going to be over until October 11th).
September 24th- Mom and Dad find out that their buyer need possession in 5 days!!
September 25th-27th- Moving and Chaos at Gigi and PopPop's house.... Alyssa and Banks move in the the Monk crew!

So crazy, but so worth it! Can hardly wait until we are all living back in the same town again!!!

Highlights from the Month:
- Total word explosion!! There is nothing Blakely won't attempt to say!! She is even starting to string 2-3 words together into little sentences.
- Blakely says "Mom" whenever she is in distress.
- Banks and Blakely are best friends!
- Finally beautiful outside and not raining. Really got to enjoy the outdoors with our girl.
- Daily adventures to the park.
- Loves pirates! Can say "Yo-ho-ho" "oh coconuts" and "hook!"
- Getting really good with a spoon and fork. Prefers to eat like a "big girl!"

Picture Highlights from the month:

One morning, Blakely got up early so we decided to let our hard working Daddy sleep-in, and we slipped out to get Daddy a surprise!

Daddy loves Donuts, and shockingly Blakely does too!

I think her first Donut experience was a success! Ha! Surprise, surprise... my little carb lover likes Donuts.

Rich and Blakely love to go on Biking adventures to the park.

This is the proud face of a girl who fed herself her own yogurt! You go girl!!

Loves to play Hide-and-seek and Chase!! Thank goodness Daddy has endless energy.

Blakely was obsessed with these little pink flowers in the crepe myrtle trees outside our house... anytime we were outside, Blakely would run over to the tree, reach her hands up/jump up and down, then look at her Daddy and say "peas, peas, peas..." Sucker! He picks her up EVERYTIME!

My little tree trimmer.

Auntie would be so proud! Blakely doing her first cheerleader stunt! She's going to be a flyer!

Melts my heart how much this girl LOVES her Daddy!!

It's a Girl!!

August Digital Download

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: We are officially having another little girl!! I am so excited for Blakely to have a little sister!! My sister and I are 2 years 2 months apart, and we are super close. I really, really wanted that for Blakely... so I am even more excited that this baby and Blakely will be 2 years 1 month apart!! Yeah for Sisters!!!

 

My OB told me that I wouldn't find out the sex of the baby until 20 weeks... NOT good at waiting, so we headed up to Summerville to "See Me 3D" and found out we are having a GIRL at 15 weeks!! This was a super fun experience, because we got to bring family (IE the Little's, Alyssa and Mom) for the big reveal!!

So..... what are we going to call the little peanut???
Kathryn Ellis ("Katy Ellis") Monk
We are so excited to meet our new baby girl!

I love that Blakely is rocking a sand mustache in this picture.

This girl LOVES to read. She occasionally likes to be read to... but she loves to read it herself. Her Mimi would be so proud it she could see her now!

Double stacker!!

One of the cool things about my parents moving into their new house was all our childhood toys came back out to play! Blakely IMMEDIATELY went for the barbies, and Banks went for the GI Joe's! Banks is ALL boy, and Blakely is ALL girl!

Blakely loves the couch at Gigi and PopPop's house. It is a big, potterybarn sectional, and Blakely just loves to crawl all over it! This is her favorite spot to watch Mickey Mouse do the "Hot Dog Dance."

MUST GET OUTSIDE!! Finally not raining, so these two are getting in the pool. BLINDINGLY HOT!! Only 2 options for the day... stay in the AC or get in the water!

Scrub-a-dub-dub two cousins in a tub...

Popsicle Panniculitis here we come!

It was so hot out there that we ate like 10 sugar free Popsicle's between the three of us!!! They loved it!

These two cousins LOVE each other! So cute!

Banks is "kind of"  a messy eater!! Understatement of the year!!

Best slide for toddlers EVER at the Calhoun/Rutledge park! Shade, stairs, railings and high sides on the slide... this little girl thought she was a "BIG GIRL" because she could do it all by herself!



Let the Dinner Battle 2013 begin!! Blakely has suddenly become a SUPER PICKY eater. I don't know what happened to my baby who would eat anything and everything. If she had her way, she would eat mac n' cheese and grilled cheese for every meal. I have to constantly remind myself... a) she won't starve herself. b) I am doing this because I love her. c) she is growing and developing normally. As a result, Blakely gets offered whatever we are eating, and if she truly refuses to eat... guess what comes out for the next meal. This has been tough and very unpleasant, but I feel like we are slowly but surely getting her back on track.

This little slide has been the best buy ever!!! I bought it used for $20.... and the Little's loved it so much, it HAD to be moved inside!!

Blakely and Banks will literally spend a solid hour sliding and giggling!! Awesome.

Little Mama on the go! Gigi go her this little doll stroller and it is about one of the most precious things I have ever seen. She puts her babies (most I've seen at once was 5) in the stroller, then strolls them around the house while she sings. Occasionally, she'll stop, pick up a baby, give them a BIG kiss and then keep strolling. Preciousness!!

 

This month we helped Banks celebrate his FIRST birthday!!



It was a golf themed "Par-tee"!! Alyssa did a great job with the decorations, the cake, the food and everyone had a great time! The party was thrown at my parents new lake house, and we could not have asked for better weather!!

Every baby has their own style of cake smashing, but Banks' has to be the most memorable ever! For anyone who doesn't know Banks, I think it is important to state that Banks is a BIG EATER! He is skinny, but don't let that fool you! First, he used his hands as scoops. Then to make sure he didn't miss any cake, he would roll his hand from palm to finger tip so that every morsel of cake made it in his mouth. Finally, he just cut out the middle man and buried his face directly in the cake!! It was one of the funniest, cutest things I have ever seen!! Love that boy!

Long boat ride to dinner, and this girl falls asleep.

We started working of swimming techniques this month with "Aunt" Olivia. We would place Blakely on her tummy and only let her go forward if she kicked. To get her to kick, we would tickle her feet and say "kick-kick-kick." Blakely to really into it and the entire time she was "swimming," she'd yell "ki-ki-ki-ki-ki."

This girl loves running water!!

Blakely learned the word "cup" that day, and said it like at least 100x.

These two love the Cozy Coupe!



The mall playground is the best escape! These two cousins love to play chase through this tunnel.

They just giggle and giggle and giggle!! I love that Blakely is so excited to see Banks in this picture!

Follow the leader!



Cool girl in her sun-glasses!

Went to the zoo for the first time with this girl! To say she loved it, is putting it SUPER mildly!! Can't wait to go back with her Daddy!

Blakely loved the zoo so much, that she wore herself SLAP OUT!! We hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot yet, and this girl had passed out!! We are definitely going to be making this a regular outing.