A new year with a 14 month old and almost 3 1/2 year old!

Wow wow wow. Last year went FAST. We have already been in the new house for a year and it is hard to believe. Allegra has grown into a great little girl. At 14 1/2 months old, she still isn't walking but probably will soon. She cruises around the furniture and within the last couple of days, has started to let go a bit, still near something she can grab onto, and balance. For a few weeks now, we've gotten her to take a few steps between us when we sit on the floor but she is just so fast at crawling, she isn't interested in walking just yet. She is also very fast pushing the walker or fire truck and will do laps around the house doing that. I even caught her pushing Cadence on the fire truck this morning. Allegra is a decent eater and now pretty much eats everything we do. We have started giving her utensils and she tries to use them but she mostly eats things with her hands. She loves milk and water and this week, we started giving her watered down V8 Fusion juice like Cadence has (mostly for the vitamin C since the doctor recommended that). She doesn't seem to like berries--strawberries and raspberries (haven't tried blueberries) but loves other fruit. Her typical breakfast is a banana and Cheerios after having milk when she wakes up. I weaned her just after she turned a year old since it seemed like my supply was starting to go down after I went to DB and was pumping the whole weekend (and taking Benadryl for sleeping). She transitioned well but wanted the whole milk warm like the breastmilk was. But once she was only on whole milk, we started warming it less and less just a couple of weeks after weaning, she was fine drinking cold milk. We even had an easy time getting her off the bottle and onto sippy cups. She was pissed at first, especially with the first morning and then night feedings but we just kept giving it to her and she realized that that was all she was going to get and she adjusted. Now if only we could say the same for the pacifier while she sleeps... She is between 1 and 2 naps and sometimes needs the morning nap (like now when I think she is fighting a cold or something) but sometimes just plays in the crib when I put her down. If she hasn't fallen asleep by 10am, I get her up and put her down with Cadence at 1pm. She understands so much of what we say, but that doesn't mean she listens! Her new thing is to climb up onto chairs and stand up, or use them to climb onto the kitchen, dining room or coffee table. She then yells "mama!" to show me that she is up there, knowing full well that she isn't supposed to be. It is almost comical. She can sign milk, water, hungry, all finished, more, night night, bath, bye bye and she taps her head to signal Cadence. She can say "ma ma" and "da da" and "talks" a lot, without really saying anything you can understand. She LOVES dogs and can woof if you ask her what a dog says. I swear she can say baby but she doesn't seem to say it at a time that makes sense. She loves to "read" books and seems to mostly hold them upside down. :) Her favorite book right now is the baby faces book that Grandma and Grandpa gave Cadence a long time ago. Allegra is in swim lessons for the first time and loves the water. She also yells at the tub when you start to fill it up for bath so I knew swimming would probably go over well. At a checkup because she was sick earlier this week with a cough (that I have too), Allegra was just over 20 lbs. Bigger and longer than her sister at this age! She is still rear facing but we will turn her forward for our drive to Ohio in about 10 days. Cadence will be 3 1/2 in just about two weeks. She quickly potty trained on her third birthday and picked it up quickly. She has never had a poop accident! She still mostly takes a nap but sometimes doesn't at school and goes down HARD those nights at bedtime. She is cautious and shy in new situations until she warms up, but loves to jump and play and sing. The more noise the better sometimes! She goes to school three times a week these days--Monday, Wednesday and Friday and it gives me some time to get errands done with only one kid. James isn't working these days so he can watch Allegra which is great, especially when taking Cadence to and from school since A isn't walking yet! I signed Cadence up for gymnastics again, this time I don't participate, just watch from the window. Again, she is shy in the beginning and doesn't always do the stretches (but does pay attention to what the teacher is saying) but warms up as the class goes on. She has only had two sessions so maybe as it becomes more familiar, she will participate more in the beginning. Cadence is still small, at just around 30 lbs. She mostly wears 3T leggings but her pants are 2T since she is tiny in the waist but normal in leg length. She isn't a great eater but isn't a terrible one either. We give her what we are eating in an effort to keep her from getting pickier. She hates tomatoes and won't come near them (but is fine with tomato sauce) and her favorite dinner is probably tortellini. I think she would say her favorite vegetable is salad which she is great about eating. James and I have pretty much decided not to have more kids so when I go for my checkup on 2/8, I'll probably ask for a 10 year IUD. James is happy with two girls (more than I think he expected to be) and I don't really have much of an interest in being pregnant again or having a newborn again. Zoloft has really helped but boy was that a hard time!