Two Years Old

You read that right, Gretchen is now 2 years old (since May 11th). We just got back from her 2 year wellness checkup and here are her stats: 

Height: 35 inches (75.10 percentile)
Weight: 30 pounds 10 ounces (87.55 percentile)

Since her 15 month appointment Gretchen has grown 3.75 inches in height and gained 2.5 pounds. All of this activity has really caught up to her and she is at a very healthy weight and height.

She had a shot today, too, and didn't even cry. In fact she watched as the nurse gave her the shot, can you believe it? I could never do that - our brave girl.

Backing up a little bit, Gretchen recently had her 2nd birthday party with a Mickey and Minnie theme - lots of red and white polka dots! She had a blast and really enjoyed herself, we hope all of our guests did, as well. 

As far as her development goes, Gretchen is now drawing really well, she started drawing people with arms, legs and even hair. She can speak in multi-word sentences and is able to communicate her needs to us much easier than she ever was before. This can be a good thing and a bad thing, because she is very opinionated and mouthy at times...we're in for it! 

She plays well with others and has been going to play dates with others weekly throughout the summer. We even went to the movie theater for the first time yesterday with our friends Sarah (the mom) and Jack (her 3 year old son). They had a blast, we saw "Tangled" a Disney movie off of the fairy tale Rapunzel. It was awesome and we all had an enjoyable time. We're even planning to go again through the "Mommy and Me" program the local theater offers because it's FREE - love that "f" word. 

We have spent a lot of time playing outside this summer and some days Gretchen cries when I take her inside. However, the house isn't going to clean itself and our back yard isn't fenced in, so she can only be there when I'm able to be outside watching her. It's not like it was back in the day when you could let your children roam outside without worry, it's a completely different world nowadays. 

I don't normally touch upon the subject of the rest of us, but I figured I would update you all on Nate and I, too. 

He has recently started a hot dog cart, which has been successful thus far. He works full-time for his current employer and then works nights running his stand. Eventually when Gretchen goes to pre-school I will run the cart daily until Nate can find the right time to leave his employer and take the plunge. We'd actually like to open 2 carts at that point so that we're in 2 different locations selling our products. 

I'm also still running my business and doing really well (knock on wood). We are so blessed to have my additional income to pay the overflow of bills that we have, although there never seems to be enough money, but that is the common problem in every household across the country. We'll both continue working hard and crossing our fingers that good things will come from our efforts.

It took me an awfully long time (2 years), but I have finally lost all of the pregnancy weight and I never gave up, even though I wanted to quite a few times. It was a total weight loss of  70 pounds, but I didn't start seeing results until January of 2013, since then I have lost 40 pounds. I am continuing my healthy lifestyle and goals towards a healthier me. I feel so much better and have more energy now. It feels good to finally see the results from my hard work, I am one happy mommy now.