Raleigh, One Point Five.

Please allow me a moment to pause, take a breath, and shed a tear. 

Because I cannot believe my baby is 18 months old today. I just cannot believe it. 

It's true, though. She is 1.5 years old. She is 18 months old. She is 543 days old. She is halfway to being 2. 

Wow. 

I could swear, that this was yesterday: 

Celebrating the big 0-1

And wasn't this just last week?:

Day 1 of Life

My baby isn't such a baby anymore. For the sake of my own memory, here's what she's up to these days. She's changed quite a bit in just six months!:

• Raleigh continues to be long and lean. Although I won't know her current height and weight until her 18-month well-check next Tuesday, she is definitely a growing girl, getting taller by the minute! She has graduated to a Size 4 diaper and typically wears 18-24 month clothes. 

• Although she will still out eat her big brother at times, she clearly burns off almost everything she eats because she NEVER.STOPS.MOVING. She is a climber, this one, and will be enrolled in gymnastics and dance the very second she is old enough for classes! She also recently started jumping. It is the cutest thing. She will focus all of her attention on the task at hand, bend down, and then jump with all her might, usually getting about 0.5 inches off the floor, sometimes on one foot, sometimes on two, and often falling on her hiney at the end.

• Raleigh is still rear-facing in her carseat. This is a BIG difference from her big brother, who was a horrible car-rider as a baby. We actually turned him forward-facing around 9 months old so he would please.stop.screaming every single second we were in the car. Raleigh, on the other hand, is perfectly content to ride rear-facing. Maybe because she can see her big brother better this way? All I know is, she is a dream car-rider and LOVES when we go on long car rides, since that's the only time her Momma lets the kiddos watch cartoons in the car (Elmo's World for this little one, of course!).

• Raleigh loves, loves, LOVES "nongs" (/songs/). If she had it her way, all we would do all day is rotate between singing songs and reading books. She can sing all of "Elmo's World" by herself, which is, in a word, adorable. She also loves "Twinkle, Twinkle," "Old MacDonald," "Skinna-ma-rink," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," and "Jingle Bells." She also recently started singing our family blessing before dinner with Banks, which just melts my heart into a puddle on the floor. 

• Raleigh is a really good eater and has not shown a picky-eater-side...yet. Her favorites are eggs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, goldfish crackers, any and all fruit, corn, and pizza. Oh, and who am I kidding, treats, treats, and more treats, especially of the chocolate variety. 

• Our sweet girl switches between being a Momma's girl and a Daddy's girl, depending on her mood. I'm not sure which is sweeter to me, seeing her run up to be with her arms outstretched for a big hug or seeing her run up to her Daddy with her lips puckered out as far as she can get them for a "diss" (/kiss/). 

• Raleigh is a friendly little lady, often waving 'hi' and giving her cheesiest green to passerbys. She loves being around other children, but her best friend is very clearly her big brother. He is often the first person she asks for upon waking up in the morning. 

• Raleigh has four top teeth, three and a half bottom teeth, two top molars, and two bottom molars (that just broke through). She loves brushing her teeth and is a very good girl when it comes to brushing, letting her Momma do the initial cleaning before brushing by herself to her heart's content. She is a big talker, this one. She knows pretty much all of her body parts and talk, talk, talks, from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed. She also knows how to count from 1 to 10 all by herself (although often she'll skip over 4 and 5)!!

• Raleigh's hair is still coming in slowly but surely. And it is very light and blonde, just like her big brother's used to be. It is also curly (!!), particularly when it is wet, just like her big brother's used to be. I can't wait to see two little blonde pigtails on that sweet head, although it may be awhile before that day comes...

• Raleigh still takes one nice long nap each day. Her naps usually range from 90 minutes to 2 hours. She is a happy awakener, too, both in the morning and after naps. Well, about 98% of the time. She will also just lay in her crib and sing or talk or play with her stuffed monkey, "Ah-Ah," for awhile after waking up. It is the cutest thing to listen to over the monitor. 

• Raleigh is also starting to get an at-ti-tude. This girl, I swear, has been the easiest baby ever. BUT. This girl, I swear, may give us a run for our money once she hits the teen years. She has this little temper that will flare up at times. She will vehemently tell me, "No!" when she doesn't want to do what I tell her to do and will promptly throw her little body on the ground if I attempt to pick her up and "help" her do it. She is also a BIG toy thief. If Banks is playing with it, she wants it. And she won't hesitate to grab what he's playing with and then either (1) hide the toy behind her back when I insist she give it back, or (2) throw it across the room, away from him, so he has to go fetch it. Uh-oh. This could be trouble...

• Raleigh Jane is every Momma's dream. She is my best pal. She is my little bit. She is my sidekick. She is my little love. She is my Rals. I just absolutely adore this little girl with every ounce of my being. And I can't wait to see how she grows and changes over the next six months of our lives together.