Yay for moving!/Louise update

     We're moving to another apartment in Evanston at the end of April and we can hardly wait.  It will be such a relief.  The new place has central heating and air (a huge plus!) so we'll pay a fraction of what we pay for utilities now, but we'll actually be comfortable, it has a washer and dryer in the unit, so no more trips down 3 flights of slippery stairs with laundry and a toddler to the coin operated laundry in the basement, it has a parking garage so we'll have a guaranteed space (no more parking blocks away), it's smaller which will also make it warmer in the winter, and best of all...IT'S CLEAN!  I'm so excited. :)

     We're just subletting the apartment we're in now, so we never really were planning on staying here for a long time, but after seeing it and living in it for 8 months we're definitely ready to move on.  This next apartment will be much more permanent.  We'll possibly be here in Chicago for at least 8 years.  Since this is a fairly permanent move for us (we'll be there longer than we've been anywhere else), I'm finally going to get to decorate.  I've got Louise's room all figured out, but I have no ideas for anything else.  For her room I'm going to paint all 4 walls aqua blue (so if our next child is a boy it will be ok), with a coral stencil over the top of one.  I'm going to paint her crib white or grey, find a dresser/changing table on Craigslist and paint it white or grey, find a storage cube organizer thing and paint it white, and all of the linens and accents will be coral.  I got some coral damask curtain from the '70s and some old aqua and coral floral fabric from my mom that I'm going to use.  I'll attach the inspiration pictures:

Except instead of the picture wall I want to do something like this:

This is the stencil I would do in coral:

Now for the fun stuff. :)

Louise is almost 17 months old.  She has the funnest big personality.  I originally wrote little, but her personality is anything but little. :)  

She has this sassy little walk where she pokes her adorable little tummy out and struts like she owns the place, which I guess she pretty much does.  

She babbles incessantly and looks at you expectantly like you should know exactly what she said and have an appropriate response.  

If you're doing anything besides giving her your undivided attention she will grab your hand (she's very particular about grabbing different fingers at different times and will adjust until she gets the finger she wants) and pull you up from your seat, across the room, until you're standing in front of the big mirror.  Then she'll proceed to grin and make funny faces at you in the mirror.  Or she'll stare at you and tilt her head like "what in the world could possibly be more important than entertaining this cute face?"  We love it. :)  

If you're in the kitchen or somewhere facing away from her and she wants your attention she'll pull and shove on your pants and legs hard until you're facing her, then she'll grab your hand and go to the mirror.  Or twirl.  Or reach up to be lifted.  

She is so expressive and such a good communicator.  We almost always know exactly what she wants.  

She LOVES dancing (totally a Nuckles thing) and dances no matter what kind of music is playing (and that chick has moves!).  

She can sign a few things, but she's learning to say words very quickly.  One of the first words she said was "ready?"  

She loves all fruits and vegetables and would eat only them for every meal if I'd let her.  

She absolutely loves to be outside, which is unfortunate since it's so cold and snowy out right now.  She always grabs the keys and stands by the front door looking at us expectantly.  

She is SO social.  When we go on walks we let her decide where we go and she just toddles around following and talking to dogs and people who cross our path (we never get far, but we walk a lot).  She yells "HI!!!" and waves at people and especially dogs from blocks away.

She's very into giving kisses (not on demand, however) and even says a dramatic "mmoowaaaaa" with each one.  She likes to give hugs, too, but then she doesn't want to seem overly affectionate, so she gives a loving shove afterward to ward off any rumors (see video below). 

She likes to stand in the windowsill and watch the passersby.  She gets really excited and laughs when dogs go by.  Every time daddy leaves she stands there and waves and blows kisses until he's out of sight.  Then she waves and blows kisses to everyone else. :)

She's very sensitive about when she thinks she has hurt other people's feelings or when she thinks she's being made fun of. 

She has 3 distinct cries: 

     (1) her "complain" cry, which isn't really a cry, just a...well, complaint. 

     (2) her "mad/offended" cry, which has furrowed eyebrows. 

     (3) her "embarrased/hurt feelings" cry.  This is the one that comes with the pouty lip.

She hates diaper changes.  Hates them.  I'm hoping this will improve when we get an actual changing table.    

She still takes 2 solid 2 hour naps every day.  I was afraid a few weeks ago that she was transitioning to 1, but it turned out she was just getting 2 molars in, poor thing.  It didn't even occur to me that it could be teeth, because she's never had trouble before.

Her hair is finally starting to fill in, it's just white blond so you still can't see it. :)  I love her sweet curls.

I've had a really hard time getting pictures of her lately because one, the camera on my iPod, which I normally use doesn't work very well anymore and I can't ever find our real camera and the charger for it at the same time, and two, she LOVES all things technology and if she sees it, she must have it.

She inherited her father's love of being in small spaces and seizes any opportunity she sees.