Hi friends! There are some blog posts I share that I cannot wait to publish, and this post has been just that! For months, I’ve been talking with my team about how I want to do a “Chronicles of Motherhood” series to answer questions and chat motherhood hacks. I kept telling them, I wanted it to partner with a brand we use religiously. And what do you use religiously with your baby and tot? Diapers. ha!

Once Maxi became mobile last summer {crawling and getting into everything!}, we became a Huggies family. We were living with my parents while we finished building and at that point with Maxi’s mobility changing we were experiencing a lot of blowouts. I kept thinking, “Do I size up?” That wasn’t the solution. My mom told me to switch to Huggies since I was a Huggies baby, as was my sister. The first diaper I changed on my sister when she was a preemie? Huggies! We switched and because they worked for her body {and actually have a size-up indicator}, blowouts be gone.

I think Huggies may have noticed we used the brand with me tagging them in random photos and comments here and there. So, I’m thrilled that this natural partnership is going to present my COF girls with fun content that answers some of the top questions I receive in regards to motherhood.

Maxi turned 18 months last month and 3 weeks ago we had her 18-month appointment with her pediatrician. 18 months proved to be such a sweet and also tricky age {she is 19 now}! I feel like the toddler learning curve was a lot greater for me than the baby learning curve, or maybe I feel that way because this is the stage I’m in currently. Who knows?! Did any other moms feel that way? There are moments she feels like such a big toddler asking things like, “Where Papa? Where Papa?” when he walks out of the room. Then, there are moments she is my little baby and her emotions can’t understand things like why she can’t touch everything or why we have to leave. Our pediatrician was saying 18 months is unique because their brains really can’t grasp anything other than “me” and by 2, they *start* to get an idea that they aren’t the only people in the world. She talked a lot about curiosity, attachment, and readiness for new skills. From attachment to certain dolls to curiosity with potty training {we have a long ways to go before that starts, of course!} it’s just so interesting to see her start new things each day. There are so many milestones to celebrate from 18 to 24 months and I loved hearing all the things she will start to do like sing songs and try to dress herself. One of the most interesting things I saw the past month was just her attachment to her dolls and stuffed animals. She mothers them and mimics what I do, which I have loved to watch firsthand. I said something on Instagram once like, “I wonder what she is saying to them?” And a reader said, “Think about what you say to her. She is a sponge and in her mind is probably repeating what you say.” I loved that comment! Now when I watch her “change her baby” and stroll her or feed her, I think about how she is doing it how I do it. It makes me mindful to always try to incorporate love and uplifting language with each task.

When Maxi was born, one of the best pieces of advice I got was to do something consistent with each activity. For example, we sing a certain song or say a certain scripture each time I change her diaper. I do something different when I rock her and would always try to do things like count my blessings when I was feeding her in the rocking chair. It’s such a natural instinct for me to maybe be frazzled when changing her if we are running late or feel overwhelmed with how the day went as I rock her, but those simple reminders of them being sponges gets me out of it. Do you have anything specific you do or say during those moments of feeding or diapering?

As we kick off this “Chronicles of Motherhood” series with Huggies, I thought I’d just give you an idea of where we were at this past month!

Diaper Size: Size 4 in Little Movers. I love that the Little Movers diapers have a size-up indicator so you know when to move to the next size and you don’t guess. Because even though there are “weight” indicators on diapers, height and build play a huge role, too. I order them here.

Diapering Products: Natural Care Wipes for diaper changes.

Favorite Foods: Apples, mango, broccoli, oatmeal, peanut butter, and lentil quesadillas.

Weight & Height: 23 pounds strong, 33 inches tall.

Favorite Activities: Reading books, coloring, doing puzzles, playing with her baby and kitchen. Does getting into my closet and makeup count, too?! ha. THAT is her favorite!

Favorite Words: The funniest thing is Maxi calls Peaches, “Babe!” I guess she got it from Paul calling me that, so she runs around the house chasing Peaches saying, “Babeeeee!” She also loves to say, “Baby, Papa, Dada, Bottle, Book” all day long.

Sleeping: She is down to 1 nap a day. She’ll go to sleep between 7 and 7:30 and sleeps until about 6:45 in the morning. She goes down for her nap between 12:30 and 1 and will sleep until 3 or 3:30.

Classes: This semester we are doing a Little Gym class and then she just started Mother’s Day Out at church. So far, she absolutely loves it! I think she is totally fascinated to see other kids since she doesn’t have siblings at home.

Attachment: She’s ultra attached right now. She can be pretty shy if we are at a restaurant and a stranger comes to greet her. She’ll bury her head in my shoulder and sometimes tear up if they don’t walk away soon. But if she has met you before she’ll greet you with a kiss. How posh of her! ha! She gets so excited to see my photographers each week and hugs their legs super tight. But in regards to attachment, she has started to cry in the mornings when Paul leaves for work this week. Two weeks ago, she cried for so long saying, “No Dada! No!!” as he went to the garage door to leave. She had never done that before and it was so, so sad {and equally sweet} to see her poor little heart just torn up over him leaving. He stayed and rocked her and read to her for a bit and then she was fine.

Energy: In my eyes, she is SO busy and she’s just very into noticing details. If I give her my wallet, she’ll sit for 20 minutes but she wants to take every single card in and out and in and out over and over again. She’s not super into being in her stroller right now, but yet she’ll let me wear her in the baby carrier for far longer if we are walking around. It’s so funny how they’ll do certain things and won’t do others. My mom encouraged me to ask her to “help” me do everything around the house as an activity for her, but also just to get her mindset into that of it is “fun” to help! I’ll say, “Maxi, come follow and help Mama with the laundry.” And when I cook, I’ve started to set pots and spoons down on the floor next to me so she can mimic. When I get her ready for bed, I’ll also say, “Let’s get your baby ready for bed!” She’ll *attempt* to put a diaper on her and then feeds her while I read to her. I loved that my mom gave me that idea/reminder because it’s been a good way to get her energy out and I’m also hoping it helps when she is older and we teach her about cleaning up.

I might be missing some 18-month milestones so feel free to let me know if you have any questions on things she is doing at this stage. Thank you so much for reading and I am so excited to share this new series with you all over the next few months! I hope you love it as much as I do!