She's 18 months.

 We had been home in Orem, Utah for three days when I realized that our mattress had seen better days. Like most newly-weds, family members donated various forms of furniture to our humble little home, and a queen mattress from 1998 was one of those items. I had no hope of Kyle agreeing with my "need" for a new memory foam, pillow-topped mattress. He came home from work and I had a speech perfectly prepared----he sort of bought it!! We spent that night driving from mattress store to mattress store, and finally came across a store called Mattress Dealzzz, which honestly horrified me. With Kyle's reassurance, we walked into the store and laid on almost every one. We finally found one that Kyle described as "sleeping on a cloud". They strapped it to the top of my little car, and through the snow, we drove it home.  It might be my favorite purchase I've ever made-with Kyle's money. I haven't slept this well in years!

London will be 18 months in 3 days. This means a few things: 1) It's time to start planning for her 2nd birthday- how will I EVER top her 1st?!, 2) Potty training is an option, and 3) Having another baby is a definite possibility.

Sure, London is little, but she started telling me when she had to go to the bathroom- so she was practically BEGGING me to teach her how to go in the toilet. Right?!? We bought her big girl buns with kitties on them, lots of fruit snacks and marshmallows, and a princess toilet seat. We've been at it for 4 days, despite all those mommy bloggers who promise it only takes 1 day, and she has a 50% success rate. Most importantly, London LOVES it. After all, she gets rewarded with an episode of "Elmo" (Sesame Street) every time she does her business like a big girl. 

Life is much slower here. My days are filled with play-dates with the neighbor kids instead of hikes on ancient ruins. It's wonderful to see our friends that we love and missed so much, but I have the itch to see the whole world.