Life as a New Mom: My Little Daredevil [PHOTOS & VIDEOS]

My daughter will be 18 months old in a few weeks; it's hard to believe she's almost a year-and-a-half old. She's gone from a timid little baby to a full-on wild child, and keeping up with her is a full-time job. 

She's all over the place. CONSTANTLY. She runs and giggles, and I am chasing after her as fast as I can. Our house is mostly babyproof, and it's as if she has some kind of ESP when it comes to dangerous stuff. Pile of age-appropriate, intellectually stimulating toys? NO THANK YOU. Electric sockets and trash cans? OH HECK YEAH. That's her toddler logic.

She's fearless. She climbs on the bed. She climbs on the couch. I don't know how, but she climbed OUT OF her crib the other day. She approaches anything and everything with reckless abandon. She's jumping on the bed, and I'm having a heart attack trying to stop her and scaring myself into 25 more gray hairs worrying about her falling down and breaking something. That's pretty much my daily life.

Example: She has two rocking horses--an heirloom wooden one and a plush one that sings and whinnies and all that fun stuff. She likes to ride the plush one in her nursery. I don't even know why I typed that. She never actually rides it--she'll lean it back as far as she can and shout, "WOAH. WOAH. WOAH, MOMMY. WOAH!" or she climbs on top of the thing like she's in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey. Giving me panic attacks are her life's mission.

She's a hot mess, and I love her. I love her exponentially more with each passing day. As she grows, her personality shines through more and more. It's like I am really getting to know her. And I can't help but love her even more. It's a crazy whirlwind of chaos, but it's OUR crazy chaos. It's our life--and it's a good one.

*BONUS VIDEOS!* Check out my little wild thing in action: she's exhausting, adorable, and a total ham for the camera.