15 months

Sunday evening, we went with my parents to take Leila to the "Zoo Lights" at Hogle Zoo. I guess I thought there would be more actual animals on display, but the light displays were pretty awesome. Probably more fun for maybe a 4 year old who could see the animal designs in the lights, but it was fun...not too cold and no wind or snow or rain.

The good thing about the winter evening was we were able to see the TIGER and the SNOW LEOPARD very close. The leopard actually put its feet up on the window and was licking at some kids. The tiger just stared at us, but it was pretty close. Pretty awesome. The only other animals to be seen were in the reptile building yuck. Just the night before I has woke up in the night and talked with Kuso about my "bad dream" of a huge snake...Double Yuck. We took Leila on the carousel...she mostly liked it. Didn't show much emotion on her face, but she had fun. We would say to her "hands up!" and she would throw them in the air which made it look like she was having fun...

At 15 months, Leila is acting so old! She is finally done with her bottle (going on 5+ days now). She gave up her binky at about 7-ish months...and has never really had a blanket or an animal she is attached to...so for now, she lives life as it comes. We don't have to make sure to have any particular object with us. So nice.

She is a dancing machine...seriously...this girl has got MOVES! If you spend very much time with her, you will see her "shake it" which involves her pulling her elbows up and shaking her hips in a twisting motion...then she pushes her hip to the side and kind of shakes it a little. Then she crouches down and stomps her foot and claps her hands...sometimes walking while she does that. Then other times she twirls in a circle. She is HILARIOUS to watch.

She is starting to use/mimic small words. "Hi" "Mau" = more, "tank" = thank you, "mom mom" - any person she sees...then when you tell her who it really is, she just laughs. and the ever loving "NO!" used in various tones for various reasons...sometimes even includes a head shake with it.

She does not like to be left with other people. She is a TOTAL DADDY'S GIRL. If not daddy, then grandpa...if not grandpa, then grandma...if not grandma, then MAYBE mom if there is no one else there. It's kind of a nice break, but sometimes I just want my little girl to love me back!

Leila is a KISSY girl. She says HI then wants to Kiss (anyone) or waves bye and wants to kiss. Good night comes with a kiss. She walks up to people at church and wants to be held. Then she wants to kiss them. She kisses the TV. She kisses herself in pictures and in mirrors. She kisses the phone when someone talks to her. She kisses her toys and animals. She kisses the books. She kisses the wall or floor or anything else she can get her luscious lips on!

She is STARTING to sleep better. Lately we go lay on the bed in the dark with her. (she has not used her crib in at least 2 months...she has been sleeping on the guest bed.) The past few nights she tries to get up a couple of times and I grab her, lay her back down, and just don't talk to her. Usually within about 10-15 minutes, she is fast asleep, and most nights, sleeps through the night. IF she wakes up in the nights, one of us just goes in to lay with her. Kuso usually sleeps the rest of the night with her because he doesn't wake up...I'm often back in my own bed within 5 minutes or less.

Progress is being made. A touch more freedom. She points to things rather than crying. She is starting to use words. She is starting to sleep better...Mom is a LITTLE more rested.

So Sweet

Yesterday after church, around 2:30 I was dozing on the couch. Leila walked over to me, looked up at me with her big, beautiful, brown eyes and lifted her arms to be lifted up. I picked her up, she snuggled in and fell right to sleep. No drink. No crying. No wiggling. Just wanted to cuddle and sleep. I couldn't have asked for a more special moment with my little girl.

Then to make it more special, Kuso came and took her from my arms and laid her on the bed, then came back, got me off the couch and we took a nice, long, warm, nap together on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

PURE BLISS.

...and the verdict is?...

Inconclusive. I'm trying to figure out if my daughter is a freak or if there is something causing her to act like a freak. Let me explain.

Last night, Leila was a FREAK! Earlier in the afternoon, Kuso was playing peek with her while I was laying on the bed. He would put his face down by my stomach and then she would turn upside down to see his face. This happened a couple times. THEN, she started waiting for him to put his head down, then she would head-butt him on the back of his head. Then look at us and laugh her guts out.

Later that night, she acted like she was scared to death to go to sleep. Any time she was almost asleep, she would pop her eyes open and scream! She would be totally content in my arms, but as soon as I lay her down, (alone or with me on the bed) she would wake up and scream. After we finally went to bed around 1:30 am, she still flopped around the bed and would cry out in the night.

A few days ago she started playing this "game" where she would run around the room and hit things (the couch, the chair, the door, your leg) and keep running. Kind of like tag? Anyway, she started doing that. And then later in the night she started being really freaky...
she would "dead fall" where she stands straight up, then starts to fall forward, face first, and at the very last second, catch herself, then intentionally smack her face on the ground. After, she would get up, look at my mom and I, and laugh. So crazy. Then in addition to that, she would run around, abruptly stop, and while standing, bend down and smack her head on the ground. Then stand back up and laugh. SO WEIRD!

After we had got past the falling on the ground and smacking her face episodes, she was laying in my arms and throwing her left fist around by bending her elbow in and out really fast. Sometimes she just does this while she walks around, but hasn't figured out her right arm does the same thing...anyway, she was doing that and started punching herself in the face. She hit herself like four times before I stopped her. Then she just looked at me and grinned.

WHAT DO I DO? She is obviously not hurt when she does it because she thinks it's funny and keeps showing off. I have to admit, it was HILARIOUS. I'm sure if I could have caught it on camera, we would be $10,000 richer. But it was also kind of scary/weird. After she quit doing it, then went back to doing it, we were able to stifle our laughter so she quit doing it. But I don't want her to think this is appropriate behavior ever.

So there are several possible factors that I'm attributing to her odd night.
1. She has turned into a daddy's girl while Kuso was off and staying home with her the past 2 weeks. He had left town to go back to work.
2. We were not at home. We were at my parents, so maybe she knew she wasn't in her normal environment.
3. She gets extremely hot and had on warm pajamas. We had already cut the feet out of them since she has hot coals for feet, but she was still hot. So we ended up having her sleep in a t-shirt and her diaper.
4. The milk may have been a bit sour. It smelled okay, but she could have had a stomach ache?
5. Teething?
6. Daddy has a sinus infection...she could be developing one as well?
7. Ear ache?
8. Or she is just a freak.

While I'm at it...any ideas about how to get her to sleep in her OWN bed ALL night? Most nights she goes to sleep in her own bed, and within 2 hours, she is crying to come in our bed. Some nights she sleeps really sound in our bed, other nights she flops around. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. And if you did the "cry it out" method, let me know how long it took you until you were successful. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Halloween 2010

For Halloween we were in St. George for cousin Anna's farewell. My aunt lives in a neighborhood with larger lots, so we hopped in the back of the truck and drove

to the people's houses we wanted to see.

Leila was the CUTEST little panda bear EVER! I fell in love with costume at Sam's Club for $11 and had to buy it. I knew it would be a close fit. and it was...a little snug, but do-able for one night. When we put it on her to try it on, for pictures, and for my work party, she wanted NOTHING to do with the hood being on her head. But when the actual day came, she wore that hood all night...and wore it well. She was so cute to watch toddle around! Kiley was a beautiful butterfly. For a while, she wanted to a pirate. Her parents looked and looked for a pirate costume that would fit her, but they couldn't find anything. Then they had to convince her she wanted to be a beautiful butterfly. After she accepted that, we could NOT mention the word pirate!I had to include this picture to show how hard Leila had to turn her head to see anything.

It was pretty funny.
Leila and Rusti. In these costumes they look pretty close to the same size.
Until you lift them up. Leila has a good 7-9 pounds on Rusti!

The picture above made me giggle because the girls are just staring at each other,

trying to figure out why they looked different. The picture below makes me giggle because it looks like Leila is growling at Rusti.Rusti was a cute little bunny and Shawn, well, had us looking for Waldo all evening.

Family Pictures

Saturday October 30th we went to Pine Valley (near St. George, UT) to take some family photos. We were all in town for my cousin Brieanna's mission farewell. My Aunt Karen was our photographer. Here are a few of the semi-decent pictures that turned out. The scenery was pretty awesome, but when you have a group of people that hate to get their pictures taken, well, it's hard to get a decent photo.

Enjoy...

In this picture my mom wanted to "recreate" a picture we took on a whale watching cruise a few years back when Shawn graduated boot camp. That has been one of her favorite pictures, and this one looks almost exactly like it...I'm just a few pounds heavier!

The funny thing about this picture (below) is that Leila was playing a new game over the weekend. First she would cover her eyes with her hands. Then we would say "Where's Leila?" Then she moves her hands and smiles/laughs really hard. (basically peek-a-boo) but she starts it and hides behind her chubby little hands. It is the cutest...well, she was playing that game while my aunt was trying to take this set of pictures. The picture right before this, her eyes are covered. This one, she has brought her hands down to laugh. Love it.

Kuso thought he was being funny, but my aunt loved it, so she had to take a picture.

Funny thing is that we have a similar picture to this from our bridal picture shoot.

Kuso must think he is the next ROCK.
This is Rusti (my cousin's daughter who is 10 days older than Leila) and Leila

running up the path. I think Rusti is just trying to get up the hill without falling.

Looks like Leila is going to make sure she gets there first!

She's got that competitive Spirit!

Nature Wins!

The ongoing debate of Nature vs. Nurture has been concluded. Nature wins! Leila has never seen me carry a baby around. She is not around other people with babies very often. About a month or two ago, she just started packing babies around, hugging their necks, and kind of rocking with them. September 17-18 we went to St. George to go through the temple with my cousin Anna. I had enough forethought to grab the baby on the way out the door. Leila grabbed onto that thing and just snuggled with it. Soon enough she was asleep.

Later in the trip, she was drinking a bottle and holding the baby and fell asleep. So I took the bottle from her. She started to reach for the bottle and the baby started to drop. She forgot the bottle, grabbed the baby, and went back to sleep.

Conclusion: Women are natural nurturers. One does not need to be taught how to be a caring and loving person. It comes naturally.

How precious are these pictures?

Happy Birthday Leila!

September 14, 2010 our beautiful daughter turned one. She went in for her one year check up on the 20th. At that time she was 25 pounds 13 ounces and 30 inches tall. That is about 90% in weight and 70% in height. Dr. Brasher is not too concerned with these ratios, but if they don't balance out in the next few years, he might be a little more concerned. :) He also noticed that her legs bow out, so she is scheduled to see an orthopedic doctor in October.

At one year old, Leila has been walking quite steadily for about a month now. She is starting to walk backwards on occasion and thinks it's really funny. She is wearing size 18 months pajamas and 24 month clothes (in most things.) She wears a size 5 shoe. She has learned to click her tongue and it is LOUD. She is starting to get more snugly and will just cuddle for a few seconds at a time. She is very social. She will walk up to anyone, anywhere (even at the court house) and reach up to sit on their lap. She goes to complete strangers (to her, we know them) and gives them hugs.

She is so silly and playful. She LOVES to play chase, especially with her uncle Troy or daddy. She is good to entertain herself just wandering the house playing with toys. She is much happier if she is outside. She is kind of a picky eater. She loves to be around kids. I took her to change her diaper at church one day and saw that the nursery kids were just playing with toys, so I took her in to play for a minute since she was so restless sitting in class with me. From that day on, she has been going to nursery (which is usually for kids 18+ months.) She fits right in and plays.

She still does not sleep through the night regularly. In fact, most nights, she ends up in bed with us at some point. Something I swore I would never do, but sometimes, a little bit of sleep and little bit of snuggle time with your baby is worth it. She loves to play with babies and mother's them around. She loves to play with balls. She has the CUTEST little laugh and is so light hearted and easy going. Leila is BY FAR one of the wiggliest kids anyone has seen. Complete strangers commonly comment about how beautiful/adorable/gorgeous/etc. she is, how chubby she is, how she looks older than she is, and how wiggly she is.

Luckily we had already had her birthday party the weekend before because Kuso was called to work out of town. So for her birthday celebration it was just Leila, mom, grandma and grandpa. She had her very on "smash cake" and put some good work in on it. She got more presents and played all night. Because daddy was out of town, it encouraged me to take lots of pictures. So, enjoy.

The evening started out with dinner. Leila had spaghettio's...or maybe the spaghettio's had her. While my parents and I were eating, she decided she wanted my corn on the cob. I left a little row for her and she ate it right off the cob!

Then came presents. Kuso and I gave her this lady bug tent to use as a toy box.

She had opened the other presents at her party.

Shawn, Michelle, and Kiley gave her this giraffe. At first, she kept trying to sit on it like a chair. With a little bit of help from grandpa, she figured it out. She can still only go backwards for now, but she likes to sit on it and bounce. This giraffe also came with a mini giraffe pull along that can hook to the back of this, or Leila can pull it around behind her which is something she likes to do.

She will love this toy in the future. You can spin yourself around while the music plays. She thought it was fun with just me twisting her around so when she can do it alone....watch out!

Then came the cake.Look how thoughtful she is...she left some for me to eat.

Priceless.

Leila has been such a special blessing in our lives. She is a complete source of entertainment. She inspires me to be a better person so I can set an example to her of what a woman/mom/wife needs to be.

We never knew there could be a love like this.

Thank you for letting us be your parents.

We love you.

Utah State Fair

Sunday September 12 we took Leila to the State Fair. Last year we walked around the fair about three days before she was born trying to put me into labor. This year, Leila got to experience the sites and sounds of the fair.Leila loves rabbits. Our neighbors have a pet rabbit and she thinks it is really funny to go watch it hop in its cage. So needless to say, she loved the rabbit exhibit. It has been decided that IF (and that's a big IF) we ever decide to have a pet, it will be a rabbit. And after being at the fair, IF we get a rabbit, it will be a Holland Lop. Too cute.If you notice, Leila now has a new shirt on and no shorts.

We were about to leave when we saw that there was going to be a sea lion show. So we decided to wait and watch it. I went to get a drink and when I came back, Kuso was changing her diaper. I thought he was being such a good dad...well, there is more to it than that.

While waiting, he decided to put her up on his shoulders like he had previously in the day so she could see better. As he put his hand up on her back for support, he felt squishiness. yuck. Yep. It was poop....coming up out of her shorts up her back. SO, like the good dad he is, he changed her right then and there, on the grass, and didn't wait for me to get back to do it for him.

Luckily, we had bought this Bob Marley shirt for her earlier. She has outgrown all her other ones and with her dad being the fanatic fan that he is, our kids will always have Bob Marley gear.

We had bought it a size big hoping she would wear it for a while...

it's actually not that big and has worn it since this episode.

This is a walking, talking robot. Leila just stared at it. Not scared, just in awe.

For some reason, I LOVE going to the State Fair. Especially when the weather is nice like it was that day. It's definitely a drain to our bank accounts, but it's fun,

and it's one of the things that we like to do as a family.

Leila's 1st Birthday Party!

We had a birthday party for Leila on Saturday September 11, 2010 at the Fassio Farm Park just a few blocks from our house. We had BBQ and let the kids play on the playground. It was intended to be a "small party" but by the time we invited family and a few friends and all their kids, it was quite the gathering. The weather was perfect and the playground kept the kids entertained.Leila! How old are you?Leila's cousins and grandpa were showing her how to roll down the hill.

She L-O-V-E-D it. A few days before the party, we went to check out the cooking facilities and played on the playground with her. After a few times down the slide, she was going head first, pushing herself with her legs down the slide. This child has No Fear.

She didn't quite know what to do with presents, so she just looked.

Leila loves babies. It kind of makes me laugh because I don't remember ever liking to play with dolls. She loves them. She was so excited to see this baby. It giggles and goo's when you push the belly. She couldn't wait to have it out of the box.

Leila got TONS of books. Which is good because she loves them.

As you can see, she immediately got one and had to have it read to her.

I'm so glad she loves books.

Waiting for Grandma Neener to open the baby.

There are no pictures of her eating cake because that activity was reserved for her REAL birthday. Another post will show that.

It was a fun party and Leila walked away with a lot of loot...babies, clothes, books, and toys. We are so grateful we have good friends and family that will help celebrate these occasions with us.

Annual 4-Wheeler Trip

The first weekend in August my mom's side of the family always gather together for a 4-wheeler trip. This year it was pushed to the second weekend. This was Leila's first camping trip. My mom and I were concerned about what she should wear. We didn't want her in short and short sleeves, but we didn't want her to be hot. We also didn't want her ruining any of her good clothes with the dirt and grime she would be in given that she was learning to walk.

We ended up going to DI to get some overalls that if she ruined, I wouldn't be upset or out too much money. The clothes were kind of goofy, but with a cutie like Leila wearing them, how bad can they be?

Turns out the weather was kind of rainy and kept us close to camp most of the weekend. We didn't want to get stuck out in any kind of weather. Ashley brought Rusti up for a day. The two played. Well, looked at each other and got jealous. Oh well...at some point they will learn they are supposed to like each other! Leila is "sharing" her food.
Leila loves to drink out of the water bottle. Rusti had been extremely sick for the past week or two. We introduced her to the water bottle and she loved it, so we kept giving her water. At least that way she was drinking something.

This was an impromptu car seat for the 4-wheeler. That is the swing from my parent's tree. I'm not so sure this was the safe thing to do, but it looked good. She loved going for a ride.

Leila usually hates being in her bouncy seat now because she wants to be out moving. But this was better than being held. I'm pretty sure right now she is "tossing it in the oven". Notice the pajamas. This actually turned out to be what she wore. It covered her feet and kept her warm. She was about to outgrow them anyway, and they were too hot to sleep in at home, so we took our chances. They actually cleaned up quite nice. I might have to keep this as a note on how to take future children camping...keep them in feetsie jammies the entire time!

Lookin so hot in cousin Amber's glasses.

Playing peek-a-boo with mommy in Grandma Neener's trailer.

This was funny because everyone else was sitting probably 30 yards away near the fire and I left her sitting in her seat to eat her butter and jam sandwich. She is a goof ball.

Leila being jealous that Rusti is getting attention and she isn't.

At some point, everyone in our family was there except for Shawn, Michelle, and Kiley. But given that they live so far away and Shawn has a crappy work schedule, we will forgive them for not coming. This time.