Monday, September 27, 2010

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.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

It's About Time!

First of all, Sorry. With Leila being much more active and into things, enjoying the nice weather, and being a home owner and the responsibilities that come with that, I haven't been making the blog a priority. Here are pictures from the past several months. We are going to have her first birthday party this coming weekend...stay tuned for an updated blog for that, along with an explanation of what she is doing these days as far as developmental milestones. Until then, enjoy the pictures. Waiting for the Doctor.



Family Picture at the Zoo.

Leila LOVED being this close to the monkeys.

So Sweet.



Leila with Grandpa Great Taylor.

My cute niece Kiley.

Impromptu famiy photo at Leila's blessing.








Leila in her blessing outfit.



Round two at the pool.



Daddy was "watching" her. Good thing this is what I found

and not something much more messy!

1st trip to the pool...

So cute in her glasses.

Check out those thighs!



Sweet thing loves her daddy...