Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
In Which Laelia And Amelia Eat Raisins
Going on a Christmas Tree Hunt!
Getting closer.
Happy Girl in the sled.
First winter shot of the year.
Jeremy doing the hard work.
Here's our little beauty.
Laelia inspects the tree.
Helping Mommy get out the decorations.
Very serious.
Helping out.
The finished product.
Can you believe she's 13 months old?
She is now walking like she means it. She can't stand up on her own, but she can pull herself up with the smallest amount of help (sometimes using a toy) and then walks until she falls. If she's close enough to reach something, she'll pull herself right back up and keep walking, if not, she crawls super fast to get there. She really likes to be chased, both crawling and walking, although sometimes she comes towards us instead of away, but is laughing the whole time. She gets a kick out of Rekawae, who is very patient with her. She loves to bark back at Rekawae and any other dogs we see, with a very cute, high pitched Laelia-bark. She knows what bears, fish, snakes, dogs and cold penguins (brrr) say, although any animal other than a dog is a bear at first sight, including a squirrel that we saw on today's walk!
She is learning signs quite well. To date she knows: mama, milk, raisins, grapes, potato, apple, banana, more, all done, please, thank-you, amen, book, blue, excuse me, blowing kisses, waving hi and bye. Today we worked on learning rice, but she doesn't quite have it down. We're also working on I Love You. She also puts signs together, as in "more please banana." Most things she wants she says please for.
She is also increasing her actual speaking, although at a slower rate than the signing. She can say: Hi, Bu-bye (in the CUTEST voice ever!), Wow!, Ya, Ball (like baa, but it's very clear she means ball) , book(like booh, same idea as ball), Dada, and of course lots of baby babbling, complete with killer expressions. I'll post a talking video soon.
She gives kisses to anyone, but isn't ready to be in peoples arms other than mine, Jeremy's and her Mia's. (and Grampa and Grammy's, Uncle Ted and Aunt Em while on vacation in MA recently). She's finally becoming a snuggling little thing, but I still have to convince her to do it unless she's really tired. My fail safe method is to let her 'push' me over on the ground so she's lying on my belly/chest. She thinks it's hysterical that she pushed me over and wiggles her little body as close to mine as she can. So we do this a lot. :)
Well, the dirty kitchen calls...until later.....
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
In Which Mommy And Laelia "Swim" In Beaver Lake.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A New Tooth!
Let's see, what else is new...She stands on her own for quite a while now, often clapping for herself! She loves to walk all around the room via the furniture, but has only taken single steps completely alone, and even then not that often.
She loves to try on my engagement ring, and promptly gives it back. She's very good at sharing as long as she keeps getting the item back when she asks for it. And she signs, "please," for everything, and is starting to realize that just saying please doesn't me she gets everything she asks for! Anyways, she holds up her pointer finger and I slip the ring on, then she says, "Wow," and takes it off carefully to hand it back to me. This goes on about 10 times before she started shaking her hand all around trying to throw it on the ground.
Speaking of throwing things, she LOVES to throw Rekawae's toys for her. And she throws them down with enthusiasm...the only problem is they land right at her feet where Rekawae dropped them off to begin with, but the dog is picking up on the fact that the girl will be a fun playmate!
Less than two weeks now until the big ONE! Stay tuned for some videos soon!
Friday, October 7, 2011
We finally gave her a bowl full of food and a spoon...
"So, you're really giving me control? Excellent."
"Yeah, I'm watching you too."
"I think I could get used to this."
"Yep, I'm figuring it out."
"I can eat off my fingers, too!"
"Mmmm, tasty!"
"It's all over me and it's sticky!"
"Hah! This is fun!"
"Ohhhh, I'm messy!"
Monday, October 3, 2011
Such a smile-y girl!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
She growls like a bear!
http://youtu.be/eQA3WOmwPzw
We're Ready!!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Summer is over!!
June: Lots of smiles, very good at sitting, and starting to crawl! She worked hard at crawling, first rocking back and forth on her hands and knees for a while, then going backwards for a while, and finally going forward, officially for the first time on June 14, right at 7 1/2 months old. She looked to Rekawae for the 4 legged inspiration. She had her first time in a pool (LOVED it), her first unidentifiable rash (it cleared up fine), her first time sitting at a table (she banged her mesh bag of food as if she was playing the drums), her first Father's Day (she gave Jeremy an "I love Daddy" shirt), her first wedding, and her first ride in a Bobcat with Jeremy. She continued to love being outside, and is very excited to see animals of all kinds, but especially dogs. We've been telling Rekawae for a long time that if she just gives Laelia time she'll have a fun playmate, and that day gets closer and closer!
July: The beginning of July brought Laelia's first camping and climbing trip. We took off in Desdemona for the Kookcanusa for a night over the 4th weekend. Other than not going to bed until Jeremy and I did, she did great! We camped on a stream which was still VERY cold, but Laelia splashed all around in it anyways. The next day we went climbing, with Laelia in the backpack or Bumbo, and she was a trooper while Jeremy and I took turns climbing. I think next summer will find Laelia strapped in to a harness and climbing herself! The next adventure was a little summer skiing up at Logan Pass in Glacier. Mom and I took Laelia up on a chilly day (it was July 15th, but only about 45 degrees out) and hiked up to ski. She was laughing in the backpack on the way down. That's my girl!! She grew to love her pool and swimming in the lake this month too.
August: Another month of adventures! More skiing (yes, you read that right--we skiied two days in August, including my birthday!!), her first long hike (12 miles and she was awesome), her first boat ride, another camping trip, lots of play dates with her little friends, crawling up a storm, climbing stairs, eating lots of food, going to the Minnesota State Fair, and on and on I could go. She still loves being outside, and gets a smile on her face when I put my sunglasses on; I guess she knows what's coming! She loves chasing Rekawae around the house, either in our arms, or crawling after her on the floor. She vocalizes a lot, the "ah" sounds, mostly Dadada, rahrahrah, and bababa. She used to say mamama, but seems to have stopped. She can sign "more," "All done," waves goodbye and gives kisses. Yep, the wet, open mouth variety. She loves to point to people's noses, and sometimes eyes. She is interested in everything, and goes around with her mouth in an "o" formation a lot, saying what sounds like, "Ohwow!" It's pretty cute, if I don't say so myself.
September: We spent 2 weeks in MN visiting Jeremy's family. She learned to growl like a bear and meow like a kitten. She mostly growls for all animal sounds now, despite Maga Ruthie's attempt to get the meow down. We visited Duluth, where she watched the sun rise over Lake Superior (and of course she put her feet in the lake!) She attended her first out of the womb Storyhill Fest, went for another boat ride, went to her first zoo ( it was a huge hit!) and spent wonderful amounts of time with her MN grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We're back home now, and getting into the swing of daily piano lessons, which Laelia thinks is all about her, of course.
Here's a couple links to Facebook albums. You should not have to log into FB to view these, just click on the link and hopefully you'll see Little Miss Laelia in all her cuteness.
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2119853002892.2129957.1442794968&l=630ab65375&type=1
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2288667863158.2136772.1442794968&l=f42e414b04&type=1
www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2344706504089.2139394.1442794968&l=7854fda45e&type=1
Laelia plays the piano!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Holidays and Food...
Here we are on a family hike at the Whitefish Trail the day before we skied...note the wonderful sunshine in this picture!
Laelia's night activity led to this great one-arm fashion statement.
Getting ready for her first bite of food ever on May 3...
....and, success! Look at this determined little eater! She sucked down her first bowl of rice cereal like a pro, and has never looked back! She's currently eating rice cereal, apples, yams and butternut squash. She eats 3 times a day, and nurses 5-6 times. I've also recently given her a sippy cup with water, which she likes a lot!
All smiles with Mia on Mother's Day!
3 Generations on Mother's Day.
All decked out in her outfit from Auntie Jan...thanks! So pretty!
Laelia and I returned to MT the day before Easter...Jeremy met us at the airport with flowers (what a guy!) and we were so happy to see him. The day we returned and Easter were both beautiful sunny days, and we spent as much time outside as we could! Here we are after church; Laelia must be contemplating the sermon!
Well, this brings you (and me!) up to speed, more or less...Laelia is starting to settle into a more regular routine, the most notable change being that she's putting herself to sleep very easily and then sleeping for longer naps! She was the 30 minute nap queen for a while, but now she's going an hour plus for me, and it is awesome!! All this to say perhaps I'll update a again sooner rather than later! I think she'll be crawling very soon, and the teeth are getting close so we have 2 big milestones to blog about in the near future, so, until then...Sunday, May 29, 2011
And now for your viewing pleasure...
It's time for some action shots!! Laelia is a bundle of wiggles. She never stops moving. I'm actually a little frightened about what life will be like once she's crawling. Currently she is not crawling, but still is moving around a lot. I'll put her on her tummy in the middle of the rug, and in no time she's made it to the edge. She goes in a circle, and is fast! She is able to get up on her hands and kness and rocks back and forth, but when she goes back down to her tummy, she's moved back instead of forward. She's starting to get frustrated a little bit that she can't figure out how to move directly forward. It's entertaining for sure.
This is when we had sun. We enjoyed it to the fullest...Laelia maybe more than me, since she was working on her full body tan!
Laelia loves it when we jump out at her, or she jumps out at us...this video isn't the best as I was jumping while taking it, but you get the idea of how funny she thinks it is.
This is the one of the most recent videos of Laelia, taken May 28...it shows off her many abilities: Circle spinning, rug edge lifting, lip buzzing, and throat growling to name a few.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Massachusetts Trip
Laelia did great on the airplane...it always helps to laugh with Daddy!
Wow...the world looks different from up here!
I think this says it all.
With Grammy...matching in blue and pink!
Back in Uncle Ted's arms again.
All smiles in Grampa's arms.
We finally made it to the ocean! It was a beautiful day, but windy, and Laelia and I lived it up in short sleeves and barefoot. There was a park nearby, and all the other kids were bundled up a little bit more. One mom made a comment about Laelia's bare feet, and I said, "Oh, we're from Montana," and she didn't have anything to say after that!
We had a late night hang out with 'Auntie' Rachel. Laelia should have been sleeping, but, hey, we were on vacation, right?
Laelia did great at her first Red Sox game!! She liked it when Youkilis came up to bat and everyone says, "YOUK!" She laughed each time. And yes, the Sox won, the first time in 5 0r 6 games. You can thank Laelia for turning the tide when you see her.
Hanging out with Courtney and Ashley...Ashley was great with Laelia when we went to the mall together!
Checking out Beverly Harbor with Uncle Ted.
Four generations of ladies: Grammy Hall, Mia, Mommy, Laelia.
Laelia had a great time with Auntie Jan!
Grampy is the oldest person Laelia has met! He loves her and she loved playing with him.
Grammy Hall and Bill loved Laelia, but thought she cried a lot!! But she's all smiles in this picture!
Family photo on Palm Sunday.
Checking out Grampa while sporting the shirt he gave her! :)
Admiring Grampa's wicked cool floor.
Christy, my college roommate from Gordon, and her husband Rob came to see us with their daughter Amelia, who is just 15 days younger than Laelia. We call the girls Womb-Mates. You can see them all here.