We're Ready!!

Season passes? CHECK! And look at Laelia's huge smile...she's a ski-loving girl already!

Summer is over!!

Well, apparently I'm bad at updating the blog. Here's a quick update, sans photos.

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!

Holidays and Food...

...they go together, right? So our recent holidays are Easter, Mother's Day and Memorial Day. Of course the pictures are uploaded in reverse, but that's ok.

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend, it was supposed to rain the entire time, and we actually got a little sun instead. Jeremy and I were going to take Laelia on her first camping trip, but decided not to because of the forecast...we found fun things to do around Whitefish instead.

Yep. The girls left Jeremy at home and took a run on the ski hill. Ok, barely a run, but we did get out there and did hike up a little ways and did ski down. It just wasn't that far, as I was scared off by the dark rain clouds. Laelia liked her position in the Kelty backpack as it puts her up high enough to see over my head. Rekawae was with us too, she just didn't make the picture as she was too busy playing in the snow that she loves! Laelia liked the skiing, and it was a HUGE workout for me with her on my back...totally threw my weight off and make me work for every turn! 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...

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.

Massachusetts Trip

This is a long time in getting posted, but what can I say? Life is just busy with an almost 7 month old! We traveled to MA in April, and introduced Laelia to everyone out there. It was a great trip!! Of course, we started out by going through security at the airport.

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.

It was a wonderful trip...full of wonderful people and wonderful sights! Laelia was a champ with all the changes and I'm pretty sure everyone loved her! Until next time, Massachusetts....

Laelia goes skiing!

So for a long time (since Laelia was born) I have wanted to take her skiing with me. Well, the day finally arrived last Sunday, April 3, 2011. 160 days had passed since the last time Laelia and I skied together, which was on October 26, 2010, one week before she was born. If you haven't read it, there's a post about that day too! We strapped her into the front carrier, and I clicked into my skis.

It started snowing as we were skiing, here we are coming down Home Again. Laelia was giggling while we were skiing. :)

And now a video for your viewing pleasure!

March, Month 5

March rolled on in, Laelia turned 4 months old, and life got better and better! She mastered her head control in February, which meant sitting in the walker/bouncer, facing forward, Johnny Jump Up and more! She continues to love the mirror, giggles a lot, and is starting to engage people she meets more and more. On March 9th (Uncle Ted's Bday!) she laughed her first deep belly laugh. It was great! It was during our music class, and we were singing a song called "Frosty Weather" (it was snowing out) and it's a circle dance, and you follow the directions of the words. Part says, "we all come together," and every time we came together she laughed and laughed. My friend Kate said, "Let's keep singing so we can keep hearing her laugh!" So we did!Very fun. :) For about 2 weeks in March Laelia stopped buzzing her lips in favor of actually vocal talking, but then she went back to buzzing, although now it's more of a tongue trill, which even surpasses my abilities! On March 25, (4 months, 3 weeks old) she weighed in at 15lbs, 5 oz and measured 24.5". The weight is about the 75th%, and length is less somewhat, but I can't remember for sure. She's a very healthy girl!! Four months old + good head control means facing forward in the front carrier for the first time. She was smiling at the ladies at the bank and was looking all around as we walked! And this was the result! It's tiring to face forward!

Four months old meant time for the Johnny Jump Up...trying it out for the first time. She liked it and so did Rekawae. Yet another baby device putting Laelia at Rekawae's level!

With Mia on the winter beach at Flathead lake. They drain the reservoir about 8 feet every winter to allow for the spring snow melt, and it results in this lovely 6 mile long beach.

This is my first loaf of gluten free bread. For those who don't know, I went dairy free when Laelia was 2 weeks old and gluten free when she was 4 weeks old, in an attempt (a successful one) to help ease her colic. Just now at the end of March beginning of April am I starting to reintroduce small amounts of the banished foods again. This means cheese, the love of my eating life, and WOW, does it taste good after being absent from my diet for almost 4 months! The bread was dense, but really yummy!

Smiling on the big girl chair. She can no longer be left unattended on said chair, though. She would wiggle her way off!

Yep, it was still cold out, but juussst warm enough after about 20 minutes of running to take off my long sleeve shirt. But then I was cold the rest of the day!

Found the toes!

This sucking on the lower lip is her new thing. It makes her cheeks look even bigger!

Yay! Floor time with Mommy and Daddy :)

She's starting to really enjoy Rekawae...smiling when Rekawae comes into the room, and of course, loving to lounge together!

Doing a little sunbathing on the rare sunny morning. She was without clothes for about 5 hours this Wednesday morning and loved it!

This sweater used to be mine, but I can't imagine being as cute as her in it!

Hmm....the elusive foot...she has now found it (left hand and left foot, that is) and is pretty much constantly holding on to it when on her back.

Her attention span for listening to guitar is growing daily. Also, she has started to 'play' the piano when she's sitting on my lap during piano lessons. It's good practice at putting together cause and effect! "Oh, I hit the white thing and noise comes out! Fun!" She has strummed the guitar too, but not as much as playing the piano. And I think it's nice she's exposed to these instruments, but we also need to show her something Jeremy and I don't play so that the Pappenfus Family Band will have a wider variety of instruments!

And here's a little look at a reenactment of the laughter from "Frosty Weather."