Kelsey

Our niece Kelsey came to stay with us last Sunday night.

We had lots of fun and Layla really liked having her over. Below Kelsey is reading Layla a book before bed, too cute! Thanks for staying with us, Kelsey :-)

Christmas

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Ryan's family. We all had a great time and Layla really enjoyed herself. She was running around like a wild woman until we finally strapped her into her carseat late into the evening to go home :-)

Kelsey, Truan and Layla were very fun to watch together. Kelsey is always a great helping hand with the babies and as you can see above Truan and Layla enjoyed opening gifts together.

Layla received a dress-up trunk from Grandma and Grandpa Janisch and it will be so much fun to play with! Above Layla is admiring the Cinderella dress that she found inside!

I thought this picture was so sweet. Layla brought her grandpa over a gift and then sat right in front of him to watch him open it!! So cute :-)

Christmas Day

We had a very fun Christmas morning. Shea and Layla were so funny to watch together and so cute in their coordinating pajamas!

Don't forget about Howie! He got in on the fun in Layla's new tent...it came complete with a jail and everything...too funny :-)

Below are pictures of Layla and Shea enjoying the day together. Layla does have on a different pair of pajamas on in the last picture because she had gotten blood (bit her tongue), guacamole and a diaper stain on the first pair....and Cass was still sad when I took them off :-)

After dinner at my parents' house we headed to my aunt and uncle's house for dessert. Layla and Shea enjoyed ice cream, wrestling with Jamie and running around like little nuts!! Thankfully everyone slept until almost 10AM the next day :-)

Oh, and did I mention Layla and Shea got electric motorcycles for Christmas from my parents? They are complete with an accelerator pedal and siren :-) So funny!

I hope everyone had a happy holiday! Thank you to everyone in the family, as you were all TOO generous with gifts for Miss Layla Bugs! Our winter indoors will sure to be more fun now :-)

Merry Christmas!

Santa came a little early to our house this year.

All month long 18 months has proven to be such a fun age at Christmas!

Christmas Eve morning was no different, Layla was SO excited :-)

Yes, she loves baby dolls and trucks. Well, actually Layla was not so sure about the baby doll but we did manage to capture a hug!

Don't worry, Miss Layla is already working on those thank you notes for Santa :-)

(I love it when she "writes" and colors on her belly like this...too funny!)

We hope everyone has a wonderful couple of days. We are looking forward to seeing Ryan's family today and tonight and my family all day tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

The Big O-N-E

Our nephew Truan turned one this past Monday. I cannot believe he is already one. It seems like yesterday that we went to go visit him in the hospital for the first time. On Sunday, we joined in on the big birthday celebration for the newest one year old in the family!!!

Below is daddy Truan (he is on a two week vacation from the Airforce, he has been gone since the first week in June!), Katie and Mr. Truan himself :-)

Someone really enjoyed his cake!!

And at the young age of 12 months, Truan is already so good at sharing! Thank you for sharing all of your toys so nicely with Layla!

Happy 1st birthday Truan! We are excited to spend your 1st Christmas at home with you this year (last year he was still in the hospital).

Seamus

Shea came to stay with us for a couple days. Cassie and Jamie's babysitter went on a vacation for a couple weeks so Cass had to piece together babysitters during this time. Layla and Shea get along well so I was excited to see the two in action for a couple days.

And let me tell you...they.were.BUSY but also so much fun together. They get so "pumped" to be around each other that their already boundless energy level goes through the roof.

Here they are banging on the table during breakfast one morning:

They played really well for the most part together, but by the end of the trip I believe Shea wanted to be Layla. Here he is with the bow he insisted on having in his hair and Layla's pink lovey in his grasp. So funny! And thank you Mr. Shea for teaching Layla the word "thanks." She is getting really good at using it appropriately all thanks to you!

And of course all good things have to come to an end and Shea had to go home to his mommy and daddy. A few hours later, Layla looked all over the house for him and was looking at me and saying "bye bye?" wondering where Shea was. Don't worry, they will be reunited soon over the holidays :-)

CPR

A couple of Sundays ago, Ryan, Katie, Josh and I became certified in infant/child CPR. Actually, Katie was already certified because she is a nurse, but she wanted a refresher course now that she has a little newborn (Zander!) at home. Stephanie taught the class as she is a certified CPR teacher (is that the correct term?) through the American Red Cross. Thanks Steph for donating your entire Sunday (yes, just about the entire day...we were talkative students!) to teach us how to do CPR.

This first picture cracks me up! Josh was doing the CPR on himself because Katie was nursing the baby. I couldn't stop laughing so I was not a very good unconscious person and I have no idea where Ryan is looking in this picture!

Next up Stephanie had Josh stop trying to resuscitate himself and I was on my own to save Ryan. Fortunately for him, I was right on cue with the video in the background. However, I did have kind of a hard time remembering all of the steps in the beginning and I was trying to figure out why. I think I haven't really had to use my brain in the "learn and apply" manner in quite some time. Actually it has been 18 months to be exact! I decided I need to start doing crosswords or something...maybe I'll start watching Wheel of Fortune again.. :-)

Below is a picture of Katie and Josh performing CPR on their mannequins.

And here is sweet little Zander who was so good all day while we were learning our CPR skills. Isn't he and his hair adorable?

So now all of you adorable babies that were born, I am ready to baby-sit you. And yes, I am CPR certified :-)

1 Weekend, 3 Christmas Parties

The party season has begun!

This past weekend we had the Baader Christmas (my mom's side of the family does a party a little early each year so the whole family can see each other during the holiday season), the Sloan Christmas (for the WHOLE Sloan family, a fun get-together with my dad's aunts, uncles, cousins and everyone's families) and a Christmas party at one of Grandma and Grandpa Janisch's favorite places. Enjoy the party pictures below!!!

Baader Party

A lot of dancing! Blurry I know, but look at Layla's face! She loves to dance with Shea and I'm pretty sure he feels the same way.

Present time! It is SO nice to have new toys around the house, especially with it being cold outside we have been playing and playing and playing inside. So happy to have some new items to play with :-)

More Shea and Layla....they enjoy Joan's bedroom...A LOT! Sorry Joan for leaving the destruction behind!

And here is a sweet one of Joan and Layla (Cindy Lou Hoo as Mark called her...love it!)

Before we left for the next party, we took a picture with Grandma/Great Grandma Baader. Thanks Grandma for letting us overtake your room for the day!

Thanks for having us Joan! I know we are the guests who almost never left :-)

Now onto the Sloan Family Christmas Party.

The Janisch Family

The McDonald Family (and a cupcake)

Here is Layla and myself after Layla's 1st of two pretty major spills that night...and did I mention her 18 month pictures were the next day? Luckily all the bumps and red marks had gone down by the next day, poor little thing!

And lastly.....apparently, Layla only loves Santa from a distance!!!

Sunday Christmas Party!

Not another Santa!! This time Daddy and Layla kept their distance!

Kelsey holding Layla, or trying to! Kelsey did coax her in with a cookie a few minutes later!

And cute Mr. Truan. He will be one this weekend, can you believe it!?!

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I will be posting again soon, I had a busy but fun past couple days. We had a very special visitor!

Snow and Snips

Yesterday Layla, Howie and I headed outside to play in the snow.

Many layers of winter clothes + boots that are a little big = Layla being unable to move!

Although she had a hard time moving around in the snow, Layla loved watching Howie. He loves running around in the snow and really had Layla giggling. Howie slept all day after his snow workout...sounds like we need to that more often! And yes, Howie has his own winter sweater. He shakes like a leaf in the fall and winter so it is more of a necessity than a fashion statement...but I was guilty of that earlier in his life!

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And now for the hair snipping! Layla had her first haircut tonight and she did....awesome! I was shocked, I thought for sure she would have a hard time with someone touching her head after all of the testing she went through this fall. Turns out I worried for nothing.

This picture below cracks me up. Daddy is going to be in trouble because Layla seemed to already be enjoying the beautification process at the very young age of 18 months!!!

Layla enjoyed a sucker throughout her haircut and even gave the sucker up after the haircut was over without a peep! Life was too good...until we got home and noticed her bangs were a little crooked! Oh well, we have to take a little bad with the good :-)

December Baby Arrives!

On December 1st, Brody and Kayte's little Mason was welcomed into the world. Mr. Mason was 7lb 9oz and 21 inches long. He is just adorable and Layla is going to have a lot of little boyfriends running around her a year from now :-)

It is funny because this is the first baby that Layla has been fine with Ryan and I holding. She didn't scream out in jealousy like she has been known to do and actually gave him a kiss on the head! We were shocked, but maybe she is just getting used to having babies around!

Congrats to Brody and Kayte, we are so happy for you both!