Ms. Fancy Pants

Layla's first ballet outfit...okay, maybe they are cute pajamas. Yes, Ms. Layla does retire the tutu before she goes to sleep for the night :-)

Many people have been asking how our house sale has been coming along. Here is the update: There has been no movement lately. We were steady with showings up until two weeks ago. We haven't had a showing since, probably due to everyone else dropping the prices on their houses and our price holding steady. We have an open house on Sunday and we hope it will draw attention to many eager buyers.

We re-buried Saint Joseph tonight in the backyard because he wasn't buried in the correct direction. My mom is convinced he needs to be in correct position to sell the house. My sister buried the same Saint Joseph and they sold their house in one day...four years ago....when the house market was booming....:-) So we shall see if he does the same trick for us four years later!!!

Milk

At times, Layla does not like taking a bottle. Since I am in the process of weaning Ms. Layla from nursing, I tried giving her milk in a sippy cup. She successfully drank the milk...

...but she didn't want to part with the last bit of her drink :-)

Do you think Layla has been watching Howie too much?

Layla See, Layla Do

Every week I get this "Your baby is ___ weeks old" e-mail. The developmental milestones/activities listed are rarely on target for Layla but I continue to read it each week. Some things she does earlier, some later, but I almost always read it and almost always disagree with it (and almost always report my findings to my sister Cassie who reminds me that I said the week before I was no longer going to read these e-mails). Anyway, this week the beginning of the e-mail said:

Dear Kristin,

Don't be surprised if your baby develops a serious case of copycat-itis around now. These days, she may attempt to mimic everything you do -- from using a spoon to brushing her hair.

I thought the writer of this little weekly e-mail had seriously gone crazy. What copying already??? And then I took a little closer look at Layla...

"More tea please, mom"

"I'm drinking my tea just like mama"

(maybe with an upside down cup)

"Phone call! Better use this teacup as an emergency phone!"

Okay, so I know it is not using a spoon (which she chews on) or using a brush (which she chews on), but it is a start...a pretty cute start I think! :-)

Busy Baby (and Howie)

The weather has been beautiful and we have been busy! It is so nice to be out of the freezing cold winter (please no more snow!!!) and it is especially nice to leave the house without having to bundle Layla up in a snowsuit, hat and a blanket. We come and go much easier these days which means we are on the go a lot more which has been fun.

I haven't been taking as many pictures lately because Layla is so hard to capture these days. Actually I can snap a picture of her back, the back of her head, and her crawling moves quite easily...it is just her face that is hard to catch on camera :-) She is always on the move!!!

I do have a couple shots of Ms. Layla from this week when she was seated in the high chair and stroller :-)

First, Ms. Layla looking SO big. And yes, look at that hair coming in!!!

And then here are a few pictures from a walk this week (can you tell Layla's little feet are in constant motion?) Howie would be in the pictures too, but I could not get him to pose by the stroller. He kept coming right by me and sitting...which was out of the picture :-)

Speaking of Howie...he has already completely deflated his gift from the Easter bunny. We were playing fetch with the toy, Layla woke up and I tended to her for about 2 minutes, I came back and this is what I found. Oh Howie!!! He did successfully find the squeaker...which he always obsesses about in toys!!!

Have a great weekend!

Snapshots from Easter

***Updated*** I fixed the first collage so it is able to be clicked on and then you should be able to see the pictures much better!
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I hope everyone had a great Easter! We had a wonderful but very busy weekend. Enjoy the pictures from our many Easter festivities below :-)

If you want to get a better look at the pictures, click on the collage and a zoomed in version will appear.

Love the picture of Aunt Cassie pushing Ms. Layla around in the little shopping cart!

Can you tell who loved to shake the Easter eggs???

Wondering why I have so many collages? Ryan found a new (and free!) picture editing program online and it is very user-friendly. These collages went together so quickly!

Eggs, bunnies and more!

The last first holiday for Layla...and I wanted to go out with a bang. Yesterday, Ryan and I had planned to dye Easter eggs with Layla and to visit the Easter Bunny.

I have learned an important lesson. 10 months + Easter egg dyeing....it just doesn't mix too well :-) I do think Layla had a good time

knocking over the dye,


pounding the eggs on the table/platter,


and attempting to eat the eggs and papertowel roll (notice the pacifier to avoid any egg and/or papertowel ingestion).


Although the egg dyeing session ended quickly, we did manage to capture some cute shots of busy Layla enjoying (okay, tolerating) her Easter (Kentucky Derby?) hat!

And then we took a few squirmy, wormy pictures with mom and dad.

And then a classic Easter Bunny picture (no tears!)



And after the Easter Bunny picture, we checked out Heather Woodward's photograph display at the mall. We looked at Ms. Layla's picture on display and got a picture of Layla waving by the picture of Layla (how many times can you use picture AND Layla in a sentence?) :-)

Happy Easter to all!

10 Months Old....

Our little Layla is 10 months old...what????!!!!????

What happened, and where is all of the time going?

10 reasons we know Layla is getting SO big!

1. Layla is saying dada

2. Layla is pulling herself up and attempting to move while holding onto furniture

3. Layla got her second tooth

4. Layla has developed a new yell/talk that sounds nothing like the coos and goos of her junior months :-)

5. Layla seems to prefer finger foods over pureed foods

6. When changing Layla's diaper, it is a very similar experience to wrestling an alligator (or what I would imagine wrestling an alligator would entail)

7. Layla graduated from her first swim class (Return to H20) and is now in the second level swim class (Diaper Divers). One of the little 20 month old boys was squirting Layla with his fish in the pool! We want back in the baby class!!! Okay, maybe I just want back in the baby class.

8. Layla pulls on our pant legs when she wants to be picked up

9. Layla now sleeps on her belly, AND I don't go in and try to flip her onto her back (most of the time)

10. I am starting to look into invitations for the big (most likely ladybug themed) 1st birthday party...ahhhhh!!!!!

Well, now I have to tell everyone that Layla is 10 months old. As of last Friday, I was still introducing Layla as my 9 1/2 month old (I like to round down). I say all of this now, and I am sure before you know it I will be convincing all of you that the 10th month is just the best month ever :-)

Florida

We have returned from Florida!!!! Ryan, Layla and I enjoyed a spring break in Florida with Cassie, Jamie and little Shea. We had a great time and below are LOTS of pictures from the trip :-)

Airplane ride to Florida-
Layla was a busy and happy girl on the plane. She played with her toys, pulled the magazine in and out of the chair pocket over and over again, and checked on a regular basis to make sure the little girl behind us was still there. Overall, a very successful first plane ride :-)

Florida-

Layla had a great first trip to Florida. She was so busy!!! Layla swam in the swimming pool, went for walks, played and talked with her cousin Shea, and went on the beach for the first time (loved playing in the sand!). We had such a fun time and we were not ready to leave when the time came. Is summer almost here??

Airplane ride back home-

Layla was excited we had a window seat on the way home. Ryan and I got such a kick out of the way Layla pressed her little head up against the window to see the other planes on the runway.

After watching the planes, Layla's days of swimming, walks, and beach playing caught up with her. She slept from take-off to landing!

Until Spring Break 2010...!!!!