Welcome to the Carnival!!

Today was the first of Layla's two birthday parties. Today was a triple party with her twin cousins that share her same birthday. Here they are for their big birthday: Lexie, Layla, and Lizzie (aren't they cute??)

Remember how I said we might "throw in" a carnival theme?? Well we took the idea and sort of ran with it.

The carnival cake (made compliments of Ryan's cousin, Julie) and the goodie bags for all of the kids.

Above is a close-up of the cake. The trains became the smash cakes for the three girls!

There were games (Layla's favorite was the duck game)

There were lemon shake-ups....shaken by Ryan's dad, Verlyn :-)

Oh, and did I mention Layla's right leg didn't like the grass???

Layla even shared a snow cone (hold the syrup) with her daddy

And then there was cake....

And finally there were presents, even though everyone's "presence" was supposed to be presents enough :-)

It was such a fun day and the countdown begins for party number two....6 days and counting for our little Layla Bug party :-)

Don't Look!!

I am warning you...do not look to the right of this post...you know, where it shows Layla's age. Today it says "Layla is 11 months and 3 weeks." NOOOOO, the big one birthday cannot seriously already be around the corner. Yes, it is, but luckily I have been distracting myself with party planning. Speaking of party planning, I promised you a peek at the invites (Cindy you ask, and you shall receive!! Thanks for the reminder...I completely forgot to put this up.)

Here is the front of the card. My favorite picture is right in the middle of the ladybug. Layla was about 10 days old and she constantly made that little face and I loved it.

This is the back of the card. Sorry it is not as clean of a snapshot. The ladybug button made it difficult to scan, so I ended up taking a picture of it. The red rectangle is covering up our phone number. I figured it was not a good idea to have this on the blog. You can click on the picture to take a closer look.

Thank you again to my card creators (Stephanie, Stephanie's mom, Kathy, my mom & Ryan). They were so much fun to create and make!!

3 Brunettes and a Blonde

On Saturday, my mom, sister and I headed to Chicago (driving compliments of brother-in-law Jamie) and went to see Legally Blonde the Musical.

My dad and Ryan watched the babies (toddlers?? yikes!...babies) while we had our girls day out. While we were gone, Layla and Shea were treated to their first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. It sounded like they had quite the fun day themselves!!! Anyway, the musical was very cute and we had good seats and we could actually see the actors (which is always a bonus). I loved the dancing and the dogs featured in the musical were very cute.

After a fun little meet up and photo shoot with Aunt Joan, Penny and Hank (hello and thanks for the great pictures, Hank!!!), we headed to the Melting Pot for dinner.

Remember the crazy New Year's Eve experience we had at the Melting Pot? If not, click here to read the story. Anyway, due to that crazy experience, we were given gift certificates so that we would come back to the restaurant...and so to the Melting Pot we went. (I am always calling (or having Ryan call!) customer service if we have a bad experience in a restaurant/store. In fact, I just received our brand new microwave this week....whole different story though!) This time the service and food were great so we were happy (and very full) campers.

And how can I leave a post without a picture or two of Ms. Tornado, oops I mean Layla :-) She has taken a newfound interest in taking everything off bookshelves, tables, etc. I believe she is in an exploring stage, so here she is exploring her little heart out (I mean, how can you deny a child a book?)!!! You should see her eyes light up at the library!! Don't worry, Joan, Penny and friends, I keep her under control :-)

Watch out Toys R Us...

here comes Layla! Layla is getting an early start on developing her shopping skills. She has been working all week on walking with her shopping cart :-)

Below is a short video from early on in the week of Ms. Layla walking with assistance from the shopping cart.

Oh! And Layla also loves her playfood. Here Layla is playing with a tiny head of lettuce and peas. I always think it is odd that the peas are bigger than the lettuce. (Behind Layla are toys, not just a messy house! We tend to move from room to room getting toys out as we go.)

SO Big

Layla is doing a new trick....because she is SO big :-) Ryan and I started trying to teach Layla how to do the "so big" trick from about 6 months on and she was just not interested. So we had not been trying anymore, and then Layla picked it up on her own from our mom/baby yoga class that we have been attending for the past couple of weeks. Too funny, Layla is a little girl who does everything on her own terms!!!

Wondering how mom/baby yoga class goes with an 11 month old? Mostly Layla enjoys crawling away from me as fast as she can and then pulls herself up by the stereo and "dances" to the relaxing yoga music....I have to bring my camera this week. Although, come to think of it, I don't know if flashes and yoga quite go together.

Enjoy the video below of Ms. Layla trying to figure out her puzzle...and she does "so big" at the end (which can easily be confused with "touchdown" for any football fans reading this).

Mother's Day 2009

Yesterday, I had a great first Mother's Day. We went out to breakfast with Ryan's family, visited with my parents, grandma, aunts and uncles at my grandma and aunt's house and then off to the Brookfield Zoo we went. Cassie, Jamie and Shea joined Ryan, Layla and I and we had a great day...although we all decided we needed to brush up on our animal knowledge. Seal, sea lion??? Ape, gorilla? Buffalo, bison???

Off to the zoo we go!!!

Ryan took a quick picture of Layla and I and the McDonald family by the birds....I think Layla and Shea were most interested (and probably most familiar) with the ducks

Okay...maybe Layla liked the giraffes too

Okay...really liked the giraffes :-)

Oh, and she was very interested in the....

zebra! They are beautiful animals.

After several hours at the zoo, Layla was bow-less (which means tired) and drinking out of Shea's sippy cup and Shea was pushing his own stroller...so it was time to go!

We had a great day and Ryan and I couldn't help remember our last Mother's Day. Our days were filled with constant doctors' appointments and the possibility of delivering at any time. I specifically remember last Mother's Day, and worrying why Layla was moving so little at the time (most likely from the steroid shots in Dr. Kristin.com's opinion!) Anyway, a year later, we have a healthy, happy baby girl who even says "momma" as an added bonus :-)

I wonder what next year will bring....(hopefully a new house!!!)

Kitty Time

Layla found some ribbon in a shopping bag of mine and noticed that it caught Blue's attention. I ran for the camera and this is what I captured!

Here are a few of my favorite things...

I love hiding from mommy...

and playing peek-a-boo :-)

I actually love playing this with Howie the most. I laugh SO hard when I pull it off Howie's head. He is such a good doggie.

I love going by the CD player in my room and waving my arms so mommy will turn on the music.

And then I like to dance, dance, dance!! Wondering when I am dancing?? Watch my arms go up and down and my legs move a little (listen for me saying mom in the video at about second 32).

I love washcloths!!!! Dry, wet, you name it, I love them :-)

I love music, dancing and washcloths all at the same time :-)

I love to watch other babies/kids at the park.

I love my cats (maybe a little more than they love me).

I still love to eat. While I eat, I also enjoy talking to my food (see right picture) :-)

I love pulling books off my bookshelf (mom put them on the lower shelves so I can get to them now) and opening and closing the books over and over again.

I love looking at real pictures. I love looking at animals, family, babies...and even this picture of myself :-)

And finally I love baths...and crawling in the bath which makes my mom REALLY nervous. She calls herself a lifeguard now during bathtime.

Now if you add up all of these things I love...they add up to 11. Because I am 11 months today!!! Only one more month and I will be a year....oh my goodness....halfway to the terrible twos :-)

What in the world...

are we doing????

I'll give you a hint or two (or three).


They are made of paper.


They have black spots.


They have red bodies.

Hmmmmm......yes, we are making invitations for Layla's 1st birthday party!!!! They turned out so cute and I will share them with you all in the near future. I must thank Stephanie and Stephanie's mom, Kathy, for spending a majority of their Saturday helping create these invitations!!! Thank you so much for planning, cutting, adhering, stamping, and more! As you can see from the pictures, Layla was very much involved in the process too and she loved the tape :-) A gracias to my mom and Ryan too who also helped with the invites. Yes, it was a team effort. Can't wait to show them to you all!!