Lylah Newsletter (13 and 14 months)

Hi sweet girl!

You keep me so incredibly busy that I never got to the 13 month post! So I combined them. These past two months have literally been crazy. You have leaned so much. You are a completely different baby. Well, you are not a baby anymore... you are SO big! :) 

We can't keep track of how many words you say. Some of the words you have said that surprise us are "backpack", "cupcake" and "bumpo". WHAT?! Crazy. You are a talker! 

We took some family pictures and you were so excited to sit in this chair. You love climbing stairs, chairs...and falling off. You are fearless! With this comes FITS. No fun! You throw your arms up straight if we pick you up and you wanted to do something that we pulled you away from. You used to throw your head on the ground, but you soon discovered that hurt. Ha! 

Your absolute favorite thing is to swing and play outside. You go to the back door and demand to go out. We have to major distract you if it is raining or really cold. You love the dogs. They love you, sort of. They are pretty much scared of you!

Recently I have taken up running, and so because you don't have a choice, you go with me. You like riding in the stroller, but HATE when the shade is down. I mostly go when the sun is rising, just because you won't let me put the shade down if the sun is up! 

You've started telling us what you want! If you want to eat,  you go point to your high chair. If you want to go outside, you say "ACK!" and point out to the backyard. Your Bible class teachers said you pooped and then went and pointed to your diaper bag. CRAZY. 

We love you! You keep us busy! :) 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

L's First Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from Lylah's first Birthday. Our theme was "Look Whoooo's One!" So basically, owls. It was such a great day filled with family, friends, fun and of course, cupcakes.

 Here's the table! The banner is by Party Gypsy. My friend Coleen did a great job with these banners. She's awesome! Look her up. 

Cupcakes by Chrissy Premeaux, who works with my husband. If you need a cake or cupcakes in Stillwater, let me know and I will give you her info. THEY WERE DELICIOUS! I mean really, they were fantastic. And so cute!

Another view of the table. :)

Greeting Guests

Mantle

With Mimi

Lylah LOVED when everyone sang. She loves to be sung to, period, but she especially loved Happy Birthday. And she likes it when everyone looks at her. She got that from me, I know. 

Headfirst into her applesauce/banana cupcake/muffin.:)

 For some reason it never occured to me that after your cupcake that I should put your clothes back on you. I am sure this will be a source of laughter for years to come.

 opening presents!

GREAT DAY!

Happy Birthday, Lylah!

Newsletter-- 12 months

Dear Lylah, 

Holy Moly! You are a year old. This has been the best, craziest, most fun, most rewarding, most eye-opening year of our lives. You have came into our world, turned it upside down and made it better. You make our days brighter. We had it good before, but we had no idea what good was. There's a sign in our house that says: "We had each other. Then we had you. Now we have everything." That is very true for us! 

Your hair has gotten so long! I can fit it into pig tails. I LOVE this! It stays for .5 seconds, but it sure is worth it. You are getting a slight mullet, and maybe a few curls at the nape of your neck. But you are too cute for words. Your teeth are coming in so big! You look like such a little girl now! You have 8 teeth and I am starting to think you are getting more in the back. ESSSSSHHHK.

At your one year appointment, you had 5 shots! 5. TWO IN THE ARM. I was beside myself. I would have given you the shirt off my back if you had asked. It was really hard. And in true Mama fashion, I forgot your paci. I did that at your 6 month shots, too. It was a major Mommy fail. Whoops. But you made it through. You were smiling at the receptionist on the way out, so it can't have been that bad. 

You are above the 95 percentile for height. For weight you are in the 50th percentile. Tall and skinny! Mommy used to be tall and skinny! :) 

You LOVE people. If you are upset and someone comes up to say "hi" to you, you instantly turn on the charm. Sometimes you pretend you are shy. Sometimes you show off your words. Right now you can say hi, buh-bye, dog, cat, mama, dada, gege (gigi), up, cheese, okay, yes (but most of the time comes out "ass", much to our embarrassment), bruh (breakfast), cup, avocado (you've only said it once, but we were really excited) and this morning you said apple. You are definitely a talker. You also pat the Bible and say Bible. We know you learned this at church. You will "pat" (basically hit) anything we ask. And if we say "Pat some cakes" or "Yay!" you instantly start clapping. AND you just started yelling "Wee!" This was super funny on the plane.

You also say "do-do" when we show you Coach's picture. I see a possible name change in the future!

Here you are showing off some words in the bath. (This is in DC)

                                 

You still love books. You love to sit in the car with your books. I just keep a stack next to me in front and pass them back. You still ride in the car really well. You are such a good baby. Okay, not a baby. Toddler. But you are still my baby! :)

You still love to eat. Your favorites are cheese, grapes, strawberries, avocado, sweet potatoes and yoghurt. You are a happy girl with a full tummy! Right now you still breastfeed 4 times a day. We are working on getting you to three right now. You usually eat at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and then before bed. I love feeding you and plan to breastfeed you as long as possible. I'd like to feed you in the morning and the evening only. That would be my ideal. That way I can leave you during the day if needed without pumping. 

You walk everywhere now. In fact, you get really mad if you want to walk and you can't.

You finally mastered walking in shoes, which is very important for Mother's Day Out. They take you outside, so they need you to wear shoes. They are SO cute! 

You had your 1st birthday party! You had a good time. It was so fun to have your friends and family all there. You had an applesauce banana muffin/cupcake, and you loved it! I will post more about your birthday party later. Since then we have been on a vacation to Washington, DC...I'll post more about that, too..soon! :) 

You love giving big wet, open mouthed kisses!

You are one! We can't believe it! We love you so much, peanut. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Newsletter-- 11 Months

Dear Lylah, 

You are 11 months old. Yes, 11. That is almost 1 year old! 1 year? What?! This has been the fastest, craziest, best year of our lives. 

You love to cuddle. You give great snuggles. As evidenced below....

You love that Uncle Adam!

Gramps and Gigi were here some this month, and of course we took lots of pictures! I can't resist you in that owl hat. 

Still crazy about your baths. You prefer for Daddy to bathe you. You hand him toys and say "Dere" ("here") and he signs/says "Thank you" back. It's one of your absolute favorite games. Daddy takes his time bathing you. I am quick. Maybe that's why you prefer him to do it!

But it works out cause I can take pictures.... These will look great in your Senior slide show at church one day! :)

You still love books. You could turn pages in a book all day. That is your toy of choice. If we give you a book, you can entertain yourself for a loooong time.

Your skills are....crawling on knees and hands (bear crawl), pulling up, standing without pulling up, bending over and picking something up, then standing back up, and taking about 3-4 steps. You love pushing the cart. 

Here you are watching your first Olympic games! This is during the opening ceremonies. 

Very interested. 

And then you decided to start your training for the 2020 Olympics. 

You can take about 3-4 steps before you dive into one of our arms. You are so proud of yourself when you do it. You will definitely be walking by one year! Ahhh!! 

You are just a bundle of fun. You have gotten a little clingy in the past month, but as soon as I leave, apparently you are fine. You just cry for a minute. You love other kids and try to touch their faces. It's cute/terrifying. I don't want to you poke someone in the eye! 

We just love you so much. You make our lives so full of fun. We can't believe you are almost a year old. We wouldn't change one thing about the past year. You are the best little girl we know! We love you!

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Newsletter--10 months

Dear Lylah,

 I know, I know. I say this every month. But HOW? How are you 10 months old? In my mind you are like 6 months old. But people ask how old you are and I have to say 10 months. People guess a year all the time, because you are not small. You are adorably chunky. I don't mind if people say chunky, but chubby bothers me. You are just healthy! Breastfed babies are just chunky. And healthy. :)

Somewhere along the line, I became this tree-hugger, natural parent. Did not see that coming. I hate disposable diapers. Hate them with all my heart. It physically hurts me to put you in one. I can't stop thinking about the chemicals in them. And how that diaper will sit in a landfill for 500+ years just because I didn't walk down the hall and grab a fresh one out of the dryer. But that's a whole other post. And I am big on breastfeeding. Want everyone to do it. And I cannot decide when to stop. At least 1 year, if not 18 months. I just think it is so important. And you have not been sick ONCE.

Okay back to you.

You are so fun. You are a social butterfly. You love the nursery at church. Any place where you are free to roam, crawl, and cruise, you are a happy girl.

You say Da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba, ly-la (la-la), book, yes (it sounds like yaoass), and...hmm...other gyberish. You say "keko" and "de-go, de-go..." so cute. It's your own little language. You just babble to yourself and it just warms my heart.

Every day you wake up between 7-8. 8:15 at the latest. You nurse, then have your independent play time in your pack n' play. I used to do it after your solid breakfast, but then I discovered you do better before. This is great because I can take a minute to wake up and get ready a little. Ha, who are we kidding. I only get ready if we are going somewhere.

Then you eat. For breakfast you have cereal or oatmeal, apple sauce and a piece of bread cut up. And water and maybe a little juice. After breakfast, you play with me, or we go out. We make sure we are home before 10am, which is your nap time. I usually clean, edit pictures or watch TV during your nap. After your nap, which can be 45 min-1.5 hours you eat again. For lunch you have fruits and maybe veggies. Then we play somemore, then you nap again at 2pm. That nap usually is 1-2 hours. 2.5 if I really wear you out. Then for dinner it's veggies and whatever else we have. :) You go down for the night between 7-8 depending on your nap.

You go down fairly easy. We still let you cry. I am big on being consistent. I don't want you to think that sometimes I'll come if you cry hard enough. Not that I let you scream for hours. If you cry for 20 minutes, I go get you. But usually you conk out pretty quickly. But lately, you just give a few little cries and you are out. You've started sleeping with your bum in the air, which I think is too cute.

I can't believe I am planning your birthday party. Where did the time go?

Peek-a-boo!

Favorite Things:

The dogs

Your book Mimi gave you

Anything shiny

Baths

Yogurt buttons

Daddy in the mornings

Books

We love you, Peanut Butter!

Mom