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--9 months

Dear Lylah, 

This has been by far the craziest month we've had yet! We went to Australia to see Gramps and Gigi. You were such a trooper! You were the best travel baby. I will post more about Australia later. But just know this, you had a great time. You loved hanging out on the plane, meeting people and seeing Gramps and Gigi of course. 

Jet lag induced here...

You had a little trouble adjusting to time back in the states. You have been standing up in your bed for a few days, and you have forgotten how to put yourself to sleep. Daddy discovered a magic method of keeping you in your crib and patting you. You fall right to sleep. Oh Daddy. 

Sleepy eyes

Still loving your baths. You are all over the tub and Daddy freaks out. Mommy lets you crawl...I figure you will learn. You just love the letters in the bath and splashing. And screaming. You also love books. Oh do you love books. That would be your toy of choice, definitely. 

Bath time 

Your Daddi graduated at the end of last month and got his masters. You were pretty good. I had to walk around with you for a while. It was too long for you. And me. :) 

During Daddy's Graduation

You are so curious. You are everywhere. You don't mind playing by yourself. You find everything. I will hide something behind my back, and you will start playing with something else....then somehow you find whatever I hid. You are TOO smart!

We got your a swing for our backyard time. At the new house our backyard is awesome, and the dogs love it. We go outside in the evenings and throw the balls for the dogs. You sit and watch and squeal. 

Loving your new swing

Love your Great-grands!

In Australia....hiking in the Daintree Rainforest. You are so happy in your carrier!

You are standing by yourself. What? I don't know how you pick this stuff up so quick. You can easily manuever yourself around any room. You crawl on your knees and then if there is tile and you have nothing on your knees, you switch to this cute crab crawl. So smart. If you REALLY want something, you do this hop crawl. You are just so cute!

You have 4 teeth now. Teething on our trip was interesting, but you did well. 

Feeding yourself

Your new trick is clapping! It's so fun. The "Oh!" I make at the end is cause you make a big toot. 

People ask me all the time why you are so happy! I love that. You love people. You smile at everyone. You still wave at people and you will go to anyone. I just took you to check the mail in the stroller and you waved at every car that went by. I couldn't make this stuff up!

We love you so much Peanut. You add so much to our lives. We miss you when you sleep. We love you so much!!

Love, 

Mom

Yup, we're outta here.

We moved! We are in Ponca City, OK right now waiting on our house in Stillwater to be ready. We are living with Ryan's Grandma, who has graciously let us take over her house for three weeks. We had planned to stay in Dallas until March 23rd, but we sold our house quicker than we thought we would. And the buyer wanted it quicker than possible...so March 3rd was our compromise. I am sad about this because there are many people that I didn't get to say goodbye to. I didn't get to hang out one last time with some people I really care about! It was not how we would have planned to leave, but we have already planned to come back to Dallas April 28-29. 

Ryan and Lylah right before we left our house for the last time.....

 Ryan locking up....

The moving day went very smoothly... The movers were ridiculously fast! I'd have to recommend Condor moving company if you are moving anytime soon. I guess it's a little early because we don't have our stuff moved in yet, but I have to say I was impressed with their efficiency. 

Goodbye to Dallas.....until April. I will miss you. 

4th of July

We had such a great weekend. My in laws came up on Friday, and we had a fun night as the Harms unit. We even got a visit from my Brother-in-law! It was great to all be together. On Saturday we left for Perry, to see Ryan's Dad's side of the family in Perry, OK. We got to see Ryan's grandma and cousins! It was very fun, and that night we went to stay with Ryan's other Grandma in Ponca City. Then, we went to see Ryan's best friend in Stillwater. They had just moved there from Alaska! We are so excited they are close again, and they have the cutest little 8 month old, Charles. He is so adorable and right about now I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the cuteness.

Then, we went to my parent's NEW house! They had just moved out of the house we lived in for 17 years! It was quite the move, but they are doing a great job of putting everything back together and settling into their new home. I love it! We even squeezed in a quick visit with our good friends from college, the Hejls.

So we saw a LOT of people! It was very fun. And I just keep getting bigger....
(Not my favorite picture....I look ragged and for some reason there is a stick in between my legs, but oh well..)

And check out what we got...

Ryan's Great Grandfather made it long ago! Isn't it sweet? And it will go perfectly in our playroom.

Next Saturday is my first baby shower. Eek...I guess we're really having a baby!

Hope you had a great 4th! We did. :)

Going to try to blog about something else besides the Nursery, baby, etc.

Happy Fathers-to-be Day to my awesome husband! This is a late post, but hey, I'm pregnant. Oh, you didn't know that? Yeah, I don't talk about it enough. Sorry. I'll try to post more about being pregnant. (Sarcasm.) 

For Father's Day, I wanted to do something really sweet for Ryan. Let me tell you something about Ryan. He needs NOTHING. He doesn't need clothes, shoes, movies, cologne, ANYTHING. If you ask him what he wants, he doesn't know. If he needs something, he purchases it. (He gets this from his Dad.) If he wants something, it is way too big of a purchase for me. Like a receiver, or a TV. Yeah, like I'm gonna get him that without him. I ain't nobody's fool. 

So I do know he likes food. And recently, I have introduced him to massages. I have an amazing massage lady who I LOVE and have seen for over a year. She is fantastic. Her name is Megan and she is at Salon and Spa at Eaton Court in Allen, TX. If you need a massage, she is awesome. 

So Sunday morning, I snuck out of bed early. This is really hard to do, because Ryan is an especially light sleeper, and even more so that I've been pregnant. But somehow I made it out to the kitchen and managed to cook this without waking him. I thought for SURE I had woken him up, but when I went to bring him breakfast, he was dead to the world. 

YUM! 

It was so yummy. (Of course I made some for myself) I gave him a gift certificate for massage and we headed off to church. 

I am so lucky to have this awesome man! He is going to be such an amazing father. I love hearing him talk about Lylah, and how he can't wait to play with her. Just take a look at this....

Yup, that's my awesome Husband reading to the baby. I love him. 

Happy Fathers Day also to my Dad. He is such a great Dad! I love him so dearly. He always makes me laugh and is just a fun guy. If you know my Dad, you probably know that I am a lot like him. I just love him...He is the best. I miss living close to him and will get to see him in a few weeks. 

And Happy Father's Day to my awesome Father-in-law! He is such a great guy, and I'd have to say the BEST Father-in-law a girl could ask for. He is so kind, easy-going, and very easy to get along with. He is such a great man! 

My little girl is SO lucky to have these three men in her life. I can't wait to see them interact with her! :)

Happy Father's Day!! (A little late...)

Jimi Ruth Bowen Kelly Smith

Yeah, that's a lot of names. You don't meet someone with that many names everyday. But that's who she was....one of a kind. My Grandmother passed away on Friday, May 13th. She had battled illness and Alzheimer's disease for years, so in many ways, this was a sweet release from her pain. But that doesn't make the loss any easier.

She was such a unique lady. Widowed at 36, she was strong and brave. You didn't mess with Jimi. And you didn't want to be on her bad side. But while she was tough and firm, she was also hilariously funny, sweet and very generous. I'd like to think I'm like her in a lot of ways. I want to be more like her. Not afraid to say what I think, but at the same time very genuine and loving.

I think of her when I smell coffee, and Clinique lipstick. She was always dressed to the nines, and she loved gold jewelry. I hear her in my head when I teach my students, because she was an awesome teacher. She loved to teach, called her kids her "Little Toots" and taught them how to speak correctly. I think of her when I smell bacon, as she always made us bacon at her house. And I think about her when I am crafty, as I know I got that from her.

We buried her in Mangum, OK on Wednesday, after a service in Edmond. I sang "Amazing Grace" at the funeral, and I was worried my voice would crack. But as I sat next to Ryan, he asked me if I was going to be able to sing without crying. I told him if she were here, she would tell me to "Get it together, it's just a song." And I really believe that. She would have loved it, and it wasn't even that good.

I will miss her terribly. I will miss who she was before Alzheimer's set in. I will miss her laugh and her catch phrases. "Ta de ta de ta de." That was a common one. I will miss hearing her call Denise "BD" which stands for Baby Doll.  I will miss hearing her stories about my Dad, and how she'd embarrass him in front of his friends. I will miss her big smile and her generous spirit. She never came to see us without a gift. I will miss playing Spinner with her and I will miss watching her win without even trying. I will miss the abundance of Christmas ornaments we received from her, most of them Texas themed, much to my Dad's chagrin. I will miss everything.

Here she is on our Wedding day. Beautiful, as always! And in yellow, her favorite color.

We got bored...

This is a long overdue post, but when it snowed like crazy, we got bored. Ryan and I both stayed home from work, and shenanigans ensued. See below.

We dressed up our dogs.

Resourcefully cooked.

Pancakes. Training for when we have kids. (My Dad always make us initial pancakes)

I wanted to do a puzzle. Ryan did not.

Read funny things at WhenParentsText.com

The dogs got a little stir-crazy, too.... 

Gotta go....Sadie is trying to drag Lewis around the house.

Sadie is in L-O-V-E

Sadie has been searching for a male companion her whole life. Most of her dog buddies that are male seem to live farther away. She hangs out with girls mostly. She has been wanting a boyfriend forever. Now, don't worry, she is fixed. But she wants a male friend. Remember this?

Well, she has found a new love. His name is Lewis. Ryan bought him for me for Valentines. I love Lewis. He is super cute.

So when we brought Lewis home, we put him in a chair and wanted to see what the dogs would do. They were intrigued. Parker was a little scared. But Sadie, oh. She loved him instantly. And never wanted to leave his side.

Meet Lewis.

At first it was cute. Really cute. We put him in our room and only let Sadie see him every now and then. We keep our door closed, and she usually runs to it to see if it is open. 

It was a cute little quirk. Then it got weird. I was out taking pictures and I got this text: 

Hahahhahahaha. I am probably the only one who thinks this is hysterical. Here are some pictures of Sadie and Lewis.

Giving Lewis some lovin'. 

Guarding Lewis from Parker.

Hey! Stay away from Lewis!

I will guard you forever, Lewis.

It's a....

GIRL! :)

Here are some pictures from our little reveal party we had with our small group. It was so fun!

 The pink team. Notice Addi is in the picture because she even picked the pink plate.

Little blue team. This is funny cause on Facebook most people guessed boy!

Everyone!

About to cut...

Cutting...

Still cutting....

My favorite picture of the night. It's a girl!

So happy!

We are so thrilled! It's 95% chance its a girl, so it's still possible it's a boy....but I don't think so. :)

Coming in September.....

We will miss you, Grandpa.

Early last Thursday morning, Ryan's Grandpa, Lyle Harms, passed away. He was such a wonderful man, and a great example to his children and grandchildren. We will miss him so much. 

Grandpa was a great fishing buddy.

Grandpa, I will miss you so much. Who else will eat dessert right away with me? You were such a great man, and a great example for the kind of person I want to be. If I am half the Christian, leader, and person you were, I will be incredible. Thank you for being you. We will all miss you, but we know we will see you again. Enjoy your reward in Heaven. You have earned it.