Newletter-16 months

Dear Lylah, 

You are just such a bundle of fun! What a great month! My current favorite trick is that when I yell "Come on!" you tell "MON!". TOO cute. Can't. Stand. It. Daddy's favorite trick is your Jesus Loves Me trick. When we sing it, you fill in the "me"s. It's pretty cute. Here's a video: 

Your school had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" program. You hated it. Your teachers kept assuring me that you were the best in practice and usually so happy. I believe them, but I don't think anyone else did. :) 

You preferred the snacks. No surprise there. 

It was so funny. All the kids wanted their cookies. You, on the other hand, only wanted the Ritz crackers. All the kids had one cookie in each hand, and hadn't touched their crackers. You kept pointing at the other kids' plates and asking for more of their crackers. I guess you don't eat a lot of sweets and didn't know what the cookies were! 

These pajamas were TOO cute. You looked so grown up in your two-pieced pjs. You spent a lot of time in these. 

Christmas was VERY fun this year. I feel like it was your first because you were so tiny last year. You got the hang of opening up presents, and could name most things you got. (Book, Ball, Baby, etc.) You must have been really good, cause Santa went a little nuts. Santa had a budget, but went a little over it. And Santa loves a good deal.

Your loot from Santa!

Happy girl on Christmas mornin'

Playing with your house. You LOVED it. And you still try to crawl in that window. 

Other non-Christmasy things....

Sleeping:
Still pretty much the same....
You take one nap a day at 1pm. Typically, it's 2 hours. At the shortest it's 1.5 and longest you've slept is 3 hours. You go to sleep between 7:30-8 and sleep until 8:30 most days. Last week you slept till 10am. It was heavenly, but just a fluke. Christmas wore us all out, so we appreciated it!

Your Christmas dress!

You are a signing machine. You never really were all that into it, except for occasionally watching Signing Time. We signed to you all the time, but in the last month, you have REALLY caught on. Here are some things you sign: 

More

Again

Work (as in "Daddy/Mommy goes to work")

Book

Please

Banana (was really suprised when you picked this one up!)

Baby

Bath

Hat

Outside

Dog

Cheese

You've started making some really funny faces, as evidenced below....

Your favorite things are:
*Any game that involves tickling or "ride that horsey". You love to say and sign "Again, again!"
*Eating (favorites include bananas, avocado, applesauce, turkey, blueberries, and raisins. You can say all of these things and love to ask for them. Especially raisins.)
*Baths, especially with your new boat
*Your new toys. You love your new kitchen and barn with animals. You can tell us what the cow, sheep and horses say.
*Going around and naming family members. You got lots of practice at this during Christmas. And in the car. If you get fussy, we name people.

We love you so much and love watching you grow and learn. You are active, loud, fun, cuddly, sweet and full of energy. We are so proud of you and we just laugh at you all day. We love you!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Newsletter--15 months

Dear Lylah, 

My sweet, Lylah, we love you so much! Daddy and I just giggle watching you run around, grab things, get told no, run away, and run back by. You are on the go constantly! 

Some of your favorite toys are your pink car from Mimi and Coach, your puppy (Ba ba), and Nashville the Bear (from your Great grandma).  And any book.

You are finally letting me put bows in your hair, and you don't mind hats as much as you used to. You used to pull them right off, but you are letting them stay! Whoohoo!

You are constantly talking. Such a verbal girl! You sometimes will pick a sound and make it over and over, and over...AND OVER again. Some of your favorities are "Bat" "Goggie" "Hum". It's not unusual for you to run around yelling one of those, until someone helps you or gives you what you are wanting. 

Here you are on Thanksgiving with your Daddy and Great grandma, Mama. 

You loved turkey and sweet potato casserole. You were a fan of Mama's dressing, as well. But who isn't? 

You went to the Zoo for the first time! You LOVED it. I want to take you back soon with Daddy. You went with your bestie, Hannah. (One of your favorite words!) 

Here you are with a friendly orangutan. 

You loved it!

No one cares about this stuff but me, but here's your typical day: 

7:30-8:30 wake (I don't wake you up anymore. We sleep in as late as you let us. :)

Breakfast-- "money" (muffins-- toddler ones with peas and squash you can't even taste!} are your favorite, and oatmeal. 

Independent play time in the living room 

Little TV if we have time (signing time ONLY! haha...i've tried everything)

Errands, play outside

11:30-12 lunch

1pm nap

3-3:30 play, snack

extra errand if needed (usually to get what I forgot earlier!!)

5:30 Daddy home, family time, play outside

7:00 Bath

Books, pjs

7:30-8pm Bed

We just put up our Christmas tree. You loved it! So far, you haven't had any issues playing with it. We kept saying once we put the ornament up, it stays there. 

So your appetite was supposed to decrease after one year, but I think it has increased! You love food. You love to eat what we are eating. Your favorites are avocado, banana, chicken, spaghetti, cheese, and of course, yogurt buttons. You still drink lots of whole milk, with some water and 100% fruit juice thrown in. 

Typically, you eat a muffin, oatmeal, blueberries and a banana for breakfast. And for lunch you usually have chicken or turkey, cheese, avocado, grapes, bread and sometimes strawberries. Dinner is usually what we are eating, so maybe spaghetti, cheese, bread, brocolli, etc. We recently discovered you like peas, so those will make an appearance soon. 

Here you are swinging with your Aunt Denise! Swinging is one of your favorite things. You call it "push". 

Your favorite things are being outside, reading books (especially ones with pictures of your family, you can identify almost everyone!), watching Signing time, stairs & curbs, and patting your Daddy (his head saying "hat" or his back saying "baby").  And you still love our dogs, but now you know their names! Parker is Baba and Sadie is Didi. LOVE. IT.

Another love...milk jugs. Um, what?

Here you are with me! :)

We love you, Peanut!
Mom and Dad

Lylah's 1 year Book

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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