A little late, but always good!

I will try to sum up the last month in a short post, but that might not be the case. It has been a while since i posted and you will understand why. So after our First Annual Halloween Party, Leila, Brian and I joined our play date pals Brett and Emma (and Jess and Brian of course), and new friend Hunter (and momma Rosie) for some Trick-or-Treating. And we had a blast. Leila did so good about walking up to the doors, standing a few steps back, and holding her hand out for candy!! Not that we ever doubted her door to door skills. Leila dressed up as a ballerina, Brett and Emma and their Dad were Thing 1, Thing 2, and Cat in the hat, and Hunter was a puppy! It was so cute to watch Leila really get into it. She was very protective over her candy, even when it was too heavy for her to carry, we had to hold it with her. Here are a few Halloween pics:

Look what I got!!

Hunter as a Puppy

Brian and Emma

The Daddy's and their girls

We got pre-approach
there was good candy here
:)

Emma and Brett
(after Emma got into the M&M's)

I got a candy, I got a candy,
I got a candy hey hey hey hey!

Bucket is Full
Time to go home!

After our Halloween fun, it was back to the day-to-day grind. Our days are filled with music classes, library time, open gym, Gator Freds (indoor bounce houses and more), parks, the zoo, Glaciers children's museum just to name a few. With one of our favs, Mia, over every thursday and friday we sure do have a lot of fun...and a lot of cute pictures.

One of our favorite parks is Crescent Lake Park. There is a lot of open room to run and kick the ball, slides, jungle gym, and you can feed the birds, lots of birds. And you know me, the science nerd, I always teach them the different types of birds and little fun facts about natures. One day I know they will telling me fun facts. Here are a few park pics:

Leila and Mia bird watching 

Gotta love those hugs

Girls just want to have FUN

Feeding the ducks

We have also purchased a Zoo membership, which is AWESOME, so we can go anytime. We went a couple weeks ago and had a blast looking and learning about the different animals and what they eat and where they live, riding the carousal, playing in the splash park, going into the petting zoo, and riding a safari. It was a lot to do in one day. Besides the water park, i think her favorite part was feeding and petting the sting rays. Brian would hold the food in his hand and the sting ray would come and suck it up. They were so close and Leila was captured in the moment. She even got the chance to pet some. So exciting. 

After the sting rays, we ventured to look at snakes, frogs, fish, and (my favorite) the manatees. Leila was so brave and would just walk up to the snake cages, even ones that were big enough to eat her, and look in. I was on the other side of the wall of course. You got to love the fact that she has no fears. 

The Carousal ride wasn't a big hit yet, but it was her first time and there were no tears, so i still count it as a success. 

Next was the splash park. Leila had a blast. She was one of like three kids playing, it was a monday, but by far the most adventurous. She can't get enough of that water. 

Little Giggles 

At the petting zoo, Leila had great soft hands and used a brush to pet the goats.   

After the petting zoo, we knew we didn't have too much longer before nap time, so instead of walking through the whole africa area, we went on the safari "ride." It was cool to see the giraffe so close. It was beautiful. We also got to see zebras, rhinos, cheetahs, elephants, and this very interesting animal with the legs of a zebra, body of a horse, and head of a giraffe. Talk about mixed breed. It was very cool. Leila made it to see the elephants... 

and by the time we turned the corner....

she was out!

The good news is we can always go back and do it again.

Halloween Party (First Annual)

Yesterday was our first Halloween party and it was a blast. I had so much fun planning for it that I am a little sad its over. All the foods were Halloween inspired and even the wine was in the Halloween theme. We had one bottle from Transylvania, another called Mt. Monster and Dracula. Could those names be any more perfect. Here is a couple pictures of the food:

Tombstone Taco
Dip

Humus Pumpkin

Freaky (Chicken) Fingers
with Roasted Rep Pepper sauce

Most of the babies dressed up in their costumes and boy did they look cute. We had some pirates, Thing 1 and Thing 2, a cow, and a ballerina. Quite a group. The kids enjoyed a modified corn hole game while the "grown-ups" got to enjoy some Halloween "spirits."  Here are a couple pictures from the party:

Oliver the pirate teaching Emeline
the bean bag song!

Arg.... I dont share food!

Ben, Duncan, and little Emeline

Our favorite Play daters
Brett and Emma

The whole group all together..
Man was that hard to get!

After all the cooking, cleaning, and decorating, by the end of the night I was wooped! I hope everyone had as much fun and Leila and I did! It really meant a lot to us that y'all made it!

One more picture of Leila REALLY enjoying a cupcake:

:) she even looks cute when she is a complete mess!!

Updates on Life

I know it has been a while, but Life takes over!

I have decided to be a "Stay at home" Mom with a twist. After interviewing, hiring, and deciding I liked the nanny, I realized I could not be away from Leila 8 hours a day. I'm sure if you know her or me you can understand why. I am still working with Family Heritage, but it is more of a part time position. I will be setting myself up to Nanny during the day. I am hoping to have two other toddlers, other than Leila, and I have so many good ideas for adventures, play dates, and more. I am really excited.

Brian just got back last Saturday! Yay... we are all in the same state and will be for a while! That is a big weight off my shoulders. Its great to have your other half here to help.

Here is a little video of Leila at Mother Goose time a couple weeks ago, isn't she the cutest?

Leila now has 7 teeth with more coming in. She has the cutest gap between her top teeth and she makes this almost whistle sound when she is concentrating on doing something... so cute! I will try and get a picture of her chompers soon!

What I Love Wednesday 8-31-2011

What I love this week would be Leila's new bed time routine. We just switched from formula to whole milk and where as before Leila would fall asleep drinking her bottle, now she drinks a couple ounces then hands me her bottle, puts in her pacifier, and cuddles up with me. It is quite possibly the cutest and most precious thing ever. I know it takes 10-15 more minutes to put her down, partly because I dont want to put her in her crib, but her cuddles are mommy and Leila time and I love it SO much. She now knows what hug means and if I ask she will give me hugs!

Thankful Thursday 8-25-2011

Today I am thankful for the time Leila, Brian and I have had to spend together this past week. Its been great having my partner to take on all of Leila's demands!! lol Sometimes its great to run errands by yourself, you can get so much done in less time and still have time to enjoy yourself! We are going to miss him while he is gone... but he will be back soon! :)

p.s. Also thankful for Tylenol and Teething tablets! Poor thing has been in so much pain from teething! :(

One year Check up

So today was Leila's One year check up and she did GREAT! She weighed in at 22 lbs and is 29 inches. That puts her in the 75 percentile for weight and 50 percentile for height! She must have gotten my height genes!!

The one year visit also means SHOTS! and you guys know how I do with shots... BAD! Plus they wanted to check her white blood cell count because of her 9 month check up they were a little off. They were off because she was fighting a cold, but they doctors just wanted to double check. Double checking meant they needed to prick her finger, which is almost worse than a shot to me, but i am a big baby when it comes to needles.

If you were a fly on the wall, you would have been cracking up. Brian is holding Leila while they prick and squeeze her fingers and I am doing cheers to keep her attention off the two HUGE NEEDLES heading her way! They did her shots like they were piercing her ears. At the same time. One nurse did the left and the other the right... it was very crazy! No matter how extravagant my cheers were, she noticed that!

The doctor told us Leila is cutting three teeth right now. THREE! thats torture. Two teeth just broke through on the top. So to keep you on the tooth update, she has her two bottom teeth (#24 &25) and top right tooth (#9). The ones that just broke through are the left top (#8) and the one to the right of the top right tooth (#10). The doctor also said the tooth to the left on the top (#7) will be breaking through any day now. Can you believe it? She went from 3 teeth to 6 in a weekend!!

Well that is all the news from today... we will keep you posted on any words or essays she is writing!! lol She is growing up so fast!

Leila's Luau Celebration

Party Party Party

For the last month, My mom and I have been planning, searching, designing Leila's first birthday party. For all of you who know me and my mom, we like to do birthdays BIG! And this was going to be Leila's first so we knew it was going to be huge! In Hawaii, it is a big deal when a baby turns 1. They have a big Luau with Kalua Pork with all the hawaiian trimmings and celebrate with a traditional Hawaiian Hula. Being the native Hawaiians that we are, lol, we thought this is perfect to celebrate the first year of our amazing Leila's life. As the days got closer, my excitement and enthusiasm got higher and I was sure to let Leila know there was going to be a party ("PARTY PARTY PARTY")!

Leila doing the Hula

Saturday came, the day of the party, and it went better than planned. I was worried about Leila's nap because her sleep schedule was a little bit off, but Brian took her swimming and tired her out for her afternoon nap. She went down at noon and was up before 2, when the party started. The decorations were up, food was ready, sangria and beer were cold, and cakes were iced! Leila was dressed in her Hula attire and ready to shake it.

The Hula show was a hit with both adults and babies! We had a good group of kids, and new friends from the pool, gather around and dance. They did some traditional Hawaiian and French Tahitian dances. They even had a surprise monkey!!

Hula Dancers

Oliver showing us
his moves

Brett and Emma learning the new moves!

Bailey's doing the Hula!

MONKEY!!

After the Hula show, the food was ready and everyone dug in! We had the pork, hawaiian chicken, oriental slaw, macaroni salad, shrimp cocktail, and plenty of vegetables to go around!

I want to thank everyone who came or was there in spirit that helped make this day so special. Leila has been such a blessing in our lives and this year has been so amazing. She fills our hearts with love and amazes us with her discoveries everyday. Her giggle fills the room and brings a smile to everyones face. And the fact that so many people came to celebrate in her honor lets us know she is loved by everyone.

Three Generations
of Beauties

Most Precious Baby Ever!

This last year will stay etched in my memory forever and I am excited to see what we have in store for us on this next stage... I'll keep you posted!

Looking back over the last year...

First off, I cant believe we are here already. That almost one year ago, I was going to the hospital and leaving with the most beautiful and precious little baby girl. So I started working on Leila's Baby book. It was one that someone gave to us in with all the moving got put up in Leila's closet and I found when taking all her too small clothes and putting them into storage(which usually involves tears!lol). So I was looking through it and filling out things I could remember, going back and finding the doctor notes with her weight and height at all the month stages, and I took a second and thought back to the first couple of hours, days, weeks. We are so blessed to have such a  smart and vibrant little girl.

Maternity Pictures taken
the day before she came

I can still remember her birth. How excited i was to see her, how fast everything was going, and how amazing Brian was with my every need. He did great! I remember everything about the day of August 20th, 2010. It started with my doctor telling me i had to pick a day to be induced because i was already 2 days late. I was furious. Both my parents, at different times which is funny, told me to tell them January 1st!! They think too much alike. I took a nap while watching The Rock while brian went to BB&B to get a  blow up mattress for some company we were going to be having shortly after Leila came. When i woke up, i was late for a dinner date with Sabrina and Catie and while getting ready my water broke. Well at the time i wasnt sure thats what had happened, at that point pregnant moms are peeing every 20 secs anyways. So I had to cancel dinner plans, Brian came home with like a $300 blow up mattress, all because i didnt answer my phone (he says), and my grandma and cousin from denmark had just arrived in town. I went and had some peaches and ice cream with family, told my mom what was going on and then went home to relax, prepare for the contractions, and watch the Twins game!!

We can skip all the labor details, because I'm sure those who read this either already know or dont want to! lol But i can remember when Leila was 12 hours old (at around 3pm) and Brian and I looked at each other and were SO happy. Like this is going to change our world, rock it off its stand, but make it more filled with love and adventures (for sure!). It was amazing!

Leila's First Picture

So I am going to apologize if you are getting teary eyed, Lord knows I am, but its is so crazy to think that a whole year has flown by when i feel like she just got here.

In that last year we have done quite a lot.... here are some of our adventures:

• Jacksonville at 3 weeks old
• Minnesota for a month when she was a month old
• Her first flight... now she has been on 8!
• North Carolina for Thanksgiving with Cita's side of the Family
• Aquariums (3) Florida, The Keys, and Tarpon Springs
• Zoo - Minneapolis
• Miami after christmas
• The Beach... too many to count
• Road trip to Tallahassee and Georgia
• UGA Football game
• Minnesota Twins Games (2)
• Tampa Bay Rays Games (3)
• GooGoo Dolls Concert (that she slept through) 
• The Keys! Glass bottom boat trip!
• Florida Marlins Baseball game
• Tons of Play Dates
• Shopping at Mall of America
• Lived in 3 different Houses (Thanks to renovations!!)
• 2 Roadtrips from Florida to Minnesota (28hr drive each way)
• Nashville,TN
• Memphis, TN for the 4th of July
• Jackson, TN to visit The McLeary's
• Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, SD Winery
• All the states she has been in:
• Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota, North Dakota, Virginia, and Missouri. I believe that is it, but could be wrong!

The Family in NC  for Thanksgiving

Leila in Minneapolis
1-2 months old

So you can see how the year has flown by. This week is going to be crazy busy gearing up for one of the best Birthday Parties.. EVER! I am excited for everyone to come out, enjoy the Hula Show, Pool, Food, and Drinks in celebration of Leila's first year and so many more to come.... Aloha for now!

What I Love Wednesday...

Last night I was making dinner and Leila spotted broccoli. First off I know she likes broccoli, but i didn't realize how much. She threw a fit because I would not give it to her, because it was being steamed! So in order to hold her off for the 5 minutes it needed to finish, I gave her the broccoli stalk! She looked at it, explored it a little bit, and then proceeded to chew on it! This girl has a love for broccoli! So what i love today is how great of an eater Leila is turning out to be. I know some moms out there are going to say "Wait until she turns 4", but i disagree! I think if i keep her loving her little "trees" she will continue to! Yay for starting kids young on veggies!

Also i am really excited for Trivia Night with Jessica tonight!!