M&M Ranch, New Year's Eve

We spent this New Year's at the McKinney's ranch. It was a bit disasterous in that the rocky hill country is not exactly ideal for toddlers learning to walk. The house itself was not ideal either, as it is filled with guns, knives, and ammunition. Hmm.

I must say Leila's Mimi and Dude did as much as they possibly could to help me. One morning Leila was not in her bed and after my heart dropped to the floor I thought to look in their room, and there she was, snuggled in bed watching Fox News with her grandparents. I wish I had a picture it was so darn cute. She was perfectly content too, so I am thrilled we have reached the point to where she is comfortable enough with both sets of her grandparents to stay with them and not need mommy and daddy.

She really loved the ranch, and the weather was cold but not uncomfortably so. The first day she fell and scraped her forehead (blood.) The second day she fell and cut the side of her face open near her eye (lots of blood.) Later that day she fell on the porch and busted her lip (more blood), at which point Patrick banned her from going outside again. She healed very quickly, thankfully.

Check out her adorable hunting clothes... Camo skirt? Check. Pink cowboy boots? Check. Fake fur trim on coat, check...

Note the Hello Kittie band-aid by her eye...

This monkey shirt is her favorite. Her camo hat was a gift from our friends Drew & Julie and says "Future Hunting Princess" in pink. Did you know they make pink guns for girls?

Sharing a sweet moment with her Mimi

Our little family, Shrek didn't want to pose, too much going on to slow him down!

Leila is One!

Well the day has finally come for Little Bit's 1st birthday. What an exciting day. She woke up as usual at 8 a.m. and had a delicious breakfast of organic waffles and watermelon. I would like to point out she eats more than I do sometimes, and I think she is still under 20 lbs. We played for a bit and watered the grass, which takes an hour (I am Patrick's sprinkler system.) She likes to walk with her purse on, up and down the stairs to the deck, over and over and over. She also pushed her new dolly stroller around the house.

We got dressed and ran some errands, then stopped at Piccamolo for her first official cup of ice cream, birthday cake flavor of course. We ran into HEB to grab some essentials and got a small container of the extremely addicting grown-up whole milk macaroni and cheese. This stuff is delish and Leila loves it, so it was perfect for her birthday lunch (along with veggies.)

Next we went swimming and she clapped for the big kids going down the slide at the froggy pool. They loved it and started showing off for her. That wore her out and when she woke up from her nap we went to Gymboree play gym. Everyone told her happy birthday and we stayed for a whole hour, which is longer than usual. She amazed me again when a young baby was crying and I said "the baby is crying" and she did the sign for baby for the first time.

We went home, and had a yummy dinner of veggies, fish sticks, and of course more macaroni and cheese. Some of the food was thrown overboard to the dog but not the macaroni and cheese. When Patrick got home, she opened the rest of her presents from mommy and daddy: a ladybug book and a puzzle that makes animal sounds. She LOVES all of her presents so far, and we have not made it through all of them yet.

After that she was out by 7:30! She was exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open, which was really cute. Of course, we think everything she does is cute. This year went by in the blink of an eye. She is such a sweet little girl now, and so different from the raven-haired infant we brought home. She is hilarious and a little bit sassy. We love you Leilabug!

All smiles at Pop's birthday dinner.

More ice cream, please.

Hugging her new singing pig from Uncle Josh and Uncle Jay.

I love birthdays! Clap, clap.

First Steps!

What a day! We started the morning by going to our church playgroup. Leila's twin friends Charlie and Hazel know how to sign. I have been working on her for months to learn how to sign. Well, the twins were signing all through our lunch. Then, when we got home, Leila started signing too! Just goes to show what peer pressure will do, ha.

I was really excited by the signing. But then the day got even better. This afternoon, not once but twice Leila took steps! Just one step at a time, but actual walking! The funny thing is I don't think she quite knows how great it is since she has been moving around for so long. Way to go Leilabug! (aka Goober, Wiggles, Munchkin, Little Bit, Fileila) I will post video as soon as I can catch her on film.

Baby Steps

Today was a wonderful day with Leila. It seems every day there is something new but today there were many new achievements I witnessed. I think Sarah calls it a learning explosion.

We went to Gymboree play gym and 3 times Leila took one step and then fell. I am just so thrilled she took that one step by herself! She is beginning to let go of objects and can stand for long periods of time without realizing what she is doing. She can step between objects but this was her first attempt at just walking without reaching for anything. Those first "real" steps are coming soon!

The next amazing thing was at dinner time. I left her bowl and spoon on her highchair, thinking it was out of her reach, and went to get some more finger foods. When I turned around she had pulled them to her and was feeding herself with the spoon! Amazing! I give her spoons all of the time with the food on them, but I can't believe she realized that was how she was supposed to eat out of a bowl and didn't just dump the whole thing on herself.

Lastly, I am realizing every day just how much she understands of different things we say to her. Before bedtime we were playing with some plastic rings and I asked her to put them in my hand, and she did. Then I asked her to move them to my other hand, and she did. She's Super-Leila!

As I was writing in her baby book the other day, it came to mind that she (and Shrek!) know the Baby Bjorn means they are going on a walk. Every morning I pick her up and we hug and last month she started hugging me back. She can give "five" and wave "bye-bye." And wouldn't you know even though she says "mamama" and "bababa" that her first REAL word (used discriminately) is "dada." And I worked so hard!

Ten months old in our backyard.

Best buddies. Leila LOVES that dog. I caught her the other day playing with his curly tail. He is so good with her.

Someone left a note on the blog asking what happened to Shrek, my first baby. Here he is enjoying the sunshine. If ever I can't find him, I just look outside and there he is, sleeping in the grass. This photo made the front page of chron.com!

We love to hang out in our beautiful backyard. Leila must be supervised every second due to grass/flower/dirt eating. I figured out if I put a pacifier in her mouth it helps a lot, only it ruins all of my photos.

I love this photo of Gray and Leila on the swings. They are looking at each other and probably wondering what is going on.

These pajamas match her dolly her Nana gave her!

Here is Super-Leila, escaping after a bath.

I caught her standing all by herself! My friend Morgan figured out a plastic cup is a great toy for kiddos, ha.

She loves her new beach ball from Cole's 1st birthday!

I am carrying on the tradition started when my brother Josh was a baby and photographing drool.. it is soooo cute and babyish.

Ten months old

My how time flies. Tomorrow our little Leila will be 10 months old. She is still pretty small, but so active! She walks all the way around the coffee table holding on with one hand and pushes her walker across the room all by herself. She walks her walker into our dog Shrek almost every time and at first he would move when she hit him but now he just sits there like a roadblock. I guess he is over it.

Leila is very spirited and independent. She wants to feed herself, and tries to walk by herself, and plays well by herself. I bought a leapfrog activity table for Leila and that is the best money I have ever spent. She is extremely friendly, and smiles and waves at everyone. Each morning she waves at Shrek as he enters her room. She waved at the tv today.

Patrick and I love introducing her to new things together and seeing her reaction. She is extremely animated. We have taken her to the pool, the children's museum, a wedding, Gymboree classes, and of course the Paris trip. I have taken her up to my office at M. D. Anderson several times, and she lets everyone hold her. Also, she learned at maybe 5 or 6 months old to smile for the camera. Is that normal?

I am a little sad the baby stage is coming to an end. I have loved every moment of it, but watching her grow into this little girl with her own personality and opinions is pretty amazing. We both agree we are glad the infant stage is over, but we were watching videos of when she was first born and I got all teary-eyed. Yikes!

Dad makes a slam dunk at Gymboree.

Leila has a cabinet all to herself to make as much of a mess as she wants. Clearly, she wants a big mess.

You can't tell me she is not hamming it up for the camera.

Leila's first petting zoo (P.S. Grandmas, she wants a miniature horse.)

Who is that diva?

Leila's first cottage cheese experience. We think learning to eat should involve all of the senses. It is the only time in your life it is socially acceptable to be a mess, enjoy it!

Leila's favorite book is Eight Silly Monkeys.

She loves Gymboree and kisses from Gymbo! Ryan and Leila are all about Gymboree and are not shy one bit with other kids. I love watching them learn new skills.

Patrick and Leila had a blast at the Children's Museum.

Playing around at the Children's Museum. She loved it. We could have stayed for hours.