Father's Day '09

Yes, this post is a day early. We celebrated Patrick's 1st Father's Day today. Leila got him some gifts: a bath time tugboat that beeps (hmm, wonder who that is really for?), a golf towel with her picture on it, and a shirt that says "Not right now, I'm watching the game" (haha.) She got a cute shirt that says "I love my dad." We spent the day at the LBC Family picnic then had dinner with the McKinney's, who are back from Paris for good! Tomorrow we are hanging out with my family after church.

This is Leila's reaction to a Baby Einstein video. She LOVES her Baby Einstein.

Leila and her Daddy in their new shirts.

Patrick turned Leila into a salt-shaker, one of her favorite games.

Just a bonus picture--this is her favorite toy, her walker.

I never wrote about my 1st Mother's Day since it was a whirlwind day immediately after we got home from Paris. We had Leila dedicated at our church then went out to eat with both my family and Patrick's family. This is a picture of the girls: Leila, me, Patrick's mom Mary, my mom Linda, and my sister Lisa.

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.

City of Lights

We just returned from a 9-day trip to Paris to visit Patrick's parents. They have been living there since shortly after Leila was born but will be returning home for good in June, which we are all excited about. Our trip could not have been any better. To answer the question everyone is asking: Leila was WONDERFUL. Amazing. Super-baby if you will. 10-hour plane ride--no problem. Jet lag? Not this girl. We took her to see all of the sites and she was happy and friendly to everyone. The stewardesses on the plane and waiters at the restaurants could not get enough of her. We even had tourists pose for a picture with her, seriously!

The McKinney's were gracious hosts and we all had a good time exploring the city together. Their apartment in Paris is amazing. It is on the top floor of an old building with a spiral staircase and rickety elevator and overlooks the Seine River, the Eiffel Tower, and Napolean's tomb. We drank our coffee each morning watching the sun rise over the Eiffel Tower.

We probably walked close to 50 miles over the whole trip. We went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, visited Napolean's tomb and the military museum, walked to the Rodin Museum to see the Thinker, shopped at Galleries Lafayette, traveled to Versailles to see the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's home, Notre Dame cathedral, Sacred Heart cathedral and Montmarte, walked up the Eiffel Tower, walked through the Tuilleries, took a dinner cruise down the Seine, saw a show at the Lido on the Champs-Elysees, and Patrick and his dad visited Normandy.

Patrick showing Leila her picture book on the plane.

Leila had a bassinet for sleeping on the plane. We loved Air France.

Chic baby. The apartment is on the other side of this bridge.

We figured out the heel of a loaf of french bread would keep Leila entertained the entire meal.

Patrick was a champ and carried Leila the entire trip. She even napped in the Baby Bjorn.

The view of the Eiffel Tower from the McKinney's apartment on Avenue President Kennedy.

The princess gets a kiss in the gardens at Verseilles.

A view of the gardens at Verseilles.

The coast of Normandy.

Walking through the park near the Eiffel Tower on our last day.

Leila's scarf was knitted by our sweet neighbor, Carson.

She fits perfectly into her Grandmary's shopping cart. Grocery shopping entails a 2-mile walk uphill and you can only buy what will fit into this cart.

A view of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.

Leila & Shrek, part I

Hilarious clip from when Leila was first learning to crawl. Shot on March 11 from my digital camera and just found tonight. Listen for her laughing at the end. Enjoy!!

Splish, Splash

Today it was hot enough to pull out our new baby pool. I thought Leila might have fun splashing around. She LOVED it! She crawled around the pool, out over the side, and then back in and even got her face wet. No crying here even though she did get some water in her mouth. This bodes well for swim lessons, which we start soon.

Splashing around.

Look closely and you can see her 3 new teeth-- two on top and one on bottom.

Here I come!

She couldn't get enough of it!

While you may see mulch, Leila sees a snack.

Baby's First Easter

Leila's First Easter turned out to be a fabulous day after gloomy weather in the morning. She enjoyed going through the new toys in her Easter basket at home. Is it me or does she look like she is posing for the camera at only 8 months old?

We spent the morning at church and then went to my parent's for lunch. Leila enjoyed her first Easter egg hunt with Cousin Sara and had many fun gifts from Nana and Pops. What a lucky girl!

We took pictures with the Easter Bunny the previous weekend with Leila's friends Ryan and Grant. Aren't they cute! Leila did great with the creepy Easter Bunny but burst into tears when we tried to get her to take a picture with Chicken Little. Thanks Sarah for the pics!