lyla’s first birthday

I can’t believe it’s taken me over a month to post about lyla girl’s first birthday. But, the sun has been shining, and sitting at the computer has taken a back seat, i suppose.

Her actual birthday fell on a saturday this year, so it worked out perfectly to have a small party to celebrate her first year of life. The weather was beautiful, she loved opening her gifts, and she devoured her whip cream & strawberry cake-success all around!

lyla was a pretty mellow baby, but as she neared one this crazy little personality started to emerge-or maybe explode.

it seemed like it happened overnight. she got real loud, and real mobile quick.

from the moment she learned to walk, she has been running, climbing, and getting herself into all sorts of precarious situations.

she is fearless, and i often find her perched on top of something, teetering near the edge, with a proud smile on her face.

she’s had countless bloody lips, bumps, and bruises. in fact, probably more than both her sisters put together.

she is very verbal, and already has lots of words.

{mama, dada, doggie, juice, all done, baby, uh oh, bye, night-night, binkie, and nana-for banana}

she loves to cart around her baby doll, color, and play outside.

she loves to play in the dirt, whether it be the garden or a mole hill. i really do love watching her play outside, but i do not enjoy giving her multiple baths a day.

{she really loved her card from finley}

she is extremely affectionate. she loves to be held, and freely gives out hugs and kisses. it’s quite adorable watching her show love to my friends or the women who take care of her at church.

she’s not quite 20 lbs yet, which makes her our smallest baby (hooray!!!). a funny fact: adalaide weighed 20 lbs at 6 months. isn’t that crazy?!

another funny fact: when adalaide was this old (13 months) i popped out lyla. can you believe that?! i most definitely cannot imagine having another baby right now.

lyla sleeps from 7 or 7:30 until 8, and takes two naps. this blessed sleep schedule came much later than it should have, but it’s here now. and i feel like a million bucks now that i’m finally well rested.

this year really flew by. i know we all say that as every year comes to a close, but this one seemed to fly by faster than normal. i have really struggled in the past, watching how fast our babies grow. feeling such joy in each new stage, but also saddness that time was going too fast for me. I still really wish that we could keep our little ones little for longer, but i’m focusing much more on the joy part. living in the moment, and being thankful for the time God has given us. it’s a good, freeing feeling and I’m thankful God’s been working on my heart.

Lyla came into our family when we were least expecting it. but, God’s timing and plan for our family has been more perfect than anything I could have orchestrated. She is a gift from God, and we are so blessed to be her parents.

and now i’m crying.

speaking of crying, here is the video of her birth. i cry every time i watch it, remembering how excited we were to meet her and hold her, and remembering how instantly my heart grew with love for our new daughter.

lyla, you are one very loved and adored little girl. happy first birthday!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZcPVASPr-k?rel=0]

palm springs vacation

we recently got back from spending 8 wonderful days in palm springs. it was the BEST time, and many, many special memories were made. The weather was perfect {90’s and 100’s} so we spent every waking minute at the pool. We packed our video monitors with us, so we were able to take the big girls to the pool during lyla’s morning nap, and brian and i were able to have quiet time there during afternoon naps. There was a really fun park that kept us entertained in the evenings, and after the girls went down at night Brian and I watched movies, thank you very much redbox.

Of course I took a ridiculous number of photos-which i blame entirely on how cute my little ones looked in their rompers and summer wear. but, some things i didn’t take pictures of that i want to remember: morning walks, french toast breakfast everyday, the sweet sight of finley and adalaide sharing a bed, iced coffee by the pool, and dinner and milkshakes at Ruby’s.

My photos aren’t that great. I still don’t know how to take a picture in bright, glaring sun. But regardless, I love every single picture-for the memory it represents. Check out the photo album for many, MANY more.

 

and in true paparazzi style, here is our video. make sure you click on the settings icon so you can watch it in HD :)

or watch it here

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n_HsM34OYI?rel=0]

on repeat

we’ve been blasting this song, dancing and singing at the top of our lungs. even lyla claps along.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2KNvuscKRA?rel=0]

and i also love this video we watched on Easter at church.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn2a73B0uB0?rel=0]

Easter

We had an exciting weekend, celebrating lyla girl’s first birthday on saturday {pictures to come}, and Jesus’ resurrection on Sunday.  This was the first year in a long time that it wasn’t raining on Easter, and boy were we loving every second of it. Holidays are so fun with kids!

{more photos in picasa album}

life lately

we just got over a really, really nasty stomach flu that took out all the ladies in this family for a week. it was not fun to say the least, but the homebody in me enjoyed our lazy days at home.

in one of our finer moments we got our vegetable garden started.

lyla found her way into the laundry, and for once it wasn’t the folded things.

is it cute if i do it too, mom?  why yes, it is.

one day i called out for adalaide to see where she was. “my bible!” she yelled back. i thought this was just about the sweetest sight.

sprouts after only 3 days! i can’t tell you how excited we all get watching our plants grow.

this girl is really proud of herself. BECAUSE…she is walking. like, for real walking. she started taking steps a few weeks ago {just before 11 months} and now she’s walking pretty far lengths. video definitely coming soon!

and i’ll end with this cute little wedgie patootie.