A little reflection...

It is hard to find time during the holidays to really sit down and get much of anything done, but I am taking just a few quick moments today during (what I hope will turn into...) nap time to reflect on everything my family has experienced this past year. Okay, well maybe not everything, but the big things at least.

On December 16th Laurelei stormed into our lives in a big way! Two weeks early and with a big scare we welcomed the arrival of our little drama queen. It is hard to think back to those first few days of fear and uncertainty and not thank God for the beautiful little girl we have today. Even in her first year of life she has beaten all of the odds to become a happy and healthy little girl. It is absolutely impossible to think about life would be like without her, and such a blessing to know that God protected our little girl so that we wouldn't have to.

As the year went on we celebrated out first family christmas together. It seemed surreal, which is either completely related to the excitement over our week old baby, or our complete lack of sleep... Next came many tears as I went back to work, jubilation as summer came and I could be home again, complete fun as we ventured out on our first family vacation and many, many months of watching Laurelei grow with such joy in her big blue eyes!

She has been so much fun to watch grow. She stomped through every big baby landmark (except teeth?) like it was nothing! Crawling at 5 months, walking at 10. She never ceased to amaze us with her determination. NOW, she is feeding herself with a spoon. At 12 months! What an amazing little bugger. I have a feeling she is going to be a genius...

What a year it has been! Through job loss and job gain, rounds of sickness and health, excitement and sadness we have loved every second of our blessed lives. I feel so lucky to have Matt and Laurelei to make me smile everyday! And now with our new puppy Ruby thrown in the mix I can trully say my life is FULL, and I am loving it!

I've taken off!

Finally, some new videos...

Laurelei has been up to A LOT these days! Unfortunately, we have once again lost our digital/ video camera charger and haven't taken a video of her in a couple of months! It is crazy to see how different she is from one video to another. If you scroll back to the last video blog entry, you'll be amazed at the difference! She is so much more responsive and animated, it is hilarious! She has also gone from cruising around furniture to taking steps and walking almost on her own. The walking videos don't show all that she can do because if she saw the camera, she was over walking and just wanted the camera out of Matt's hands. The one time she walked all the way across her room, Matt the camera missed it sooo (well, we won't get into that here.)

This first video is of Laurelei and Matt playing a little chasing game that Laurelei just freaks out over. If either Matt or I even look at her and giggle, she starts running and screaming to the other parent. It is hilarious. She LOVES to be chased!


This is Laurelei just being Laurelei. Exploring something, throwing something, eating something, saying a little something. She is too sweet!



These next two videos are Laurelei taking a few steps, she is going to take off before we know it! I can't believe she has grown so quickly. It truly does FLY by...

what she's been up to...

Laurelei is doing so many new things these days, it has been fantastic! We've had a busy fall so far, and we have NO plans to slow down!

First off, Laurelei has been into kissing everything as I have written about before. Lately, she will pick her anything you ask her to and shower it with kisses. She also still kisses her reflection in the mirror. That being said, guess what the first thing she did at the pumpkin patch was...

We took Laurelei to the pumpkin patch a couple of weekends ago and had too much fun. She LOVED the apples in the orchard. Laurelei couldn't get enough of the apple "juice." Anytime someone would take her apples away, she would just freak out!We have entered the stage of hide and seek and peekaboo. Matt and I chase Laurelei around the house and she just giggles when we catch her! She also loves to hide herself in closets and behind cabinent and bedroom doors. It is too cute when she open the door and you "find" her. She gets soo excited! I love it!

Much to Matt's chagrin, Laurelei also likes to remove all of the books from just a few shelves on our bookshelf. She has torn a few covers which really hits him hard...

Finally, one of my new favorite things is how Laurelei learned to sniff things. While outside today looking at the mums on the porch, Laurelei had her first hands on experience with flowers. After she tried to eat them with little luck, I demonstrated how they are supposed to be smelled. She then took it upon herself to disect many mums and sniff them. She makes the cutest sniffy face, as you can see below. The noises she makes are also priceless. As soon as I get my video camera charged a video will be sure to follow!

We are 10 months old and counting. Just a tipping the scales at 18lbs. In other news, Laurelei took 2 steps this past Friday, with others here in there. We'll keep you posted with any updates relating to walking! It certainly won't be long now!

New pictures!

9 months, can you believe it?

Laurelei is now officially 9 months as of Wednesday. We can't believe how quickly she is growing! At her recent check up she weighed 16lbs, 9oz. That is more than triple her birth weight now! She is also 26 inches long, making her 10 inches longer than birth. It is absolutely amazing how fast they grow up! She is still a little on the small side in the 10th percentile, but is making steady growth which we are just overwhelmed with joy about! What a little miracle!

Along with her physical growth, she is doing more and more everyday. She now stands and walks around furniture while holding on. She only crawls out of necessity until she can find the next closet thing to pull up on! Matt and I are loving this awesome stage of giggling. Absolutely EVERYTHING is hilarious at home. She rocks her car seat: giggles. She opens a drawer: giggles. Pulls herself up: giggles. Looks out the front door, giggles! It is precious to see her so happy and delighted over every little thing.

We can also see how she is developing mentally as we watch her play with old toys in new ways. Everything has to be thrown now, no matter the size. Socks are a new fascination; how in the world do you get them on and off of feet? Everything has to be emptied as well, which is quite funny because she has a whole shelf system in her room now that is just a rack of empty bins because she prefers them that way. Most of the toys are now conveniently stored wherever Laurelei most prefers. She is such a doll.

As her personality continues to show itself more and more, we are recognizing the happy, giggly little girl we have on our hands. She couldn't be fuller of life or more excited about it! We will post a few new pictures soon! (Including a lovely family photo of UK fans, go BIG BLUE! What an exciting game!)

i'm just too cute with my sweet noises!