Growing Up!

There has been so much change around here for Lila and all of us. She is now 7 months and there's not much to report in that area as she doesn't have another appointment until 9 months, so... no statistics. Despite this, she has come so far in her development. She has SO much hair, but it's all really fuzzy so it looks funny/adorable. I'm happy about this as I was sad when her hair she was born with all rubbed off. She still doesn't crawl, but I don't know when that will happen as she is moving all over the place by scooting, rolling, flopping, etc. She also can sit herself up. It's so cute how she does it, too! She gets up on all four and swings one leg across her body in front of the other one and then sits down. I don't really know how to describe it, so sorry if that didn't make any sense... just know she can get from lying on the floor to sitting up by herself. She really wants to stand and tries to pull herself up, but can't quite do it. She pulls on everything trying to get up, but she doesn't have the strength yet. It will be interesting to see how she continues to work on that. On Sunday I noticed the very top of a tooth coming through her bottom gums. You couldn't feel anything, but I knew I saw something. I mentioned this to Micah and he looked (although she made it hard:)) and was also able to see it. Finally today you could feel it and so I don't have to feel like maybe I was just picturing something. I know I mentioned earlier that she also says "mama" along with "baba", but I love it so much that I thought I would mention it again. She also already loves other babies and smiles, giggles, and "talks" to them every time she sees one. It's really cute to watch babies smiling at each other. She's becoming so much more vocal and is constantly letting us know she is around. She's even started to cry when we leave the room, even if the other parent is still with her. It's sad, but fun to see her cognitive development. Well this is just a jumble of stuff, but it's been a lot of fun watching Lila grow.

Also... guess what arrived!... her bookcase! Yay! It looks really cute in her room and I'm excited to have books in her room at such a young age. Now, the majority of her books still don't fit in it because I have so many for her, but I'm just going to rotate them out. I really do love being a mother.

A New Year

I know New Year's resolutions are stupid to a lot of people, but I love them. I think it is a great time to think about how I can make myself a better wife, mom, daughter, neighbor, sister, saint, person, etc. What I usually like to do is come up with overall ideas and then break down the goals into smaller ones for each month.

Some of my goals this year are:

Be healthier
Do more service
Improve on being a homemaker
Strengthen home and family

For the month of January and the goal to be healthier, I have chosen to drink more water. The only way I'll do this is if I don't drink anything else. I have a hard time doing this because at work I'm talking and working with the students all day, but I'm determined and so will be carrying a water bottle around with me. Other teachers do this and I need to do this because I know I am dehydrated.

I am unsure about what service project I want to do so suggestions are welcome, but there are always great ideas at work so I know I'll come up with one for January.

Being a good homemaker is important to me even though I am not a stay at home mom right now. Because of this I want to work on vacuuming every room. I know this is simple enough, but there are rooms, mainly just one, that I am not good at keeping up with. Lila's room just doesn't come to mind when I think about vacuuming as we don't eat in there, she doesn't play on the floor in there, we don't go in there much other than to take her to bed, but I still want to make sure my whole home is clean.

Finally, to strengthen my home and family I am focusing on FHE and have a great resource to help me be organized and not feel overwhelmed. I found it on pinterest (of course, haha) and am so excited to start it up! This is the blog that I am following:

I didn't link the website, but I can if you'd like me to.

So here's to a new year and a better me!

On an unrelated note Lila now says "mama" and is incredibly close to crawling. She now moves both knees once she's in position and she can move her arms, she just needs to get them in sync. She's really mobile in other ways though so she is a little less motivated. :)

Lila's Room Take 2

Like I said in my previous post, Micah gave me some money to finish decorating Lila's room. I think it turned out well and I will say that I think it looks even better than the pictures show.

So, I was going to try and comment under a few of these, but that seems like too much work so I'll just say things now.
Look closely at the pictures of Micah and I when we were young... the third picture. Isn't Micah so cute?! Hehe. I love his blue suit.

On the picture that has the words "GOD, FAMILY, HARD WORK" these were Micah's idea. I don't say this because I don't like it, but because I wanted to put a quote there and wanted Micah's input. He didn't really like any of the ones I had in mind so I asked for what he wanted and these are the words he chose. This is what he hopes to teach our children... the priorities of life and in the order they should be. I thought that was cool and like that Micah had a contribution for Lila's room.

The only thing missing is the picture-book bookshelf I ordered and will be getting next week. Yay!
I did most (pretty much all) of this work. I also did it all yesterday and am happy with the end result. Thanks Mum and Dad for your help!

Christmas 2011

This year was so much fun! Not only was I looking forward to Lila's first Christmas, but I was just ready for some good quality time with my family. It's been heaven being home with Micah and Lila. Everyday I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be with these two for eternity. It's been fun seeing Lila get bigger and stronger and she seemed to really enjoy the Christmas things we did with her. Micah got into the holiday spirit more this season also.

First, I went caroling with my family which is something we do every year. It's so much fun and really gets me into the Christmas spirit.

Lila loved the decorations in our home, especially the lights. She was so interested in the music from my music box and snow globe.

She liked listening to the Polar Express and loved to look at the picture books I read to her, but as for Christmas day she was asleep for all the present opening. She did however have some adorable pjs. Thanks Keri!


We made ornaments of Lila's hand and footprint out of salt dough.

On Christmas Eve morning we had Christmas tree waffles because we were at my parent's house on Christmas day.


I also got a new dress, shoes, and earrings from my wonderful mother-in-law.

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun listening to the Christmas story in the scriptures, singing carols with my family, and eating delicious cheese and broccoli soup. I also loved that Christmas day was on Sunday. I was initially disappointed that we wouldn't be opening gifts in the morning as we have done every other year, but to have the added spirit from church just made the day even better.

Thanks to the rest of the family for the great gifts! I'm so excited to use them, play with them, display them (mum), and enjoy them! Micah is great at giving gifts and gave me a bunch of fun stuff, but one of my favorite gifts he gave me was money to finish decorating Lila's room so pics soon to come as I am doing that tomorrow.

6 months and other fun things

I haven't posted any of this previously because I was trying to find my camera battery charger to upload pictures, but I can't find it and so have decided to post anyway. Because of this though the post is going to be pretty long. This post is going to be a smorgasbord of things that have happened with our little family lately... mostly revolving around Lila.

Lila's first Thanksgiving was spent in Nebraska with the Pratt's side of the family. It was such a blast and Lila loved her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and they loved her. She was seriously spoiled, but who doesn't want to spoil this chubby cheeked angel? Anyway, she also progressed in her development a lot over the week that we were there and is now an excellent sitter! She no longer needs her hands for support, she gets up on her knees when she is on her belly, and she scoots herself around on the floor by pushing off with her legs. Her little personality is really coming out!

Lila also got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time at our ward Christmas party and was so good about it. It's a good thing she's still a little too young for stranger anxiety to kick in. :) She looked so adorable and so tiny on his lap. She also received a beautiful little blanket with "Lila's first Christmas 2011" embroidered on it. Thanks Lorraine!

Finally, our little bean turned 6 months. Half a year gone already! I can't believe it. She is doing well with all the milestones that she is supposed to be meeting, but we need to now make sure she sleeps through the night entirely on her own. This is a goal of ours for the Christmas break so I will let you know how she does... and how I do. The papers with her measurements got thrown away so I can't remember them exactly and will have to wait until 9 months to have them again, but I can remember that she is just above 17lbs. keeping her in the 76 percentile. She stayed in the same percentages except for her height. Our little shorty isn't as much of a shorty anymore... she has moved from the 33rd percentile to the 52nd. (I think around there.) I also really think she's teething as of today. She won't stop tugging at her ear, is pretty clingy, and starts crying for no real reason.

I love everything about this little girl, but I'll just share a few reasons with you...
her smile
her dimples
her blue eyes
how her eyelashes curl and up and over her eyebrows... seriously the longest lashes I've EVER seen on a baby.
her giggle
her bashfulness
when she grabs your face when she gets excited

Things that Lila loves...
her mommy
her daddy
Matilda, her stuffed wombat
empty plastic bottles
throwing toys
copying daddy's noises
rolling and scooting around on the floor

I'm so excited for Lila's first Christmas! It's such a wonderful time of year. I hope you're enjoying the spirit of the season.