Laela's drink of choice...

BTW - These pictures were taken at 7:30 this morning. Do you think it is bad that she starts her addiction so early? :)

Merry Christmas! (Parts I, II, and III)

Part I:
WOW! This was an amazing Christmas day. We started out our day bright and early with our gifts from Santa. Holy cow! Santa must believe Laela Grace has been a very good girl because he brought her a BIG kitchen set...detailed with an oven light, sizzling/boiling stove, food, cash register with scanner, and more! Laela was in awwww when she saw it!
Part II:
We had to practically pry her away from the kitchen to go over to the Murthy's house. Today is Mala's birthday too! We loaded up and off we went, down the icy roads. The drive took us twice as long as usual, but it was a fun time to see snow and the peaceful city streets. (BTW...Sonic was supposed to be open today, as I saw it on a flier, but we pulled in and there was no one there. Can you believe it! No Sonic Diet Coke for me today!) We ate a wonderful omelet and pigs in a blanket breakfast. Then we opened gifts! Ro was very excited to get a power washer, I got a sewing machine, and Laela got a new 4 wheel SUV. Holy cow! She loves it! We got several other wonderful things from the Murthy's too. Thanks! Afterwards, we headed home to get Laela lunch and a nap before the crew came to our house for 1:00 lunch.
Part III:
HA! We did not make it in time. Granna, Gramps and LeAnn were already at the house getting the Christmas party started, so Laela wanted nothing to do with a nap. After about 1 1/2 hours of trying, we finally gave in and let her come out to visit. Well....She did great! She played and played and played. OH! Laela's kitchen was definitely a hit with all of the kids and we decided that Laela will be loving this thing until she is at least 7 or 8!
We had a super mexican-style lunch and then opened presents. What a fun time. Laela is really getting the hang of it and she enjoys sitting down and ripping off the paper. After several gifts, she gets a little tired! :)Laela pepped up again when we pulled out her SUV and she was the passenger. Her cousins, Mikaila and Makenzi, chauffered her up and down the street. She thought she was in heaven! What a FANTASTIC day with family. We are so thankful that everyone made it over safely, despite the snow/ice on the roads, and we could all be together to celebrate this fun holiday. Merry Christmas y'all!
PS - Laela was still kicking at 6:30, but we went ahead and put her down. She cried for about one minute and she was out! I wonder how long she will sleep tonight? :)

A Snowy Christmas Eve in Texas...

Snow, on Christmas Eve, in Texas, may never happen again so we just wanted to share a few pictures with everyone. We went to church tonight, dinner with some friends and then back home to play in the snow for 2 mintues. Laela had a blast!

PS - Today was very eventful and this is my third blog, so make sure to keep scrolling down to read more! Enjoy and Merry Christmas Eve!

The Third Night of Christmas!

Not exactly night time yet, but we are going out tonight and Laela was ready to open gifts! She is really loving this gift-a-day thing. It is so much fun to watch her open them and then toss them to the side or play with them immediately. You never know what a kid is going to do. Tonight's gifts were courtesy of her Nanna...Laela says "Thank you Nanna! I love the pajamas and tiger flashlight."

18 months!

WOW! I know I say this everytime I sit down to blog about a special time frame...but....time really does fly when your are having fun! Laela is 18 months old and continues to amaze us everyday. We really just love spending time with her and watching/listening to what she has to share. What is Laela up to right now?

• Laela has 12 teeth, I think. Not sure about the exact count because she won't really let me in.
• She wears a size 4 diaper and 24 months - 2T in clothes.
• She wears a size 5 1/2 wide shoe.
• She practically runs everywhere she can.
• Lately, she is really big on holding our hand when she is walking around places or wants us to follow her somewhere.
• She is working on her independence and thinks that she is done with high chairs, but we are convincing her otherwise.

• Laela is still working on her eating habits. She has greatly improved, but there is still some work to be had. She is not fully feeding herself, but we are really working on it. She loves chicken fries, applesauce, cheese, green beans, carrots, cheetos, raisins, and frozen blackberries.
• Talking...hmmm...YES! Here are the words we tallied this week...
  Words/Phrase used often:
  Hi (sounds more like hi-ya)
  Mommy
  Daddy (dad – eeee)
  Ro (sometimes Roy)
  Nanna
  Dog
  Tree
  Truck
  Bubble
  Baby
  Diaper
  Duck
  Nose
  WHOA!
  No
  Stop
  Go
  Toe
  Up
  Down
  Banana
  Book
  Milk
  Juice
  More
  Drink
  Hat
  Hot
  Outside
  Ball
  Mail
  Fish
  Three
  Paci
  Shhhhhh
  Sit
  Thank you
  Allie Mae
  Shoes off
  Uh-oh
  Yoo-hoo
  Night-night
  Bye-bye
  I did it.
  All done
  I don’t know.
  Words/Phrases used once or twice:
  Touchdown
  Please
  Love you
  Nine
  Doctor
  Doodle Pro
  Jacket
  Yea
  Hey
  Sheets
  Shirt
  I go to school.
  I see dog.
  See you later.

• Laela understands even more words or phrases then I would ever imagine at this age. She is very observant and picks up on things quickly.
• She loves to do chores or have a task to complete. Right now she helps us with the laundry, clean up after play time, cleaning herself and her highchair, putting stuff in the trash, refilling the water bottles from the pantry to the frig, and unloading the dishwasher.
• She has just started sitting at her desk/easel to color and draw. She can get on and off her stool by herself.
• She is still very much on a routine. Laela wakes up at 6am most mornings, eats lunch at 11ish, naps noon to 2pm, eats dinner at 5ish and heads to bed at 630ish. She is a big fan of her routine!
• Laela is independently getting on and off of her new baby 4 wheeler. We are still working on the part of holding on while the vehicle is moving and turning! :)

We will fill in her technical stats next week when we go to the doctor.

The Second Night of Christmas...

Last night we went over to The Eung's house so Maddie and Laela could swap gifts. Of course we did not take our camera, so I took pictures today. We counted this gifted opening as her gift for the evening because she was pooped when we got home!
Laela got this most adorable pink and zebra print backpack with her name embroidered on it. She has been wearing it all morning! Laela puts it on, gets her stuff in her arms (we still need to discuss using the backpack to carry things), and off she goes. "Bye, Bye!"Laela also got this from Maddie...
An abacus! What a great learning tool, and of course her daddy loves it too!