v.40

Today Lila is 40 weeks old. She also turned 9 months this week. "9 months in... 9 months out." this saying is science based, basically meaning that 9 months after a human is born it is on par with other mammals who are just born. Humans have a shorter gestational period because our heads are so big... Most mammals are born with the ability to walk, at 9 months Lila is getting there. Her balance gets better every day. As Andrew observed "shes really starting to put her feet flat now" She holds onto mommy or dada's hands and walks so fast. Lila has played peekaboo since she was very little. First with a see through scarf so she wouldn't be scared. Paired with a song "peekaboo, I see you, in your hiding place, peekaboo, I see you, and your smiling face... Peekaboo!!". Then it evolved into the where's Lila game, throwing a big blanket high and over her, quickly pulling it down. She giggled and laughed and loves it still. Now Lila plays her own peekaboo games. All the time... Behind a curtain, a couch (with Gigi), behind her clothes, a book, pretty much anywhere she can. Sometimes I can see her mouth but not her eyes. She gets so serious when "hiding" then soon before she peekaboos a big smile comes across her face. She is so proud.
We are really settling into the house. Lila explores but stays close to mommy. I never have to check on her, she checks on me. Since the house is all hardwoods I can hear her little hands slap slap as she crawls around.
Lila celebrated her first Christmas on Sunday. We woke up and Lila opened her stocking. She laughed when I showed her Santa had filled up her stocking. He brought her lots of little books about animals. After that we loaded up and headed to Wimberley. Lila was so excited to see we were t the unkies house. She loves those boys so much! Pappy cooked a pancake breakfast. It was yummy, Lila enjoyed the pancakes too. We opened presents, the unkies got Lila a stuffed horse which she rode on right away. It goes perfectly with her denim diaper cover from Addison. Pappy and Gigi gave Lila a awesome red wagon that she has already had lots of fun in. Avery handmade Lila the cutest little sock monkey. Lila giggles at its cute face. We had a nice time at the Sheltons but Lila didn't take one nap... WAY to much fun to nap!! So as it was time for us to start to leave she started to fall asleep nursing... Mommy had I stop this so Lila would instead sleep in the car on the way to the next Christmas. Lila was not happy with this and sadly protested until she was sleeping in the carseat. Daddy drove as Lila slept. We arrived at the Beer house and opened presents right away. Papa and Nana gave Lila a perfect little reading chair. It even has her name on it. We have the chair in we play area next to a couple of shelves with her books. Lila also was given a walker from the Beer family. She is still a little too young for the walking part of it (it slips out from under her) she loves all the buttons and noises. Lila was pretty pooped but had fun listening to Christmas music with Aunt Brandy. We had a yum-o christmas dinner prepared by Nana. We didn't make it until the apple pie, Lila was so tired we headed home. She fell asleep right away in the car and didn't even wake up when mommy put her to bed. The next day the beers and nana and papa came over to our house and dada fixed lunch. We went to the park and played on the swings. The rest of the week went by quickly, and Ikea trip, then daddy worked while Lila and mommy discovered Locomotion. Mommy worked, Gigi and Lila played. Friday morning dada worked then mommy in the afternoon. Afterwards Aunt Avery came over. We ate dinner, Lila had a bath and Avery read her a story. The hungry caterpillar. Lila has heard this story before but paid close attention to everything Avery was saying. Too cute. Lila has always enjoyed listening to the stories and looking at the pictures in books but in the past two weeks has discovered all the other things she loves bout books too. The pages! She has turned the pages in the past but now she wants to turn, flip, open shut... She can spend a lot of time trying to figure out everything they can do. She received a couple of peekaboo style books that she is absolutely crazy for. The pages open up and down too! Everyday she is discovering the amazing world around her. Today is the last day of 2011. We will spend most of the day playing with Avery until she meets up with friends for tonights celebrations. Dada is working but will be home in plenty of time for the ball to drop. We will ring in the new year at home, much like we did last year but now Lila wants to stay up until midnight too...

Locomotion

Today we went to a inflatable world.... They have an area for 2 and under. Lila had a blast. We will be back often.

In pictures....

Lila's first christmas in pictures....
Playing with all the gifts at Momals house on Christmas Eve.
Opening her stocking on Christmas morning.
Posing for a picture with the Unkies...
Christmas picture time!!!
Nap in-between houses.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Mommy is working part II

Yes mommy is working so the blog has been written ( I could never go back and remember week by week in such detail) but I was waiting to update until I had the pictures to upload too. This requires getting on the computer and I have not had ANY extra time. So I decided I will add the pictures soon, but publish the updates now.
Love
Ashley

v.39

Today Lila is 39 weeks old. Today is also Christmas Eve. The last week has been full of exploring. Lila loves the new house and is crawling around everywhere. She helps mommy unpack by sorting the clothes and pulling them out of boxes. It actually has been quite helpful. Lila and daddy got to spend some time together while mommy went to work. They love to listen to music and Lila loves to dance. Since it is Christmas we have been listing to lots of Christmas music and Lila really loved the from Charlie Brown Christmas music.
We discovered something so wonderful about our new house. We love a 5 minute wall away from Little Stacy park. They have bucket swings and a playground designed for 2-12. The park even has a wading pool that opens during the summer. We are going to be spending lots of time there for the next couple of years! Lila has loved being back to the park and swinging (now she just needs some baby friends). And at the park we have traded the ducks (that lived at Alice Keck in Santa Barbara) for all the squirrels that live in Little Stacy.

v.38

Today Lila is 38 weeks old. What has this week been full of? Lots of love and laughs and new things but between all of that was a lot of snot and whining and sneezing and not feeling too great. Lila got her first cold. Daddy and mommy shared in all the fun and both had a cold too. So the house is still a bit messy and things are still in boxes. Mommy still hasn't hung all her clothes in the closet. The weather matched our health this week, it rained almost every day.
Monday mommy and Lila went to the children's meuseum. Thy have a program designed for 0-3 years every Monday morning. The entire place is open to the babies and their moms ad dads. Lila was one of the youngest, most of the babies were actually toddlers. Lila had lots of fun during the music time. She loves to dance and shake along. They also had a great area with all sorts of things for Lila to discover and play with. Her favorite... The blocks and a golf ball, she held it for a good hour while she played with other things.
One of Lila's new things is to hold on to a toy for a long while. Mommy took her in the store and her held into a piece of pie from her play picnic set the entire time. Another one of her favorite things now is to take things in and out of boxes and bags.
She also made up a fun game with daddy, she folds out something to him (for example, her jacket) he tugs on it "give me that jacket" and she laughs and attempts to climb up the couch.

v.37

Today Lila is 37 weeks old. This week she became an Austinite. On Tuesday daddy waited for the movers while mommy and Lila spent the day napping and playing in Wimberley. We will miss the Shelton zoo. It was the perfect transition from Santa Barbara to Austin. The sunsets are amazing and unique there. It feels as though you can see the earth's curve and the sky hugging it. Lila will miss all the animals. She learned so much while we were there and grew up a lot. She got several teeth (the count is 8 with another top one popping through today), she started taking. First "hi" with a wave, then "dada", "hi dada", "dog", "cat", and in the last few days "quack" and "bye bye". She started waving, clapping, and mommy taught her to "tada" this week, which is both hands up and she throws her head back. Lila will miss the "unkies" who she can't get enough of. She watches everything Addison and Andrew do. She loves them so much. A special thank you to Gigi and pappy for having us in your home (and some of our stuff still in your home), we enjoyed it and really appreciate it.
The rest of the week was busy with mommy working, papa coming for a quick visit (Lila said bye bye for the first time as he was leaving), and running errands for the house. Of course there has been a lot of unpacking. Lila's new favorite thing is to unpack. Any box, bag, or object that holds other objects, she wants to remove everything inside. So everyone has been packing the house and starting to build our nest in Austin.

v.36

Today Lila is 36 weeks old. "Anything you can do, I can do too!". She might not be able to do it all, yet but she sure is trying. Lila is more able then ever to copy what people are doing around her. Mommy knocked on the window, Lila balled up her little hand and did the same. She calls to the dogs in wimberley and knocks for them. Mommy clicked her mouth and so did Lila. She loves click click clicking her mouth.
Lila also added a new word to her vocabulary. Da da da da. It is so cute. The first time Lila said dada Gigi was holding her hands and she was walking towards daddy. "da da da" she said. A few times. That night (or the next, I dont remember). Daddy had just fallen asleep and Lila and mommy were on there way to sleep too. Lila crawled toward daddy and stopped right at his face. "Hi dada". Mommy tried to wake daddy to tell him and Lila said it again "hi dada". Since then she has said "hi daugggk (dog)" and waved.
Lila loves being a little birdie and picking up prices of bread, fruit, veggie, or anything for that matter and putting it in her mouth. She also love Topocico, a yummy mineral water. Lila wants to do everything daddy and mommy do...