v.33

Today Lila is 33 weeks old. Last Saturday she decided to try standing on her own. She has been testing her balance by only holding on with one hand but that got boring quickly. She can stand on her own for a couple of seconds. She even turned around and then gracefully fell. She will either sit fall or catch her self and roll. Lila has also been bouncing and jumping all the time. She loves to dance to her new favorite song, "My Dog Rags" she laughs whenever the song starts. It is so cute! "I have a dog and his name is rags... He eats so much that his belly sags... His ears flip flop and his tail wig wags... When he walks he walks, zig zag.... "
Waving is one of Lila's favorite things to do. She waves and waves, sometimes the wave is paired with a little "hi!". The cutest little voice...

This week Lila has had so much fun watching the dogs and goat through the big glass door. She also loves all the room to crawl around in the Shelton house, not to mention all the extra love.
This week mommy started working again. Lila and mommy miss each other a lot during those days... Lila has lots of fun with daddy and with Gigi too! At the end of the day mommy runs to Lila as fast as she can. It's hard to be away from the person you have spent 24 hours a day with for 17 months....
On the road trip back to Texas Lila tried out a high chair at a restaurant for the first time and had the best time. Now she sits in one while mommy and daddy are eating. Out to eat she has fun playing with a straw or a spoon. Dinner time at home Lila sits in her seat and has been experimenting with food again. She is much more interested in playing then eating. That's okay because it's what babies should do, they eat for fun until at least a year old! It is nice to sit at the table and eat as a family. I love this little family.

Mommy is working....

A confession... The writer/photographer of the Lila Report has gone back to working at the salon... And visiting everyone and their cousin so... the next volume is still in the editing folder waiting for pictures...

v.32

Today Lila is 32 weeks old.  Lila went to many new places this week.  The grand canyon was nice, she took a nice long nap on mommy and had so much fun being carried by daddy so high.  Santa Fe was okay too but mostly because daddy and mommy were there.  The drive to Texas was long and Lila hates the carseat.  She is fine with the car.  It is fun, but the carseat, the straps the awful akward reclined position... Those things were not designed for comfort for sure.  Soon Lila will be ready for a new carseat anyway... One that sits up and that will last her the rest of the carseat days.  

When the family was almost to Wimberley they stopped in Fredricksburg and Lila had so much fun riding a mechanical horse.  Then after an hour in the car something even more exciting happened, the road trip was over.  

Lila recognized the Shelton house and was so happy to be somewhere familiar.  Then Gigi came home, and Pappy, then Addison and Andrew too!  She got to show off her crawling skills, and tell them her new sounds and words.  Friday Lila got to see Mommys work.  All the nice people and mirrors, pretty fun.  Also on Friday Lila added "Hi" to her wave.  First she did it at the salon and then later told Gigi "hi" with a wave.  Daddy witnessed it.  Mommy noticed Lila making the h i noise with her wave a few days before but it wasn't clear enough for everyone to see.  Little Lila is talking.  So cute.  Today Lila gets to see Nana and Poppa, Brandy, Jason, Gavin and Jack.  How fun to show them how much she can do. 

Lila had just made a routine for herself before leaving Santa Barbara, hopefully it wont be too difficult to settle into one again.  After 14 days of craziness (give or take a few ) and always waking up somewhere new, it will be nice to just relax and stay put for a while.... Then we will move into our house and settle  into our new life. 

Lila's routine varies slightly everyday depending on what is going on but generally it went like this; wake up 7:30 to use potty, back to sleep for 30-60 minutes.  Nap at 9 ish for another hour.  Noonish time for another nap sometimes a car nap sometimes a long one.  Then the afternoon is different maybe a nap around 2:30, sometimes not until 3:30 (or exhaustion at 4:30).  Depending on what the afternoon nap was like there could be a cat nap around 5 or just bedtime around 7... Lila still needs to eat all night long.  Mommy looses count because she doesn't really have to wake up (and neither does Lila)... Probably somewhere between 4-10 times.  Lila loves to cuddle all night long and has so much fun waking up between daddy and mommy.  Daddy and mommy love it too, these mornings will be happy memories to last forever.

Gallup to Wimberley

Grand Canyon Sunset 10.31.11

In Gallup we stayed at a famous hotel called El Rancho right off of Route 66.  Many old Hollywood stars have stayed there, and a famous Italian rock band was there while we were.   We ate breakfast and headed off for Santa Fe. 

 The drive was again pretty.  We pulled off a few times for Lila to use the potty but made good time and were to our destination around 1.  We stayed in a beautiful guest house of a Joanna's parents.

  It is about 15 minutes from the town, up on a hill, with views of every direction.  Susan gave us a wonderful dinner suggestion and directions into town.  After Lila took a nap we headed to town.  The Indian market was already closed so we went to dinner at a place called The Shed.  It was New Mexican style and petty dang good.  Lila sat in a highchair(for the first time at a restaurant).  She had fun banging on the table and playing with the spoon.  We watched another beautiful sunset on the drive back to the Miller's home.  

Daddy read Lila her bedtime books, then mommy put her to bed.  It was so nice to have a relaxing night in a beautiful comfortable place.  Lila woke mommy up just in time to see an amazing sunrise over the snow and cloud covered mountains.  Mommy and Lila danced and played and took a shower, then lila napped.  The house was so nice and comfortable we wanted to just relax and take our time before starting the 13 hours of driving in front of us.

  It was in the mid 30s and very windy.  We attempted to go to the Indian market because mommy wanted a price of jewelry by Lila had other plans.... We parked, twice, walked around in a circle until we realized the way to go, got to the market and Lila wasn't having it... So we walked back to the car and went to Trader Joes one last time.  

We will miss Trader Joes A LOT!! But the cashier said they plan to open one in Austin next year.  I sure hope so.  Lila loves TJ too!  The people watching is good there.  We gassed up and hit the road.      We sang songs and mommy made funny faces and daddy waved to Lila in the mirror.  We pulled over to use the potty a few times too.  We saw a beautiful sunset just after we drove across the Texas state line.  Lila had a bit of trouble falling asleep, who wants to be in a weird re lies position strapped down? Not Lila... With a pit stop to get out some energy and some help she eventually fell asleep and let daddy drive all the way to Coleman, TX aka the hunting Capitol of Texas.

  We stayed in a little motel that kind of smelled.  But the bed did its job just fine.  Lila woke everyone up at 7:40 so we were able to get on the road at a decent time.  The drive through the hill country was beautiful, cacti, fall leaves and hills full of green trees.  We decided to stop in Fredricksburg for some coffee, a diaper change and some stretching. 

 We were looking for an antique shop but didn't see one so looked in a few stores.  We walked by a horse ride so we popped in 50 cents and Lila has a blast riding the little pony.  

We were about an hour and a half from Wimberley and took a back back way.  It was neat to see the ranches and livestock on the farm to market roads.  We pulled into the Shelton zoo at 12:30 (daddy was right in with his prediction).   Gigi greeted  us soon after, Lilanwas happy to be in a familiar place, with a familiar face.  The trailer is unpacked and clean, the car is clean too... Now we live in Texas.  

v.31

Today Lila is 31 weeks old.  This week has been a big one.  The family packed and packed and said goodbye to Santa Barbara.  Lila has been playing with all the different ways she an use her fingers and hands.  Since mommy uses some sign language, Lila tries to talk with her hands too.  Her wave  has evolved from just her hand and arm up and down to now she goes side to side and holds it up.  During our trip this week Lila has gotten the chance to practice her wave to many people.  Some wave back and this makes her very very happy.  

On Wednesday night, after a day of driving, Lila was no longer consolable with any of mommy's games or faces or even milk... So mommy pulled out the comb and started brushing Lila's hair.  She loves it... But them mommy showed Lila how to brush her hair.  Lila grabbed the comb and had a blast brushing mommy's bangs.  

This week Lila learned all about camping.  She really enjoyed it.  She watched daddy build fires.   Got to play and sleep in a tent, and watch the leaves blow in the trees all day long.   Lila likes hiking too.  She got to hike and play in sand dunes.  She also took a hike to one of Sedona's vortexs.  She also just enjoyed strolls around the campground and sleeping in the ergo when she wanted to.  

One of Lilas new favorite things to do is hold daddy or mommy's hands and jump jump jump!  It is the standing version of her rocking before she started crawling.  She is closer then ever to her goal for the past 7 months... walking! 

Sedona and the Grand Canyon

We enjoyed the hotel on Friday night but not game 7.   Daddy went and picked up some Thai food.  Lila went to bed pretty early due to skipping a couple of naps and not being able to get in any good sleep in the car.  The next morning Lila woke up before the sun, we got to see an amazing Arizona sunrise out of the hotel window while Lila took her morning nap.  

After breakfast we set out for a short easy hike.  We took a detour due to terrible directions from a website but every view in Sedona  seems beautiful and Lila got the chance to take another nap.  We found the trailhead, got a recreation pass, and Lila woke up.  Mommy popped her in the ergo and off we went.  It was a fairly easy hike, the rocks almost create steps for you to walk to the top.  Everyone we passed awed and oohed over Lila.  We made it to the twisted juniper trees.  A man was playing a wooden flute on the very top, Lila really enjoyed his tunes and almost fell asleep.

  When the man came down from the rock he told us a little more about the vortex and gave mommy a heart rock before heading down the trail.  

The views were amazing and so different in oppisite directions.  Lila had a small meltdown but was feeling better as we got away from the vortex.  

We stopped at the grocery store to stock up for camping and then grabbed lunch before going to our site.  We found a nice park and a pretty perfect spot.  We strolled around  the camp and Lila fell asleep in the ergo. 

 Daddy built a fire and the temperature started to drop.  We were in the forest in the cut of mountain so we lost sunlight quickly.  We ate dinner and went to the camp store to get s'mores.  We made snores while Lila slept on mommy, then daddy's chest.  The tent was cold when we got in and got even colder as the night went on.  We found out the next morning it was freezing!  The car read 33 around 8am.  Seriously so cold.  

We decided to go check out the touristy little town of Sedona.  We strolled through several gift shops and sat and watched the rocks for a bit. 

 Lila fell asleep in the ergo so we walked through a few more shops then went and had lunch.  The food was okay but our view was so pretty.  Lila loved the fans and mirror do she had a blast too.  

We headed back to camp and explored around the park.  It was October 30 and a cold front had blown through the previous week bringing fall.  The colors of the leafs were so beautiful, and so many different colors.  

Lila loves leaves, to crunch them in her hands, watch them blow in the wind, and most of all watching the leaves fall from the trees. 

 Daddy build a very nice fire and kept the family warm while he made dinner.  We called the night early because it was getting pretty cold again.  We all cuddled in the tent and did manage to stay mostly warm.  Lila was pretty cozy all night nestled in between her two favorite people.   We did have a monster skunk situation which daddy had to take care of several times (burrr!) Apparently Cave Springs Campground has very intelligent skunks.  They opened the cooler that has a zipper.  They even opened Lila's picnic basket, but I guess I didn't take them long to realize the food was just plastic.  They hissed at our tent and dug lots of holes we found in the ground the next morning. 

 Monday, it is Halloween, and for us, the day to see the Grand Canyon.  We were up early, before the sun so we all took a nap and waited for the sun to come up.  We packed up.... So cold...

 Our fingers were frozen, Lila was the smart one with her mittens on.  Daddy found the perfect little diner in Flagstaff to have breakfast.  We filled up and headed 80 miles north to the Grand Canyon.  The scenery was again pretty we even saw a mountain with snow. 

 We paid and parked and walked to the buster center that has an overlook.  We watched a short film in a movie theater.  This was Lila's first movie experience ad first time she was allowed to watch tv. (and the last for a long while :)  We only watched for a few minutes and then went to get some tips on how to best see the park with a baby and where to watch the sunset.   We then walked to the overlook and WOW!!!  

It is pretty neat.  We decided to do the Rim trail to the Grand Canyon Village (restaurants, hotels, homes, a museum, etc)  the trial was nice and mostly flat.  We just strolled along and enjoyed the amazing views.  

Each angle and turn revealed something new and beautiful. 

 Lila enjoyed the "hike" hanging out on daddy for the first half then napping on mommy the second.   

When Lila woke up we grabbed a bite, there wasn't anything too appealing so we settled for chicken fingers...  We hopped on a bus and headed back to the car.  

We drove to a spot suggested by the ranger and bundled up to watch the show.  We  saw a few elk on the way but (to the regret of daddy) did not turn around to get a closer look.  As the sun went down the canyon looked so different every minute.  

The changing light brought out the depth and textures in the rock.  We snapped a few pictures but they can't capture how beautiful it was.  

Mommy read Lila her bedtime stories in the car and nursed her to sleep.  She slept until we reached our destination, Gallup, NM.  We were happy to find a good place to stay and everyone had a good night sleep.