A Week's Worth of Living

I can't believe it's actually been a week since my last blog!
Here's what's happened since then...

Leila's really been practicing her head control lately. Last Wednesday, she spent a bit of time hanging out in her bumbo with me and her Aunt Rebecca. She's getting stronger every day!

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On Thursday, Leila and I went to surprise her Deedee with a visit to her school. Being one of the few people I know that has never been a teacher, I forget that teachers aren't like other people and can have visitors come to see them while they are at work! After suddenly coming to this realization recently, we couldn't let the year end without Deedee's teacher friends meeting the baby they've heard so much about this year! Not only did Leila meet some of the teachers, but she got to see Deedee's school class, too. Luckily, Deedee kept the kids quiet so that they didn't scare Leila, and she kept them in their seats in order to keep any possible contaminating germs at bay.

How cool is it that Leila's Deedee even has a rocking chair at her work?!

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On Saturday morning, Ryan and I took Leila and Ella to the dog park. It's only the second time I've worn Leila facing out in the moby. She seems to prefer it that way. I don't, because I can't see her!

That night, we went to Deedee and Grandfather's house to have dinner for Ryan's birthday. Leila's Uncle Brent and Aunt Renae came, as well as Great-Grandma and Papa Watson, and Cousins Gail, Sammi, Charlie, Fiona, and Sully. Grandfather had just bought a brand new bright red scooter, and we all spent some time out riding it (Leila stayed inside with her Deedee). It was Ryan's birthday, so he got what he wanted. And, what he wanted was to get a really "sweet" picture of himself and Brent on that scooter.

Ryan and I took a ride together, too. And, I even took it out by myself! I didn't do too badly, except I'm rough on the turns since I'm a little too timid when it comes to leaning over!


Here's Leila chatting with Cousins Charlie and Sully.

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On Sunday, there was a baby parade at church for babies under 3 years old. We all had to gather together in the prayer room before it was our turn to go out on-stage. Here, we got to talk with Katelyn a little bit. Well, Katelyn actually did the talking, since Leila was still asleep. :) We even got to hear her say Leila's name! (Lalelele)

Here are all of the babies and their parents, waiting to go on parade.

We also got to see Ian and Preston. They seem really interested in the sleeping baby, but what they really like is the pretty little piggy! :)

Leila slept pretty much until we went out on stage, and her daddy took good care of her! He even let "Uncle" Oscar take a little nap with her on his chest! :)

After church, Leila hung out for a while with good friends, Diane and Connie, and "Aunt" Alyssa. Ryan came over and tried to show how he can make his baby girl laugh. She wasn't exactly in a laughing mood, but I think he did get a smile or two.

Sunday was Leila's 3-month birthday, too, so we had to take a picture. The top one is the best, but the other two are typical Leila. In the second one, I think she discovers her gold sandals and, in the third, she's already bored with them and moved on to other things.

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Sunday night, Leila fell asleep unexpectedly at 7:30, so she didn't get her bath or her vitamins or anything! (I think she must've been pretty wiped from the crazy weekend, and I think she may be going through a growth spurt, too.) So, on Monday, I was changing Leila's clothes, and she started hugging her giraffe again. She really does hug it, but my camera doesn't take pictures fast enough to catch it, since she moves so quickly! Here is what I did manage to catch, though.

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Yesterday morning (Monday), I came to understand the reason for the need to strap a baby into a bouncy seat. I put Leila in her seat and went to take a shower. When I came out, this is what I found...

It looks like her feet are touching the ground, but they weren't. She was still kicking and bouncing herself up and down!

That night, Leila took a late nap and woke up at an oddly late hour. When her Aunt Rebecca got home from work, Leila was very interested in her and kept looking at her from across the room in an oddly obsessive way. We thought it was hilarious!

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Tonight (Tuesday), we went to my parents house for Ryan's birthday dinner. Aunt Rebecca entertained Leila on the way there. She still loves that Olivia!

Leila doesn't know how to kiss yet - Aunt Rebecca says she was trying to eat her Olivia. But, she sure looks like she's giving it a kiss, doesn't it?

We made sure that Leila got her naps today, and Nan's house is always nice and cool, so we all did a pretty good job of setting the stage for a great evening with a happy Leila. [I'm not 100% positive yet, but it looks like a pattern is emerging, and that Leila is going to be like her mommy in that she gets very cranky when she gets hot. :(  ]
During her happy-awake time, Leila hung out with Poppy for a while...

...And Uncle Jesse held her for the first time! I think he feels better now that she doesn't seem quite so breakable. :)

We put down a colorful blanket that Nan has from when Aunt Rebecca was a baby, and Leila laid on it for a while while we ate dinner. Once she got bored, we pulled up a chair, brought in Nan's Bumbo, and let her sit like a big girl at the table. She played with her plastic keys that her Nan bought for her, she worked at getting her bracelet rattle into her mouth, and she looked around, taking everything in. We can hardly believe how much has changed in just 3 months!

A Few Videos

Here are some videos from Leila's second swim time last Wednesday.
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3

Here's a video from Friday's tummy time when Leila decided to really lift up her head and look at herself in the mirror.
Video

Here, Leila and I are chatting on Friday while Ryan is helping get the house ready for my two wedding cake tastings on Saturday. Leila seems to get more talkative when the vacuum cleaner is going.
Video 1
Video 2

Here's a video from Saturday, when we went to Cousin Sammi and Charlie's house to swim. This was Leila's very first time in a big pool and she didn't seem to mind it, even though the water was a bit chilly.
Notice in video 4, she's practicing the "froggie".
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4

Then, here's the biggie from today. Leila rolled over!! Three times in a row!
During tummy time, I noticed it looked like she was getting close to rolling over, so I started to get up to get the video camera. But then, just as I was getting up, she just rolled over! So, I didn't get the first one on video. But I got the camera and put her back on her tummy, and she rolled over two more times! And, this time, I got it on tape.
Video 1
Video 2

Happy Memorial Day!

Sorry, folks. No video today. I finally got some pictures up and I'll try and get the video up tomorrow.

Take a look at swimtime #2 from Wednesday night. This time we pulled out one of Leila's rubber duckies to join her.

We were surprised to see that Ella was quick to join her! She was interested in the toy, but the water didn't seem to deter her at all.

Wednesday night, I also went ahead and finished Leila's haircut, just cleaning it up a bit.
Here is what I took off of her little 11-week-old-head...

And, here are her "after" pictures...

Here she is after her bath. She really likes her giraffe rattle, so we keep it on the changing table to entertain her. It usually stays on the side of the table, over by the wall, but Leila is starting to grab things so often now, that I didn't even notice she'd moved it until she was giving it a hug!

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I had some baking to do on Friday for my 2 wedding cake tastings on Saturday. Ryan was busy doing some work outside, so Leila spent time working with me in the kitchen. It was her first time baking and, I must say, she did a fabulous job!

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On Saturday afternoon, we went out to Cousins Sammi, Charlie, and Gail's house to swim. Since we were going swimming, Leila was wearing a fun dress that's baggy enough to work as a swim cover up, and we decided to try out her fun sunglasses, too.

She put up with them really well until she was in her carseat, when she realized she could take the glasses off... and put them in her mouth. She's already got a mind of her own!

This was Leila's first time in a big pool, and we were surprised to see she didn't seem to mind it too much.

(I forgot to include that Aunt Renae is the one who captured this perfect smile!)

She also discovered her Deedee's finger and thought it made a great teething toy.

Here's Leila hanging out with Cousin Charlie.

Great face, huh? :)

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And, here is a pic from Sunday afternoon. Leila's been a little sick this week, and her daddy felt pretty sick on Saturday night, so we all just stayed home and relaxed on Sunday. So, Leila's Nan came over and hung out with us for a while that afternoon. Here, Betsy decided to stay put long enough for Leila to say hello.