Meet Our Friends

These are our friends Katie and Madison. I met Katie in our nursing pre-requisite classes just a few months after Madison was born and Madison will turn 3 in October! Where did the time go?

They weren't able to make it to Leila's birthday party this year, so we got together the next week to celebrate. We didn't have any birthday cake left, so they were sweet enough to bring a special cupcake just for Leila.

She wasn't too sure about the pink icing, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Thank you, Katie and Madison, for celebrating with us!

On a side note, I saw these and thought they were too funny not to post...
We moved into a new house about a month ago and this is what I uncovered behind Leila's bed when I started packing up her room...

I knew she had a couple of socks back there, but I had no idea it was this many!

Crazy kid! She cracks me up!

Hello Again!

It's been quite a while since I was able to blog. But, I know it's been a disappointment to Leila's aunties, who follow us daily, so here's a new one for them.

Pudding Fun
It began with Aunt Danielle feeding Leila some chocolate pudding, but it quickly became a new way for Leila to experience some tasty textured fun.

This is Leila's new surprised face. She makes it often. :)

Such a proper smile - all covered in pudding

Look at all those teeth!

Yummy

She says "Go?"

Her favorite thing to do right now is drop things on the floor from her high chair and ask "go?", as in "where did it go?"

"Up!"

Today, she started throwing her hands down and saying "down" too!

Squinting her eyes... Another of her new faces

Aunt Dani using the scraper that came in a set of utensils brought back from Europe by Leila's aunties.

Such a good shaver. Makes me wonder if European children often get dirty enough to warrant having a scraper as a normal utensil?

Much Cleaner

So Serious...

Aunt Becca takes such cool pictures.

Another Cool Shot

Sorry for the Delay

I apologize to all of you avid Leila fans, for not blogging lately. Please do not hold it against me! We have been searching for and touring possible rental homes and are now in the midst of packing and moving our house, while I continue to finish up my first semsester of nursing school. Oh, if only the moving could have waited two more weeks...! But, alas, it was not to be.

So, forgive me, but I'm just about as busy as I could really ever imagine being and am doing everything I can just to survive it all... and pass my nursing tests, too, of course. I'm not even talking about gracefully surviving it, either. I've had several meltdowns already, and I'm sure there will be at least one more before we're through.

I will get back to blogging as soon as I can. I promise. And there will be plenty more Leila pics to be seen. You will just have to wait a little while longer. But, for you aunties who happen to see her more than most people, but still check back daily for updates, this one is for you...

A picture from Leila's birthday party to brighten your otherwise drab day

(Yes, I am a terrible blogger. Yes, it has almost been two months since her birthday. And, no, I have not yet put the pictures up. I'm telling you, if I can just survive the next two weeks...)

A Few Facts at One Year Old

Here are a few things you may want to know about Leila, now that she is a year old...

Words she can say that she knows the meaning of
Mama
Dada
Dax ("Dats")
birds
puppy
Betsy (Becca's cat)
Nan (my mom)
Nina (my sister Christina)
toys
no
don't
eye
books
cheese ("keek")
duck (in reference to live ducks and rubber duckies)

Words she can repeat, but doesn't necessarily know the meaning of
turkey
turtle
no way
toot
boop (when daddy bops her on the head with her balloon)
bow (hairbow)
Nae (her Aunt Renae)

saying "toot"

Words/phrases she understands but can't say
Leila
shoe
come here
up
moon
give it to me
Becca

"up"

looking for the "moon"

Foods she Loves
cheese
oranges
yogurt

Foods she sometimes loves and sometimes hates
sliced deli meat
grilled chicken
beef
potatoes/sweet potatoes
watermelon

Foods she liked pureed but doesn't like in solid form
tomato
green beans
broccoli

Favorite Games
-turning on daddy's xbox controllers and watching the lights flash
-walking her cart around the house (and banging into whatever gets in her way until someone comes and turns her around)
-taking things out of things and putting them back in (especially the toy kitchen and the shape sorters she got for her birthday, and her Aunt Rebecca's make-up bag - isn't it funny that they start playing with make-up from so early on?)

The First Year

Well, Leila turned the big 1 on March 6th, and here's where she stands as far as her stats go...

Height - 29.5 in (75th percentile)
Weight - 18 lb, 2 oz (25th percentile - up from the 17th!)

The pediatrician was very happy to see that Leila had gone up a little in her weight percentile. She got a little worried when we had a sudden drop-off earlier this year. As her mom, I was not concerned. I see how the little munchkin eats and I knew there was nothing to worry about! (Of course, it's always nice to hear the doctor say that, though. :)


Here she is... Leila Isabele Cannon... on March 6th of last year.

Our pride and joy. Worth every minute of the 35 hours it took to get her here!

And here she is now!

Can you believe that that much change takes place in one year?!

Still very much our pride and joy, and loved more now than the day she was born. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

First Milk Moustache

We got the go-ahead from Leila's pediatrician for her to start drinking milk a few weeks before her first birthday. And, just like her daddy, she took to it right off the bat.

I was worried she might have a problem with it... not because of the taste, but because she's not used to drinking it cold. Luckily, that's no longer a concern.

Anybody else notice she and her daddy make the same faces when they drink milk?

I guess it's a look of satisfaction and love!



Snow in Texas

During the past few winters, we have been blessed in Dallas to have a few opportunities to experience what an actual winter feels like. Luckily, this year was no different. It started snowing late at night and it kept on coming all through the next day.

We get so little snow here that even us adults make sure to enjoy it while it's here.

Leila was already asleep when it started, so Ryan, Rebecca, Ella and I went out to have some fun. (We took the monitor with us, of course!)

\

Becca REALLY got bundled up!

And then we went out to play!

This dog is definitely a snow dog!

The next morning brought a site to behold...

The backyard was beautiful.

The snow was still coming down, but it was already inches deep...

The front yard was even prettier - all covered in white...

We, again, went out to play. And this time, Leila came, too!

Ella had a great time.

I even had a snowsuit that I bought on sale a long time ago, in faith that we'd one day have a daughter to wear it and that one day we'd live in a climate that warranted wearing a snowsuit. So far, we've only achieved one aspect of that, so we wanted to take advantage of the perfect snowsuit weather.

Ella loved it and wanted to play with Leila so badly!

But, Leila isn't quite ready for that vigorous play.

She didn't seem to enjoy sitting in a fluffy suit that prohibited her from moving...

But she was fine as soon as her daddy picked her up.

Down one end of our street

And the other

The neighbor from across the street came out with her dog, and the streets were so full of snow that people were staying in their homes, so we let both dogs off-leash to run and play together.

They had a blast!

And Leila loved it too!

It turns out she's a snow-baby, too!

Ella even played outside after the rest of us had gone back in.

She's quite the snow-dog.

Aren't we blessed that we got a snow-baby, too?!

What a wonderful day!