Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

I love the gate around thee!!

This handy, dandy gate (courtesy of Lila's Sissy) is wonderful! It may not be the prettiest of my Christmas decorations, but it is certainly saving us some headaches. As usual, Lila is into everything, and this gate lets her get close to the tree and look. No touching is possible though, and that's what's so great!! I worried about her pulling the tree on top of herself, and this keeps that worry from becoming reality. I finally got all the decorations up yesterday, and we're enjoying the Christmas spirit around here.

Lila was much more delighted by the little tree in her room. She "helped" me hang the ornaments, and then we took it back and plugged it up. She's way more interested in the colorful light ... the plain white just don't do it for her!

Soooo excited to be celebrating Lila's first Christmas holiday!!!

Sunday Best

On Sunday, Josh decided to have a photo shoot with Lilabug while I threw clothes around our room trying to find something to wear to church! I thought they turned out pretty cute! :)

Iron Bowl Friday

Josh and I had a rare day together on Iron Bowl Friday. Lila headed to the lake with her grandparents, and we got to go tailgate and go to the game! We had lots of fun, and I enjoyed hanging out with my hubs even if his team beat mine!!

Lila pulled for the Tide Friday... Mimi and Pop bought this little cheerleader outfit for her, and since they were the ones so graciously keeping her for the day, this is what she sported. She still looked pretty cute...

Giving Thanks ...

I remember sitting down a year ago to write my Thanksgiving blog post ... I was 32 weeks pregnant, and so excited about the birth of our little baby girl. A LOT has happened in a year... I am so thankful for the life that God has blessed me with. I am kind of bad to get bogged down in little things and sometimes I lose sight of all my blessings. This year I found myself especially thankful for my family. I am so fortunate to have my family back home. I missed them this year for Thanksgiving -- it was my first one away from home -- but I was fortunate enough to spend it with my family here, AND I hosted it! (Ha -- we're worn out tonight, to say the least.)

I am SO thankful for little Lila and the joy she's brought into our lives over the last 10 months. She's truly the sweetest thing to us, and I can't remember life before her. And for Josh, who, bless his heart, doesn't get enough credit sometimes. He's a great daddy, and a wonderful husband. My parents are true gems who do so much for us, and I have a wonderful sister who I miss very much! And then Josh's parents and family ... don't know how I got so lucky to marry into such a great family. I am so thankful that Lila has so many aunts, uncles, and cousins from both mine and Josh's sides.

Anyway, enough mushy, just very thankful this year. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Lila's First Thanksgiving

Enjoying her time with MiMi and PopHitting some keys on the piano with Aunt Gladys and Aunt CyndiSharing the love with KarleeP.S. Thank you for my Thanksgiving card, Aunt Casey!! I missed you, Grammy and Papa today!! (Mommy did too!!)

Happy Birthday ...

a day late to Papa!!

We enjoyed having you here with us this past week and hope you had a good day!

We love you!!

Some pictures of Lila and her Papa...

As Lila would say ...

"Uh-oh!"

She got her first GOOD bump on the head ... the kind that stayed there for awhile ... last night. She was walking in the living room, lost her balance, and knocked her knoggin on the coffee table. I have a feeling there's a few more where this one came from!!

Don't worry, Grandparents! You could hardly see the bump today!!

10 Months Old

Lila is 10 months old today!! She spent it with her Grammy and in the doctor's office ... yes, Baby Girl has not gotten much better (like I thought she was). We went to Madison this weekend to visit and pick up some furniture for the house.

With lots of practice, Lila learned how to say "Papa." She also inherited our old wagon while we were loading up the rest of the furniture.ANYWAY, back to the story. While we were up there, she started running fever (which she rarely does). Grammy came back to Opelika with us, and stayed with Lila today. We went to the doc again this afternoon, and we're just not real sure why she seems a little worse than better. So, we're a tired crew around here. Sick baby=not too much sleep. Hopefully, we'll be on the mend soon. Unfortunately, the pictures at the top are the best we could do this month. She's too busy to stop and have her picture taken ... even sick. I even had the sign up in a plant, and tried to just "catch" her playing by the plant. Ohhh, the things we do! She looks like we're torturing her in the 2nd one!! Bless her heart...it's the end of the day, she's tired, and Mama's DETERMINED to have the 10 month picture!

This month, Lila has ...

1. Cut two more teeth. She has 4 teeth up top, and she cut another bottom tooth on the left.

2. Says "da-da," "ma-ma," and "uh-oh." She usually says "uh-oh" after she has purposely dropped something.

3. Sometimes if you ask her to give you love, she'll rest her cheek on your face for a kiss.

4. She's learned real quick how to throw a temper-tantrum.

5. She's started standing on her own, and she took her first step this month. This first step is quickly progressing towards walking.

6. She's eating "big-people" food. She's had green beans, sweet peas, corn, carrots, blueberry muffins, fruits, and pancakes. She seems to like it.

7. She has a real lunch now, and (at least for Sissy) takes a sippy-cup of milk with her lunch instead of a bottle.

8. She really enjoys being read to, and still dances to music of you have it on.
9. She definitely knows the meaning of "no ma'am." Now whether she listens to it or not is a different story.

10. Had her first Halloween of dressing up, going on a hayride, and trick-or-treating!

She is a M-E-S-S! We wouldn't trade a second of our time with her. She's a very special little girl and it's hard to believe in just two months we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday! TIME FLIES!

This week...

We'll start at the weekend ...

We enjoyed our visit from Aunt Casey this weekend. She was a big help! I got sick last week and was pretty worn out come Friday night. Casey came and played with Lila, and I got some much needed rest!! We had fun shopping on Saturday, and then Sunday morning we headed off to church where Lila had her first nursery experience. Come back and visit soon!!

Then my sweet girl got sick. She's been so congested for a couple of weeks now. Over the weekend, she really started pulling on her ears. Josh and I decided we'd give the doc a call, and they had us come in to make sure it was nothing viral. Turned out Baby Girl had RSV and Strep Throat. She's had her whiny moments, but mostly her face has looked like this...

Pretty sweet, I know. :) I've been home with her the last two days (which I have loved ... would've been better had we not been sick), and this child has played HARD! I don't know if I've seen a happier sick child. She had her moments of not feeling well and she got lots of rest, but she's been very easy-going and good-spirited about this whole sick thing. Only thing I can figure is that we caught it early??

In other Lila news...

Our child has learned to pout. Yes, this is her pouting. She rolled before I could capture it, but before this position she could be found on her tummy, knees tucked, and head lying on the ground. That/This is her new thing if something gets taken or she's not allowed to play with/on something. She's very dramatic....very dramatic, indeed. Mind you, this happens several times a day as she is into EVERYTHING she can get her hands on. "No Ma'am" is the new phrase in our house.

One day soon I will capture her walking. She's getting so good at it!! Today she stood on her own and just started taking steps. She doesn't really cooperate though when I pull out the camera. Very soon though ... I will get it!

Our Girl

Mmm-mmm

Lila got her first big girl breakfast this past weekend and enjoyed some blueberry muffins! She wasn't sure what to think at first, but she got the hang of it! This week has been interesting trying to come up with different things for dinner.
We're in the process of finally dropping her lunch bottle. She's taking it from a sippy cup and eating a big girl lunch with the other big kids at daycare. Don't know quite what to do with this big girl she's becoming!!