Another good ole' Chicago weekend!

Thank you weather gods for a fabulous November! We have been enjoying the weather as much as possible...it will be short lived. Now that we've got 9 Chicago winters under our belt we expect the cold weather to smack us in the face very soon. It will come without warning and will not let up for 4 months. I can't wait!!!

With the sun shining bright we decided to have a snack outside on our front deck.

Lyla was enjoying the scenery...watching all the big buses drive by.

Trying to get a closer look at all that was going on! She is such a nosey nelly!!

Now onto some sticky fun. Lyla loves sticky stuff! Her favorite page in her DOG book is the page where she gets to touch the dogs sticky tongue and the frogs sticky pads in her touch-in-feel animal book. She loves flipping through pages in her books but the "sticky" pages always get the most love!!

So one day I thought of stickers....duh! And thank goodness... something that holds her attention longer than 30 seconds...which is a hard thing these days!!!

She needed help putting on her slipper....

The 1 kitchen drawer Lyla is allowed to get in...

Peek-a-boo is back...we haven't seen her do it in months...and it's back - oh how I have missed it!!!

And lastly, Lyla's new favorite. She can now stack cups and boxes on her own. But of course the fun part is to tip them over!!

We are headed to Ohio for Thanksgiving - which I assure you there will be several postings to wrap up our stay. For now I wish you all a food & family filled holiday - and if you are traveling...safe travels!!!

Lyla - What does a Cow Say?

Daddy is going to get embarrassed by this one but it's the only video I can get of Lyla saying Moooooo :)

A good ole' Chicago weekend!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Savvy!!!

The weekend was off to a fun start...Lyla was so happy to help Savvy celebrate her birthday at The Fantasy Kingdom...a kids dream!!!

Here they are greeting one another with a big hug!!!

And then right to playing...

And some more playing...oh what fun!!!!

And just when you thought the fun was nearing an end it was time to eat pizza and cake!!

And of course we had to sing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl!!!

And after all those yummy treats it was time to play some more...you should have seen it...kids kids and more kids - running everywhere!!! Whew....all the parents were exhausted!!!!

And here is Lyla trying to make an escape out of my arms...I guess she wasn't finished playing!

I think she is having a good time!!!

And thanks to some unseasonably warm weather we decided to head out for lunch and some shopping...can you guess where? Our favorite Street in Chicago..Division Street!

Here is Lyla helping pay for lunch...

And every Division Street experience has to include a visit to Lyla's favorite toy store...

We couldn't resist...all we needed was our tea set!

And finally...just because she is silly...check her out hanging onto her shopping bag!

Gotta love good ole' Chicago weekends!!!!

Patty Cake

Just a little fast and out of sequence:) 

12 month updates!!

Didn't we just celebrate Lyla's 1st birthday!!! WOW that month flew by...so much that I am having a hard time keeping track of all that she has learned this month. These "monthly updates" are going to start getting more and more difficult. BUT first doesn't everyone want to know how much she weighed at her doc appt last week:

24lbs 5 oz - 30 inches

Some of her new skills:

1. What does a dog say? She'll respond...oof oof
2. What does a cow say? She'll respond...Mooooo
3. When something drops on the floor she'll give her: Ut oh pose...puts her palms in the air and raises her arms.
4. Eating on her own with a fork and spoon
5. Blows kisses complete with sound effect...covers her mouth and then says muaw!
6. Teeth, teeth and more teeth. This past mouth she got her 2 bottom molars and 3 more on the top...grand total of 10 teeth.
7. Walking is her preferred method of getting somewhere.
8. Will bring a book for story time.
9. Will brush her hair if you hand her a brush or comb.
10. Tries to put on her shoes, socks and hat.
11. Can stack 4 boxes, cups etc...
12. First Words: daddy, mommy, moooo, oof off, Lyla, and a few others that we are working on figuring out :) We think she is saying "This"...but think that would be strange for some reason:)
13. New bedtime: 7:30pm to 7:00am
14. New naptime: 11:30am to 1:30pm/2:00pm

Onto 13 months we go:)

Week 1...The Waddler Room

Today marks the 1-week mark of Lyla starting in her new room at daycare...The Waddler Room.

We were very excited for this transition as she was extremely bored in the Infant Room. But when I say transition I mean transition. We went into this with much excitement. I kept thinking how much fun she'd have playing with her friends which transitioned a few months earlier. And all the fun times ahead for Lyla: daily activities, art projects, music class, reading circle, etc... We were all so excited for this next step. What I was not prepared for was the actual "transition phase." YIKES. This transition has been far worse than when I dropped her off as a little baby and went back to work. Lyla now has an opinion and can definitely communicate when she isn't okay with a situation.

Day 1: I left in tears as she sat on the floor with her arms in the air reaching out to me with tears rolling down her cheeks....

Day 2: Repeat of day 1

Day 3: Daddy's turn....success!!! No tears from daddy or Lyla.  Lyla was officially playing her mommy:( 

Day 4: Repeat of day 1 & 2

On day 4 we got Lyla early for her 12-month doctor appointment. We left out of there with a prescription for a double ear infection.

I felt SO bad...I assumed Lyla was irritable because of the hour time change, starting in a new room and nap schedule and cutting her one year molars. The poor thing was also sick on top of all other things. This week shaped up to be a very bad week!!! 

Day 5: The entire Austin Family stayed home...

Which brings me today - the one week mark.  Dropping her off is still hard but getting better. She doesn't start crying until I start to walk out of the room.  Last week she started crying as we walked in. It only has to get better from here - right!!! 

Here is a picture that shows she is VERY happy...as long as she doesn't notice I am around :) You gotta love separation anxiety (sense the sarcasm)...I feel so loved by the fact that Lyla doesn't want to say goodbye...but it's SO sad to walk away!

The little blonde boy right in front of her is her buddy Hudson. They were in the same infant room and started the Waddler Room the same day. It's so sweet to see the two of them sticking together.

She is about to spot me :)

Lyla is going to have so much fun in the Waddler Room. Every day when I read her daily log I am so excited about all she is doing. Today she followed her teachers around the room as they played the role of different animals and asked Lyla to mimic...hopefully giving them her best Mooooooo performance.  She also painted an art project "Pigs in the Mud", played dress up and enjoyed the circle game 'Froggy in the middle".   What a fun day!!!

And finally...since being in The Waddler Room she is already picking up some new skills...like eating with a spoon...check her out:

After a rough week I now feel comfortable saying The Waddler Room is a success.  Lots of fun times ahead for Lyla...aka...Lyla the Toddler!!!

Go Lyla Go - clap clap clap!!!!!

2 to 5 to 10....

Lyla is walking!!!!

It started with 2 small steps Friday night....5 steps on Sunday...to walking from the Kitchen to Living room last night!!!!

Go Lyla - Go Lyla - Go Lyla!!!

Here are a couple of videos from Sunday...sorry they are so dark.  I will work on getting better videos:) 

Keep an eye on Michael in the background :) 

So many possibilities...

Oh what - Oh what should dear Lyla be....

A pixie fairy?

A cow?

A peacock?

Oh dear...definitely not the peacock!!!! Stay tuned for the results....

Halloween is a little different when you live in a big city. Lyla won't be "trick or treating" in our neighborhood anytime soon but there are plenty of activities in the city to make up for her not being able to "trick or treat".... Like the Lincoln Park Spooky Zoo Spectacular!!

Zebras and pumpkins - who would have thought!

We met Lyla's friend Avery - or shall I say Avery The Pretty Pretty Princess!!

We made our way to the toddler sound stage for a special treat...dancing and singing!

Unfortunately for Lyla she had a couple of wardrobe malfunctions that prevented her from seeing or being able to move. Mommy was too excited at how cute she looks to think about anything else. Check her out - she can't see or move in those ever-so-cute but not very practical boots - haha!!!

Thank you Avery for giving Lyla a hand and helping her out :)

The Friday before Halloween everyone wore orange & black at daycare..here is her fancy outfit. Which I must mention that I will not be showing Lyla the picture from the day because Lyla is the only one in her room not wearing her Halloween costume. Whoopsie - I missed the memo about the 3:30 costume party!! I am already scarring my child...haha...I have a feeling this will come back to haunt me. I can hear her now "Mommy why was I the only one not wearing a costume?"

To wrap up the Halloween season we headed to The Garland's for some trick or treating...thank you for living in "The Burbs" which is actually only 5 mins outside the city...lovely just lovely :)

I laugh every time I look at this picture...what a bunch they make!!! I consider Lyla to be the 4th Garland - she just fits in perfectly :)

And off we go...

Trick or Treat!!!!

It did not take Lyla long at all to figure out what she was doing...

Is this treat for me?

I didn't have the camera ready to capture the box of Nerds which "exploded" in her mouth....Lyla is quick ;)

The best part of the day was handing out candy and seeing all the kids in costume. We all got settled...Kade & Reese handed out candy while the adults enjoyed some beer/wine and some very yummy chili :)

Kade was VERY excited...he would see kids from afar and would run after them with candy in hand. Okay so he may have knocked a kid down and scared a few others...but come on...he was just very excited about the handing out candy process!!! Reese on the other hand was very particular...she had to take a look at the kids first to determine what piece of candy she thought they would enjoy most:)

Trick or Treat!!!

Oh and during all those COW moments...when asked what does a cow say - Lyla responds MOOOOOOO :) 

Halloween Photo Shoot!