A sneak peek!

I am working through 500 pictures of our adventure to Vieques, Puerto Rico!  Post coming soon...hopefully!  For now here is a sneak peek!

18-month updates!

Coming right at you....18-month updates!
Weight:  27lbs 8oz (85%)
Length: 33 1/2 inch (90-95%)

Frequently used words on top of those already mentioned:

1. Banana (nana)

2. Elmo

3. Brush

4. Star (my new favorite)

5. Water (wa wa)

6. Door

7. Apple (one of her clearest words)

8. Shoes (oes)

9. Socks (ocks)

10. Bowl

11. Milk

12. Please (eeeesssseeee - along with a big cheesy smile)
13. Thank you (will sign and say ank you)

She can't say words that start with the letter C or K. For example Cat is 'at'. But luckily for her - her name has helped her one of the most difficult letters/sounds which is "L".
14.  Eye
15. Mouth
16.  Nose
17.  Row- Row
18. Boooo
19.  Hot

We'll call this section - putting her mind to work:
1. When you tell her something is hot - she will sign & say "hot" and blow on it. And of course that means that all food is now hot in her mind so we spend alot of time telling her it's not too hot to eat.

2. Whenever we are at the stove she will sign and say "hot".

3. Starting to say words along to songs instead of just doing the motions. For example:

a. Row-Row-Row your boat. She will come grab both of your hands and say "Row Row" - which means she wants us to row her back and forth holding both her hands.

b. Elmo's world song - she will sing along to 2 parts of the song. You know the da-da daaaaaaa part - she says that on queue every time.

c. Peek-a-boo. She says Boooo when she reveals herself

4. When you tell her it's time for a bath she goes to the bathroom and starts putting her toys in the tub.

5. Will grab your hand and guide you to where she wants to go and will point and attempt to explain what she wants. For example: She grabbed my hand the other day and walked me back to her room and said "Brush" which I gave her. She then proceeded to get one of her dolls and brushed her hair.

6. Imaginary play is starting to happen. Showing more interest in her dolls.

7. Will open every door until she finds the Cat when you ask her "Where's the Cat?"

8. When you ask her:

a. What does a bird do? She'll flap her arms like a bird.

b. What does a frog do? She'll attempt to jump/hop

c. What does an elephant do? She'll stomp her feet

d. What does an alligator do? She'll put her arms together and clap up and down (chomp chomp motion)
 9. In her 100 first words book - when asked she will point to at least 75 of the words...It blows my mind on a daily basis what she proves to know.
10. Is completely and utterly obsessed with books. Sadly I have thought to myself - I don't want to read another book - I am too tired :(
11. Still completely and utterly obsessed with crayons and coloring
 12. Can point to a star, heart and circle
13. We are working on numbers, letters and shapes. She impressed us for months on her ability to point out animals. We are no longer impressed - time to move on to bigger and better things.
14.  Will walk over to our floor mirror and say "Lyla" and point and say - Nose, Mouth, Eye, Ear
15.  Starting to say words along to books.  For example:
a.  No-no / Yes yes book.  When we get to a "No" page she says "No" all on her own. 
b.  Where's Binkie book:  Is Binkie under the couch - she'll say "Nooooo" - Is Binkie in your cereal - she'll say "Noooooooo", etc....

Other recent changes:

1. Very whiny and vocal...I mean VERY whiny.

2. Starting to put up a good fight when you put her in the car seat and change her diaper.

3. Refuses to be rocked to sleep. The bedtime routine takes all of 2 mins. Check out this video. Not sure why I thought you'd be able to see her laying down peacefully in the dark at the end - haha!

Schedule:

Bedtime: 7:30pm

*Sleeps from 7:30pm to 7:00am-ish

Breakfast: 8:00am

Lunch: 11:00am

Nap time: 11:30am to 1:30/2pm

Snack: 2:30pm

Dinner: 6:00pm

Favorite Food:

Breakfast:

waffles, eggs, fruit, oatmeal, bagel and veggie cream cheese

Favorite Fruit:

grapes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, peaches

Lunch:

sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, turkey lunch meat, hummus sandwiches, tomatoes

Snacks:

gold fish, organic puffs, cheese, cheddar bunnies, raisins, fruit mash-ups

Dinner:

chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, corn and peas, toasted bread, sloppy joes, cottage cheese

Hates:

pasta of any sort, green beans, broccoli, spaghetti sauce

And that ought to do it for now :):)

Happy 18-month Birthday Lyla!

WOW - REALLY!!!

Happy 18-month Birthday to Lyla!

Happy 18-month Birthday to Lyla!

Happy 18-month Birthday to you - LYLA!

Happy 18-month Birthday to Lyla!

Our baby bird is growing TOO fast.....

Eggs and Pots!

Dyeing Easter Eggs!!!

Oh dear - what have we got ourselves into?!?! We went into this knowing it would get ugly. We prepared ourselves for the mess and most of all I know Lyla appreciated us allowing her the freedom!

Here we go....

And the toss...

So pleased with herself!!

Now it's time to stir the water to help the eggs turn colors!

This is when daddy starts to inch a little closer but he was great - he allowed Lyla to do whatever she wanted.

Crying not because her hand is green but because all the eggs are gone :(

YIKES!!!!!

Beautiful!!!

Oh yeah - this definitely called for a close up.

Okay it's time for a bath :)

And a bonus feature!

And finally thank you Schneider family for the fun Easter surprise. Lyla loved her new flower pots! Here is her... "Is this for me" look :)

Whoever invented this is a genius - no mess - perfect for little ones!

We didn't get around to planting the seeds or watering so stay tuned!

One of my favorites...look at those curls blow in the wind!!

Easter weekend was off to a fabulous start. Coming right up is our day spent with The Garland Family on Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday with Friends!

In one very short week we will be meeting Grandma and DD in Vieques, Puerto Rico. Because of our trip we decided not to travel back to Ohio for Easter. As much fun as we had with the Garland Family I have to admit when I read "Eggs-ellent Weekend" on

http://www.threeschneiders.blogspot.com/

we sure did miss alot back home! You must check out this post - it's fabulous!

BUT we are SO fortunate to have friends we can call family when time does not allow a trip back to Ohio.

So for Easter Sunday we headed to the Garland's. Here is sweet Kaden greeting Lyla with her Easter basket.

Reese and Kaden got new bikes for Easter - how fun is that. Michael quickly took on the responsibility of helping Reese blow up her tires.

Which we know now he may have had a hidden agenda ;)

Yea for having friends that live just right outside the city with a backyard!!!!

Lyla's lovely curls!

Thanks to grandma posting a picture of Lyla at work - she now has the most beautiful, bouncy, soft curls! A lady my mom works with suggested I try "Porosity" which you can buy at Sally's. After one time of trying it I knew we had found the perfect fix. Everything else I had tried left her hair stiff, wet, greasy, smelly - YUCK!!

The infamous butt shot - I will never get enough!!

Isn't she so sweet!

And as the kids would say...finally it's time to hunt for eggs...and their off!!

Lyla taking a slightly harder approach and going for the hard to reach ones.

Folks - here you have it. Lyla's first bite of milk chocolate. After all it is a special occasion!

Ut oh - I smell trouble. Lyla found some of the yummy goodness on the ground. Here is daddy quickly picking it up!

But watch out - she is quick!!!

The rest of the day was spent playing and me saying to Amy "Where in the world did all these toys come from."

Sweet Jaida - you will be running around soon enough - until then stay just as sweet as you are!!!

Of course they have a tree swing!

Ut oh - more chocolate!

Yum!! Literally - this is Lyla saying "YUM"!!!

But wait - there's more fun to be had - sidewalk chalk!!

And this series coming up is where I will point out that some have put the fear of death in me about having a boy! Okay so I get it - a BOY is obviously going to be different than having a GIRL! But I have hope! Kaden from the moment he was born was a mamas boy - the biggest cuddler of all the Garland kids. Not all BOYS are going to be absolute terror - right???? Come on parents with BOYS - there is another side to this opinion that isn't all bad - right :) So here is my shout-out to ever so sweet Kaden who is "all boy" but has all the sweetness you could ask for!!!!

I love you Garland Family - you are family and we love you so!!!

This one is just a random pic Amy took - but it gives you a good shot of my belly.  I am officially 20 weeks - which is when I said I would start taking belly photos.  I'll post a side-by-side comparision of my belly now vs. 20 weeks with Lyla. 

It's a.....

BOY!!

We are thrilled...Michael especially :) 

WOW we are having a boy - I am on my way to look for boy bedding - haha!  Lyla is now going to get her own big girl room including a big girl bed and Baby Boy Austin is taking over Lyla's room...minus all the pink decor of course!  Lots of fun projects planned for this summer. 

It's a BOY!!!  YEA!!!!!!

2 more hours!!!

In 2 hours I will be hooked up to an ultrasound machine...anxioulsy awaiting to hear...

It's a Girl OR It's a Boy! 

 I am suppose to drink 32 ounces of fluid one hour before.  I have already started - I am going to drink triple that amount to make sure the baby can be seen :):) 

2 more days!!!

2 more days until we find out the sex! 

Our ultrasound appointment is Wednesday at 2pm followed by a doc appointment at 3:30...I will post the sex Wednesday night! 

Drum roll..........