Is Lyla a baby?

With Lyla turning 1 in 12 days our mind set is starting to change! At what age do you no longer consider your baby...a baby? Michael and I aren't sure if there is an exact time you switch from saying baby to toddler BUT we feel it's coming very soon. She is not acting like a baby anymore...a lot has recently changed.

Lyla is no longer taking a bottle and I could not be happier. I did not shed one tear at the thought of her taking this step. To say it bluntly - thank god I don't have to wash another bottle in the near future cause I am SO over it!! I never gave into the convenience of the dish washer - I hand washed every single one of Lyla's bottles! WHEW! And those bottles will never be seen again because I threw every single one of them away. Baby #2 will not be getting hand-me-down bottles - haha!!! The picture series coming up is evidence that Lyla is officially on a sippy cup and only a sippy cup! OH OH OH and the bigger news is she is off formula entirely. WOW - no more formula and no more washing bottles - it's a whole new world!!!!

It definitely was not a cake walk. There was a transition phase but we stuck to it and are in the clear now!

Her night time bottle being the hardest transition. But as you can see below - with one foot propped in the air - she is quite content now!!! Persistence is the name of the game.

Lyla has become very independent. She would much prefer feeding herself these days....which is not the cleanest option but cleaning up her mess is easier than prying her mouth open when we try to feed her ;)

Here is her lovely berry mustache.

It's funny to think back to those "picky eater" days. She now will eat anything put in front of her and actually turns her nose up to small pieces of food.

And we'll see how long "The Giving Phase" last! This phase is one we wouldn't mind staying around but we know it will be short lived!

And this is a phase we wish would quickly pass. Our little dare devil...

To quote Michael last night, "Lyla you almost got away from me on that one." Yikes if Daddy can't keep up with her dare devil antics we may have a problem ;)

12 more days until Lyla Anne is 1...

Lyla's Kazoo!

As you may have seen on a previous post - Lyla learned how to play the kazoo. The kazoo was getting so much action that we decided to hide it from her...why I am not sure...but more so what were we thinking when we "hid" it. Lyla of course out smarted us again - she spotted it and stopped at nothing to get it.

This is about when daddy walked a little closer - just in case!!!

But then something suddenly changed...Lyla's voice of frustration turned into the sound of a kazoo...

I wish I would have captured this on video but I was way too distracted by taking photos and laughing hysterically!! Lyla was playing her kazoo while "stuck" in her toy box. Please take a moment to envision this situation. Look at the picture below then close your eyes and picture the sound of Lyla playing her kazoo all while "hanging out" in her toy box...hysterical.

But unfortunately all good things must come to an end. She finally realized she was stuck...

Daddy had to get down on his knees for this one...

By this time she realized she was getting some assistance and went right back to playing her kazoo again while Daddy helped her out...

And the aftermath - caught on video...

She loves her Kazoo - what can you do!!!

Friends come in all sizes!!!

Over the past few weeks - Lyla has had so much fun playing with so many of her friends. Friends ranging from 4 years to 11 weeks. BUT if you can believe it that range is already bigger now that I can say Sofia Elle Rozell has arrived!!!!

Sofia was born on September 23rd at 1:05pm.

Savvy officially has a sister and Lyla officially has another little friend!!

A couple weeks ago "The Crew" got together for a casual baby shower to help The Rozell family celebrate their upcoming arrival. Here is a glimpse of all the kids hanging out - while the adult girls chatted about adult girl stuff - and the adult boys watched football. The perfect family day for all parties involved!

Here is glimpse of Lyla trying to get in on the fun! You will see at the end of this post that Lyla can most definitely hang with the older crowd...Lyla can hold her own...that is for sure!!!!

Here is "ever-so-sweet" Kade trying to include Lyla - isn't he so sweet!!!

And Lyla making a quick escape...

Lyla decided she would rather cuddle with Jaida instead...

Next up for Lyla was a play date with Avery!!

Michael and I had a wedding reception, so Lyla went over to Avery's house for a play date. Avery introduced Lyla to the wonderful world of fairy wands! You all can count on Lyla to have her very own fairy wand very soon!! Avery is such a sweet friend! She shared all her toys and even let Lyla sleep in her big girl bed until we picked her up later that night.

Lyla had such a great time playing with you Avery. She looks forward to many more play dates!!

And last but not least a day with "The Garland crew".

Reese is the oldest and wisest of them all. Here is Reese showing Lyla how to bake cookies and boy were they the best cookies I have ever had. Definitely better than the homemade peanut butter cookies Amy and I once made...way back when on Berteau Street. We found enough energy to get everyone out the door for dinner: 2 adults, 2 toddlers, 1 baby and 1 infant. It can be done but only because all the kids were so well behaved and perfect angels ;)

After dinner we walked back home to the Garland House and got all the kids into their pj's. Pj's usually lead to bedtime right?!?! Not for this rowdy bunch...they were having way too much fun...courtesy of Lyla "The Instigator"...

As mentioned, Lyla can hold her own! I think she was channeling Simba from the Lion King and was trying out her Pouncing Skills...

I wish I would have captured this on video because her noises were hilarious. I believe Amy and I referred to Lyla "growling" on a few occasions...

The 3 of them laughed and laughed and laughed...and growled...and laughed....not one tear shed...whew!!!

I promise Lyla is laughing in this picture...Kade's hugs and lovin' are the best! Michael more than likely would not have approved of this. Kade was also getting lots of lovin' from his girl Lyla too ;)

And we finally got them calmed down enough for a group hug before going to bed!

Jaida you will be there soon enough...

Lyla is so fortunate to have so many little friends. And to think this is only a glimpse...this only captures the last few weeks. We have already begun to think about the days of getting her a sleeping bag for those slumber party days. I know I know - I am rushing things but it's so fun to think about all the fun times ahead for Lyla and all her little friends!!!!

Lyla's birthday party is quickly approaching. Will I be able to get a picture of all of her friends together...probably wishful thinking but I sure will try!!!!

1st weekend without Lyla....

Let me start by first clarifying the Title of this post....Yes we were without Lyla physically...but she was definitely still with us!!!!

And the story goes...I was casually talking to my mom (grandma) about "possibly" taking a weekend getaway. That conversation quickly...I mean VERY quickly turned into my mom (grandma) emailing me for 2 straight weeks. Most of the emails going a little something like this:

"Hi honey, how is your day? How is sweet Lyla doing? So have you decided what you are doing about your weekend getaway. I need to know so I can put my request for days off into work."

Okay grandma you have been busted. We all know how excited you were at the thought of having Lyla all to yourself for an entire weekend. I think your lady friends at work will side with me on this one. You could have given them 1 day notice. I don't think anyone from your work would have deprived you of this experience :)

So the day came - we finally called grandma and gave her the go ahead to put in her days off. Michael and I booked our flights and the plans were set. We were booked to take flight across the country to California and grandma and grand-daddy were coming to Chicago to watch Lyla for the long weekend!!

Now before we get to the fun stuff I have to admit I obsessed ALOT leading up to our departure. The label maker made an appearance - I started labeling everything: Lyla bottles, Lyla dishes, night diapers, daytime diapers, Lyla's food, etc....

I also left grandma and grand-daddy with a MAP taped to the fridge including all neighborhood restaurants by cuisine and a folder with delivery options, park options, etc...

And I didn't stop at just that. Oh yeah I had alot of fun color coding Lyla's daily schedule!!

It's a good thing Grandma & Grand-daddy knew what they were getting themselves into -they know how I am - they raised me. When I was going over everything with them I reminded them that it had nothing to do with me not trusting them...it's just what I do. I reminded them of my closet growing up - my make-up drawer - my organized box of nail polish...you can never be too organized!!!! And NO I have not been diagnosed with having OCD...

Okay so now let's get to the fun stuff. Here's a glimpse of the weekend Lyla had with grandma and grand-daddy. If only I could have setup a camera to take pictures during the entire weekend.

I am going to start with this picture because it was one of "those moments." Lyla got her first taste of grandma's home cooked chicken pot pie. (And thanks grandma for making enough for Michael and I to have upon our return. We returned to a freezer full of food. 2 dishes of Lasagna, 2 chicken pot pies and a chocolate pie - YUMMY!!!! )

Lyla is looking pretty pleased here wouldn't you say...

Next on the agenda for Lyla was dining al fresco. Now what can not be seen in this picture is the cute hair style courtesy of grandma...

And do you really think Grand-daddy was going to wake her...

She woke just in time to eat some of grandma's black beans...who knew:) And bedtime... And playtime... The above pictures can't even begin to capture all the fun Lyla had. She also went out to breakfast, went on stroller walks, played on the rooftop, helped grand-daddy fix things around the house, helped grandma cook dinner - oh the list goes on and on. What I don't "need" to know are all those "special moments" she had with grandma and grand-daddy. Those moments that are only hers and grandma/grand-daddy to share and remember!!!! So as you can see Lyla had SO much fun!! I have to say as hard as it was to be away from her...more on that coming up...the BEST part about this weekend was the bond she formed with her grandparents. A very VERY special experience for me to see. When we returned, I wasn't even sad when Lyla crawled right over to grandma and laid her head on grandma's shoulder - one of the sweetest things I have seen! Okay now onto our weekend getaway. I will spare you some of the details and summarize it by saying I cried only 4 times...not including saying goodbye and on the train to the airport...okay so make that 6 times!!! Day 1 - we arrived in Napa and hit up our Napa favorites. Before Lyla - Michael and I took a trip to Napa/Sonoma every year - to find comfort we decided to ease ourselves in by visiting some of our favorites... After visiting Napa we started making our way to our hotel...with intentions to check-in, clean up and go out for a nice dinner. For those of you that really know us can probably guess what's next. We decided to order Papa Johns pizza, watch TV and go to bed early!!! OH yeah - what Michael and I consider to be the perfect night - even if you are in Wine Country. 12 hours later - YES 12 hours later we woke up!!! I have not slept that much since college. In fact, my mom called and woke us up. She could not figure out why we had not called her yet. Which is a dead give away of how many times we had already called home :) Day 2: Drive as far North as you can stand (because you'll keep seeing places you want to visit) and then start working your way back down...towards your hotel! The beginning of day 2... Driving the side streets and getting lost is one of our favorite things to do while in wine country. It's a time to forget schedules - time - and unwind!!!!!! Just enjoy the scenery and get lost in it's beauty!!! In past years, we have always gone in April...no grapes on the vines...so this year I was determined to taste a grape right from the vine...which of course you are not allowed to do so here I am making my escape!!! Living on the edge - haha!! I do hope Lyla inherited some of my goofiness - if you can't have fun laughing at yourself than honestly what is the point!!!! It's definitley on my "life lessons" list to one day talk to Lyla about :)

Below is an example of Lyla always being in our thoughts. She would have had a cheddar cheese omelete with cottage fries. And yes we were "those parents" that showed her picture to everyone - rather they asked or not! And yes we were "those parents" who talked about her non stop. And yes we were "those parents" that called home at least 6/8/10 times a day to check on her. And yes we were "those parents" that felt guilty about leaving her but so glad we did. And the list could go on and on....

And I will conclude with this. Yes we were "those parents" that got to the airport 4 hours early in hopes to catch an earlier flight so they could get home just in time to give their daughter a good night kiss and hug before bedtime.

Picture this:

15 mins to get through security - flight already boarding - still had to check-in with desk clerk because we were in the system as "stand-by" - I sprinted as fast as I could while Michael was close behind carrying all our luggage....

WE MADE IT!!!