13th Month Update...

Lia's babybook had a page devoted to her progress in every area I could think of for the first twelve months of her life....but nothing past that point. Yesterday, she turned 13 months old and I was kinda at a loss because I had mentally been tracking all of her little developments the past four weeks, but had nowhere to record them! Ahhhhh. So, as long as this is a habit, I thought that I would continue with it until I get burned out or it slowly fades from my memory. Plus, she started doing some really cute and funny things this past month that I didn't want to forget. So, here goes Lia's Top Ten for month #13 (in no particular order):
1. She walks on her knees all the time--especially when carrying a book (which she can't do while crawling).
2. She learned to wave "bye bye" and does it sometimes at the appropriate moment when a person is leaving OR just whenever she feels like giving her little hands an exercise.
3. She said her first word...."Uh oh" and says it all the time now.
4. She is a Dancing Queen. Abba would be so proud! She dances all the time when she hears music whether it is on TV or coming from one of her toys.
5. She has started to snuggle soft items like her teddy bear or the blankets in her crib. So cute!
6. She cut her fifth tooth on March19th without making a peep! Halellujah!
7. She has gotten really proficient at eating all table foods and only eats a fruit babyfood in her morning cereal now (this is just to help me get those five servings a day into her mouth).
8. She has started to take a few steps here and there...mainly with the help of her parents when they are facing each other on opposite couches in the family room.
9. She has fallen in love with her books and reads, reads, and reads on her own. It's the cutest thing. She actually prefers flipping through her board books more than playing with her toys. Her English teacher parents are quite proud.
10. She taught herself how to crawl down the stairs backwards. We had nothing to do with this one, I promise! Yes, I do believe that we are raising our own little prodigy. :-)

My Own Little Cindy-Lou Who

I was sitting next to a friend at my book club meeting last month (yes, I actually joined one) when she commented on how I needed to start doing something with "all of that hair" on Lia's head. Since accessorizing and hair dressing has never been a forte of mine, this was something that I definately had to force myself to do. But, I am proud to say that in the last week or two I have purchased some little ruberbands and gathered all of the hair accessories (that my hair stylist mother-in-law has mailed over the past many months) and placed them in an easy-to-use spot in Lia's bathroom. So, on the days that I am not working, I am trying to get myself to incorporate the doing of Lia's hair into our morning routine. It's like pulling teeth....but to my surprise, it has actually happened a few times! So, today, we attempted the side pony tails. As you can see by the picture, they are definately NOT centered on my child's head...but they are there. In fact, I thought that they were so cute that I laughed out loud and snapped a quick pic to email Daddy at work. Lia just reminded me of little Cindy-Lou Who from the beginning of the Dr. Seuss story, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. What do you think?

Pretty in Pink

I know that everyone thinks that their child is the cutest in the world...but I think that the following pictures speak for themselves! :-) Here is Lia posing for her one-year pictures on March 7th in the adorable pink, poofy dress that her Grandma and Grandpa (well, really grandma) gave her for her first birthday. I thought that it would be the perfect dress to wear for her birthday pictures as she just reminds me of a delicious, pink, frosted cupcake when she wears it!

My favorite picture taken that day. Look at those four teeth! (I fondly refer to them as her "beaver teeth")

I just love this angle of her.

The birthday girl with the birthday cake.

Such a sweetie.

Here Lia is doing her "clap, clap, clap" (what we always say to her when she starts clapping) that she does all the time...especially when she gets excited.

I don't know what caused her to make this face, but I thought that it was so funny!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I quickly learned within a few weeks of diving into motherhood that Lia and I spend the majority of our time in two rooms in our home: the kitchen and the family room. As a result, this is where the toy basket was promptly placed when she became interested in toys a few months later. However, after she started to become mobile at around eight months, I soon learned that there were a few activities that Lia would rather spend her time doing instead of playing with her toys. So, I have dedicated this post to a few of her favorite things that she likes to busy her waking hours with in the family room, the kitchen, and the hallway leading to the upstairs. As cute as these activities are, there is one hitch for me.....many of them require endless hours of picking up and putting away what she has undone. So, you could say that my daughter and I are currently engaged in a sort of tug-a-war on a daily basis. What fun it is!

Activity #1: Assuming the role of the dish washer terror.

No matter how quietly I open the dishwasher door, or how slowly I pull out a rack, or how gently I place a piece of silverware of plateware in the washer, my daughter can hear me. It is amazing! Her micro-sensitive, superman ears perk up at the slightest dish loading noise I make from across the room. And you better believe that I only attempt to load the dishwasher when she is safely nestled behind the barrier of our couch and deep in play with toys and/or books. But, no matter how tricky I try to be, I can't be beat! Lia drops whatever activity she is doing and comes flying into the kitchen on all fours dead set on her mission. What is her mission you may ask? Why to unload the dishes for me...dirty or clean it mattereth not! This is my least favorite of her favorite things. I am not a fan of cutting knives and glass plates being thrown to the ground by my daring daugther. However, I don't think this is a battle I will win.

Activity #2: Unpacking the tupperware and saran wrap/plastic baggies/aluminum foil drawers.

I would have to say that Lia's #1 favorite is the tupperware drawer. It is found at the bottom of a set of four drawers and it gets unpacked at LEAST 2-3 times a day. The drawer above contains the bags, wrap, foil, etc. and doesn't get favored as much (much to my relief!). So, here is my faithful kitchen assistant working hard! I often times find random pieces of tupperware hidden in various hard-to-see places in my kitchen days later while I am doing something else.

Activity #3: Waiting for mom at the bottom of the stairs.

Lia is my loyal friend. Where I go, she too can be found. It is quite adorable and I have never felt so popular in my life. It really is the ultimate self-esteem booster. Since there is now a gate at the bottom of our stairs (due to me finding her alone at the TOP a few times--ahhhh!), she will now patiently follow me there whenever I run upstairs for a quick minute or two to get something or do something. I can always find her patiently waiting at the bottom, hands shaking the gate, greeting me with a smile. It truly warms the heart....:-)

Activity #4: Talking to her "new best friend."

After Lia started crawling a few months ago, she soon discovered that our coat closet has a mirror on the outside. With the discovery of the mirror came the discovery of her reflection and a perfect friendship was born. She can spend several minutes talking to Lia, Part II. Being an avid fan of Pixar's, Finding Nemo, I coudn't help but make the immediate connection to the goofy, blue fish in the dentist office fish tank, Auntie Deb. This fish enjoys talking to her sister Flo who is found staring back at her everytime she looks at the glass! I guess we can say that Lia has found her own inner Flo.

Activity #5: Playing "Marian...Madam Librarian" (if you haven't seen "Music Man," you will have no idea what I am talking about. Go rent the musical.)

Lia discovered early on that there are two bookshelves that are reachable to her little, busy fingers. As a result, she resumes the role of librarian on a daily basis to remove and scatter our books all over the floor! She can busy herself for many, many minutes while participating in this activity. Not only does she enjoy removing our books one at a time, but she finds great joy in looking through the books one page at at time while sitting in the "book nest" that she has just created on the floor. Being English teachers, Ron and I find this activity more than appropriate AND seeing that I dust my house on a bi-annual basis, she is a great help to me and my dusty shelves! Now, I only have to dust the top two shevles twice a year!

Down they come one at a time!

Madam Librarian so pleased with herself!

Activity #6: Attacking the placemat drawer!
Just recently, Lia stumbled across a new gem in the kitchen. The drawer that houses all of the placemat sets that I never use! I was just tickled pink that they have found a new purpose. One of our sets has an Asian theme (see the blue, silky ones) with matching chopsticks and holders. Lia was especially intrigued by this and she can be seen here trying to figure out how to work this apparatus. Apparently she didn't succeed as I had the good fortune of finding a set in our garbage can the next day (note: the garbage can is now permantly stationed in our dining room which is guarded by an infant gate. What a lovely addition to the dining room decor this has been.)


Activity #7: Playing in her "clubhouse."
Recently, Lia figured out that she could squeeze between the spaces of our kitchen chairs. In doing so, she found a whole new world underneath our kitchen table that she LOVES! I started calling this her clubhouse. She now cruises under there with a favorite toy or two in hand (or mouth) and spends several gleeful minutes squawking and talking, crawling back and forth, playing with our feet, and just sitting down to play with a toy. It is quite a cute sight. I have now managed to squeeze my less-than-baby-size-32-year-old body under there to play chase with her. Yes, I am sure you are trying to imagine how this works....I don't have much room to chase her, but we make it happen. She loves this game! So, in the future, if you can't find Lia, look in her clubhouse.

The Birthday Bash...

Well, I am proud to say that I officially survived my first child's first birthday party yesterday! How many more to go? In all seriousness, it actually turned out to be a really enjoyable day....a lot of that is due to the fact that my sister-in-law graciously offered to host the party and the 25 people that came with it. Lucky me! My brother, Chris, and his wife, Natalee, have twins whose birthday is just three days after Lia. Since some of Natalee's family was going to be in town this past weekend, she offered to host a joint birthday party so that her sister and family could attend. I jumped on that offer. So, after church, we trapsed out to Port Orchard to celebrate Lia's 1st and Brynn's and Garrett's 8th birthdays!

One of my "assignments" for the party was to make the cake. Since one of my goals for 2009 is to be more "domesticy" (now that I am enjoying the extra time and freedom that comes with being a part-time homemaker for the first time in my adult career), I decided to bake a cake and make lemon curd filling and frosting ALL from scratch. I also attempted to decorate it with my brandnew cake decorating set (thank you, Kristina). As amateur as the end product turned out, it sure was good. My cake is pictured on the right and the little one was for Lia to attack is on the left (that I got for free from Albertsons since it was her first birthday).

When we first arrived at Chris' and Natalee's home, food preparations were still in full swing. So, there was some time to play with cousins and Grandma. Here is the birthday girl on the floor with daddy and Grandma and two silly cousins, Brynn and Callie.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of pasta and meatballs (and all the different sauces and toppings you could think of), toss salad, homemade rolls, and cut fruit. Pictured is my brothers Eric and Chris, my sister-in-law, Rebecca, and my mother.

The four darling girls that insisted I take their picture! Pictured are my three nieces, Brynn, Vivi, and Callie and Brynn's and Callie's cousin, Anna (in the brown t-shirt).

The Real Men. My dad on the right, Ron in the back, and Natalee's father, Jordan, on the left.

After dinner, we opened gifts. Lia took turns with Brynn and Garrett. Here I am with Lia opening a gift from one of our neighbors with the help of Miss Callie. Lia was showered on by many and received several "big girl" toys that she was badly in need of. Apparently, she was outgrowing her rattles and such. How did that happen?!

After all was said and done, Lia still prefered Riley's cars and the tissue paper from the gift bags. Ugh. I can't win. :-)

Last, but not least, was dessert time! After singing "Happy Birthday" with the cousins surrounding her in the high chair, Lia daintily approached her first birthday cake. However, she quickly got the swing of things, and............

DOVE IN FINGERS FIRST! She was one sticky, messy girl when she was done!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl!

12 Months and Counting...

Well, I just can't believe it. My baby girl turned one year old today! How did that happen?! So many people warned me that her baby months would go by too fast....but, I didn't think that it would happen THIS fast! *sigh* Anyways, in honor of my little one's big day, I decided to post her monthly pictures that I have taken over the past twelve months. (Lia's baby book has a page for each of her first twelve months, so it helped to keep me on the ball about it!) Enjoy!

March 22, 2008 (Lia is sitting on the beautiful quilt her Grandma made for her)

April 22, 2008

May 22, 2008

June 22, 2008

July 22, 2008
(I just love this picture as it shows the "old growth" hair that remained on the back of her head after she lost the majority of the rest of her hair at around 3-4 months. This old section of hair would often times pop up at opportune or inopportune moments.)

August 22, 2008

September 22, 2008 (Is she posing for the camera or what in this picture?)

October 22, 2008 (Just a few days before she started crawling)

November 22, 2008

December 22, 2008 (Sitting in front of her first Christmas tree)

January 22, 2009

February 22, 2009

The adorable birthday girl in her birthday dress!

Dash Point Getaway

It has been a long time since Ron and I had the chance to skip town and go on a little over nighter somewhere. This was something we seemed to do so much of when we were newlyweds living in California and we just loved it! However, since we have moved to Washington, this part of our life has waaaay slowed down for a few different reasons. As a result, we were tickled when we received the opportunity to stay at a beach house for FREE when one of Ron's co-workers offered it to us during Ron's mid-winter break this past week. His co-worker's beach house is located on Dash Point--a tiny, sleepy beach community on Puget Sound--just north of the Port of Tacoma. We went out on February 19th and spent one night there. Here I am in front of the Dash Point sign at the entrance of the pier.

There are two ways to get to this beach house....walking on the beach from the public parking during low tide (which is much easier) or climbing down the 200 rotten, rickety steps from a road above. We timed it so that we would arrive at low tide to take the easier way there. Here is Ron with Lia on his back hiking to the cabin (you can see it in the background...it is the gray and white one directly behind Ron's head). Lia thoroughly enjoyed walking on the beach and kept on pointing at everything (her new favorite past time).

After settling in that evening, we headed back out at sunset to enjoy the "Twilight" menu at the delicious "Lobster Shop" restaurant located directly across from the pier. They have a fabulous and affordable menu to choose from if you eat there from 4-6:30 pm. We really loved the omnience of this quaint seafood restaurant located in an house and enjoyed the view of the water as the sun was setting. Lia did pretty good herself....not getting fussy until the very end. We pacified her with crackers and bread.

We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day on February 20th. Here is a picture of the view from the deck of the beach house of the beach and neighboring cottages leading up to the pier.

Since the Port of Tacoma is just a few miles South of this house, we were able to watch some HUGE ships travelling back and forth with freight. Here is a close-up of one going by. The funny thing is that it takes 11 minutes (Ron's co-worker has apparently time it) for the waves to reach the shore after the ships pass. So, it seems like these huge waves come out of nowhere when they finally hit the beach below the house as the ship is long gone by this point!

Little Lia and me on the deck.

After lunch, we packed up our stuff and hiked it back across the beach to our car (that was luckily still there). We then enjoyed a nice walk out on the pier and along some of the other homes on the other side . It totally reminded us of a little Newport Beach....we had forgotten how much we missed our walks along the beach. It's nice to know that we aren't so far from it after all!