Girly Girl

It is fun for Adam and I to dream about what Lyla will be like when she is older and what things she will what to be involved in. Of course we are in no way wishing away this time, I LOVE each and every stage and this one is no different. I love learning new things about her each and every day and am so thankful for each moment I am blessed to have her. She is so full of life and is so smart. I know every parent thinks their child is smart and I am no different. Lyla is smart. Everyday she is doing new things and she can actually follow simple directions now, which is so fun to see. I think I can actually consider her a walker now and will have to post a video. She still chooses to crawl when we aren't at home, but when we are here, she walks everywhere. She is growing up so quickly.

So back to us loving trying to figure out what kind of girl she will be. Adam said the other day that he thinks she will be a good mix, that is between a girly girl and tom-boy. He is secretly....well no secret actually....hoping that she will be a soccer star someday, which I am fine with. She loves playing with any kind of ball, loves to play outside, and is not afraid to get dirty. She is also ALL girl though. She likes to wear skirts and tights, she loves shoes (her's, mom's, dad's...any kind of shoe), she loves her baby doll and playing with her kitchen, and most recently she loves to wear jewelry. This is so hilariously cute to us. It started with her wanting to try on daddy's wedding ring. She put it on her thumb and kept it there. Then she has a couple of bracelets that she can put on herself and she makes sure we take notice of how beautiful she looks with it on. (We will begin working on being humble....) Then, she took notice to how most days I put on a necklace with my outfit. Well, she thought, if mommy has a necklace on, I need one too. So, I let her pick one out and put it on her. I thought it would be short lived and she would take it off or chew on it, but no. She loved it! She kept it on all day and never bothered it. And thus started her obsession with wearing a necklace. It doesn't matter if she is dressed for the day or if she is still in her pj's. She wants to have a necklace on. So cute! She won't keep her bow in her hair, but she will keep her necklace on :) She will be our soccer star, with the bedazzled cleats, wearing the necklace....and I cannot wait!

For Thanksgiving Day, she thought it appropriate to wear mommy's pearls.

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for. So much of the time, I find myself complaining about all of the things I do not have but think I need. The hard (or easy depending on how you look at it) truth of the matter is, I am SO BLESSED. I have a relationship with Jesus Christ who has saved me from DEATH. Nothing I have done to deserve that, yet He chose me to be a daughter of the King. I have a wonderful husband who loves me more everyday. He is such a servant and loves and does for me so un-selfishly. He works so hard so that I can stay at home with our beautiful child. I have a healthy, thriving little girl. I never knew my life was missing her, until she came into our lives just over a year ago. I love her more than words can ever express and my life is so much fuller with her in it. I have wonderful parents and sisters who are always there for me. They make me laugh and listen to me when I need an ear. I have wonderful in-laws and now several brothers who have filled my life with joy. Our extended family keeps growing and we are expecting our first nephew in February and could not be more excited to meet him. We have a wonderful community of friends that love us so well. We have a roof over our heads and food is always on the table. We have warm clothes and heat that we can turn on when it gets cold. We have two cars that get us safely where we need to go. We are healthy. The list really could go on forever. What is sad is that I am so quick to forget.
Why is it so easy to forget? After I am finished with my complaining about what I don't have, I immediately feel guilty. I have so much more than most people in the world. Why then am I so quick to come up with all the things I "need" but have yet to have? I am not entitled. Thank goodness for GRACE! Thank goodness that the Lord is in control of the big picture and can see all, and He in His goodness only allows me to see the here and now. What a mess I would make of things with my greedy heart. I do not want to be a complainer. I want Christ to take those thoughts captive and in place give me a grateful heart. I want to be constantly reminded of what I do have and be grateful for it all.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We started last Sunday night at my parents with Allison, Dan, and Nana for a yummy meal. Then, Wednesday after Adam got off work, we headed up to North Carolina to Adam's parents house. His grandmother, Aunt Beth and Uncle Dave with their two boys, and Kara and Jonathan all joined. We of course missed Adam's other brother David, who could not be there. It was such a wonderful time of being together and relaxing. The food was wonderful and of course we hit up the shopping after. Lyla found herself a little buddy. Beth and Dave's youngest son is three years old and they HIT IT OFF. They were inseparable which we all found so cute. They played together from sun up to sun down. Nathan wanted to do everything with Lyla, including bath time. I love this because it will be such a great memory. I remember taking baths with my cousins and we had such great times! He called her baby Lyla all weekend and did not understand why she had to take naps or why she did not wake up as early as he did. I was a little worried that the boys would be too old for her, but she             L-O-V-E-D them. They played together so well and the boys were so sweet to her. It just melted my heart. I cannot wait for them to get together again. It was nice being with family and having time off from work. We now can enjoy everything the Christmas season has to offer!

Lyla checking out Charles' video game.

Clapping.

PawPaw on the floor with all the kids.

MawMaw (Adam's grandmother) with her great-granddaughter

Donna preparing a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.

Sisters with Lyla.

Scouting out the deals.

Parents to be (can't wait for Dalton to get here!!)

So thankful for my family.

The boys played with Lyla's toys :)

The yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

Let's eat!

Lyla loves her juice and I love that tummy!

Nathan and Lyla

Such a ham.

Nathan sharing his toys.

Nathan, I mean Buzz Lightyear. This boy LOVES to dress up! Spiderman, Batman, Buzz....

More playing.

BathTime!

He loved pouring water on her head.

Lyla and MawMaw.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tub Fun

Adam and I switch off every night who does the bedtime routine with Lyla. Whoever gives the bath and gets her ready for bed, the other actually puts her to sleep. This way we both get special time with her each night. I am loving this time with her. Last night, it was Adam's turn to give the bath. Lyla LOVES the bath and would play in it all night if we let her. He called me in there and this is what I found....

Daddy put letters all over her head! She also has her bracelet on, which she can put on all by herself.

Too funny!

She thought it was funny too.

She loves sucking on the washcloth. She can also take the letters and stick them on the wall all by herself!

I love watching the relationship between Adam and her. It is such a special relationship and he is such a wonderful dad. She is one lucky little girl to have him as her daddy!!

Good Friends, Good Times

Last week, Nicole and I took Tripp and Lyla to The Children's Museum downtown. Let me first just say that I am so THANKFUL for my friendship with Nicole and that Tripp and Lyla enjoy being together. There are some days where I really miss working at Northside, but to be able to still maintain the friendships that I made there is such a blessing. Nicole was half-way through her pregnancy with Tripp when I got pregnant, so she is my go-to mom! I just really have no words to say what she means to me!

I was a little worried about taking Lyla to the museum because I did not think it would be age-appropriate for her. She is not consistently walking, so I was unsure how fun it would be for her. Let me just say, she LOVED it. Both kids did as well as both mommies! She did walk some, but crawled too and either was just fine. There was so much for them to do there, we did not even have a chance to get to it all, before it was time to go take naps. It is somewhere I would definitely take her back to and would even consider getting an annual pass. It is nice for those super cold and super hot days. They have different play centers there full of fun learning activities and toys. The kids did so well and both fell asleep as soon as we got in the car!

Learning how to fish.

So excited to play in the water.

Tripp is ALL boy!

At one point, Lyla only wanted Nicole to hold and snuggle with her. So sweet!!

Grocery Shopping.

Practicing walking.

Sharing a snack.

Sound asleep.

Dry Cleaning is a Dirty Business

I have never written a bad review about a bad experience before even though I have had several major opportunities (like my diamond cracking due to how the jeweler set it...). I like to think I am an easy-going customer, who likes to point out when businesses go above and beyond. My husband has commented to me on several occasions that I do it and honestly I do not even realize it. I guess I would want people telling me when I am doing a good job, so why not help make someone's job easier by giving them a compliment on a job well done?

I have grown up in Dunwoody and lived here for over 20 years. I love this community and what it stands for. I would love to raise my kids here so that they can have the same wonderful childhood, in a safe and thriving community that I did. I would say I know Dunwoody pretty well. In the last year, however, I have had a couple of unfriendly experiences with a few Dunwoody businesses and today has sent me over the edge. I feel like Dunwoody is and should be a community in which it's shops and businesses can be trusted. 

Both of my "unfriendly" experiences have happened when I have decided to try a new business. I guess this will teach me to stick to what I know, no matter what conveniences I am giving up or how much money I will save. I will always remember, the extra mileage and money is worth it! I tried the EZ Steam car wash on Chamblee Dunwoody Rd and Mt Vernon Rd. The first time I went there, I was very happy with the service and my car looked great. The next time I went, my iPod was stolen out of my car. Now I know what they say "They are not responsible for lost or stolen items". It was, however, put away out of sight, in a place that was not cleaned. I did not want to leave without the manager confronting the men who had cleaned my car to find my iPod, but he was not helpful. He gave me the name and number of the owner, whom I called several times. He never called me back. Let's just say I have never gone back there and all of my friends and family know not to go there. I go to Sunshine Carwash when my car needs to be cleaned and let me give a shout out to them. I LOVE them. The staff is friendly and they do a great job. Never again have I left anything of value in my car while it is cleaned though. I learned my lesson.

My latest experience happened today. I decided to try a new dry cleaners out of convenience. The one I usually go to is on the other side of Dunwoody and this one that I wanted to try is right around the corner from my house. The first time I went was probably a month ago with a pair of my husband's pants. Our dry cleaning runs are few and far between because we just do not wear many articles that require dry cleaning only. There were some stains on this pair of pants and they did a great job of getting them out. I was sold. Then last week I took one of my winter jackets to get it's pre-winter cleaning as well as a dress. I picked them up on Saturday and when I went to put the jacket on that night, I noticed several yellow stains. I was so upset. This is a white jacket and I had NOT brought my jacket to the cleaners with those stains. It was too late to take it back that night and Sunday they were closed, so first thing Monday morning I took it back and the lady and I marked all of the spots. I explained that they had not been there prior to me dropping the jacket off and so at some point between my dropping it off and my picking it up they showed up. She said that they would clean it again to try and remove them. Today, I went back to pick it up. They knew exactly who I was when I walked in and told me that the stains did not come out and that they were actually my fault. They are called invisible stains and there was nothing they could do. They offered me no compensation and they in NO way tried to make me, as the costumer, feel cared for by their business. They also told me that they never ruin any article of clothing and proceeded to point out their shop filled with all the personal articles that others' had trusted them with. I did tell them that I did not believe for one minute that they had never ruined an article of clothing. The man there then tried to tell me that they never said that. He said that if they did ruin something they would compensate but in this situation they had not caused any damages. But none the less my beautiful white winter coat was ruined. Now, at this point if they had offered on their own to reimburse me for the cleaning that ruined my jacket, it might have started to smooth things over. I am a reasonable person. I understand things happen and I was the unfortunate one that had her jacket ruined, regardless of the fault. But instead, they looked up my information and proceeding to inform me that I had only used their services twice and was therefore an unvalued customer and did not have enough experience to judge them. I am sorry, but if a business wants my business, they need to respectfully treat everyone as if they are their ONLY customer. He then proceeded to say that he did not like dealing with rude customers like me. I was just trying to get to the bottom of why my coat was ruined and what the business I had entrusted it's care to would do for me. I explained to them, as my blood-pressure rose, that I had come to them because of the convenience and because they had done such a great job the first time. Hello, that's why you have repeat customers. It has to start somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I did add in my two cents in the heat of the moment. I told them I would be writing in to the Dunwoody Crier to make sure the people of Dunwoody would become aware of their rude customer care, of which they had little to no customer service and that I would ever write to the Better Business Bureau. I also told them that I would not pay for the cleaning, and that they needed to refund what I had already paid. And as I left I made sure that they knew they would not have to deal with this rude customer again as I would not be back. Star Cleaner on Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, next to Georgetown Shopping Center will never again have my business. 

The dry cleaners that my family has used for years and was just a few more miles down the road, I will now be heading back to. And believe me, I will let them know how much I love them and how sorry I am that I ever left them!

Will justice be served? Will they feel a loss losing me as a customer? Did it make me feel better to get as heated as they were and stick it to them that I would never be back? Will that change the outcome for my jacket? No. I am supposed to live un-naturally. Should I really have been concerned with getting even or should I have shown un-natural compassion and forgiveness? Where is the line between loving as Christ desires us to and standing up for myself? 

Here is my point, people need to treat people the way they want to be treated. But they don't. We only think of ourselves and what will benefit us in our hectic lives. Christ gave us two simple commands: "Love God first and love others as we love ourself". Funny, I was just reading in my quiet time this morning about fully dying to self so that Christ can work in me. How quickly I forget and am in need of constant reminder. Is a jacket really that important? No, but what is important is how people are treated. And I should not focus on how am I treated, but how am I treating those people who offend me. A customer who feels entitled to great service but does not receive it should maintain their cool and silently show compassion for the employees who do not understand good service and then in turn maybe the next time they will remember the grace given to them and pass it on. This is just a good reminder for me to keep encouraging those businesses that do do a wonderful job so that they will keep making their customers feel special as well as to encourage those that are less easily loved.

12 Months

Lyla is still my busy girl. She does not slow down at all during the day. She loves exploring and trying to figure things out for herself. Here are a few 12 month highlights:

~ We finished with nursing the day she turned one. It was a very sad day for me. Walking out of her room that night thinking about how I would never again nurse her. Still makes me tear up. Our nursing experience was such a wonderful one. I know some do not have the same experience, but from the first time I nursed her an hour or so after she was born, she latched right on and never had any trouble. I am so thankful that God gave us such a wonderful year of it. I knew if I did not stop it on her birthday, it would just keep getting harder and harder to stop the longer I put it off (that's how much her and I enjoyed that time). Lyla did just fine with the weaning process. There are still occasions where she will "ask" for it, but really she has transitioned just fine. Breastfeeding is such a wonderful thing and I never thought I would have become as big of an advocate for it as I have become. If we have more children I will definitely do it again.
~Lyla, surprisingly, I know this will shock some people, has slowed down on how much she is eating. She is becoming pickier each day. By picker, I don't just mean what food she wants and does not want but how much she wants to eat when she eats. That has been a little harder for me because I am used to her eating so much, I am worried she is not eating enough now. Especially since she is not nursing anymore, I am worried about her getting enough good nutrition. She does not like the whole milk I offer to her twice a day. She just spits it out. She only wants water/juice. So I am trying to give her more foods with lots of calcium and vitamin D.
~She likes to feed herself. The only thing she will let me feed her is her yogurt in the morning. Other than that, if I try to spoon feed her anything, she will not eat it. But if I put it in front of her to eat, she will.
~We have been going to a Gymboree Class once a week. She loves it. She loves an interaction with other children and she loves places where she is free to roam. So it is perfect. It is a structured play and learn class and the teacher is wonderful. There is lots of music and games. I feel like she learns a lot developmentally and she loves the time outside of our house. It is also nice to see other moms with their children and get to know them.
~Lyla has become quite the snuggler which I just LOVE. When it is nap time or bedtime, she loves to lay her head on our shoulder and be rocked and have her back rubbed. She will also do it throughout the day just because. She will go get her blanket and come find her to have some snuggle time. LOVE.IT.
~She is WALKING! This means she really is not a baby anymore. We have transitioned out of our first year as a walker. She was taking just one or two steps at a time, but the week of her birthday she started taking 5-7 steps at a time. I do not know when she will be considered a walker though. She does not consistently walk when we are out or anything and she will walk around the house, but will still crawl most of the time. So we are not a full-out walker.....yet.
~She likes to push her stroller or the grocery cart when we are out. She wants me to put her down and then the pushes where the basket is on the stroller and the lower bar on the grocery cart and walks. It is really funny. She is  definitely independent.
~She LOVES any music. When she hears music or we sing she starts dancing. She loves to dance.
~She loves playing pee-a-boo and clapping her hands for us to say "yay Lyla".
~Points at everything! I can tell her little brain is soaking up each and everything. She wants to know what everything is and what everything is called. She loves animal sounds and reading books. Quite often I find her sitting with a book on her lap reading through the pages.
~Has just recently started "sharing". She will share her drink or toy with me. She will also pick up trash or food off the floor and give it to me to throw away. (Yes, sometimes my floor is dirty).
~Still sleeps 12-13 hours at night. Most days still takes two naps, unless she sleeps in in the morning. Then there is only one afternoon nap. She loves her crib. She will not cry when she wakes up. She will just play and talk to herself (and her blanket and seahorse) until we come get her.
~The newest thing she is doing is she will scrunch up her nose and smile/laugh at people that pass by when we are out. She loves it when those people smile back and even come talk to her. It is so cute and I just have to laugh. She is so friendly and wants to be sweet to everyone. She also notices those that just ignore her when she does this. It just breaks my heart because I can see she wonders why they don't smile back. It reminds me of all the harsh "truths" the world will teach her. I give her a kiss and let her know how sweet and kind she is to try to brighten strangers' days with a smile. She then quickly moves on to the next person. Children are so resilient. They love without question and expect nothing in return. Such a sweet simple reminder for me. To love others with child-like faith. I love learning from Lyla.
Here are some birthday pictures.

Look at this leaf mom.

Such a big girl.

Helping herself to the chex mix. And yes, her cheeks are full of food.

Sitting in her new chair. This table and chairs were built by Pawpaw, Adam's dad. They were painted by Honey, Adam's mom. They turned out SO cute!

Pawpaw and Honey came down for Lyla's birthday party!

Lyla and her best friend Eva. She started loving on Eva right when she came in the door.

More Eva love.

Cupcake time.

Not impressed.

She did not like the cupcake. She liked the ice cream better, of course.

Opening gifts. She received so many wonderful new toys. So thankful for all those that love our child!

Skyping with Aunt Sarah and trying to call her at the same time.

Happy Birthday Girl!

Loves her teapot from Mawmaw, Adam's Grandmother.

Playing with her new shopping cart. She loves this. She puts everything in it and pushes it around.

Giving her new baby some loving care.

Pushing her baby in her stroller.

Happy Birthday Lyla!