Love at First Sight

Well, it has finally happened. After waiting patiently for nine long months, watching her Aunt Kara's belly grow, kissing her baby Dalton from the outside and patting Aunt Kara's tummy to let her little cousin know she was eagerly waiting his arrival.....the two finally meet!! Yes she saw video and pictures of him leading up to today and constantly wanted to look at her baby Dalton's picture and watch his video over and over and over again....but today was THE day!! And boy is she in love. She was so enamored with him. I am sure as she is sound asleep in her crib, she is dreaming about all the fun they will have together and all the things she will teach him. I cannot wait to watch these two get to know each other and grow up with each other!!

First looks....Dalton is not impressed yet....

He has a monkey on his shirt Aunt Kara.

He has soft hair. 

What do you think about him Aunt Kara?

This is how you give baby Dalton kisses, Lyla.

Oh Aunt Kara, you are so sweet to him and give him kisses just like you give me!!

Getting to hold him for the first time. Melted my heart.

I think I like him!

Can I keep him?

Look, there is his mouth!

I love touching his soft head.

I LOVE Jonathan's face here. Think he is in love with that little man and is excited to have everyone home?

Dalton showing off his bottle taking skills. I think he just took more out of his bottle here than Lyla did in her whole lifetime. 

Sweet boy!

Kisses bye-bye. See you soon cousin.

So, Lyla is in love, but so is her mommy! I love this sweet little baby so much and it felt so great to snuggle with such a tiny newborn! It is so easy to forget how little they start off and QUICKLY grow up. I am so excited to get to know him and watch Kara and Jonathan come into their own of being great parents! They are doing such a wonderful job and Dalton is one lucky baby. We love you baby Dalton and are so excited you are home safe and sound sleeping in your own bed....

Thank Goodness for Good Friends

Like I said in my last post, we have been taking advantage of these beautiful, non-wintery, days. They continue to continue and we have not let them go to waste! Today we went to the park with Lyla's best friend Eva and her mom Courtney. Lyla and Eva are three months apart in age and light up when they see each other. I am so thankful for this friendship and the fact that Courtney and I get along so well. It is so nice so have someone else in the same stage of life trying to figure out the whole parenting/being a stay-at-home mom thing too! I love her and her sweet baby girl! Eva and Lyla are pretty much as opposite as they can get, but love to be together. I am so thankful to be on this journey with the Colcords!

Soaking up the sun.

Eva the model.

Let's swing, mom.

Look over there!

Here Eva, let me show you....

Slide time.

Going down the slide all by herself.

Courtney and Eva take a turn.

Climbing the stairs

Eating an apple and taking the car keys.

Making new friends. She is so social. She actually wants to try that razor scooter.

Still working on the apple.

We have finally found someone who loves to eat as much as Lyla. And they each would rather eat each other's lunch. Good thing they are such good sharers. 

Come walk with me, mom.

Time for some juice.

15 Months

What a little lady Lyla is becoming. She fills my heart with joy every moment and I CANNOT get enough of her. I mean seriously....no on could have ever prepared me for how this girl would steal my heart. I love her more than words can say and I am so thankful God chose me to be her mommy. What a special privilege it has been thus far. I am so thankful for each and every day with her and she has really made me stop and not take one single moment for granted.

She is really no longer a baby. Makes me sad....for just a second....and then I look at her a realize how much I LOVE the toddler stage. She keeps me moving and laughing all day long. I can not imagine doing anything else.

Seriously, this girl never stops. She is busy from the time she wakes up until the time she lays her head down to go to sleep.
She still sleeps 12-13hrs at night and takes one 2-3hr nap during the day. Depending on our plans it is either before lunch or after lunch.
She loves to organize, taking her treasures from one spot to another. She loves to talk on the phone and skype. She especially loves to give kisses while skyping. She actually just loves to give kisses in general. She will, for the most part give a kiss to anyone.
She talks all the time. Adding on to her vocabulary, her new words are: fish (ish), door, go, car (gar), dog (gog), please (cees). I think she says a lot more, I just cannot understand her yet.
When it is just the two of us, for the most part, she will try to say anything I ask her to. She loves to sing. Especially when we are in the car or she is still in her crib, she will make up songs and sing. I love it! Mostly she sings about dada.
Just yesterday, I asked her where her tummy was. She lifted up her shirt and pointed to it. So I figured I would ask her where other body parts are and she was able to show me where her feet, toes, belly-button, and head were. When I asked her where her eyes where, she opened them really wide and shut them, very dramatically, when I asked her where her mouth was she opened it, when I asked her where her nose was she pointed to my nose.
She loves to wear her hair in pigtails.
She loves to run. And she still loves to be outside. This has been the biggest obsession these last few weeks, and luckily for us the weather has been B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and we have been able to enjoy every second of it. We have lived at the park next to our house and she loves just running around and people watching. She does not like the baby playground. Instead she loves climbing up the stairs to the big slide and slide down with mommy and swing on the big swing with mommy.
So thankful for these beautiful days to enjoying playing outside with my sweet girl!
She can climb up and down stairs (of course still being watched), but she can slide down on her tummy now.
She has 9 teeth now, her two top molars just cut through last week and the bottom two are not far behind.
At her 15mo appointment this week, she checked out perfectly, and we are so thankful for a healthy, growing girl. She weighs 22lbs 5oz and was 31.5inches tall. She is 25-50% for weight and 75-90% for height.
She is learning to share.
I can tell her to go somewhere, ie her room, my room, outside, to the bath, and she goes right where I tell her! It is so amazing to watch how much she understands!

Lyla also wants me to update on Dalton, her new cousin. He was born on Jan 30th, which makes them almost exactly 15mo apart. You can check an in-depth update on him on his mommy's blog at devotionstodalton. He just had his surgery this morning to fix his coarctation and he did beautifully. He is such a blessing and we are loving these answered prayers. Kara and Jonathan are loving getting to know their new son and cannot wait to have him home. This will hopefully happen sooner than later! Please continue to pray for them as a family, for sweet Dalton, that God would heal his body and that he would have no complications from surgery and that he would tolerate his feedings that will start in a few days. That the doctors would continue to see nothing wrong with his brain and that it would be attributed to the great healing power of Christ. Also, pray for Kara that she would remember, though its hard, to take care of herself as well and allow her body to heal. Thank you for all your prayers thus far! Lyla loves her baby Dalton already. Even though she has not met him yet, she loves looking at his picture and pointing to him. He really is a cutie!!