I love you!

Matt and I were saying our usual goodnight to Lyla two nights ago and saying "I love you" about a million times like we always do and out of the blue she said it back! We stopped, looked and one another and both walked right back to her crib and sure enough, she said "I love you" for the first time. Talk about an amazing feeling.

I thought we were busy before.

Matt started school full time at the Northwest Renewable Energy Institute last Monday. They have an amazing program that is a perfect fit for Matt and I haven't seen him this focused and excited about something in awhile. When Matt first signed up for the program they had the option to take night classes. He was going to attend class from 2:30pm - 9:00pm Monday through Friday. My mom was going to watch Lyla for a couple of hours and then I would be home at night for her dinner, bath and bedtime. The perfectly choreographed plan... until Matt went to school the first day and they announced that they would not have night classes anymore. WHAT? Plan foiled. We were 100% committed to Matt still going to school. We quickly started the process to find childcare for Lyla and in our search found the perfect program. A retired couple, both of whom used to teach preschool, now run an in home daycare about five minutes from my work. There are only 8 kids and all the kids are pretty young. We really feel lucky to have found this place and I really feel like Lyla is going to love it. Needless to say, our days are packed right now.

In an instant life can change.

On June 14th my older sister Jennifer was in a motorcycle accident in Ohio that has left her with a traumatic brain injury. She is still in the Intensive Care Unit and has been there for the last two weeks. She was in a medically induce coma for a bit and is now just sedated and slowly moving towards hopefully waking up. This has been a really intense time for our family as one never expects something like this to happen. She is making the tiniest baby steps forward each day and I have learned to celebrate the tiniest of accomplishments. One of the largest things I have taken away from this thus far is to truly appreciate the time you have. Don't wait to do the things you dream of because in an instant everything can change. I will certainly keep you posted as we move forward on this journey but please keep Jennifer in your thoughts.

It's Official!

We are expecting another little darling!!!! I am 12w5d which means I am due December 15th. We couldn't be more excited! We just heard the heartbeat today which is 160. Lyla will have just turned 2 when we have our next little one. I have been feeling pretty good though very tired, but that doesn't surprise me as life hasn't slowed down any. We should know whether we are having a girl or boy towards the end of July. Our little family is growing and it just pleases us to no end.

18 Months!

Hard to believe that our little Miss Lyla Belle is 18 months old. We went to the zoo to celebrate the day. We have taken Lyla to the zoo a few times but this time was by far the best. She walked most of the zoo as she hates to sit in her stroller. She yelled "mama" most of the time and ran around and made animal noises at everything she saw. It was one of her most favorite days of her life thus far I think.

We had Lyla's 18 month well visit this past Monday and all went well. She is 22lbs which puts her in the 20th percentile and 31" which is the 29th percentile. She is just a little bean but FULL of spirit.

She says the following words: up, off, down, more, ball, airplane, go-go, arf, meow, car, home, bug, mama, dada, nana, tractor, wagon, moo, oh no!, all gone, Elmo, smoke, brush, please, fish, bun, no-no, bum, baby, cracker, hi, bye-bye, poo poo, help, back, book, frog. She also know an assortment of animal sounds and can point to her nose, eyes, hair, etc. when asked.

She loves to be chased and squeals with delight. She laughs at the dogs playing. She loves to climb all over things and has no fear. She will stand on the edge of the couch and just jump- thankfully we have been ready to catch her each time. She is very independent. She will just walk off when we are places, very rarely looking back to see if we are following. She loves to watch "Cat in the Hat" and refers to it as "go-go" because they "go-go on an adventure". She finally just tried cake- after much coaxing on our part- still no ice cream though. She holds her hand up and says "no-no". She has one nap a day at this point and only has a pacifier for sleeping (those days are numbered). She likes looking at books, though still doesn't like to sit to read them. She can give kisses which are very wet. When it's bedtime she kisses everything goodnight. Her toys, the dogs, the bunny and she blows kisses to the fish. Sometimes we ask her for a kiss and she says "no". So cute to see her assert herself in the most endearing little ways. It really is amazing how much we have fallen in love with this little person. Just when I think I can't love her anymore than I already do, she somehow opens up a new little piece of my heart.

Milkshakes!

Matt and I started a milkshake business for the summer. It is our project together and it's pretty fun. We are at the Milwaukie Farmers' Market, which takes place on Sundays. My mom watches Lyla and Matt and I joke that it's our new Sunday morning date together. We currently have 11 flavors and have had a really good response from people so far. Through some research I determined that in all of the farmers' markets in Oregon no one is selling milkshakes, thus meaning we have a wide open lane to expand this business in years to come. I also realized that milkshake shops are huge in Europe but haven't really hit the scene here in the US yet. Based on the response we have had so far, I think a little shop might just be in our future. That has me buzzing with excitement, as I think I am secretly meant to work in the world of food. Until then, we will be busy making our shakes every Sunday. It's a super fun date!