Little Miss Lyla: 14.5 months

Wow! Lyla is one fantastic little lady in my opinion. She is a happy little girl who just roams the house playing and exploring at her own leisure. She loves her stuffed animals, in particular Wocket, Huey , Miss Puff and Mr. Moose.
Books are a favorite but only to speed through- it's like she is being timed or something- very endearing- one day Biscuits trip to the pumpkin patch will slow down.

She is fascinated with a book shelf that we have and all of the items on it. She spends plenty of time in front of it pointing and jabbering wildly until she is picked up and then she selects the item with great determination- she has her eye on a specific item- usually our fish Holiday, but sometimes he loses out to the volume knob on the stereo.

Charlie and Alice (our dogs) are favorites for sure. She pats them quite a bit throughout the day and can often be found smiling and waving at them as well.

Lyla jabbers most of the day and she loves yelling because she's excited. She is understanding more and more of what we say. We can't say the word bath or she heads straight to the bathroom and if we say bedtime she walks to her room. We are quickly learning that she is listening. Matt said the word "vacuum" today and she walked to the closet where it's stored and staring banging on the door.

It really has been so special to watch her grow into her own person.





This was a completely random picture but has actually turned into one of my favorite family pictures thus far.

Christmas

This year we went to visit Matt's sister Stacey and her family, Darryl, Amelia, Hayden and Lucas. Matt's parents also came over to Stacey's house as well. It was really fun to watch Lyla play with her cousins and try to figure out Christmas. She was curious about the tree but learned to touch it with one finger which was cute to watch. She was so proud of herself. She also figured out how to pull paper off of presents. We tried to get her only a few things this year as she just had a birthday. It is really interesting having a little person and trying to figure out how to show Christmas to them, how to explain presents, family traditions we want to start, Santa and all that good stuff. I have really started to think about how we can make the holiday special for our family in years to come.

The Zoo!

All I have wanted to do since Lyla was to born is take her to the zoo. I knew that if she was too young it really would have been just for me- not her. My brother and sister-in-law were visiting for Thanksgiving and we ended up going to the zoo which made me so happy. Lyla really seemed to like the animals. I do think that she thought most animals were dogs but none the less it was fun.



Lyla and Billy Goat Gruff!

Lyla turns one!

Our little Lyla just turned one. So very exciting, yet still surprised that we have a one year old. We had her birthday party on November 27th and it was a lot of fun. She really seemed to enjoy the day.





The theme of Lyla's party was bunnies. So naturally we had a bunny arrive for the party for a few minutes to wish her a happy day. Ahhh, the perks of my job... just so happens that we have bunny costumes lurking around.

Lyla was not a fan of cake. She didn't like it on her hands or even the taste of it. I guess that's a good thing- she certainly doesn't get that from me.

Happy Halloween Little Lamb

Pumpkin Patch

We were lucky to have a beautiful afternoon this year to take Lyla to the pumpkin patch. We have been going to the same place for the last two years. It was fun to finally have a little person to bring with us. She loved all of the animals, and there were plenty... puppies, rabbits, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, goats. Unfortunatly this place has the best donuts ever. Impossible to resist. This place is always a good time for our family.

A Hidden Gem

After we went to the aquarium we drove into Newport and to the harbor. I love seeing all of the boats. Plus it was just one of those cute, yet working fishing ports that has all things to be perfect.