The Best Christmas Present

Well, this will be the best Christmas Jordan & I have ever had. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect baby girl. She is so much more than we ever imagined or dreamed. She is living up to the meaning of her name, "Bright Light"! Laney lights up ours lives everyday. I feel like I never have a bad day, all it takes is a smile from her to make me remember and be thankful for the littlest things in life.

We are so thankful for such a healthy & happy baby girl! Even during those LONG sleepless nights as she is teething, I am just so thankful and feel so very blessed. I can't tell you how many times I just hug & kiss her, and thank the Lord for blessing us with her. Being a parent is not what I imagined, it is SO much better! It has changed me as a person. It has shown me how selfish and boring I was before. I would do anything for my baby and I enjoy taking care of her. I forget what life was like before we had Laney, but boy oh boy does the time fly!

Today we went to Laney's 9 month check up. The doctor gives us a list of what the "average" baby can do at 9 months, and Laney meets all of the criteria. She weighed in at 16 pounds 6 ounces (10-20th percentile) and was 27 1/2 inches long (60th percentile). Laney is wearing 9 and 12 month outfits. She is so skinny, but has a long torso. So the 12 month clothes fit her length wise, but the sleeves always need to be rolled up a little. It also seems like everything is so loose in the belly, because she is so tiny. I talked to the doctor a lot about Laney's size, because she is so tiny. He said she is perfectly healthy, and she is the ideal baby. Just like he likes them! Yah :) Also, she got her 2nd H1N1 shot.. YES!

Since I had the morning off from work for her appointment, we headed to get pictures with Santa. I was sure we would have one of those photos with her screaming, because after all she is pretty much afraid of everyone. She even cried when I handed her to her daddy while we were waiting in line. Well, look at the pictures below. They turned out great, and we got a smile!!

Laney baby,

I fall more in love with you everyday! Daddy and I never knew we could love anything like we love you. You are such an amazing and beautiful little girl, and Daddy and I thank Jesus for you everyday. You sure are a "bright light", and we know God is going to use you for big things when your older. You always know what you want, and you aren't afraid to tell us. You love pulling yourself up these days, and you just LOVE our rotating Christmas tree. You could sit for hours under the tree trying to grab the lights and ornaments. You are getting your first tooth, and you don't like that very much. You have been enjoying snuggling with mommy in bed a lot lately when you wake up from your teeth hurting you. You love to giggle, and you have such a goofy fake laugh. It sounds like you are coughing or something silly. You love to watch your puppies, and you are starting to wave bye bye. Most recently, you sure have become quite the people watcher. Everywhere we go you just stare at everyone trying to get their attention, and once you get their attention you flash a big 'ol smile! Everyone always tells us how beautiful you are, and they always tell us what big bright blue eyes you have. Daddy & I agree, you are the most beautiful baby girl! We love you so much Laney!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Jordan had to work in the evening, but we sure kept busy all weekend long. We actually had 3 Thanksgivings! Jordan & I cooked our first Turkey together and a full Thanksgiving meal! It was DELICIOUS!

Laney tried mashed potatoes and whip cream on Thanksgiving. She wasn't into the mashed potatoes at all, but she LOVED the whip cream! She was shoving it in her face. I don't think she will have any problem destroying her birthday "cupcake".

On Sunday, November 29th Laney cut her first tooth. It was her bottom left tooth. She sure hasn't been sleeping good at night, and we realized why when we felt that tiny little tooth. We still can hardly see it, but we can feel it with our finger.

Enjoy the pictures!!!

Whip Cream!!

Mashed Potatoes

Bananas!

Laney & Mommy Baby Pictures

Can you tell which ones are baby and which ones are mommy???

Thanksgiving

She likes to pull herself up on everything, but she gets "stuck" lol

This picture would be perfect if that was coke, not pepsi. :)

YUMMY... I LOVE whip cream!

Oh my goodness, this is the best thing I have EVER tasted!

Mashed Potatoes... are not so good.

lol gag me!

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving could not have come at a better time this year. After having a few days off and getting spoiled, I was starting to have a hard time working again. I love my job, but of course I love my baby MUCH more! I am just overwhelmed and I wish I could spend every moment with Laney. So, this season I was able to reflect and think about all the things that I am thankful for. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and my vision gets cloudy and I start having pity parties when I think about all the "STUFF" that needs to get done.

Well, Laney is one week away from being 9 months old and she is still toothless! I don't mind at all, because that little toothless grin gets me every time. Actually, Laney has been restless during the night and she is just chowing down on her hands - so she may just be getting her first tooth any day now! I do see one little slit on her gum, but who knows how long it will take for that tooth to pop through!

A few exciting things this month:

1. Laney got her swine flu shot. Thank you Lord! Jordan & I still do not have the vaccination, but we would both like to get it. I was SO worried about this, because being a teacher I am pretty much exposed on a daily basis. Actually, a few of my students have already had it and I have stayed swine flu free - again thank you Jesus! I had been calling around to get a shot for Laney, and I was having such a hard time, because of her age the only place she could get the shot was in a doctors office/hospital. Well, I finally found a clinic and I was very hopeful. I took half of a day off of work, and Jordan & I drove to Gig Harbor arriving there about 1.5 hours before the shots would begin. Well I walked in and there was no one in line. They told me that they did not have any more shots. I was baffled, because they weren't even suppose to be taking names for another 30 minutes. I went to the car... crying, and begged Jordan to go talk to the lady. Jordan was gone for about 15 minutes and I was praying steadfast the entire time, and then he returned to the car only to hand me a piece of paper with the number 56 on it. However, there was only 55 openings. What a wonderful husband!!!! As we waited we talked about how we would be telling Laney this story when she is older, and thinking that we should save some swine flu articles from the newspaper.

2. Christmas Decorations!! We decorated our tree on Veterans Day this year. We decided to copy a few friends, and make that our new tradition since I always have that day off. Then we can actually enjoy our tree for 6 weeks AND we had such a relaxing Thanksgiving Day weekend, because we could just sit back and relax without worrying about decorating and shopping. Laney LOVES the Christmas tree. This year we have a 7.5 ft tree that rotates! We turn it on and Laney just sits beneath it trying to grab each and every ornament and light. Speaking of ornament we went a little crazy this year. We bought Laney 2 ornaments, my mom bought her an ornament, and I made an ornament from her footprint, and one from her handprint. Also, Jordan and I each got our own ornaments!

3. Thanksgiving: Laney celebrated her first Thanksgiving, and even though Daddy had to work in the evening we had a wonderful day. We are actually having a Thanksgiving "weekend" this year. We let Laney try mashed potatoes, and lets just say she didn't like them too much. Then we gave her some whip cream... she couldn't shovel that stuff in fast enough!

September/October

Laney as a giraffe on Halloween, and my cousin Steph carved a giraffe in her pumpkin.

She discovered the tail :)

Matt & Shelsea brought this outfit back from their Hawaiian Honeymoon for Laney

Laney and her Minnie Mouse pumpkin

My pumpkin & Laney's

Crawling around means that mommy needs to baby proof!

Pumpkin Patch with the cousins!

Yep, she loves her books!

The signature Laney face.

Those BIG blue eyes, melt me!

Tummy/side sleeper now.

Her new bath and bath toy.

Laney turned 6 months on September 6th and I was very emotional, because I was heading back to work full time. We decided to get family photos done to remember this special milestone.

September 8th was my first day of school and I survived, but not without tears. The first few weeks were tough! Once I was at work I had so much to do and I was so busy that I hardly had a moment to think about missing Laney. It was just hard to leave in the morning and I remember laying in bed a few nights sobbing and telling Jordan that I can't handle being a mommy and a teacher. I guess being off those 6 months I had forgot what kind of a job teaching really is. You just can't understand unless you have done it, and I forgot how much I take home and that it is not a 9-5 job. I am blessed to have a wonderful staff and team, and one of the girls on my team has a little guy that is about 10 weeks older than Laney and we kept joking about working part time. However, just talking about doing it made me feel better. I am doing fine now, and it just seems like it is our normal routine. I think working a 3 or even 4 day work week would be ideal. I just feel like I can never get caught up with grading, shopping, and cleaning. Being a working mommy has really made the moments I have with Laney SUPER special! I am never frustrated when she isn't sleeping or when she is fussy. The times we are together are so special and we have so much fun together. However, I am having a hard time leaving Laney for anything else. Since I am working full time, I hate to leave her for any other reason.

At the end of the month Laney started scooting just a few inches and she is always full of smiles and giggles. She is now enjoying many fruits and veggies. I have still been making some of her food, but I was having a hard time balancing that so I have been purchasing food lately. Laney has also began sleeping on her side or tummy. This was VERY nerve racking for me, but she just got too big for her sleep positioner. I started finding Laney in a different position every time I went in her room, and she began to play with the sleep positioner. Well, as soon as I took that away she had a hard time putting herself to sleep like she usually does. So, I had a rough two weeks, but she is finally use to it, and she sleeps so much loner now that she can get comfy any way she wants to. Laney also visited the Puyallup fair this month, and we sponsored a little girl in Africa who shares Laney's birthday.

October was a big month for Laney, she is scooting and rocking on her knees. She is ALL OVER the place. It is so fun watching her move around and try to grab every little object that is on the ground. She loves eating her solid foods and her favorites are applesauce and sweet potatoes. She has protested beans, and even puked some up...oops! I guess gets that from her daddy. She is pulling up on things, standing by herself if she is holding onto an object, and she is clapping her hands! It is just too adorable. If you say YAHHHH or if you sing, "If your happy..." she starts clapping right away. I think it is just adorable. Some of the things Laney really enjoys at this age are:

1. She LOVES her books.

2. When mommy reads to her at night Laney pats her book as she is falling asleep. It is just too cute.

3. She loves making LOUD growling sounds. I think she picked these up from our dogs. She is also enjoying screaming as well as whispering. It is too cute to listen to her change not only her volume, but her tone. She has a very soft quite voice, it sounds as if she is talking to a newborn one moment and then it sounds as if she is screaming at a teenager the next!

4. She has really started to get more excited when daddy walks in the room. Every time she sees him her face lights up!

5. She LOVES peek-a-boo. For some reason, she giggles so hard when Grandma plays this with her.

6. She loves her activity center that she can stand around and her favorite part of that is the piano.

7. She loves to JUMP in her jumperoo.

8. She loves finger foods like puffs and mum-mums (rice cakes)

9. She LOVES water. If you give her a cup she will drink from it! It is too cute, she tips her head back and everything. After she fulfills her thirst she begins trying to blow bubbles with her water.

10. She wants to eat and drink EVERYTHING that we are. She enjoys pretending to chew as she is watching mommy and daddy eat at the dinner table.

11. She LOVES snuggling in bed with mommy and daddy. When she wakes up super early I have been bringing her in bed with us, and she falls asleep in my arms almost instantly. I know this is a bad habit, but I cherish these moments and I just love watching her sleep and feeling her warmth next to me.

12. When someone holds her the first thing she does is feel their face.

13. She loves cellphones.