Aunt Lynsey, Henry and Jeb brought over a fun playground (slide on one side, steps on the other with a tunnel in the middle) that the boys have outgrown. Leola loves climbing the steps and even crawling up the slide (with me as a hovering spotter, of course). But, we have the most fun playing peek a boo thru the tunnel. The first two pictures were taken right before bedtime.
Here are some recent pictures of our little crawler/walker. Leola now walks with the assistance of the wall, furniture or play table.
Posing with Mr. Pink Bear, given to her by Chrissy and Rob when only several weeks old.
Several weeks old... what a difference!
Outakes...
Mmmm... smells good?
One of Leola's favorite things to do. Although we chew on books more than we look at them, we are now learning to turn the pages and look at the pictures. Among our favorites: Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can you? and Brown Bear Brown Bear, what do you see?
On Mothers Day in mummy's rose garden (just wanted to sound British. Not to mention the fact that I'm so pale I LOOK British.)
Aunt Lynsey, Henry and Jeb delivered a very fun play station to our house last week. Leola had a great time looking it over with the assistance of attentive cousins Henry and Jeb. At one point, Henry scooped up Leola (before either Lynsey or I could protest). But, we need not be worried for he was more than competent at taking care of his younger cousin.
When I put Leola down for her nap one recent afternoon, I thought about removing her little hoody sweatshirt but wound up leaving it on (just thinking she might get chilly with our air conditioner on and all...) When I went into her room to retrieve her after her nap, this is what I found.
Watching daddy doing yard work. She watched him for 10 minutes or more and would periodically pat on the window to get his attention. Later on when he was mowing the lawn I turned her high chair around so she could see him. Um.. daddy's girl?!
I have been advised by an alert reader (as Dave Barry would say) that the link to Julie's website (Keeping Mom's Safe) was not working. My mistake- I had left out a letter. It is corrected on that post but here it is again:
Through the wonders of the almighty Facebook (read sarcasm, please), I have reconnected with many long-lost friends. It actually has been a marvelous thing. One of the friends I have reconnected with is Julie, a friend from Miami (also a friend of Beth's). I mention her because I want to share her website with you and encourage you to pass it along to moms you know.
Julie's introduction on the site states: "I am the mother of 2 who was abducted from my daughter's church preschool and brutally raped multiple times in October 2002. This event occured in a safe neighborhood in the middle of the day..." Her attacker approached her from behind as she was putting her toddler and infant into her mini-van and he made her drive him to another location. She was not his first victim- he preyed on women with young children, knowing they are vulnerable.
You may be thinking, "yes, but that's Miami." It can happen anywhere. It happened at the church I attended and in a safe neighborhood. When I heard about it on the news that day I couldn't believe something like that happened at my church and especially in the middle of the day. And when I heard it was Julie I was devastated. Here is her website:
Be safe!
I don't want to brag or anything but I started running 6 weeks after my c-section. Slowly - and not far. That lasted about 3 weeks. Then I had those annoying moles removed, which left me looking (and feeling) like the Bride of Frankenstein and derailed me for several weeks. And then winter arrived. And motivation departed.
So, fast forward to yesterday when I went for a "run" with my jog stroller containing one Leola (which roughly equals 24 lbs). Running- or walking- in Miami or Houston- on flat surface- would not be so bad. For those who haven't been to our house, we have an extremely steep hill at the end of our street- the only way in or out. But I can't blame my performance entirely on the hill.... I had barely left our driveway (and hadn't even passed our house) when my 36 year old right knee popped and I was left limping in pain. Thankfully, I was able to mostly walk it off before reaching the end of the street.
When I reached the bottom of the hill I, against my better judgment, started to run. Both knees immediately started hurting. I noticed the time as I passed the bank: 5:15. I kept going, determined that the pain would again go away. After all, I'm a runner! I used to run 5+ miles a day! I've run multiple races, half-marathons and marathons! So, I kept going. Finally, what seemed like miles later, my knees began to scream for mercy and so I finally stopped to walk. I looked at my watch: 5:16. I am not lying. I actually ran for 1 entire minute.
I still had a good little power walk- and still had to make it back up the hill (I am sore today, by the way) so it wasn't a waste of effort. It just reminds me of the days when I first started running (lets just say a decade or so ago) and never took a mile for granted. Back then I was so proud of every step. That's the way it is now. I marathoned for 6 years and had a year of Jubilee. Its time to get back to not only doing what I love but being proud of every step. Its funny, but part of my identity in Miami was in running. I had made good friends through running and even my non- running friends supported me. Its weird that I am so far from that now. But, so great that the old thrill of accomplishment is returning. I've always said that I want to be running marathons when I'm 80 years old... of course, it may take me until I'm 79 to really began training!
Leola officially started crawling while we were in North Carolina (trying to keep up with cousins, I think!) and is now an expert. She is also pulling up on everything. She loves playing in her crib in the morning and after she wakes up from a nap. She has discovered that we sometimes set her pacifier on the side of her crib and so she now reaches up to get it - even in the dark. The other day when I went into her room to get her up from a nap she was sitting in her crib, pacie in the mouth with only a diaper and shirt on. Her pants were in a heap next to her. Hmmm. I suspect she crawled right out of them.
One of her new favorite places...
Standing at her music table...
Conversation with Leola's 6 year old cousin, Henry:
Henry: I think Leola is going to be Homecoming Queen some day.
Me: Is it because you think she's friendly and will have a lot of friends?
Henry: Yes, but also... (pauses and then continues a little bashfully) ...I can tell that she's going to be pretty. I can just already tell.
What a sweet cousin!
Since I've already composed this post and have lost everything I've done TWICE, this will be a no-frills attempt. I took my first road trip alone with Leola several weeks ago (has it been that long already?) to visit my family in North Carolina. First stop was to see Paul, Jodi, Charlie & Knox (& Billy the dog).
We then drove on to see Beth, Maurice & their 4 kids along with my parents. Leola did great in the car, by the way and we made good time- despite typical (& annoying) traffic delays... accidents on the OTHER SIDE of the highway which caused obnoxious rubber necking on our side, etc. However, we are thankful that the Lord delivered us safely to our destination.
These last two pics were taken on the way home when we stopped to see Paul's family again.
I am finally getting Leola's room decorated. Here she is playing on her bedroom floor...
After a bath... I was trying to get a shot of her new top teeth.
Still trying to get a good picture of those teeth! This time after a nap...
Playing with daddy. She's getting better at combat crawling but hasn't gotten up on her hands and knees yet. She will and then right back onto her tummy she goes!
While doing the dishes the other day I spotted something green right outside the kitchen window - on the very brown Japanese Maple- and thought "Spring!" Well, it was just a frog looking wistfully into the window and probably also wishing spring would hurry up and be here!
Leola is a week shy of 8 months old. She was 18 lbs at her 6 month appointment so I'm guessing she is 20 lbs by now and probably in the 95%. (according to the chart I'm using). She's not crawling yet (yay!) but has started pulling herself forward using her arms (and dragging her legs- combat style). Other than that, she rolls until she gets to her destination. I can't leave things on the floor anymore (in her general area). Time to babyproof the house!
You can't tell, but it's snowing! It actually snowed pretty heavily a couple of weeks ago but didn't stick. I was hoping the gigantic snowflakes would show up in the picture.
The picture below was taken after church 2 Sundays ago. She is sitting on our "tree"... the much anticipated architectural (and structural) feature in our family room. The picture below it shows the entire tree (and the messy room behind it - we are still working on putting things on the wall and so have pictures lying around waiting for a home).
We, of course, chew on everything we can get our hands on. She now has 2 top front teeth to match her 2 bottom teeth.
Leola loves to clap. When you play the "how big is Leola" game she raises one arm in the air and then claps. Well, she was doing that anyway. Now she just claps. Below is her favorite book. She LOVES this book and will squeel in anticipation as soon as you pull it out. Of course, even favorite books don't escape the gums of a teething baby!
