Memorial Day weekend

Every Memorial Day weekend there is a race here in Bellingham called Ski to Sea. It's a relay race with about seven legs involving eight team members starting with a cross country ski at Mount Baker and ending in Bellingham Bay with a 5 mile sea kayak leg. Jonas participated this year with some else's work team - his job was the final sea kayak leg. As his loving support system, Lilah and I headed down to the water's edge (despite the rain and cold) to cheer him on. We had a brief period of sun earlier in the day so I took a picture for Jonas pre-race for motivation. He did well during his part of the race... I'll see if I can find a picture of Jonas.


Lilah LOVES her new sunglasses. There were a gift from our dear friend Bernie and now requests to wear them all the time. Quite the princess really. Anytime we go anywhere it is light out, even if it's just leaving her room post-nap, she says, "Bright! Bright!" and covers her eyes. Then she says, "glass? glass?" So funny.

Baby Loves Bacon

I don't even want to look at the last date I posted something. The longer time has passed, the more discouraged I get about posting again, because there really is a lot to cover and I don't know where to begin. Let's see if I can just do the now stuff.

We went out to breakfast this morning. It was a late morning for all of us - Lilah's not been waking up until about nine the last ten days or so (and not till ten both days last weekend!). She had already had nearly a full thing of milk while Jonas and I were getting ready, so I didn't feed her before we left. We were only going 15 minutes down the road, and we were going to eat anyway. So, as we were driving down the road, Lilah is playing and talking, and then she goes, "snack? snack? please? cookie?" It was pretty cute. She ate a great breakfast out though - it was the first time we have ordered her a meal for breakfast instead of just bringing something or sharing our own. Lilah loves bacon.

She is talking more and more. The list from the last time has easily doubled. She loves to tell the cats and her friend Nick, NO NO! All day I hear, NO NO BESS! She is still pretty darn good and listens fairly well. She is on a do-it-herself kick for a lot of things. We were working on a puzzle book today and every time I even lifted my hand to help her with a piece she would tell me NO NO. She really doesn't say it that often, but it sure does sound like it by what I've written.

Lilah has no idea that she is going to be a big sister in a few months, although we have told her many times. When I ask her where the baby is, she'll point to my tummy, and then point to her own. It's pretty sweet. She is still crazy for babies though. We have seen a few in the last few weeks when visiting friends that have newborns. She is very loving and kissy with them, even when I am holding them. Although that's when she really likes to snuggle with me. It concerns her a great deal when they cry, she doesn't know what going on. In the last few days she has started to mimic the crying or fussing when she hears it. Maybe it helps her cope? Pretty funny girl.

We have done a ton of work outside in the last few weeks, trying to make our yard more presentable. It is a landscaping disaster, as NOTHING was done prior to us moving in. The land is terribly rocky and totally not leveled out. There are major bumps and valleys all over. It makes it very hard for Jonas to mow. We have bought several more trees for our open field of a yard in the last few weeks, and have made a nice little flower bed in front of the front porch and along the garage sidewalk. It is really looking great. The trees are planted and looking great too. Lilah LOVES working with Jonas outside. She loves to dig in the dirt, pick flowers, and follow Jonas everywhere. She helps water the plants and carry the pots. She is a very helpful child. She's not a fan of bees, and flipped out when one was checking her out the other day. I think it was her first encounter with an actual bee. I think she says bee to mean bug, but she calls everything that could possibly be a bug a bee. Dirt on the ground, slugs, fuzz in the bathtub, you name it. And she won't come near it. Kinda nice really, which is why I can't understand why she handed me a squished and dead spider the other day. I nearly vomited.

Blabber mouth

I was really hoping my last post was at least a February one so I wouldn't feel so guilty, but in fact it wasn't, and now it's halfway through March. Geez. So, to keep up, I have Lilah's calendar in front of me to do the update. So much has happened - she is one busy girl!
Lilah's vocabulary has exploded over the last several weeks. We have started a running list of new words. New words she says on her own, and not just in repeating, because she'll repeat just about anything. I'll see what I can do from memory, as the list is downstairs.

banana
book
thank you
please
milk
juice
water
fish
breakfast
mouth
nose
hair
hat
eye
hello
bye bye
go
night-night
let's go
cookie
baby
up
down
snow
toes
shoes
push
excuse me
whoa
uh-oh
yes
no
bath
wash

That is most of them at least. Now not all of them are understandable, especially out of context, but she's at least trying them on for size. So cute, until she gets mad at me for not understanding.
We made another trip home at the end of February for two weeks. It was great to see everyone again and to spend some non-holiday time just hanging out and visiting. Lilah LOVED seeing her Nana and Papa, and even got a special visit from Mimi and Papa during the last week. She is so lucky to have such awesome and loving grandparents that she loves so much. She loves looking at their pictures, which we do on a regular basis, and now points to them and calls their names. Really cute. And at night she gives them kisses before bed.
Just today she was able to use a spoon for the first time without spilling the food off of it. She uses a spoon a lot and brings it to her mouth but she always tips it and pours whatever right off. Today, she adjusted her hand as it was in motion to her mouth and didn't let the applesauce spill! I was so proud. What a big girl she's becoming!
One of my favorite things we discovered while we were at mom and dad's was Lilah shouting "Hello!" every time the phone rang. It was particularly funny because we don't own a house phone, and my cell phone doesn't have a normal ring, but she's figured it out. Every time it rang, she would drop what she was doing and run over to the phone, "hello! hello!"
Since we've been back she's been a crazy girl, eating constantly, loving being chased, and doing crazy dancing as often as she can. What fun and tiring days we have!

Silly dancing part one - she did this ALL day




Part II- Still dancing two days later

Big girl!

These are for you, Momma.

Friends

I am so incredibly tired tonight after a crazy busy day at work, so I am just going to try to run through the things in my head while I am thinking of them.
Lilah has changed so much in just the last two weeks. She has become so much fun and understands so much more than she used to. She has started to laugh a lot now, and even to a lot of things she does herself. She has just started to make funny faces too, which is a little strange. I don't know where she picked it up, because we are never around older kids that make weird faces. She loves to pull her lower eyelids down and roll her eyes up into her head. So creepy, but she gets a kick out of it. Maybe it's because she's just discovered her eyes this week. She pokes and says, "eye!".
She also learned to say her best friends' names this week. She just says the first part of both, but Nick is "Ni" and Asher is "Ash". And it really sounds like Ash, not ass. Pretty smart.
She is still crazy about her books and we bought her a little bookshelf and chair of her own for the den. It's really cute to see her climb up in her chair with a good book.
She's been eating non-stop the last week. Maybe she's going through a spurt, but she eats a ton and is still sleeping pretty well. She has three molars in and the fourth is just breaking through. She loves giving kisses and hugs and even said, "love you" the other day after I told her I loved her!!! Isn't that so sweet? She is starting to repeat a lot of things you say, including pretty complicated words like pretzel and tickle.
Of course, as I say she's a good sleeper, I hear her crying right now down the hall. Gotta go - I hope we get some sleep tonight, because it's back to work again in the morning!

More Pictures

Look how far we've come in a year!

A cute picture with Daddy on early October in Colorado

Another Colorado picture. Just before her first bit of birthday cake.

Lots of Updates

Christmas morning at Mimi and Papa's house.


Lilah and her boyfriend Nick. (Don't tell Ben).


Okay, I know I've been SO bad about writing, so I'll see about doing my best to fill in all the details. Lilah and I headed to NC on Dec 7 as the start of our Christmas vacation. It was really great to be home way before the holiday to have some nice relaxed time before it got crazy. We drove down to Greenville, SC during that first week for an overnight with a very good friend. It was great to catch up. We got to see a lot of friends on that trip that we hadn't seen in a very long while. Lilah enjoyed playing with other kids too.
Lilah is walking all over now, rarely falling down unless she trips. She has improved an incredible amount in the last few weeks. She LOVED seeing the Christmas lights and would go from room to room saying "WHOA" and pointing to all the pretty things. She was so great about not touching the trees or opening cabinets in not-so-baby proofed places. I was very happy. She loved spending time with Nana and Papa and the Teffetellers (my older sister and her family). She learned so many new words and sounds in just the first two weeks! She can now tell you what a cow, dog, and sheep say.
After about our first ten days there, Valdese got hit with a HUGE snowfall. TEN INCHES! I was worried it was going to interfere with getting Jonas to us the next day, but he was able to make it safely. Katie brought Jonas home from the airport, and John and Marie-France came in with Guillaume the day before. It was great to have the whole family together! Guillaume is just ten weeks older than Lilah, so they had a lot of fun together. He is such a sweet boy! He was always giving Lilah hugs, and patting her if she was crying, or picking up toys and food for her if she dropped them and giving them back. So sweet. He also was talking a lot, so he taught Lilah a thing or two. My favorite was when his parents would put him in bed, he would call out from his room for someone to help. He would start with "MOMMA!", then "DADA!", then branch out to "NANA!", and "LILAH!". So funny. She really enjoyed spending time with her cousins! Max, Ben, and Matteson were over to play often too, and they were a huge help in entertaining the babies. Lilah still has a thing for Ben, and he does for her too. At one point, he told Michelle that he has a crush on Lilah. A few days later while we were playing at their house, he said, "That's it, we're married!" So sweet.
On Christmas Eve, we headed to Atlanta to Jonas' parent's house. We got in late, so we put Lilah down as soon as we got there. When we woke up on Christmas morning, she got to Mimi and all the great Christmas decorations. She again was fascinated by the tree, and it took her a few minutes to notice Santa had left her a little baby doll! She was so excited, and was doing a little stomping dance while Mimi opened the package. We had a nice relaxing day. Jonas' sister and family came over in the afternoon and Lilah got to play with more cousins!
The day after Christmas we drove up to the Carmel Retreat Center for the week with all of Jonas' family on his dad's side. It was great to catch up with everyone again - neat to see what all has changed in the last year. It was tiring though - many open long staircases and lots of tiny pieces to older kid toys to worry about. Although we had had a TON of fun over the previous weeks, it was nice to come home to a totally kid-friendly house on Jan 3. Lilah and I had been gone almost a month!
Since then, we have been getting back into our normal routine. Meeting up with Lilah's play buddies and fridge-stocking trips to the grocery store. One awesome thing since we've been back - Lilah's been going to bed between six and six-thirty each night and sleeping till seven-thirty or as late as nine! Our first night back she slept 15 hours and 20 minutes. Dang. Granted she was sick and probably exhausted from our trip, but dang.
I'll try to post a few pictures from the last few weeks, but this hardly represents the number of pictures I have to share. I'll get on it soon though, better to space them out than bombard you all at once...