Lilah sings the "ABC's"

This is Lilah's first ever attempt at singing her ABC's.  Luckily the camera was close to catch such an epic moment.  

 

Pushing through the Writer's Block

I sit here staring at a blank screen, thinking that I have a MILLION things I could write about, but not quite remembering what I should say about each thing.  So in an attempt to get me back on track with blogging, I am going to sit and write for awhile, part catch up, part therapy.

Part of my problem is that I don't have much left in me at the end of each day due to the fact that I am smack dab in the middle of another round of Body Back.  I felt I needed the kick to get me back to the fitness level I had before Christmas and before all the sickness wiped me out.  So I am back to trying to stick to a healthy diet plan and two workouts a day.  It is going well so far I guess, 7 pounds down and feeling much stronger already. But man does it wear me out and leave me constantly judging all my actions - does this fit the BB plan???  If I am asking that question it usually means it doesn't.  And I have been asking myself that a lot lately.

As usual Lilah rules my life, as I seem to follow her ups and downs.  Today was a rough one, with lots of fits and raised voices and tears on both our parts.   She is so darn strong headed, boy are we in trouble.  But I have to keep reminding myself to just get through the day because tomorrow will be completely different.  And I am SOOOO incredibly proud of her and amazed on a daily basis.  Her vocabulary is huge at this point.  I would guess at least 50 words, mainly because we read so much everyday that she has most of her books memorized at this point and can "read" them to me.  The hard part right now is that she is trying so hard to say so many words, and sometimes I just don't get it and she gets so frustrated.   But the latest development, as my heart swells with pride, she is counting!  I expected words at 18 months, maybe not so many, but words.  But the girl can count with me up to 10 and knows what most of the numbers are when I quiz her on them.

We had Shannon's parents in town two weekends ago.  They got Lilah and we got to go out on an overnight for our 6th anniversary.  We stayed at the Tapitio Cliffs Hilton and had a wonderful day/evening.  I went for a nice run to start out the day because I knew the next day was going to be shot.  We left the house around 11 and headed to the 9 hole golf course near us.  It had been two years (I was pregnant with Lilah) since I had been golfing and I didn't do too bad.  Then we headed up to the resort and lounged by the pool with beers for several hours followed by champagne and strawberries, followed by an amazing dinner at the Point of View restaurant.  Only negative was that the wind was blowing too hard and we weren't able to sit out on the patio.   It was just what we needed and I am ready to do it again, anybody up for babysitting?

That felt good to get all that off my chest and hopefully that will help me avoid the toffee almonds that were calling my name.  Off to do my second workout of the day and looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

Easter 2011

We had a quiet but very nice Easter weekend this year.  We started the weekend off with an Easter Egg hunt and a visit from the Easter Bunny at Stroller Strides on Friday.  Lilah was really fascinated by the very large bunny and did pretty good on his lap.  She wasn't quite sure what the egg hunt was all about though.  By the time she decided she was actually going to go pick up an egg, a little boy swooped in grabbed it.  His mom was nice and made him give it back to her.  Then she got a couple more after and of course enjoyed the snacks inside. The first pictures are proof I did her hair!  She left it in for 40 minutes until she discovered it but it was half out before we got in the car.

Saturday was a nice day at home.  During the afternoon we had a visitor.  We babysat Lilah's friend Madeleine while her parents got a nice day out.  The girls did so good together and had fun.  Shannon decided that the girls needed to help him dye Easter Eggs.  There was 8 eggs dyed in total and several fingers, a couple of legs, some hair, and the patio.

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house for Lilah on Sunday morning.  He brought her some new books and a couple little toys.  He also hid several eggs filled with Bunny crackers, cheese puffs, and yogurt covered pretzels.  By this time she had mastered the egg hunt, and for those who really want some Lilah time, I will post the entire hunt via video.

My Bountiful Basket

Today was a good, busy, long day and I am exhausted.  But I thought I could muster up a few minutes of typing to share with you one of the best parts of my day.  Today I picked up my first Bountiful Basket and I am hooked already. I have to send out a huge thanks to my body back teammate Wendy for sharing the information with me.

A quick "about them" paragraph.  Bountiful baskets is a fruit and veggie food co-op that is non profit and volunteer run.  Every other week they offer a basket full of half fruits, half veggies for $15.  Plus there are extra options including bread, cookies, and specialty baskets like the Italian basket I got this week.  Here is the website link http://www8.bountifulbaskets.org/.

This morning, after a wonderful early morning 4 mile run with my momma friends, I had to hurry to pick up my basket in the alloted window of time.   I was a little shocked by the weight of everything as I lugged it to the car.  And unloading it all at home with like unloading the Easter Basket a day early.  As I said before I not only got the weekly offer but the Italian basket too.  This was the take this morning - all for $22.50.

12 apples

2 bananas

1 lb strawberries

2 grapefruit

1 pineapple

1 honeydew

3 onions

4 zucchini

1 eggplant

4 broccoli heads

2 parsnips

11 yams

1 package mushrooms

1 bag spinach

1 bunch asparagus

Bunches of basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley 

I had fun writing my meals/shopping list for the next week.  The only produce I will have to pick up are some blueberries and tomatoes.  Otherwise we are set!  

Spring 2011

I know that is broad title for a blog post, but I am very behind in posting pictures and talking about the events over the past couple of months, so I figured why not get it all out in one long post.  So, fair warning, this blog will be long and filled with lots of fun pictures of a gorgeous little girl that I am very partial to.  We start with a naked butt :)  Sure to catch some attention...

Nothing better than being outside with no pants on

Just a cute picture

The first week in March, Lilah and I piled in the car at the awful hour of 4 AM and made the 10 hour trek to Visalia to stay with Shannon't family.  The fact that it was my niece Peyton's first birthday was the overall reason for the trip.  Lilah is a trooper in the car.  I couldn't ask for a better traveling partner.  The week started off great.  Lilah had SOOOO much fun with her cousins.  They are all going to be such good friends.   The birthday party was good.  And then we ended the week with sickness.  Yes....more sickness.  But it didn't stop Lilah from hanging out (and ultimately sharing her sickness with everyone).  When Lilah was starting to feel a little better and I was just starting to feel like I was coming down with it we made the long drive home.  Lilah was trooper, but driving that far that long when you don't feel good was terrible.  

The girls playing

My adorable niece Peyton

My adorable daughter 

Lilah liked Peyton's birthday present

The present opening crew

Yum - that frosting is good

Ok, that just looks disgusting

DONE!

Hiding out in the quiet house

So this is why Duke put up with Lilah all week

When we got home it took me almost two weeks to recover from the nasty bug we caught in CA.  But in time, with some antibiotics for a sinus infection, things seem to be back to normal for us.  Lilah decided it was time to only nap once a day, so she takes one afternoon nap now.  She also weaned herself off her bottle completely.  She was down to just one in the morning and she stopped asking for it, so I stopped offering it to her.  She can be so easy some times.  The most exciting part of the last month is that she has started talking like crazy.  Her vocabulary is huge right now and she just wants to read books ALL the time.  She loves pointing out all the things she knows and her pronunciation is getting better and better daily.

It was a real treat to have my parents come out for a week at the end of  March.  They got to witness the changes that Lilah has made since Christmas.  She is changing so much I know that they wish they got to see her more.  But it was so great to have them here and Lilah loved having them too, she always had somebody paying attention to her.  For my Dad's birthday I got tickets to go see a Spring Training game - it was the last game for the Mariners and the Rockies.

Enjoying the game

We also spent a day at the Wildlife World Zoo.  Lilah was using some of that vocabulary to name animals and learned how to talk like a monkey.  She and Gramps had a great time together looking at all the animals. She got most excited in the aquarium and was running around, crazy, excitedly pointing out all the fish and critters.  It was a fun day.  

Checking each other out

Watching the birds, monkeys, and fish with Gramps

The baby monkey was one of my favorites

Another cute picture

Parrots

Oh, I see him!

Not sure what to think about touching anything in the touch pools.

The week went quickly, as I knew it would.  We spent a few hours out at the Scottsdale Fashion Square doing some dress reconnaissance for Megan's wedding.    We took Gram and Gramps to swim lessons to watch.  We had great meals and sat out on the patio every night to eat.  It was nice and HOT for the snow and rain weary.  We finished the trip with a breakfast at The Buttes resort in Phoenix with my Uncle Bunie and cousins Neal and Kiana.  It was great to see them all.

Daddy took this picture last week.  This is the position that you will find Lilah and I in most of the day.  Reading, reading, reading.

I had the hose on our poor citrus trees one evening and Lilah has stepped outside for a few minutes.  I watched from the kitchen window as she gingerly picked up the hose and checked it out.  Then started playing with it a bit more, and got more and more wet.  Time to start playing in the water outside.

Am I in trouble?

Hey, this is pretty fun to drink from

So from the Friday my parents were here to this past Saturday the temperature in Phoenix changed 50 degrees!  We still made it to the park even though rain was threatening.

She is enjoying herself, I promise

Watch me go

That was AWESOME!

Just another cute picture

Time for a snack after all that playing, and time to get home, the sky is dark

After her fun with the hose, we couldn't resist this table from Costco last weekend.  It is supposed to hold water in half and sand in the other.  I was envisioning lots of mud, so we opted for water only.  But she seemed to LOVE it!

If you made it to this point, you must really care or be super bored and have nothing else to do.  But I am finally done!  I will try to keep blogs coming more frequently now that we are not sick anymore and getting out of the funk I was in.  Because we are NEVER getting sick again - ha ha ha!