Belly Laugh

Do you ever laugh so hard you cry? I do. I love laughing like that. It doesn't happen as often as it should. A good, old, belly laugh. Every once in a while, I get Layla to belly laugh. Today I just managed to catch the tail-end of the belly laughing episode on camera.

So Big!

Layla learned where your nose is and she'll point to it if you ask her, "Where's my nose?" For some reason, she can't figure out how to point to her own nose when I tell her to. We're still working on that one.

She also learned to raise both her arms really high in the air when you say, "So big!" Sometimes I'll look over at her and she'll randomly have both her arms raised, waiting for me to say, "So big!" at which point she gets a huge grin on her face.

And here's a random pic of me, my Grandma Miles, and Layla. We went to visit my grandma a few weeks ago and we snapped this pic. I just love how Layla is waving to the camera. She's such a little cheeseball.

Skiing vs Snowboarding

I'm curious, which is easier and more fun, skiing or snowboarding? Let me know what you think.

I've only been snowboarding three times and it's been over eight years since I've gone. I really liked it. I wouldn't say I was awesome at it, but I didn't suck either. (Unless you count not being able to get off the lift without falling as sucking.) But other than the lift thing, I'd say I was pretty average.

Mitch took me skiing for my first time last weekend. He said I'm the best learner he's ever seen. Maybe he meant it. Or maybe he just knew that I never learned to get off the lift without falling on the snowboard and imagined me doing the same thing on skis. (It's definitely easier to get off the lift on skis compared to a snowboard!) Either way, I think I picked it up pretty quick. At first I didn't like it and wished I had decided to snowboard instead. But by the end I was really enjoying myself.

So, we decided to take up a new sport next winter: skiing. Well, for Mitch it will be skiing. Me? I'm undecided. Skiing or snowboarding? Which do you think is better and why?

As a side note, our ski day was supposed to be pretty cheap; we had free passes, free babysitter (thanks, Mom!), we packed our own lunch, and we rented skis from the cheapest place in town. Unfortunately, we got a speeding ticket on our way up the mountain. We weren't speeding. Pretty sure it's impossible to do 70 up a hill in my Saturn, especially with skis in the ski rack. The fun-hater cop busted us for the full amount, 70 in a 55. Lame! Oh well, we still managed to have a super fun day. Thanks for teaching me to ski, Mitch!

Teeth

For the past two weeks, Layla has either been sick or teething. She's cut three new teeth on top (the middle two and one on the side) and I'm pretty sure a fourth is coming. She had a fever of 102 off and on for a few days. I thought maybe it was from teething, but she just wasn't herself at all, so on the third day I took her to the pediatrician. He said she has double ear infections and a mild case of the flu. We got an antibiotic and the next day her fever was gone. The day after that, she broke out in a rash all over her tummy, back, face, and neck. I took her back to the pediatrician, only to be told that she never had ear infections, but has Roseola instead.

Roseola is a baby version of the measles. You can read about it here. It's contagious among children, especially at Layla's age, but it's only contagious before the kid shows symptoms. Nice, huh? We stopped the antibiotics immediately, her fevers are gone, and the rash is clearing up. I suspect it will be gone tomorrow.

Poor Layla. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I think she's on the mend though. She started waving at people again so that's a good sign. And she's super cute with her new teeth.

I did have a slight freak out moment (or two) when I realized her teeth are gapped. But here's the thing, I had really messed up teeth as a kid. Super crooked and my jaw was totally off. I had braces for five years and had some very painful things done. I still have jaw problems today and will for the rest of my life. This is why I want our kids to have straight teeth. Straight teeth = no problems.

I looked up gapped teeth online. Turns out, most kids have gapped baby teeth. Sigh of relief! Most times the gaps close when they get more baby teeth or when they get permanent teeth. If not, she'll have braces, but hopefully not for as long as I did.

I guess we'll see how they turn out. For now I'll relax a little and enjoy her cute, goofy, gapped smile. I'll post a pic of it as soon as I'm fast enough with the camera to get one!

30

Mitch turned the big 3-0 last weekend! He wasn't very happy about it. I keep telling him that 30 is the new 20 ...

I planned a day full of surprises: I made him waffles in the morning complete with a candle and all.

I blindfolded him and drove him to Speedstreet Raceway, where our families were waiting and we raced go karts. It was awesome and the Birthday Boy won the race!

Layla got to hang out with GG Ruth and Grandma Bott while we raced. She had fun.

There was one part of the day that I didn't plan ... Layla was teething and not feeling like her normal, spunky self. She cut her third top tooth.

Later that night we went to Firehouse Pizza and surprised Mitch by having his friends there. He was so happy about it. We had a great time, even Layla because she got to see Oakley. (I brought my camera and forgot to snap a pic.)

Thanks everyone for helping me surprise Mitch. We loved hanging out with all of you!

Happy 30th Mitch! Thanks for being the best husband to me and for being the best dad to our daughter. I love you!

11 Months

I can't believe that in less than 4 weeks our little princess will be one year old! At 11 months she cut her top two teeth; the second one is almost all the way in and I think the pain is subsiding. I wouldn't say she's miserable, but you can definitely tell it hurts her. She's always got her fingers in her mouth, chomping away. I'd say this picture perfectly defines Layla at 11 months- teething. Poor baby.

I've bought her several teething rings, but she won't chew on them for some reason ... she does like teething biscuits though (but they're really messy!).

She loves chasing Harvey. I always know when she's chasing him because I can hear her giggling and crawling really fast. It's so funny. In this picture she's about to crawl right off the couch after Harvey! Good thing Super Mommy was there to save her.

And in this picture she's leaving Harvey to come attack Mommy! She looks so determined, I love it.

Every day I have to set up the baby gate to block off the kitchen, one, because it also blocks off the stairs, and two, because Layla loves splashing in Harvey's water bowl and eating his cat food. When I'm in the kitchen and Layla's trapped outside, she will pull up on the gate and watch whatever I'm doing. It cracks me up ... she looks like a little gerbil stuck in her cage. Sometimes I even hand her snacks through the holes in the gate. She loves it when I do that.

The other week we went to Brock and Natalie's and Layla got to see their dog, Duke. We kept asking Layla what the dog says and then we would all say, "ruff!" Well, since Layla can't say "ruff!" she says "ooooh". Our conversation usually goes like this:

Mommy: "Layla, what does the dog say?"

Layla: "ooooh"

It's awesome. I managed to get it on video the other day. She was upset in the video because I won't let her play with the video camera. I apologize about the bad photography, but it's hard to film when she's crawling on me. Anyways, I also tried to get her to say "uh oh!" but she wouldn't do it. She can't say "uh oh" yet, so she just says, "ahh!". It's cute.

A Bright Future

Layla has a bright future ahead of her. I wonder what she'll decide to do with her life?

Maybe she'll choose the rocket science path like her Daddy. She's already learning to master the Rubik's cube ...

Or maybe she'll choose to be a gymnast for the U. We know she's strong and she can already do the splits ...

Or she could always join the circus and do tricks with her tongue ... she has a really long tongue and it's always doing something crazy! Ha ha. I swear it has a mind of its own. It's so funny to watch.

Hopefully she doesn't grow up to be a spoiled brat and throw tantrums like she started doing last week ... kicking, whining, the whole thing. It's so not cute. I hope that if I ignore her tantrums they will stop. She's only done it a few times so far.

A few things I want to remember about Bug at this age:

• she cut her first top tooth this week- the front left top tooth to be exact. She looks kinda funny, but super cute.
• she tries so very hard to imitate words you say to her. I try to repeat one word to her over and over. She can't make the same sounds I say, but she always repeats the same number of syllables. For example, if I say, "banana," she says, "bababa." Pretty smart, huh?
• this week Layla calls everyone and everything "bob." (It's usually a different sound each week or so.) She points at the calendar and says, "bob." Mitch is "bob." Harvey is "bob." It's pretty funny.
• i've been trying to teach Layla that Mitch is "dada." Last week we were all at my grandma's when Layla pointed at Mitch and said, "dada." Oh wow, I was totally gloating during my proud mom moment when it was interrupted by Layla pointing at the fridge and saying, "dada." Ha, ha. I guess she still doesn't get it ...
• she loves the freedom of crawling. She thinks it's hilarious if I get down on all four and chase her around. She laughs and tries to crawl away super fast. I love it.
• i watch fox 13 local news in the mornings. I don't let Layla watch tv, but sometimes she watches it despite my best efforts. She waves at the newscasters, but her favorite is Damon Yauney, hands down. I think she has a crush on him. She stops everything she's doing to watch him do his forecast. It's pretty funny. At least she knows how to pick the cute ones. Maybe she'll be a weather forecaster when she grows up.
• she likes music. She stops to listen when she hears the radio, a hymn, etc. She also "dances" by either swaying back and forth, bouncing up and down, shaking her head, or waving her hands. It's awesome. I hope she love to play the piano and go to Juilliard (on a full ride scholarship, tuition alone is $32K/year!). You never know, right?