A lady in my ward took these photos of Lyla at the ripe age of one week old. I love them. This little girl has enriched my life in so many ways in the past month. YEAH IT'S ALREADY BEEN A MONTH, WHATTTTTT!!
Lyla is getting better at sleeping in her swing which means I've started to get more sleep. This also means I take off my witch hat a lot more often and everyone is happier. Sleep does wonders for a mother's soul, I'm tellin' ya. She loves to grunt and she likes her hand to be right curled up next to her face when she sleeps (not a fan of the full swaddle). She seems to have discovered her lungs, but only uses them when she needs food or a good belch. ;) Also she has almost grown out of some of her newborn clothes. I am not anywhere near being prepared for this!!! I remember my silent plea as I was in the hospital with her that she would stay this baby forever. She ignored my desperate request to stay little but at least her beautiful soul is here to stay. I hope to love, teach, and nourish that soul every day of her life in hopes that she will become all she was meant to become. What a humbling task. Apologies to Lyla in advance for all the times I will surely fumble.
I am so happy. Everyone will finally see how jane looks behind the lens of an actual good camera...
Since i don't have one, and most of the pictures on this here blog are iPhone pictures.
Is that upchucking I hear?
I'm sure so many have scoffed and unfollowed for that reason.... yeahhhh if you'd like to give me a thousand big ones for a camera, then that would change real quick. I can promise you that.
But for today, no scoffing. Instead you will be fancied with these aesthetically pleasing photographs.
Without further ado, I bring you:
A very accurate portrayal of my baby girl's personality, in pictures.
(at 15 months)
light up the room kind of personality, wouldn't you say?
12 things for (almost) 12 months that I never want to forget :)
1.she loves shaking her head, profusely. I don’t
think she quite knows that it means “NO”, but if her head shaking is any
indication of how often she will use that word later on in life, then we will
have a disobedient little girl on our hands!
2.Her favorite thing is to read books. It’s the
only time she will sit still so I also love it :) although I need to get a library card ASAP because I am getting SO sick of
reading the same 10 books over and over. And over. And over. Anyways, she likes
to read them by herself sometimes and point at all the pictures, babble, and her favorite: turn the pages!
3.She makes this smacking sound with her mouth
when she is happy or hungry. And oh boy, is she proud of herself when she does
it.
4.She says two words: “Momma” and “Bapa” for daddy.
5.When she eats, she says “MMmmm” repeatedly. And
she also grunts with excitement.
6.She does these little weird seizure things when
she gets excited. She will like flex her whole body, in unison with a happy
grunt. (so like, she loves to grunt). It’s hard to explain, but let’s just say
that the first time my brother saw her do it he was like “uhhh, does she have a
tick or something?” “Nope, she is just excited.” Haha. That girl always has us
laughing- SO dramatic!
7.She is THE most social baby in the universe. If
someone is playing with her, she is happy. i feel so lucky to be her buddy pretty
much alllll the time :)
8.Sometimes she pretends to choke because she
knows it will get my attention. No joke.
9.Her favorite foods are: blueberries, bananas,
sweet potatoes, string cheese, black beans, and deli turkey. But she pretty
much eats everything (except for eggs), and I am bound and determined to keep
it that way.
10.She
actually doesn’t really like taking baths. All she wants to do is try to climb
out of the tub the whole time because, duh, everything is a jungle gym.
(including me, I’m actually her favorite jungle gym.)
11.She
loves getting her hair done. She will freeze and stare at herself in the mirror
when I’m doing her hair. Totally out of character for her to hold still, OR be
cooperative. But it makes me very happy!
12.She
is so hyper and giddy after bath time. It’s my favorite :)
yep my baby only has less than 2 weeks before she is ONE! this has been such a fun year. I'm working on a video right now that is kind of a montage of her life so far- i will post it on her actual birthday.
there is a thing. the thing is weird. it is banging its weird head into the ground, repeatedly. oh my HECK it just had a seizure and floated up into the sky.
I'm thinking this is what was going through jane's head as she experienced her first encounter with a little red robin. (not the restaurant, i wishhhh)
It was quite the event in her little world. As evidenced by her facial expression that accompanied it:
I gave her some time to recuperate from the event and then we continued on in the stroller. She then proceeded to take both of her shoes off, for the tenth time that day; and then eat them. Because just like everything else, duh, they are food.
(i forgave her after this smile)
We played in the grass for awhile afterwards. Jane climbed on me and laughed giddily as I pretended to munch her hands off. (why that is the funniest thing in the universe to her, I will never know.) Oh! It was one of those perfect moments that I wanted to last forever. But then she somehow found a worm to play with and when I saw it, I shrieked; and we both went inside and took a nap.
"i'm a model and i know it."
oh and...let's go ahead and count this as her 10 month update....she's 10 months old, everybody! there.
She is sitting like a pro and scooting around like she is in the baby scooting olympics. it is so weird. like one day she is reaching and crying for her toys that are too far away from her and the next day she just scoots on over and gets it like it's no big deal. its amazing what one day can do for ya....OH! also. she is sleeping through the night. For like 2 weeks now. there have been a couple days in there where she has woken up once- but to me that doesn't even count. This is a big deal, folks. Like the other day I slept for nine hours straight. For the first time since I was a mom and- it was the weirdest thing- the hallelujah chorus actually started blasting when I woke up and realized what had just happened.
...ha. Anyways, this month has been a good one for her. She can also take a bottle now thanks to her very diligent and persistent father. That is another downright miracle.
So to celebrate 8 months! Because, duh, there is a cyber "celebration" every month, here are my 8 favorite pictures of jane this month.
kicking her legs because she loves me so dang much. (the feeling is mutual)
playing with flour. i go to great lengths to keep this child stimulated! ha
i love watching her sleep. it's my favorite.
On a completely unrelated note, the other day I tried an experimental dinner and I didn't like it. I knew jeff was trying to be nice by eating it so I said: "Honey. You don't need to eat another bite"
His response: "It actually isn't that bad. I kinda like it."
5 minutes and 10 tiny bites later....."But like, you probably shouldn't ever make it again."
yeah he didn't quite finish his meal, but he gave it a valiant effort. haha
Here are a couple more jeff quotes as of late.
***
"I'm gonna go wake up Jane!"- Jeff
"No let her sleep" - me
"But she is hungry!"
"No, she would wake up if she was hungry- TRUST ME"
"No kerri, I know how it is. You are SO tired but you just can't wake up. It happens to me all the time, so I'm going to go get her."
hahaha laziness must run in the family. ;)
***
"THE SNOW NEEDS TO TAKE A HIKE! Why doesn't it snow in Wyoming or somewhere boring?!"
- i was deeply offended, having grown up there. hahaha
***
So I had done something that bugged jeff and he said:
"Kerri. I love you. But sometimes?....I....still love you. and....I love you and that's actually all I have to say"
This is him trying to muster up the courage to tell me something that I did that was annoying him but then chickening out (like a smart boy) at the last second.
Very smooth save there, honey.
but seriously. if you were a blind person and you spent a day with us, you would be quite certain that a pet monkey is residing in our apartment.
jane is a straight up monkey child. the sounds she makes. they are scarily similar to what you would hear at your local zoo. that crazy little girl. she screams like a monkey all the time, for every occasion.
if she is happy? she monkey screams
if she is super excited? she monkey screams.
if she is annoyed? she really monkey screams
if she is angry? she monkey screams?
if we are not giving her enough attention? she monkey screams
ie in church on sunday jeff brings her to me and says she is "so happy" but she just won't stop screaming. oh jane, always making sure that everyone is keenly aware of her presence.
here is a sample of what i hear....a lot. sorry the video is weird and flipped. ha
little miss monkey is quite high maintenance. we sometimes want to call her a female tarzan.
which makes sense because, uh- Tarzan's girlfriend (aka female tarzan) is Jane.
I think we picked a very fitting name for our girl.
anyways I'm writing this post for 2 reasons
1. to tell you of my child's monkey ways.
2. to proudly proclaim that my daughter has been in this world for 7 (wonderful) months.
7 months sounds SO old but i promise you i just gave birth yesterday. but really, this past month has probably been the most fun month of being a parent. she is becoming a little person with quite the personality. she is curious about everything, and is learning so many new things. she can finally sit up and is learning to scoot. it's super cute. jane is just cute. i think my favorite thing about being her mom is when i go to get her out of her crib in the morning. she smiles so big and happy squeals and kicks her legs up and down (quite vigorously- this girl has got to have some serious abs!). then i pick her up and she continues to have a happy spasm. oh my gosh it is the best thing ever. she loves me.
...but sometimes she loves me too much. like when she can't sleep for 2 hours straight in the night without me coming in to hold her or feed her. yeah, thats fun- waking up every 2 hours. she was a better sleeper when she was 2 months old. what thee heck. i kind of like waking up with her once or twice in the night because i love hearing her gulp my milk and watching her sweet, sleepy face; but any more than that is when it becomes excessive and groan-worthy.
so here are some of my favorite jane pictures as of late. she kind of lives in her new pink winter suit thing because its the only thing warm enough for this freezing weather. but she looks so dang cute in it so its ok :)
jane's first new years eve :)
this is what she does when i walk behind her and she needs to be able to still see me. hahaha
her new favorite toy
this was jane's christmas present to me. cuddling on my chest for 2 whole hours. i was in heaven.
i love you janie girl :)
here is another video that will make your day...
oh and on a completely unrelated note: for anyone who goes to BYU- has anybody else noticed that the basement of the JFSB smells like a severe and chronic case of BODY ODOR? gag me.
