Our Sweet Lyla is 1

This last Saturday was Lyla's first birthday. I can't believe it has been 1 year already! As all parents have said about their own children, the first year flew by way too fast! Nate and I are so proud of our sweet girl. She has been through so much in such a short amount of time with all of her treatments for clubfoot and she truly has handled it like a champ. Lyla is such a smart, funny, creative, and happy baby. Words truly cannot express how much we love her.

Here are some of the things that Lyla has been up to:

• Still crawling, but getting closer to walking.
• Babbling non-stop. She says little words here and there but mostly says "da da".
• She LOVES to read books. She loves turning the pages and touching the pictures.
• She has been getting into imitating us. The funniest thing she "imitates" is when she tries to nod. It's like she nods with her whole body while chomping on air.
• She loves taking things out of boxes, bags, and shelves and throwing them all around her. Basically, she loves making messes!
• She loves dancing to music.
• She gives the BEST kisses and hugs.
• She loves to just sit near mom wherever she is in the house and just play with her toys.
• She loves to crawl onto mom's lap, sit down, turn around, crawl off her lap, look at mom, and then crawl back to her to repeat the process.
• She loves all the many games that daddy plays with her.
• She loves to sit on mom and dad's lap and just play with whatever knick-knack, toy, or book she has at the time. We love it!!
• She sleeps like a champ. She sleeps from 7:30ish-8:30am and takes about 3-4 hours worth of naps a day. And she sleeps in the exact same position as her mom.
• She LOVES bath time and splashing and eating the bubbles.
• She LOVES when daddy comes home from work and get's SO excited!
• She loves playing with mommy and daddy in the morning before dad goes to work.
• She loves singing, dancing, and listening to music.
• She loves the songs her dad has made up for her and will stop crying every time he sings it to her.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the beginning and end of Lyla's first year.

Our first family photo. She was such a stranger to us then, yet we loved her SO much already!

The fist time I held Lyla. She looks very concerned and confused, haha!

Sleeping on dad our first night in the hospital.

Her first bath right when we got home. She was so TINY!!

So tiny! I think she was just under a week here.

Lyla's feet when she was born.

Lyla's first casting appointment. She did SO well and just sat there patiently while her mom was sobbing in the corner. She was so much stronger than me!

Sleeping with her feet elevated.

Lyla, right before she got her casts off for good...

... and moved into this brace. She wore it 24/7 for 3 months straight and now only wears it at night and will for about 2 more years.

Since Lyla was born in December, the hospital gave us an oversized stocking that we could put Lyla in for pictures and stuff. In this picture, she is bundled up in a bunch of blankets and snuggled up in the stocking, still not reaching the bottom.

And this is Lyla on her first birthday in that same stocking! Look at how much she has grown!

By this point, she was done taking pictures in the stocking.

Lyla opening one of her many presents sent from family. Thanks again everyone!! This one she is opening is from Mike and Jen.

They got her a book and as you can see, she LOVES it already!

And after presents and shopping, we had Lyla's birthday cupcake.

We had to switch chairs because she fit in the smaller one a little better. She made a HUGE mess! You'd think she would make a mess of herself, which she did, but the bigger mess was what she threw to the side. Silly girl.

About to smash her cupcake even more...

... then after she destroys her cupcake with complete brutality, she looks up at us with an angel-like face to let us know she is finished.

1 Year Stats...

Head: 18 1/4 (75%)

Weight: 20lbs. 9 oz. (50%)

Height: 31 in (above 95%!!!)

Happy Birthday Lyla! We love you more than you know!!!

Oh Photo Booth, how I love you.... :)

I got bored while Lyla was taking a nap, so I decided to explore more with Photo Booth and got a little carried away....

I think this one below is Nate's favorite.

I know, I'm lame. Anyway, after I showed these awesome photo's to Nate, we started playing around with the other settings. Please enjoy the awesomeness below. We both were laughing hysterically the entire time.

Hope you enjoyed these even a portion of the amount that we did.

New Computer

Sorry I've been absent on the blogging lately. We've been busy and I really just haven't felt like it. I'll definitely update it after this weekend since Lyla is turning 1!!!!

But for now, I'll just say that we got a new computer on Black Friday and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! It's an iMac (sorry to my PC-loving family) and it is incredible. I love all the applications on it. It also has a built-in webcam and so Nate and I were able to Skype some family last night, which was AMAZING and so fun! The only down-side was that it made us miss our family even more. Anyway, our new computer has a gazillion different softwares already installed that are a ton of fun. I am only beginning to see the awesomeness of it all.

One of my favorite applications is iBooth (or maybe it's just called Photo Booth)... where you can take photo's or video's of yourself and whoever else is in front of the computer. It even can do it like an actual photo booth and take 4 pictures right in a row!! So, the picture below is us in the morning of Black Friday (we look hot, I know) and I was showing Nate the Photo Booth application without telling him what it does. So, needless to say, he was really confused that the computer was taking pictures of him and finally figured it out in the middle of the photo sequence.

(Please excuse our messy laundry room. And the mess from the computer and Christmas decorations.) :)

Education

Lately, I have been thinking about my life and the things I would like to accomplish in it. Recently, I have been getting into photography. I have a great camera and great editing programs and have been having a lot of fun practicing taking pictures. Eventually, I would like to have a small business as a way of contributing financially to my family and also as a way of keeping up a hobby that I love. One accomplishment that I lack, though, that has just been hanging over my head is the fact that I have not "officially" completed my education. I'm definitely not going to get into the "why's" or "when's" of it, but know that I do think it is important. As I have shared this insecurity of this aspect of my life to my husband, he has helped me to realize that education really is something that should continue all throughout life, with or without a degree. President Henry B. Eyring spoke at a CES Fireside back in May, 2001 about education and one quote I love from his talk is...

"No service that matters can be given over a lifetime by those who stop learning. A great teacher is always studying. A nurse never stops facing the challenge of dealing with something new, be it equipment or procedure. And the workplace in every industry is changing so rapidly that what we know today will not be enough for tomorrow. Our education must never stop. If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail." - President Henry B. Eyring, "Education for Real Life".

So, with that, I have decided to set a goal that pushes me to further my "informal" education (beyond my photography) for the New Year that is coming way too quickly...

Kelly's Education Goal: Over the year of 2010, I am going to study a different topic for every month. I will read, write, experiment, or do whatever necessary to learn about that subject. At the end of the month, for Family Home Evening, I will teach Nate what I learned about that topic.

I am actually really excited about this goal. And the reason I am not going to start until the new year is because I am going to learn about "goal setting" during the month of December so I can prep for my New Year's goal. My only problem is that I am having trouble thinking of topics to study/learn about. I have thought about memorizing the Periodic Table of Elements, learning to sew, cooking tricks, music theory (piano), learn as much as I can about a certain disease...

So, IF YOU WERE DOING THIS GOAL, WHAT TOPICS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LEARN ABOUT? I am completely open to suggestions since I am really struggling to choose topics of my own. It can be about anything. It can be something you would learn in school, something spiritual, something you've wanted to learn/know about "just because".

Anyway, I would LOVE your input and ideas! Wish me luck!

I couldn't sleep...

I had a lot on my mind and couldn't sleep... so I thought I would get it off my chest and hopefully get to bed...

(Lyla at 1 month)

Recently, I have heard of a few people whose babies/toddlers have had some serious health issues that are very difficult for the child and parents to endure. One case, the child had been diagnosed with a very severe disorder that has been devastating to the parents (I don't know them... they are a friend of a friend). Anyway, I heard about their heartbreaking story tonight and about another friends story in the past couple of days and it really just got me thinking...

There are so many things that can go wrong with our's and our children's health and some things are more severe than others. You hear about these stories about things that happen with other people's children, and you think hopefully to yourself "that probably wouldn't happen to my kids". And it doesn't really hit you until it happens to you or to someone you know. As I think about these people and what they are going through, it makes me want to cry. I feel for them so strongly, and I cannot even imagine what life must be like for them. Anyway, the point of this is not to talk about these people I am referring to. Here is my point...

I am the youngest child in my family and before Lyla was born, I had 7 nieces and nephews on my side. After marrying Nate, I gained 8 more nieces and nephews (now there are 12, almost 13). Out of all of these children, each of them ended up with good, strong, healthy , "normal" bodies. That isn't to say that they never got sick, but they were all considered "normal". When Lyla was diagnosed with Clubfoot, I was devastated. Not for me, but for her. I never thought that I would have a child that had a deformity, especially since no one in our family really had problems like that. I was so concerned for her and all the treatment she would have to go through to fix the problem. We were and are so grateful that nothing else was wrong since often times Clubfoot is linked to other disorders. We prayed and just knew that everything was going to be okay. That we had nothing we needed to worry about.

But still, even after all of that, I complained. I complained that her casts were such a pain. I complained that she had to wear her braces all day for 3 months. I complained that her shoes were such a pain to put on. I even said to Nate the other day that I really hope our other children don't get Clubfoot, as if it is this horrible thing. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I want my children to have Clubfoot, it's more of the fact that I was so focused on something that seems so trivial. Now, after hearing what some other's are going through with their children, I can't believe I complained. I feel like what Lyla goes through really is not a big deal, at all. And I have felt that way for a while and she hardly seems to notice. It is what it is. She could have been so much worse off. But she isn't. She is healthy. She is happy. She is developing right on track. And doctors are so impressed with how great her feet are doing. She is blessed. I am blessed. Our family is blessed. And still, I complained.

So tonight, I want to say I am grateful. I am grateful for Lyla. I am grateful for all the ways that being her mother has helped me to grow. I am grateful for the love I have for her. I am grateful that she is healthy. I am grateful that the treatment for her feet has been going beautifully. I am grateful that we live in a time where she can be treated so she will be able to walk and be "normal". I am so sorry that I ever complained. I take it back, I do. And to those whose families who are on my mind tonight, thank you for putting things into perspective for me. You're in my prayers.

Goodnight.

Monkey Business

We had a really fun Halloween this year. I'll be brief since the pictures tell all :)

It all started off with our ward trunk-or-treat. We had a chili cook-off and pretty much everyone dressed up. We decorated our car with our Halloween decorations and blasted Thriller. It was a good night.

If you can't tell already, Nate is a pirate and Lyla is a monkey :)

I was also a pirate.

Ly, crawling around enjoying everyone's costumes.

For actual Halloween we hung out with our friends, the Rice's. We went trick-or-treating with their kids (I felt silly going with just me, Nate, and Lyla), made a Halloween craft, and just had a great time!

We pulled Lyla in a wagon. It was FREEZING and so we had to really bundle up!

We ended up having to tuck Lyla's arms in her monkey suit to keep her warm, but because of this she started to slide in her seat while she was buckled in (see picture below). We thought she was just relaxing the whole time. Oops! Anyway, she was a trooper and she never even made a peep!

Family shot. Nate was spiderman, I was alphabet soup, and then Lyla.

Nate's mom sent us a Halloween craft kit, which was a blast! It was perfect because we even had enough for all of us to make a couple of little pretzel men!

Thanks Grandma Wright, we loved this craft (and Lyla did too, haha)!!

On a completely different note... Lyla got her first "owie". I'm pretty sure she did this at the church during mutual. Occasionally when she will crawl, she will get her hands caught behind and as she moves forwards she just face plants. Well she went through a phase of doing this the past week and yeah. She didn't cry but it was a pretty good rug burn.

Ly with her first owie and showing off her 4 teeth!!

And I just posted this because I think it's cute. I know I'm biased but I just think she is a pretty baby, owie and all. I LOVE this girl!

Bathtime

Lyla had her first bubble bath last night and she just LOVED the bubbles! As soon as she saw them she just dove in to try to eat them. I remember I always did this when I was little and I would always come up with a little Santa beard and go "Ho Ho Ho!!!". I love this girl!

One time, she accidentally got a little water, well maybe a lot of water... This is her "choking" face... (Please be aware that Nate was taking pictures and I was there making sure she was okay. We're good parents, I swear!) you gotta love that face...

We love our little girl!