Busy Girl

No doubt about it, we're getting to the "busy" stage of life. Lailey is on the go, and she is delighted by moving herself around and exploring. She's easily pulling up on things to her knees, and occasionally makes it up to standing on lower objects. She is figuring out new things daily. Like how to turn the mobile on and off in her crib at her grandparent's house. Smarty pants.

{"Yes, Rudy, you're current on your rabies shot."

{Her drinking pose. Not that we encourage this type of behavior, particularly in minors, but the girl can throw back some sippy cup.}

{Morning beautifulness...untouched by Mommy}

{Climbing in the carseat}

{She made it up! She pushed up on her little Pooh car, then grabbed onto the rail and took a few little baby steps to get both hands on there...then she fell 30 seconds later. Oops!}

{Lailey is SERIOUS about her food, and my food, and any food she sees. I don't think I've found anything yet that she won't eat.}

This is just a little video showing her goofy personality. She never did this thing with her head before, and hasn't done it since. Silly girl.

The next time I write on her it will be the 100th post! Any suggestions about how I should celebrate or what to include on the blog? Help please!

Trip to TN

This is a little late, but a couple weeks ago we took a trip to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN for our church's annual Ski Bible Conference. The Akins were the worship band, and since I had the week off from work for winter break, Lailey and I got to hit the road too for a wonderful fun week. I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures out and about, but here's a couple cute ones anyway.

{I think we're going to have a wild adventurer on our hands. She LOVES this!}

{Crawling around the hotel room, which fortunately was clean and pretty baby safe}

{One of the days we went to Wonderworks, a local attraction with all sorts of nifty, interesting things to do. Davey is inside a model of some spacecraft from some mission, which eludes me now.}

This ride is at Wonderworks as well. The guy on the other bike is Christian Chapman, the speaker for the week. He was awesome! The person screaming next to me is none other than our pastor's wife. Too bad we couldn't get her on it. I would have paid money to see it. Seriously.

{Lailey and Mommy crashed after a late night.}

Lailey was an EXCELLENT traveler, and she really enjoyed herself at the hotel and wherever we went. She slept well in her pack 'n' play, took naps in the car when needed, and stayed up later than normal without too much fussing. She especially loved the music during the sessions and clapped and danced and bounced her arms whenever Daddy played. I think we were a little bit of a distraction because a lot of people loved watching her, but when you're the bass player's kid I guess you get to dance if you want to.

Let It Snow #2

{Me and my girl, in our shades}

Yesterday we got a total of about 4 inches of snow. That's my estimate at least. We took advantage of it this afternoon and bundled up again to play before it all melted, which is happening quite quickly. I'm so glad Lailey really loves being outside. She was happy the whole time, and we only went in because it was nap time and her cheeks were getting cold. She didn't complain though.

This is Lailey's first ride in the snow. We Georgians use boogie boards since nobody really has sleds around here. As you can see, they work really well!

Whole family gets in on the action!

{"I can't put my arms down!"}

All sweet and bundled up ready to go. She was looking out the door watching Daddy get boots and gloves on.

{"Yum!"}
{She kept coming for more.}

For those of you interested in my latest cooking endeavors with the Deceptively Delicious cookbook, I tried the Beef Stew with Broccoli yesterday since I didn't have to go to work because of the snow. It takes a long time to simmer (4 to 5 hours), which is why I waited for the weekend. It turned out really good and was the perfect warm and comforting meal on a snowy night. Not that I would have minded, but you don't taste or even see the broccoli puree at all. Left-overs today were wonderful after playing in the snow. What a perfect day.

Let It Snow!

Lailey woke up from her afternoon nap to a snow-covered yard. After bundling on the layers until she looked like a pink marshmallow, we headed outside to check it out. I'm not sure that she quite knew what to do about it. And without snow pants, I wasn't about to sit her down in it just to freeze her little patootie. It made great pictures though!

{Pulling on my hat}

Oh yeah, and Rudy liked it too...

Right now Lailey is peacefully asleep, and Davey and I are enjoying the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Pretty neat so far. After having the privilege to perform in the Opening Ceremony in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, the Olympics hold a special meaning for me. If you didn't know, my high school band performed as part of a 2000 member band in Australia. It will always be an incredible memory. Alright, commercials are almost over!

Sleeping Beauty

Since Lailey is moving around quite a bit lately, we've noticed some changes while she's sleeping too. It started sometime last month with her waking up in a completely different part of the crib than where we put her down. Next she was on her tummy a few times. That definitely surprised me when I went to check on her. Then I found her crawling around, then sitting up, and now she sometimes occasionally falls asleep folded in half! I think she wakes up enough to sit up, then can't figure out how to get back down. Poor kid! Well, I suppose this is the remedy. Just sleep while sitting, in a pike position. You'd think it would be horribly uncomfortable, but I figure if she can actually fall asleep that way it must not be too bad. Of course, it's not all night, just a little while during naps. Here are a few sleeping pictures from the last week.

{She fell asleep like this. I didn't move the hood of her coat. She sucks on it like a blanket and nuzzles her face into it before drifting off.}

{Like an angel, with pouty-lips like Daddy when he sleeps}

{My view of her looking back. This was the second time with the hood over her face. Silly kid.}

Thankfully, Lailey has been a pretty good sleeper. As long as she has a blanket to hold and suck on, she loves to sleep. Just like her mommy. :)

Fun With the Oglesby's

Due to sickness in the Branton household this week (our usual sitters), Lailey paid a visit to our other dear friends, the Oglesbys. Madison, not knowing Lailey was coming that morning since it was spur of the moment, made my day when she opened the door and said "That's the BEST wakeup call ever!" Lailey LOVES Justus and Madison (and Rob and Wendy too :) so she had lots of entertainment while she was over there. I think the following pictures tell the story of her two days there quite well...
{Okay, Madison, here's how you do pre-algebra. You need to use that key riiiiiiiiiight there. No, right there. }

{Here, just let me do it. The answer is... E = MC...poopy diaper? Let me try that again.}

{Okay, Justus, when you get the ball from me, I want you to run, run like the wind, and don't look back. I'll cover your blindside. I'm so small I'll just take 'em out at the knees. Ready, HUT!}

Ha! This picture just totally cracks me up. She's got such a great game face on!

Soon I'll have to get some pictures from the Brantons too to chronicle the fun she has over there.

10 Months Old

{Lailey and Teddy, 10 months old)

I can't hide it. It makes me sad that Lailey is getting so big. I love seeing her grow and learn, but the closer she gets to a year, I get a little more emotional. Such is life.

{Uncle Tim, Aunt Amy, and Lailey watching ballroom dancing on tv}

{Mommy, can I get out now? Maybe if I try to eat this thing it will go away}

Usually I try to get my hair and makeup done before my munchkin wakes up in the morning, but every once in a while she wakes up a bit early. Anyone who has tried before knows what a challenge it is to get anything done with a crawling baby. So, thanks to my friend Mandie's idea, I have used a laundry basket as a temporary playpen for a few minutes to finish up something I need to do. While she looks sad in the picture, she usually loves to play in there for a little while. Especially dropping toys out of it and saying "uh-oh." She can tip it over if she leans too far (found that out one day as she tumbled out! No harm done.), so I still have to keep her close by. Not that I would leave her anyway, but I digress.

The Latest Happenings...

Last weekend we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Christy's daughter, Sadie, is 9 months older than Lailey. In fact, two days after Sadie was born, we found out we were prego with "Baby Akin." Seems so long ago already. Anyway, now that the girlies are getting a little older, they are interacting more. They were saying "hi" and Sadie said "Lailey." I love hearing her say it.

Sadie was having fun playing "mommy" with the "baby," as she kept calling Lailey. She would hold the sippy cup to Lailey's mouth, and she would go for it then Sadie would take it away, whether in excitement or distraction, I don't know. But we were cracking up because Lailey would get this confused and disappointed look on her face like "hey, I didn't get any!" She never really got upset, just determined to get some water!

{Finally Jason helped and Lailey got a real drink. Thanks Sadie!}

{Hugs!}

{Daddy in love}

The last few days Lailey has been acting sleepy and ready for bed a little earlier than usual. I wonder if it's all the crawling and moving she's been doing that is wearing her out. So tonight I started our little bedtime routine early to avoid any fussiness when she gets overtired. It usually goes like this: getting changed and into jammies (actually she wore them all day today while at home with Davey, so scratch that. Pajama days rock.) then reading, nursing, getting tucked in and bedtime prayers. Well, she fell asleep nursing tonight for the second or third time this week, so the rest was finished with her asleep already. Davey wanted to put her in bed, and when he picked her up, instead of waking up a little before we lay her down, she snuggled right into his shoulder and stayed there. She typically leans back even when sleepy, but she wanted to cuddle tonight. It was a very sweet moment.

Projects...

Well, no sewing this week. I've been trying to finish re-upholstering my dining room chairs. I can do some of it while Lailey's asleep, but the staple gun is sort of loud, so I didn't want to wake her since her room isn't that far from where I'm working. Little unknown random fact about moi: I really enjoy power tools, even non-power staple guns. Guess I like the power factor or something. It gives the feeling of actually having some real muscles. Muahahahahaha. Anyway, back to the chairs.

This project has taken longer than I thought it would for a couple of reasons. The first being that when you have a crawling kid, there are no moments except when they're sound asleep that you can take your eyes of them. Then with the staple gun thing...well you get the point. With Davey home he can keep his eye on her while I play with tools. Second reason: the weekend I started it (sadly, several weekends ago), I discovered to my irritation that the screws had some oddly shaped hole in them. Say goodbye to Mr. Flathead and Mr. Phillips - no can do. Had to drag dining room chair to Ace Hardware, where the extremely helpful and kind guy found the drill bit in 8. 7 seconds all the while carrying my dining room chair all over the store and then back out to my car. It made me believe there are still people in customer service that actually know their jobs and can - gasp! - be helpful AND nice too! Yikes, apparently the sarcasm comes out the closer I get to midnight. Back to Ace: I believe it was the cheapest shopping trip in my life, coming to a total of .85 cents. That's my kind of buy.

Then I started on the chairs and, I won't lie, it takes a little elbow grease for me to pry the old material off and then remove the staples. But I was a big girl and didn't ask for help - except for Davey to lend me his multi-tool. So, I've completed 3 out of the 4 chairs, and I'm proud. Hopefully the other one will be finished tomorrow.

{close up of the pattern - it matches the kitchen and dining room}

{before} {after}

{new placemats with existing plate and accent plate}

I only brought 9 (nine!) fabric samples home from the store to compare them in my dining room, and when I got out my flower plates, which I love, and put them on this fabric, it sealed the deal. In fact, those flower are the entire reason I registered for the whole set when we got married. So, it makes sense to match my chairs to them. I'm definitely not a great decorator, but I think it ties it together nicely. They actually look better in real life than in the picture. But you get the idea.

Wow, that was kind of long. Thanks for making it this far reading my rambling!