She's 1!!!

Laney is ONE! We can't believe this last year has gone so fast. We want everyone to take a few minutes and look back at Laney's last year through blogs and photos... wow! She has changed our lives and made us smile and laugh everyday. We are so blessed to have a sweet, healthy and happy baby girl.

We celebrated Laney's 1st birthday with friends and family last weekend. It was a "Ladybug Party" and it was so much fun! Laney received beautiful homemade gifts, really fun toys, some ladybug gear and lots of clothes from Granny (Laney's personal shopper). I took lots of photos..take a look!

Bug had a pretty rough visit to the pediatrician on Tuesday... 3 shots in her arm--Ouch! She is perfectly healthy though- 21.5 lbs and 30.5 inches. Buggy is a really fast crawler and loves to play "I'm gonna gitcha!". She is pulling up to her knees, but not quite standing on her own. She loves to give kisses to Momma, Papa and her toy kitties. She likes to scratch Papa's beard and can point to what she wants- usually food! And she eats A LOT! Favorites now include: avocados, pasta, chicken/turkey, bananas/oranges and peas/carrots. She is also drinking whole milk and is done with formula!

What a month! We apologize for not updating the blog for a while.. with Laney mobile and the holidays, time just got away from us. We do have some sad news though.. we said goodbye to our beloved cat, Lucy. She is in our thoughts and we miss her dearly.

Til next time...

Baby Legs

Laney's Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to a beautiful white Christmas. Santa made a stop here and ate some cookies and drank his milk... and left Laney a few presents! She was a little grumpy this morning, though. It was nothing that a long morning nap couldn't cure. We had a chaotic few hours over at Granny and Nick's last night. Ashley and Maren were waiting for us in the front window (a little anxious to start the gift exchange). From there it is all a blur of wrapping paper and Ryan pushing the (loud) Playskool Lawnmower that we got him! Julia pretty much slept through the whole thing! We left at about 7pm and made it home for Laney's bottle and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

We were disappointed that the weather stopped us from going up to Pease today. We are really looking forward to our trip up there next weekend. We missed seeing our family today! We did however have a long day of relaxing and Bug took a good couple of naps.

I took a couple pictures of Laney's cute Christmas PJ's and our impressive snow totals: about 14" as of noon Christmas Day!

She's Ready!

All Laney wants to do these days is STAND! She loves to pull herself up and climb over us just to get on her feet. We have been watching some of the old Christmas cartoons - I think Marcus and I enjoy them more than Laney right now.. Bug really loves to look, touch and watch the Christmas tree. It has been a fun couple weeks and we can't wait to see what this week has in store for us! We are planning to spend Christmas Eve with the Wagner's and Day with the Hubers. I have a feeling Laney could be a little spoiled this year! We are hoping the weather cooperates- it looks like another storm is headed our way.

We are really excited that our friends from Little Rock are coming to visit. Will and Paula and their kids Liam and Lucy will be here for Christmas, my birthday and New Years. We can't wait to see them! It is so fun to spend this time with friends and family!

---We want to wish everyone a very Blessed and Merry Christmas---

Just Like Mama...Avocados and Rudolph!

Laney loves avocados! She just gobbled them right up as fast as we could put them on her tray! She is also enjoying mandarin oranges, real bananas and real carrots (as opposed to baby food bananas and carrots). Bug has also been loving the Christmas tree and lights. Between Laney and Lucy(the cat) I don't know how long the tree will last this year... but so far, they are both behaving themselves. Laney really likes all of the "Rudolph" gear I have accumulated over the years. Especially the singing and glowing Rudolph!

We had our first "snow day" of the year today. What a fun treat to have Papa home with us! He worked and Bug and I tried to get his attention all day long... it worked! Who can resist that sweet face and giggle?! We are trying to finish up painting our main level before Christmas (when Bug goes down for the night)--hour by hour, we are getting there....

Nap-time Surprise

The top photo is Laney when she woke up from her nap yesterday...

She's Been Nice....

What a busy couple of weeks for us! We had Thanksgiving with my family this year- (we are on the every other year plan). We then made the trip to Sioux Center, IA. Usually a 4 hour drive, but with the Bug- about 5. We had a couple messy set backs, but made it to Uncle Tom and Aunt Val's in time for lunch and a nap. Laney got to meet and see a LOT of family she hadn't seen in a while! She really loved to see the kids and play. The drive home was a lot better and we had a pretty normal week.

Laney met Santa and Mrs. Claus today. She kept her cool and barely cracked a smile. She didn't cry, so all in all, it was a success! We are just starting to decorate the house- it should be an interesting few weeks!