Morning Conversations with my little girl

Now that Lyla is 14.5 months old, we are starting to have some conversations. This is so cool. It is so neat that we can 'talk' to each other rather than just hope that we are talking to each other. Do you know what I am saying?

Anyways, back to the conversations. The past two mornings I have gone into Lyla's room and I have done my normal morning routine. Every morning since pretty much Lyla's birth I have gone in to her and sang my own rendition of 'Good Morning Sunshine'. Then after that song and dance is over I usually ask Lyla how she is feeling today or how she slept last night. Typical morning lingo across the world. The last two mornings I have asked Lyla -"How are you today Lyla?" and she has look up at me with her cute little smile and said "Good", with a little nod of her head. You can tell she knows that she is saying the right thing, you can tell by the look in her eye and the smile on her face. I just love talking to my daughter.

Another morning achievement came last week when she started to sing/say 'Sunshine' after I had song my morning song to her. She is learning so fast and I am proud of her.

And last night, Lyla woke up at 2am and was crying and just unhappy, saying her typical 'Oh-no!" and I went over to her and hugged her and rocked her, but she just wasn't settling down. I asked her if she wanted to go over to Mama's bed and she looked at me like 'yes please' and then I told her that I wanted to change her pants first. She first rebutted and said no no but after conversation with her she agreed and quietly let me change her pants and then we went over to cuddle in my bed where she feel back asleep. She is starting to say 'change pants' as well.

Anyways, I am enjoying my conversations with Lyla, every day is getting more enjoyable. I truly love this stage so much.

Mama's Chocolate Chip Cookies..

A couple of weeks ago I made my chocolate chip cookies and gave one to our little lady. To say that she liked it would be an understatment. Like mother, like daughter... and I guess like Daddy. Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies.

Hair cuts

I should have written about this about 2 months ago - but better late than never.

On May 7th, 2 days before Lyla's 1st birthday party Lyla's hair was in her eyes and her hair was looking a little straggly in the back. So after Lyla finished her dinner, with the TV on to keep her attention. I got out my hair cutting scissors and went to work. Daddy, Nana and Papa all watched as I snipped here and there and got the hair out of her eyes first. Then I straightened up the back. At first I wasn't sure that I like her 'new look', but it wasn't long before I was really happy that I cut her hair. And yes, I kept some of her hair for her baby book.

Here is Lyla, before her first hair cut...

Here she is during the hair cut. Remote control in hand...

Post hair cut picture...

Since than I have cut it again. Mostly just getting her bangs out of her eyes. Some times I get lucky and she lets me cut without problem other times she sees the scissors and she has other ideas.

Here is Lyla's latest hair cut - looking good if I do say so myself. . .

2 things Lyla loves....

Lyla loves these two things. And both things usually come after her bath. First, her Elmo towel that makes her, me or Ryan appear to be Elmo is definitely a favorite towel for after bath. she laughs about i and calls for it, and loves to look at herself as Elmo in the mirror. And second, her tooth brush. I have often said that Lyla is either going to be a dancer or a dentist as she is obsessed with her 'teeth' and loves to brush her teeth.

Lyla's visit to Daddy's work

A couple of weeks ago, Lyla and I were invited to visit Daddy at his work. It had been a year since we had been down to see him and it was nice to see him during the day. A real treat for the both of us. It was also nice for people from Ryan's work to see Lyla as she has changed so much in a year.
Here are some pictures for our adventure to Daddy's work. Here is Lyla playing with a globe of post-it notes while Daddy was trying to get some work done.Outside Ryan's office there are some water fountains that pop out of the bricks. Lyla was really intrigued by them. Notice how Lyla is wearing two different outfits. I had Lyla all decked out in her jeans and a T-shirt that said 'Daddy's Sweet heart', however Ryan and Lyla got too close to the fountains and Lyla ended up having to get changed into her emergency outfit. Looking at these pictures it was worth it because she loved these fountains!

At first she was a little leery, and Daddy had to show her....

But it didn't take long before she was right in it...

Lyla also liked to look out at the river. I guess she liked looking over at Canada!

Thanks Daddy for inviting us to visit you at work! We hope to visit again!

4th of July

Our homeowners association sponsors a 4th of July parade every year. This was the first year for us to attend. I was at work but Ryan and Lyla went. Lyla had her American flags and she was waving it well. There was a fire truck there which lead the parade and the kids followed along. Then after the parade the fire truck hooked up to a fire hydrant and sprayed the kids. All in all, a good 4th of July!

Happy Canada Day

Tonight we had a Canada Parade in our house featuring our small dual citizen. Thanks to my in-laws for reminding me to get out the Canadian flag tonight.

To all our Canadian family and friends - enjoy the parade and we hope you had a great Canada Day!

Thir-ty

Thirty. 30. Last Saturday I turned 30 years old. I did not expect to be sentimental about this milestone. But when it happened, and everyone kept telling me how to look back upon my last 30 years and review what you have done, I was impressed. I thought about my life as a youngster - learning, playing and having fun. I thought of my 20s and how impressive of a decade that was - complete a university program, get my first job, get married, move to the US, get another job, buy your first home, and become a mother - all in really 7 years. This not even mentioning all the trips Ryan and I took since we got married. This has left me wondering - how can the 30's stack up to the 20's. So we will have to see.

Anyways, as a real treat - I had my birthday weekend off. This was super as Ryan and I got to spend some quality time together with our baby doll Lyla. And, it also meant that I got 2 days of birthday celebrations rather than just one.

So, first thing Saturday morning we had a great breakfast - bacon and eggs and toast. Then we headed up to Romeo to Blakes Cider Mill to pick some strawberries. This would be Lyla's first time to the strawberry patch. She hated the car ride there but once we got there and she was able to get out and roam around she was happy. She even tried a couple of strawberries. I think she thought the strawberries were all little balls - which she loves.

Tasting the fresh strawberries.. Yummy! One in each hand! Typical Lyla!

If you look close enough in this picture - Lyla has a piece of straw in her mouth. A true farmer!

Birthday kisses for Mama!

A happy girl who is not in the car!

In the afternoon, we all went for a 'swim' in Lyla's little pool. For dinner, Ryan had gotten me a Baskin Robbins cake - yummy. It was so cute - it said 'Happy Birthday Mama'.

The next morning, we got ready and headed out to Kruse and Muer for their famous Sunday Morning Brunch. This would be Lyla's first time at a Restaurant and again - she was excellent. We were there for 1 hour 4o minutes and for the last 30 minutes she wanted out of the high chair and wanted to walk around - which was fine. She ate some of the home style biscuit, cheese, apple pieces, and some pancake. She had already had her breakfast before we came - so this was all munchy food for her. The food was unbelievable. Definitely one of the best brunches I had ever been at. SO good!

When we got home, I wanted to get a picture of Lyla in her nice dress that Nana and Papa gave her for her birthday so they could see her in it. Lyla had other plans.... the POOL. So, most of my pictures are with her at the pool trying to convince us to let her in.

We tried to take some pictures with Lyla in the garden. But she still had the pool on her mind.

After brunch, we all came home and went to sleep - Ryan and I fell into a food induced coma and Lyla had a great nap. We got up and headed out to the Zoo for a couple hours. It was pretty busy there but it was fun to get out and have Lyla see the animals.

In the Artic Ring, there were seals swimming over head. Here are a couple of pictures of Lyla noticing the seal swimming over head.

All in all, it was a great 30th birthday weekend. Here's to the next 60 years!