New Year

The Howard/Coobs/Smith family decided to start the new year off right this year. We spent last Sunday preparing a meal for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City.
We had a pretty good experience, it was stressful making sure that we had enough food and getting everything done in time, but we got a lot of thank yous and I appreciated being able to offer something to families that are under a lot of stress.

My next project on my quest to do more good things for other people this year will take place in February. Andrea and I have signed up to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity in Iowa City. This is another good cause that I am excited to be able to help out with. If you want to read more about the project we are going to be working on, there is info here: http://www.womenbuild2.blogspot.com/ .

I will try to post some of Leila's 9 month pictures this week after I have a chance to scan them. They turned out really good, and Leila had a good time. She is getting to be such a big girl...she sleeps all night long in her own bed and loves to give kisses and clap her hands...I can't believe that she is only 3 months away from being a 1 year old! Where does the time go?!?!?!

At her 9 Month check up she was in the 90th %ile for everything...weight, height and head circumference. She was 21 lbs 10 ounces, 28.5 inches long.

I am on my way to reaching my one year of nursing goal!!

snow :(

It is January 15th and we have finally gotten our first snow storm of the year. I can't say that I am excited about it, I hate snow. Cory and I both have today off of work for MLK Day, so we have spent it hanging out at home, doing laundry and using our new vacuum cleaner.

Leila's sleeping habits have really improved lately. We have to give a lot of the credit Marla, Leila's babysitter. She has been working with her at nap times, and she lets her cry...something that I have had a hard time doing, though I think it is necessary. Today Leila took a two hour nap, in her crib. Yes, in the crib! AND last `night she slept 8 hours, in her crib. Shocking I know. We are almost there and it is beautiful, now if only she would do this long enough for me to get used to it and actually sleep through the night instead of waking up and wondering what she is up to.

I have been planning to update and kept forgetting since new years. New Years Eve we drove back from Tabor through a snow storm (no fun). When we got home we hosted a small get together with some friends. It was nice to have people to hang out with at home since it really isn't cool to bring your baby to the bar with you. Here is a picture of Leila and her friend Bryce hanging out on the kiddie couch on New Years Day.



Here are a few other pictures since it has been a while...

Here is proof that we really needed the baby gate :)



Here is Leila sitting on the car that Great Grandma and Grandpa Howard got her for Christmas...I think this is her favorite new toy!


And here is Leila giving mommy a kiss...one of her new tricks.

Leila's First Christmas

Just a quick update to put down some thoughts about Leila's First Christmas...Everything went really well. Leila did great considering that she was low on sleep and high on activity!
Christmas Eve both mine and Cory's families came over for some snacks before we all headed off to church. Church was very good, as it always is on Christmas Eve...a wonderful service to really pull to the front of your mind the reason for the celebration. Leila got some great toys and clothes from Cory's parents and sister Donna and was off to bed at about 9:30...an hour and a half past her normal bed time. Christmas morning came and after breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Coobs we all headed off to Lowden for our Howard family Christmas morning, where Leila got a bunch more toys and clothes and spent the day getting constant attention from her loving family. Here are some pictures from the events...

Me, Cory and Leila before Church


Leila's special gift from Grandpa Howard...a homemade rocking horse!


Leila taking a Christmas snooze with her new train under the Christmas tree


And last but not least...Leila in her Christmas outfit from Aunt Donna, sitting in her new kiddie couch.

Some recent pictures

I mentioned in my last post that we are working on sleep training this week...well here are a few pictures from today's efforts. As you will see, not successful.







And just for fun...This is what about 7 months will do...notice both the size of Leila and expression on the face of her momma! :)



I could use a really long nap.

Crawling!

It has been a while since the last time I posted and in that time Leila has started crawling! For a month or so now she has been doing some army crawling to get around, but last Thursday morning she was on the floor with her toys while Cory and I were getting ready for work, and she put one knee in front of the other and was off!
She started out kind of slow and wouldn't go far before giving up, but a week later, there is no stopping her! :)
We are adjusting to keeping the baby gate shut and one eye on the moving target and so far so good. So far the best part of Leila crawling has got to be watching her chase after Zoey. Leila will crawl right into her and head butt Zoey in the belly! So far Zoey has taken it really well and just move away when she gets fed up, but Leila just keeps chasing her and grabbing her tail and rubbing her head on Zoey's fur. We are trying to be very careful and be sure to praise Zoey for her good behavior and amazing temper when it comes to Leila...we have yet to catch the fun on the camcorder but we will one of these days!

We are looking forward to Christmas break when Cory and I will get to spend a week at home with Leila working on some sleep training...the sleep training we are not so much looking forward to...
We will definitely post some pictures from Christmas and a full update on all of the wonderful boxes and crunchy paper that Leila will enjoy! :)

I hope everyone that reads this has a wonderful holiday and a happy new year...for those that don't read...bah humbug!

Grandpa Ed's Birthday Party

Saturday afternoon we celebrated Grandpa Ed's 70th birthday at Biaggi's in Cedar Rapids. Leila had sent out an invitation to all of her Aunts and Uncles on Cory's side of the family and we had reserved a private room in the restaurant.
Cory's brother Evan and family weren't able to make it because of the weather, but the rest of us had a really good time. Leila looked so cute in her little teal velvet dress.
For the first time as parents, we forgot to bring the diaper bag with us...it was one of those days when I was very thankful to still be nursing so we didn't have to worry about what to feed Leila, and we lucked out and didn't have to change a diaper in the couple of hours we were out, or we would have had to run to K-mart.
Leila behaved really well and was very good about being passed around to everyone in attendance. We think that Grandpa had a good birthday, and it was really nice to get together with the family, since we had spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family this year.

Not only did we forget the diaper bag, but we also forgot the camera and the camcorder. Here are a few of the not great quality pictures that we were able to get with our camera phones.

Here is a picture of some of the party attendees...


Here is Leila with Aunt Donna and Uncle Chuck...Chuck is reading her hand puppet book to her :)


here is Leila with her Grandma Sandi


Last but not Least, Leila and the Birthday boy! :)

Here are some recent pictures

Here is Leila sporting her poncho...made by myself, Andrea and Mom


Here is Leila hanging out in her jammies


Leila and her Buddy Bryce. He is 13 months old and the son of our friends Matt and Cindy Weber.



Here is my project from this afternoon...a taggie blanket for Leila


And a couple of Leila's 6 month photos.

Well

I was just rereading my posts and I hearby resolve that I will not begin another post with the word "well."

Zoey and Leila

I wanted to post this before I forgot...

Last night Leila was being so cute and fun. Cory and I were sitting on our bed with her, and Cory was holding her up so she could stand. Zoey came in and wanted to play, she brought one of her toys with the hopes that Cory or I would throw it for her.

I picked up Zoey's toy and threw it out the bedroom door down the hallway. Zoey ran after the toy, ran back and jumped back up on the bed. We kept doing this, and Leila was standing up next to me on the bed, and when I threw the toy she would bend over so she could see Zoey chase it down the hall and run back. When Zoey jumped up on the bed with the toy Leila would laugh! It so was cute! I wish we had a third person there to get it on video...

Long weekend

Well, we are back at work from the long weekend. I have a lot to do to get back in the swing of things, but I figured I would take a few minutes to post an update.

We packed up on Thursday morning and drove to Tabor to spend the Holiday with family and we had a great time. No matter how long it has been since I lived there, I still feel at home when we visit. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Linda's house and spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa Howard's house.
Andrea, Dani and I put up Grandma's Christmas tree and Dad and Grandpa put up the outside lights.
Friday night Cory and I left Leila with my mom and dad and went out with Andrea and Steve, Cousin Nick and his girlfriend Angie and our mutual friend Tracy. This was the first time we had Left Leila for any amount of time except to go to work or a football game. It was nice to get out, but I think I am getting too old to enjoy bars. They are loud and stinky.

Well I don't have any new pictures to post yet...I will have to see what we have on the camera at home, but I wanted to update that Leila is feeling much better. She seems to be back to her normal sweet self...wish us luck that this is the last ear infection we see for a while... I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday!

Leila's first illness

Well, Leila has had a pretty rough week. She started out just fine, but Tuesday night when she woke up to eat she seemed to be running a fever. This is the first time I have seen my baby girl sick, and it is a pitiful sight. she has spent the past three days laying around, not rolling, or playing....just laying on her back, or her belly, or sleeping...the poor little thing doesn't even want to crack a smile :(
Today we went to the doctor to have her checked out on Grandma Lori's suggestion...we had called earlier in the week and they wanted us to wait and see if it got worse. Well G-Ma said that she thought it was her left ear...and sure enough, Leila has a slight infection in her left ear. We were planning on attending Aunt Erica's wedding tomorrow, but it looks like we may be grounded until Miss Leila feels better. Well, I think I hear my baby calling out for her mommy ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention...to match the three going on four teeth on top, Leila now has tooth number 3 cutting through on bottom!

I am not going to open my mouth.

Leila ready for church

Showing off her teeth!

Leila Bean

Well, things have been pretty exciting in the world of Leila lately...we now have FIVE teeth broken through...hopefully once number 6 makes its appearance we can all have a teething break. Leila was her usual self when the bottom teeth came in, but the top teeth seem to be bothering her a little bit.
Aside from the teeth, Leila is now sitting up on her own for a short time. It doesn't take long before she starts wobbling and then gives up and topples over, but she does enjoy sitting up and having full access to her toys. She still seems to favor her learning lion, but she also really seems to enjoy her books, I think that Moo Baa LaLaLa is her favorite.
The childproofing experiment is still in process, and Leila is already testing our progress as she rolls all over the house.
Tomorrow is G-Ma's birthday so Leila and I are planning on going to her house to make dinner for everyone to come and enjoy after the football game. Go Hawkeyes!

Her favorite book...both fun to read and delicious

Leila enjoying her bath

Leila chewing on mommy's drawstring...yum

Monday, already?

Well Cory and I took Friday off last week, but it certainly doesn't feel like we had a long weekend! Friday we went to get Leila's 6 month pictures taken. We went to the same photographer who took photos at our wedding, and Andrea's wedding. I am sure it will end up costing us a lot more then our usual trip to Penney's or Sears, but we decided to splurge. Leila did really well...I don't know that we got a lot of big smiles out of her...she was too interested in the new surroundings and spent a lot of the time just looking around. We will be sure to post the link to look at the pictures when they are ready, though it may be 3 weeks before that happens...we are very excited to see how they came out!
We also went and checked out car seats. We picked out the seat that we are going to buy for Leila in the next month or so, so that is one less thing that we have to worry about!
I had the joy of a trip to the oral surgeon's on Friday afternoon. I had a tumor that had grown on my gums, apparently this is a side effect of pregnancy. They normally go away on their own, but mine decided to stick around so I had to have it cut out of my mouth. Friday night was kind of rough, and I am still nervous about getting too close to miss grabby pants for fear that she will grab my lip and rip open the stitch, but other then that I am feeling pretty much healed, and I am just glad that experience is over!
On the teething front, we are having another break through...or two! To match the two bottom teeth that Leila has been sporting for the last month or so, she now has two top teeth that have broken the surface. More later!