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Monday, January 21, 2013

It's been a while

Hello friends! It has been so very long since I was able to actually sit down and write. It feels good. So many things have changed over the past few months and I figured it's about time for an update.

I have started back to work. For the past 2 months, I have been filling in full time for a teacher who is on maternity leave. It's been good to have the money, but it's a lot of work-even as a sub, I am grading papers, calling parents, preparing lessons, TEACHING, discipling, going to all the meetings...It's been really hard for me to step back into this lifestyle...and this time around, I have Lyla. Being a full time working mother is no joke. It really wears on your emotions. Somedays I feel like I give all my patience and love to the kids at school, then we I get home, I have very little left to give. I am sure many out there can relate. And then there are days when Lyla is so exhausted from her fun day, that she is only with me for 2 hours before she goes to bed. That's tough. I am so used to spending every second with her...2 hours just isn't enough! So, ALL that to say, I haven't had much time to sit down and just write and more importantly update on all the things that Lyla is doing! So, here goes!

Lyla turned 18 months (a year and a half) a few weeks ago! She changes everyday! It has been so much fun watching her say new things and make connections to things she is learning. I wish I knew how many words she can say, but I really don't know. Over Christmas break, she started repeating things we say...that's fun:)

Some of our favorites word are:
baby (she loves Justin Beiber's song baby and literally tries to sing it. She calls everything baby: stuffed animals, her toys. She likes to look at pictures of babies too. We have a bulletin board at church with the baby dolls we made to send to Africa and every sunday she stops in front of it and shouts "baby"!

'men (this means amen-funny story about that: Jeff started a prayer before dinner the other night and before he could get the first line out, Lyla said "MEN" real loud. Jeff had to just stop because we were laughing so hard)

piece (this means she wants another "piece" of food-or maybe she's saying "please"????)

cookie (she thinks everything yummy is a cookie-i think she learned that at Mrs. jenni's house:))

no (well, this is not a favorite of ours..more like a favorite of hers)

go (this is what we say anytime we are about to leave...she also likes the word BYE and has started putting on her purse that Gammie and Papa gave her and saying bye, bye, bye)

aww wee (my mom always says this when something sweet hapens and so I started saying it to lyla. Now, anytime Lyla hugs someone she will say "aww wee". I am not really sure what it means, but it's so adorable.

ahhhhhhhh (this cracks me up. Anytime we take off Lyla's socks and shoes, she will let out the biggest "AHHHH" *Think like the coke commercials after they take a sip of the coke..ahhhh.)

papa (she calls for her papas quite often! I know my dad (papa) and Rick (papa G) just eat that up!)

Goo (This was a new one for her over Christmas break. My sister is Aunt Goo and to watch lyla say it, just warms my heart!)

cold (whenever we go outside, it's always "cold")

Lyla loves to dance. (wonder where she gets that from:)) Anytime we need to calm her down, we just turn on some music (usually Justin Beiber) and she settles down and starts dancing. I am so glad she loves music so much.

She loves bath time. The Bonds gave her a basketball goal for the bath and Lyla LOVES shooting hoops with Jeff.

She's such a sweet loving child. She can be rough, but only occasionally, and if you tell her to "just be sweet" she will immediately give you the biggest hug. I love those moments when we are cheek to cheek.

She's getting back to being a great eater. She usually eats just about anything. She loves PB and J (that's always a win) and she is getting to where she will eat meat. yay! She still loves loves loves fruit and anything sweet!


Here are a few pictures from the last month:) 
(already loves baby dolls)

(such a smiley, sweet girl)

(learning to slide on her new slide from Gammie and Papa)

(Lyla's first pigtails at 18 months old)


Until next time friends...hopefully it won't be as long next time!