BIG NEWS

Long story short: We're moving to VA July 8th for Tony's job. He got a incredible job opportunity that we just can't pass up. We found some renters for our house, now we just have to find a house for us to rent for a year until we decide where we want to buy...

Lakely is growing SO fast! She now has four teeth on top and two on the bottom. She is experimenting with all kinds of solid foods; one of her favorites is seafood. She had a bad day at school today, which ended with her in the ER. She apparently was pulling a toy of a shelf and it fell and hit her in the face. It split her head above the right eyebrow and they put five stitches in to close it up. She seems fine tonight; we'll know more in the morning.

We're having her birthday party on Saturday! I can't wait! I think she's really going to have a blast. The family is coming in town and we'll have her little friends over (as well as ours), to have great food and fun times! Pictures to come.

Watch Out People!

Giggle Box

And she's off!

Lakely started taking a few steps here and there right around 10 months old. Now, she's walking ALL OVER! She'll sit back down once she realizes what she's doing, but then she's up and at it again within minutes! We are SO excited, yet so very nervous. She was already getting into everything and now I'm sure it'll be even worse. Our weekends consist of baby proofing something we thought we had covered, but Lakely proved otherwise! Ha!

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Ma-Ma

FINALLY!! Lakely has said the magic word! Given it has only been once, but I'm sure within days it will be rolling off her tongue! This morning she saw her Daddy for the first time in 6 days (due to him traveling for business), and I SO wish that I had had a video camera on when he went into her room this morning to get her. It was probably the sweetest thing I have seen yet. Her jaw dropped, she looked at him, then me, then back at him with the largest grin you've ever seen! Arms flapping, he picked her up and she laid her sweet little head on his chest and hugged him so tightly! I could shed a tear thinking about it! Ha! During this past week, Lakely and I have practiced walking A LOT. She will now walk holding on with just one hand, and she'll take a single step alone before she sits down. Since she sits on her own, and doesn't fall on her bum, I really think she'll be walking on her own within a week or so. We also practiced the stairs. She loved it! Sometimes she would forget that she couldn't lean back, but she remembered quickly when she started feeling off balance! All I did was stand behind her and she figured it right out! She really is such an angel. I can't believe she'll be 10 months Sunday; time to start planning her BIG 1st BIRTHDAY!

BIG changes

I feel like Miss Lakely is no longer changing daily, more like hourly. This weekend we experienced some crazy changes in her sleep patterns. She has NEVER fought taking a nap, going to bed at night or sleeping in her crib. Well, we experienced all three! She refused to take a nap in her crib at Grandma's house and it even got to the point where we put her portable swing INSIDE the crib to get her to shut her eyes. Given, it was HOURS past her typical nap time when she finally went to sleep. Then that night was even worse! She went down easily but woke up around 1:00am completely upset...guess what I did?! AHHHHH! Something that I SWORE up and down I wouldn't do...put her in the bed with us and she slept snug as a bug in a rug! Then to top off these unusual sleep habits, I had to let her cry herself to sleep lastnight. IT BROKE MY HEART! I sat there watching the monitor counting down the minutes until she layed her sweet little head down...13 minutes to be exact and in those 13 minutes I had to fight every urge I had NOT to run up to her room!


Friday we're headed to the doctor for her 9 month check up! Results to come!

Busy Week

This past weekend Lakely's mobility tripled what it was the previous weekend. She is crawling EVERYWHERE! Before you could set her on the ground, she would move a little here and a little there but wouldn't ever get to far away from us. Now, you set her down and she's gone! Holy smokes, I'm already worn out and it's just begun. Crawling aside, she usually "cruises" from ottoman, to couch, to bar stool, or whatever is near. She absolutely loves standing up and walking. My prediction is that she'll be walking alone by 10 months...we'll see ;)
It is only Tuesday, however we've already had a busy week it seems. Or rather a week with many changes. We've installed her big girl car seat in my car now, and she seems to really like it. I used to always complain about carrying the infant carrier, but sometimes it really is nice having the option to tote her around in it if need be. We're still getting used to it, and it is a monstrosity of a thing back there, but it'll be perfect in a few months when we can make it forward facing.
Enough rambling...once again, it is only Tuesday and Tony has had to sign 2 boo-boo reports already. Now that she is on the move, she gets hurt ALL THE TIME! She now has a bruise on the top of her hand (from another baby dropping a toy on her), and a small bump on either side of her forehead from her getting hurt pulling up on things/falling. I'm going to be a nervous wreck until she masters walking!
Tomorrow Aunt Betsy is supposed to be headed to the hospital to be induced!! I truly hope she's able to get in. If not, she'll have to wait a day or two longer. We are ALL ready to meet Miss Ava!
Thursday we have Lakely's Pulmonologist appointment. We're hoping to rule out asthma and allergies and for them to tell us she'll be cough free sooner rather than later! We've been doing a daily inhaler that seems to be doing the trick, I just wonder if we can ever stop doing it.
We're hoping to be visiting the family this weekend! It's all up to Ava I guess!

March

All I want to do is STAND!


Grandma's 90th Birthday! ...30 minutes before the stomach bug ATTACKED ME!


Loving on Daddy :)


Rockin' my big girl hat

CrAwLeR Class!

Today was Lakely's first day in the crawler class. She is no longer considered an INFANT! Ahhh! She's growing up so fast! She seemed to have had such a great time though! This is her new "do" as a big girl, in the big class... (or better yet, Tony went to pick her up from school and she had some FUN pigtails)!

My First V'Day

Playtime with NO electricity!


LOVED my first rose


Mommy and Lakely's roses for Valentine's Day

February 2010

**SnOw**

We've had a busy last couple of weeks so it's time to get the blog up to date. Here are a few BIG things: Lakely officially has two teeth on the bottom now! Lately she's been enjoying some Gerber Graduate snacks like a big girl.
Another thing she's been doing is pulling up in her crib all by herself. I always put her in the crib to play while I fold her laundry and the other day I look over and she's standing there with the most satisfying look on her face and the gummiest grin you've ever seen! I was shocked, but oh so proud :)
At school last week we were given the big news of her moving up to the Crawler class March 1st. It's bitter sweet, but I know she'll learn much more being around the "big" kids as opposed to all the infants that surround her in the class currently. We'll speak more on that in a couple of weeks once it's official...
Speaking of Crawler class, our princess has finally shown some interest in crawling!! For the longest we were sure that she would go straight to walking since she'd been taking steps (with help of course), for a month or so. Within the past few days though, she has been on all fours rocking. Friday, she was even "crawling" backwards! I would say that its considered crawling; she was on her knees pushing back with her arms...that counts, right?
This weekend she also had her first experience with SNOW! She didn't get out in it, but she sure figured out that snow means COLD since we were without electricity for 17 hours! Boy it was a waste of a Saturday! We all wore many layers and took cat naps all day. I'm sure there were numerous chores we could have done while waiting for the power to come back on, but we acted as though everything that needed to be done involved electricity...looking back, that is far from true! Ha!
Grandma came to visit Lakely about a week ago and the two seemed to really enjoy each other's company. We are looking forward to some more family time VERY soon!

I Love Standing!

Check-Up

We went to the doctor on 1/8/10 for Lakely's 6 month well check. She measured 26.25 inches long and weighed 18.4 lbs. The doctor said that she looked great! Several days later though, we had to return because Lakely came down with a really bad cold. Her school called to say that she was coughing excessively and it was hard for her to nap. When we went to see the doctor she was given a steriod that we put in the nebulizer and do breathing treatments with. It should help with the wheezing and hopefully give her what she needs in order to kick the cough. Since she had RSV back in October, her cough never left but the doctor said since it is cold and flu season it probably won't until spring or so. If she still has trouble once Spring and Summer come, then we'll look to see what we can do with an inhaler. Overall, Lakely is a heck of a trooper and she seems to be doing well today. No fever, and many smiles!



WAITING ON THE DOCTOR


WAITING FOR MOMMY TO TAKE ME TO SCHOOL


BIG GIRL BATH


PAINTING AT SCHOOL!!

6 Months Old

So much has happened in the past month, it's unreal! We got to enjoy our first Christmas with our little angel and she absolutely had a blast! We were able to go home to Atlanta for 10 days to spend time with all of our family. It was so great to see everyone and not have to rush around from house to house in a 2-day time span like our weekend visits. Lakely has changed so much lately! These are her new tricks:
- She rode in the grocery cart seat like a big girl!
- She is PULLING UP when you hold her hands! CrAzY!
- And now, she is mocking us! She has a fake cough and when you pretend to cough she'll do it to! It's pretty hilarious:)

Over Christmas, when it was time to open gifts, Lakely caught on pretty quickly as to what to do. We would put her in the floor surrounded by presents and she would go to town! Ripping tissue paper out of gift bags and throwing bows all around. It was the best sight I have ever seen!

This year has been stressful on our family with the loss of my Grandaddy and my Mom's back surgery, but the arrival of Lakely is what helped everyone through these tough times. The great news is that a new year is awaiting all of us and a new year, brings new beginnings! Can't wait to see what He has in store for us!




Opening her 1/2 Birthday present.



Opening her new phone- she loved it!



Christmas morning!




Being a Daddy's girl




Christmas Eve at Nana's




She got her first CAR! Papaw Gary made her and Kiley a UGA mustang!



She got a pretty pony to ride when she gets a little bigger!

ThAnKsGiViNg 2009

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year at our house. Mil and Fil, and Betsy and Mike came into town on Wednesday. Tony and I had gone to get our Christmas tree earlier in the day, so that night we put lights on the tree and sat around chatting over some vino. On Thanksgiving we got up bright and early to start some cooking. Tony fried a small turkey and Mil roasted and big one for us. Everything was so yummy! Lakely was such a trooper all day. She even sat like a big girl at the table while we all ate together! Thanksgiving night we decided to do some arts and crafts. We painted some very interesting looking Christmas ornaments due to Aunt Betsy mixing all the paint colors/wearing down the markers... (good job Bets). Hehe, it was a lot of fun though!

Friday, Mil, Betsy and I conquered Black Friday! I hadn't done it in years, and with Betsy pregnant, really didn't think we'd be gone too long. But, we headed out early and didn't get back until mid-afternoon and we had a blast. Although all very tired, it was well worth it! We picked up some beautiful things for the princesses and a couple of things for us too :)

Our little girl is officially 5 months old now. I can't believe it! She is sitting up like a champ, rolling over, laughing, standing and loves playing with her toys! She is so much fun these days!




Our Feast!



Picking out our Christmas tree



Trying out the Chicco booster seat



Is anyone watching me eat this present?



My little doll :)

PuPpY LoVe

Lakely has discovered the boys at school already...