Happy 8 Months!

Happy 8 Month Birthday pumpkin face, cutiepatutie, booboo, princess.....and every other nickname I have for you. Here are your milestones: ( it was a very active month!)

crawling ( each day getting faster and faster, those track legs may just be in you!)

pulling your self up

your new smile ( so hard that your nose disappears)

talking! with words only me, daddy, and tracey somehow understand

drinking juice out of a sippy cup

in the BIG bathtub

sitting in a high chair at restauraunts and flirting with all the waiters!

HUGS and reaching out for us!

We love you so much that words can't describe it!

Look who's crawling!

We believe that Leah was really imspiried by Obama and decided to crawl foward for the first time as soon as he won. After weeks of going backwards and spinning around, she has finally figured out how to get where she is going in a straight line!!! It is so adorable. Every milestone she reaches just brings just joy to us. We are so grateful to have a healthy( besides her constant sniffles!), happy, and beautiful baby. Now we realize that she is on the gooooo and it changes everything. Babyproofing here we go!

Yes we can!

Daddy I just voted, can I sit in a high chair now?
I've got the sticker to prove it.

"Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Obama could run, Obama ran so the children could fly"

Call me sappy, but my heart is filled with pride today. Obama won the election and feel like we played a part in making history. Obviously Leah can and will grow up to be what ever her heart desires, but I feel the significance of the year she was born was the year Obama won the presidency. We've always been politically aware and involved, but this race was special and has meaning more than ever before for our daughter. Not just because of the race thing, but because we care so much about the world we are bringing her into. We were soooo excited to go vote and bring Leah in the booth with us. She even got to wear her "i voted" sticker. It was also the first night she sat in a high chair out at a restaraunt....okay not as meaningful , but still special!

Olivia and Sydney's Halloween Party

This is our love child...Leah
The hostess with the mostess.....Mr. and Mrs. Old McDonald and their chicken and pig ( Olivia and Sydney)

Leah " Can someone get these petals out of my face"


The Mommy Shot

Our sunflower

The ENTIRE baby group got together to celebrate Halloween at Jodi and Mike's house. This was really nice since we haven't seen everyone in a while. It was such a good time....filled with great weather, a million photo ops ( of course Leah cried during the group shot.....she is now 2 for 2), yummy food, and most of all an amzing time with all of her friends. Even some of the parents were dressed up. Mommy and Daddy were hippies and had their flower child with them. I loved this costume the best...Leah just reminds me of a sunflower :)Hopefully we'll do this again next year and it becomes a halloween tradition....

Trick or Treat '08

I want my candy!!!!!!

Leah the ladybug went out for her first Trick or Treat around Kensington Woods. We were so excited that I think we were the first one's out there (plus she'll be knocked out by 7). I was Hippie Girl ( later titled Foxy Brown) and Corey was Obama. It was classic. He was campaigning and kissing a baby the whole night. She was great and of course there were no words but she screamed and swung her arms with excitement when people came to the door. She ( really Mommy and Daddy) got some great candy. All I could think to myself was......should I check the candy for needles. That was so big in the 80's. I've been waiting to be a mom just to say that. ( meanwhile she can't even eat the candy!!)Another great first experience.......

Leah's Mischief Night

Okay...so we had one to many halloween costumes and didn't know what to do with them all. We figured she needed an outfit the night before to get her in the mood for the festivities over the next few days. I thought at this age the halloween thing would be all about Corey and I , but I seriously think she loved it to. She was having fun with the costume and made her laugh every time she saw herself!

Older video

Here is another one of our older video clips that we just love. Although she was never a big fan of the tummy time, she tried so hard to get that head up. Look at all that hair too!

Hi, my name is Elmo

This is her new seriously laughing face

As we ventured for the first time to Toys R Us ( yes, she is offically a lttle girl since we bought toys in the BIG Girl store. When we walked in she looked at the Elmo and immediatley began gigglying. I thought nothing of it unitl when she saw it again she had the same reaction and that was it.......suckered right into it. She was done and found her new best friend. This thing cracks her up everytime she plays with it. I remember years ago watching something on TV where all of these parents were fighting to get into a store one Christmas Holiday time to get the new Elmo, and I thought " these people are nuts!". Yes, they are still nuts and I will not be knocking down anyone for a stuffed animal, but I get how it feels to want to give your child what they want to make them smile like that. So here are some pics of Leah and her new friend.......................

A fun , rainy day in New Paltz

Today was James's 1st birthday party so we took a road trip up to New Paltz. It was such a great time and daddy got to see Lele in action for the first time during a music class. Between the drums, baloons, and cake, she was having a BLAST! It is so beautiful to see her have a personality. She was so into all the instruments and loved the piano so much that I bought one for her next day. I can't believe James is 1 already, they are all getting way to big to fast!

Some real live Leah!

Yeah!!!!! We finally got a new computer, so this means I can actually add video and it won't take a week to upload. So here I am testing it out. This is one of the first video's we took of her in the hospital. Listen to that cry, it's precious!

Hip-Hop is in my blood!!

Once in a while we'll let Leah listen to a little hip-hop just to make sure she is getting her soul up in Danbury. Especially with the shirt she was wearing I was in the mood. So with BET playing in the background she got so excited that it looked like she was starting to breakdance. What a personality is shining through. She is defaintly her mommy and daddy's daughter. We can see so much of us in her it just makes up giggle ( and worry a little!)


Shake what your mama gave ya!

Look Mommy I can back spin!

........and Baby Lucas arrives too!

It's a boy!!! After months of guessing and talking to Jen everyday....Lucas James has arrived! Leah couldn't wait to meet her newest boyfriend ( As Daddy would say...whoaaaaa easy!). He is just so yummy and we are so happy for Jen and John. At 8lb5 oz and 22 in, he is a BIG one! Jen is one of Mommy's very best friends and is sooooooo excited that we have our little angels together!!

Grandma Shirley Arrives!

You look just like my Daddy
Do you want to see my toys?
Hey, that's my Grandma

What an exciting weekend filled with arrivals. First Grandma Shirley came from Louisianna and Leah couldn't wait to show her how big she got. The last time she saw her was when she was first born so we are were so happy to have her. All day long Leah kept her eye on Grandma and showed her how she can talk and crawl around ( backwards still!). Grandma's favorite thing to say about her is her "fat jaws" just like Daddy. ( That would be "big cheeks", but down south they say "fat jaws"....how cute!)

An Ode to My Breast Friend

As I pack you away for the very last time, it is bittersweet. You have been there to "support" me and Leah from the first day I brought her home. Now this may sound silly to some, unless you have gone through the breastfeeding experience it is hard to imagine you would grow so close to a pillow. As many talented mommies were able to put you away months ago, I ALWAYS needed you and took you where ever I went. I would try to replace you with her giraffe pillow, my knee, or even a couch pillow at somebodys house......but I always came back to you. So as our journey ends and Leah is only on the bottle, I say good bye dear friend. Thanks for being there through some sleepless nights, you were a very good breast friend.

( Okay, I'm not crazy but you do become attached to these things!)

An apple a day....

We met up with Leah's friends to go apple picking. This has always been a tradition of Mommy and Daddy's but it was even more fun with her. It only took us 10 minutes to get there which made us realize we are REALLY no longer city folks and have officially moved to the country. Daddy played hooky from work and we couldn't be happier. He was officially the king of the apples and took home over 100 ( really why??? what are we gonna do with all these apples, we've already started passing them out to the neighbors). Leah got to eat her first real apple. Her favorite part was playing in the pumpkin patch with her crew!

Such a tropper!!

"oh no you don't!!"
"don't even think about it"
"this isn't so bad"

So here we are and weeks later Leah still has a bad cough. On our last weekly adventure to the doctors office they recommended we start her on a nebulizer. My heart just broke when the doctor brought it out. She was NOT enjoying the treatment at the doctors office. But here we are our first night and she is such a tropper. Thanks to "Blue's Clues" ( which is her favorite show. I know she shouldn't be watching tv, but she gets so happy when she sees that blue dog......and hey we turned out okay, a little tv never hurt anybody) she can watch that and do her treatment at the same time. She is already feeling better, so it's all worth it. Now if we can only make mommy better. And just think of the footage we will have when she becomes an Olympian and they do the segement on the hurdles she had to overcome.