A Year of Fun.... Look Who's One!!!

Hanging with my Uncle Russell

I really liked when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me.

I loved my strawberry cake.

Happy First Birthday Leyton!!!

Happy First Birthday to our sweet baby girl!!!  This year has been full of laughs, worries, sleepless nights, stress, but all soooooooooooooo worth it!  What a journey this little one has given us and we never would have thought it would be this wonderful.  She is such a joy to our lives and it just keeps getting better and better. 

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday, March 25.  Of course, Leyton gave her cousin Jackson lots of birthday love too because they share their special day.  We had a great time having cake and ice cream, opening presents, and spending time with friends and family. 

Leyton is walking all the time now.  She still will walk on her knees some, but she is trying to gain speed on the walking.  One Sunday, a little after turning 11 months, she just started walking back and forth between us.  It was on from there.  Then, a few days later (Wednesday), she cut two teeth.  She has one top tooth, and one bottom tooth.  We can see the other top and bottom tooth about to make an appearance, but not quite. 

She jibber jabbers all the time and does pretty good at repeating some sounds you make.  She wants to try everything you're eating, but you can't feed it to her.  She has to do it herself.  :)  Her newest love is sweet pickles.  And I think she would eat chicken and pastry every day for every meal.  She loooooves it. 

So, Ryan and I have our garden planted and have just been getting our yard groomed for the summer.  We have signed up for the 2012 Warrior Dash and we are excited and nervous.  We are using this to kick-start ourselves to get in shape :)  It's going to be so much fun! Leyton recently spread her love via germs and we've all been sick with respiratory infections so our training has been a little delayed.  Gonna get back on it this week though.  Easter is just around the corner and we look forward to Leyton's first Easter egg hunt.  Should be fun!!

We would like for you all to keep some friends of ours in your prayers.  A friend of mine that I played softball since I was 9 years old, went to middle school and high school with, and now we all tailgate together...lost her newborn son this past week.  Our hearts break for the Wahlens and have been keeping them close in prayer.  Caison Isaac Wahlen (March 28, 2012) was surrounded by an abundance of love and is now with our Jesus. 

"The Weaving"

My life is but a weaving, between my God and me

I do not chose the colors, He worketh steadily

Oft times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside

Not til the loom is silent, and shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why

The dark threads are as needful in the skillful Weaver's hand

As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned

-Anonymous

11

 Leyton and Cy enjoying some playtime

Leyton is 11 months old!!!  We have been pretty busy over here in the Weaver household.  Leyton is no longer using a bottle.  Right after she turned 10 months, we started replacing her morning bottle with a sippy cup.  She was familiar with the sippy for water during snack time and with meals.  We did that for a couple of days and moved on to the afternoon bottle, then to the night-time bottle.  She did great.  We were off the bottle after one week. She is also taking lots of steps.  She gets a lot of laughs at how she is getting around these days.  She walks on her knees all the time.  And, she can drink from a straw.

Walking on my knees

She can walk across a room, but she just doesn't want to. She walks well if you hold her hand.  She will walk a lot outside, but when we bring her inside, she gets right on her knees or crawls.  So, we just go with it.  She will walk when she decides to.  

Happy 1st Valentine's Day!!

Leyton had her first Valentine's Day.  She got a very cute pair of shoes from her Grandma June, and Mommy and Daddy gave her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse books.  She loves taking those books in and out of the box.  She still loves for us to read to her.  

Leyton has two favorite songs already.  If we play "If I die young" by The Band Perry or "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, she goes crazy.  It is soooooo funny.  She starts laughing and will stand up and start dancing.  She waves her hands in the air, too.  It cracks us up.  We recorded Adele for her on the Grammys and she danced and danced. We definitely are hoping she has her daddy's rhythm. :)

Taking lots of steps

Playing with my buddy, Cy

Being silly

I'm 11 months old!!!

Leyton will play Pat-a-Cake now and give you "five".  She will sign for milk sometimes, but not consistantly.  She loves to kiss and hug.  If you ask her for a kiss she will be glad to lay one on you.  You really don't even have to ask though cause she's gonna give you one.  She wraps her little arms around you and gives the sweetest hugs.  Feels so good!  She has learned to climb the stairs so gates are at the top and bottom.  She tries to climb up on everything. 

She will hardly eat anything that comes off of a baby spoon.  She wants to feed herself.  She loves her scrambled egg in the morning, mandarin oranges, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, pancakes, waffles, toast, cheese, ham, turkey, chicken, fish sticks, sweet potato fries, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, any kind of pasta anyway you make it, macaroni and cheese, and carrots occasionally.  We have tried butter beans a few times and she does not like them. They are instantly rejected if you put them in her mouth. 

Ryan and I have prepared our garden and are ready to plant.  We are hoping for lots of fresh veges for the family.  Leyton had a good time playing in the dirt and riding around the yard in her wagon.  So far we have strawberries, broccoli, onion, garlic, and cabbage.  It may sound crazy to some of ya'll, but we had a lot of fun. 

The birthday planning is in full swing now.  Gonna keep it small, but special for our little sweet pea.  We can't believe it's already so close.  Wish we could press pause for a while because she is so stinkin fun.  Everyday there is something new and we are just so so so blessed.

10 months!!!!

My new signature look.  I stick my tongue out all the time

I will stand up, but I'm not moving my feet.

No teeth yet. Just a gummy grin. :)

Our first bath together. 

Wow, 10 months has flown by and has been incredibly fun.  What a joy and blessing sweet Leyton is to us.  She is so happy and sweet... we can't get enough.  I didn't post her 9 month check up stats so here they are: 19lbs 12 oz (75 percentile, gained 2lbs 1 oz), 28 inches long (75 percentile, grew 1 1/4 inches).  No shots at that visit, thank goodness.

Leyton is pretty much not eating baby food unless she has to these days.  Meaning...we are on the go and it's what I have in the bag which is not very often.  She wants what we are eating and does really well considering she doesn't have any teeth yet.  She loves chicken, turkey, avocado, cheese, spaghetti, lasagna, tuna casserole, turkey meatballs, broccoli, potatoes, cheerios, tator tots, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pancakes, cauliflower, peas, string beans, and macaroni and cheese.  The girl will eat just about anything.  She's not a fan of corn and I'm thinking it's the texture.  She will eat one bite and then the second one she just spits out, but doesn't make that "I don't like that" face.  She makes the "that's gross"  face with almost all baby food now.  The baby food she use to eat all the time.  I guess it doesn't have enough flavor for her. 

Well, she is standing all the time and will take a couple of steps and then goes back to crawling.  She laughs the whole time we try and get her to walk.  She is not doing anything until she is good and ready.  I know we are going to regret trying to get her to walk, especially as fast as she crawls already.  She walks all around the house pushing her walk-a-long dinosaur and other push toys. 

She says "Mama", "Dada", and "huh".  She will roll a ball back and forth with you, play chase, peek-a-boo, give you big slobbery kisses, reaches for who she wants to hold her, drinks well from a sippy cup, can climb up a few stairs, still looooooooves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and dances to music.  We feel like she does something new everyday.  It is just amazing how quickly she picks up on things.  It is so fun to watch.

Leyton and I have made Wednesdays our Chick-fil-a day.  I'm off on Wednesdays.  So, we get up, have breakfast together, play, she takes a nap, then we head to Chick-fil-a.  She has a couple of grilled chicken nuggets and fruit and then we usually head to Target.  We have a blast during girl time.  Today, we actually played outside in the nice weather.  This summer is going to be so much fun!  I can't wait!!

Our family is in the process of gathering items to rebuild our river house.  Hopefully we will have a place the beginning of the summer.  Ryan and I are looking forward to making fun summer memories with Leyton.

Merry Christmas & Merry 9 months!

What a wonderful Christmas at the Weavers!  Here is our picture from our Christmas card.  We had the camera on a tripod so there wasn't anyone to dance in front of Leyton to make her smile. We are all looking at the camera so it was a keeper. 

Here is a picture of Leyton in front of the tree.  I tried to get her to hold the present, but I couldn't even get her to sit in front of the tree at all.  Getting her to sit still anywhere is a challenge.

Leyton and Grandma June while she was here for a brief visit before Christmas.  She was still a little tired from visiting Santa Claus.  I had bought that outfit for her Christmas pictures and it barely fit.  She only wore it once.  Oh well.

We love these PJ's we bought for her first Christmas.  The bottom is a reindeer and the front says "My first Christmas".  This was taken Christmas Eve.  Getting ready to go to bed and ready for Santa!

Ryan and I know that Leyton doesn't know what Christmas is or what gifts are, but we were so excited about buying our little one presents.  We both wanted her to have a red wagon.  That was her big present.  She received a few books, movies, weeble wobbles, and a puzzle from Santa.  We had so much fun watching her play with her new toys!

puzzle

Weeble Wobbles

Going for a ride in my new wagon.  We took her for a spin around the kitchen and have it all on video.  She had a blast.

Jackson is excited about Christmas

Her Mickey Mouse train from Grammy & PopPop.  Leyton really loved this gift.  Jackson got a train, too!She would scream every time we would press a button on it.  Her love for Mickey Mouse continues and she showed it again when she heard his voice.  She really loves to open and close things and that includes doors.  Well, the seat of the train opens up and she will open and close it a lot!  She also pushes that train all over the living room.  We have recently had to put stoppers on the tops of doors in our house to keep her from mashing any fingers.  Also, locks are now on all the cabinets to keep fingers from being squished as well. 

Happy 9 months Jackson & Leyton!!!  Christmas day celebrated 9 happy months for Cousin Jackson and Leyton.  We thought we were going to get a repeat of our Halloween picture, but they both actually posed for the camera.  No crying for this one.  They both get so happy to see one another.  It is really cute.  We love them both to pieces. 

PopPop picked this present out and Leyton and Jackson love them.  They can stand up and hold on to it while the little bear sings and dances. 

Leyton was giving some lovin' to Great Grandmother Nella.

Grandpa Donald giving her lots of hugs and kisses.

We love Christmas cards!

Snoopy playing the handbells.  We gave this Snoopy to our handbell choir director at church and I just had to have one.  Leyton is still not too sure about him.  He scares her a little.  She will play with him as long as she is safely in mommy or daddy's arms. 

Merry Christmas Mommy and Daddy.  This was Ryan and I's gift to each other.  We finally have a dining room set.

We had to do Christmas with Uncle Russell a little late because he was in Missouri for Christmas.  Leyton does love her Uncle Russell.  She thinks he is so funny and loves for him to hold her.  Do you like the license plates he had made for her??? :)  RIKYBOBY and BOBNWEAV

Not really excited about Santa, but she didn't cry! :)  When we put her in Santa's lap she looked up at him for the longest time and just stared.  We were waiting for the meltdown.  Leyton will go to any woman whether she knows them or not, but has never cared for the men folks unless she knows them.  We have two pictures and she is looking at the camera, not smiling, just looking like...what is going on here?  But she didn't cry :)

Overall, I would have to say that we had a pretty, wonderful Christmas with our little sweet pea.  We hope everyone has a happy and safe 2012!!

8 months old

Sitting at the table

 Walking behind my dinosaur

We have been having so much fun around here with our sweet, baby girl.  She is growing up so fast and learning something new all the time.  We love to watch her discover new things and see her own little personality take shape. 

Our newest word is "MaMa".  I was so excited to hear her say that word.  It made my heart sing for joy.  She said it while sitting in her high chair at supper time.  Yay!!! We all screamed!!

So, I'm surprised to say that Leyton is not walking on her own yet.  She went from crawling to pulling up within a week all before turning six months, yet she has not taken a step.  She will stand up on her own, but doesn't want to move her feet.  The walk-along dinosaur has really helped her move her feet.  She walks behind him really well and will walk all over the house.  Don't get me wrong...we are not rushing our little one into taking those first steps.  We are just surprised that she hasn't made the step yet. 

Leyton has not been too interested in the Christmas tree thank goodness.  She really liked the lights when we first brought them out, but quickly lost interest.  She has been after the bows on the presents a few times, but we couldn't even get her to hold one while trying to take some pictures. 

We continue to introduce new foods to her.  She always wants what we are eating more than what we have for her.  So, we just let her try what we are eating provided that it's a safe choice.  She loves pasta and has been really good at picking up her food and eating it herself.  She does better with feeding herself than us feeding her.  She knows if its on a baby spoon it's hers and is reluctant to eat it.  All I have to do is switch spoons and she will eat it.  Smart little stinker.  She makes the funniest face when she doesn't want what we try and feed her.  It cracks us up. Leyton has to be the slowest eater on the planet.  Unlike her cousin, Jackson, who sits there with his mouth open...Leyton has to be coaxed into eating.  She is simply not interested most of the time.  It's like she would rather be doing other things.  Distraction techniques seem to work well, too.

To say that Leyton loves Mickey Mouse is an understatement.  She gets so excited, dances, and starts making all sorts of noises when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on TV.  She only cares about the singing. Sometimes it sounds like she is trying to sing along. 

When bath times rolls around, I turn on the water and here she comes.  Straight to the bathroom and stands up on the edge of the tub ready to be put in.  Sitting still to put the pajamas on after is another story.  This is usually accompanied by lots of screaming and thrashing.  That's another job in itself. 

Our hearts overflow with love for this little one.  We truly never knew the love that God would bring by placing her in our arms.  We thank Him everyday for her...for sharing that love...and to see her share that love with others.  To take her out and have her smile her biggest to complete strangers...to see that it only makes people smile back...it's uplifting...it's God in her.  We are so blessed. 

Christmas is going to be so much fun.  Ryan and I are so joyful over starting our own Weaver Christmas traditions.  To celebrate the birth of our King.  To teach our sweet Leyton what Christmas is all about.  Merry Christmas everyone!!