She's One!

Zaila turned one yesterday! I can't believe its been a year already since she was born. It went so fast for us and we had a little time of mourning yesterday as we thought about our little baby growing up already. I guess it is not surprising that it went so fast because I don't even remember the first few months of her life. It is amazing, though, how fast we adapt to being parents and how quickly a routine develops. It has been an incredible first year as a parent.


Saturday we had a great birthday party for Zaila with our immediate families. Zaila was such a ham and it was a great day of celebrating and enjoying family. Zaila cooperated by digging right in to her cup cake and getting it all over her face, but not so much in her hair. She loved all her gifts and has been playing with them a lot. Even the ones that we anticipated would be more summer or fall toys she is insisting on using now. She has really had a lot of firsts in the last week. It is as if she knew she was one and would start doing a ton. She is walking much more and even running when she is really excited and not thinking about what she is doing. She will bark and moo when asked what dogs and cows say. She blows kisses and claps a lot (for herself of course). Finally, she drinks by herself out of a sippy cup. I may have missed some new firsts, but there are so many these days it is hard to keep track.

Here are some pics from the part....enjoy!

Zaila stuffing her face with a Monkey Cupcake!

Messy Face!!!

Opening presents with Rachel and Sammy (her cousins)

Don't know what this is about, but Mesha said she looks like me here.

(I hope that doesn't reflect how I look all the time, but I have been in Seminary for Five years!)

She's Walking!

Just a quick little update. Zaila is now eleven and a half months old and is doing a ton of new things. She is pointing at everything and cannot stop saying "Ball." Maybe we will have a little athelete on our hands. She also loves to turn on her "boom box," crank the sound (yes she turns it up on her own) and dance her little heart out. She is waving "hi" and "bye, bye" upon request. Also, she is giving hugs and kisses upon request (but still only when she is in the mood). Finally, she has gotten very attached to two stuffed monkeys named "monkey" and "deeds" (she named this one???) and will look for them first thing in the morning and carry them around hugging and kissing them all day long.

And the big news.....Yes! Zaila took her first few steps on Monday night. She was staring at the TV at the house of one of Mesha's friends and took three steps without realizing it. Later that night, I was holding her up and then she just took off for mom and walked about four steps. We haven't seen her do it since, but I am sure she will walk again soon!!!!

I can't believe that she is almost 1 already. Time flies when you get older, but it really flies when you have a kid.

Here's a couple more recent pics:

Daddy's girl!

So, Zaila has always been a bit of a Daddy's girl. It is probably because I have taken care of her during the day three days a week since she was 3 months old. While she goes through her different phases, like preferring her mother during the Christmas season, she will always be my little Daddy's girl. She made me a proud papa the other day by downing a large portion of a veggie (mom's influence) burrito at Chipotle! We are putting that in the Baby book. Baby's first Chipotle. She may prefer her mother right now, but she makes her Daddy proud!!!
Other news on the Zaila front. She has four teeth, is saying Momma, Dadda, up, ball, all done (sometimes), hi dad, and bye bye (again, only when she decides to grace us with this). She has begun to walk by holding on to our hands and is pretty confident in her standing, even forgetting that she is holding on to the coffee table and standing for a few seconds on her before realizing it and grabbing back on! Hope everyone had a great holiday! God bless in the New Year.

It's been a while!

Sorry, it has been a while. Mesha and I went to Colorado in early November for a much needed Vacation. We brought Z and all of had a great time. Some of the hilights included a Wild game in Denver (Wild won!!), all my family working together to surprise me with the fact that my cousin Kent was home from Iraq during my visit (I haven't seen him in ten years or so), walking around Estes Park with my family, and relaxing in an incredible hotel room. We had a great time and I'll have to post pics up here soon.
I can't believe it is the middle of December already. It is pretty crazy how time flies. Speaking of that, Zaila is growing up way too fast. She has been crawling since right about the time we went to Colorado and also popped her first two teeth. The first one came while we were in Colorado and we didn't even notice it until Z bit Mesha on the last morning during Breakfast. At first, Mesha thought Z had something sharp stuck in her gums, like something she had gotten a hold of and bit, getting it stuck in her gums. When we looked, we found a tooth! She is also saying momma, Dadda, up, ball, and waves and says ba ba, which is Zaila for Bye Bye. I keep telling her to relax and stay a little baby for a while, so Dad can enjoy her. She doesn't listen to me!
Well, that's all for now. I'll try to be better about updating!

Fall at the Orchard!

Zaila is now 6 and a half months old and growing fast. We just went to the doctors office and found out that she is 28 inches long! She is 90-95% in all areas. She crawled a little today, but is still mostly just scooting. However, she gets wherever she wants and pretty quickly if she is motivated. She has her first word down too. She says "Momma" very clearly and is working on a garbled "dadda." She is such a joy and is so nice to everyone she meets. She smiles and almost encourages people through her interaction with them. It is pretty cool to see her brighton even strangers' days.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went to the local Apple Orchard and Zaila's Auntie Jen took pictures of her with her cousin Andrew, us and Mesha's parents. It was a lot of fun! Here is a sample...

She's already 5 months!

Well, Zaila was 5 months last Sunday and I only just got 4 month pictures up here. I am definitely falling behind. I will try to add some new pics soon. At least, before the big 6 month mark. She is doing extremely well. She continues to sleep a long time at night (like 10 hours!!!!). She has a pretty set schedule, but can adapt pretty well with ours too! She is rolling over both directions and is becoming somewhat mobile because of this new ability. A couple weeks ago, she decided she could pull herself to standing when holding on to her grandpa's fingers. (Crazy!) She can sit up with her hands on the floor to brace herself. And, she has started rice cereal. I was sitting with her the other day and she started trying to pull herself up on the coffee table. (She was unsuccessful) I immediately sat her down and gave her a talk about taking her time and being patient. She just smiled her big toothless smile as if to say..."Dad, don't worry, I'll always be your little girl." Oh, I almost forgot. She is saying momma, too!!! My baby is saying her first word! What the heck?
Mesha and I are doing well. We are both really busy with the fall kick offs and stuff for youth. Mesha is still working at the county even though most of those she was friends with there have moved on to bigger and better things. She works hard and has been told that she should be in management! She is definetly good at what she does!
I am starting my final year of Seminary in a week!!!! I can't wait to be done and this time, I actually can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am supposed to be working on some papers right now. They'll get done and this year should be over before I know it. That will be great. Mark my words. NO MORE SCHOOL after this point! Have a great weekend!

4 month pics of Z

Here are a sample of some of the latest pics of Zaila. She is rolling over, grabbing her feet and for a while had an obsession with sticking out her tongue, which her auntie caught on camera! There are so many cute ones that this will need to be a series of posts, so more to come!!