Team Grammatikii

***In the midst of all the insanity written about below, I apparently forgot about this post.  And I am sad because I was really passionate about it at the time, and I still am.  Since then, Layla has done MUCH traveling, and will continue to do so.  She got her feet wet early, and I love hauling all of her stuff around so we can keep going places. (Well, not really LOVE, but you know.) Anyway, I originally wrote this in August when Layla was about four months old.  That seems like such a long time ago, and I guess it really was.  This year she will get some more miles under her belt...Germany, Greece, and Baltimore if we can make it happen.  She sees my family all the time, and knows and loves them.  But it's imperative to me and D that she continue to see, meet, and understand her family and heritage that are still in Europe.  I honestly can not WAIT to take her to Greece.  The family there is HILARIOUS and they will love her to pieces. ...

***WARNING*** Long, sappy Mom post ahead. It might be rambly, too. Daniel and I always knew we wanted kids.  There was always a debate about how many, but we figured we would start with at least one, and see how we all did.  When we decided it was time, I was nervous. I had no reason to think we would have any problems, but as many moms and women who want to be moms know, the anxiety that can come with pregnancy and all that surrounds it is ridiculous.  We were so so lucky.  Pregnant in the first month.  A perfectly normal pregnancy with the typical symptoms and such.  And a great birth experience.  I am so unbelievably grateful for how it all went.  It's weird to think how worried I was about everything.  God, I am sure, was just laughing and laughing while He handled everything. One year ago today, I was in the midst of labor.  Long, painful, unmedicated, induced labor. I, of course, chose unmedicated.  But that's where I...

Holy cow!  11 months!  One year is right around the corner.  I missed her 11 month birthday.  We were in Denver, and she was spending the weekend with Papa Dos and Oma Katsy.  This was our first weekend away, and her first time to spend a few days with someone besides us.  She did GREAT.  No problems, great sleeping, lots of fun with the family.  It was so nice to not worry about her.  In fact, when I got home yesterday, my dad left and I was getting her up from her nap. She looked confused, and kept looking around the house for Papa Dos.  It was kind of funny.  She got pretty excited after she figured out it was really me, and when Papa got home from work.  It makes me feel good that she does well without us. We have another wedding to go this summer, and she will be just fine then, also. Milestones!  She pulls up on EVERYTHING now.  We have not been doing a great job at baby proofing.  That is going to have ...

I missed the ten month mark last weekend!  So...it's ten months and nine days.  Close enough Milestones! -She is crawling!  Like, straight up, all over the place, finding everything I wish she wouldn't crawling.  Our house was not prepared, and it's still not.  We are slowly making progress.  Until then she will have to learn not to smack her head on the coffee table, and not to yank any wine bottles down on her face.  - She blows kisses and says thank you!  We have been working on thank you for awhile, and she just couldn't get the hang of it.  But last week she finally got how to blow kisses, and thank you came right after that.  It's essentially the same thing, but hey...it works! :) - Eating is still a battle.  Some days she can't get enough, and I can't come up with enough to feed her.  The next day she throws everything on the floor.  I am pretty sure this is just preparing me for teen life. - I have no id...

Yeah, I am almost a month late.  Oh well. So, 2013, here we are.  There are a lot of things happening this year.  I think less than last year.  Our last quarter of 2012 was insane.  I am happy to NOT have that travel schedule in our future.  Still, I think we will stay busy.  You might ask, with what?  Or you might not care.  Either way, with this stuff. Layla will turn one!  I can't believe I even just typed that.  It's really really hard to comprehend that she will be a YEAR OLD.  In the last few weeks, she has gotten pretty mobile.  She isn't crawling yet, but she has learned how to get to her knees, and sit back down, how to pull up in her crib (the mattress was moved last night), and how to scoot around on hardwood floors.  She's pretty proud of herself, and it's stinking cute.  When I walked in the other morning to discover her standing in her crib, she was just waving and smiling and cackling.  S...

It's hard to believe that Layla is nine months old today!  In the craziness of our last few months, I missed her eight month birthday and post.  I will try to catch up.  Beware. December was a blur.  Three Christmas parties, a week in Atlanta, and then two and a half weeks in Germany.  On Layla's eight month birthday, we were frantically trying to pack up our house to take with us on our journey.  For those of you with little ones, you know traveling changes drastically when you start hauling them with you.  But it's their stuff...ALL OF THE STUFF...that is just ridiculous.  So we folded, shoved, crammed, smashed and stuffed what we could.  Clothes, diapers, toys, wipes, food, snacks, shoes, a car seat and base, pack'n'play, stroller, stroller cover thingy, and who knows what else.  D and I managed to bring some clothes too.  Although, I am not sure how.  Anyway, we did it.  A week in Atlanta, another hotel, a Christmas...

I am seven months old! Unbelievably, the tiny Zwerg is seven months old today!  It's hard to imagine that it's November, and we are on the downhill slope to her one year celebration.  She is so much fun!  I don't know where I would be without her.  She is the best little human, and she makes our family so much better. She loves to sit up and stand.  Her favorite toys are a bucket with plastic shapes that she can dump out and stacking cups.  She loves to play peek-a-boo, and get tickled.  She high fives and gives slobbery, slimy kisses.  She loves fruit and most vegetables, although we are still working on the green veggies.  She is a great little traveler and still loves to people watch.  She giggles, but still does her fake laugh when she hears other people laughing.  Here is a video of her watching J and E's dogs play fetch.  She thought it was a riot. We had so much fun visiting Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth ...