And she's off!

Leah is officially walking now (and has been for several weeks now). She has mastered walking and tonight when Kyle and I took Jendi for a walk, Leah walked much of it ALL BY HERSELF! She finally figured out how to stand up by herself (she was pulling herself up on things) and now very rarely crawls. Crazy for a 10 month old. I can't believe my baby is walking, but she is just oh-so-cute! And... still my little angel. The most trouble she gets into is splashing in the dog's water dish.

So... here are some photos and videos of our beautiful girl.

Here she is kissing (more like licking) her reflection in the dishwasher.

Shortly after I took this picture, she stood up all by herself for the first time!

While this isn't the best video, it's pretty cute to see her walking. She's much more steady now, but still! Check out all the chunk on those legs!!!

It's way past my bedtime, but...

I will still post a few new pictures anyway!

I have such a good little girl! The other day I was doing something in the kitchen at work, turned around, and Leah was gone! Now, she could have crawled into the bathroom, gone up the stairs, gotten into all kinds of trouble. What did she actually do, though? She wandered over to a room and I found her playing with the girls' princess castle! What a sweetie!

She's definitely my girl, too! She absolutely loves to "read." As soon as we start to read a book to her, she pops her two fingers in her mouth and settles down for a good story. Also, if she's given a book (or 2 or 3!), she will happily look at it for 10-15 minutes all by herself! Here she is doing some serious reading (all about the Farm, if you're interested!).

Some sweet random pictures and videos

Our Leah is just so adorable that there are so many random pictures and videos that you just have to see. This first video was taken the day or so after Christmas. She was in one of my new wraps while Kyle and I made the bed. He tossed the pillowcases at me across the bed and Leah couldn't stop laughing! I was so happy to get this beautiful moment on camera!

Then there was the day that Leah was sitting on the bed when she discovered Jendi's tail poking out from under the covers. She had to play with that!

Our sweet little girl is also a big fan of water! We put her in the tub with some toys and she had so much fun. Her smile and those eyes are just so gorgeous!

And then, just the other day, I sat Leah on the piano bench to let her play. I'd done it before, but she was having so much fun that I had to capture those moments as well. I am so glad I did!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We had a wonderful Christmas! I've always been a lover of Christmas, but it is so different and so much more wonderful when you have a baby! We went to Andrea's apartment for lunch (so much fun) where Leah got to open her first presents. Then we went to church and afterward, had a nice Christmas dinner together in our home.

Christmas morning we discovered that Santa had definitely hit our home... and HARD!

Leah had so much fun opening presents and Kyle and I had just as much fun watching her. Of course, she didn't so much open presents as she tried to just eat the wrapping paper, but it was adorable. She got a bit over-stimulated by the end and was ready for a nap, but it was a perfect morning.

Here is one of my favorite pictures: Jendi waiting patiently as Leah tries to play with Jendi's new toy, lol. The dog was such a good sport!

Jendi helping Leah open one of her presents!

This turned out to be one of Leah's favorite presents: a ball popper from her Uncle Alex and (Aunt) Christine. It took a while for her to figure it out, but once she did, she was all smiles!

After our morning, we went to Kyle's aunt's house to spend Christmas with his family. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of Leah in her Christmas dress. I know others did, so I will have to do my best to get them!!!!

And then came Christmas

As family tradition dictates, we went to a farm to cut down our tree. We went to a different tree farm than we have the previous two years and I think we found the winner! Leah slept through most of it, but we had a great time!

Then, driving home, Leah was wide awake next to the tree (which we covered with a blanket so she wouldn't get any needles in her face)!

We had a good time decorating, too! Leah was awake for this and had fun playing with her first ornament (a raccoon from Maine!) and the Christmas tree lights. I then put her on in the BabyHawk and she helped me hang ornaments.

Getting used to blogspot...

I'm doing my best to figure out how to make my blog look the way I'd like it to while Leah is in the middle of teething... needless to say, it's not working out! Nevertheless, I shall continue since I'm sure no one cares what it looks like as much as I do, haha!

Since I have not e-mailed pictures since before Christmas, I should probably try to catch up here. On December 13 Leah turned 6 months old and so we offered her solid food for the first time (I had exclusively breastfed up to this point- no bottles!). We are choosing to approach this with a method called "Baby-Led Weaning." Basically, we will not be giving her pureed foods and will follow her lead as to how much and how often she eats solids. We started her on vegetables and fruits and she is now starting to branch out a little. Her major source of nutrition is still breastfeeding but she definitely enjoys experimenting with foods. So far, she has enjoyed everything we have given her: peppers (her favorite!), cucumbers, carrots, bananas, avocados, squash, grapes, blueberries, corn cereal, shrimp, chicken, hummus, falafel, and even chili (to name a few)! Here are a few pictures from that first meal.

And so it begins...

I've finally decided to become one of those people who thinks that their life is important enough for other people to want to read about! Haha! Honestly, though, with so many friends and family members who love to hear updates about our sweet Leah and see pictures, I thought that this might be an easier way. Time will tell if this truly works out, but for now, welcome to our wonderful life and here's a teaser pic of our beautiful Leah... enjoy!