17 months has flown by!

Laila has grown so much. Instead of writing a long book, i'm just making a list of the cutest things she does and some of her new milestones.

1. She is now climbing on everything she can. She finally figured out how to climb up on the couch. Then stands and runs across it. She doesn't seem to care when mommy yells at her to sit, she just looks and laughs. I can finally just leave her to sit and eat a snack or watch some of her fave shows (she does love her morning dose of playhouse disney) without sitting by her. She knows how to climb down the proper way without hurting herself. Good job baby girl!

2. Wow! Her vocabulary has become so much better. She constantly uses words like "bubble","water", "minnie", "uppy", "ball", "juice", "cheese", "down", "mommy", "daddy", "koda", "milk", "yes", "no"...just to name some off the top of my head. She "ruff ruffs" like a dog and makes an elephant sound. It's so much fun listening to her. There are times when she repeats full sentences that I say to her. You can say most words and she will try so hard to repeat them. She has got a lot better since the binky monster came (i'll make a seperate post for that). Most mornings when she wakes up and I slowly open the door, she smiles, looks at me and says "MaaaMaaa!" I say "yes baby...good morning?!" and she says, "Hi!" in the sweetest voice. Gives me a hug and a kiss and makes my entire day! oh! and her latest thing is copying me when I sneeze...she moves her head and goes "chooo" ha!

3. She loves to sing and be sung to. She knows the abc song and is pretty good at starting it out. And her new faves are "ring around the rosey" and "humpty dumpty". And she still loves to dance. She dances in circles.

4. She still loves her babies. She walks around with her stroller and pats baby stella on the back, and rocks her back and forth. Gives them their bottles and binkies. We definantly have a girly girl...dollhouses and dolls, princesses and ponies! Whenever it happens she is going to be a great big sister!

5. She wants to help mommy clean. My mom even bought her her own little broom because she would always steal mine!

6. Those molars are coming through like hot cakes! She is very close to a full set of teeth. They are sharp and hurt!

7. On June 14, 2010, while we were in New York, she took her first poopy on the potty. She was constipated so I decided to take pressure off her belly and sit her on the toilet...all of a sudden I heard some plops. I screamed to Marisa and Jordan that she went poopy on the potty. They came running in. I was so excited I went to grab my camera for a photo op. Right as I was going getting ready to go grab my camera, Jordan flushed the toilet...it was so funny! And just the other day at GiGi's house the same thing happened. She seemed to be having a hard time pushing, so I tried it again. No wonder why she couldn't get it out, it was the longest turd I have ever seen! (Yea...Laila is going to be so mad at me for telling this to everyone when she gets older). I'm hoping potty training is easy for her. I'm not rushing it yet.

8. She goes into our closet and puts my shoes on! Just the flip flops and slippers, no high heals yet...I'm waiting for those days. My sister and I used to play shoe store with all my Grandma's 100's of shoes she had.

9. On Father's Day, Laila seemed to not be feeling too good. We brought her to Papou's office so he can check her out. She had a mild ear infection. Her first one. Luckily we caught it before it got worse. She has been on amoxicillin for the past 10 days. She has been so good considering.

10. Still holding off on this haircut thing. It's a hot mess, but I am nervous! Her hair just sprouted out so much in the past 5 months and I love it. Her hair goes down to her mid back when it's wet. She has the cutest curl and some layers. Maybe I'll just have them cut her some bangs so it's not hanging in her face. eeeek!

and lastly, the looks we get from the little sas is unreal. I told her no and the look I got was indescribable. She stared at me with these pouty eyes, I stared right back at her for a good 10 seconds, then she gave me the biggest smile. I had to turn away so she wouldn't see me laugh. I'm thinking maybe a future career as a comedian...but i'm sure Laila is thinking a princess.

I Love NY!

After an emotionally and mentally exhausting week from my Grandpa passing, we had a girls trip planned. It was much needed after going through the worst couple weeks of my life. We went to visit the new babies and our family up in Long Island, New York. We departed from TIA on Saturday morning. I was having a little anxiety of having Laila on the plane. The last time I flew with her Jason was with us and she was only 3 months old. This time I was nervous thinking she would want to run up and down the plane and not want to sit still, or scream like crazy because her ears were popping. Every nightmare scenerio ran through my head. To my surprise, she did perfectly! Maybe JetBlue helped out a little with their tv's, but she loved flying. She looked out the window, and was playing peek-a-boo in between the seats and making everyone around her laugh. But for the most part she slept most of the way. Thank goodness considering I knew how crazy our couple days in New York would be.





We arrived at JFK and then headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house. Laila got to hang out with Jordan. It was so much fun seeing them play. The last time they were together Laila wasn't walking so they took advantage. Laila grabbed Jordan's hand and headed for the trains. ha! It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Laila loved seeing the trains go by every 10 minutes, definantly a different atmosphere then she is used to here.

We went to Aunt Nancy's for dinner and to meet the babies that night. Babies everywhere! I loved it! We were all pretty tuckered out and jet lagged, so we decided to turn in early and get some rest.

The next day we went to The Johnson's for an all day BBQ. It rained most of the day, but it was so nice seeing all the cousins together. Not a moment of silence was in that house with all the kids running around. Laila was the youngest and got to play with all her boy cousins. She was having a blast up until we made her sit with all the boys to take a picture. ha! The Johnson side of my family has the male gene of making babies...I was the first to have a girl. It was such a good day filled with family, good food, and happy times.

It was so nice to get away. Being a stay at home mom can be rough. Sometimes your dying to see new things and get away from the every day ventures. We did miss daddy a lot though. As much as taking a trip is fun, it's nice to be home. I didn't get much sleep and either did Miss Laila. She was up most every morning at 5am and would go to bed pretty late. Not what we are used to when we are home. There were some of the nights she would wake up in her pack and play and freak out, so I just let her come cuddle in bed with me until she fell back asleep. And if you know me, I am not one to do that. She was sweet the last night we were there. I was trying to get her to bed. She was so tuckered out, she couldnt even keep her eyes open. So I put her down in her crib, she got up and cried. So I held her and told her to put her head down. She squirmed out of my arms and wanted me to put her down. I did...she ran right over to the bed, climbed up and closed her eyes and fell asleep. Soooo cute!

We shopped, snapped tons of pictures, ate good homeade meals, and hung outside enjoying the beautiful weather (NO humidity!) We even had Mister Softee the first night we were there...mmmmmm! Vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles! It was so nice meeting Isabella and Alexis. Laila loved the babies. She wanted to hold them. I know she will be so good when we add another addition onto our family.

So after five days of family fun, we headed back home. Laila loves the airplane rides. 17 months and it's her 2nd flight. It was a good time. Looking forward to more trips!

Picture Day!

I have to give our photographer, Jaimee major props for taking pictures of our family. We can have playdates with her and Laila is all smiles, but come the time we set up a photoshoot, all hell breaks loose.
We started at the train tracks but couldn't even put Laila down she started screaming so badly. So we decided to try a little ice cream. She seemed to like that but from all of her crying she was a hot mess. It may have calmed her down for a good 5 minutes, but it wasn't the end of her tantrum. We decided to try the tracks again. Not much luck.
We scratched that idea and headed for the next spot...a water fountain. What kid doesn't love seeing a water fountain? Mine apparently. I put her down to walk around and have a grand ol' time, instead she wanted "uppy" and chased me around the fountain screaming, with her giant tears flowing down her face.
We sucked it up a little while longer in order to get some fun shots of us. Typical family portraits of us. Laila putting her hand in someones face, and screams to let her roam loose. I guess thats what you get from us.
We decided to go into starbucks and cool down a bit. The Florida humidity was killing us! Minutes passed and smiles came across Laila's face. Of course she would love a coffee joint...her mother is addicted. And maybe she felt Jaimee was too! :) So we hung out and got the most smiles there.
It's always a fun new adventure with The Geraci fam. Laila keeps our hands full and keeps us laughing. We enjoy our picture days.