Thursday, March 26, 2009

Dear Grandpa Ice ... My sled







Dear Grandpa Ice,

It's me, Layla Bean. Here are the pictures that mummy and daddy have been hording to themselves for the past few months. I would blame them for being too busy to post these pictures themselves, but frankly, I've been pretty busy too. We'll get into those details later.

Look how much fun I had on my very first sledding excursion with the bestest sled in the world, just for me from my Grandpa Ice! Grandpa, I love my sled! At first, I was a little nervous, wondering why mummy thought it was okay to just set me in some strange contraption on the snow and start pulling me around. But then I realized how much fun it was and whenever mummy or daddy would stop pulling me, I'd just yell, "Noooo!!! Noooo!!" and they would laugh and keep going. I'm not sure what's so funny about that... sledding is serious business.

Next, mum and dad took me down the "big" hill behind our house. It was SCARY, but fun. I tried to be brave and act like I wasn't scared the first time I did the hill, but Grandpa, I was scared. Once I took the first hill ride though, I couldn't get enough!! It was so much fun and mummy and daddy must have been having fun too. They just kept laughing and pulling me back up to the top of the hill, then pushing me down again.

The best part, is that I tried out your new sled on Valentine's Day, which is also you and G'ma D's Anniversary! Oh, how sweet! Thank you again, and I can't wait for it to snow again (mum said I shouldn't say that for another 9 months, but whatever).

As far as me being busy, well, let me tell you... running, running, running. That's what I do. I run. In circles, straight lines, whatever. I've been doing lots of exploring and singing and I think I've found my passion - acting. Maybe dramatic comedies will be my thing... I seem to have both down pat. I'll do anything to get a laugh out of people, and of course, because I'm a beautiful little girl, I need to keep the drama coming. My fake crying is really getting good. Same with my evil frowns and sad faces. Can't wait to show you!!!

Love,
Layla

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Finley Lorraine




Congratulations to my dear friend Rachel and her husband Kevin on the birth of their first baby, baby girl Finley Lorraine Pings. Finley was born on Monday afternoon - three weeks early. She weighs 6lbs, 2ozs and is 20.5" long. I actually went to lunch and a movie with Rachel on Sunday, just hours before she ended up going into labor! I remember thinking that I needed to call her and tell her to go get her "pre-labor" pedi becuase I could tell from her belly and the things she was telling me that she was going to have that little one early. I just didn't think it would be the next day!!

Mama, daddy and baby girl are all doing wonderfully and are headed home today!!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Long long long overdue!!!






Here we go... pictures of our little girl. Who's not so little anymore. These pics are just of mama and Layla, messin' around in the kitchen with the new camera (borrowed). The best part about taking pictures these days, is that Layla is super into the camera and really wants to figure out how the sucker works. As you can see, in some of these she's right up in the lens trying to see through it into my eye ball. It's hystarical. She defnitiely responds when I say, "smile!" and is even starting to pose here and there.

Other than our mummy / daddy Layla time each day and night, nothing new on the Sherman front. Mom's working too hard at work (as the lack of posts shows), daddy too, and we're all looking forward to a vacation up in the Dells with the Meyer's.

Tonight's the big student / faculty hoops game at Central Middle school. I'll be chasing Layla around the stands, daddy will be trying to dunk on the kids. Then, a bunch of us are headed out for some eats and the Sherman's will be hosting a cocktail night... hmmm... seems like that is starting to be a trend.

Happy flippin Friday ya'll... more pics to come. Some of Layla on her first big wheel ride and some of her first sledding experience (sooo late, sorry Grandpa Ice).

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Stats n' Stories

So, no, I don't have any pics to post yet. We were lucky enough to have someone borrow their camera to us, but I have only taken the time to chase Layla around and get a few short video clips and took some shots of her last night (not my best work, but I'm not familiar with the camera yet).

The video I took of her was hilarious and quite entertaining for Jake and I to experience live. I think I've mentioned before that I often try to give Layla some "naked" time at night. Basically to air out her butt and be freed of those darn diapers she has to wear (can you imagine?)! She LOVES it and goes crazy. She runs in circles for as long as we'll let her. Well, on this night, she was running around for so long that she must have just felt super relaxed. Because all of a sudden I noticed a little baby turd on our kitchen floor! When I saw it, I gasped and Layla was spooked by that so she ran full speed ahead into my legs. Then I looked at Jake, he looked at the poop on the floor and just went back to working on his computer. Seriously? You're that unfazed by human feces on the floor?!! I then went to get some wipes to pick up the rouge turd and by the time I was back Jake had picked it up. So, I guess that was his plan all along, he was just being "stealth" about it. ;)

Aside from the turd incident (doesn't that sound like a good name for a band?), not much new with us. Layla's 18mo appt went great. She's now weighing in at 28lbs (90th percentile) and is 33" tall (85th percentile). Her head's where it should be (whatever that means), developmentally she's actually ahead of the game, according to our doc and she didn't have to have any shots! Whoo hoo!! Another clean bill of health! Thank ya Jesus!

Okee dokee smokees. Off like a prom dress. Hehehe.

Friday, March 6, 2009

18 Months!!

My God! Layla is 18 months old today!! I almost forgot!! I'm so sad that we cannot find our darn camera to post some updated pics. I'm going to search high and low for that thing this weekend and if I don't find it, Walmart, here we come. Son of a ...

Layla my Layla... you're growing too fast! I cannot believe how tall you are already. You can reach all the door knobs, the counter tops (when your on your tip toes), the top of our dresser and too many other things that I'm just not ready for you to reach. If anything is too close to the edge, you're going to grab it and pull it down - hot straightening irons, steak knives, open containers of food and / or liquid are all included in this category.

Your favorite thing to do these days is run. Run, then stop and turn to see if we're following you. The funniest part of this is that you don't really look where you're going. You just go full speed ahead and if you happen to notice that you might barrel into something, you just keep going full speed, put your head down and close your eyes (as if that's going to make whatever you might run into get out of the way).

MY favorite thing in the whole wide world that you're doing now: running full speed ahead at me when I get home at night, with your arms up in the air, laughing all the way, saying, "Mummy, mummy, mummy!" It's the most amazing thing in this world and I'd pay to get to experience that excitement and love from you every minute of the day.

Recently, you somehow learned that pirates say, "Arrrgggghhh". So, now if we ask you about pirates, you give us your best imitation. You also have a sweet fake laugh that gets us every time, although I'm not sure where you learned it or why you do it. Either way, it's still funny.

You're now wearing size 6 shoes. Your size 3T clothes are fitting you well, and we only have a select few pair of pants that we still need to "cuff" for you. You're still in size 4 diapers, and it seems that your rolls aren't as significant as they used to be. Yet, I've noticed, that when people meet you for the first time, they are shocked by how "plump" you are. Then they look at Jake and I and say, "Where does she get that?" (Thank God they don't say, "I see you have your mommy's figure"). Please don't let this comment hurt your self esteem when you hit your sensitive years. You're 18 months old and you're supposed to be pleasantly plump. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am so excited to have Spring fast approaching as there's a whole new world for you to explore outside of our tiny little house. We've been taking you on walks around the block with the weather getting nicer, and you are almost to the point where you can go all the way without one of us picking you up for just a short time. You're VERY independent and ambitious... which is great, and a bit scary.

We love you little Beepa. As always, you brighten our days and give us something to look forward to when we wake up in the morning (and hear you chattering and clanging your nuk on your crib bars as if you were in a jail cell).

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fried

I'm officially fried. Left work early yesterday feeling sick... came home, tossed my cookies, slept for the entire day and am at home feeling like someone beat me with a mallet last night.

Unfortunately, we haven't recovered our lost camera that Miss Layla Bean decided to hide from us weeks ago. I have a feeling that her hiding place was the garbage. So, I guess this is a great excuse to get a new one, right??

We have some stellar pics of Layla's first sledding excursion, but they're on Jake's computer which he has with him at school today. I'll try to get something posted by the end of the week for ya'll... don't hold your breath though. Things have been over the top on my end and I'm about 23 steps away from the looney bin if you ask me. I'm overworked and stressed to the max. But to type about it exhausts me and it's not worth thinking about when I'm trying to provide a simple update on the fam.

Layla's doing great... had us up about 4 times throughout the night last night which was awesome. Growth spurt? Teething? Ears? We don't know. Each time one of us would get up with her, all she wanted to do was play. Sweet.

New words she's saying: "Cookie" (she refers to Hudson's treats as cookies), "Oh boy" (I know, that's a phrase, but whatever), "Happy Birthday"... she really tried hard at this one and actually uttered it over the phone on Sunday for my mom!! It's hard to get her to do it again though.

Her hair is so long that I can get it all up in a cute pony tail, and her favorite thing to do these days is run around naked, then pee on the floor. The other night, I was getting her bath ready for her and she was running around the house. I told her to take her clothes off as it was bath time and realized I didn't hear the "pitter patter" of Bean's feet, or her chatter. I went to the bathroom and found her in the tub, with all her clothes on. So, now she's tall enough to get in the tub herself I guess.

More to come... I promise. Anyone know of a company that gives free cameras away to parents who's children hide their old ones? ;)