Party like a Rockstar!

Miss Lila had a very special birthday party to go to this weekend! Her cousins Celia and Ruby had their "friends" party which was ROCKSTAR themed!!! As you can imagine, this was Lila's very first rockstar party, so we were very careful when it came time to pick her outfit for this special occasion!

Lila is paying full tribute to her cousins (they rock)!

Little DIVA in training!

Mommy had to miss this party, unfortunately with all the illness in the Eddins family, I was the last to get sick. Mike was a good Daddy and braved 20 kids ages 3 to 5, packed up Lila and off he went! The party was rockin'! They had karaoke, musical chairs, guitar decorating, backstage passes and even a guitar shaped cake! What more could aspiring rockstars want?!

The Rockettes!

In keeping with the rock n' roll theme, Lila loves all of her toys that play music, so we added a new one to the mix...the bongos! By the look on her face and her arms waving around as she smacks the drums, you can tell that these are a BIG hit!

Bang! Bang!

She continues to grow up quickly and she is so much fun to be around! Mike and I enjoy hanging out on the floor with her as much as we can. She shows us exactly how to bang on her toys and lets us know she is enjoying herself with all of her giggles and squeals!

Before we know it she will really be able to move around the house and Mommy and Daddy will have to find new, creative ways to keep her engaged enough that she will want to stay in one spot with us. So, for now, we are enjoying every second!

Down & Out

Our poor little Lila has been battling a cold since last Tuesday. We stuck close to home this weekend trying to get her on the mend. We actually really enjoyed having a weekend without any big plans and truly having some quiet, family time. I will admit that there might have been some delirious moments...but all the more reason we had a good time together!

Playing Dress Up!

We headed to work on Monday thinking that the weekend had helped get Lila over the hump, so when we got home last night we were surprised by a new wheeze that had developed. My Mommy instincts went into full gear and I wasted no time getting on the phone with the pediatrician. Well, Mom was right to call, we loaded Lila up and took her to the doctor's office only to find that she has RSV. As you can imagine, my heart sunk. The doctor assured us that it was a mild case and we caught it early, they didn't even recommend breathing treatments, but he did say that we needed to pay very close attention to her breathing and come in if we think anything has changed.

So, here we are today...playing hooky and resting. She continues to stay the same, which I am okay with, I would like to say she is getting better, but if I can't say that I am just happy to report nothing has gotten worse.

We will stay inside and rest, rest, rest as long as it takes to get our little one healthy again! Through it all she still smiles and has her wonderful, happy personality...she is truly amazing (even the nurse thought so last night)!

We would also like to wish Celia a VERY Happy 5th Birthday today! We hope you had a wonderful day and we love you very much!

A lot to celebrate!

Wednesday, January 13th...

We celebrated the arrival of Henley Grace Hahn, the beautiful daughter of Brandon and Monica Hahn! She came into this world at 5:16pm weighing in at 6 lbs. 6 ozs. and measuring 20 inches long. Congratulations to the Hahn's, she is absolutely perfect!

Friday, January 14th...

We celebrated my Dad's 52nd birthday (a few days late) and the announcemet of his engagement to his girlfriend of 3 years, Laura!

Saturday, January 15th...

We celebrated and spent time with our extended family (friends)! We introduced Lila to her new best girlfriend, Henley, and checked in on the new family, they are doing great!

The evening had us visiting Brad & Amber's, another celebration of friendship. The kids have so much fun together! We often find ourselves "enjoying the view" of the kids playing on the ground, we are so blessed to have them grow up together!

Sunday, January 17th...

We celebrated Ruby's 3rd birthday! It was a great day spent with family! We commented several times on the fact that she has grown up in a flash!

Monday, January 18th...

We celebrated the fact that Lila is 9 months old! We went to her 9 month check-up and she got rave reviews! She is in the 75th percentile for height and weight, hitting the charts at 20 lbs. 2 ozs. and 28 1/4 inches!

We have a lot to celebrate, a lot to be thankful for, and we are looking forward to all of the other celebrations 2010 and beyond will bring!

Home Sweet Home!

The last days of our Arizona trip were filled with sunshine and family! We spent as much time outdoors trying to soak up as much sun as we could, get all that Vitamin D before heading back home to the freezing temperatures.

On Monday, we met up with my Grandma and Grandpa Harvey to have lunch and ice cream at a favorite spot called The Sugar Bowl in Old Towne Scottsdale. My Grandparents snowbird in Phoenix area, so it was nice to get to see them while we were there because the next time we see them will probably be for Lila's 1st birthday! That is hard to imagine!

Gram, Gramp & Lila

Gram & Girls!

(yes, Celia and Lila have on matching outfits)

Heading Home!

Before we knew it we were on our way home on Tuesday morning. It was quite early when we had to pack up for the airport, but it meant we were home at noon, which was wonderful! We were able to get home, get unpacked and settle in to watch the Hawkeyes play against Georgia Tech in Miami at the Orange Bowl! The Hawkeyes defeated the Yellowjackets 24-14 and landed No. 7 in the polls! GO HAWKS!

Now that we are home and getting back into the swing of things we have been able to actually put Lila's Christmas presents to use! She has had so much fun playing with all of her new toys! She is quite the ham these days, cracking herself as well as Mom and Dad up all the time!

She is so amazing to watch, everyday is something new and she continues to blow us away with her intelligence and thoughtful ways. She is moving all over the place by rolling to where she wants to go...the days of sitting her down somewhere and knowing she would be there if you needed to do something quick are LONG GONE! Neither of us will be surprised if she is crawling in the very near future, the baby proofing has begun!

Playing with her food!

Sunday marked a big day in Celia's life...she got her ear's pierced! She was such a trooper! She climbed right up in the chair, held on to her Mom's hands and BAM! it was done!

Getting marked up!

Here goes nothing!

The finished product...perfect!

Little Miss Celia, paving the way for the girls in our family! I was so proud of her for being so brave! She and Ruby will be the big cousins that gets Lila through all of those girly milestones and we can't wait!

2010: A New Year!

I could get used to ringing in the New Year in 70 degree weather! Thursday found us having lunch at a little place called Two Hippies: Beach House. There are 4-5 of these different restaurants scattered throughout town that all have a different type of food. This one happened to offer baja style tacos! It was literally a little shanty, with all sorts of hippie paraphernalia, but the food was great! And a double bonus that we were able to enjoy the food outside in the sun.

Two Hippies Exterior

Two Hippies Interior

Say Cheese!

Trying to get a taste of food by looking cute!

After lunch the girls headed to the grocery store to get some essentials and plan the New Year's Eve dinner menu and the guys headed back to the house to cheer on the Cyclones in the Insight Bowl -- being played right here in Phoenix.

While on our shopping trip we managed to find some party favors and New Year's headbands for the girls to wear while ringing in the New Year, after all what is a party without some sparkle?!

Ready to party!

True Beauties!

Ringing in the New Year as a family!

We had more family arrive in Phoenix on Thursday so they came by to say hello, have a drink and some snacks. All of us managed to stay up and at least see 11:00, which would be us celebrating in Iowa, but all of us ended up crashing before the New Year in Arizona. It is amazing how "old" that made us feel!

Our first day of 2010 was an eventful one! Lila woke up, bright-eyed and bushy tailed and was ready to greet the new year! We lounged a bit in the morning, but had to hurry to get ready as we were heading to Jen's cousin AJ and his wife Erin's house. AJ is the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks and we had been invited to do an All Access tour of Chase Stadium!!!

Loungin'!

Lovin' on Grandpa!

We headed to Chase Stadium and met up with a few more family members that wanted to be a part of the private tour! We have a handful of family members that live in Arizona and they are big fans of the Diamondbacks, so for some of them, this was a dream come true!

We started off in the clubhouse, which was a pretty big deal because the rules state women are not allowed into the clubhouse. But, because we were with AJ and it was New Year's Day the players weren't utilizing it, so us girls got to see as well.

We had a tour of the whole facility, it is pretty amazing, all of the workout equipment, the batting cages, lounges, etc. There really is a "business" behind it all, something you don't get to see very often and tend to forget.

And then...it was time to walk up into the dugout, the same way that the players do on game day! What a treat! My cousin Tony was almost having a heart attack at this point! It was really neat standing there talking to AJ all about his daily routines and his experience as the coach of a Major League Baseball team.

Leaving the office!

We all talked about how for AJ, it was just another tour of his office, just like if I were to give a tour of TrueNorth and how different people's lives are, but at the end of the day it really is a job. Lucky for AJ, he is truly living out his dreams and he was able to share that with us, it was a real treat!

Yesterday we went to Kierland to do some outdoor shopping and the guys went and cruised car dealerships. Lila was a trooper and we did some fun shopping for her! I enjoy shopping for her when we are out of town because we have so many fun options, which we lack in Cedar Rapids.

After shopping and meeting back up with the guys for lunch we headed to our NEW house. This would be house #3. We were waiting and waiting to be given access to the first house and the reality of it was we weren't going to get in there, so they offered up this new house that has 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. We were happy to take it! 2 more bedrooms and 2.5 more bathrooms sounded great to us! So, we packed up our suitcases and piled everything back into the car and made the trek to house #3! It is a much better fit!

After settling in at the house we loaded up again and headed to Litchfield Park to visit with good friends of ours the O'Gara's. Chris and Christy and their kids Michael, Kelly, Mary Jane, Brady, Shawn and Anne Marie moved to Arizona from Nebraska earlier this year. They were having a Fiesta party in honor of the Fiesta bowl! It was really just a good excuse to all get together and for them to rent a blow up play station for the kids!

We enjoyed authentic Mexican food and even had birthday cake for those people celebrating their birthdays in December and January, there were quite a few! It was all very yummy!

Happy Birthday to You!

Lila's new best friend, Anne Marie

After dinner the O'Gara clan impressed us with their musical talents. All of them play the accordian and are very good at it, so they all took turns playing. We ended with Michael playing Christmas tunes on his guitar and everyone sang along!

It was great catching up with the O'Gara's and the Theisen's, meeting their new friends and seeing where the new place they are calling home! I have to admit, enjoying this 70 degree weather in January, it will be hard to head back to where we call home!