Oven Lovin'

Never a dull moment with a curious toddler in the house! Lila found a new "toy," the oven! Yes, I am sure there are some parents out there who are thinking we are fools for letting her play in the oven drawer, but she was bound and determined to get in it and we couldn't resist a picture to document her new finding! She played in the drawer for 20 minutes, perfectly content looking at herself in the glass and banging her hands on the door!

We have been enjoying a lot of firsts with Lila recently. Especially when it comes to words. Today as we were throwing the frisbee for Luca outside she said "WOAH!" when we threw it and then "catch" when Luca ran off the deck to get it frisbee. Then we were sitting inside on the couch and she looked at Daddy's arm, pointed and said "watch!" Ouch is another one of her latest...she seems to have replaced "uh-0h" with "ouch," so she has been frequently making Mommy and Daddy look around quickly to make sure she really isn't hurt!

She has been quite challenging in the food department. She was a great eater and we really took a backwards step when her two bottom teeth came in. She is working on her top two right now and it seems as if these are just as challenging as the bottom two were. We struggle with her dinner as she doesn't ever seem to want to have a full meal, but she had no problem eating up her chicken nuggets this afternoon for lunch!

The weather has been really nice this weekend. Even though it has been hot, it seems that by early afternoon the humidity has died down and it makes for a really nice evening. Even the puppies enjoyed being outside, soaking up some sun!


We have a quiet week ahead, which all of us are looking forward to! We hope the weather stays as nice as it has been so we can get in some family walks and play time out in the yard. Hard to believe, my brother just said "41 days until Hawkeye football kick-off." WHAT?! Where has the summer gone?!

A Thoughtful Gift

Our wonderful photographers, Heidi & Troy from Studio U Photography stopped by tonight with the nicest gift, a compilation of Lila over the past year! What an awesome thing to have for her...we were blown away! We are so thankful for Heidi and Troy capturing such great images of our little girl! We have not only been lucky to have great photographers, but gained good friends out of it too!

Thank you so much Heidi & Troy -- Studio U!

www.studiouphotography.com

Fifteen Month Check-up

Just as fast as our little baby came into our lives, she is growing out of her baby stage and into a toddler. I am not sure how it happened, but we are having a blast! There is never a dull moment with her, she is either busy tearing up the house or giggling at a silly book or song we are singing or enjoying a snuggle with her Mommy or Daddy!

We had her 15 month check up this afternoon and she is doing great according to our pediatrician! She is in the 75th percentile for weight, weighing in at 24 lbs. and she is in the 80th percentile for her height at 31 1/2 inches! Her head is tipping the charts at the 99th percentile, she gets that from her Daddy! We say it is to hold those big, smart brains!

We have been pretty busy over the past two weeks. Last weekend I spent some time with my girlfriends celebrating Monica's birthday (a bit early). We headed to Zin's for dinner, went to see RENT at our local theater and then out for drinks, we all had a great time!

This weekend found us heading to Monticello to visit Mike's Grandma Zumbach. She had family in from Kentucky, so it was nice to have lunch and visit with them for the afternoon! Lila sure made herself at home, soon Betty's living room was covered with Lila's toys. She also enjoyed pushing one of the chairs all around the kitchen! She was exposed to Grandma's homemade breadsticks and they were a hit!

Today Mike was sneezing in the bedroom as I was getting Lila her breakfast and the next thing we know she says "bess you!" Yes, no L, but either way, it was adorable! It is amazing how little ones make hearing "bless you," feel like you are hearing it for the first time!

So adorable!

American Cutie!

We had a lot of fun this 4th of July weekend! As I am sure most parents understand, everyday with Lila is more and more enjoyable! She truly is a pleasure to be around and cracks us up all the time. She is always along for the ride and adapts so well to all situations.

We took off early Saturday morning for Guttenberg...fun, sun and the river! We got up there around 10:00 and immediately laid Lila down for her nap so she would be refreshed for an afternoon on the boat! She woke up, had some lunch and we wasted no time to get out on the water. Once again, she was a pro! She didn't raise a fuss about having her life jacket on and even wanted to wear her sun hat and sunglasses to complete the look!

Pre boating karaoke session...a tribute to Michael Jackson!

UV Protected!

Daddy's River Rat!

It got pretty toasty on the water and she kept trying to climb over the railing to get to her Daddy in the water, so we decided that it was time to "get the river in her!" -- a phrase my family uses! Not that we were worried...Lila has proven that she loves any kind of water as long as she can splash and kick!

After the afternoon on the water we headed back to the cabin to get cleaned up. We had family over for dinner and some fun in the yard! Mike and I took the golf cart around the island and Lila ended up taking a snooze...much needed as it was going to be a long night! When she woke up she had a little time on the trampoline with Grandpa, Mike, Celia & Ruby. We should have known better, trampolines are nothing for a little one like Lila to play on. She ended up tumbling off the trampoline, lucky for all of us, she was 100% okay and ended up doing a somersault off the edge so it made for a softer landing and she essentially landed on her rear. It was literally like a bad movie...slow motion...I ended up having to walk away as I really thought I might get sick. Talk about a parent's worst nightmare...I know there are many more of those moments to come, unfortunately. Thank goodness she was okay.

To wrap the night up we took the boats back out to watch the fireworks! What a beautiful sight! Lila didn't know what to think of them at first because they were so loud, but within a few minutes she was "ooooh-ing" and "aaaah-ing" just like a pro! It was super cute! I absolutely love fireworks, so I was thrilled to share that experience with her and have her enjoy them as well!

Celia and Uncle Mike watching the show

Sunday morning we got up and headed back to town for our 4th of July tradition of hanging out with the Holub's and the Hahn's! Traditionally we head downtown to watch the fireworks, but the past few years the fireworks were displaced due to the flood. They were rescheduled this year to happen back downtown, so our intentions were to get together and hang out all day and then head downtown to the fireworks. Well, notice I said our intentions...mother nature had a different idea. It rained almost all day! So, our plans changed a bit, but we still hung out at the Holub's enjoying each other's company, good food and celebrating our independence with our families!

Fading fast!

Creating our own light show!

I do love the 4th of July. I love that the nation comes together and for at least one day, most everyone recognizes how incredibly lucky we are to live in the land of the free! We are all so blessed to have the thousands of soldiers that risk their lives for us everyday in order for us to have those freedoms. And to all of those before us that fought for our freedoms and all of those that will in the future, we thank you!