November

I have so many things to be grateful for. I have a beautiful family who I just adore. I fall in love with them more every day. My husband is so helpful, smart, and he shows his love for me every day. It is an amazing feeling knowing how much he loves me. He keeps me strong and keeps me going. My daughter, she is perfect. Lorelei is brilliant. She is loving and caring to everyone around her. She makes friends everywhere we go. I can't get enough of her either. She is always so happy. She is growing up so fast. Lorelei amazes me with all the new things she picks up every day.  

(sorry for the pictures in advance. I lost my camera charger and I have to use my phone. Hopefully I will get a new charger soon!!)

I am always trying to be a better mom than I was the day before. I never really do crafts or color with Lor because she is too active and I get frazzled. Well, a couple weeks before Thanksgiving I decided we needed to give it another try. We made a turkey with Lorelei's hand print. We giggled and talked the entire time. She loved playing with the feathers. Lorelei loves being tickled, especially under her chin, so she had to tickle herself with the feather. Silly girl! Her turkey is still hanging on our fridge. I love it! I need to start a file to save all her drawings in. I know there will be plenty more to come. I am able to be home a lot more so crafts are becoming a daily activity.

Thanksgiving morning we headed over to the Hancock's house. They prepared tons of biscuits and a giant pot of gravy. It was delicious! After stuffing our bellies, we headed outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We played corn hull while Papa took Lorelei for a stroll around the neighborhood. After we played and sat around the fire and just talked. It was so relaxing. Then, Papa pulled out the tractor and Lor took her first ride on tractor! It was so fun to watch her experience this. She wasn't too sure about the loud noise at first, but she continued to sit on Papa's lap and quickly relaxed. They drove around the pasture and Lorelei was just grinning ear to ear! Everyone had an opportunity to drive the tractor. I even learned how to drive the tractor! I can now add tractor to my driving repertoire. Hooray!

After Lorelei's nap, we headed over to my family's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was such a blast to have all my siblings and their families there. I love my nieces and nephews. They are so much fun to play with. Paedn and I spent most of our time outside running around with all the kids. Lorelei loves them. She calls all of her cousins "Mylee", which is one of her cousin's name. When we all sat down to eat, our family took up so much room we had three tables to fit everyone. It was delicious food. I am craving that gravy my mom made. YUM! On Friday we did our annual Toone Rocket Launch. Lorelei loved helping countdown and push the button to send the rocket flying up to the sky. It was getting close to nap time though and you could tell. She would scare easily and start crying when the rockets launched. Running around and playing with her cousins helped though. She loved spending so much time with them. 

I think Papa likes having a granddaughter..don't you think?

Here are some of the Hancock family photos!!

October and 18 Month Update

Stats:
22 lbs (45%)
32 in (53%)

Our little girl as a biker chick for Halloween. She did so much better trick or treating then she did at Trunk or Treat. She had so much fun walking around the block, running and skipping with her daddy. Even Uncle Ben tagged along for the fun! Her first real Halloween! Now onto Thanksgiving with all of our family and then my favorite holiday, Christmas!!

She would not touch the pumpkin guts!

This is as close as she got

Nope! I am done.

Steeton reported to the MTC today. Saying goodbye was very emotional for all of us. We are so proud of him and excited to see the change in him in two years.

Some other adorable pictures of our lady. She is just amazing. Lorelei learns so much everyday and just leaves me speechless. I love her and am so lucky to be her mommy!

Mickey always has to eat with us, too!

16 Months Update

Lorelei is going to be 16 months in two days!! Where have these months gone??

I wasn't able to get Lorelei in for her 15 month check up until two weeks ago. Our doctor was super busy with the back to school check ups. It's ok though, she is definitely worth the wait! Lorelei is still our petite, little girl. She is 31 inches long and weighs 21 lbs (both in the 50% percentile.) She may be small, but she is mighty!! (I think we all knew that from the very beginning.) I am in nursery at church and Lorelei gets to tag along even though she is not the official nursery age. She LOVES it. I hardly see her. She is always off playing with the other kids. One time I looked up and she was pulling a kid twice her age (and size) in a wagon. Totally made me laugh! That's my girl. She definitely keeps up with the older kids. If they try to bully her she is never easy to anger and is always willing to share her toys. Lorelei is always so kind and loving. One day, a girl was crying (constantly) so Lorelei went over to her and put her hand on her shoulder while tipping her head to the side with a concerned look on her face as if saying, "What's wrong? You don't need to cry." She makes me so proud. She is even doing better in church! We can actually stay in the chapel the full hour. Of course, we still don't hear anything that is being said, but Lorelei finally is calm enough to be in there. We have a church bag for her with things she only gets on Sundays- special books, coloring books, snacks, etc. It has really seemed to help. Plus, she always makes friends and plays peek-a-boo with people sitting behind us and always squeals when she sees her little friend. So, I guess she is still a little bit of a distraction! But, in the cutest way possible.
Lorelei loves learning new things. She is still so active and we love to find new ways to challenge her. I cannot wait for it to start cooling off outside. One, our apartment will finally be able to cool off (the whole apartment faces west and just bakes in the sun. In the afternoon and evenings it never gets below 84 degrees in our house, no matter how low our thermostat is cranked.) Two, we will finally be able to go and enjoy outside!! I cannot wait. Hopefully only two more months! As I was saying, Lorelei loves to be challenged. She has learned a lot already. She has about 10-15 words under her belt (which our doctor was quite impressed with). One of her new favorite things to do are somersaults! She does them all by herself so perfectly. Only a year and a half until I can put her in dance! She runs, climbs, gallops, high fives, kisses, hugs, dances, sings..you get the idea! Basically, she loves attention. She is always happy and giggling. We are blessed every day to have this little angel in our lives.

helping unload groceries!

I attempted braiding her hair for the first time. Not too bad!