T.G.I.F.

Jared is playing with fire in west Texas until next Saturday, so us girls are at home fending for ourselves. We do ok on our own, but his time away always makes me SO MUCH MORE appreciative of what he does here at home. (Seriously, husbands: If you feel underappreciated, go on a business trip for about a week. You will be adored when you come home.) While he's gone, I like to think that I'll do things like ride Rosie, go jogging, work on a quilt (hmmm, this is starting to sound a lot like my plans for maternity leave!). Check back with me in about 5 days, and I'm sure none of those things will be accomplished and I'll probably be quite frazzled (this also sounds a lot like my maternity leave). Oddly enough, I think Leah actually noticed Jared was missing. She kept turning her head and trying to look around the room when she was eating dinner before-- it's like she knew there was supposed to be someone else at the dinner table with us. She's a smart, albeit temperamental, little cookie.

It looks like she inherited my hair's immediate curling/waving/messy reaction to humidity. Which is a good thing, considering we live in Houston and it's rarely humid here.

Have you ever just looked at your kid and thought, "Sometimes, she's sorta funny looking"?

Ooooooh. Toy!

Leah is famous!

Ok, well not really. But, her cute little mug is being displayed on Laurie's two websites, AND her business card. If you go to Laurie's blog (www.laurieheathstudiowonderfullymade.blogspot.com), you will see a yawning little Leah face in the top banner. And then when you go to Laurie's web page (www.laurieheathstudio.com), and go to the photo galleries link, click on the 2nd banner-- "wonderfully fashioned" and hey, there she is! What a cute little snoogums. :)

Latest accomplishments

It's been decided. Leah is growing up at a ridiculously fast rate. These are some of her latest accomplishments:

• She got her very first tooth on Sunday.
• She flaps her arms wildly. She's been doing this for a while, but these days it's a bit excessive. It's her way of showing her excitement and desire to play. (I think you can even see her flapping her arm in one of the Eagles photos below-- it's pretty much just a blur when you try to catch it on camera.)
• She has started "solids"... aka, rice cereal and most recently, peas. I wouldn't really call them solids, so much as mush.
• She giggles! And she sounds like a little old man when she does it!
• She's learning cause and effect. For example, she absolutely LOVES when you blow on her face, and she's just recently hit the point where she gets *really* excited when she sees you inhale and puff up your cheeks because she knows it's coming. So it tends to go like this: I inhale and make a big production out of doing so. Leah flaps her arms in anticipation. I blow air on her face, and Leah squeals. Repeat an endless number of times.

We are having an absolute blast with this sweet little girl. She's hit such a fun age, and we are so blessed to have such a happy little baby.

Eagles Fever

Once again, we were able to watch the Eagles battle for an opportunity in the Superbowl... and once again, we were disappointed. What are ya gonna do. If nothing else, being in the playoffs this long gave us a chance to get good use out of Leah's outfit.

Did you say the Eagles made it to the NFC Championships AGAIN?!?!?

Yay! Go Eagles!!

Daddy's hat matches my dress!

C'mon, McNabb!

Maybe next year, right?

A visit with Jack

Shortly after New Year's, Susanna, Jeramy, and Jack stopped by for a visit. It was fun to see our 3 day apart babies play together, and it was SO NICE to finally meet a baby who literally acts just like Leah (i.e., active, wiggly, squirmy, etc.)

Above, Leah covets Jack's toy.

The next sequence of photos is just funny to me. It's a classic example of the unsteadiness of little babies.

LOVE Jack's face in this one. :)

Welcome Micah Emily Davenport!

A huge congratulations to our friends Mark and Melissa for the birth of their 2nd little girl! Micah Emily weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 oz and was 18.5 inches long. Jared, Leah and I went to visit the family after work yesterday, and my was she cute!! I couldn't believe how ridiculously tiny this little baby was-- Leah looked like a giant in the room with her! (A whiny, squirmy giant who kept trying to stick her fingers in everyone's mouth. Why?) This will be fun to have 3 little girls so close in age together.

Mark and Melissa-- may your journey into man-to-man coverage be blessed and joyous!

Not the best picture of me (I never look good when I come home from work), but funny to see Leah looking so concerned. What do you mean I'm not the littlest anymore???

Christmas vacation

First things first: I never said I was good at keeping this bad boy up to date. So there.

Now onto the rest... :)
We flew up to Delaware and New Jersey to visit our families for the Christmas holiday. It was *so nice* to see everyone again and spend some time with them. The trip was busy and went by quickly, and, as always, we are looking forward to next time.

Daddies feeding babies before church on Christmas Eve.

If you go back in our blog a few months, you will come across a photo of us three ladies, except then we had babies in our bellies. Well, here we are, many months later each with our own little nugget. Though Leah is the oldest (older than Adria--to her right--by one month and Evan--to her left--by two), she is BY FAR the smallest. She's looking a little roughed up in this picture, because, well, she had a rough day. We had just flown in that morning and the plane ride had messed her up for a few days. Poor kid.

Leah on Christmas morning. She's the perfect little present, don't you think?

Jared and I got all decked out to go hunting one evening. The weather was amazing-- cool, crisp, and sunny. Though we saw many deer (12 to be exact), we didn't get any. And by we, I mean Jared. I just sat in the stand and enjoyed a nice quiet evening with my hubby.

Ah, the Wii. What a source of entertainment this was for all of us. Here are Jared and his brothers, playing Wii tennis, I think.

Jared playing nicely with our niece, Katelyn.

Leah and Katelyn having fun together.

Leah and Evan, pal-ing around on the blanket.

I am awaiting more pictures for posting, so stay tuned!