Tall genes and birthday fun

We took Leah to her 2-year checkup last Friday, and the results were astonishing. (Okay, maybe they weren't because we already knew she is a big girl). But now we have proof that she is big on three sheets of papers listing her measurements. Here they are:

36 inches long (98 percentile for girls her age)
32 pounds (95 percentile)
19.5 inches in head circumference (93 percentile)

I come from a tall family, and Logan is fairly tall and so is his dad (6'2) so together we combine for some tall genes. I think Leah will be giving her boy cousins a run for their money in size. Now if we can only get her to toughen up so she's not so sensitive around other kids. Maybe her baby brother can do that when he gets old enough.

We had a fun week and a half of celebrating Leah's birthday. We first started at my parents' house during our trip to Texas. She got some great presents including stuffed animals, clothes, puzzles and shoes. My mom made her orange flavored cupcakes with marshmellows but she only wanted to eat the marshmellows. She doesn't really like cake or ice cream much.











Then I had an informal party at our ward playgroup last Wednesday with cupcakes and milk for the kids (again Leah didn't want the cupcake but only the gummy bears that I put on top of it). There was a great turn out at playgroup, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Leah. I'm glad that we've made good friends in our ward. I couldn't get her to take a good picture so here's the best I could do.














We then drove up on Saturday to watch the BYU-Washington game in Salt Lake, and Logan's mom volunteered to keep her over night and bring her back the next day. That was a great present for Logan and I to have some time alone and a chance to sleep in.

Then yesterday (Sunday) we had Logan's family over for a combined birthday party for Leah and for Braden's wife Haley whose birthday is coming up in a week. Once again she received plenty of presents including a set of bath toys (a dog and cat with matching clothes) that she can stick up on the bathtub walls when they are wet. This was a big hit with Leah.

She is extremely loved and spoiled by our families, and we appreciate all the fun birthday celebrations that made Leah's 2nd birthday so memorable. Thanks again!

Leah's turns 2 today

Even though I have more pictures to post from our trip to Texas, I would like to take some time to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEAH!

I can't believe it's been two years ago today that I delivered our precious little girl at 10 a.m. (and her birthday fell on Labor Day that year - not so funny to a laboring mom). We were so excited to bring her home to our small apartment in Evanston, IL and get to know her. She is the apple of our eyes. She can be the sweetest little girl one minute and be throwing an angry or sad fit the next minute. But we love her through it all. She is very observant and can be shy but she has a great memory. It takes her a while to feel comforable around people but once she does, she will give them hugs and kisses.

She keeps us laughing at the little things she does or says and her personality traits that have come through over the past year. Here are some of the things or people she loves:

• animals and babies
• to be wherever Logan or I am in the house
• playing outside especially with the boys that live upstairs from us
• swimming even though we're still working on her putting her head under water
• her extended family though she might show favoritism towards some of them
• watching videos on youtube.com about cats, dogs, monkeys, babies or elephants
• putting on her own shoes and clothes and taking them off again
  

These are some words she can say or sign: mama, dada, bear, hat, mi-mi (cat), ra-ra (dog), Frosty, potty, poop, cra-cra (cracker), fish, more, milk, apple, cheese, water, juice, Uncle Boo (her Uncle Braden), Ke-Ke (her aunt Kelcy), girl, baby, Mo-mo (Marshall who lives upstairs), Na (Nathan who also lives upstairs), nana, papa, grandma and grandpa (she does the signs for these but we're still working on her saying them) and there are many others.

She has taken her own time to talk but just recently her vocabulary has increased, and she is putting words together. We know that she'll be talking in sentences pretty soon so I need to remember this stage when she only said a couple of words at a time. She will be a great big sister with lots of love (and jealousy) for our baby boy. Happy Birthday, Leah! We love you!

• 

Fort Worth Zoo

During our Texas trip we also visited the Fort Worth Zoo with my mom and my brother's wife Lindsey and their darling boys Dallin and Ben. The zoo opened at 10 a.m. so we hustled up there right after it opened. We lucked out with the crowd because most of the kids had gone back to school that week.

We saw a whole group of elephants all in one area which usually doesn't happen. We also saw a giraffe with his legs spread apart to get a drink of water. That was really cool to watch.











Leah had a hard night sleeping the night before so she was a little tired during our zoo adventure but she still enjoyed seeing the animals. She especially liked the monkeys, and the zoo had plenty of monkeys in their exhibit. Even though it was pretty hot and humid that day, most of the park was shaded so at least we weren't in the open sun.

We could barely keep up with Dallin and all his energy. He would run from one exhibit to the next. I don't how he can just run and run. My mom said that when they go for walks he likes to race her at the very end, and she has to tell him to slow down. And he's only three years old. Little Ben was just happy to be there, and I finally got a good picture of him smiling. He is smiley all the time but you just have to be fast to catch his picture.











Towards the end of the zoo, we were all getting tired and super sweaty so we decided to cut our trip short so we could eat lunch and get the kids home for a nap. Leah was pretty tired and wasn't paying much attention to the animals anymore. But she was still in a good mood when we ate at Jason's Deli for lunch.

We didn't get home until around 2 p.m., and Leah finally got to take her much needed nap and felt much better afterward. We were glad that we took her to the zoo. I think it was her first toddler trip to the zoo where she would actually enjoy the animals. The last time we took her was at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago when she was just a baby. For more Texas adventures, just read the posts below this one.

Our fun Texas adventures continued....

On Tuesday we took Leah to the Hulen Park in Cleburne where my parents have lived for almost as long as I have lived. Leah got to feed the ducks and geese that swarmed around us, and she thoroughly enjoyed that. She also had the playground to herself that morning and enjoyed climbing up the stairs and going down the slide over and over.

Later that night we met up with Lindsey, Drew, Angie (my sis), Brad (my other brother) along with my parents at our favorite Mexican restaurant Abuelos. It's almost a family tradition that we eat there when we come to visit. Leah actually stayed in her high chair for most of the meal, and Logan and I stuffed ourselves on a delicious combination plate of enchiladas and tacos. I wish we had that restaurant in Utah.

Our fun Texas adventures

I'll try to split our pictures up into two different posts so they don't get too lengthy. We had a fabulous and tiring week in Texas visiting my family. We arrived there on Monday (Aug 25) and met up with my parents, Lindsey, Drew and their two boys at Drew's house for a wonderful home-cooked meal including chicken pot pie. We were stuffed.

Leah remembered her cousins Dallin and Ben from our trip to Denver for July 4th, and she enjoyed playing with him and all of their toys. Dallin put on a show for us with his train conductor outfit and the many songs he knows from the Polar Express movie. He was so sweet to Leah giving her kisses and hugs every 15 minutes. Trying to get them to sit still long enough to take a picture was a big challenge.

Leah also loves playing with Nana and Papa (my parents) when we arrived and gave them big hugs. And she loved following my parents' dogs Frosty and Max around the house and outside. She even said "Frosty" while we were there.