Da, Da, Da

Just this last week Leah has picked up some more sounds. She just loves to babble and say "da, da, da". If Logan's home he will usually answer her and say "yes, Leah, what to you need?" We hope that she knows the sound she makes refers to Logan as dad. And I didn't get my feelings hurt that she made this sound before ma, ma, ma.

Here's a video of Leah playing with our poker chips we use to play Sequence. She was playing with these for a long time with Braden the other day, so Logan used them again to keep her busy.

Playing on her stomach

We thought Leah wouldn't have any interest in being on her stomach and wouldn't learn to crawl. But just recently she has been playing on her stomach, reaching for things from a sitting position, and moving around a lot better. I was so surprised. Maybe it was because we went over to Logan's cousin Natalie's house where her youngest was crawling around. I hope he learned something from Micah zooming around.

Bargain Shopper

Since we moved to Orem, I have been searching Craigslist and other online classifieds in this area to find a rocker for Leah's room. And my persistence paid off when I found this thing. I guess the family was downsizing their furniture and did not have a need for it anymore. I paid only $30 for it, and it came with the ottoman. I was so excited to find, and I love sitting in it to read or just relax. And Logan laughs at me because I keep calling it "my chair".

I'm also looking for a love seat to go with our leather couch (given to us by Logan's generous parents), but we haven't been as successful. I just have to keep checking everyday. I'm sure we'll find another fabulous bargain piece of furniture.

Exclusive new video

We've taken lots of video the last few months and haven't been adding them to the blog. I'm pretty good about posting pictures because they download really quickly. The videos have to be converted down so they aren't such big files and then uploaded to Google. So it's a longer process.

We just barely looked back at a bunch of videos of Leah when she was five or six months old, and it's so fun to see her and how far she's come. After watching some of the video, we can't believe how much she can do now and how well she controls her arms and legs. Here she is trying to walk back and forth from Logan's mom to me. Just before she gets to us, she leans forward and dives into our arms. Pretty soon she will be walking and running. I probably should be grateful that she isn't doing yet and our house is still in order.

I will try to post some more video in the next few days. So stay tuned.




The Leah-go-round
To compensate for being a late bloomer for crawling, Leah has learned to spin around in a circle where she's sitting to reach toys and other items around her. This footage was taken in our Evanston apartment on the day we moved. She was just playing happily on the floor unaware that she would be moving to another state that very day.

You can also hear her saying "ba, ba, ba" in the video, which she started doing just a couple of weeks ago. And she also started babbling the "da, da, da" sound this week. When she says it and Logan is home, he will come running and ask her "did you call me?" We wonder if she knows that's what she will call Logan. More video of the da, da, da coming up.

Hail the Graduate!

So much has happened since Logan graduated that it's hard to go back and remember that week. But I wanted to post a few fun shots from his graduation. We were so proud to be there and see him earn his diploma after all his hard work. I especially liked his purple gown and academic robes. He looked so distinguished.

Leah was the only baby around that we could see at the graduation ceremony, and she didn't fuss at all. It was probably because she just had previously napped, and during the ceremony we tried everything to keep her happy. My mom gave her snacks, Logan's mom let her play with small packs of tissues, and my dad bounced her on his knee. The family behind us thought at we gave her medicine to sedate her because she was so good and quiet.

There was also a man who came up to us afterward and said that she was the cutest and most quiet baby he'd seen. And he mentioned that he was watching her eat strawberries at the reception held after the ceremony.

After graduation, we all changed out of our nice clothes into casual ones and ate dinner at Cozy Noodles in Evanston, a place Logan and I heard was really good but had never tried before. It was a yummy way to celebrate Logan's achievements and being all together. Leah was being pretty cute at the table so we had to snap a couple of pictures.

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of packing and moving across country, I forgot to post some fun photos of graduation week (two weeks ago) with both of our parents. We had so much fun with them going downtown and seeing Chicago. And they did a lot to help us pack and get organized. Thanks both moms and dads!

Here are some fun shots of our last adventures before we left Evanston:
We took a scenic boat ride with Logan's parents down the Chicago river and along the Lake to view the skyscrapers and learn more about Chicago history. This was one thing I really wanted to do before we moved away. It was so nice to be out on Lake Michigan and feel the cool breeze. Leah wanted to explore the boat and say hi to the little children on our ride. Logan's dad took some great pictures of the skyline. It was a breathtaking view. The picture below has the Sears Tower in the background.

On Friday my parents, Logan, and I went downtown, and Logan's parents babysat Leah for us. Logan really wanted to see the Field Museum before we left the Chicago area. My parents wanted experience real Chicago life so we took the L train downtown. Here's proof that they were brave enough to ride it. Thankfully we didn't run into any suspicious or noisy people.

We just had to take pictures in front of the museum. It was huge! And there were tons of globes on the museum grounds painted with different themes. Here's one with pinwheels.

Inside we saw tons of animals including lions and tigers and bears, oh my! I was a little scared so my dad was trying to protect me from the bear. Thanks Dad!










We also got pictures in front of the famous T.rex named Sue. If you look through the legs you can see my scared face. On the steps of the Museum you can see the skyline and the lake front.
It was so pretty and so nice to relax and enjoy the scenery before we moved and didn't know when we would be back.