The Little Things In Life With The Webers: Lila Ruth's First Birthday

Lila,

We just got back from our special birthday morning time together. We had breakfast at Chic-fil-a, stopped at Target for you to pick out a little toy, went to the pet store so you could throw a fit because you wanted to take the animals out of the cages, and then off to the park to swing and watch the ducks. It is 10:30 right now and I just gave you a nice big ole bottle and put you down for your nap because your morning celebration wore you out. Now I sit here thinking about how amazing this last year with you has been. I can still remember 12:01 p.m on August 7th, 2012 like it was yesterday. And now here it is an entire year later, and you are changing and growing so quickly that it makes tears spill onto my face.

There are so many things that I want to tell you because I know you won't remember this time in your life like I always will. I think the thing that stands out the absolute most, the thing that makes you you, is your joy. I often refer to you as Joyful Lila. You seriously are so full of joy that you smile all the time! There have been a brief few periods of your life where you have been teething and you've lost that joy and we just didn't even recognize you! You also have begun to laugh a lot lately! At random moments you will just get a huge grin on your face and then you'll bust out laughing. It's so contagious. One of your smiles or one of your laughs lights up an entire room. I hope that you always know how powerful that joy of yours is and I pray that nothing in this world dims it!

One of the things that brings you joy right now is eating. Oh MY GOODNES...you LOVE to eat! No more baby food for you. You are all about real food now which is amazing! You almost always feed yourself so you are getting really good at eating! I would say that bananas are your favorite food. By the time that I have one all torn into pieces it's gone. It's actually amazing how quickly you can devour a banana! I think blueberries, black olives, and pasta are also in your top 10 list. But you still like, avocados, apple sauce, green beans, rice/ refried beans, carrots, potato salad, cottage cheese, oatmeal, cheerios, chicken, mangoes, peaches, and corn. We seem to add more things to this list every day! I love when you think somethings tastes really good because you let us know with your Mmmmmmmm and you crazy leg kicking!

All this eating has made you a super healthy baby! You are for sure chunkin up right now! I love seeing all those rolls while taking your bath or swimming. I wouldn't say that you love water but you like it! You splash around during your baths and float around in the pool but you're really only happy if you have a toy in hand. We played with mima's water table the other day and you loved standing there splashing and playing with the toys.

You LOVE playing with toys in and out of the water. It has been so neat to watch your love of playing evolve. You can be in a room all by yourself and totally keep yourself entertained as long as you have some toys. You have been known to play with your baby doll for literally like 30 minutes. You'll pick her up, hold her, lay her down, cover her up with a blanket, give her a bottle, try to shove your paci in her mouth. Your love of baby dolls is literally the cutest thing in the world. You also love to play with anything that you can take things out of and then put them back in. You have a box of blocks and you will take the blocks out of the box and then you will throw them right back in. You also have a carton of eggs that come apart. You will "crack" the eggs, put them in a plastic skillet, take them out of the skillet and put them back in the carton. And then there are balls. You sometimes get in a crazy throwing mood. We will put your bin of balls on the floor and you will take them out throw them and then crawl after them to get them. This makes us think that sports are in your future. I could probably go on and on about your playing! You just are so good at it!

Besides playing with toys you and your sister play really well together. Sharing is really hard right now for your sister so she is always trying to "trade" with you which is a fancy way to say steal whatever you have. You usually just roll with it though! Every now and then you'll get mad when she takes something from you and you'll let her know! One of your favorite things to do with Kylie Jo is musical things. You love for her to push buttons on toys that make music and you'll dance together. Girl you have some serious moves. You bounce that body up and down and wave those arms in the air. You also love when she gets in her handing you things mood. She will hand you something tell you what it is, you will put it down, and then she will hand you something else. This goes on for a long time some days! You also love "playing" with Chancer. When he is laying down on the ground you'll crawl over and pet, slap, or pull on him. You aren't scared of him at all!

But you do have some fears! You absolutely hate when people blow bubbles with their gum. Your dad did this one day and you wouldn't let him hold you for the rest of the night. You also hate when people jump in the pool, which I will give you that one because that is pretty intimidating.

You've recently developed a bit of a temper. I would say that you're learning that you have wants and wishes but that you aren't always getting them. This makes you start arching your back and hollering like we are cuttin your arm off or something. When you see someone else eating you seriously freak out! You start out with a low single moan and then it just continues to grow and get louder. You also hate when you finish eating. When I get that rag to wipe you off you start throwing your upper body over the side of the high chair and moving your hands like crazy to try to keep them from being cleaned. It's actually kind of entertaining to us...I usually get a good laugh out of your end of meal tantrum.

However, diaper changing tantrums are not a laughing matter at all! Right now the last thing in the world that you want is for your diaper to be changed. The second that you realize that we are walking back to your room to change your diaper you start crying and figuring out a way to get out of our arms. During the actual change you scream and do anything at all possible to twist and turn and get away from the nice new fresh and clean diaper. Considering you get changed around 8 times a day this makes diaper changes a real fear of all changers. You hate getting your toe nails cut about as much as your diaper changed. It's gotten to the point where I just have to let you scream it out and slowly get them cut because I don't want you to have funky ingrown toenails! Oh my gosh you would think I was cutting your toes off though the way that you carry on. Thank God you are so full of joy most of the time because if you weren't your newly developed temper would be hard to put up with.

Enough about that temper though...back to that joy of yours! You are my cuddle bug. If I am laying on the floor, it never fails, you will crawl up on me and cuddle. You do this thing where you get really close to my face and then you open your mouth and then you try to like attack me with your mouth. I will turn my face to get away and you will crack up and go in again for the attack! You also love to poke at eyes and touch eyelashes. Lately you have also really bonded with that blanket of yours. If it's on the ground you will crawl over to it, lay on your stomach and curl up with some of it in your arms to cuddle. Usually this turns into you playing peek-a-boo with us.

One of the cutest things that you do right now is play shy. Granddaddy will walk in and talk to you and you will put your head to the ground with a big grin. When you aren't overcome with emotion you'll lift your head back up, he'll say something else to you, and you'll grin and put that head back to the ground. This can go on for quite awhile because it's just so cute that he can't stop.

A few other Random things about who you are right now:

-You really could walk if you would just do it but you have decided you are going to walk when you know that you won't fall. You would rather just bear crawl around to strengthen up those legs until you can walk, which is okay with us!

-You have been to Arkansas, Clute, and Illinois and you actually traveled really well. We just switched you to a seat that faces forward so I think you'll like traveling even more now that you can see more than the back of the carseat.

-You love to breath in and out of your nose to make a noise. It's hilarious!

-When we say No, Lila, Paci, get your baby, or give me a kiss you understand what we are saying

-You go to bed at 7 and wake up a little after 7. You usually take a nap at 10ish and then sometimes you take another nap around 2.

-You love to copy sounds that we make....if I say ahhhh you will say it. No words are coming out yet but lots of noises!

-You have two teeth and a million that are ready to pop through.

- You love all things that light up or play music.

-You are a momma's girl right now which makes me feel bad for dad but I secretly cherish this time!

That is who you are right now in a nutshell. I have loved watching you're personality continue to come out. It has been really neat to see how you are just totally your own little person. You really are so different from your sister and that has just been really awesome to watch. I'm so glad that we were surprised with you and have totally learned through your life that God's plans are so much greater than our own. Love you sweet baby girl!

1 Thessalonians 2:20 For you are our glory and joy.

Some of my Favorite Pictures from 6 months-12 months and then LOTS of pics at the bottom of the celebration day today!

You and your sister spending quality time together.

One of your favorite things to do when you were learning to pull yourself up was to crawl under the side table.

Checkin out the bubbles at the museum.

You two are two peas in a pod!

7 months ends the picture in a cute dress pics..it was too hard to keep you contained and I just kept forgetting!

Love that face!

This picture captures you completely.

Come on mom...this is embarrassing!

Relaxing in the tunnel.

Watchin TV together!

Tryin to steal the books from sisters cart!

Somebody looks like her daddy!

Loves lookin in the mirror!

Standing up at 11 months like a pro! Last pictures in your first house!

I love these girls!

You can see the joy in your eyes!

Notice your baby doll is not far behind!

Water table fun!

This girl is not affraid to crawl in the grass if it means that she can explore!

Got dirty from eatin mac and cheese so impromptu bath in the sink.

"This is SO much fun!"

One big happy family!

One of my favorite pics of you and your dad!

My girl did not love the waves!

"Mom how is she as big as me and she's 4 months younger? This is NOT fair!"

Cousin Love!

My biggest Noonday supporter!

Her first and last picture with her tree! I would have transplanted it if I could have!

BIRTHDAY DAY!

Just you and I eating your birthday breakfast at Chic-fil-a! You LOVED your burrito as much as you loved watching all the people!

Flowers just for you on the Chic-fil-a table!

Next on our list....find a toy at Target...you picked a little baby. The t-shirt says My Little Brother which cracked me up! After this we went to Pet Smart but I couldn't capture a pic because the second I put you down you were crawling around the store!