Laila's 1st Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving this year with Laila here! It was so nice to not have to drive 4 hours to see everyone! Even though we ate twice and were stuffed by the end of the day...it was a very relaxing Thanksgiving! We didn't get to see everyone this year, but we are so thankful for the time we got to spend with family. God has given us so much and we are extremely grateful! This year we are most thankful for our beautiful daughter, Laila Grace. She truly has brought so much joy into our lives. It has only been 6 months so far, but we are loving every minute of watching her grow up.

Like always, there are lots of pictures....so enjoy!

Cuddling with Aunt Bekah under Oma's quilt before the feast

Oma's food sure does smell good! Maybe next year I'll get to try some...until then I guess I'll have to enjoy my shirt while everyone else is eating!

I love my Oma!

Daddy is not so bad himself!!! :)

He loves when I tickle his ear!

Enjoying the gorgeous day with Mommy, Daddy, & Oma!

Me with my beautiful grandmother and handsome daddy!

Sound asleep in Oma's arms....getting ready for Round 2!

Round 2 starts with hugs from my beautiful Aunt Holly!

Just relaxing before the party starts, crossing my legs like a big girl!

I love my Aunt Holly and Scooter!

I'm the center of everyone's attention!

Laila's Aunt Holly, 2nd cousin Melissa, and Mommy

Laila's Great Uncle Bob, Uncle Matt, and Grandpa Lail

Sound asleep again, this time in my Great Aunt Cathy's arms!

My first Thanksgiving is almost over...time to put my pj's on...goodnight Grandpa!

Goodnight Uncle Matt!

Goodnight Great Grandpa and Grandma Lail!

First weeks back in Orlando

Well, needless to say, these first few weeks have been super busy getting settled back in to Orlando! Moving, especially with a 5 1/2 month old, is an adventure to say the least! Laila is a trooper! We are doing good though and enjoying being back. We haven't been able to see everyone yet but we have been able to spend some time with quite a few family and friends here and there. Here are some pictures of a few of the things that have been happening these past few weeks since moving back!

Laila got to meet Lisa & Eric Petersen for the first time...YAY!!!

We took Laila to the Millenia Mall and she was in awe of the gigantic Christmas tree!

We celebrated Laila's Great Grandpa Phelp's 76th birthday! Laila's Great Nana and Great Grandpa Lail also celebrated birthdays in November, so Happy Birthday again to all of you!

Aunt Bekah took us out for dinner and Laila fell sound asleep in her arms!

Relaxing at Grammy & Grandpa Lail's house...Laila loves playing with her toes and doing splits!

Look at me...I can sit up all by myself now! (Although Mommy does have to stay close just in case I fall over...I'm still getting the hang of it!)

5 1/2 months old here...the time is flying by!

Hanging out in my high chair while Mom & Dad eat dinner

I love sitting in my swing and watching Baby Einstein!

Hanging out with Daddy and Scooter (Aunt Holly's dog) while Daddy washes the Jeep. Scooter is my new buddy....he makes me laugh!

We miss the weather and the pretty changing leaves in Tallahassee a little bit, but I guess for the most part, the weather in Orlando is not that bad....it has been beautiful...not too hot, not too cold!

Below are some videos...one of her sitting up and one of her laughing. She has been doing both a lot more lately! Her laugh is precious! I hope to get more video of that soon.

Last weeks in Tallahassee

I don't think it has completely sunk in yet that we are not living in Tallahassee anymore. It has been our home for the past 2+ years and we have made so many awesome memories there. We were just saying to each other last night that the move so far has been easier than we thought it would be. Maybe it is just because we've been so busy we haven't had time to think about it, but probably it is because we are moving back to where we both grew up and to a place we know so well and know so many people. It is probably also a little easier because we know we will be back to Tallahassee to visit and we will still keep in touch and see our family and friends there often. Even though the last few weeks in Tallahassee were busy before we moved and we weren't able to see or spend as much time with everyone we wanted to, we still made some special memories and even captured a few on camera.

Laila's first friends in Tallahassee...Ben and Caroline

Laila with her Great Aunt DeDe

Laila's 2nd cousins Nicole and Natalie were such a big help with her as we were busy packing up

Laila's other 2nd cousin Danielle was a huge help as well

Laila with her Great Nana

Laila petting one of the Peacock's dogs, Sadie

More 2nd cousins...Eli and Micah (and Sadie)!

Daddy and Laila relaxing after a good chili dinner with the Peacock family (and some of Aunt DeDe's famous brownies)

The moving crew!

Aunt DeDe, Micah, and Laila

Another one of Laila's beautiful 2nd cousins, Brittany

More last minute help from the moving crew (some of the Peacock boys...Brian, Noah, Dustin, and Dane with Laila)!

Moving day....Nate drove the huge Uhaul truck with the trailer on back and Joy drove the Jeep while towing the other car....what an adventure!

Good-bye yellow house! Good-bye Tallahassee! It's been fun! We'll miss you!

5 months old

Laila turned 5 months old earlier this month! Here's a little update on what's going on in her world:

She had a check up at the doctors office on the 4th and Dr. Vicki said she was doing great! She is 16 lbs, 4 oz and 24 inches long. She is definitely a healthy and strong little baby, doubling her birth weight at around 4 1/2 months. As you can tell by her chubby little legs and cheeks, she is surely not missing out on any meals!!! :) So far she has only had breast milk, but we'll probably start introducing some other foods in the months to come as well. Like most babies, she wants to suck on everything and anything she can get in her hands. She mainly sucks on her thumbs or her pointer finger now, but she still enjoys her toes from time to time too! She doesn't seem to really want the pacifier much at this point. Last month I think I noted in one of the blogs that she rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time. Now she is rolling over both ways, tummy to back and back to tummy. We are going to have to start baby proofing some things soon because she has started to roll across the room, under chairs, and wherever she sees something that interests her. I think she may be getting really close to sitting up unassisted as well, but who knows for sure, she'll do it when she's ready! I think Laila is definitely a talkative little baby. Although she can be very chill and relaxed and likes to do nothing sometimes but cuddle, it seems that most days she baby talks to me all day long while she's awake...she can be a little wiggle worm at times too! She makes a lot of funny noises as you saw in the last blog entry! It is so cute! It makes me wonder what her little personality is going to be like. One thing I know is that she definitely lets us know when she's not happy! She has got a set of lungs on her for sure! Thank goodness, so far, those times seem few and far between. As far as her sleep goes, I've always said she does alright...could be worse, could be better. We're still working on making it a little better, especially for mommy's sake! :)

Here are some pictures of Laila with Dr. Vicki at her 5 month check up (I guess it is supposed to be her 4 month check up but we are a little behind!)! Dr. Vicki was Laila's first pediatrician in Tallahassee. We loved her so much. Can you believe this woman has 8 kids of her own? She's like my Aunt DeDe who has 9....a super woman!!!

Our Little Pumpkin!

Just wanted to share some really cute pictures we took of Laila this past weekend! On Halloween we took her to a pumpkin patch, and then afterwards we met up with Laila's Great Aunt DeDe, Great Uncle Brian, and some of her 2nd cousins at a Fall Festival. It was a fun day! We didn't end up carving a pumpkin this year, instead we put our little pumpkin in a pumpkin! Luckily since we waited until Halloween day and got there right before they were going to close, we got two big pumpkins for cheap! Laila was a good sport with the whole thing! We tried it with two different pumpkins and a few different outfits. Hope you get a few good giggles out of these like we did!

My first Halloween

No, they didn't dress me up as the Michelin tire man...those are my real legs! :)

Look at those rolls on her legs and that beautiful smile! So precious!

This is my scary Halloween face!

Our little pumpkin head!

At the Pumpkin Patch

Are we done with all these pictures yet?

Daddy didn't cut the hole quite big enough at first!

Do you like the pumpkin socks that my Oma got me?!

What am I doing in here? Are my Mommy & Daddy crazy?!

On our way to my first Fall Festival

I like it way up here on Daddy's shoulders!

Saying hello to my Great Aunt DeDe...I love her!

It was cold so Mommy & Daddy put my pumpkin hat back on!

Hanging out with my 2nd cousins....Nicole, Natalie, Eli, & Micah!

Round 2 of the pumpkin pictures!

Daddy liked the pumpkin with bumps all over it...he said it had character!

Mmmm! This is a new taste!

Yummy!

We also got a few cute videos from Halloween. Sorry the first video below is sideways! I didn't realize I wouldn't be able to rotate it! Oh well...the video is still cute. About a month ago or so Laila started doing this little growl. It only lasted for a few days. Now it is back just in time for Halloween! It is so funny....well at least to us! I'm sure some of these videos aren't as entertaining to some of you as they are to us! The smallest things excite us these days! :) Make sure you turn up your volume on the computer so you can hear her!