Laney Update

Well, since I don't do weekly updates on Elena anymore, I feel like I'm not doing as good of a job at keeping track of, or at least writing down, all of the things that she has learned to do. So, since I'm still waiting on pics from Jess from our Christmas in January, I thought it'd be fun to just do a little update, complete with some pretty hilarious videos!!

I'm constantly amazed at how much Laney changes everyday. She is becoming VERY vocal, and learns new things constantly. She's learned to identify her facial features (eyes, ears, hair, nose, mouth, ears), and her feet, toes, and fingers. She LOVES to find bellybuttons, including everyone else's (so, beware if you're around her, she will grab your shirt and yank it up to find your bellybutton). We're also working on animals, she knows cat and dog now for sure, and what they say. Check out the video of her "repertoire" of animal noises below, it's pretty stinkin' hilarious!

Along with learning new things, she's been seriously developing some stubborness and a very strong will! She absolutely tortures poor Truman... it's totally time for a kitty door into the garage for him! And she has no problem making it known what she wants, and throwing a major fit if she doesn't get it. So, life has become increasingly interesting around here! Josh and I are learning to put our money where our mouths are when it comes to discipline and sticking with it.

She absolutely goes 100 miles an hour everywhere she goes and doesn't slow down until she collapses. The last week or so has been kind of hard because she has been really sick. Last Wednesday she stayed home from daycare, and I took her to the doctor. Thankfully, her ears were clear, so they said it was probably a sinus infection. We got some antibiotics, but by the end of the evening, she had a 103.5 temp and was completely miserable. She stayed home from daycare all day Thursday and half the day on Friday, and didn't go to the youth Road Trip on Saturday. (She actually spent her first night away from home & Mommy and Daddy (she stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Price), and we stayed home from church Sunday night. She finally, just today, has started to feel better. I think she is getting several teeth right now, too, because there has been some major drooling to go with the fever and stuffy nose. It's made for a really rough week, but I'm thinking we're on the mend now, thank God.

Anyway, just an update about our little girl, and how fast she is growing up. And, now, enough of the talking, and on to the pictures & videos, because I know that's what you really want! :)

We've seen a lot of this action this week: passed out wherever she happened to land, with red cheeks from a fever. And gotta love the nightgown AND pj pants... both courtesy of Ellen.

This was the sweetest thing... I took the tree down last week while Josh was at one of his meetings. I took all of the ornaments and tinsel, etc. off, but left the tree up until he got home. After I got everything cleared off, I walked back by and noticed that someone (obviously someone short!) had "hung" these two things back on the tree- a little stocking, and my ear warmer! Guess she didn't want to see the decorations go away! :)
So, tonight she was in a really goofy mood, and climbed into the laundry basket. She looked quite adorable in there, sitting in her cow pjs from Aunt Ruthie (a little large, as they're 24 months). Of course, the laundry was totally thrashed, but it was too cute.

And she was obviously more than happy to cheese it up for the camera!

And on to the videos! This first one is a new "trick" that she started randomly. She just starts clicking her tongue up against her front teeth, and it makes this really funny noise. If you do it back to her, she absolutely cracks up. Pretty cute! :) And one of those tricks that she'll stop soon, so I had to get it documented!

Well, I figured if she was in such a goofy mood, may as well capture it on video! And, since she as wearing cow pjs, well, it was a natural question!

Since she was willing to play along, I thought I'd try to get as much as I could on video. So, here's as many of her "tricks" as I could get... before the phone rang and she was distracted (the attention span is not so great with a 16 month old)!

So there's my update on our cute little girl. I'm hoping she continues to get better, and I will try to do better about updating on her as she grows! :) And stay tuned for pics from our "Christmas in January" with Jess! :)

Post Christmas Festivities

Slowly but surely, I'm catching up!!

The week after Christmas is always filled with fun stuff, and this year it started off with the MU Tiger bowl game (the Alamo bowl). Since it's our favorite thing to do when there's an MU football game on TV (and, you know, since we don't have cable and couldn't watch it anyway) we headed over to Kostaki's for some awesome pizza (and even better cheese bread) and the chance to watch the game on their sweet flat screen tvs! They were really busy at first, but we managed to get a big table, and Josh, Ruth, Sam, Laney and I had a great time! We brought lots of toys for Laney and, once the pizza got there, she was a pretty happy camper. We actually stayed until half time, then headed to Ellen's house, because Great Grandma & Grandpa Price were there for the weekend. So we had a great time hanging out with them, too!

Daddy & Laney, waiting for the game to start. Check out Josh's cool new jersey! That's what I got him for Christmas: a Chase Coffman jersey. A Coffman jersey is extra cool for Josh because 45 was his number in high school, so now he has an MU jersey that's HIS number! Needless to say, I was pretty excited to find it online, and he was pretty excited to open it! :)

Laney spent a lot of time doing her new favorite thing: feeding her baby! She got this little baby from Great Grandma & Grandpa Price, and it's perfect for throwing in the diaper bag to take places!

Sometimes, Laney forgot who the bottle was for. Hey, mommies get hungry, too!

The other big party after Christmas is, of course, New Years! Our church always has a card party, then does the Lord's Supper Service from about 11:30-12:15, so that's how you start your new year. It's a pretty cool way to do things, and the service is always really neat. The card party, however, not so interesting for youth-aged people!! So, we always plan another party for them. The last couple of years we've gone to Empire Roller Rink because they always do a big New Year's party. Since we only stay until 11:00, they open early for us (8:00 instead of 9:00) and give us a big discount on the price. They are wonderful to do all that for us, and the kids definitely have a good time!

A little dark (skating rinks NOT good for photography), but here's Charlie, Corey & Josh heading around the rink!

Josh, on his last trip during the LIMBO... he made it through several rounds, not bad for an old guy! ;) Did I limbo... absolutely not. I'm lucky to make it around the rink without falling!

Josh and I... see, I skated, too. About 5 times around the circle! :) That totally counts...

Laney and her "Aunt Roof."

One of the really fun things about New Years and Christmas this year has been the clear memories of last year at this time, and what Elena was like, compared to what she's like now! So, just for some fun comparison, we took a video similar to one we took last year... check out the difference! :)

New Year's 2007...

And New Year's 2008...

Isn't it amazing how much she's changed? One thing hasn't: she still loves music and she still loves to dance! She even started slapping her legs in time to the music this year, which was pretty cute.

Anyway, I know it's natural at the end of a year to look back and think about how much has changed, but it's still just crazy how much a baby can change in just a year! I get the feeling 2009 is going to have even more excitement as she continues to grow, and develop her own personality... and her own WILL! :) Which she already had a pretty independent streak now, so I get the feeling it's going to be a wild ride!!

Christmas in Springfield

Well, the beginning of our trip to Springfield didn't start out too well! On Christmas night, Josh and I noticed that Laney had some spots on her. We went ahead and put her to bed, hoping it'd be better in the morning. Yeah, well, it wasn't! In the morning it had moved from just her tummy and back, and was all over her face and head as well! So, since we were headed to Springfield, and we didn't want to expose Leila to anything, we really wanted to make sure that we knew what was wrong with Laney. Well, of course, our doctor's office was closed since it was the day after Christmas, so we had to go to another doctor, where I spent an hour in a tiny exam room with no toys except the few little ones I had in the diaper bag, and uncovered outlets!! Seriously, who has uncovered outlets in a pediatrician's office?! Needless to say, it was not a pretty doctor's visit; Laney and I were both about to pull our hair out by the end of it! You can only sit in an 8x8 room for so long before going stir crazy! Anyway, the verdict was a "drug eruption," which really just means she's allergic to Augmentin. Thursday (Christmas) was her last day on that antibiotic, so it's funny that it showed up then. And she's had it before, so I thought that was even funnier. But the doctor said that a reaction like that may show up the first time you take a drug, or the hundredth, but once it shows up it will always happen. So, no more Augmentin or Amoxicillin for Laney! She was really a trooper, although you could tell she was uncomfortable. So, she spent a lot of the weekend drugged up on Benadryl, but really handled it pretty well!



I left my good camera at Mom & Dad's house, so I didn't get great pictures of the leopard look, but these will give you an idea...

Anyway, despite the hives, we headed to Springfield on Friday afternoon, and went straight to Grandma & Grandpa Holt's house to open presents there. Again, I didn't have the good camera, so I didn't get any good pictures while we were there. But we had a good time hanging out and talking, and looking through old pictures!



Saturday we had breakfast with the Lootens, plus Jess, Luke & Leila. We ate lots of good food, and got LOTS of good presents! Laney's favorite was the baby doll that Grandma & Grandpa got her, complete with two bottles! Laney carried that baby around the whole weekend! She loved it, and it's just amazing to me how instinctual baby dolls are. I mean, we've never really shown Laney a baby doll, and it's not like she sees us taking care of a younger sibling. But, as soon as she got that baby and the bottles, she was feeding it, carrying it around, patting it on the back. It was so cute!



We really had fun shopping for everyone this year; Josh and I love to look for the gifts that will make our families excited when they open them. One of our favorites this year was getting a dvd for Josh's dad called "Dr. Syn and the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." It was an old TV show that he watched as a kid, but when we tried to order it, it was on backorder. So we were looking for something else to get, when it showed up on our doorstep. So it was our little "Christmas Miracle." And we even watched it with him on Saturday night. It was actually pretty good!

Laney and Grandpa, watching Dr. Syn... and feeding the baby, of course... in their new flannel pj pants, courtesy of Ellen (Grandpa's have King Kong, Laney's have dogs in the bathtub).

Sunday morning we headed to church. But not without feeding the baby... are you seeing a pattern here?!

Leila and Jess met us at church, and the girls showed some cousin-love afterwards! They were pretty funny to watch thist time, because they're finally both mobile. So Leila was VERY interested in everything Laney was doing, which didn't really please Laney too much!

Note the expression on Laney's face... we've discovered, she's not so good at sharing toys! She's finally gotten a sense of "Mine" (complete with saying "MINE!") and wasn't keen on sharing with Leila!

Once, Laney was playing with her baby, and Jess grabbed Tigger to show Leila. Well, Miss Lena decided she didn't want Leila playing with Tigger, so she went over, picked Tigger up, and put him on the coffee table. Then, she went back to playing with her baby. Yeah, that didn't fly so much with Mommy... Mommy got Tigger and went back to Leila. After which, Laney watched me very closely while Leila and I played with Tigger. Not happy, but wasn't going to cross Mommy! Maybe it's time for a sibling...


Cute Momma and baby, hanging out in the kitchen Sunday afternoon!

As I said, Laney was a "Mommy" all weekend long. And, like any good mommy, she knew her baby needed a quiet place to take a nap. Not sure DFS would approve of a potato bin, but a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do! :)

Laney has been learning new "tricks" at record speed, it's amazing how fast she picks up new words and phrases. If I can ever get caught up with holiday posts, I'm going to do a Laney update with her fun new "tricks" and words and quirks! But this video was just too cute to pass up! We've taught Laney to say "PawPaw" for Grandpa. But we just can't get "Gamaw" down. So, instead, Grandma Looten worked up this new trick! The audio's not very good (again, old camera), but Laney's yelling "I do!" Pretty darn cute...

It was great to spend the whole Christmas weekend with so much family! It was a whole new experience this year with Laney running around like a wild animal! I get the feeling she's only going to get more and more excited about Christmas as the years go by. We're in for quite the ride!

Christmas in Columbia

Ok, I know that I'm totally late with this post, and the next several that will come! But I lost my card reader, so I didn't have a good way to get pictures onto our computer. Plus, I have been enjoying the time Josh, Laney and I have had to hang out together, without much computer time. It's been a good Christmas break for us! But, pictures must be posted, so here's the first of several Christmas/New Years posts!

Truman seriously enjoys the things that come along with Christmas... namely, boxes, bags, and wrapping paper strewn about the house! What better place for a kitty to play?! Here he is in the box that Laney's Price cousin gift came- a big stuffed sheep from Addyson!

It was definitely a different feel to Christmas this year. Last year, Josh and I were more excited because Elena was there, and Elena liked to look at the tree, but it was nothing like this year. She loved the tree, loved to look at the presents, it was a whole new world, and we loved every minute of it! Some cute pre-Christmas pictures...

We had our own little elf! Here is Miss Elena using the mail cart Uncle Tim got her for her birthday to deliver presents!

The funny thing is, the bigger present that's in there is no big deal, it's just a spare from the youth Christmas party. But the little red one is actually Elena's present to me, which was obviously really from Josh. And it was my big present this Christmas, a beautiful silver cross necklace with a sapphire (I LOVE sapphires) that Josh had made for me. Anyway, it stayed in her mail cart all the way until Christmas morning (I think this was Christmas Eve), and when we passed out presents and it was gone Josh panicked, and then I remembered seeing it in her cart. It was pretty funny. She definitely earns her "Relocator" nickname!

In general, though, Laney didn't really know what the presents were for, but she sure liked digging under the tree! Not sure if it was because of the tree, the presents, or the joy of torturing Truman!

As usual, we woke up BRIGHT AND EARLY on Christmas morning. Josh and I are such big kids, we have trouble sleeping Christmas Eve anyway. This year we put a movie on and watched it in bed until we finally fell asleep. But Laney woke up at about 5:30, and then we were awake, so up we went!

Laney was not so excited to be awake. She was, however, a fan of the candy in her stocking!

Truman LOVED his present. It's just a pole with some stretchy fleece attached to it, but he was all about chasing it. So maybe it won't join the pile of unused cat toys!

Elena wasn't actually too into the opening presents thing (although that could have been the whole 5:30 AM thing), but once she saw that Santa had brought her a baby doll stroller, she perked right up. Literally, she jumped up off of my lap and started pushing it around with a little baby doll she already had. Gotta love when they're little, and an $8 stroller is the best present in the world!!

And it wouldn't be Christmas morning without a traditional Looten-family portrait! Josh tolerates me breaking out the tripod and messing with the self-timer. This one came out pretty good, although the sugar craze has started working on Laney!

In the car on the way out to Grandma & Grandpa Price's house. Check out the cell phone from her stocking!

Mom & Dad always have a real tree, typically one they cut themselves. This year's was HUUUGE, and took up half of the living room. Sometimes I miss having a real tree, since that's what I grew up with. But then, after about 15 minutes at Mom & Dad's, when my head is about to explode, I remember why I'm glad to have a fake tree! That, and I can put mine up in November without being a serious fire hazard!! Anyway, here's their tree... looks pretty good!

Dad opening his big gift, which was from Jess, Mike, Charlie, Josh and I. We got him a 3-ton jack, a set of 3-ton jack stands, and a creeper. It was a major Black Friday find, which I had to wrestle into the car by myself (yes, it weighed 114 pounds according to the bottom of the box). I even got it wrapped (with Josh's help), which I was quite proud of! And it was too fun to watch him open it, he was pretty excited!

Speaking of pretty excited, this was what Grandma & Grandpa Price got Laney for Christmas! Pretty cool, huh? And built by Grandpa! We're waiting for it to find a place in the house when we get our tree taken down, but she sure liked it Christmas morning!

Eating some "apples," aka pears at her new table. Everything is an apple to Laney, at least every fruit. We just recently learned the difference between apples and "nanas." And, let's be honest, she still calls bananas apples half the time! But she is a fruit monster, whatever kind of fruit it is!

As cool as the new picnic table was, it was nothing compared to what Uncle Charlie got her. He was definitely the winner as far as Laney's favorite Christmas morning presents! He got her this Tigger, and once she figured out how it worked, she was all about it! Though, she wasn't too sure whether to dance or bounce or clap, so she tried to do all three and ended up looking like she was having some sort of seizure... what can I say, she gets her dancing talent from her mommy!

Anyway, so those are the highlights from our Christmas in Columbia. We also had Christmas dinner with the family that didn't leave for Springfield that afternoon (Ellen, Sam & Charlie). I cooked a ham and everything, broke out the table cloth... it was very fun! I know there are lots of other good pictures from Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Price's, but they are on Ellen & Ruth's cameras; we just grabbed whichever camera was closer! So, if I ever get those pictures, I may do another post! I will definitely post soon with pictures from Christmas in Springfield, and New Years!! Stay tuned...