"She's so smiley"

We had a very buys weekend in the Land of Leinna. Papa practically lived at the school as our school hosted the 29th annual Tip-Off Tournament for basketball and a Saturday in-service day so that he can have a long weekend in April. He did such a great job of organizing and running the tournament with the help of some wonderful people- you know who you are! Since Papa was busy at the school until late in the evening, we headed in to see him at the basketball games. The theme of the weekend turned out to be, "She's so smiley!" Everyone who interacted with her was given one of Leinna's great smiles. She truly is a happy baby, even when we were a good two hours past her bed time. We are blessed with such a happy little girl! No major milestones to report yet- although I believe that top tooth will be making an appearance any day now!

Box Chaser

As Leinna is more coordinated with her movements in her walker, she's created her own little game called "Box Chaser."

Step 1. Find a box that interests you. Hopefully your momma or papa will have one for you to play with.

Step 2: Maneuver the walker so that you think you'll be able to reach your desired box.

Step 3: You realize you can't reach the box with your hand, so let's push it around the floor. The fun thing is the box will move before you can reach it!

Step 4: When you've had some practice, you can push the box against something and watch it fall!

Step 5: Hey, where did it go? Oh yea- I knocked it over! Now you must make a sound that let's your momma or papa know that you need to see your box again.

Leinna loves to chase her box around on the floor. She squeals and laughs at herself. This morning while I was taking the photos, she even clapped a few times when she knocked the box over.

Round 2 Of Plans to Rule the World!

So the Princess' met again to discuss their plans to rule the world. Notice this time the girls are able to sit up for the discussions (with a little help from Queen S.). Not sure what they have planned, but it sure was fun to listen to the two of them take turns 'talking'!

Who's that peaking over the edge?

Yep- it's our darling Leinna. I don't have any idea how or why she fell asleep this way. It sure did put a smile on Momma and Papa's face when we went in to turn her night light off.

Here's hoping everyone as a restful weekend!

One step closer to crawling!

While each milestone Leinna reaches is such a joy, I must be honest and say I'm a bit nervous with her becoming mobil. Seems like we've spent the last 6 months adjusting to life with a baby. Now we are going to add mobility to it?! YIKES!!

My days are numbered as Leinna is closer and closer each day to crawling. She loves to get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth. You can just see the determination in her face in trying to figure out how to make her body move forward. As I try to capture the first crawl on the video camera each day (we must have at least 20, 10 sec segments of her attempts), I watch in amazement knowing that she is teaching herself how to crawl. Sure I can get on the floor and model crawling for her, but ultimately she has to teach her body how to do it herself.

We've finally received the walker from Grandma and Grandpa Emerson. They had purchased the walker for Cousin Oliver, who is way too big for it now, so they decided to ship it to Alaska for us. When Leinna saw it, a huge smile spread across her face. In South Dakota she wasn't to great at corners, but she's mastered all directions now. At least with the walker I have some control over her mobility. I did realize that our house is not even close to being ready for a little person's mobility. In her walker the first place she headed was to the cook books. Thankfully they are so packed in there that she can't pull any of them off... just yet.

Finally, I thought I'd share a picture from our walk the other night. We've had cold, dry weather the last two weeks. It was great to get out and get a walk in with such a beautiful view.

The Sock Battle

I wish I could capture in photos the way Leinna kicks her legs like she is swimming. It's just so darn cute. I did however capture the result of her "swimming." The sock battle! It's never both feet, but always her right foot that she seems to kick her sock off.

Other adventures for Leinna include playing in her Johnny Jumper. I've read many negatives about the contraption, but I was in one and survived and the way Leinna likes to be busy, she needs ways to express her energy. She hasn't quite figured out that you can jump in the seat, but she does like to twirl around and 'swing' in it.

Leinna was infatuated with her laundry basket this weekend, so I stuck her inside it! I'm sure this is just the first of many play times in the laundry.

Finally, just some cute pictures of our little girl. She's really doing well with sitting up and now gets on all fours and starts rocking back and forth- crawling is just around the corner. She's found that she likes to lick our wood floors and the foot rest of the recliner (blah...) which makes me want to scrub the floors every night.

Leinna is looking at Papa in this picture and if he wanted to be called Daddy, Leinna would be saying his name as "da-da". I think the only time it sounds like she says "ma-ma" is when she's crying. Today as I type this and watch her play in the exer-saucer- her sound is "OOOOOOO" very loudly :o) She must be missing her cousin "Big O".

6 Months Old

Okay- so I know the photo quality above is not the best, but I had to capture a picture of her on her 6 month birthday and all I had was my phone with me. So, it is what it is. What a funny statement to think I'm complaining about the quality of picture my PHONE took! 5 years ago I never would have thought of having a phone that could take photos and browse the Internet and contain apps other than being able to call someone. Man- scary to think where technology will be when Leinna is 16 years old?! At least I have a husband who likes to keep up with the technology world.

So, Leinna's 6 month check-up went just fine. She's sitting up by herself and is able to use her hands to push herself back up if she's leaned too far forward. She's now 18.4 pounds and 27 inches long. She's in the 80th percentile for growth and weight. Papa was a bit concerned because her last check-up she was in the 95th percentile, and I had to explain to him that all it means is 2 months ago she was "bigger" than most other 4 month olds and now at 6 months, her peers are catching up to her. Her shots went fine as well- poor little girl- two nurses came in and did both legs at once. I guess better to be quick about it- but she let out the cry with no sound- breaks my heart. We did time it well though because she was hungry for lunch, so her bottle settled her right down.
Our wonderful friend, Aunt Heidi gave Leinna this hat. It says Alaska on one side, and then has the big dipper (which is on the state flag) on the other side. (see below). Wish I could take credit for knitting the hat, but I do plan to modify it and add some ear flaps to it :o) Thank you Aunt Heidi!
And finally- below is the sunset picture as we fly back into Cordova. Surprisingly it was foggy in Anchorage and clear and dry in Cordova! That rarely happens- but it was a beautiful flight back home. We received a nice compliment from a couple of men saying that Leinna traveled really well. I thanked the men and in my mind I reflected on all the traveling this little girl has been through in her short life and chuckled that a 30 minute flight to Anchorage is nothing compared to the traveling she's done.
We hope the new year is treating everyone well. We are looking forward to watching Leinna grow and discover the world around her!

Home

Home is such an interesting word. Home can mean many different things. The word can conjure up memories of where you grew up, a place where you felt safe and loved, your current living situation or just many memories of friends and family. The picture above was the sunrise the day before we left South Dakota. Home. As we headed back to Alaska, I experienced such mixed emotions. Glad to be headed back to our home and see the dogs, but yet sad to think I mostly likely will never step foot back in the house I called home for many years. Leinna did well traveling and was excited to be home too! When I laid her in her own bed last night- she smiled while sucking her thumb and then kicked her legs a few times. I think she was happy to be in her own bed. We look forward to the changes 2011 will bring and hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year!