Libby's Birthday

Liberty turned one! She is getting so old. Here are some fun pictures from her birthday. (there are more on facebook, but i feel like I should put at least a few on here too. Richard got her the balloon and it might be Libby's favorite present.

She was a bit cautious about the cake. I thought she'd dive right in, but mostly she wanted to throw it everywhere.

Got to wash down that cake with some milk! She knows what's good.

Here she is playing with her presents after we got her cleaned up from the cake

Modeling her awesome birthday crown (made by me) and making a silly face...as usual


Liberty thinks it's really funny to pretend to go "nigh night" and will say "nigh night" and lay her head down on blankets, my lap, the couch, her bear, anything somewhat soft. It's really really cute.

awesome

so i just wanted to post that a few seconds ago libby stood up without holding onto anything and started walking about 5 or 6 steps. that is the best she has done at walking so far, now she is taking a few more steps. i think by her birthday (friday) she will be a champ. here's a video of her walking.


It looks like she falls at the end, but becky catches her.

Also, check out the blog becky wrote earlier about all the words she can say. she said something else new today, but i can't remember what it was.

Words

Libby is becoming quite the talker. I thought I'd share some of the words she can say. Some are prompted and others she says all the time.

favorite words to say (unprompted): dada, mamma, baby, car, bear, wow, peek (peekaboo), Becky (she won't stop saying this today-elmo is now becky), gr cracker, elmo, ball, night night, moo, roar, uh-oh

prompted: kitty, duck, bath, Jesus, juice, Cole, tree, knock, eat, snow, dog, Jana (nana), Addie (she's said it twice, so I'm not sure if it counts), Laila (which sounds like blablah most of the time, but she really tries to say it)

things she signs: more, please, all done, wave, clap, kiss, "5", peekaboo, points to: head, belly, ear, and sometimes nose or mouth

If your name isn't on here yet, we're working on it. :) Jana got lucky and has a very easy name for babies to say. Libby seems to learn a new word almost everyday. She's very smart ;)

She is also almost walking. She'll let go of things voluntarily now and stand for a few seconds and will sometimes walk a couple steps if mommy is there to catch her. I'm so proud of her. She loves
to stand up and fall down in her crib or on our bed. If there's a soft landing she's very brave.
This is my current favorite picture of Libby. I had fun editing it on picnik.com. If you haven't done it before, it's pretty fun (basically free photoshop). Can't believe this little monkey turns 1 on Friday! Stay tuned for birthday pictures. We're gonna have a small party on Saturday (since Richard doesn't get home from work till 8:45pm on Friday).

Happy Valentine's day

How cute is Libby in her Valentine's outfit? Simply adorable. Hope you all enjoy this celebration of Love.

little miss mischief

Don't let Libby's sweet smile fool you. She is full of mischief. At church today she was full of it. Things she did that she shouldn't have: Stole things from people's purse's, touched a quite a few bums as she pulled herself up onto the backs of people's chairs, stole binkies and toys from other babies, dumped cheerios all over the floor, crawled as fast as she could all the way out of relief society....2x, threw a graham cracker at the people in front of us during the prayer, and grabbed 2 water cups from the tray and dumped them on Daddy as the sacrament was being passed. She also danced very adorably to the hymns much to the people behind us' enjoyment (and ours). She sure knows how to make people smile. She also points to Jesus every chance she gets, which makes me feel like maybe we're doing something right. We love her, but sometimes Sunday's can be exhausting. (It doesn't help that nap time falls right in the middle of church, so she gets a bit grumpy by the end.) I know most of these things are pretty normal for a baby, but Libby seems to be one of the busiest/noisiest kids in our ward. I just don't understand what it would be like to have a child that snuggles on your lap during church or even takes a nap.
We just got called to be ward librarians today, so hopefully Libby will have more fun and freedom crawling around the library. Hope you enjoy all the pics richard posted yesterday.

Liberty is cute.

Rexburg!

So, pretty much skipped out on blogging in December...oh well, it was very busy and filled with family and fun and packing... We moved to Idaho this month. Richard will be starting school in April. Richard drove the moving van and moved in on the 3rd and I drove the 7-8th with Liberty and my mom. (she was nice enough to come with me and take turns entertaining Libs on the long drive, don't think i could've done it without her). It hasn't been as cold as it could be here. Still below 30 most days, but it hasn't gone into the negatives. We are mostly moved in now. Our bedroom seems to be the only place that isn't organized and is where we hide everything we don't know where to put. Our apartment is very nice. It has good windows and carpet and great closet space. It's smaller than our last place, but big enough. Liberty seems to like it well enough. She is obsessed with the bathroom. She always wants to take a bath and she takes one almost everyday. We have to keep the door shut or else we'll find her playing with her bath toys or trying to get into the trash, etc. She's learned how to knock and if she knows one of us is in the bathroom, she will knock on the door and scream until we open it, (even if the other one of us is willing to play with her.
Libby is getting closer to walking. She walks pretty well only holding one hand and can walk pushing her car push toy thing by herself. She seems quite pleased with herself. She continues to be extremely goofy and makes the funniest faces and noises and little dances. It's very cute, but can be very disruptive during church, but she's not the only noisy one there. Lots of babies and pregnant ladies in our ward. One of these days i'll have to set up a play date. Libby is also obsessed with graham crackers. She likes them enough to say it, which sounds like "ga ca" or "ga cra ca" and points to the cupboard where they're kept. She eats several a day.
Richard and I were able to go on a date yesterday. My best friend Julie lives a couple blocks away and offered babysitting services in exchange for the use of our washer/dryer. It was nice to be able to go to the temple (about a 3 min drive). Afterward we went to the Cocoa bean which is a cute little hot cocoa and cupcake shop. They make amazing hot cocoa. Quite a brilliant idea for a pretty much non-coffee drinking town.
Richard is still looking for a job. He had a couple interviews last week, so hopefully something happens with those. It seems like he's applied everywhere.