The Daintys

Leah is officially one year old!  Tuesday was her first birthday, and along with that - her first cake!  She also took her first steps on Monday as both Ryan and I were sitting there, so that was exciting as well.  We were both glad to be there when it happened!  Now she is attempting to walk more and more...often times at greater speed than she can control...  But now, back to that cake: "Check please!"

I love Halloween!  On what occasion other than Halloween can you dress your little one up in tulle, styrofoam, and wire wrapped in nylon, and watch her wiggle around the house while the dog tries relentlessly to figure out what these wings strapped to her body are...  I know neither Leah nor Lucy really appreciated the homemade ladybug costumes, but I will cherish the pictures of them looking out the front door at the trick-or-treaters forever!  Now, Ryan and I are going to watch (another) creepy movie.  Eeek! All the kids at a friend's halloween party last weekend...

Our first attempt at capturing Leah at 11 months  was clearly not very successful. ...But, we got some goodies the next day! (Something about Leah in this picture reminds me of her Aunt Teresa... maybe it's the strawberry tint to her hair?) (If only we had the screechy noise to go with this picture in an audio file!)

Leah had her first spaghetti dinner this week, and it was extremely entertaining,  so we'd thought we'd share these pictures!   Here she is, nice and clean at the start of dinner. It didn't take her long to figure out she liked it! I love the foot sticking out of her high chair... "More please!" By the end of dinner, her legs were plastered with noodles. We put her right into the bath to avoid any possibility that she might become a snack herself to a certain canine...

Leah is ten months already and she will be one before we know it!  She continues to be a very active little girl and she is learning so many new things.  Here are some snippets of what's new in Leah's world. 1. Advanced Acrobatics and Climbing Skills Leah has taken to weaving in and out of the table and chairs. She does some excellent push-ups. This is nothing compared to climbing up the entire flight of stairs from the basement! 2. Balancing She can balance on a chair, and she is starting to stand alone for short periods of time. (Before plopping gracefully back to the ground.) 3. New Facial Expressions This is her new "What's-your-deal?" face. And this one is my FAVORITE. This is her look-at-me-I'm-so-cute-and-I-know-it face.

For labor day weekend we took a mini road trip to the Chicago area to visit Great Grandma Grace, Grandma Rutecki, and Aunt Teresa.  We also took Leah to her very first professional baseball game: White Sox vs. Red Sox.  (You can guess what colors Ryan was decked out in.  Fortunately, we had a cute baby with us so we did not get harassed.)  Leah enjoyed clapping along with the crowd, trying to swipe the beer bottle from the cup holder attached to the seat behind us, trying to swipe the cell phone belonging to the man next to us, and throwing crackers and the guys in front of us.   Here, of course, are pictures:

Aunt Jessica has been anxiously awaiting nine month photos of Leah, so here they are Auntie!  Leah was nine months a few days ago.  At her checkup she weighed 19 lbs, 10 oz and she is 29 inches long.  Our infant car seat can't be used past 30 inches, so this weekend we took a trip to Babies R Us with BOTH grandmas to get a new one.  We made a tunnel out of the box and Leah had a blast crawling through it.  We would close the flaps and she figured out how to slither through and then she would crawl out and clap for herself.  So cute!  (There's a video down below.)  She is in such a fun stage right now.  She is not walking yet, but she crawls at the speed of light when she wants to, and she can pull herself up to stand on the furniture and walk holding on.  She's also starting to wave bye-bye and babble with new sounds.