Leah Kate: 23 month update

Leah is at the most fun age!!! She is talking ALL of the time! From 6 am- 8 pm (except a of couple hours during her nap), she is either humming, singing, or talking non-stop. It is so neat how she can have a conversation with me now. Jeremy wasn't feeling well one morning, and Leah jumped in the bed and said "feel better, daddy" without any prompting. She says so many things that amaze me. All of the sudden she was able to sing whole verses to the songs we like to sing instead of just filling in a word or two. She has also started playing and taking care of her baby dolls. Her favorite is Baby Alice (that she named), and she likes to feed her, give her a paci, put her to bed, and push in her stroller. 

Keeping a toddler busy in the heat of the summer has been interesting. I have had to get creative since playing outside hasn't been as much of an option. She loves swimming in our neighborhood pool, going to the splash pad, visiting "bear" at bass pro shop, and looking at the animals at Petco. It makes me a little worried that her favorite animal to look at is the snake... No pet snakes are in her future! However, her favorite place to go is "jumpy house"! This is an indoor play place with bouncy houses and slides. She is so brave and loves to climb up the huge slide with me. We are ready for fall so that we can play in our yard more often! I had so much fun watching Leah learn and play at the McWane Center in Birmingham a few weekends ago, and she had a BLAST at the beach with her buddies!

"Why do you take so many pictures, mom?!?!?"

Having a blast at the McWane Center!

Leah loves to say "War Eagle, hey!"

Leah finally loved the sand at the beach! 

Leah Kate: 19 month update

It has been a while since my last post about Leah, so I have a lot to catch up on! Today was her first day of Mother's Day Out at out church, and I felt like I was sending her off to Kindergarten! I am so thankful that she will have scheduled time to play with friends two mornings a week. She LOVES other kids and said "bye bye, mommy" before I could even get out of the room! It will be interesting to see how she takes a nap after lunch while at Mother's Day Out... She does so well with her routine at home, so praying that transfers to church! 

Leah is running everywhere and getting into EVERYTHING! We had to add locks to the top drawers since she is so tall! She loves to pull out all of my makeup while I try to get ready in the mornings. I love that she is such a girlie girl! She always asks for my makeup and lipstick to put on. Her favorite thing to ask for are her "-ig tails" when she wants me to put her hair in pigtails! Her hair is so curly and long these days. It is crazy to look back at pictures from just a few months ago and see how much she has grown. At her 18 month appointment, she weighed 26 pounds and was 33.5 inches tall. She is in the top 90th percentile for height, so it should be interesting to see how tall she ends up!

Leah is doing SO well communicating! She speaks in two word phrases almost all of the time, and she is beginning to say three words together. Her favorite phrase is "I do it"! She is understanding concepts big/small and heavy. She is also beginning to understand some prepositions like "on/off" and "in/out".  She loves to sing and play instruments. I have been so surprised at how she can fill in the words to so many of the songs that we sing. I didn't realize how much se is actually listening and processing what she sees and hears. It is so amazing to see her learning and understanding new things! 

Ice cream is Leah's favorite thing! She frequently asks for Brusters!

First pedi!

First time petting a horse. She loved it!

Tea party with Pa Pa!

First day of Mother's Day Out! Big girlie!

Leah Kate: 15 month update

It has been over three months since my last post about Leah Kate, so I thought it was time for an update! She had a great 15 month check up, and she now weighs 23 pounds and 12 ounces. She is 32.5 inches tall which places her in the 92nd percentile for height- the girl is TALL! Everybody always thinks she is older than she really is because of her height and how talkative she is. She has tons of words! I am so thankful that she is able to express herself well. She is even beginning to combine two words every now and then (more snack, mama hair, dada work). She is finally making the "b" sound, so it is much easier to understand some of her earlier words. She says Bible, bye bye, baby, and ball using her new sound, but she still calls bubbles "duddles" :) It is hilarious.

Leah continues to love Elmo, so we watch it in the mornings on the iPad- it is the only way I can get her to sit still long enough to snuggle with me!! She now says "iPad" as well. Her fine motor skills are also improving. She will stand at her high chair and do the buckle and play with her buckle whale toy! I highly recommend it-keeps her entertained for longer than five minutes! With the cold weather, I have had to get creative to keep her entertained. I am so thankful for her music class and activities at church. She has adjusted really well to a new nursery. Leah runs to the door and doesn't look back! It makes me so happy to see her love other children and interact well with them. She has been sharing a lot better than I thought she would, so hopefully that will continue!!! 

I just can't get over how grown up Leah looks. Her hair is growing, and her curls are crazy! She always has one big curl right on the front of her head :) She has the cutest grin these days- usually showing most of her 12 teeth! I guess that is enough for now! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past few months!

Rockin' the leopard print!

Music Class!

Her life size Elmo (thanks Uncle Jeffrey and Uncle Jack)!

She has been loving smoothies and sunglasses!

First time on a carousel. She was scared at first but quickly loved it! 

"Mom, where is my snack?!?!?!"

She looks too grown up in her pigtails!!!

New Year, New Town!

This new year will definitely bring about change for the Morgan Family! We moved from Auburn to Prattville on November 7th to be closer to Jeremy's job in Montgomery. It is so neat to see how God has worked out all of the details, so I thought I would jot it down!

Jeremy accepted a Team Leader position in his current office in Montgomery on August 1st, 2014. I randomly said, "Do we need to move closer since you have more going on at work?!?"  I knew the hour drive was really stressful for him, and it was taking away time he could be spending with Leah. However, I didn't really mean that I was okay with moving!

A few weeks later in August, God really spoke to me at the first Mom's Bible study of the semester through Beth Moore. It didn't even have a ton to do with the lesson, but she briefly mentioned that we may need to experience a "remix"  in our lives with the current relationships that we have. We may not be able to see why God would place us in different circles of people or in different places at the time, but looking back we couldn't imagine life without those relationships... It got me thinking that I should be praying for God to direct us with a willing heart (either to stay or move) instead of with my personal preference (staying with what is familiar with our sweet friends and family). My anxious self was already thinking about how hard it would be to work out the logistics of moving... How will we sell our house? What do I tell my work? We can't buy a house until ours sells. What if we can't find a house that we like. How will we survive without our close friends in Auburn? I don't want to leave a job I love... SO many things going around in my head that I didn't even want to think about it!!!

A few days later, Jeremy called our sweet Realtor, Natalie Bass, just to get some information about what goes in to selling a house. He told her that we were just praying about moving and that nothing was definite. She called us back THE NEXT DAY saying that she had a couple that had been looking for a house for a while, and she thought they would really like our house. We were really surprised, but we decided to let them look at it the next day. The following day, they made us a really good offer on our house! Our house that was NOT EVEN ON THE MARKET! If that isn't God working, I don't know what is! We prayed a lot about it, and we decided that we would accept their offer.

The weekend after we found out the couple was coming to look at our house, we drove through Prattville to look at a few houses that were for sale. There was one house that Jeremy thought I would really like, but I am so picky that I figured it would take a while to find the perfect house. I LOVED the house! It is a miracle that I was not anxious about it being perfect, but I could see the potential! It was filled with so much light, and has the most amazing sunset view off of the back porch. I could immediately see our family living there. Another crazy side note- Prior to us looking at the house, it was a little over what we were wanting to spend, but the day before we looked at it, the price dropped into our price range! We made an offer the next day, and they accepted! We sold our house in Auburn and bought the house in Prattville on the same day, November 7th, and thankfully everything went smoothly.

The Lord has given me such a peace throughout this whole transition. He took care of ALL of the details better than I could have imagined. While I was sad to leave a town we love, life long friends, siblings, and my job, I was encouraged that I knew this is exactly where the Lord wants us to be. We have already found a great church, and we are starting to build new relationships. I am staying at home with Leah full time for now, and I am praying about if I should return to work part time. Jeremy is so thankful to work closer to home, and we are excited for what God has in store for us in this new town!

Leah Kate update: 12 months

I can't believe Leah Kate is ONE!!! This year has gone by so fast, and I am thankful for each second with this sweet girl. Thinking back about this year makes me realize how blessed we are to have such a happy, easy baby. Leah is always smiling and wanting to play. She stays on a pretty good schedule and sleeps really well. I know all babies are not like this, so I am definitely not taking for granted! 

Leah began walking independently this month! She takes several steps before grabbing onto furniture or sitting down. She is all over the place! She also loves to feed herself, and she is trying a lot of different finger foods. Leah Kate's new favorites are pieces of biscuits or bagel, peaches and mandarin oranges, and broccoli. She is beginning to use a fork and spoon to pick up food, but this often results in a huge mess! 

Leah's vocabulary is also growing! It seems like she says a new word every few days! She now says "down, hair, home, ball, and go." I am thrilled that she finally asks for me by saying "mama" instead of calling me "dada!" Leah still weighs 23 pounds and is now 30 inches tall, and she has 8 teeth! 

We had such a great time at Leah's 1st birthday party! We are so thankful for our family and friends that made it such a fun day. It was bittersweet because it was the last party we had at our house in Auburn before moving (more to come in another blog post). Leah did great and had fun eating her cake. She LOVED the attention from everyone! Here are some pictures from her special day!!

Leah Kate: 11 month update

Leah Kate is doing a lot of the same things as last month, but the main thing I have noticed is how much she has slimmed up. All of that moving around and pulling up has made her lose some of her baby weight :( She is getting taller and still weighs 23 pounds. It has been nice that she has been able to wear her current clothes longer than just a few weeks! She has FOUR teeth coming in on the top which has been fun... Not! She actually has done pretty well with it considering how bad that probably hurts. She had her first little illness this month with pink eye. She looked so pitiful! Thankfully she got better quickly after starting eye drops. She now gives us hugs without us asking for one, and it makes our day!!

Leah Kate has loved her walker that MiMi (my mom) got her! She will make laps around the living room with it! She still isn't walking independently yet, but is definitely getting closer! Grandma Dorothy (Jeremy's mom) got her some pots and pans to go with her new play kitchen which she LOVES. I was hoping with a kitchen of her own, she may not want my pots as often!

She really enjoyed going to the beach this month with my family. She wasn't as scared of the sand and water as she was the first time we went. Leah loved having a new place to explore! I can tell we have been saying "no" a lot since she can get into our things now. She will look at something she shouldn't have and say "no, no!" She will then proceed to try and get it anyway... It sounds so cute when she says it, but we are trying to be more conscious of when we say it! She also started saying "door" and "wow" this month!  Well, I think that is about it! Can't believe I am planning her birthday party for next month... The fact she will be turning one blows my mind!

Leah Kate: 10 month update

If I had to describe this month in one sentence, it would be "Baby on the move!" A few days after she turned nine months, Leah Kate began crawling! Of course it was for Jeremy's IPad! Since then she has been crawling and cruising EVERYWHERE!! I am constantly chasing her these days. She can pull up on furniture and cabinets. She now loves to open the kitchen cabinets and play with my pots and pans. Leah Kate's balance is improving a lot and she can stand for a few seconds when we let go of her. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts walking in the next few weeks! 

Leah's comprehension and communication is also expanding quickly! I love to see her understand something for the first time! She now says "wa-wa" when I say "bath" or she sees her cup. She will say "woof woof" and point to the back yard when I say our dogs name. This past weekend she got really good at saying "uh oh" when something falls down. She now thinks it is so fun to drop her bottle and say "uh oh".... I am waiting for the day that she looks right at me and says "ma ma". She will say it when she is babbling, but I am not giving her credit for it yet :) haha 

This month Leah started a Kindermusic Class for babies. They listen to music and play with different instruments. Of course she LOVES it! I really love to watch her interact with the other kids and enjoy the music. I am hoping she gets her dad's musical talent- not mine!! She always gets so excited when she sees other children and wants to play with them immediately. I am so thankful she is a happy, sweet little girl already! I pray for her to continue to have such a sweet, loving spirit as she grows up. One of my favorite things that she has started to do this month is giving hugs and kisses. She will just hug me for a few minutes when she wakes up which makes this mommy's heart so happy! Well, this seems longer than some of my other posts, but this month has been full of new developments! 

Studying her instrument at music class!

Playing in her ball pit!