Who's a Daddy's Girl?

Oh forget it-I'm done fighting this. She loves her dad! What can I say? I am the one who picks her up from daycare, feeds her, bathes her, reads to her, loves on her, plays with her, puts her to bed and it is still Daddy who gets the squeals when he comes home. Maybe because she rarely sees him these days so when she does she is super siked? But here is hoping Leah is a mommy's girl-cause I need some loving too!

Back to reality!

We got back from the beach Sunday evening, come Monday morning-we all looked this-bags under our eyes, hair all disheveled, cranky! Now, for Ryan, it also happened to be her first day of her new daycare class after being "moved up" to hang with the big kids. No more napping when you want, eating when want, tormenting the newborn babies....Nope, everything changes now! She has a schedule and curriculum to follow, a very strict nap time and a sharing policy you would think would be easy to abide by. Between recovering from vacation, playing hard on the playground, painting a bear, getting bit (and subsequently biting back) and being forced to listen to her teacher, she fell a sleep like 15 minutes after getting home! :) And so did Mommy!

Little Leah or (L.L. Coolbug)

I feel just awful that I havent really mentioned much regarding Leah! Not that there is that much to say, but maybe announcing her name would be a start! So her name is Leah Nicole Newsome (Daddy's pick with Mommy's middle name). Right now as of today, she is just over a pound and is 25 weeks old! As you can see from her ultasound picture (to really see it you have to close your right eye, squint out of your left and tilt you head ever so slightly) her sucking her thumb! You can also see that she is already just as cute a Ryan and takes cues better-we were never able to get this shot of Ryan no matter how hard we tried! :)

But so far she is perfectly healthy and for me, December seems like a lifetime away!

A Visual Preamble...

I knew it was going to be hard to pick which beach pictures to put on my blog so here are a few to get you started.....also, for my close friends (you know who you are) and family, here is the link to my Photobucket page, so you may enjoy them all!! http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jnewsome33/?start=0

My Malibu Tomboy

She can look cute in a suit, but isn't afraid to get dirty! There are many things to possibly dread when taking a 15 month old on her first beach trip-the fear of her hating the sand, and/or the water, the dread of lugging everything out to the beach only to have to lug it back in 30 minutes (flashbacks from Tybee with Rachael when she was 3 months), the fear of sunburn (applying sunscreen literally every 10 minutes) and the then there is the "wont sleep through the night" fear! All these things could lead to a disastrous week, but None-I repeat, NONE of those things occurred! We initially were a bit bummed due to our condo being on the second floor-but quickly realized that Ryan upon entering the condo for the first time ran straight to the balcony and started playing her favorite new game of open/close door (each time waving and saying Bye-bye as she closed the french doors). Now had we been on the ground floor, there would have been no way to contain her-so this turned out to be a happy accident. The first night, there happened to be a band playing across the street, so we walked over and let Ryan work the crowd like the rock star she is, dancing and making friends everywhere! On the way home she encounters a gaggle of ducks, which she thought was cool at first-then they started "chasing her"-not cool...but we had a week to make them our friends (and did-with bagels).

From the next morning on, (after grandma arrived) we got into a great routine, beach in the morning, lunch/naps/pool, then St. Augustine in the evenings. I have to mention how amazing Ryan was at the beach-like she had been going to the beach everyday her entire little life. She got out her sand toys (only stopping to eat the sand a handful of times and a handful at a time), she followed daddy to the ocean, and if we had let her, she would have been half way to the sandbar before we could blink, she collected sea shells with grandma, and took strolls to the pier and back. All these things are very important because, well, I am happy to see her enjoying the beach so much, but mainly it allowed me to chill in the sun without chasing, yelling, or getting up even!

She never got scared, never got burnt, never pitched a fit, never woke up in the middle of the night, basically allowed us to have the best beach vacation you could possibly have with a 15 month old and being 6 months pregnant! One quick story I have to tell, and yes, I am afraid it may be one of those stories you had to see for yourself, but since I am using this blog as her baby book, I have to tell it. On her "walks", she would take off by herself, and all three of us would say, "Where ya goin?". Everytime, she would turn around, wave and say "Bye-Bye!", walk a few feet, turn, wave and say, "Bye-Bye!".....I think you can tell from the first picture above just how cute that could have been!

I do have to give Jamey big hugs for being our pack mule this trip and to grandma for her eagle eye that I never appreciated growing up-but counted on several times this trip!

St. Augustine Beach!

Just a few random beachy images for ya! I will spend the rest of my life trying to get Jamey a gig on the coast! As much as I adore my mountains-I just LOVE the BEACH!! (And apparently so does Ryan)!