February & 9 Months

When people have asked me lately what our family is up to, my initial thought is "Not much. February has been a pretty boring month." But now that I've thought about it more, February has actually been pretty full for the Leslies.

We've been to a few birthday parties. One for this little cutie (my niece, Megan) who turned 2.One for this little cutie (my niece, Kaylynn) who turned 1. We also went to a party for another cutie whom we forgot to get a picture of, Ross's nephew William who turned 9.

Around the middle of the month, our family got sick. We all had a cold of varying degrees. Leah probably had it the worst. She had a yucky nose that would run a lot and when she sneezed, big gobs of snot would shoot out her little nose. Gross! And she would cough a lot. Sometimes so much that she would throw up. This was her first time being so sick and we felt so bad because there wasn't really anything we could do for her. This definitely was NOT the highlight of our month.

On Valentine's Day, we had Ross's mom over for dinner and Family Home Evening. For dinner, Ross had asked for meatballs with mashed potatoes and gravy. I had never made meatballs before. They turned out more like meat lumps, but they tasted great. I think I figured out what I did wrong though, so I'll have to try again and see if I can get them to stay round.

It was so nice to have her come for the evening. Leah had a great time playing with her Grandma Leslie!February has been full of milestones for Leah. On Friday she turned 9 months old. At her doctor visit yesterday she weighed in at 15 lbs. 13 oz. and was 27 inches tall. Still on the petite side, but that's not surprising.

As I already posted, she started crawling. She crawls all over and if getting pretty fast at it. When I put her down to play, it isn't long before she starts following me or comes to find me. She also thinks it's funny when she crawls away from me when I'm trying to change her diaper or clothes. And she likes when I crawl after her pretending to chase her.

Now she has started pulling herself up to things. This is one of her favorite places to crawl to. Usually she just makes her way back and forth along the step, so I wasn't too worried. But yesterday she figured out how to climb up on the step to reach some papers I had higher up. So I won't be letting her play by the stairs much until we can get a gate to keep her from tumbling back down them. She already likes to hold our hands so we can help her walk around. She can also stand on her own for a few seconds if I help her get her balance. She'll probably be walking within the next month or two.

Leah likes books and magazines. She can turn the pages in her board books. And she likes to pull out the church magazines we have stacked in the entertainment center. But the scriptures are still her favorite thing to try and grab. She has started eating foods with her fingers. She has pretty good dexterity and hand-eye coordination already.She is so full of energy and seems to have a harder time sitting still. I'm not sure what she's so excited about here, but she may have learned this from watching Jimmer play. We have been to a couple BYU basketball games lately, but mostly we've been watching them on TV. Last Friday she went to her first BYU volleyball game. I was hoping that she would pay close attention and learn early how the game is played. I don't know how much she actually learned, but I was WAY excited to finally be at a volleyball game. She's getting to the stage where she is becoming the entertainment at church. People around us want to talk to her, play with her and hold her. People come up to us all the time to tell us how cute they think she is. I had a sister come up to me on Sunday and say, "You're not allowed to bring your baby to church anymore. She's so cute. All I want to do is watch her play instead of paying attention."A few other highlights in February included being able to go to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple when my cousin, Carter, and his wife, Jaime, received their endowments and were sealed to their cute little girl. It was such a special experience to be there with my aunt and uncle and all their children and their spouses. I'm so excited for them and all the great things they've done lately.

Ross had President's Day off, so on that day we went to play a round of miniature golf and to a Utah Flash basketball game.

As usual Young Women's has kept me busy this month. I was able to play basketball with them a on a few Thursday nights. Mostly they are just learning how to play the game, but it is so fun to play with them. They make me laugh!

Of course Elders Quorum has kept Ross busy. He had to teach on fast Sunday (something that always makes him anxious). Otherwise he has spent a lot of time attending meetings, taking care of home teaching and visiting the elders in the ward.

We got some exciting news in February. If you follow our blog much, you might recognize this cutie as my best friend Lesley's little girl, Hannah. Lesley sent me this picture of her to announce that they are expecting another little one at the end of August! Congrats Lesley and Brian! A couple more things about our little Leah...she's becoming quite the chatter box. She makes all kinds of jabbering noises including mama and dada. And if you stick your hand out, she'll slap it like she's giving five.

She has also started dancing already. She loves to do this cute little head bob thing. It is so funny. Here's a little video of her doing it...

Overall February has been a good month. But I think this little video sums up our family's feelings about it being over and spring getting closer...