Louisa Lately

I don't know how it's possible, but my little baby is turning ONE next week... Next week!  Where did the past year go?!

10 months old...

...and 11 months old!

At almost a year, Louisa is on the go nonstop, crawling and cruising and generally just trying to keep up with her big sisters!

She is getting more comfortable standing up, and is starting to let go of things to stand on her own.

On her own two feet!

She also has almost mastered stairs already... up AND down.  The up part is not so surprising, but the down?  I remember showing Amelia and Ramona repeatedly how to go backwards down stairs and off of furniture, but Louisa picked it up immediately.

[Funny story: Louisa was wiggly during church last week, so I took her to the back of the church, where she crawled around and found a board book to play with.  She decided that she wanted to go downstairs, so she crawled over to the stairs, turned around, and moved down a stair.  She then grabbed the board book, tossed it behind her, and moved down another stair.  She repeated this all the way down the stairs.  Guess she wanted that book when she got downstairs!]

Favorite activities right now include listening to music and "dancing" (moving her head from side to side and stomping her foot), pushing her toy shopping cart, making funny noises, grabbing at whatever Amelia and Ramona are playing with, sneaking crayons off of the easel and coloring on the furniture, going in and out of the dining room (which is one step down from the rest of our house), banging on pots in the play kitchen, and spending time outside.  She just started swim lessons for the first time, too.  It's not a favorite activity yet, but she's getting more comfortable every week.

In the pool with "Da"

First carousel ride 

Louisa says "mama," "da," "ah dah" (all done), "moh" (more), "baba" (bottle), "muh" (monkey), "wuh-muh" (windmill), "ffff" (flower), and a few other words (using the term loosely).  She also makes the signs for "more," "please," and "all done."   And if she wants something that she can't say?  She points!  Favorite items to point at are the cats, any other animals, trees and flowers, and her high chair.

Admiring the "fffs"

Pointing

Speaking of her high chair... Louisa generally eats whatever the rest of us are eating these days, and as of this week, she's now drinking cow's milk, too!  Favorite foods include yogurt, bananas, cottage cheese (okay, any cheese), asparagus, squash, BREAD, pretzels, and whatever food Amelia and Ramona happen to be eating.  We're guessing she weighs about 25 pounds, and she's quickly outgrowing her 12-18 months clothes.  She FINALLY has some teeth, so that helps with the whole eating thing.  :)

Check out those pearly whites!

Louisa is a super affectionate little girl and loves to give hugs and kisses, which works for us because we love to hug and kiss her, too!  I just can't believe my sweet baby is almost one.

Precious girl

He is Risen! A Belated Easter Post

We took the girls to church on Easter. 

Egg hunt -- and I use the word "hunt" loosely -- the day before Easter

We hadn't been to church in an embarrassingly long time... Like, since Christmas/Louisa's baptism.

Hugs for the Easter Bunny

I could blame it on being outnumbered by them, but we didn't go any more frequently when there were only two (or one) of them.  I could say it's because the family mass falls during Louisa's morning nap, but there are other services we could attend.  I can't even blame stress over the girls' behavior at church because, for the most part, they do a great job: Amelia follows along in the missal/hymnal, Ramona snuggles next to one of us and watches, and Louisa generally sleeps. 

 

Unpacking their Easter baskets



I think our lack of attendance is mostly due to a shortage of lazy mornings at home... When we don't have anywhere we have to be, it's harder to get motivated about getting everyone showered and dressed and out the door.  Plus, the girls go to school at that very same church.  They have religious education on Wednesdays and chapel on Fridays (I credit the latter for their surprisingly good behavior during church), and we read to them most nights out of the Jesus Storybook Bible -- one of the best gifts we've ever received (thanks, Elizabeth!), we've read the whole thing cover to cover nearly three times in the last year.

Oh, the joys of Easter grass!

Even so, the girls are getting to the age where I think they benefit from going to church, from seeing other people -- including their parents -- learning and worshipping together.  And Amelia will be attending public school next year, so Sunday will be the only day she gets any formal religious education. 

CANDY...

So we're making an effort to go to church more often!  I'm sure we won't make it every week, but we're going to try. 

Lovely expressions on all three after our picnic on the Common

Wish us luck!