Fun Layla things

Just to catch you up on the fun things Layla is doing lately:

She likes to back up and sit down in your lap to read a book. She will do this even if you are standing at that particular moment!

She has learned to sign "please" when she needs help doing things. She still does her universal sign of "knocking" her cheek when she wants to communicate something...

She knows when books are upside-down now and she can point to what you ask her to point to on the page.

When she hears the phone ring or anything sounding like a phone, she puts her hand up to her ear and says "O? O?"

She is trying to put her socks and shoes on by herself, it doesn't really work well, but we can tell her independence is really starting to come out!

She likes to "cook" meaning using anything spoon-like in any sort of bowl-like thing (= Stirring and Cooking are very exciting for her.

She still takes two naps a day for two hours. Sometimes she takes a third nap nap right before dinner time.

She is wearing 2T clothes now even though she is only 15 months old.

She still loves her music and will dance and get excited with just about any jingle on TV.

There's probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment (=

Christmas Photos

Our traditional fondue dinner on Christmas Eve - Tom played his guitar at one of the church services that night, so we had our cheese fondue first and then tromped off to church in the FRIGID weather, then came back for our DELICIOUS chocolate fondue!

Fairly lame photo of our christmas tree....would you believe it is 38 years old?? Dad bought it off a guy in Taiwan who was selling them off the back of his bicycle! It has served us well (=

Layla loving her swedish horse and T-shirt from Australia. She lays down and cuddles with stuff she loves (=

Lj did a great job of opening gifts and being interested in the right stuff!

Christmas photos

We just HAD to try and take a family photo when we were all dressed up!

Grandma was trying to make Layla smile (=

One of our many meals the last few days (= We Choat's can't resist taking a picture of every meal. Mike has commented several times that he's never seen food mean so much to a family (=

Tom using his new camera!

Grandpa gets Hospice care

Well, it has been a very busy 10 days or so since Grandpa was admitted to the hospital. He spent three days there and then went to a "rehab" place that is apparently designed for this Medicare thing of three days in hospital and three weeks of rehab. After about four days in the rehab place they were telling us that he was showing no signs of improvement so they couldn't keep him on the Medicare status he was in. We were going to have to move him to another facility.

The doctor came and met with us the next day and basically said that he is declining so fast, that we should just keep him there and switch to having Hospice care for him. The center he is at contracts with a Hospice group so it allows him to stay there which seems pretty important.

He is fairly unresponsive except at certain moments and he is ALWAYS more responsive to Layla than to just about anyone else. You can tell she misses him -everytime we say that we are going to see Grandpa-Great she does her excited little intake of breath and makes her mouth into a little "O". It is really precious. I didn't know kids could be this precious.

Anyway, he is basically not eating or drinking anymore so we are down to about a week to 10 days maximum. We are all going to the hospital - at least some combination of us every day.

Christmas was still a nice day - we took some gifts to open there, gave him some ice cream and we sang some carols. Shorter visits are best so we didn't stay too long.

That's the scoop.

Christmas pictures to follow!

Grandpa goes to hospital

Well, it's finally happend.... Dad went to see Grandpa's doc on Friday and said we should admit G to the hospital on monday morning and then Medicare would pay for three days of hospital and then three weeks of rehab at a facility VERY close to our house. The doc said that would allow us to get a good evaluation of him and be better prepared to make some longer term decisions.

Because his abilities vary greatly during the week, getting an accurate evaluation over time is quite important. G has fallen four times this week at night and it is getting harder and harder to take care of him even though it is still possible to do so at home.

So I went with dad to admit him and run him around for some tests etc. The hospital has changed quite a bit since I was there last. anyway, all is well, G just really wanted to sleep. Some conglomeration of us will go back later today to visit.

Tom's Camera

Hey folks, if you want to see Tom's birthday present from his whole family - click here (=


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More Birthday fun

The night before Tom's birthday we had friends from our language school in town! It was LOVELY to see Jon and Vic again. It was so lovely to see little Josiah and have Layla and him playing around.

As usual Layla was a little overwhelming with the hugs (=

We were too busy talking to get Tom down on the floor with us! We were all just yammering away to cover as much ground as possible (=

Tom's Birthday

For lunch on his birthday we went to a German restuarant called Edelweiss. We had Jen's wedding reception there and it was lovely food both times! We sat in between the Christmas tree and the fireplace....it was lovely.

Here's the outside of the restuarant.

We had folks over that night - I actually bought a cake - a first for me. I also bought a pie crust for the first time. Layla's lack of sleep has eroded any notions of baking the last month

more update

Not much new happening. Lj is still doing her wierd sleeping stuff. Her final tooth poked through last night - Tom did two nights in a row, bless him!
We are SLOWLY getting our Christmas stuff together here. Grandpa's health is declining rapidly. It is sad to see. He is still happy and compliant which is a blessing. He loves to watch Layla and she loves to have him in his chair all day.
yesterday she was pulling up his pant leg and rubbing her hand up and down his leg (= She was also shoving little toys up his pants (=

anyway. Will write more when I have more surplus energy (=

update

well I went to the dr and he said we have 7-10 more days of this stuff with Layla. Her bottom molars have just popped up and the top ones are on the way. She is getting blood blisters which explain the awful blood/saliva stuff on the sheets. ick.
I wasn't giving her a high enough dose of Tylenol which may have accounted for some of her pain during the day. So we've doubled that dose and are giving the Ibuprofen as well. Pretty intense. At least she is more enjoyable to be around and doesn't seem to be in pain. She is still up about every 45 mins during the night, but now Tom is home and we can trade off. Bless him.
Anyway. Today is Tom's 40th. I'll post something actually fun later on (=

Advice?

Okay people. My usually happy even-tempered baby has been replaced by the most whiney, sobbing little monster. She was teething badly for about 5 days last week - waking up constantly in the night (which NEVER happens) and literally whining and half crying ALL the time. We had a few days reprieve and i thought it was over. Alas, we are on day 5 again. I can see that she is cutting molars, but HOW LONG CAN THIS GO ON?!!? Is there a point at which I should take her to the doctor? She's also developed a fever blister on her lip. This morning I picked her up for the 1000th time since midnight and noticed blood on the sheets. I've never heard of bleeding with teething. Any ideas???
I would be DYING if we weren't staying with my parents.

Thanksgiving Love

Hello All, just a cute clip of Lj launching on the bear to hug it (= She is so over-affectionate at times. We finally met a kid who gave MORE hugs than Layla the other day! Anyway. It has been a nice day with family. Grandpa has been in an out of things...

Hope you all had a good day....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jen's friend Sue is on the left - Mike is on the right - Jen made mincemeat tarts that were SOOOO lovely!

We forgot to take a picture with the food on the table, so this is all we have to show for our lovely dinner. We didn't do ALL the dishes....all of us are trying to work on our weight (= We're calling it Thanksgiving Lite.

I love using my Grandma's tea cups -she has SO many beautiful ones.

Layla in a rare happy moment today. I think she was cutting THREE teeth! Poor dear. She's holding a book that Mike and Jen brought for her (=

Jammin' with the hoodie

Jill - the music is from you and luci! We play that CD all the time and she loves it. She isn't really dancing in this once since he is distracted with the dolly. I really need to get one of her dancing like crazy.

Cutest hoodie

This is from Carrie - so are the jeans. LOVE the clothes Carrie, thank you again!! I had wanted to buy her a sweet doll for a couple of weeks now. She's seen other little girls with dolls and looks SO interested. Anyway, after looking around, I finally got this one at the grocery store for $5. How lame is that. She loves it though (=

Hi all, Just couldn't resist putting up some pictures of our time in Minneapolis. The one right here is of Layla looking at the snow. She turned around and looked at me just as I snapped it. She and Ruthie were playing through the screen. Ruthie is about my oldest friend out there (=

Lawrence Welk

I think I found the inner nerd in Layla tonight. She was MESMERIZED by the Lawrence Welk show. If you don't know what that is, think 1970s musical ensemble complete with matching pastel suits. wow. She watched the TV more tonight than any other time! yikes.

Sick Baby + Broken Computer

= no blogging!

hello all.
I am writing from the pristinely clean computer room where everything is now functioning. Lj is sleeping soundly and NOT snarfing through a snot-filled nose. All is well. Finally.

I thought she would never return to her happy self that slept 12 hours a night and didn't require moma to be at arms reach during the day. wow. that was a suffocating period of time for me! It is fun to hold and rock her when she is sick since she has NEVER wanted to be rocked or held to sleep. Nature or nurture, who knows. Either way, she's always been plopped into bed, so getting to snuggle with her is a treat for a few days.

We are back in the erratic Colorado winter. It was 22 degrees this morning and will warm up to 52 this afternoon! Snow, fog and general dreariness was cleared up by 10am. I love the variety.

Tom is headed up to Fort Collins to my uncle's house for some rest. While I was dealing with Layla he was dealing with two funky computers. Both are mostly fine -the laptop is showing signs of age finally. It has served us unbelievably well for 5 years. We HIGHLY reccomend the Sony Viao.

Lj is trying to walk in normal shoes today. I've kept her in the two pairs of Robees we were given and she's been fine stomping all over. In her little tennis shoes from Gracie, she is much more hesitant and back to her walking/dropping to the floor routine. It is funny to watch.

Well, this post got interrupted by Lj and I don't know where I was going with it, so i'll end it here.

Colorado Folk

I meant to write about this soon after we arrived here in September, but life rolled along too quickly. Now that we've been out of the state for 3 weeks, I am struck yet again by the type of folks here in Colorado Springs. I don't want to make anyone feel bad, but we have the funniest looking people around here!

Mullets are still around for sure. Lots and lots of plaid, white tennis shoes and light blue jeans.

I saw a guy in the airport with a Mullet/Mohawk/ponytail. I kid you not. He had all three.

Anyway, this all struck me quite a bit when we first arrived and after spending time in MN, I am again struck by the "uniqueness" of folks out here (=

Layla Walks!!

Finally! Layla began walking on the afternoon of Halloween. Tom was watching TV, and Layla was sitting with him on the couch. She got down and walked several steps into the middle of the room. Our hosts were home but Steph was at a luncheon. We got it all on video, though. She even keeps her hands up in the air as if she were holding our hands while she walks, the same way she has been doing it for months! Old habits die hard I guess.

Old Friends

This afternoon we were able to see our old small group. It was SO fun to see everyone - except the Millers. We all have kiddos now and what a change it brings! We had a small group together after we were all just married. What fun memories.

Halloween fun!

We are staying with some friends here in Minneapolis and they were so sweet to get a Halloween costume for Layla. We didn't go trick or treating, but just sat them outside on the lawn. Very fun!

Eating a fudgesicle

Grandpa enjoys a fudgesicle pretty much every day. How do you spell fudgesicle???
You'll notice Grandpa calls her a "he"....At 92 he just can't remember that she's a girl (=

Playing Dress Up

Here's a snapshot of our weekend. We were with a Junior High group. They LOVE putting on all the clothes (=

New Jersey

We've been on the road since Thursday - it was a FULL day of flying for us and then an hour car ride to the lovely place we are now. We've always enjoyed our times in NJ with this group. They are such great folks.

Layla has done well despite our busy schedule and her dealing with multiple nurserys and folks holding her. Thankfully she's been in a bread-eating mood as that is pretty much always available.

We leave tomorrow for Minneapolis to see old friends there. We are excited about that! We'll be staying with Matt and Julie and little Addy - Lj will LOVE being around a little one. She found a baby in a car seat at church yesterday and was literally climbing in the infant seat with her to kiss her! It was too cute. we say "give kisses" and she dives towards whoever is nearby with a big open mouth....beware.

Gorgeous time of year.

Read to me!

 

Yet another hat. Layla LOVES to read and is coordinated enough these days that she can pull/toss/drag the book of choice in your general direction. She is also just learning how to point to things which is a HUGE help in trying to figure out what she wants to eat.

It was SUCH a gorgeous day today, and we couldn't figure out how to all go hiking together, so Tom just took Layla by himself. The trees are changing all over the place. Our two big colored trees in the driveway are bright yellow and a deep red now. SO lovely. Just soaking it all in (=

Fall in Colorado!

 

This is my one fall picture - we were at a friend's house who has her lovely fall thing going on by her front door (= I couldn't get Lj to look at me because the sun was so bright.

Hat show

 

 

These are hats that Tina knitted for Tom and his sister when they were young. Layla LOVED the blue one and wore it most of the day and even slept in it. Her expression in the top one makes her look So FAT! It cracks me up. She has lost a lot of her chub, but when she is naked in the tub she is all butt and gut. So adorable!!