.1st family trip.

On July14th we loaded up the car with pretty much everything Nyah owned including the dog and made the 4 hour (usually 3 hour without a baby) to Kamloops. Nyah and I had done this trip once before when she was 5 months old and it went very smoothly. This time around I had a feeling the trip wasn't going to be so easy breezy with an 8 month old and I was right! The first 45 minutes in the car passed without a problem. Miss. Nyah was asleep. But once she woke up and realized we were still in the car she was not a happy girl. Insert crying and tears for what seemed like forever here! It was so bad we decided to pull off at a rest stop to give her a break. Jay and I had stopped at this same rest spot once before on one of our many trips to the loops and it was infested with mosquitos. Turns out the mosquitos never left! Yikes! There were so many that I didn't even want to take Nyah out of the car to nurse so I ended up bringing her into the front seat with me while the pesky mosquitos swarmed the car waiting to attack! After a short break, we decided to continue on our journey. I usually really enjoy the beautiful scenic mountain drive in the summer time but with a baby it feels like a game of beat the clock. The whole time you are anticipating with anexity when she'll wake up. You feel guilty because she doesn't understand why she has to be strapped in the car for so long and that the end result is going to be so fun at grandma and grandpa's house. Once we finally got there, I was able finally able to relax.

Rylynn was so excited we were there. She kept Uncle Jay busy the WHOLE time playing baseball and jumping on the trampoline. Watching Rylynn interact with Nyah is so special. She is always so gentle and kind with her. Given the many difficult adversities and challenges Rylynn has had to face in her life, she is an amazing little girl. Her spirit is so sweet and the things she says are so loving and wise beyond her years. Rylynn showed me Nyah's rattle and one end is a heart and she said to me "Auntie Leah... this is like me and Nyah... One heart together". Bless her heart! I love Rylynn very much and we share a special bond having been through some tough times together. There is nothing in the whole world I wouldn't do for that kid.

Overall the trip went really well. Everyone got to visit with Nyah and Jay and I got to spend time with Rylynn. As always I brought my nail polishes cause it's become a tradition that I give Miss. Rylynn a manicure. This time it was purple with a top coat of sparkles! Too bad that after a couple hours she has picked a lot of it off. Funny girl! My Uncle Walter and Auntie Beth came up to the house for a coffee and donuts and to see the little one. It's always nice getting to visit with them.

The drive home was much better than the drive up. We left later in the afternoon hoping for a long afternoon nap and it worked. So all in all I'd say it wasn't too bad although I don't think we'll be doing it again soon. Travelling with a baby is exhausting!

This girl is seriously good at baseball!

Prettiest baseball player EVER! I love that she's playing in a pretty blue dress with sequins!

That is the face of a HOME RUN!

Yahoo!

My 2 best girls!

Grandma and grandma's girl.

Grandma's going to be mad I put this on here but too bad! Somehow Grandpa managed to avoid the camera this trip so we will have to make up for it next visit!

.summer love.

I LOVE summer! Especially when the sun starts shining! Summer always means spending time outdoors with friends, bbq's and strawberries! I'm slightly obsessed with strawberries this year. Although they were a little late this year, they are SO delicious. One of the best seasons in my opinion. Next weekend we are headed up to Kamloops to visit my parents. I bought 15lbs of strawberries so my mom could teach me how to make her famous jam! Ok.... so maybe there is only 9 lbs or so left... but I can't help myself!

We have had such a fun June and July so far! Lots of time spent with friends and family. It's crazy how quickly the summer is flying by. Miss. Nyah is already 7 1/2 months!! We have been trying all kinds of different foods and she doesn't seem to be too much of a picky eater which is fantastic!

She loves her sweet potato

And her green beans!

June was super special because Nyah got to meet her great grandma Anita. She came in all the way from Montreal to visit stopping along the way to visit all the great grandkids! I think grandparents and great grandparents are so special. I didn't have any grandparents growing up so I really cherish that Nyah is so lucky to have so many!

Looking good girls!

June was also super special because Jay got to celebrate his first father's day! I always knew that if we had a little girl that she would steal his heart... and she totally has! The way that Jay looks at her tells me that we are in for some serious trouble when she gets older cause she's already got him wrapped around her little finger!

My loves

The morning of fathers day Nyah and I got up early to finish wrapping Jay's gifts. I was pretty excited for Jay to get up cause Nyah and I got him an awesome gift! A box of Just for Men... to cover all the grays he already has and the ones Nyah's going to give him!... I thought it was pretty funny! Hahaha!

Made him smile :)

Ever have those kind of friends who no matter how much time has past or where they live when you get together it's just like old times? I was so happy when 2 of my best girls came to town! At the same time!!!! Kym flew in from San Diego and Natasha and her hubby flew in from London, England! I love spending time with these ladies and wished we could see each other more often! Some of my best memories are with these two awesome girls! I have to admit that it was a little different this visit now that I have a baby. I wasn't able to go out all night and party it up like I used too. It was probably the first time since having Nyah that I was a little sad that I was missing out. But Nyah is so lucky to have such cool aunties and it won't be long until she's a little older and mama can get her groove back! Hehe!

Auntie Kym and Nyah.

Auntie Natasha and Nyah.

At the end of June, we went to a beautiful wedding for two AMAZING people. And when I say amazing, I really mean it. Here is a brief decription of their story... On April 9th, 2011, Shawn was injured while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Nashville when he was struck from behind by a drunk driver. Shawn then lost control of the motorcycle and was ejected over the bridge railing falling 27 feet. He has been through many, many surgeries and is very lucky to be alive. Taylor has been incredibly strong and stuck by his side helping him on his road to recovery. June 30th we were so lucky to be invited to share in their special day. Shawn and Taylor are an inspiration to all who know them! Congratulations!!!!!

The beautiful bride, Taylor and her handsome groom, Shawn.

Because we have had such a busy summer so far running around visiting with friends and famliy we thought it would be nice to spend some time just our little family. We decided to take Nyah to the zoo. Although it wasn't super sunny, it was such a nice to be outside. We strapped Nyah in the carrier and spent the day strolling around the zoo and checking out all the animals.

Miss. Nyah and I reading the map.

Look at that cute little smile... Someone sure likes the hippos!

The real life Sophie!

When we first got to the zoo the cashier gave us a schedule of all the different times of the shows and stuff. Jay immediately got to work planning what we would see first. After review the schedule, he says to me and the cashier..."First let's go to the bamboo feeding..." The cashier and I looked at each other like.... "Bamboo feeding??".... Interesting... I wonder what Bamboo eats?.... Poor Jay meant Baboon feeding.... haha!... So when we saw the sign with the arrow pointing to the baboon's I forced Jay to stand in front of it. Baboon's this way!.... lol!

Our little family of 3

July has been a busy month so far with lots of birthday parties! First we went o Miss. Nevaeh's Minnie Mouse themed birthday. I can't believe this little lady is 3 years old already! Her mom, Rhonda did such an amazing job on the food and decor. The party started at 10am so Rhonda did a delicious brunch spread. Mini pancake skewers, cinnamon french toast and fresh berry skewers, bacon, roasted potatoes, yogurt parfaits and more... It was so tasty that I was too busy eating everything to take any photos! You'll have to trust me that it was a beautiful brunch!

Love

Self portrait of me and my girl

The birthday girl eating her minnie mouse cake pop

This photo melts my heart. I love how much all the girls love Nyah. They always want to kiss her, hold her hand, tickle her or hug her. Nyah adores Aleena and always has a big smile for her and a kiss.

The very next day we went to an enchanted fairy themed party for Adrianna. She was also turning 3 years old. Time sure flies! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for this party so I have stolen some photos off of facebook from my friend Julius. He has a great eye for photography and captured some great photos of the party.

All the girls becoming little fairies!

The birthday girl getting her face painted.

Gorgeous!!!

Our sweet little fairy!

.time is flying.

Who can believe it's already June 1st! You definitely can't tell by the weather today! It's so gray and rainy. A good day to catch up and write about all the things that have been happening lately.

Miss. Nyah turned 6 months old on May 18th. Half a year old already! It's crazy how amazing our time with her is. She is developing such a little personality. Some may say she's a bit of a sassy pants like her mama but I don't know what they are talking about! We took her to the doctor's on her half birthday to get weighed and our big girl is weighing in at 15 lbs 15 ounces! We also got her measured and she's 25 1/2 inches long. Clearly she gets her height from her dad!

To celebrate Nyah's half birthday we gave her her first solids. Yummy rice cereal! Actually if you've ever tasted it it's kind of gross. Like with everything, Nyah was very apprehensive and unsure. This little girl really likes to take things slowly and do things when she's ready. She wasn't really a fan of the cereal. We have been giving it to her for about 2 weeks now and she still doesn't really like it. The rice cereal has been really hard on her system and she's hasn't been her happy regular self, so we've decided to take a break from it. Once things get back to normal we will try again but I think this time I will add pears to it.

Nyah has also been trying carrots. Again, she's not too sure whether she likes them or not. Sometimes she smiles and sometimes she gives me that look like "mama, if you stick that spoon in my face ONE more time... I'm gonna lose it...."

I think that next on our food adventure we are going to try yams. I love making all her food at home. It feels so great knowing exactly what's going into it and that it's all organic (when possible). I'm really looking forward to introducing her to the summer fruits but I figure we should do veggies first just incase she has a sweet tooth and decides she doesn't want them anymore after trying fruits.

Ok... so before I could even finish this post... yes... it takes me hours.... Nyah tried pears. She loved them! She kept leaning into the spoon! That was of course until they got a little sour! Poor girl!

May was a busy month for us. Besides celebrating all Nyah's milestones, we spent a lot of time visiting with friends. We went to our first cinqo de mayo party. Nyah got to play with her friends, Devyn and Kieran. They are the sweetest little twins you ever saw! They were born 3 months before Nyah. We are so lucky to have close friends with babies all around Nyah's age.

We celebrated Auntie Deanne's 29th birthday! (your welcome!... lol). We also celebrated Ayden's 2nd birthday and Nyah got to meet Elmo! I thought for sure she'd freak out but she was totally mesmerized!

Nyah went to her first parade and fair on the May long weekend. It was such a beautiful day and we were so happy to spend it with our good friends. I love fairs because they always have those delicious little sugary sweet mini donuts! Yum! Jay and I devoured a bag in about 45 seconds! Unfortunaletly, I forgot my camera but luckly Auntie Brandy had hers! Jay and Brandy decided to be adventurous and go on a ride. They choose the zipper ride. Jay took the funniest video EVER of Brandy on this ride but it's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too explict for my family blog!

Nyah couldn't handle all the excitement! Slept through the whole parade!

The star of the parade... Miss. Aleena!

Uncle Jay and Audrina waving at all the float participants! So cute!

Nyah's boyfriend and protector... Brody.

Uncle Paul and Nyah

Jay and I have been making some serious life decisions lately. After much consideration and debate we have decided to put our townhouse up for sale. Although I REALLY love the area we are in we are hoping to upgrade to a house which means we will have to move a little further out. We are hoping to be able to get something with a little backyard with somewhere to put a swing set. Buying a house is sooooooooooooo scary but I'm really looking to getting into something and knowing that this will be the home we raise our daughter in for the next little while.

We didn't really do a photo shoot to mark Nyah's half birthday but I did catch a couple good ones of her sitting on the counter while I was cleaning up.

.mothers day.

Dear Nyah,

Today is our first mother's day together. I was so excited for today but really  November 18^th was the day I became the happiest mama on earth. I will never forget how it felt to hold you in my arms for the first time. I was overwhelmed by how beautiful you were. My love for you was immediately infinite.

All my life, the one thing I always thought was that I wanted to be a mom and when I first kissed your lips I finally felt complete. Looking into your piercing blue eyes gave me purpose. In the 6 months that you have been here you have taught me more about myself than I have learned over the last 32 years.

Mother's Day is supposed to be a day to give thanks to your mom but today I want to thank you for being the most amazing daughter.I am so blessed to have you. You make each and every day so amazing!

Nyah, I love you more than I could ever describe in words. My hope is that you can feel it each and every day.

Love,
Mama
xo

.big girl.

Last Tuesday was a super exciting day! Normally, we would have gone to our stroller fitness class but we decided to skip it and go for a walk with Brandy and Kim and their little ones. Before walking up to the Starbucks for coffee we let the kids stretch out and play on the floor for a bit. Nyah's boyfriend Brody is 8 months old and has been sitting up on his own for a while now. Nyah and I have been working on her sitting up but she hadn't quite got it yet. But on this day, I think she wanted her man to think she was a mature big girl so she sat up all by herself! Don't get me wrong, she really unstable (it's hard work with such  big head!) but she was able to stay up long enough for me to snap some photos! The photos aren't the best cause it was hard to see thru my tears of excitment! I know what your thinking, I always cry! You have to understand I was SO proud and a little bit sad that she is growing up so fast.

"Hey mama... look at me!"

I think in this photo she has figured out her mama's shrills and cheers mean she did something good and this is her proud of herself face!

Like I said, it's hard work holding up this big head! (That is the one feature she definitely got from her mama!)

Now I know I have referred to Nyah's boyfriend in this post. His name is Brody and he belongs to our good friends, Paul and Brandy. He's just a couple months older than Nyah and as cute as a button! You can't help but want to kiss on his chubby cheeks. We have decided that they are going to be a couple. I know it's early but I think Brody will make a good man for my girl. I know he will have no problems protecting her! Check out those pipes!!

I was a little shocked when Brody made his first move in front of us! This was either his attempt at a first kiss or he was trying to eat her face! Haha! Either way, Daddy was not happy I let a boy put the moves on his little girl! But seriously, the two of them are just so stinking cute!

Well since Nyah decided to become a big girl today, with her first time sitting on her own and her first kiss I figured it must be time for her to go in her stroller forward facing without the carseat. I can't lie all these first milestones make me want to freeze time! She was a little unsure at first but once we got moving I think she really liked it. She got to see the whole world out there right at her finger tips. I guess it's official, she's a big girl now.