Look Dad, a Blog Update! Thanksgiving 2013

At Thanksgiving yesterday, my Dad asked me if I had stopped writing my blog, basically saying "where are the UPDATES?!" He is definitely one of its biggest fans and a huge reason I keep this blog going- to keep our family updated on Iyla's most recent adventures.

Admittedly I've been slacking with my writing lately. It's almost as if with the 1 year milestone I feel like the pressure to keep up has waned, kind of like a traditional baby book that usually ends at 12 months old.

*As an aside- I totally need to update Iyla's actual paper baby book! Eek.*

We've spent this week living in our studio apartment- BC, Iyla, Sam and I… all cozy together in about 350 square feet. Friends of ours had approached us last month about the possibility of renting out our home to their incoming family, and we jumped at the opportunity to make a little extra Holiday cash! One added bonus? Last night after returning home from family Thanksgiving festivities at 7:45 to put Iyla to bed, we were able to step out our studio door- baby monitor in hand- to join our friends' celebration at our home, complete with bonfire, wine, & 5 different pies.

Here is a recap of our Thanksgiving:

Rise and shine at 5:45! That is one of the downfalls of staying in the studio- Iyla is on 'vacation sleep' mode, meaning she wakes several times a night and rises WAY earlier than normal:

Playtime with Papa:

She is starting to get what to do when asked to 'say cheese' (which she can also kind of say!):

Play time at the park:

A bath in the studio sink before nap time:

Post nap cuteness!

Flashback to last Thanksgiving, when Iyla was all of one week old!

 Smiles on the car ride to my Aunt Sheri's house:

Iyla had so much fun at our gathering. She was loving the jazz music coming from the speakers below and started dancing along. Then she slipped and bumped her face, resulting in the first bloody boo-boo she's ever had (she must have hit something in her mouth- likely her gums). Thankfully she recovered quickly, and my aunt had some Oxyclean to address the blood on Iyla's white lace dress! That black cardigan ended up coming in handy to hide and soak up much of the blood.

Post boo-boo recovery snack:

Snuggling with cousin Shanny:

Other updates from the past week include:

Breakfast out with BC and I Wednesday morning. She loved Bouldin Creek's scrambled eggs!

Lots of play time at our local park:

A trip to the brand new children's museum, where I wasn't sure who had more fun- Iyla or BC:

Iyla has entered a really fun new play stage where she is imitating scenes from real life. She loves walking her babies around in their stroller and giving them milk from a play bottle, making a sucking noise as she feeds them:

She also love love LOVES playing in our dishwasher!

And helping unload it:

Here is a video of her 'setting the table'- which was so fascinating to me. She removed just her items from the dishwasher and put them together like this:

Cuteness when she sees herself on video:

Iyla is also adding more and more words to her vocabulary. Here, she shows off her animal sounds:

We also seem to have a 'secret walker' on our hands. Up in the studio Iyla has been flying back and forth with her walker toys, and several times has let go and walked a few steady steps to other pieces of furniture nearby! She is gaining more and more confidence, and we are excited to see when she officially makes the leap to being a walker:

That about wraps things up! Dad- I hope you were happy with these updates. It was great seeing you and the rest of the family yesterday!

xo