Happy Birthday Lila!

Today is Lila's birthday. My beautiful angel baby isn't really a baby anymore. She is such a big girl! Here are a few things about her.

Loves to watch Sesame Street. Has peed in the potty a few times. Loves chocolate. Huge vocabulary. Has the cutest run. LOVES going to "house" (grandma Faber's house). Goes to daycare 5 hours a week, despite daddy's depression over this. Can count to three. Knows that P is a letter. Starting to recognize her colors. Loves animals. Loves being scared. Enunciates well. Loves mommy. Hates it when mommy goes to work. This morning saw daddy and said "bye bye daddy work!" Loves having dance parties in the basement. Loves bikes. Knows the difference between cars and trucks. Likes to help get the mail. Loves her uncle Darren but won't talk to Danica (sorry about that). Favorite foods are bananas, chicken nuggets, pasta (regular or cheesy pasta), yogurt, and pizza. Gets excited about going to nursery but has started to get nervous and want mommy to stay with her when she actually gets there. Doesn't really like wearing pants. Loves her daddy. Associates dresses with church. Doesn't really like being home and often yells "no!" when we pull in the driveway. Likes being tickled. Has decided she absolutely HATES baths and screams the whole time. Often will randomly say "bye bye" as a question or exclamation to try and trick us into taking her out somewhere. Makes her parents a little more proud of her every day!

For her birthday we had a party with my family last night. Anna made an amazing cake for her and we ate pasta for dinner which she loved. She absolutely loved opening her presents. It was ten times better than Christmas less than 2 months ago. Still crazy to me how fast she grows up. Thanks to everyone for coming, she had an amazing birthday party! (Prepare for picture overload)

Todd Serving up the deliciousness

Lila enjoying one of her favorite foods!

Reese also enjoying her dinner

Lila and her presents

Darren and Danica were nice enough to bring her a present. She immediately picked out a marshmallow before moving on to her other presents.

All by herself

She sure has a great cousin, so willing to help her try out her new presents! :)

This was the face she would make when she finally realized what something was under the wrapping paper

When she came upstairs and saw the pile of presents she pointed and said "bike!" I guess I'm not that good of a wrapper. She guessed it.

Daddy helping her try out her new bike

The AMAZING cake I told you about

It says "Happy birthday to you. You live in a Zoo......

If you look closely you can see the smoke from the candle. I told her to blow it out and before I could even push it towards her she had already accomplished her task.

Beautiful birthday girl!

Even the inside of the cake was reminiscent of a zoo animal. Can you guess which one?

I forgot to take a picture of Lila eating her cake until she was done.  Then I couldn't get her to smile because I wouldn't let her take her bib off.

The birthday girl on her actual birthday with her favorite present and wearing a tutu from her new princess dress up outfit.

Some Cute Lila Stuff

Lila's latest favorite thing is playing monsters. She loves when we roar at her and run after her and tickle her. The other day we made a fort downstairs, turned off all the lights (except one down the hall so it wouldn't be pitch black) and took turns popping out and scaring her. She kept saying "I'm scared!" but then would laugh hysterically and ask for more.

In fact, as I was uploading these photos Lila happened to look over and say "Monsters!"

I was sick for a few days so it had been over a week since I went to work. Lila saw me putting on my scrubs and took it upon herself to put them on too. So I put her stethoscope around her neck so she could be a nurse like mommy and daddy.

And while I was sitting here working on my computer, I looked over to find that Lila had picked up the Friend, brought it over and sat by me to read it. When I looked over and noticed how studious she was being, she pointed to a picture of some missionaries and said "bike!" Later she saw a picture of an angry kid, but was really concerned about him because she thought he was scared. She kept pointing and saying "scared" in a really concerned way like she wanted to help him.

Part Time!

As of this week I am officially only working part time. I am so happy about this. Because I have a hard time working three days in a row and Todd starts to go bizonkers if I do, I have to work a few on, a few off, one on, one off, back and forth. I typically only have 1-3 days off at a time. It might seem like a lot to have 3 days off, but it is usually only 1 or 2, and those days are tainted by work still because my sleep schedule gets messed up and I spend one of the days sleeping.  Because I now only have to work 2 days a week, I can do them together then have 3-7 days off. Yup, that's right! every 3 weeks I will get a whole week off.

I am so done with working. Just done! I love being home with Lila. I love taking care of my home, and I have a lot more responsibility at church now. And I just want Todd to go to work like a normal husband. Lucky for me, this should happen soon! Even a few more months is doable now that I am only part-time. Everyone please pray for Todd to be able to find a job, then shoot us the info if you find out about an RN opening anywhere!

Looking back at the last few years, I think there is a lot of good that has come out of me working so much. I used to think I was the kind of person who would always want to have some sort of job. But I am just so "over it" at this point. I think that maybe it will be a blessing in future years for me to know and remember how I am feeling now. Maybe I won't be sad and whiny about wanting to work a little on the side of everything else. Maybe I can just stay happy to be home. Or, maybe I will need to or want to work just a little, and this job experience will be what lets me get the job that fits best for me and my family. Or maybe some of the friends I've made will become good, life-long friends. Or maybe I will just appreciate more what Todd will be doing when he is working. When he comes home tired, when he works several days in a row, the endless meetings and trainings and required certifications.

I also feel like I have grown and matured exponentially through my job. I am more calm and deliberate. I have better time-management skills. I am better at looking at things from others' point of view. I am better at stopping and getting all the facts before I allow myself to get really emotional (not always, after all I am still a girl). I think overall I just get mad a lot less. Anyway, although I'm mentally done working, I am grateful that I have had this experience.

Oh, and I guess I will be ok if I have to work into April, because then I will get a chance to wear my sweet scrub dress to work. Yup. Scrub dress. Stay tuned for more on that.

Sorry, Todd

I took Lila to the mall to play yesterday. This cute little boy attached himself to her and followed her around everywhere. And she seemed to like it. Poor Todd, you thought you wouldn't have to deal with that for a long time.

Look at his sneaky face as he slips his arm around her

She has no clue that he's hitting on her