FINALLY...an update!!!

YES, we know, it's been entirely WAY too long since we posted to our blog. Parenthood sure does keep ya busy.

Grandma Mason came to DC and stayed with Nathan and Nitro while we were in China. She got to spend a few days with Leah when we returned, but they weren't the best days to be here...we all had horrible jet lag. She's coming back in Nov though. Grandma and our friends/neighbors gave Leah a "Welcome Home" party a couple days after we got home...that was SO nice. As I said, we had horrible jet lag and that took us all a little over a week to get over. Leah wasn't sleeping much at all and seemed to absolutely hate her crib, so we moved her into our room in the Pack-n-Play. That seemed to help a lot. We actually just moved her back into her crib (in her bedroom) 2 weeks ago. She's sleeping like a rock now and falls asleep in a matter of seconds.

Leah's been able to meet quite a few family members so far...Grandma and Granddad Mason, Grandma and Grandpa Stone, and her Aunt Shelly. We hope that everyone else gets to meet her very soon.

When we first got home, we tried to feed her baby food...with pretty much no success. As you may remember, when we got her at 12 months old, she'd only had formula...no baby or solid food. The first few weeks of trying to get her to eat were a bit rough, but once we all relaxed a little and realized she didn't like baby food, she started eating. Now, there's not much she won't eat...except fruit. She absolutely loves all veggies!!! We have also taken her off the bottle and off of formula...she drinks whole milk and uses straw-type cups now. She's probably gained 4 pounds since we got home...I think she's up to 23 pounds now.

Leah started daycare almost a month ago. She pretty much hated it the first week, but now seems to enjoy it more and more each week. Being there has really improved her walking. She walks all the time now and her balance has gotten really good.

Over the past week or so, she has started to interact with Nathan (and a little with Nitro). She wasn't afraid of them at all...it was almost as if she was ignoring them. Nathan, of course, thinks her highchair is the best thing ever...it's amazing how many "treats" he finds on the floor around it.

Leah took her first roadtrip up to Lancaster, PA a couple of weeks ago. She actually did really well...not bad for a 5 hour drive. Luckily, we have a DVD player in the SUV, so we played her favorite DVD about 100 times.

Below this post, we have posted a bunch of pictures of Leah. We hope you all enjoy them and we promise we'll try to get better about posting more often.

Love--Jim, Deana & Leah