Dancing Queen

Leah had her first dance with Papa at Chubby's birthday party. Seems as if her finger point is her signature move.

60th Birthday Party

As a lot of you know, I grew up in the town of Burlington, Maine- population approx. 300 people. Therefore, not only do we know almost everyone there, they are like family. One of them, "Chubby" Shorey(my dear friend Julie's dad) turned 60 and we had a huge celebration for him on Saturday complete with live band. This was Leah's chance to meet a ton of people and she did a good job with the large crowd. We also discovered that she loves grape kool-aid, chocolate cake, and cheese meatballs from the assortment of food at the party! Of course we had to take Dad's truck to Burlington- Leah loved riding in it- I think it was taller so she can see out well. My little cousin Elaina entertained Leah at the party a lot- we told Elaina to start teaching Leah as Elaina is super smart... a spelling bee champ! Playing shy between Dad's legs. Hanging out with Andrea and Julie, the friends Mom has had for the longest!

Playground

On Friday we met up with the Jagger boys and Olivia at the playground. As an added surprise Andrew's good friend Matt happened to be there with his daughter Emma. Leah enjoyed it especially seeing the older kids, but she is too short to be anything but dangerous on the equipment! The Jagger boys were adopted from India almost a year ago and Olivia is from China, and she will soon be gaining 2 sisters not only from India, but from Bal Asha orphanage! It is so special to have these connections in our community!

more pics

Happenings....

A few updates from the past week or so....

1.Papa bought "Leah" a new (well actually antique) rocking chair!

2. Michelle and Megan came to help Auntie with Leah while Uncle Andrew was away for work! Yeah for 10 and 11 year old nieces! Big helpers!

3. Leah attended Michelle's dance recital (hence the updo and make-up on Michelle)

4. First visit to the Children's museum with the Metzler ladies..

5. Physical Therapy evaluation- the therapist said she did not need to be part of our lives! Yeah!

6. A hearing test- yes she can hear- and more bloodwork- all normal! And she was quite a hit in the halls of EMMC going from app't to app't...

7. We haven't had a weight update in awhile but by some of her clothes it seems she is growing- not many more of her 3-6 month clothes fit at least!

8. A few more words... up, doggie, drink and maybe Charlie- to the neighbor mowing his lawn!

9. She loves rides in her wagon

10. She is really starting to like reading, and is often flipping through books herself or carrying them to us to read to her!

okay, all I can think of for now... it is afterall about 2 hours later than my new normal bedtime!

Stair Master

We need more gates... for those of you who don't know we live in a "split level" house... I call it a Brady Bunch house... and it is not ideal for toddlers- lots of stairs... and as I discovered this morning Leah has figured out how to climb them! This video is from later this afternoon when she showed Ty and Courtney her new trick...

4 weeks ago,

We landed home at Bangor International airport... last night Andrew said he could not believe it had already been 4 weeks and I said I can't believe it has only been 4 weeks... it feels like Leah has been part of our life always....

Here are some pictures of that happy day 4 weeks ago... Courtney sent them to me and I don't think I had ever added them to the blog!

First ATV ride

Leah, Michelle and Megan got to try out their big cousin Ty's 4 wheeler tonight... yes, Leah had her PJ's on!

Miguel's with Maggie

2 of my favorite things... hanging out with friends and eaing fresh salsa! It is important that Maggie and I get along since we will visit our Dads at Dirigo Pines 50 years from now! For those of you who don't know Jake and Andrew figure if they were good college roommates they will make good assisted living roommates one day as well. Not sure where that leaves Michele and I!!!

Basketball

Leah's first time on the basketball court.... she seemed to really like it! We decided she might be the smallest point guard ever.

Deering

Leah got to visit Daddy's high school gym this weekend. There was a basketball clinic put on by Deering alum and Deering coaches this weekend to benefit Andrew's Dad's scholarship fund. As most of you know, Ernie passed away 2 years ago this week of cancer. It was a wonderful event. Mom should have dressed Leah in purple for it though- but at least she had on her converse high tops! Here is a picture of Leah and Dad with former Deering and Maryland Star Nik Caner-Medley and with Jamal Caterina and with Grammie Carla on the court. She also got to meet Great Aunt and Uncle Glennyse and Mike.

Daycare

Mom's already had enough of me- she sent me to daycare this week! Just kidding! Daddy decided that I miss my friends at Bal Asha so luckily we have an easy cure for that. Our great friend Audrey O'Clair owns a daycare so we went to visit and interact with the other kids. Leah did well playing with them. This may become a regular habit. It was fun- we only wish it was not a school day so Marc and Sophie would have been there too. Here are a couple of pictures...

New Swing

I also have a new swing... Dad and Ty hung it up for me in the screen porch with chain from Bailey Lumber in Milo! As you can see from this picture, I am not quite sure what I think about it yet...

An assortment of pictures...

Just downloaded more pics from my camera and I must admit I thought there were some pretty cute ones... so here are a few... You can see what she thinks of her bike helmet!

New Toy

Leah enjoys pushing her stroller in the driveway, much to the amusement of many of our neighbors!

Joking around...

Leah and Ricardo really hit it off as you can see... they can't wait to play together again!

Update

Leah has been busy meeting more people... Little Leah got to meet "Big" Leah her namesake (0ur dear friend Leah Cummings Ly and her husband Viet), she also got to meet "Aunt" Julie and "Uncle" Ricardo who came up not only to meet Leah but to visit their favorite dog Bella on her 5th birthday! Julie DeLaite Mulkern is my oldest friend so it was a full circle moment, introducing my daughter with someone who I once played dolls with! Both Bella and Leah got presents! The Mulkerns brought Leah and us a WONDERFUL gift... a trailer/stroller combo for our bikes... notice in the pictures who tried it out first though. Luckily, my cousin Tristen stopped by at the same time and put it together, he truly was about 1/2 way done and Andrew was still reading the instruction manual!! Andrew also has intentions for the bike trailer and some trout ponds he tells me. It will be great when her cousin Braden comes to visit from Arizona this summer so we will have a stroller that holds 2!

Leah is doing great... she is getting on a pretty regular sleep schedule which is nice, we had not rushed it with jet lag and time change and all. She is eating much better... the secret is spice- she loves it- american cheese no way, pepperjack yum yum! Oh and her skin seems to be quite sensitive to the heat and sun (odd it seems for a kid from India) and so now she wears a hat in the sun- as you can see, she is not into it! Lets see, she has also met friends Maggie and Olivia, we also stopped into Hampden Academy one day last week and we went to the first ever neighborhood block party Sunday and she met a lot of people there. So bit by bit she is meeting everyone!

Nice weather and performances...

Leah and I have enjoyed gorgeous Maine weather on our first week home alone together and have spent a lot of time outside playing.... we even got a call from Great Aunt Brenda yesterday to meet her at a yard sale that had lots of girl clothes and toys!

Last night we were brave and took Leah to cousin Megan's 4th grade school play on Pirates "a comedy" she assured us. The play was followed by cousin Michelle's 5th grade band concert. Leah was great at both performances and it was great as she got to meet a ton of Lincolners, both family and friends we consider family! Andrew, the big city guy, was like, this is what I was missing in India, nice small town life. Of course it didn't hurt that it was a gorgeous spring evening and the sun was setting on the lake that Michelle's school is on. It was pretty much a Norman Rockwell scene!

Leah has had two doctors appointments this week, she started having her immunizations all over again and they attempted to draw blood for some tests but when they didn't get it on the 3rd try Mom said "no more"! So we will try that at the lab next week.

19 Months

Leah is 19 months old today- so for once we are spending a "birthday" with her! Daddy is back at work and Leah is napping so Mom is blogging- so far so good. Leah has had a very busy past few days with some firsts...

• First trip to Pat's Pizza... she loves zingers!
• First trip to Lincoln to Grammie and Papa's house
• First time bowling (when she made a quick appearance at Eben's 5th bday party, not good, way too overwhelming as we suspected)
• First trip to Milo and to camp
• First trip to the mall, grocery store, Sam's club and Target

So here are some pictures of these adventures...