3 She loves her daddy

Leighton is definitely in a daddy phase right now. She cries when Chad leaves, she wants HIM to hold her, she repeats "dada dada" till he comes to her. It's so sweet to watch, and selfishly, it's sort of nice to hand her over to her daddy with a valid reason! "Hey, what can I do...she wants YOU!"

0 Memorial Day Weekend in Austin

We spent the Memorial Day weekend in Austin and had a great time seeing some of our good friends, including Ashley and Jamie Dougherty (Ashley and Chad went to high school together and she and I were Thetas at A&M together), the Donoghues, and Amy Ross. Saturday night we all got babysitters and went out to dinner. I will confess, it was the first time for us to get a babysitter we totally don't know, but it worked out wonderfully and we had a MUCH NEEDED, relaxing time with our friends.

Saturday, it was off to the pool. Leighton loved crawling all around the pool:
The water was FREEZING. The sun was not really out when we were there so this was tough. I got Leighton this float and she really liked it. And I really liked not having to carry her all over the pool...only because now she just wants out of my arms and to swim away.


This is Ashley and her daughter, Caroline. Leighton loved playing with Caroline and Brady, Ashley's 7-month old, who is not in many pictures here because he was in his stroller, shielded from the madness.


Erin, Mary Louisa, and David joined us. It was so fun getting Leighton and her future hubby together again. (Erin and I would like to have an arranged marriage for David and Leighton. We will see.)
Here they are, in the only one of many pictures where they would sit still. Much different from our photographing marathon EXACTLY one year ago...
Look at how they have grown! Both have a ton of hair, sitting up, teeth! Wow. What a difference a year makes.
Mary Louisa was very loving and sweet to Leighton. I even overheard her say to Leighton "Well, Leighton, I just love the way you look. You are SO beautiful!" Isn't that sweet?
Good luck trying to get four kids together to smile for a picture. This was the best I could do!
Mary Louisa helped Leighton with her crawling skills. What a patient teacher she is.

David looks so much like Erin, doesn't he? And he's definitely a momma's boy. He did not want to be held by anyone but her.
Erin with Brady and David. David cried the first time Erin held Brady, but we got him to come around so I could get a picture.
Two things strike me about this picture: Chad's CRAZY tall hair, and Mary Louisa's completely over-it expression.
We went for an early dinner at The Oasis, and the kids were so wild. I guess Chad and I don't know yet because Leighton isn't really on the move, but Caroline and Mary Louisa were all over the place. They even went and sat at their own booth for a bit.
Brady will get it on the fun next year. For now, he is confined to his car seat.
All of a sudden, I said "I want a picture with Leighton." I am not in many with her, which is unfortunate because I spend all day with her. I want her to have photographic evidence of our time together!

The Donoghues, minus David.

Have I mentioned Leighton like to feed us? She also likes to psyche us out and pretend she's giving us a bite and then she'll pull her hand back and put the food in her mouth. Very clever.


I thought this was so sweet of Caroline and Mary Louisa hugging. Little girls are too sweet.
Here's Jamie with Caroline and Brady. The kids look nothing like him, do they? (Do you get my sarcasm there?)

0 Matt's Memorial Day Triathlon

We headed down to Austin for the weekend to watch my brother Matt in his first ever triathlon! He's been training for the past several months and we were so excited to go cheer him on. Surprisingly, I got to see him at every stage of the race. My parents and I got to the race right when it started just after 7 a.m. Monday morning. He finished swimming, which was first, a LOT faster than he had predicted, so he actually ran right by me and had to circle back and yell at me to take his picture. After that, my parents and I raised our game and were prepared for his speed.

We saw him on each lap of the cycling portion, and at the beginning and end of the running. We are SO proud of Matt. What an accomplishment!

Chad brought Leighton out for the finish of the race (which was good, because the sun was in full force all morning and I don't think she could have lasted any longer than she did).



Matt trained as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. Our Uncle Max was diagnosed with Leukemia a couple of years ago, so Matt did this in honor of him and other cancer survivors (including both our parents).
All our aunts and uncles came to watch Matt in the race, which I thought was awesome. I know he appreciated the support and encouragement. Here he is with Uncle Max, Aunt Vicki, and Uncle Tracy.
Matt's friend from college even drove up from San Antonio with her two children to watch Matt. They even made signs! I thought that was really cool.

Our cousin, Molly, also came by to watch. It was like a family reunion! Leighton loved seeing all her family!

2 Mobile phone pics

I am realizing I'm a picture-taking machine. Not only do I take tons of pictures with our regular camera, but I'm also always snapping away on my phone. Here's a few pictures I've taken in the past couple of weeks.

The day I got her a new Baby...she just held her in the car and wouldn't let go.

She put this blanket on her head all by herself. She looks like Little Bo Peep...or some other just as sweet character.

Here she is saying her favorite new phrase "wass that?" She points at everything and says "wass that?" We tell her. Repeatedly. "That's a light. A light. Light goes on. Light goes off. On. Off. On. Off." I bet she's learning something!
Here she is just resting her head on the table at Luby's with all her grandparents. I think she was ready for bed.
We rode the train in Breckenridge Park in San Antonio a few weeks ago. I think she enjoyed herself.
Please, sit back and get comfortable. I'm glad she's able to kick up her feet while we go on our walks. Makes me wish someone was wheeling ME around while I lounge!

I took this when she FINALLY fell asleep in the car on our way to San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. She was up wide awake and very talkative for about two hours, and then she wore herself out.

Here she is doing her crab-walking on our sidewalk. Chad does not like when I let her do this because sometimes she scratches up her feet. But I will state for the record that she only does her crab-walking on the sidewalk...nowhere else, so what's a girl to do?

I've got a LOT more where these came from, so I'll put some more up this weekend. I have many, many pictures from when she was a little baby. (I'm starting to realize she's not really a little baby anymore!)

1 Badoons

Whew. I went to San Antonio last week to go to the funeral of a good friend's mother. I had just been two weeks before that for another funeral. It's been really sad, and it's also made me determined to enjoy every minute with Leighton that I have.
Before we left, I bought Leighton a new baby doll, which has got Leighton saying "bay-bee" A LOT. It's so sweet. She loves her baby and loves to hug her and pat her back.

Vicki came by to see Leighton while we were there...and they had quite a time playing!
It seems like everyone else's house has loads more opportunities for Leighton to practice pulling up. She especially enjoys standing on my parents' sofa.

Leighton loving on her Nonny. What a lucky girl to have all her grandparents alive and well...they all love on her and it makes us so happy!


Uncle Matt stopped by and read a book with Leighton. Isn't it sweet how she's holding on to his arm?

The first time this alligator popped out of the book, I think it sort of upset Leighton. She got a little weirded out, but then she caught on.
My dad has an iPhone and he's downloaded a couple of fun games for kids to play. Leighton is an expert now...she's able to touch the animals on his phone and they make a noise. She really could do this for hours.

Several pictures lately have stopped me in my tracks. Leighton is getting to be such a big girl! She's not a baby anymore! Wah!
I'm not sure what's happening here, but I am laughing that both Leightons have a hand raised in the air. What are they concentrating on?
Ok, if you know how to make toddlers smile on demand for pictures, let me know. I find it impossible! Here's a great picture of my mom and dad smiling...and Leighton (looking adorable, but no smile).

Leighton can find everyone's nose. My dad taught her that. We've been working on the ears for a while, but the nose is so nicely placed right out front that it's easy to find.
Our trip to San Antonio was a short one...I came back Friday afternoon. Saturday night, we went to see Leslie and Gordon, who are expecting their next baby boy ANY SECOND. Leighton and Gordon had fun playing...Gordon was up on the sofa telling Leighton "Come up." Oh she tried so hard to get on that sofa, but all she can do is stand there hanging on.

I mean, look at this cuteness! What sweet little kiddos. Someday Gordon will be buying Leighton beer because she's underage, but now, they just play with trucks and drink milk.

Here she is, at someone else's house finding ways to pull herself up to stand. I guess we need to work on this so she can have more practice around here.
This very well may be the last picture of the Richardsons before they add another little baby boy to the mix. I told Leslie I liked the green color coordination!
Leighton is rapidly adding new words to her vocabulary every day. New additions: apple, badoon (balloon), up, what's that, tree, and boots (Ok, boots she has been saying a while, but I don't know if I've mentioned it). We particularly love badoon. We have three balloons in the house right now, and she likes to point and say "badoon!"