Thirteen Months

Leyla turns 13 months tomorrow. She has been doing so great in Nashville this time! She is sleeping all night, on her own, not waking up, not getting in bed with mommy...it's incredible! And she's taking long naps during the day. I don't know what's gotten into her but I sure hope she keeps it up when we get back to Honduras!!

 She likes to play outside and had lots of fun in the grocery cart at Kroger!

She is so cute, she is learning about body parts - we got her a "head-and-shoulders" Baby Einstein video and she loves it. She loves to find and touch her belly button and she's started opening and closing her fists a lot too. My mom got her a cute little Dora chair too, to watch her videos in - and she goes straight to it when the TV comes on!

She loves to play with the dogs and try to catch their tails and she loves climbing up and down the stairs when we're not looking! Sometimes she just sits on the bottom step like it's a little seat made especially for her :)  She also figured out how to open the Jack-in-the-Box by flipping the switch instead of waiting for the song to play! She is getting smarter every minute!!

Back in the USA

Leyla and I made it back to Nashville yesterday, November 20th. It feels great to be back! We had a good flight - Leyla slept - and no delays. Grandmom and "Grandpop" as he calls himself were very excited to see the sleeping beauty when we arrived :) Of course she woke up when we made it to the house and had a blast with all the new toys her grandmother had bought her!

Today we went to church and had my birthday lunch - pot roast with carrots and potatoes! Mom made me a red velvet cake, too! It was delicious. Leyla took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, so we were VERY happy about that. She has been having so much fun playing in the yard and with the dogs and loves all her new toys! She loves to chase the dogs and pat them. She has a new grocery cart too with play food and she likes to push it around. Mom also got her a pink Dora chair and it is so cute how she sits herself down in it. She loves it :) So far she is not missing Honduras or warm weather at all it seems! She is so flexible and adjusts easily. But then she does have lots of new distractions :)

More new videos

I'm always taking videos. I know, I have tons. Here are the newest links:

Here is Leyla dancing!! I finally caught her on camera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1P0Vz81y2o

In this one, Leyla is spinning in circles, I think trying to make herself dizzy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Foi9XPNGeQ

Here she is having a long conversation with two phones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRFTpmTpRc4

New Videos of Leyla

Leyla found an ant on the floor and chased it around the living room:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkLrEpBNRDE

We took Leyla outside to play soccer in the yard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guF9ELSuEBk

Bananas!

Leyla picked a banana off the bunch, so I peeled it for her and she walked around the house eating it!

New Baby

Don't worry....not mine! A pregnant lady from the mountains stayed with us for probably about 3 weeks and had her baby November 9! It was a little weird having a baby in the house again. Leyla, poor thing, wanted to play with him so badly. She was constantly trying to get in the room to look at him!

 He looked soooo tiny, but he actually weighed the same as Leyla! It's hard to remember she was that small!

 Although, I think she was probably longer :)

I like this close-up. He was finally sleeping soundly!

All Dressed Up

It's been really chilly here lately and we've all been dressing in sweaters, and I dressed Leyla up in her pretty little dress complete with stockings and sweater!

 These are just some of her playing :)

Last Week of Classes!

I finished all the exams last week, and this week I have classes for those who did not pass. Then Monday they have their second exam and I will be done! (If they still fail they have to come back in January). and in two weeks I'll be home in Nashville! So excited!!

Also I thought I'd post a recipe. Marcos brings bananas home from the mountains all the time and they ripen all at once, so I've been making lots of bread! and everyone loves it! It's a really good recipe.

1 cup melted butter
2-1/2 cups flour
7 large mashed bananas (use ripe ones)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

350 for 1 hour. Just mash all the bananas, mix with the sugar and butter, add the beaten eggs, and then the flour and the rest. I also add cinnamon :) Here's the website I got the recipe from:


http://www.banana-bread-recipe.com/recipes/big-banana-bread-recipe