Christmas Eve 2007

I left Memphis Friday night and drove to Tuscaloosa where I stayed up late drinking and then watching a movie with Uncle Finch. Saturday morning we got up and drove down to Mobile. I was glad to see Leila and she was glad to see her daddy. Aunt Ashley and Uncle Matt showed up on Sunday and we all watched some football and went to bed.

Sunday Leila put on a dress and shiny black shoes and we went to mass. She was loud and happy so the three of us spent most of the service in the "cry room" with all of the other babies. There was a crowd in there and Leila had a great time talking to the other babies, watching them cause trouble, and trying to hold hands with the boy in front of her. He had lots of hair and more teeth than Leila but he was about her size. Later that day Chandler, Leila, and I went for a walk around the golf course. Leila had a great time taking off her hat (repeatedly ) and enjoying the cold.

Monday we went to visit Leila's great Grandmary in the hospital and took her some presents. We had fun playing with her as well as Chandler's Uncle Ray, Aunt Angel, and their daughters Emily and Allie. After that we went to lunch with Ashley and Matt at a Mexican restaurant on Airport.

Monday afternoon is Christmas present unwrapping time at the Fulton house, so we unwrapped presents for ten people. That was lots of fun, and Leila spent the whole time chewing on wrapping paper and banging on box tops. Each of us received lots of great presents and we had a good time together. Leila has lots of new educational toys for building, spelling, and percussion. She also has plenty of cute new outfits.

Chandler is playing Guitar Hero III now while Leila sleeps in the next room and the rest of the Fultons attend midnight mass.

This week in the Pritchett Family Blog we're welcoming very special guest blogger Lane "GiGi" Fulton. Leila has been visiting the Fulton house since last Thursday and has been having a fantastic time. Here's what GiGi has to say:

Leila Lane and Chandler Marie arrived Thursday evening around 6:00. The twins said that they had never seen me run faster through the house when I heard they were here. I have not stopped running since! Leila is soooooooo active, rollicking and bouncy everywhere she goes. She has visited several places and people since she has been here. Her Great-GrandMary was in the hospital, so she got to visit the there 3 times (including when she got to bring Great-GrandMary home). Great-GrandMary saved her sodium free crackers for Leila's visits and Leila enjoyed them very much. Aunt Jenny took her to lunch and let her sip on TEA & FRENCH FRIES! She has tasted lots of new foods here like Froot Loops, cheese, apple cake, amaretto cheesecake yogurt and melba toast but has still been able to maintain her stylish figure.

Leila went to Church on Sunday morning and helped the choir sing. Loud. She wore a black and white polka dot dress with matching bloomers and her tights that have black patent shoes on the feet (she was the cutest baby there). She received lots of compliments on both her vocals and her outfit. Breakfast at the club was next and she had grits there plus lots of crackers and napkins for the floor.

Sunday afternoon Bear the Dog took Leila to Cottage Hill Park. Leila got to play on three types of swings and play with a playground-style xylophone that was wonderfully loud. Then Leila, Boompa, Chandler and Bear went on a nice long walk and Leila sang a lot of walking songs. She saw a lot of little bitty dogs in sweaters at the park, but thought they were a lot like cats, so she didn't pay very much attention to them.

Today she helped Chandler clean out the car......(that took quite a while) and went grocery shopping for chili-makings and Leila cereal. We all like her a lot and I think we'll keep her a few more days (if she will let us)

Oops, almost forgot, she has another tooth, up to 5 now!

Mobility and other news.

Leila is learning how to push herself around on the floor... she pushes back with her hands and slides backwards on her belly. She gets *very* excited about it. We will record a video the next time she starts sliding.

Leila and Frida both feed each other. Sunday Leila offered Frida her bagel, Monday Frida brought Leila a mouthful of dry dog food and dropped it off in front of her. We're glad Leila likes Frida so much because we found out this weekend that Leila does NOT like cats. We took her to Cooper-Young's "House of Mews" after lunch on Saturday and introduced her to some kittens. She took one look at them and started grumbling. Then one came up to meow at her and she complained loudly, so we left. It's a good thing Leila didn't want a kitten because Mommy and Daddy are both allergic and Daddy kept grumbling about having a furball all afternoon.

Leila, Frida, and Daddy saw the dog park again this weekend. It was lots of fun and Leila yelled at pretty much everyone and everything we saw.

The weather in Memphis has been up and down lately. I didn't even need a jacket on Sunday, but yesterday afternoon Leila could see her breath when we walked outside. That means Mommy is having to do a lot of learning about how fashionable babies layer their clothes.

Chandler is organizing another couple of shows for the Art Education program at UM. Previous Art Ed shows are here. This week she's been hanging a show for secondary education teachers-in-training and then in the spring she'll be hosting the annual alumni Artist/Mentor show. This year the Artist/Mentor show will be juried, so that should help make Chandler's curatorial duties more streamlined. Good thing too, as she has been awarded a grant by the Memphis Urban Arts Commission! She will be installing a set of 20 watercolors in a post office in Memphis this February-March. If you're the type of blog reader who likes to visit Memphis, this will be a very busy, but very fun time to come see us, especially during Chandler's Spring Break (March 3-9).





Chandler and Leila are heading to Mobile later this week. Daniel will be following on the 21st.

Adventures in Memphis

This weekend Daddy and Leila had to help Mommy with an important project. Mommy is trying to design artwork to go in a Memphis post office for the Urban Art Commission's ten year anniversary celebration. The problem is, Memphis has A LOT of post offices. We decided to do a quick tour of a few of them using by driving around the city and using the GPS to locate nearby post offices. We found three, and on the way we also visited David Lusk Gallery, the Powerhouse, and the Tom Lee Memorial on the Mississippi River. David Lusk had an awesome exhibit up (as usual) but the new exhibit at the Powerhouse wasn't plugged in. Leila was not impressed and Mommy was pretty disappointed too. Luckily the weather was beautiful, so all three of us got to enjoy the view of the Mississippi River at sunset before we had to end our day trip.

Leila is seven months old now and she doesn't ever stop moving or putting things in her mouth! She says "Da!" a lot. I think it's her word for Frida, Dog, Duck, Dad, Cup and who knows what else. She's been munching on Cheerios and is starting to learn how to use a sippy cup. She gets really excited when I buckle her into her car seat next to her yellow musical elephant and throws up both hands gleefully to hug him every time. Her most favorite toy lately is Mommy's phone and she doesn't care who's on the other end. She'll chat with the insurance lady or Aunt Ashley or Gigi or Daddy or anyone who doesn't mind babbling for a few minutes while Leila stares at the phone and occasionally shouts "Da!"

She has two Christmas trees in her house with one present under each and has several stockings hanging in every room and big white lights on her front porch. She likes to shake jingle bells when we go to the store, but she doesn't have any of her own (because it's a sure bet that she'd eat them and no one wants to deal with jingle diapers). She watched the Nutcracker with Mommy this week and wants to be the Sugarplum Fairy when she grows up.

She has four red Christmas dresses. They're all ridiculously cute. See?

Leila's first Thanksgiving

Leila is six months old as of November 2nd! We got a half-birthday picture of her wearing her birthday tiara.

We put together Leila's high chair and now she eats out of it several times daily. It's nice and convenient - it centralizes the mess and lets us sit upright when feeding her.

Leila's Grandmama and Granddaddy came up from Foley to see us for Thanksgiving this year. Chandler did a great job of preparing weeks in advance. She put together an exciting menu and we went out and got all the ingredients ahead of time. Once we got everything together we did a few test runs on some of the dishes. These were lots of fun even if they moved slowly since Leila kept waking up and demanding to know why she'd woken up all alone.

For Thanksgiving dinner we had a turkey breast, carrot pudding, homemade stuffing (with pearl onions, bread cubes, and bacon), sweet potato wedges, cranberry sauce, and a salad. We also had some nice wine that my parents brought to share with us. All of the food was excellent and we're still enjoying leftovers - turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pound cake with ice cream are my favorites. I cooked the turkey (and set off the smoke alarm a few times!) but Chandler was kind enough to do the majority of the cooking.

Cooking took most of the morning but when we had a break we passed the time playing with Leila and watching The World's Fastest Indian, a movie about a 67-year old grandfather who set a motorcycle land speed record in 1967. Frida enjoyed thanksgiving too. Overall Thanksgiving was a good time and we were very glad to have company. Leila definitely enjoyed getting to see her grandparents again and is looking forward to seeing more relatives at Christmas.

Half-Birthday

Even though she had an entire extra hour this weekend, Leila decided not to do too much out of the ordinary.

On Thursday, she enjoyed visiting with lots of people at Open Studio Night at UM. She had to leave early though, because she had worked really hard all day on her two front teeth. That's right . . . the tooth count is up to four now. I hope the tooth fairy has been taking notes. Leila got a little toothbrush last week that we're learning to use, but not with toothpaste yet.

Friday was Leila's first half-birthday. She spent most of the day shopping for baby shoes, but also took time to play in the front yard and pet Frida a lot. We also had fun reading the catalogs that come in the mail together (and by read, I mean I flip the pages and Leila shoves them in her mouth as quickly as possible to see how soggy she can get them before I pull them back out of her mouth).

On Saturday, Leila took us to her favorite swingset and even went down the slide without complaining. To celebrate, we all went to Huey's for cheeseburgers. Leila likes to eat cucumber slices while we snack on fries. I guess she's developing a pretty odd palate, with preferences for 'cukes and paper.

Today Leila took Frida to the dog park. Leila thinks dogs are pretty much the funniest animals on the planet (aside from rubber ducks), so she always has fun at Shelby Farms.

She also helped us rake the yard and was pretty impressed when we decided to rake all of the leaves in a ring around the tree to mulch instead of putting them in big plastic bags. Mostly she just wanted to eat the leaves and a couple of bugs. We tried to discourage that.

Leila's most favorite thing in the entire universe these days is splashing like a splash-machine in the bathtub. It's too bad we can't take her swimming soon, because I get the feeling that she's going to be like a little fish! She starts grinning as soon as we start getting her ready for the bath and when we actually get into the tub she squeals with excitement. She's a very rambunctious shampooer.

Next week Leila's going to lay low and try to figure out the mystery of why it's getting so dark so early!

SECAC, Halloween, Parks

We have done a lot since the last post. Last weekend the three of us drove up to Charleston, WV for the Southeastern College Art Conference where Chandler presented on a panel with a professor of hers. We saw Chandler's favorite professor from Tuscaloosa there as well - he was presenting on another panel at the same time as Chandler's. Leila and I hung out at the hotel for the panel because Leila was feeling more energetic than academic. We drove through Nashville, Elizabethtown, Bowling Green, and Louisville. The conference was in downtown Charleston and we stayed at another hotel nearby. While we were there Leila learned to squeal in restaurants. Her parents learned to feed her cucumbers in restaurants. She finds them soothing and entertaining and often forgets to squeal while eating them. We didn't do a good job with our camera's rechargeable batteries so there's not much to show from the trip. We did go to the Clay Center's Halloween costume party day on Sunday. There were lots of kids having a good time learning about science and art.

This weekend started off with a Halloween party at the home of some friends. Leila dressed up like a bee. Chandler dressed up like a bee! I dressed as Gilligan. Leila had a great time skipping her bed time and meeting new people in exciting costumes. As long as no one else tried to hold her she was happy even if she didn't talk much.

Saturday we went to a park near our house and showed Leila some exciting swing sets. I didn't realize there were swings designed for 6 month old babies but Leila LOVED them. She didn't go for the big slides too much but she was happy to swing for a very long time, giggling and spluttering the whole way.



Yesterday the three of us took Frida to the Shelby Farms dog park for a fun time. Frida was in great spirits now that she's finally kicked an ear infection that bothered her all summer. She bounced and ran and jumped and sniffed with more excitement than I've seen out of her in months. There was a tent at the gate advertising an Off Leash Society that was soliciting members and donations for exciting park projects like dog showers, dog memorials, doggie bag stations, benches, and I'm sure there was more.

Now Leila and Chandler are enjoying an early evening nap while I cook dinner and catch up on my updates. We will have more pictures this week as we finally charged the camera batteries. This Thursday is an open studio for the UMemphis grad students. We are all excited about that, especially Leila. She loves to go out.

CMOM and other fun things

Lately Leila has given up a few hours of sleep every day and has decided that she likes to go do things around Memphis that her Mommy and Daddy have never done before. After an uneventful Friday, Leila was ready to roll this Saturday. She took us shopping in a vintage store and we looked at lots and lots of too big (for Leila) blue jeans and funny hats. There was a sign that says "No Pictures" next to the funny hats, or you know that we would be posting some here! When we left the vintage store we saw a poster that reminded us that our friend, Elizabeth Owen, has some artwork up at the P&H a few blocks away.

We haven't been to the P&H since way before Leila was born, but it's the place where a lot of Chandler's art friends go to drink beer and eat grilled cheese sandwiches. We were sneaky and went before they opened so that we wouldn't have to make Leila hang out in a smoky bar. She didn't mind, but that boy Elizabeth drew sure looks sad.

On Sunday, we decided to pick more Leila-friendly activities, so she suggested we visit the Children's Museum of Memphis. CMOM had SO MANY fun things to play with! Leila learned about the Mississippi River, Dentists, Recycling, Astronauts, the Human Body, and a lot of other things she had never thought about! She also got to slide on a slide for the first time--and the second, third, fourth . . .

Needless to say, the slide was a very popular activity with the Pritchett family. We got so excited about it that we forgot about pictures. Luckily we have pictures of a lot of other things, like this picture of Leila and Daddy grocery shopping. Leila decided to buy a big crab just in case Aunt Jenny decides to come visit soon.

Another fun week

We were very busy this week. Mom gave Leila music lessons with our pots and pans. Leila played with her pumpkin and with her parents in the front yard.

On Friday, Leila went to three art shows and enjoyed herself so much she started babbling in the car! This level of vocalization is new for Leila so we were all very excited! (video! )

On Sunday we loaded up the car and drove to the Pink Palace Crafts Fair near our house. It was very hot and Leila started out very pink and uncomfortable but once we put her hat on her she had a great time.

There were tons of exciting things to look at and try on and dance to and taste and pet! We saw paintings and sculptures and hats and mugs and food and a petting zoo and a band. Leila enjoyed herself tremendously, and then she went home to sleep.

Gigi and Boompa came to visit this weekend! They had so much fun with Leila and Leila had SO MUCH FUN with them!

When Gigi and Boompa first got to their hotel in Memphis, Mommy was in a critique--that's the MFA version of a big stressful exam. Leila and Daddy went to the hotel to start a visit and Leila had a tasty rice dinner while everyone else enjoyed the hotel's hospitality room. When Mommy finally finished her critique (which lasted until after nine o'clock!) Leila was pretty cranky. Luckily everyone got a good night's sleep afterwards.

Luckily, her mood changed the next morning because Gigi and Boompa had a great idea! They took Leila and Mommy to the ZOO! We saw every animal there and I can't wait to finish uploading some of the videos we took . . . there's a great one where Leila is standing in a window while Gigi waves a mirror at some monkeys who were playing on the other side. The monkeys thought that mirror was awesome and Gigi said that they acted just like the Blue Man Group. Leila hopes one day she can go see the Blue Man Group with Gigi because those monkeys were awesome. We also saw a bear doing a dance and elephants swimming in their pool to fetch big juicy watermelons. There was also a rooster in the farmyard exhibit that followed us around for a little while and Gigi saw a chipmunk. Leila also enjoyed seeing the butterfly house, which she hasn't seen since she was about one month old. The plants are much bigger and there were many more butterflies now that she is almost five months old:)

After the zoo, everyone went to the Buckman Center to see an art show . Gigi really liked the photo collages that Leila's friend Elizabeth Owen makes and wants to get one of Leila. Gigi also really liked a photo collage Elizabeth made of birthday cupcakes.

After the art show, we all went to eat at an Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella. Leila and Mommy were both pretty tired, but the food was delicious and the pacifier-throwing was first-rate.

On Saturday, Leila got to do Gigi and Boompa's favorite things, but first she had to pick out a pumpkin. Leila had been eying the great big inflatable pumpkin in front of Schnuck's for a week, but managed to pick out some pumpkins that are a more reasonable size and that probably wont scare Frida. She picked out one pumpkin that was almost as heavy as she is and she let Boompa carry that one, and then she picked out a little pumpkin to teeth on. It's a good thing she got that one too, because while we were at the pumpkin patch, Mommy noticed that Leila had cut her first tooth! WOW!

After she picked out her pumpkin and everyone got a chance to stick their finger in her mouth to feel the tooth, Leila went on a Gigi adventure to every Talbots in Memphis. There are lots of Talbots's in Memphis--but I think we actually may have missed one WAY out in Collierville.

Leila likes going to Talbots because she got lots of really cute new clothes. She got a brown checked corduroy jumper, some long-sleeved onesies, new green corduroy pants, a cream colored poncho, and lots of other cute things too. All of this on top of a really cool care package filled with clothes that Gigi brought from Mobile! It might be time to take a new closet picture:) While we were on our shopping trip we also stopped and had lunch at an Italian deli in Germantown and took a few minutes to look at the paintings in David Lusk Gallery.

After the shopping excursion, we watched some Alabama football. Leila doesn't want to talk about that.

She does want to say THANK YOU to Gigi and Boompa for making sure she's had a WONDERFUL weekend. She hopes that they'll come back soon and she hopes that they liked getting to "see" her awesome new tooth! We love you guys!

"No"

Leila is definitely growing and learning lots of new tricks! Unfortunately, some of the tricks she's learned are to pull Mommy's hair, take Daddy's glasses, pull Mommy's nose, punch Daddy's eye, etc. So I guess now it's time to teach her about what "no!" and "ouch!" mean. She's especially going to have to learn that "no" she does not need to change her own diaper!

This weekend was pretty relaxing for Leila. She did chores around the house, like watching Daddy mow the lawn and watching Mom do dishes and laundry, and she did lots of tummy time. She also took us grocery shopping so she could try a new food! Prunes! She doesn't want to discuss why she decided to start eating prunes, but lets just say that her diaper-removing antics haven't been as exciting as they could have been this week.

When Leila was at the grocery store she couldn't resist buying a couple of new toys. She's so busy lately that she needs fresh entertainment. She got a new book, The Pokey Little Puppy, and she got a big blue ball. The blue ball is fun in lots of ways, but her favorite thing to do with it so far is to bang on it like a drum.

Frida was jealous of the new toys that Leila got, so we got her something too.
A Bath! Lucky Frida:)

She definitely needed one after the four of us went to the dog park today. We didn't just go play by the lake--we went on a full blown hike through the woods and had a great time. It's the first time the stroller has been off-road and it did really well. Leila napped while we were on the bumpy walking paths and looked really confused when she woke up in the middle of the woods!

This week is shaping up to be a pretty busy one . . . we really wish we had family in town during weeks like this one just so Leila would have someone to go visit when Mommy has to go to meetings while Daddy needs to work. I guess that's just part of living in Memphis!

Big Weekend!

Friday night: Gallery opening for Chandler's professor Beth Edwards followed by a movie.

Saturday: We converted our big jar of change into cash and went to the Cooper Young Festival to see a few of Chandler's friends and buy some of their artwork. Afterwards we went downtown looking for a place to eat and we wound up at Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian steakhouse. We started with a big salad bar that had more meats and cheeses than salad and followed it up with lots and lots of sizzling meat brought to our table one portion at a time. The waiters roam the restaurant with fresh meats checking each person's table. If your card is flipped over to the green side they'll stop and offer you meat. If it's on the red side they know you're busy and they come back later. We finished it up with a yummy dessert of bananas foster.

Sunday: We slept in a bit and eventually went to Shelby Farms to give Frida a chance to run around and meet new dogs. Leila wore her sun hat and enjoyed herself.

Last weekend Leila took us to Thomaston to meet her great-grandparents, Becky and Papa Pritchett and to visit with her Grandmama. Leila thought her Becky and Papa were really funny and she showed them how she knows how to laugh LOUD! She also had fun almost learning to clap from Papa. We're still practicing.

On our way back home on Monday we stopped in Tuscaloosa. Leila liked this because not only did she get to eat lunch at Los Tarascos with Uncle Finch, she also got a new book from Books-A-Million. It's called "Monday the Bullfrog" and it's more like a stuffed animal than a book, but the important thing is that she can put it in her mouth!

Today something very important happened. Leila learned to pet Frida. She spread her fingers out very wide and gently patted Frida's furry tummy. Frida liked it so much that she decided to give Leila a kiss on the nose. Unfortunately, Leila isn't quite ready for doggy nose kisses, so that ended petting time. Still, it's amazing to see a baby learning to be kind.

Doctor visit

Yesterday Leila went to Dr. Hurley for her four month check-up and s. h. o. t. s.
In case you don't already know, I don't like needles, and like any person with a heart, I hate to see a baby girl cry. But Leila did get some awesome Charlie Brown band-aids. There are a couple of other medical things that Dr. Hurley wants to follow up on; Leila's hips are "extra-flexible" and she gets to have an extra hearing test before her six month check-up, but what was most impressive about our visit is how much she has grown! She's a whopping 16 lbs now and two feet tall!

Leila saw her friend Emmit today when she was "helping" me at school and he got his shots and Charlie Brown band-aids this week too. Emmit's dad, Cedar, will be speaking at the Brooks Museum next Wednesday about his work in the "Perspectives" exhibition, but I'm not sure Leila will get to go just yet, as she has recently learned how to yell and sing for fun and loves the sound of her own voice.

Leila got an awesome present in the mail this week from Gigi! It's a tummy time surfboard, which is great because Dr. Hurley told us to make sure that she was getting plenty of exercise. Between tummy time, jumpy seat, and baby yoga, I'm not sure what other kinds of baby exercises I can find. Lots of people have suggested getting her some ankle weights, but I think that once she learns to do things like rolling and crawling we won't have to worry about inventing exercises.

Tomorrow we're all headed to Thomaston , Alabama to visit Daniel's grandparents, Papa and Becky.

packing lunch

School starts this week, and even though Leila is too young to need a packed lunch, when I saw this blog I couldn't help but get excited about the ninja-mom possibilities.

http://lunchinabox.net/top-tips/

Video update

We have updated the Videos section of our gallery to allow for easier movie viewing straight from the browser via Flash. Try one!

August so far

August has been an extremely hot month in Memphis. Last weekend we took Leila to an International Paper employee appreciation event at the local AAA baseball park and it was over 100 degrees out. Luckily we were able to find some shade. We had a good time with the barbecue buffet and with the guy petitioning to publish some unapproved Elvis fan newsletter. Apparently Elvis's estate isn't too cavalier with their licensing allowances.


Saturday night my mom surprised us with a visit - she had an extended layover in Memphis and needed a place to sleep. We spent a few hours together and went out for brunch at the Blue Plate Cafe and had an exciting time watching all the people and talking over the noise. My new hearing aid is working pretty well even in such bustling environments.

It finally rained yesterday for the first time in weeks so our plants should be growing again soon. Hopefully the heat wave will be over.

Chandler and I are both excited about her upcoming opportunity to display some of her art in a restaurant in Mississippi. She will probably have more details on that later.

Leila's newest trick is lunging at things and ferociously biting them, complete with intense facial expressions. Luckily for us she doesn't have any teeth yet.

Three months

Today was Leila's three month birthday! Woo hoo! Now she can officially wear all of the 3-6 month baby clothes she's been fitting into for the last several weeks:)

To celebrate, we went to a restaurant we read about on a blog called "dining with monkeys." The restaurant, called Hephzibah, serves a wide mix food, but we were each able to find something tasty to eat. The signage outside advertized "Boomerwangs," but inside the walls were covered with airbrushed quotes from the Torah. I'm pretty sure that Leila will never have another birthday party in a place quite like Hephzibah.

bored?

This afternoon Leila decided that she was bored.

So Mommy packed up the diaper bag and took her to the library to check out some picture books. After that, Leila was being so good that we decided to go to the zoo too! Then when she got home, Daddy took everyone on a walk! After all that hard work, Leila needed a bath.

Being a baby is hard work.

Reading Harry Potter with Leila

Leila's been very patient with us this weekend. Not only has she had to share snuggling space with a 700 page book, but she also had to wait to go on her picnic at Shelby Farms until after Daddy was finished installing shelves and a closet rod in the laundry room. It helped that she got a surprise present from Gigi courtesy of a friend who was traveling from Mobile to Memphis this weekend.

Mommy finished that book before 6pm on Saturday so now Daddy can have it for as long as he wants. Then Mommy will pack all seven books away for Leila to start reading sometime after 2018.

The picnic at Shelby Farms was a lot of fun. We met our friends the McGregors with several bags of Fresh Market picnic snacks (courtesy of a gift card given to me by my twin sisters, thanks ya'll!) The McGregors brought some tasty fried chicken and cupcakes with sprinkles. We ended up with two different kinds of potato salad and an entire pie left over!

While we were eating, we saw my professor, Cedar Nordbye, and his family out with one of their dogs. We were very impressed by Cedar's baby Emmet (or is it Emmit?) , who was born just a few weeks before Leila. Leila and E. didn't have much to say to each other, but they seem to both enjoy chewing on their baby carriers and looking at trees. Leila had so much fun looking at trees when we were walking after our dinner that she fell asleep right on my shoulder.

We put lots of new pictures of Leila in her photo gallery last night (and Mommy has been playing with photo editing tools, so some of them are a little artsy). Here's one of her sitting on her new duck beach towel that Gigi sent up with Ms. Marsha. Those ducks must be pretty funny because she's laughing up a storm!


Leila's going to have to be extra photogenic this next month because it looks like she'll be gaining an audience in Jordan! We hope Granddaddy will be able to share these pictures with the people he'll be working with on his business trip and that he'll also take some great pictures of that country and to tell us about his adventures, just like Indiana Jones!

Rachel Elizabeth Nunnally

My sister Amy welcomed her second daughter Rachel Elizabeth on Sunday. We are all pretty excited about it and I hope to meet her soon! Leila needs to meet the Nunnallys as well.

Dog Park

Today was Leila's first trip to the dog park. We've been taking Frida the Dog to this park at Shelby Farms for almost as long as we've lived in Memphis, so she has lots of friends there that Leila needed to meet. Two other married couples (all four are artists) brought their dogs for a romp in the lake but Leila decided not to go swimming with them today. Our dog posse included Frida's best friend Brandon, who is an excellent jumper; Brandon's "little sister" Allie and her friend Molly, both Boston Terriers; and a new brown dog friend named Nutmeg. Leila borrowed Mommy's baseball cap so she wouldn't sunburn her head.

Home Again

Leila had a great trip to the coast of Alabama last week! She got to be the center of attention for all of her relatives and their friends for a great holiday. For ten days Leila played a lot of beauty shop and got cuddled more than any baby in the universe has ever been cuddled, she really missed her dad, so we had to come home on Wednesday.



The best part of Leila's trip was when she got to meet so many of her important people (including three out of five of her great-grandparents). She also did tons of things she had never done before. Many of the new things she did were wet . . . she went swimming in Gigi and Boompa's pool, she took a baby jacuzzi (with her baby bathtub inside of the empty jacuzzi), and she even dipped her little pink toes in the water at Romar Beach near Gulf Shores with Granddaddy and Grandmama. Her toes were especially pink because Gigi had given her her first pedicure a few days earlier. Leila also saw her first fireworks show and loved it! The fireworks weren't too loud and she got to sit in Gigi's lap under lots of blankets to keep the mosquitoes away.

Some of Leila's favorite things were the toys that her second cousin Jackson let her borrow: a bouncy seat and an awesome swing. She liked the bouncy seat so much that Gigi got her one to take home. Not only does it bounce, but it vibrates and plays music and has flashing lights and toys all over it! Not to be outdone, Granddaddy and Grandmama got Leila an exercise mat with lots of toys on it too. Leila got pretty used to getting lots of presents while she was on her trip--we hope we can keep all of her thank-you notes straight!

While we were in Mobile, everyone we met had questions about Leila's diapers. You see, they look "funny" because they're not white and shiny and made of plastic and covered with Winnie the Pooh or The Little Mermaid or Blue's Clues. They're just brown--even when they're clean! They're made by a company called Seventh Generation. The people we visited seemed pretty skeptical about diapers that claim to be environmentally friendly and I had to explain to several different people that not only are these diapers "green," but they also have the added benefit of being delivered right to our door via an Amazon.com diaper subscription. Buying a subscription gives us a 15% discount on diapers and we don't ever have to run to the grocery store in the middle of the night--the mailman always gets here just in time. We also like Leila's special diapers because, unlike Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, or store brands, these diapers aren't covered with cartoon characters. Not that we don't love cartoons in the Pritchett house, but it seems weird that babies are so involved with them starting the day that they're born.

Now that Leila knows so much about water, she's decided that today is a good day to get new fish for her aquarium. Time to head to the fish store to pick out some friends!

July trip to Alabama (part 1)

Yesterday Leila went on a car trip from Memphis to Jackson, MS. When she was there, she went to the Mississippi Museum of Art and then to visit the McCarthy's. Great-Aunt Leigh, Great-Uncle Stevie, and first-cousins-once-removed, Kate, Gaines and Matt all got to visit with Leila and had some delicious BBQ for her to share with her parents. Then Boompa came to pick up Leila and Mommy and drove them all the way home to Mobile, where Gigi was waiting.

When Leila got to Mobile she went right to sleep on Gigi and slept all the way to midnight. She must have been tired from all the napping in the car.

Today Leila met her Great-Grandmary. Since it was her two month birthday (Leila's not Grandmary's) there was a cake. Leila also met Aunt Jenny and enjoyed getting to play with Kate and Gaines again. After the birthday party, Leila took everyone on a walk on the golfcourse--where Boompa tried hard not to earn his name. When we got halfway across the golf course, he had to start outrunning a fast-approaching thunderstorm! Boom!

Now Leila and Boompa are taking a nap in the recliner. (I think Gigi is getting jealous!)

Leila and Mommy both miss Daniel, but we're sure he's getting a lot of work done while we're on vacation.

This week

Friday night we took Leila out to Rendezvous barbecue in downtown Memphis to meet her great-aunt Peggy and Jack on their way to a vacation in Branson, MO. None of us had ever been to Rendezvous but it was a big place with quick service and tasty food. I might go back if we have more guests who want to check it out.

Leila went to the doctor again yesterday and she weighs 14 pounds and is healthy. This Sunday I am driving the girls down to Jackson, MS to meet Leila's Boompa for a ride down to Mobile. I will pick them up again in Jackson on the 11th.

Today when I got home from work Frida insisted we all go on a walk. We made it 1/3 of the way around the block before it started pouring rain so we ran home and sat around soaking for a while. Frida smells funny but we all had a good time.

Father's Day

This Father's Day, Leila made several presents for Daniel. She made him a fancy box with her picture on it, a nice card with her picture inside of it, a cake that had DAD spelled out on top, and a very special diaper. What a sweet baby!

Things Leila can do:

1. Coo. She was cooing at Danny this weekend and it sounded like she spit out her pacifier and cheerfully chirped "hi!"
2. Smile as a reaction to something other than gas. She smiled a lot at the nurses who were admiring her today at my doctor's visit and they were all very impressed.
3. Grab her pacifier with her hand, hold it for a second, and then attempt to reinsert it into her mouth. We're still working of the last part of that one, but when she figures it out it's going to be awesome.
4. Get really really angry when she realizes that the froggie rattle that we tied to her wrist doesn't taste very good and is in fact, NOT a replacement for the pacifier that she has so skillfully learned to remove from her mouth.

She's a very smart girl:)

Tuscaloosa Friends

Last weekend Leila entertained our friends from Tuscaloosa: Danny Hanbery, Tabitha, and Daniel Ray. These are some of our oldest friends, so we were very excited to introduce them to Leila. The six of us went on several adventures. We ate Ethiopian food, went to the bookstore, went to the Pink Palace Museum, and even went downtown! At the museum Daniel got to carry her around in the sling while we looked at fossils, rocks, historical artifacts, and a really impressive flea-circus (which didn't impress Daniel or Leila because there were no actual fleas involved). We also went to the drive-in again and saw a double feature. Leila got her first bug bite, but she doesn't seem to notice it. She really enjoyed the car ride and all the new sights, sounds and smells.

One Month Old!

Leila was one month old on Saturday. She celebrated by going out to dinner twice (sushi & hamburgers) and being very quiet and curious each time. She's getting very active and curious, always looking around and gurgling and wiggling with us. She is also very comfortable walking around in public inside her new baby sling.

Leila is headed to the Mobile area by way of Jackson, MS the week of July 4th!

New pictures for this week are here.

Doctor Hurley

Today we went to Dr. Hurley's office to check on some little things that we noticed at our first doctor visit two weeks ago. Leila has grown a whole kilogram since then--now she weighs 12 pounds! All of the other things that the doctor told us "not to worry about" at our last visit have been resolved, from bellybutton weirdness to thrush to a tiny little heart murmur, so now Leila gets a clean bill of health! Dr. Hurley said we should probably keep her:)

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend has been really exciting! On Friday night Leila went to the drive-in movies with us and slept through Pirates of the Carribean III. I guess it's funny that her first movie is the third part of a trilogy, but I think she caught up on the plot pretty fast:)

On Saturday, Leila went to visit all of her favorite animals at the zoo. This is a picture from the brand new Butterfly exhibit that just opened this weekend. Of course, Leila also wanted to see the Elephants and Zebras. She got a little tired before we got to the panda bears this time. That's ok though, because the mommy panda bear is off-exhibit now anyway, getting ready for her own baby to come!

Leila also had her first visit to a restaurant this Saturday. Who knew Schlotzsky's could be so much fun?

After all of those adventures, today Leila and Mommy both needed a good rest. We're glad Daddy gets to hang out with us today and tomorrow instead of going to work because Leila has been practicing making some very creative diapers.

Leila at three weeks

Thanks Chandler for taking these fun pictures! Along with the zoo we hope to take Leila to the drive-in movie theater this weekend. It ought to be nice to be able to keep her in the car with us and be able to take care of her if she needs anything.

Library

Yesterday Leila made her first big trip to the library! She wanted to get some books for Mommy to read while she eats, and didn't need to check out any books for herself. She decided that the library is a great place for a nap since it's pretty quiet and the air conditioning is nice and cool:)

So far Leila's favorite things to read are stories about animals like elephants, tigers and bears! Since she likes animals so much, maybe she will be excited about a trip to the zoo this holiday weekend. We'll have to wait to see what the temperature (and her temperament) will be like!

Leila needed a blog!

Now that Leila is with us, Chandler and I have decided that we are going to try and post the occasional update on our lives in Memphis.

Today I am at the office for a few hours doing a quarterly update and Chandler and Leila are relaxing at home. We have had a quiet weekend, mostly watching a Heroes marathon on Sci-Fi. We'd never watched it before, but we are entertained so far.