My Little Leah

Leah after her face painting at Disneyland.
Our tiny little girl. She was so small that she hardly fit in her car seat. She was a great baby... but was awake all the time- the most alert newborn I've ever met. She would stay awake for hours at a time without even a catnap... it drove us crazy!

Today is Leah's birthday. It's hard to imagine that three years ago today she was so tiny- three weeks early and just over five pounds. She was beautiful from the start and has grown even more beautiful since. Leah is my one blue-eyed child. Sometimes she will come up to me and say, "You and me are the only ones with blue eyes." And then she smiles. I love that. Leah makes me laugh with the funny things she says and does. I can't get enough of her crazy ideas and thoughts. "I hate green beans because I don't like corn" is one common example. But, on the flip side, she is the loudest child we have... sometimes her voice drives us crazy!! She also trills all of her words... you really can't believe it until you hear it. It's like rolling your r's to speak Spanish, but she does it with words that don't even have an r! I can't even replicate it all the time. We're convinced she'll need speech therapy to get rid of it... or she just needs to learn Spanish and use it as her first language. It really is crazy. Leah gives the best hugs out of anyone; she wraps her arms around your neck and squeezes tight- it's the greatest feeling.
Leah spends most of her time keeping up with her big sisters. She's pretty good at holding her own with them. I've recently had to remind myself (when we went to Disneyland and I realized she didn't know any of the Disney princesses names... Andrew asked her who her favorite was and she said Shauna...hmm) that I need to spend time doing three year old stuff with her. It's not normal for a three year old to want to watch Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers or Suite Life on Deck. When the big girls move out of a stage, Leah moves right along with them. We are trying to fix that and have pulled out all the Princess movies and dress-ups so she can at least learn their names!
Leah is passionate about a few things: the colors yellow and orange, apple juice, and her blankets, which she affectionately calls her "nins." Sometimes after she's crawled into my lap with a "nin" I'll ask her if she is my favorite and my best three year old. She always answers the same, " Yes, and yellow and orange and apple juice" because those are her favorites and bests. She is the sweetest and we love her so much. I'm grateful to be the mom of such a beautiful, fiesty, strong-willed, loving little girl.