Our Second Home!!!

We took a wonderful and long overdue trip to Phoenix just before Thanksgiving to see friends and soak up some sun! It was fantastic and couldn't have asked for better weather (80s every day). Here are some pics...

This photo makes me laugh - only photo I could get from the actual plane ride and it sums it up perfectly. It was truly EXHAUSTING! I do not think we would have survived one more second on that airplane. Mila was so good but it was hard work to keep her occupied. She just wanted to wiggle everywhere and explore!  Patrick and I were drenched in sweat afterwards and in desperate need of a bottle of wine.

 

 Fun at the train park!

 

 This photo has a great back story! Patrick, Jaclyn, Jeremy and I were going to just grab dinner "to go" at our favorite brewery, Four Peaks. Mila was cranky and we figured she was too tired to be a dinner companion. She ended up falling asleep on our way to dinner and slept through the ENTIRE meal.  I know other babies do this but this has never happened in the history of Mila's life. It was amazing.

 

 The Zoo!

 

Koester Family Update

Okay.....I know......it's been months since my last update and 'months' in baby land is like years! Where has the time gone?  I have so much to share! We have had the most wonderful fall and cannot believe we are already gearing up for Christmas. What?! Since I last posted we have enjoyed a great family vacation in Phoenix (Patrick, Mila and I), Thanksgiving with both sides of my family in Lawrence and lots of fun stuff in between. As I think I had previously mentioned, Patrick got a new job with Coca-Cola so he has his weekends (for the most part) off work. It has felt so good to have this time together as a family!

Mila Update:
Mila is a firecracker (I know I say this everytime but she really really really is and we love her for it :) She pretty much runs everywhere (runs, not walks) and loves rough housing (as much as we can "rough house" with a 15 month old). She loves reading books, cuddling with stuffed animals and being around new people (yay)! I take her to "books and babies" at the downtown library and she just loves it! I swear she is obsessed with the "storyteller" and just stands in front of her smiling/dancing the whole time. Her dislikes pretty much change every week but this week the new one is..baths. She HATES taking baths and I swear if you stand outside our house during bath time you can hear her tantrums. Ugh..hoping this passes quickly so I will once again be able to clean my baby without kicks and screams. She also HATES the vaccuum cleaner. I obviously don't vaccuum in front of her (as I can see how this would scare a baby) but she knows where we keep the vaccuum cleaner and will not even walk by the closet! Mila had her 15-month appointment this past week and she is doing great! She is a little over 23lbs and in the 60th percentile in both height and weight. Her head circumference is in the 40th. She has an awesome mullet and too many teeth to count.

Mila's vocabulary grows daily. She now says.....
Mama (my personal favorite and melts my heart everytime)
Dada
Ball
Bye
Hi (which she says to every person, animal and thing we see)
Night-night
More
Mine (ugh)
No (again..ugh)
Shoes
Eye
Apple (her favorite)
Jayhawk
Poo-poo (she has started announcing poo-poo before she goes and to me, this is huge)!
Up
She also nods or shakes her head when we ask her questions! Where has my little baby gone?!

Here are some photos from recent adventures and I promise I will be a better blogger.....More coming soon!!!




Mila LOVED Santa but apparently the feeling was not mutual for this Santa. He refused to let her sit on his lap without Patrick so our first "Santa" picture is complete with Daddy!



She just wanted a coke.

 

Cartoon watching. She loves our bed.

 

 

Family pic at a Thanksgiving party!

Jetsetter.
 



Parade watching and snack eating.

Parade watching

Mila loves feeding her stuffed animals "real" milk. They all have rings of milk around their mouths...poor things :)
 



14 Months!

Happy Friday from our little bathing beauty! Also, happy 14 months! Holy moly time flies. Mila is darling and learning so much every day. She now knows how to say: Daddy (dada), Jayhawk, Bye, Bubbles, Boo-boo (I got a paper cut and she was curious about my band-aid) and Apple! She is also learning how to eat with utensils all by herself. See below.

 So...we are not quite there yet but she's getting close!:)

 

Happy Halloween! Love, Mila the Unicorn

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!  I cannot wait until Mila is older and actually understands trick-or-treating although, I must say it was pretty fun to dress her up in what I wanted her to be :).. A UNICORN!  We spent the evening on Mass Street parading around. It was a ZOO but Mila did great! I even gave her a few m&m's and she was hooked. I think we spent the rest of the evening trying to distract her from the chocolate. She might look more like her father's daughter but she is all me when it comes to sugar.

Mila LOVES her Uni-Aunties! Such troopers they were :) THANK YOU for celebrating with us!

We had to bribe Mila to wear her costume with a bottle. 

The bribe worked like a charm!

Patrick was getting over the flu so he only celebrated with us for a little!

I went picture crazy this Halloween with a little help from Whitney so more pics coming soon!!!!

Mila's One Year Photo Shoot!

My friend, Whitney, and her sister, Shannon started a photography business. They are AWESOME! See below some of our favorites but there are honestly too many to choose from. They are all great! We were not planning on "family photos," but I did jump in a few - Patrick is not pictured but he was there cheering us on :)