Baby K: 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!