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 :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Patch!

Here are some photos from a fun day in downtown Lawrence and then..the pumpkin patch! 75 degrees in mid-October? Such a great day to be out and about! Mila loved seeing the pumpkins but mostly enjoyed people-watching the 5 million other familys who visited the pumpkin patch today. It was so windy we managed to take some photos but only a few keepers :)

After lunch! Mila is sitting, smiling and looking at the camera - a keeper!

Watching the..pumpkin slingshot?

 

Windy!

Pumpkin Patch Trip 2012

Mila's Words

The title of this post should actually be, Mila's WORD. Nowadays, everything in the Koester household is a Jayhawk. EVERYTHING. Here is a video of her using it appropriately.

 

Happy, fall everyone!!! Loving these cool nights on our patio :)

13 Months Old!

 

Check out our beautiful little 13 monther! Cannot believe it is already almost Halloween but we are LOVING the fall weather! Really missed this time of year while living in the Phoenix. Also, with Patrick's new job, we have enjoyed having our family time back over the weekends and, of course, have been staying busy!  This past weekend we took Mila on the Kaw Valley Farm Tour and next weekend...Pumpkin Patch! Patrick and I also snuck in a getaway (just us two) to see his brothers in Iowa and partake in some Oktoberfest fun!

Patrick and I in Des Moines!

Cannot believe Mila is 13 Months! She now can say mama, dada, jayhawk, bye-bye and duck :) We taught her 'duck' during the farm tour! She really does say jayhawk for those disbelievers out there and she is actually starting to call EVERYTHING a jayhawk which her father is encouraging.......

At Screamin' Oaks Farm! Named this because of the noisy peacocks that run freely on the farm.

Goats!




Can I take him home?!?



We saw BIG pigs but Mila was really just interested in the tractors

 

Crazy Baby

Mila is a nut. That is the only way I can really describe her nowadays. She is too cute and funny and Patrick and I just sit and watch her adorableness. It's really amazing though how much she's starting to understand ! Also, her babbles are starting to sound like real words. We swear she says 'jayhawk' (more like geeeeyaaaaa - see video #2).  She also says 'daddy' (da) and 'bye-bye' (ba). Still waiting on 'mamamamama'...c'mon Mila!

She weighed in at 21 lbs, 10 oz at her 12-month check up and is doing great! Her height/weight and head circumference percentiles are all around 50% ! She is slowly getting weaned off of the bottle (yay Mila...her morning bottle will definitely be the hardest to give up) but drinks only whole milk now. We try to have her eat pretty much what we eat (more vegetables and fruits of course, less chips/ice cream) and she does really well with it! Favorites foods are probably cheese and ANY kind of fruit - strawberries, bananas, apples and peaches as the favorites. She does well with certain types of veggies and loves eggs as well!

Mila eating some sweet potato..with her hands



Some of you may have seen, but I wear arm/wrist braces for my tendonitis whenever I can. Mila sees me do this of course and one day she found them and put them on her own arms. WOW! I still cannot believe she understands enough to do this! She wears the "arm braces" almost every day now and oddly loves them. Our strange little girl....


During Mila's 1-year check-up, her doctor said we need to start brushing her teeth twice a day. This is just another excuse for Mila to chew on something new (her toothbrush). She LOVES it. She also wants to do it all by herself - no help!  I figure her "chewing" on the toothbrush is still helping clean her teeth, right?!

 

 

Patrick bought Mila a baby doll and bottle at the dollar store (yes, this is how we roll) a couple of months ago. One day, she just started feeding the baby and all of her other stuffed animals with the bottle! Amazed.

 

 

 

 



Mila 1st Birtday Video

Well...our baby girl is ONE. Can it be true?! Thank you, Mila for the best year of our lives! You have brought with you nothing but joy (well maybe a few sleepless nights but SO worth it). Mila, you are darling, inquisitive, as active as ever, talkative (in your own language of course), the funniest kid I know and our little snuggle bunny. Never ever ever could have imagined loving someone this much! It's an overwhelming kind of love that makes me WANT to change your diapers even the poopy ones) and rock you back to sleep at 3am. Happy birthday, baby girl. We love you!!

Here are some birthday party photos in NO particular order! It was a perfect day and perfect party. Thank you to everyone who came out! First birthday video coming soon (as soon as I can figure out how to download the darn thing..it's long)!