August quickly passing

We're over half way through August! Nothing makes time fly faster than when you're watching someone grow. Laurel will be 1 year old in just 2 weeks. I can't believe it! Of course with that milestone, we took some professional photos of her and of the 3 of us. We hired Holly Port again, the same photographer who took our maternity photos and Laurel's newborn pics. She is does such a great job and makes it all so casual and relaxed. Her photos should be to use by the end of this week, so I'll pop some of the best shots up on the blog!

My 29th birthday was this past Wednesday. Last one before 30! We had a nice day, just doing the usual with the biz and Laurel. In the evening, the girls the live next door came and sat at the house while Laurel slept. Alex, Megan, Anne, Leora, Ryan and I went up to Gyenari, where Megan hosts a few times a week, for dinner. They have great food and it was sooo nice to get out of the house and have an adult dinner:). Several of my gifts were clothes, which I sorely needed. Most of the money I spend is on Laurel! I also received some money which I put towards the purchase of a nice digital SLR camera. I found an excellent deal on ebay. I can't wait for it to arrive!

Alex gave me a trip to Disneyland for my bday. We went yesterday. On our way, we stopped at Alex's parents' house and left Laurel with them for the day. It was a very nice visit for them. Usually Alex and I are around and Laurel would prefer that we hold her. Without us around, she was much more comfortable and actually preferred Grandma, which I think was much to her delight! Cyndy and the cousins stopped by too, Sierra just loves Laurel. It's very sweet.

Disneyland had gotten even more expensive. It's really ridiculous. $94 for a 1-day park hopper. Fortunately, I belong to a discount club and got the price down to $68 per ticket. Oye. But we had a great time! We're not as young as we used to be though, we were just exhausted by 9! But overall, it was a great day. Soon, we will always bring Laurel with us, so this was nice to have a grown-up day of adult rides.

Laurel updates:
-She has increased her vocabulary. She says "go, go" to walk. She loves to walk as usual and is getting much faster. She really took off in her gymboree class the other day and walked across the room without me! I don't think she meant to let go, but once she was going, she didn't know how to stop. So there was a small crash at the end, but she walked so far! She still says "nigh, nigh" for sleep. "Na-na" for banana, "mo-mo" for Elmo. She can say "Jake", Alex's mom's dog.
-Laurel likes to go for walks and push her own stroller. The stroller has a basket underneath and she can hold onto the rear bar and push. She also thinks it's funny to tilt her head to the side and have you do the same. We've gotten into the habit of having "chase" sessions at night when Alex gets home. We chase eash other around the house and she just squeals! If you crouch down and say "I'm gonna get you!", she squeals and runs the other way.
-Laurel's body is really changing. She's gotten much leaner, eventhough she eats a ton! She's going to be a long, skinny person. Her feet are larger too, she's moved into 3/3.5 sized baby shoes.