Merry Christmas!!!

We wish all of our wonderful friends and family a happy and peaceful Christmas, and best wishes for a successful and blessed new year 2010!
As 2009 comes to a close, we can honestly say that this year has been our most "successful" and happiest yet - because we were finally blessed with our beautiful, sweet little girl. And while there are many measures of success, having Poppy trumps any material achievement we've ever accomplished! The Lord has truly blessed us.
Here we are, on Christmas Eve, enjoying the warm fire and reading stories about Jesus. We just finished a particularly lovely book called "God Bless Your Way" about an old man named Micah who traveled to Bethlehem the same time as Mary and Joseph - also weary with no place to stay. After some kind strangers bestow bread and a blanket upon him, Micah finds Mary and Joseph in the stable, after Mary has given birth, and he decides to give his bread and blanket to the new family, and wishes them "Good luck on your journey and God bless your way".
May each of us do all we can to follow Christ's example - and no matter the obstacles we may face, with sacrifice comes blessings. Merry Christmas 2009 and may 2010 bring even greater blessings for you and your families. Good luck on your journey and God bless your way.

Poppy wearing her Christmas dress last Sunday

Our little present

Poppy the expert crawler

It's the Most Wonderful (and Poopy) Time of the Year!

I thought we'd try to break our habit of waiting a whole month to update the blog again! So here we are, getting excited for Poppy to experience her first Christmas. Admittedly, Poppy has no idea what's happening, and we're way more excited about it than she is, but no matter! Paul hung my old childhood stocking up in Poppy's bedroom, and it's her favorite thing to look at. She waves at it every morning when she gets out of bed!
We'll be posting lots of pictures of Poppy opening presents, visiting the lights at temple square, and maybe even opening a cracker at new year's so that Paul can start teaching her to keep to her British traditions. I can already picture her in my head, in elementary school, trying to explain to the other children about boxing day, and Christmas pudding & mince pies, pantomimes, etc...
Here's a brief explanation of what Poppy's been doing: her favorite toys these days are her toothbrush and hair brush. A few times we've made the mistake of taking them away, which we immediately regretted!
She got some fun toys recently from Nannie Sue, which she loves. And the most exciting news of all - drumroll - she crawls! She still doesn't seem to care much for it; she kind of just does it randomly. I thought once she figured it out, she wouldn't be able to get enough of it. Now I'm thinking that she kind of knew how to do it before, but couldn't be bothered. Paul says that sounds like me. See what I have to put up with! (He's right, though.) Also, she pulls herself up to stuff now, mostly her leapfrog activity table, which she also loves. One day Paul and I looked over and she was just standing there, staring down at the table. It was pretty funny.
And last but not least - another poo story! The last couple of pictures features one of Poppy's worst blowouts ever. Paul and I were heading out the door to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert, and were delayed 15 minutes because Poopy Poppy had to go in the bath. Warning: these pictures are not for the faint of heart!
Anyway, have a great Christmas, boxing day, and new year!!

Paul's favorite photo - she loves her Mummy! (and still cries when I leave the room. It gets old, but I have to say, I love that she loves me so much!)

Note the annoying RC Willey ad on the TV behind us!

How in the world does this even happen!?!?!

Cheeky Monkey!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just another little update, since we have been awful at posting anything for the last month! Poppy just celebrated her first Thanksgiving - we had a huge extended-family get-together for Grandpa VanDenBerghe's 80th birthday, so it was great to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles. Poppy seemed to enjoy the mashed potatoes and stuffing, and I know Paul did, so all in all it was a successful day of eating and giving thanks!
As you can see, Poppy is quite the smiler (well, for the cameras, at least!), but believe me, she can really turn on you fast if you are either a) getting her out of the bath, b) changing her clothes, or c) putting her in the car seat. Those are definitely her least favorite things.
Poppy had her 9-month appointment on the 13th of this month, and not much has changed: 35th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 95th percentile for head circumference (wow!), and she is a very healthy little girl. Still just has the two teeth, but she seems to be getting better at chewing, so she has been eating lots more big person food as of late. She has also learned how to wave, points at things, can say "mama" and "dada" (but we don't know if she actually knows what she's saying...), and has not quite figured out crawling yet, but she is so close that we've already purchased a baby gate and some other baby-proofing items.
The Christmas decorations are all up, and we are excited to partake in Poppy's first ever Christmas, although to be honest, she doesn't seem that concerned with the Christmas tree. I suppose that will change when she learns how to crawl-- maybe if we're lucky that will start after Christmas and the decorations are all put away!
The only semi-horrific story to share happened last week. Poppy was sitting in the bathroom while I finished bathing Georgie, and I proceeded to clean out the tub after Georgie was done after she'd gotten out. I'd finished cleaning the tub out and turned around only to realize Georgie had pooed all over our bath mat. Which she never does, so I don't know what her problem was, and how I failed to realize this is a mystery since it was literally right behind me. Well, Poppy noticed the poo before I did, and as you can imagine, she had already picked some of it up and smeared it around by the time I noticed it. Therefore Poppy also went into the bath straightaway. We're not sure how much of it got into her mouth, but I don't really want to think about that. Ick!
In more exciting news, Tracy and Eduardo found out they are going to be having a little girl in April. Congrats, guys!

Happy Halloweeen and other fun stories!

Here we are, it's November 1st and, even though we tried to explain it to her, Poppy has failed to see the purpose behind 'fall back' (i.e. sleeping in), so I decided to use this time productively and get some blogging in. It's been a while since I posted anything (this is Paul by the way) but I think Anna has done a jolly good job of sharing what's been going on here at the Leggett's.

Things seem to have been super busy for use the past few weeks, it feels as though since my Mum went home - about 3 weeks ago - things just haven't stopped. It was so much fun having my Mum here with us. Poppy just loves her (I thing that may have had something to do with the two suitcases full of toys, clothes and books that Nannie Sue brought over for her...) and seemed to remember her from last time she was here. Even with all the busyness going on we've still had some holiday themed fun.

We went to two Halloween parties this weekend, we had the ward party on Friday and then a family party on Saturday, both were really fun - although I have to say that I was a little disappointed that at the family party only Darren, Anna's Mom and us dressed up - the rest of the family will have to do better next year! With that being said it was stilll a great deal of fun and Poppy looked cuter than cute as a little Gypsy (we were Quasimodo and Esmerelda(s) - see below for photo!). I also won a $1 McDonalds gift certificate - so double cheeseburger here I come!

Poppy at the Trunk or Treat - we scored quite the candy bounty - it was all for her you know.

Anna and Poppy both had fun with my Quasimodo wig (of which Georgie was deathly afraid)

In other news Poppy is cute (again see below for photo) and is just such a delightful little baby. She is still not crawling, although we think she is close, and we are just LOVING people telling us all the time that it is SO important she crawl (we get it, just tell us how to make here crawl please). She is also progressing to regular food and spent a good 3 minutes yesterday trying to figure out what she should do with the grape in her mouth - in the end, as Anna says, she gummed it. Poppy also had her first experience not sharing last night, at Vicki and Joey's party (thanks for hosting!), she was hanging out with Serena (her cousin's cousin) and they were both really wanting to hold the Rainbow Brite plate (I mean who wouldn't) and proceeded to spend the next five minutes taking it out of each others hand. Neither cried so I just sat beside them and took some pictures - it was quite cute.

Poppy was one happy little camper when she finally got to hold the plates!

Poppy + Georgie = Best Friends (although you can't tell that from Georgie's expression in these pics)

A Halloween Movie ALL Loan Officers/Servicers Should Avoid!

Last week, in the spirit of Halloween, Paul and I rented the movie "Drag Me to Hell". In case you don't know what this movie is about, let me enlighten you: a loan officer has to foreclose on an old lady who hasn't been paying her mortgage. The old lady in question is a gypsy with false teeth. The false teeth play a large role in the movie, maybe larger than Justin Long's. But I digress. Basically, the old hag puts a gypsy curse on the loan officer, which causes her to be tormented for 3 days by a demon called the "llamia" (no relation to the llama) before said demon does what the title of the film suggests. Sound cheesy? You have no idea.
Anyway, this movie kind of scared me, because I'm already worried that someday one of the people that we foreclose on is going to show up at my office with a shotgun. Hasn't happened yet, but the day after we watched this movie, I received some nasty emails from a particular borrower who told me that her "grandfather always warned her not to trust the white man" and that we are liars and "speak in the tongue of evil spirits". So...if in 3 days you don't hear from me, it might be because I have some type of damnable curse on my head...

Why are purses so big? 'Cause we have lots of stuff!

Paul harasses me to clean out my purse all the time. He says it's way too heavy. "How can a purse possibly be that heavy?", he says. Oh, men. Sometimes it's laughable how ignorant they really are. Sure, there are a few receipts and wrappers that may collect in there from time to time, but I defend every item that I have in that bag -- they are all completely necessary! For example, when I take the train to work, I have to have a book and my iPod. Also, there's usually a good chance it is carrying my breakfast/snacks and/or lunch to work. For the amusement of Paul, I have listed here all the items that are presently in my purse, and you tell me whether or not they are needed!!

1. Book (The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown)
2. CD's (2- Michael Buble and Alexandra Burke. So that I can put them on realplayer at work)
3. Wallet
4. Security ID badge
5. Cell phone
6. iPod
7. Small handbag containing women's unmentionables
8. Bobby pins
9. Miniature Poppy photo album
10. Umbrella (REALLY necessary today: it's snowing, people!)
11. Murray City election ballot
12. Sunglasses
13. 2 granola bars, 3 fruit snack packlets
14. 4 pens
15. 2 packs of gum
16. Pay stub
17. Re-wetting drops for contacts
18. Flash drive
19. Lotion - velvet tuberose from Bath & Body Works
20. Ibuprofen (or as Paul's mum calls it: "ibrufren")
21. Keys
22. 3 Lipsticks
23. Burt's Bees lip balm
24. Band-Aid's

See, that's hardly anything!

8 Months Old & Celebrating Vegas Style!

I sit up so well now!

Awww, baby elephant at the zoo

the gang at the zoo

enjoying the zoo with Nannie Sue

do you spot my new tooth?

daddy bought me this silly candy corn hat

getting ready for church

snuggling with daddy and George

at Sugarhouse park

the Bellagio fountains in Vegas

ready to go swimming! Shortly thereafter, we discovered the pool closed at 5

the view from our balcony at the Palms Place Hotel

this was hands-down the nicest place we've ever stayed!

more views from the balcony...

do you spot us? (hint: on the right toward the top; not that weirdo on the left)

the reason why Paul dragged us to Vegas in the first place. He was so excited.

once again, this hotel room = not too shabby

LOVE the garden area in the Bellagio

we stayed at the Venetian 1 night. Also not bad.

we took this picture at 6:30 am because Poppy didn't want to sleep in. Ran into some strippers exiting the hotel on our way to the continental breakfast. Classy.

Me auditioning for Blue Man Group. I didn't make it.

Still wondering why she's always wearing a bib??

Finally, Luke's blessing pictures, from a month ago!

It's hard to believe that Poppy is actually 8 months old already, because it still feels like I just had her yesterday! I have to admit though, this age is definitely fun. As you can probably tell from the pictures below, she laughs and smiles almost nonstop (well, that's an exaggeration, because she does have those fussy moments; we just don't take pictures of them!).
Anyway, we have been extremely lazy in updating the blog as of late. Hopefully the pictures below will show you exactly what we've been up to. There are a few pictures of Luke's blessing; we tried to get all of the grandkids on the couch together for a picture, but none of them wanted to sit there for very long. Paul's mum was just in town for 2 weeks, so there are a few pictures at the zoo with Nannie Sue as well as our trip to Vegas so that Paul could see Kylie Minogue in concert.
Poppy officially has 2 bottom teeth, and my fingers will tell you that they are sharp as razors. Still no crawling, but she loves to sit up, roll everywhere and play with all of her toys. Recently, she has discovered that her jumperoo is not just for looking at, but that she can actually bounce around in it - she's pretty cute jumping in it!
Anyway, enjoy the pictures, and in a couple of weeks, we'll post some halloween pictures, and see if you can guess what Poppy will be dressed up as!