Aaron started his new job today, so far he thinks he's going to like it! I'm so glad to hear that. After all the ups and downs we went through with the job search, it's really reassuring to have something go well! I just can't believe that I actually get to stay home with Layla, and I get to be in a warm, Southern climate to do it. I thought it would be years before I could quit my job, and here it is just months later. Layla is almost a year old, it has gone so fast! She is more like a toddler now, and still two months to go until that's official. Walking, talking, making up her own games...she is just so brilliant! I'm so lucky and happy.

Today Layla and I were at the playground and I took her down the slide. It was a tough climb up, two big steps, carrying a 20-pound infant. (Plus being 40 pounds overweight myself!) Then to lower myself down in ill-fitting jeans, holding her without slipping, it probably burned a few calories. I was reminded of workout tips on all the weight loss shows about making workouts fun, I kind of get what they mean about non-traditional workouts. Anyway, we went down the slide, and once we landed, I turned around and let her look at the slide, and that was when she smiled. After seeing that, I would have climbed up and slid down for the next 12 hours, as long as she smiled every single time. Writing this down can't explain fully how I felt! She is just so amazing. There were hard times the first few months, but now every day is better than the last.

Since we moved, my urge has been getting stronger and stronger to write. I used to want to write adult fiction, now I want to write and illustrate children's books. I love reading to Layla, and I see some books with storylines or phrases I disagree with, or drawings that I could easily do. I just need to practice my craft. Doodle and draw and get back into the groove of things, and also get an idea of what kind of animals and what kind of storylines I want to do. You can do a story that teaches a lesson, or take the easy way out and do colors, 123, ABC, or parts of the body with cute pictures. Of course Eric Carle is inspiring, with his gorgeous and creative collages. There are so many mediums to choose from, watercolor, sketch, acrylics, pastels...like I said I just need to get into it. I'm just SO scared of actually doing something. That's another feeling I can't articulate, like if I actually did have an idea and wrote out a book with pictures, then what? It's just so terrifying. I checked out a bunch of Judy Blume books from the library, I wonder if I could write books like that? That tell a good story and appeal to a certain group of people. I would have to figure out my demographic...just so much to think about. I really have to MAKE time to write and draw.

I feel bad that I've neglected blogging during Layla's first year. Here she is TEN months old and I haven't even posted once a month. I had a 9 month update that was never completed, I'll just change it to her 10 month newsletter.

Ten months

On October 7th Layla turned 40 weeks old. She has been in the world as long as she was inside me! She has changed and grown so much. She's standing on her own now. She uses anything around her to pull up and stand, then just lets go! Last Sunday, she was standing by the couch, and wanted to go over to the coffee table, so she TOOK A STEP and grabbed onto it! She has great balance. She's smart too, since she needs both hands to pull up to standing, she will put whatever toy she's holding in her mouth to go hands-free. She recently learned clapping and kissing, which are so much fun! She says Mama, baba, Dada, and it seems like she knows what they mean! She has five teeth, three on top and two on bottom, and one coming in on the top that hasn't broken through. For food she's eating pears, butternut squash, oatmeal, peas, green beans, cinnamon, peaches, bananas, some Gerber baby food and some that I make. We gave her chicken too! This month she got her toybox that Grandpa made, and I painted it white with pink on the inside. It's fun to go in there and pull out toys!
At the doctor she weighed 20.7 pounds, which is the 75th percentile and was 29 inches long, 90th percentile.
Everywhere we go everyone LOVES Layla. I don't know if it's like that for other babies, probably, but I feel like she's the most special baby in the world. Definitely the smartest and prettiest! My little sweetie pie. I have loved the last two months, living in Nashville and getting to take care of her all day, every day. It's my dream come true.

Updated 11/4/11: Layla started saying "ki" for kitty over the weekend. Nelpe should be so flattered!

After our trip to Nebraska at the end of September, Layla will have been to nine states! And be 9 months old.

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Five Months

Layla was 5 months old on May 31st! Her aunt Sarah was here for the occasion. We had a fun weekend with parties and bratfest and her first visit to the farmer's market at Hilldale. In milestone news, she loves tummy time now that she can roll (and roll and roll) and grab her toys. She is very close to sitting up and maybe even scooting! In the bathtub, when she was already on an incline, she leaned forward, and kind of met in the middle and was pretty much sitting up! It will be any time now. I can't believe how she has grown. We visited Aubree who is 5 weeks old and so tiny, I can't believe Layla was ever that small. At her 4 month checkup (the month flew by that fast?!!) she weighed 13 pounds, 9 ounces, and was 24 3/4 inches long. That's almost 6 1/2 inches and 6 1/2 pounds more of each than when she was born! She still has her ornery times, I think some babies default mode is quiet, and Layla's is mostly to cry, but it is getting better every day. She sleeps in her playpen next to the bed, and we have had several 6, a few 7, and even a couple of 8 hour nights!





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Mother's Day

Here's a picture of Layla's and my first Mother's day! Pictured with my mom of course.


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Mama & Daddy

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15 Weeks

I can't believe my baby is almost 4 months old! Mama and I took her to Johnson Creek outlet mall on Wednesday to go to Gap, Oshkosh, and Carter's. Everything I bought for her to wear in July on our trip to the beach is pretty much fitting now, but it's 38 degrees and snowing. On Wednesday she was sucking her hands/fingers a lot more than I'd ever seen her, but it hasn't seemed to have stuck. She also seemed to like holding a blanky that's soft on one side, satiny on the other, and has a cupcake rattle sewn on in the middle. I thought that could be her comfort item, and be helpful when we're ready to transition her to sleeping in her crib. Speaking of which, I bought a pack-n-play. We never talked or thought about needing a playpen, but now that she's on the verge of being mobile, I thought it might come in handy. And, maybe she can sleep in it at night. Anyway just wanted to write a quick update. I can't wait for her 4 month appointment to find out her stats.
She is grabbing EVERYTHING! Ever since she was a couple of weeks old I've been trying to get her to grab onto that ladybug and pull. She can now grab it on her own, any day now she'll pull it! My little sweetheart! Aaron got his wisdom teeth out on Thursday so we had a nice long family weekend together. She has been making a bunch of new sounds, too. Several new ones per day!








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14 Weeks

I cannot keep up with this blog as fast as my little girl is growing! Where do I even start. She can roll over from her back to her stomach and from her stomach to her back, and she does this scooting thing, kind of an army crawl! She's really ready to sit up, you can see her straining to when she's laying down. She can balance pretty good when we sit her up, but she still falls over after a minute. Not only is she too smart to take a pacifier from me (but she will take one from both grandmas and Aunt Amelia), she also knows when I want to put her to sleep then stay up myself. She prefers for me to stay in bed when we go to bed, so she makes it difficult. Yes, she still sleeps in bed right next to me. Sometimes I would really like to be able to put her in there at 8-8:30, then stay up and do grown-up things. But I like having her so close to me, and I get the most sleep that way. She usually goes to sleep pretty quickly, I just nurse her and she'll fall asleep nicely. Then she wakes up one or two times a night, but a quick nursing and she's back to sleep in 15 minutes. We don't have to change her diaper all night so I don't have to get up at all. Why wouldn't I make things easy on myself? At some point she will have to go in the crib and there will be crying. I'm going to get a sleep positioner and put one of my shirts in there whenever we do try it, to make her feel more comfortable. She still hates her carseat. I guess she's not really a fan of the Moby wrap either, which is too bad, because I love it. It would be great to be able to take her for walks in it, I wouldn't be opposed to wearing her in public, like at the grocery or the mall, if she liked it. She just wants to be carried. That's what Aaron ended up doing on our walk yesterday. It was 80 degrees and Layla wore shorts! So I guess if I want to take her for a walk all I have to do is walk out the door, no strollers or carriers necessary. I don't know if she is big for her age, but she's wearing 6 month clothing. She fits into the things that are long, they make so many wide baby clothes. I don't get it. But she has a lot of things that she just didn't wear because they were the wrong shape. I'm learning what brands fit her better.
I feel really bad I haven't been blogging at least once a week, or keeping up with her development in her baby book (I say "her" like I have a baby book that is meant for her. I haven't done anything as far as that goes). I have no time to do any of that stuff!!
I love her so much...

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Just got a phone call from Aaron's mom, who is watching Layla, that she rolled over from her back to her stomach! That's new, up until now she has only been able to flip from her stomach to her back using her arms. Big girl!

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Too Busy!

Since I'm never going to get around to properly documenting Layla's first 12 weeks of life and all her milestones and stats, I'll just sum it up: She is now twelve weeks old. She can hold her head up, is starting to "dive" when she sees things, has been smiling and laughing, is reaching for things with her little tiny hands, and doesn't like tummy time for very long. She hates her carseat and cries on car rides, unless I go sit in the back with her. Only works when Aaron is driving. She's starting to notice things more and more, and is getting interested in her toys. Now that she can grab them and bat at them they're really fun. She loves sleeping, once she falls asleep, will lay with me from before midnight until noon the next day, just getting diaper changes and nursing at her leisure. We did that a lot on my maternity leave, I caught up on so much sleep.
She has a few nicknames. Babes and Babers. Also Sweetie Pie, Honey, Baby, Flaila, Schmayla, G Child...it's fun. We do the same thing with the cat. Nelepizzle. Who is so starved for affection she sat on Aaron's lap WITH the crying baby the other night. Poor Nelpe.
I had to go back to work last Friday and it really sucks. I get Wednesdays off to spend with Layla so I'm trying to just be thankful for that!

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Sarah came to visit during Layla's first week home.

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Baby Layla

Welcome Layla Eve! She was born December 31, 2010 at 1:30 pm, weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce, and was 18 1/2 inches long. I had her by a planned c-section because she was breech. It seems her head was stuck by my ribs, giving her a condition called torticollis. To correct it we had to make sure her head turned to the right more often because it favored her left after being stuck that way. She also had to have an ultrasound on her hips to make sure they were fine, and everything is great. By her 2 month checkup, which was March 2nd, she weighed 11.2 pounds and was 22 1/2 inches long. I'll post some pictures of her the day she was born and the day after:






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