What a Great Weekend!

Layla turned two months old on Friday, but I was kind of dreading the weekend since Nick was going hunting and I was going to be by myself with the baby the whole time.  But it actually turned out to be great because we have such wonderful family and friends that kept Layla and me company while Daddy was away!

We kicked off the weekend celebration with our first playdate at Kate's house on Friday morning.  I was really excited that we were finally able to attend, now that Layla has had her first round of shots. Kate's house is seriously a mini playland - Liam is a lucky boy!  Although Layla is still too young to really play with the other babies, she looked around wide-eyed all at of the action and promptly fell asleep in her car seat as soon as we were ready to go.

I was also really happy to meet some other moms, and everyone was so nice.  Since I've had Layla, the best advice has come from my friends that have kids, and Friday was no exception.  We've been struggling with sleeping and bottles lately, and I left armed with several suggestions and ideas that I'll be trying out this week.  I can't wait for the next playdate!

We continued the fun on Friday night with a visit from Aunt Jamie.  She took over Nick's duties for the night and helped me with diapers and Layla's bath to give me a break.  Layla loves her aunt and just smiled and laughed at Jamie every time she talked to her.  She also brought over her mini dachshund Dax for a visit, who is the cutest little thing ever.  So the dogs had a playdate this weekend too, thank goodness!  The more energy they get out, the better...

Jamie wouldn't let me take a picture since she just finished working out.  I have a little onesie that says "My Aunt is my BFF" that I'm waiting for Layla to grow into so we can take some cute pictures of the two of them.

Saturday afternoon, Layla and I met Emily and Alisa for lunch at Escalantes.   Emily was in town from Austin, and I was so happy that she got to come see Layla before her own little bundle arrives. She is around six months pregnant with her first baby, and I can't wait to take a trip to Austin to see him/her (they are keeping it a surprise!) next year.  Emily also bought Layla her first Texas A&M outfit, which was painful for her since she went to UT.  I'll definitely be doing the same next year!

I'm usually nervous to take Layla to a restaurant because she always seems to have a meltdown as soon as the food arrives, and I'm terrified to be "that person" with the screaming baby.  But Alisa and Emily were great as always and took turns passing her around and keeping her entertained, and I was able to actually eat instead of sit in the car - success!!

Since it was raining this weekend, Nick cut his hunting trip a bit short and came home on Saturday afternoon.  Layla was so happy to see her daddy and gave him a big smile when he came in to say hi. 

We rounded out the day by going to dinner with Sonia and Michael.  I was really excited for them to meet Layla.  I haven't seen Sonia since I went on maternity leave, so it was great to catch up with them.  Layla did pretty well at dinner - she was a bit cranky and I did have to make a quick trip out to the car, but evenings are her worst time so I was surprised that she was pretty content most of the time.  Sonia has two precious little girls, so she is a pro at calming babies and was such a great help to me while I was pregnant.   I can't even imagine how many times I IM'ed her with "Hey, can I ask you a quick question...?"  They also brought Layla the cutest little track suit that I can't wait to dress her in!

Sunday was a lazy day for us, we just hung out on the couch and all of us, Layla included, fell asleep while watching a movie.  I love weekends like this! Too bad they have to end...

Bodyguards

When I was pregnant, I was nervous about how our dogs, Mallard and Turk, were going to react to Layla.  I'll be the first to admit, they are also my babies and are pretty spoiled.  They are both definitely lap dogs, and I had this image of them trying to shove the baby off of our laps to settle into their usual spots.  We read up on what to do as far as introducing her to the dogs and did it all, like bringing one of her hospital blankets home for them to smell.  Nick didn't think there would be any issues, but I'm a worrier so I expected the worst.

However, they proved me wrong!  When we came home from the hospital, they were definitely curious about this new little creature that we had with us, but they just sniffed her a bit, no aggression at all.  They also didn't mind giving up their lap spots for the baby and only jump up on us when she's asleep in another room.  I won't ever leave them unsupervised, but I am really happy about how well they have done so far.

For the first few days at home, whenever Layla would cry, the dogs would run back and forth between me and the baby until I came over to pick her up.  Now, they still perk up when she cries but are far more used to it so they take their time "alerting" me.

One thing I didn't expect was how protective they would both be over her.  It's pretty common for me to find this:

Mallard supervising play time

Turk watching over a nap (please excuse the messy bedroom!)

I can't wait for Layla to get older so they can start to play together.  I'm sure she will love them as much as we do!

Eight Weeks

Layla had her eight week pediatrician appointment on Friday.  I can't believe how fast time has flown by with her!  I feel like we were just there for her one week follow up.  Dr. Wilber said she is doing great and is right on track with development.  She now weighs 10 lbs, 14 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long.  Unfortunately, this visit also meant her first round of vaccinations.  Layla let out a pretty good yell, and I'll admit, I teared up a bit too.  I just hated seeing her in pain.  The doctor told us that she would either be more sleepy or more fussy than usual, and my child managed to be both.  She alternated between a deep sleep and crying fits for the rest of the evening.  Once she finally fell asleep for the night she did better, and so far today, she's pretty much back to herself.

I hope I don't jinx it by posting this, but she's also becoming a much better sleeper.  She is starting to sleep for as long as six hours straight at night, sometimes longer, which is really good for her.  I'm actually having to adjust to it - I've gotten used to waking every few hours, so I need to break myself of that habit and get some sleep!  She's also smiling and laughing at us, and becoming more and more interactive every day. 

Here are a couple of pictures that I thought were cute.  She has grown so much, where did my little baby go??

One week old

Eight weeks old

Layla's First Girls Night

Last Friday night, Kate, Alisa, Ashley and I got together for a girl's night with Layla at Alisa's house.  It was so much fun!  I've definitely been going a bit stir-crazy, so it was great to get out of the house and see my friends.  They fed her and entertained her all night, so I was able to take a break from baby duty and sit back and relax since she was in such good hands.  Layla loved them!  Ashley had her smiling and laughing, Kate got her completely calmed down from a hungry baby meltdown, and she cuddled right up to Alisa and took a long, comfy nap on her, all of which are pretty rare occurrences these days. They even got a picture of her smiling, which I'm so excited about since I haven't been able to catch one on camera yet.  She was really content on the drive home too, which usually isn't the case (she's not a big fan of the car seat).  It goes to show what a good time she had!

I'm really lucky to have such wonderful friends, and excited for Layla to grow up with them in her life.

Catching up...

I finally started a blog!  Now, hopefully this will force me to be better about taking pictures - I want to make sure I capture all of our family's big moments!  You'll have to excuse the appearance for now.  I'm new to this and need to figure out how to dress it up.

So that being said, I'm going to try to squeeze in the pregnancy highlights and Layla's first month into this initial post, so please bear with me...

First off, finding out I was pregnant.  Basically I kind of ruined it.  I took a pregnancy test the morning of Saturday, November 7th, 2009 just because I had a feeling.  I waited about 10 seconds, didn't see the second pink line come up, got frustrated, threw it away and went to breakfast with Nick where I complained the whole time.  When we got home, I happened to glance into the bathroom trash can and there it was - a positive pregnancy test!  I'd always imagined how I would tell my husband - that it would be this special moment, I would plan out a great way to tell him, maybe even record his reaction.

Didn't happen that way.

I had a mini freak-out, dug the test out of the trash, yelled for Nick, and we spent the next 15 minutes Googling "false positive pregnancy test results", since I thought the test might be wrong because it sat for so long.  Then we made a Walgreens run and bought something like eight more tests to be sure.  After those, we finally relaxed and celebrated the good news! I guess it didn't happen the way I pictured, but it's definitely something that I'll remember!

As far as my pregnancy, I was lucky and it was pretty non-eventful.  No morning sickness, which was great.  Just lots of swelling.  Here are a few bump pics.  I guess it's true what they say, the memories of being pregnant fade quickly, because I can't remember what it felt like at all!

20 weeks pregnant

34 weeks pregnant

We were thrown wonderful baby showers, and are so blessed to have such great people around us.  Alisa, Ashley, Kate and Amelia threw a beautiful shower at Alisa's house.  I was so happy to see all of my friends, the food was wonderful, and the decorations were adorable!  Also, all of the guests filled out questionnaires which have been a lot of fun to read through.

 

My co-workers at Chevron threw us a shower as well, and it was great.  Nick had already started his new job by then, so it was nice for him to come back and catch up.  Everyone was so generous, and it reminded me again how lucky I am to work where I do!

Nick's step dad's nieces also threw us a shower at their annual family reunion.  It was a great day - we played some really fun games, the food was amazing, and I was very excited to be able to visit with so much of the extended family.  Next year, we get to bring Layla!

Nick's co-workers threw us a shower as well, and of course, by that time pregnancy brain had totally taken over and I forgot my camera.  We had a wonderful time there as well, everyone I met was so nice and it was great to finally put faces to names.  I can't wait to bring Layla for a visit to both of our offices!

On to the delivery story.  On Friday, July 16th, Nick and I went out to dinner with Heather, Adam and baby Reed, who is totally adorable and about three months older than Layla.  I was having some pain at dinner, but ignored it because I had been having pains off and on for a while.  Plus, I had my 40 week check up that morning and had made no progress since 36 weeks.  My doctor was thinking that I was going to have to be induced at 41 weeks, since my body did not seem to be preparing itself for labor at all.  Heather kept asking me "Are you SURE you aren't having contractions?", but I was convinced it was nothing.  I should have listened to her...

So, that next Saturday morning, July 17th at 6:30AM, I got up for the millionth bathroom visit, but this time was different.  I won't go into detail, but again, there Nick and I were, Googling "water breaking" to figure out if that was what happened.  My doctor told us to come on in, so we each grabbed a quick shower, did a bit of last minute packing, said goodbye to the dogs, and off we went.  We were surprisingly calm, actually - I thought we would be the crazy couple like you see in the movies!

We got to the hospital around 8 AM.  We checked in to Labor and Delivery, which seemed to take forever, and then they did a test to make sure that my water had in fact broken.  Once they confirmed and we got the all clear that the baby was coming, we called our parents, sent texts to our friends, and settled in.

And that's when the real fun started.... 

I was NOT expecting that much pain right away!  It really seemed to go from pretty managable to horrible in no time. I labored for a bit on my own, then they decided to give me some Pitocin to get things moving a bit faster since my water had already broken.  I was pretty scared at that point since I didn't have my epidural yet, but what can you do?  The next few hours are a blur since they did give me some pain meds through my IV that made me kind of woozy. 

Finally I was far enough along for the epidural.  I was nervous about getting it beforehand, but by that time I just wanted the pain to stop so it didn't even phase me.  I progressed really quickly from then on, and once it was time, I only had to push through three or four contractions, about 10 minutes total. 

One funny thing I have to add - sorry honey - but Nick got light-headed while I was pushing!  After the first contraction, he had to go sit down.  All during my pregnancy, I teased him about passing out during my labor, but didn't think it was an actual possibility! After that initial one, he pulled it together and was good to go, and cut the cord once she arrived.

Layla Grace Banker was born at 4:20 PM (my birthday!) and was 7 lbs, 3 oz and 19 inches long.  It was so surreal to actually see her, but she was instantly familiar to me.  We had our bonding time with her for about an hour, then our family came in to hold her, and then we were moved to our post-partum room.

The hospital stay was one big sleepless blur as well. We had family and friends come visit, plenty of check-ups, and a couple of meltdowns from Layla! It was great to finally get home...

Layla is now seven weeks old.  She is in size 1 diapers and wears size 0-3 months in clothes, and is a little eater.  I don't know her weight yet, I'll post it after her 8 week appointment, but I will say that she has already grown up so much!  She loves being cuddled and sleeping in your arms, and is constantly glancing around with a very serious look on her face.  She just recently started sleeping for four to five hours straight at night, which has made such a difference for me. She's becoming more and more interactive every day - she loves batting at different things on her play mat, and has started making the cutest little "oohs and aahs" when she is excited.

Here are some pictures of her over the last several weeks:

Hungry baby waiting to be discharged from the hospital

Mallard and Layla

First bath

Ready for the car

Dressing up and liking it!

Six weeks old, exhausted from a long day on the play mat!

This post is long enough so I'll stop it here, I could go on forever! She's doing great - Nick and I are having a wonderful time with her and love her to pieces!