Seven Months

Layla turned seven months old on February 17th.  We are officially closer to one year old than to her being born!  And as much as I want her to stay a little baby, I will admit that she gets more and more fun every day.  We are having a blast with Layla - she is such sweet baby and makes me and Nick so happy!

As far as eating and sleeping, not much has really changed since last month.  She eats a bit more solid food, is drinking more water out of a sippy cup (with help), and we've let her try some simple table food here and there.  She's finally holding her bottle, which is great, but she's tricky.  She'll only hold it when she's really hungry - liker her first bottle in the morning - but otherwise she "forgets" how to do it and just lets it drop!  We'll work on that...

Layla still isn't crawling on all fours yet, but she definitely gets where she wants to go!  She's a champ at scooting backwards and rolling to move around the room.  Also, we've started attending the 4-10 month old class at The Little Gym, and we are both having so much fun!  I'm so happy that we're able to go.  I've already noticed a difference in Layla and am learning so many stretches and exercises that we can do here at home to strengthen up her little arms and legs.  Plus, she loves being around the other babies, they are all fascinated with each other and I'm so glad that Layla is building those social skills as well!

She's such a happy baby.  She smiles at everyone and loves to be the center of attention.  We get comments every day about how "smiley" she is, and I love it.  Layla was a very serious little baby, and I was worried we'd never get her to laugh!  We read, sing, play outside, go on walks, chase the dogs - and she enjoys every minute of it.  The only thing is, the little stinker clams up as soon as you point the camera at her.  I swear, she'll cut off mid laugh if you raise the camera.   She is also very curious, and will reach for anything and everything she can.  It's a good thing, but definitely makes small things like talking on the phone or changing the channel with the remote difficult if she's nearby!

We love our little girl more and more every day and are blessed beyond belief to be her parents.  Love you my sweet girl!

"No pictures, please"

P.S. Layla has some crazy hair, as you can see!  It sticks straight up, no matter what we do.  Even when she has on a headband, her hair just sticks up behind it.  So funny!

Messy Dinner

We met Nathan and Rachel for dinner last weekend and had a great time!  This was their first time meeting Layla, and she loved them both.  She smiled and laughed the whole time.  Here she is hanging out with Nathan (sorry for the even worse quality than usual, I took the picture on my phone).

For some reason, I was a mess during dinner.  It started off when I accidentally flung sweet potatoes into the queso when I was trying to open Layla's food (I hate that packaging).  But that was no big deal, just a quick scoop and all was good.  Then, I made the mistake of ordering a shrimp cocktail for dinner.  It was served in a tall glass, as usual, and when the waiter brought it out he tipped the plate and I caught the glass and ended up with a handful of shrimp sauce.  OK, no big deal, still an easy clean up.

Until dinner was over.  I didn't eat much, so the cup was still fairly full when we were visiting, waiting for the waiter to clear the table.  I had Layla in my lap, facing forward.  And you can guess what happened next.  Yes, my beautiful, sweet little baby proceeded to reach out, grab the glass, and dump the ENTIRE shrimp cocktail into my lap.  It was all over me!  I was mortified.  And just so you know, cocktail sauce itches.  I'm still getting used to having to keep everything out of her reach, she's so quick and grabs things before I know it - kind of scary, actually.  At least I learned my lesson and will definitely be more careful from now on.  And somehow, Layla managed to not get a drop on herself...makes you wonder how innocent they really are...  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nursery - Before and After

This is really late, but I wanted to get some pictures out here of Layla's nursery.  I want to be able to flip through this blog as Layla gets older and show her how things were when she was a baby, so I have to make sure I capture all the big stuff!

Nick and I (mostly Nick) are updating our house room by room.  We bought it knowing that it needed some work, and it's been a definite learning experience for me.  We were all set to start on the master bedroom, but then we found out that I was pregnant, so we had to switch gears and concentrate on the nursery.

Here are the before pictures.  Nick started working before I could snap a picture with the carpet in, but you get the idea:

Now, here is the same room today:

Nick put down new flooring and replaced the ceiling fan, doorknobs, outlet and light covers, baseboards, and blinds.  He also painted the whole room on his own (walls and doors), since I wasn't supposed to be around the fumes.  What a difference!  Layla loves her room and is always looking around at all of the bright colors.  I also think it will transition well into a toddler room, so she will be able to enjoy her Daddy's hard work for a long time to come!

More January birthdays!

Layla attended her first birthday parties in January (unfortunately both on the same day at the same time), and they were amazing!  We started off the day by attending Liam's 1st birthday party, and let me tell you, everything was perfect.  The theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Kate outdid herself.  The decorations, food, and goody bags were awesome.  She put so much thought into making sure that Liam had a great birthday, and we had a wonderful time celebrating with them.  Liam is such a sweetie and I can't believe it's been a year since we went to visit that little newborn in the hospital...

After Liam's party, we headed over to catch some of Olivia's celebration.  She had a Princess party, complete with a bounce house, face painting, balloon animals, and of course, princess costumes.  It was too cute. Layla received a "Polite as a Princess" bath book in her goody bag that she LOVES and we read every night while in the tub.  I remember Kyle bringing Olivia up to the office as a little baby for a visit, and now she's all grown up (and beautiful)!

We had such a great January celebrating birthdays with our friends!