Aaah...Three Months Old!!

Layla, you turned three months old on Sunday, October 17th.  I can't believe it's already been three months since we had you, time has flown so quickly.  You change every day, and it's bittersweet.  I love to see all of your new tricks and experiences, but sometimes I wish I could freeze time and keep you as my baby forever...

You weigh 12.5 pounds and are 22 inches long.  You eat 6-7 oz every 3 hours, and usually sleep from 9pm to 6am (other than the last couple of nights, but we won't get into that.)  You are in size 1 diapers and wear 3-6 month clothing.  You've officially rolled over three times, so the tummy time seems to be paying off, even though you still hate it!

You absolutely love to be sung to, we can always get big smiles from you with silly songs.  You also get super excited when it's bath time and kick and wiggle the whole time.  And I love to come get you when you wake up from a nap.  I lean over to say hi, and you look at me for a second and then break out into a huge smile.  You are also already a Daddy's Girl - when he gets home and comes to give you a kiss, you let out a squeal when you see his face.

Your rainforest mat is still your favorite, and it's really fun to watch you discover and reach for new toys.  You get a very serious look on your face to study everything you see - we call it your "Judging" face.  You are also starting to experience a bit of stranger anxiety - sometimes you get overwhelmed if there are a lot of new faces at once.  I'm trying to make sure that we get out somewhere every day so that you become more accustomed to being out and about with other people and places.

I've loved and treasured every second with you so far.  We are so proud of our beautiful little baby!

Layla on her three month birthday



Starting to get annoyed with the camera



"OK Mom, I'm over the pictures!"



Happy Birthday, Amelia!

We went out to celebrate Amelia's birthday last Friday night, and I had such a fun time!  I love getting together with the girls, I seriously laugh the entire time.  We met at La Griglia and had a great meal, not to mention the three delicious desserts that we all split.  It was so wonderful to just relax and enjoy time out with my friends.  It seems like we are all so busy nowadays, so we have plenty to catch up on every time we have a girls night.  Unfortunately, I had to leave a bit early since a certain little girl needed to eat, but we did make plans to check out Jus' Mac next time.  Ugh, not the best idea for the baby weight but I bet it's worth it!

Hope you had a great birthday, Amelia!

Norway Trip

Nick had to travel to Norway for work last week. We missed him so much, but luckily my mom was able to come stay with me and Layla.  We had a really fun week and my mom was a HUGE help.  I got so much done - deep cleaned the house, got a haircut, organized closets, washed the dogs...It was wonderful to have an extra set of hands and Layla was just eating up all of the attention, she was smiling the entire week.  My mom also helped me find a bottle that Layla will at least tolerate, which is great since unfortunately I need to start preparing for my return to work. 

Layla is becoming more and more animated every day, and is starting to imitate us.  When you stick out your tongue, she tries to do the same thing and it's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I'm trying to capture it, but of course she never does it when we have the camera ready!

But back to the title of the post - Nick was in Norway from Sunday to Friday.  They are seven hours ahead of us and he was pretty booked up the whole time, so we were only able to have quick conversations.  It was strange with him being gone - it's the longest that we've been away from each other, so needless to say I was so happy when he got home.  He brought back some yummy Swiss chocolate and lots of pictures:

View from the plane:




Horse races - they ride in buggies behind the horses, and race at a trot as opposed to full out galloping:

Random scenic pictures (it looks beautiful!):

And because a post wouldn't be complete without some baby pictures, here are a few of Layla:

Having fun on the play mat



Gave up during tummy time

 

Cute little feet that I can't get enough of!







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.