It's Fun To Stay At The...

Layla and I are really enjoying our time together during the day. We actually went on an interview together this week! We interviewed at a very family friendly gym (I wonder which one...can you tell by the title and pictures?!?) for a position in the daycare center. I will be working about 6 hours a week. It will be a good chance to get out of the house a little bit and it will allow Layla the opportunity to interact with other children (yes, Layla gets to come with me!!!) Oh, and I get a free membership to the gym which is an awesome perk for a stay at home mom on a budget :-)

Anyway, we are going to give it a try this week. I have my sling and front carrier ready (she's not so fond of either lately...) If the job doesn't work out, it doesn't work out- but hope for the best for us!

Family Time

This past Saturday we made a few stops in the suburbs. We went to see Layla's Great Great Aunt Katie, who just was moved back from Ohio so that she could be closer to family. Katie took to the babies immediately and she even joked that she would buy Layla from me :-) We told her she would have to do the diapers too and she wasn't too fond of that idea. The babies loved her deep voice and made themselves comfortable on her bed.

Layla getting her kicks out on Katie's stomach :-)

Layla and Shea- hanging out on Katie's bed

Layla's new thing this week...she loves to eat her hand!

We also made a stop to see Layla's Great Grandma Baader, and here they are hanging out together. Are you wondering what has happened to Layla's hair??? So are we :-)


Layla's Great Uncle Chris was also visiting Grandma at the house, and here he is giving some love to Seamus and Layla.

And here is a picture of Layla and Shea. Layla is just starting to notice Shea and she even gave him a few beaming smiles this weekend. Of course I did not grab the camera because I was enjoying the moment, but next time I will try!

Success!!!!

Check out this tummy time picture! Layla is lifting that head during tummy time. It has only happened once, but I had my dad and the camera to enjoy the moment with me. Hopefully we will see more of this to come!

Life in Layla-ville

Many people have been asking me how tummy time is going. Well, here is a picture from a tummy time session last week-

So as you can see she by no means loves it...but her face isn't flat into the Boppy! We are making progress and Layla is holding her head up more and more with each week that passes. When I was visiting school last week, our OT (occupational therapist) reminded me that tummy time is very important and suggested I try giving Layla tummy time on my lap. So we have been trying that and it gets the job done without being so much of a production :-) (By the way, we will most likely not be purchasing the tummy time contraption I told you about. My sister spotted it at Babies R Us and said it was too crazy looking).

Layla in her knee highs. Daddy gets a kick out of how high the little socks come up on her legs.

And now...Layla and her new favorite toy! Layla is on her toy mat, but look carefully and you'll see she has a new kickboard that she loves. It looks like sensory overload (okay, maybe it is) but Layla loves to lay on the mat and kick the board and make it play music. She did get into an interesting conversation with that parrot today...I think they may be on the outs.

Below is a picture of Layla and what she is trying to make her "lovie." Layla loves to cuddle the little lamb while she is falling asleep. Don't worry I watch her like a hawk and promptly remove it when she falls asleep. We need to find a smaller and "less likely to suffocate a baby " lovie.


Yes, as you can see from the picture Layla is sleeping in her swing still. For those of you who aren't aware, Layla has slept in the swing for most of the 2 1/2 months of her life. With the tongue issues and her acid reflux, Layla was choking whenever she was flat on her back. She is still choking from time to time and we are looking into getting a Pollywog sleeping wedge for her. It will give us peace of mind when we transition her into the crib for the nighttime. For now, I am trying to put Layla in the crib for naps during the day, but I go flying into her nursery each time I hear a peep on the monitor in fear that she is choking. So you can imagine how the nights would go if we tried it pre-sleeping wedge.

And just a picture to show our growing girl before our grocery shopping excursion today...how big is Layla? Getting SO big :-)

Back to School Time

Layla and I made our way to my school today to visit with all of the teachers. It was wonderful to see everyone. I had not seen the whole staff for several months because I stopped working a couple weeks before the end of the school year. It was wonderful to chat with everyone and Ms. Layla Bugs did a good job being passed around and just got a little fussy when she needed to eat.

It was a little sad not to be in the center of the back to school action but I feel relief at the same time knowing I just have Layla to worry about right now. Below is a picture wishing all of my fellow Twister Teachers (and all teachers!) a happy first day back with the kids tomorrow...Layla and I will be thinking of you!

I know what all of you teachers are thinking after looking at this picture...I barely have time to go to the bathroom right now and Kristin has time to make signs and pose her daughter with them?!?

Have a great year!

Tummy Time, Pets, and More!

One of Layla's favorite things to do is lay on her back and kick, coo, and look around. She got a new playmat that she loves. Below is a video of Layla enjoying her new mat.



Now for the downside...we cannot get Layla off her back! She does not like being on her tummy at all. She used to scream when we put her on her belly and now she just lays there motionless. She does not even attempt to pick up that little head. We have tried the Boppy pillow but the same happens on that. A picture is below of our little lady who refuses to strengthen her core :-) (By the way I put her little hands where they are in an attempt to get her to lift her head)

So...I have been thinking and researching ways to succeed at tummy time....and what I found was yet another baby contraption. Ta Da! Here is the Lamaze: Spin and Explore Garden Gym:

Ryan isn't sure that I will really put little Layla on it as it looks a little crazy but I think if we go for it we could get a result that looks like this :-) Look at that neck control! I'll let you know if we end up purchasing it and how it goes. And now for some pics of Blue and Howie.

Blue in the carseat. He sees Layla get to go outside in the carseat...so maybe it will work for him :-)

Howie sitting like a little man. And he stayed like this for a long time. Too funny!

Now for some firsts...

Layla's first nap in her crib.
I was in the room with her the whole time taking all of her newborn clothes out of her closet..otherwise I would have removed the blankets :-)

Layla and Aunt Cassie after their first shopping day together. We really wore the babies out with too much shopping. Look at Layla's onesie...it says "Auntie's Shopping Buddy."

Now for a couple of pics of our growing girl-

Our little Sweet Pea- Thank you Cari for the cute outfit!


Happy Layla! We love all of the smiles we get now :-)

Layla says, "No more Fridays!"

Another Friday, and another appointment for Layla. Today Layla had her 2 month check-up and along with that came 2 month shots. She weighed in at 10lb 3oz (30th percentile) and measured 21 1/4 inches (10th percentile). I wondered why the next stage of clothes were fitting her width but not her length :-)

Layla actually did well with the shots. She cried for a very short time and then bounced back and then fell asleep. I was expecting cries like last week but she was much easier to console this time around.

Below is a picture of Layla and her little Dora the Explorer Band-Aids after the appointment. I thought they were so cute!

Our Little Layla...

is getting SO big! She is 2 months old today :-)

Layla has almost outgrown her newborn clothes and it is going to be very hard for me to pack away all of the adorable little clothes. Everyone said it would get easier as Layla got bigger, but I still am having a hard time with how fast time is going with our little lady. I can picture myself now....having to be dragged out of the classroom on Layla's first day of kindergarten! Oh, how I am going to have a different perspective on teaching/parents when I return to the classroom.


New things Layla has done this month: smiles, focuses on people's faces (especially mom and dad), startles at sounds (yeah!), more cooing-less grunting, and a biggie...able to stick out her tongue!

Another photo shoot with my camera happy mom...

Trying so hard not to smile

Okay, okay...Happy 2 months to me!

Have a great day-

Keeping Busy

Layla and I have already had a busy week. We met my college girlfriends for lunch on Monday and went to the fair in B-Town on Tuesday (actually, Layla was too little to go to the fair but she did have a fair outfit!).

Stephanie and Layla

Hannah and Layla

Amanda and Layla

Katie was also at lunch but had a cough so she didn't want to infect Ms. Layla Bugs. We had a great time and Layla enjoyed being passed around the table.

Fair time!

I told you Layla had a fair outfit! And Shea had a matching boy version. My mom found the adorable little outfits for 97 cents at JC Pennys. Now that is a bargain! (and now you know why Layla got a fair outfit even though she didn't go to the fair)

While my mom, aunt, sister, Shea and I were at the fair, my dad was nice enough to baby-sit Layla. He is a very good grandpa and warms up bottles and even changes diapers! Look carefully at the diaper above. Yes, it is on backwards :-) Grandpa couldn't remember which way the diaper went. Too cute!

Tongue Update

Lots of people have been wondering how Layla's tongue is doing- Overall, she is doing really well. Friday evening, the night of the appointment, was a little rough but we managed to calm her down after calling the doctor for some guidance. She stuck out her tongue for the first time yesterday when I gave her the medicine for her acid reflux. She does not like the taste of it and made an "ech!" face with tongue out and all. I was very excited by this.

A lot of good will come from the tongue clipping BUT there is a negative that we have already found. Layla no longer wants her BPA free pacifier. It must be more difficult for her to suck on now...so she is now using the regular pacifier, BPA filled and all :-) Ryan is very excited because the regular pacifiers are much more fun to buy (Cubs, Bears, NIU, etc).

A picture of Layla below with the BPA free pacifier

A picture of Layla with her Super Aunt Joan and the regular pacifer (compliments of Shea)

Weekend

We had a busy weekend and lots of people got to meet Layla for the first time. (Nadia, Sara, and Candace I cannot believe I forgot to get your pictures holding Layla today!)

Layla and I had our first baby shower together today. (Well, first one with Layla in the outside world anyway!). The shower was for my girlfriend Lindsey. She looked adorable (wish I took a picture of her too) and her sister-in-law Michelle put on a wonderfully themed pirate shower (I know...pictures! I had an off day of picture taking). Congrats to Lindsey and Don on the baby-to-be.

Below is a picture of Layla in her shower outfit. She is in one of the bows my mom got her for a "Get Well Tongue" gift and so that I can avoid the "is your baby a boy or girl?" question :-)

On a side note, Howie has become obsessed with Layla's "lovie." It is a supersoft dog blanket and he loves it so much I decided he could have it. Well, he also chewed the eyeballs off of it so I didn't really want Layla playing with an eyeless dog blanket. Below is a picture of Howie and his lovie.

Tongues

Layla had a big doctor's appointment today. It was discovered over a month ago (thank you Cassie) that Layla was tongue tied (the condition is also known as Ankyloglossia). When I say tongue tied, it means that Layla's string that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth was extended out to almost the tip of her tongue. She could not stick out her tongue and when she pushed her tongue upwards it formed a heart shape.

Below is Layla hanging out before the procedure with her Dad and new stuffed cow. Ryan and I were feeling pretty worried right before the procedure- we are very typical first time parents...worried about everything!


We wanted to get the tongue tie taken care of for a variety of reasons. There were simple reasons such as us wanting Layla to be able to eat an ice cream cone and more serious reasons such as eating (breastfeeding currently) and possible speech issues.

We are happy and relieved to say that the procedure went very smoothly. It was actually a quick and simple procedure and after it was over Layla calmed down in a few short minutes. She was so brave that we rewarded her with a stuffed cow since she cannot have ice cream yet :-)

I was trying to get a picture of Layla's new tongue, but she was too exhausted from her appointment today.



By the way Layla weighed in at 9lb 13oz and measured 21 inches long. She is growing so fast and time is going so fast...she is eight weeks old today!