Happy Ladybug Party to Layla...

Saturday was Layla's 1st birthday and 1st birthday party. It was a fun day and we were so thankful that the weather turned out to be just fine. Layla was not feeling her best, but she made it through the party better than we expected. We are not sure if Ms. Layla was a little under the weather, getting teeth, or having a bad belly reaction to the Children's Motrin we were giving her (most likely a bad combo of the three).

Anyway, it was a fun, ladybug filled day and I am so glad that Stephanie and Super Aunt Ann captured many pictures for Ryan, Layla and I to remember this big day. Thanks to both Steph and Ann for taking pictures and thank you to everyone else who helped with the different aspects of the party!!!

Warning...picture overload below!! :-)

First pictures are of Layla and her birthday outfit. I found the outfit on etsy.com which is a website to buy/sell anything and everything handmade. The outfit was tutu fun...hee hee!!!

I hope to have a portion of her one year pictures taken in this outfit this week.

Now for the set-up of the party....for those of you who love a theme!!

We had the food table (which was not yet full in this picture) and the "Little Bugs Eat Here" table

And then there was a tablecloth for everyone to sign. I would like this tablecloth to become a tradition at Layla's birthday parties for everyone to sign each year.

My personal favorite sign of the day....my sister made it...it is too funny & still in theme...!!!

And now for Layla's high chair and smash cake (my sister also designed the ladybug high chair).

And then for the official one year old pictures. If you look at the clock really closely it says 3:36...exactly one year from when Layla was born. I have to admit...it was 3:37 when I realized I missed the big moment so Ryan turned the clock back for the picture :-)

And now for cake....

And Layla says, "No hat, please!!!"

And I guess, "No singing, please!" either!!

But then Ms. Layla enjoyed the cake eating part

Until she was all finished.... then she wanted mommy back :-)



Next, Layla gained some energy from the sugar of the cake and enjoyed the gift opening (and yes she was in her third outfit of the day....the onesie and tutu were supposed to go back on but they got dirty earlier in the day). She crawled around, examined gifts, admired toys and played with the gifts as they were opened. Layla got so many wonderful gifts....she is such lucky girl. This morning she zoomed from new toy to new toy. So cute to watch her explore everything new.

And Mr. Shea LOVES the gift he and his mom and dad gave to Layla :-) You can't see it in the picture, but the chair also has Layla's name on it.

Oh!!! And next year at this time, Layla will have three more friends to enjoy her birthday with. The three girls (Katie- due in November, Nicole- due in November, and Laura- due in October) below are all pregnant with their first babies. Congrats ladies and I am so excited to meet the new babies!!!

And finally, what is a first birthday without a favor and goody bag?? Okay, I know it really doesn't matter either way, but I had fun making the cookies with my mom and putting the little bug nets together for the little kids.

Have a great week, we are going to rest up after two weekends of first birthday parties!! :-)

One Year Old

Layla is officially one today (as of 3:36 PM). Happy 1st Birthday, Layla!!!

If we were to describe Layla right now, today, this is how we would do it:

Layla, you are a mommy and daddy loving, sippy cup obsessing, animal chasing, floor scooting, big portion eating, tooth popping (up to five we think!!) swing napping (yes, I know STILL!!), piggy bank playing, stranger shying, hand clapping, hair growing, sweet as pie little girl.

And now for twelve of our favorite pictures from Layla's first 12 months :-)

FiRsT MoNtH

& TwO

ThReE MoNtHs

& FoUr

FiVe MoNtHs

& SiX

SeVen & EiGhT

NiNe....

tEn MoNtHs

eLeVeN

AnD 12 MoNtHs OLD!!!!

Remember to pass on the Lifesavers

A year ago today, Ryan and I had one of our standard three doctor's appointments of the week. It was a year ago today that Layla's percentiles dropped into the "time to meet mommy and daddy" range. We were so ready to meet our little girl.

Right before leaving for the hospital

I thought it might be fun to put up some odds and ends that you most likely did not know from my delivery process....

The night I was induced Ryan ended up in the emergency room at the hospital. Before we left for the hospital, Ryan had been working on finishing up a wood project (building a trailer) for my grandpa and uncle. Anyway long story short, he ended up with a scratch on his cornea. Since I was "having a baby" they moved Ryan right along in the ER and the nurses were even nice enough to deliver his prescription right to my hospital room!

One last pregnant picture

The next day, I denied the epidural for quite some time because I was terrified it would run out when the pain got "really horrible." The solution?? The nurse gave me a button to hit whenever I needed a dose of the pain meds to ease my worries and the pain :-)

After my epidural was administered, Ryan and I watched Lost episodes for pretty much the whole day....I just hit my epidural button if I felt the slightest twinge!

I ate a lot of lifesavers...probably too many.

When it was time to push, I really regretted eating the lifesavers.....(lesson definitely learned, although they say getting sick during pushing actually helps the baby come faster, maybe the lifesavers were actually my secret to a fast pushing session!).

Layla arrived rather quickly after the pushing began and she scored a nine out of ten on the APGAR test. If I would have been able to move my legs, I would have fallen out of the bed from shock.

On the scale, Layla weighed in at 5lb 13oz, just a mere 4oz away from having to go through a series of "low birth weight" tests. I was pleasantly surprised when she wasn't whisked away and when she was instead placed in my arms.

In fact, Ryan and I got ourselves in a little trouble after Layla was born. Ryan ran out and told our families that Layla was born and said that he'd be right back to grab them to meet the little lady. Well, then we kind of forgot about everyone and just we enjoyed Ms. Layla for over an hour. Yes, we still haven't lived down the fact that we just left the family waiting anxiously in the lobby for such a long time.

A proud daddy showing off Layla's footprints and telling the family he'd be right back....oops :-)

And the funniest moment of the hospital?? Just hours (maybe 2 at the most) after Layla was born, the door to my room flew open and in comes Ryan with Layla in her bucket/cart all swaddled up (she had just had her first sponge bath). Ryan acted like it was no big thing just rolling this teeny baby around the hospital. Okay, maybe you had to be there to see it, but my sister and I thought it was so funny when that door flew open and in came Ryan and this little burrito.

Have a good June 5th everyone!!!!

Welcome to the Carnival!!

Today was the first of Layla's two birthday parties. Today was a triple party with her twin cousins that share her same birthday. Here they are for their big birthday: Lexie, Layla, and Lizzie (aren't they cute??)

Remember how I said we might "throw in" a carnival theme?? Well we took the idea and sort of ran with it.

The carnival cake (made compliments of Ryan's cousin, Julie) and the goodie bags for all of the kids.

Above is a close-up of the cake. The trains became the smash cakes for the three girls!

There were games (Layla's favorite was the duck game)

There were lemon shake-ups....shaken by Ryan's dad, Verlyn :-)

Oh, and did I mention Layla's right leg didn't like the grass???

Layla even shared a snow cone (hold the syrup) with her daddy

And then there was cake....

And finally there were presents, even though everyone's "presence" was supposed to be presents enough :-)

It was such a fun day and the countdown begins for party number two....6 days and counting for our little Layla Bug party :-)

Don't Look!!

I am warning you...do not look to the right of this post...you know, where it shows Layla's age. Today it says "Layla is 11 months and 3 weeks." NOOOOO, the big one birthday cannot seriously already be around the corner. Yes, it is, but luckily I have been distracting myself with party planning. Speaking of party planning, I promised you a peek at the invites (Cindy you ask, and you shall receive!! Thanks for the reminder...I completely forgot to put this up.)

Here is the front of the card. My favorite picture is right in the middle of the ladybug. Layla was about 10 days old and she constantly made that little face and I loved it.

This is the back of the card. Sorry it is not as clean of a snapshot. The ladybug button made it difficult to scan, so I ended up taking a picture of it. The red rectangle is covering up our phone number. I figured it was not a good idea to have this on the blog. You can click on the picture to take a closer look.

Thank you again to my card creators (Stephanie, Stephanie's mom, Kathy, my mom & Ryan). They were so much fun to create and make!!

3 Brunettes and a Blonde

On Saturday, my mom, sister and I headed to Chicago (driving compliments of brother-in-law Jamie) and went to see Legally Blonde the Musical.

My dad and Ryan watched the babies (toddlers?? yikes!...babies) while we had our girls day out. While we were gone, Layla and Shea were treated to their first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. It sounded like they had quite the fun day themselves!!! Anyway, the musical was very cute and we had good seats and we could actually see the actors (which is always a bonus). I loved the dancing and the dogs featured in the musical were very cute.

After a fun little meet up and photo shoot with Aunt Joan, Penny and Hank (hello and thanks for the great pictures, Hank!!!), we headed to the Melting Pot for dinner.

Remember the crazy New Year's Eve experience we had at the Melting Pot? If not, click here to read the story. Anyway, due to that crazy experience, we were given gift certificates so that we would come back to the restaurant...and so to the Melting Pot we went. (I am always calling (or having Ryan call!) customer service if we have a bad experience in a restaurant/store. In fact, I just received our brand new microwave this week....whole different story though!) This time the service and food were great so we were happy (and very full) campers.

And how can I leave a post without a picture or two of Ms. Tornado, oops I mean Layla :-) She has taken a newfound interest in taking everything off bookshelves, tables, etc. I believe she is in an exploring stage, so here she is exploring her little heart out (I mean, how can you deny a child a book?)!!! You should see her eyes light up at the library!! Don't worry, Joan, Penny and friends, I keep her under control :-)

Watch out Toys R Us...

here comes Layla! Layla is getting an early start on developing her shopping skills. She has been working all week on walking with her shopping cart :-)

Below is a short video from early on in the week of Ms. Layla walking with assistance from the shopping cart.

Oh! And Layla also loves her playfood. Here Layla is playing with a tiny head of lettuce and peas. I always think it is odd that the peas are bigger than the lettuce. (Behind Layla are toys, not just a messy house! We tend to move from room to room getting toys out as we go.)