School's Out...

for the school year for Layla and I! The big news around our house is that I am taking a one year leave from teaching to spend the year with Layla. I had planned on going back to school in October, but once Ms. Layla made her grand entrance I knew I needed more time with her than the summer and maternity leave would allow.

Ryan and I worked a half day Friday and a full day today packing up my classroom. Sounds easy enough, but I have accumulated A LOT of stuff in my three years of teaching. Below are pictures of us packing up and moving out a few of my teaching bins.

And of course a picture of Layla. Here she is sporting a new outfit while hanging out at a friend's 1st birthday party :-)

Happy Girl

Today Layla woke up happy and smiling so I decided to put her in her SMILE onesie and try to capture a shot

Grandmas and Super Aunts and Uncles

Layla had a busy Tuesday! First she visited with her Grandma Janisch at Alpine Bank. A big hello to Grandma Janisch's coworkers :-) We found out today that they love to stay up-to-date on our blog.

Here is a picture of Layla and Grandma Janisch at Grandma's work

After a visit to the bank, my mom, sister, Shea, Layla and I visited Layla's Great Grandma Baader and Super Aunt Joan's house. Super Aunt Ann was also there to spend the day with us and Great Uncle Mark (sorry Mark, I am not sure if you also prefer Super Uncle!) came over during dinner. Below is a picture of the 2 grandmas (1 great), 2 super aunts, 1 great uncle, and 2 babies :-)

Summer Days

This past week has been busy for us! We were in Iowa visiting my sister and Shea for a couple days while my sister's husband Jamie was on a business trip. It is always a busy household (diapers, feedings, tummy times, etc!) when the two babies are involved, but it was really fun to spend a couple days together.

Here are some pictures from our visit to Iowa:

This is a picture of Shea and Layla. Shea is teething (two teeth are coming in!) on a cool new food/ice gadget from his aunt Cari and Layla is hanging with her Grandma Sloan.

Shea teething. Too cute!

Layla at her first Buffalo Wild Wings on her daddy's birthday. This was a great place to take Shea and Layla because it is such a loud restaurant that no one could hear any of the crying coming from our table :-)

In addition to Iowa, my good girlfriend Katie got married this past weekend. The picture is of myself, Amanda, Katie, and Stephanie. The four of us met and became great friends in college and remain close today. I love when we are in the same place at the same time.

As you can see from the picture, Katie was a beautiful bride and I thought it was very neat that she wore her mom's wedding dress. Congrats to Katie and her new husband Josh!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

You are the best :-)

Love,

Layla

Playtime!

We have been trying out more and more toys with Layla lately. She really enjoys time on her back "playing" with the toys. I have been trying hard to get Layla to hold onto a link and have had no such luck...until today. I think she was proud of herself!

I also think the wrist and foot rattles are pretty fun. I think Layla does too! See the picture and video (sorry, you'll have to tilt your head) below.

How are the pets doing?

I think the question we get asked most often regarding the arrival Layla is..."How are the pets doing with the baby?" So we thought we could answer this "blog style" and give the pets a moment back in the spotlight!

Howie

So Mr. Howie will go first. He is doing really well with Layla. He is extremely interested in the baby, but has never been anything but good mannered with her. He likes to give her licks on the face and likes to nab any pacifiers he can find around the house and chew them up. I think they will be very good buddies one day.

Now for the not so great side... when people come over to visit Layla (or us) Howie gets a little crazy. So if you are planning to stop by soon be prepared for a crazy couple of minutes with the dog and then he will calm down.

Now for the funny side...Howie gets exhausted from Layla waking up to eat in the middle of the night. He does a lot of heavy sighing when she starts crying to eat and then buries himself underneath the covers. In the picture above, Howie is still in bed after Ryan and I were already up and moving this morning.

In the picture below you will see me trying to perfect walking with Howie and Layla. Ryan and I are working hard to get Howie to walk in between the two wheels on the left side of the stroller so Howie doesn't get run over! We are improving our technique with every walk.

Blue

Blue has not missed a beat since Layla has arrived. He still thinks the world is "all about Blue" and we are convinced he thinks that all of the baby paraphernalia was purchased for him. He does like to cuddle up next to me from time to time when I am feeding Layla.

Rocket

Rocket is probably the most hesitant around the baby still. He is very afraid of her cry and likes to keep a safe distance from Layla when she is making any noises. He is starting to warm up and has been sniffing her head lately trying to figure out what or who she exactly is. I am sure he will learn to love Layla!

That is the update on the pets...hope you enjoyed :-)