One year ago today...

We got up early that morning and headed for the hospital. As with Gabe, your time of arrival was planned. The nurse denied Dr G's usual request for Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffet in the operating room and insisted on Josh Brogan. I had never heard of him but he sang the most beautiful Christmas music. You were born to "Silent Night".

At this very moment I can't remember the exact time, but I know we have it written down somewhere. Doesn't matter though. It's like you've always been with us; been a part of us. You completed us the minute you arrived. And you haven't stopped amazing us ever since!

Happy birthday sweet Layla Grayce!!

You are a busy little thing! At 6 months you started sitting yourself up, soon after that crawling, then pulling up and then crusing. Around 10 months you started taking some steps on your own and you haven't looked back since! Now you don't walk, you run. From me usually and after Gabe mostly. You adore your big brother and he you. I couldn't have asked for a better sibling relationship. You are an amazing sleeper most every night and you are ALWAY happy. Ok, lately you've been a bit grumpy but I think you are cutting a new tooth!

You have a wonderful personality and it is already shining. You point and say something that I think means "what's that"? You are especially interested in Daddy's ducks. You seem to soak in everything and I often catch you doing things that I never would have thought you ready to do - like copying Gabe as he bathes with his "paint". You take the container and pretend to rub it all over your belly - just like he does. You are a smart girl. You know the things you shouldn't mess with and always turn around and check to see if someone is watching when you do mess with them. You have the most devilish grin!! But we love it and we love you! Every single thing about you!!!!

I've been super busy with my photography business lately and Daddy is so good to watch you while I work. I try and get great pictures of you every chance I get. You are such a photogenic little thing!! I know I should be posting pictures for your one year post but I am saving them aside! I have a special plan and want to display your first year the same as I did for your brother. It's coming soon...

Layla your daddy and I are so proud of you and we always will be. We will be fighting the guys off at the door one day because you are beautiful both inside and out. We hope you have an AMAZING first birthday and many more to come...

Click below to view Layla's one year montage:
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=787f83e4e4ca0d17797779&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Happy Halloween!

Here is little "Layla Cat" all dolled up for Halloween! Doesn't she make the cutest black cat ever?

Sooooo...

Yep, we're walkin'! Not fully, not officially, but pretty much little Layla can walk (when she wants to). She has no problems standing on her own for several minutes at the time. Sometimes balance gets the best of her and she sits on down, but for the most part, she can stand on her own. And in her usual fashion, she likes to get from point A to point B, and FAST, so she just moves her legs and walks there!! Man, I never thought it would happen so quickly but I believe it has! Watch out world!!

LOL

At the "Fun Factory" in Franklin NC...

8-29-08

Nine Months and Counting

Layla had her 9 month check up yesterday and she is "as healthy as a horse". She is growing very well and reaching all of her milestones perfectly. She is babbling alot. She says "mama" and "dada" and something that sounds a lot like "Gabe". She also says "hey there".

She's trying lots of different table foods. She really likes peaches and she had some waffle at school yesterday. So far she is taking really well to it all and seems to be like her brother was at this age - loves to eat!!!

She's been cruising the furniture for some time now and on a few different occasions she has let go and taken a step or two. She then decides that it's safer on the ground and preferes to crawl (cause man, can she crawl fast!). But she is really starting to get there and "should" be walking before she turns one.

We spent Labor Day weekend in the mtns and I have lots of pictures but need to get them on here. So stay tuned... more to come later...

Bah, Bah

Let the babbling begin! Layla has started making some of her first "word" sounds. She mainly does "bah" but sometimes she does a "dah". I'm sure daddy thinks she's trying to say dada but I dunno! I keep emphasizing "mama" to her...

So offically we can now, sit ourselves up, stay seated upright on our own, crawl, pull up on furniture, somewhat cruise (somewhat - we're still pretty wobbly), and saying "bah" and "dah". OH! AND our very first tooth is poking through! Growing, growing...

A few recents...

With my cousin Jamie...

Crawling

Soooo, yeah, the title says it all. Little Layla is just crawling all over the place. She's been getting around just fine. She either pushes herself behing a pillow or kind of flips around, going from laying to sitting til she's half way across the room. She's been getting in the crawl position for a while now but last nigh she finally did it. She finally made those knees and hands work in tandem and crawled across the floor. God help us...

Happy Bithday to Me!!

YAY!!! I'm six months old today!! Happy birthday to me! And I can do all sorts of tricks! My newest trick is sitting myself up. I can go from laying on the floor to sitting there like a big girl in seconds. Then I can sit there...for a few seconds anyway. I usually grin really big when I do it too and look around the room to make sure everybody can see me because at least one person should clap everytime I do it. Sometimes it hurts when I fall, I'm not real graceful about that, but that's ok. I'm learning. Here are some pictures mommy took of me yesterday:

Sitting:

Then down I go:

(I want to point out that she is not just sitting up as in me sitting her on her rump and her staying there, she is sitting HERSELF up, going from laying down to sitting up. Yikes this is all happening SO fast! At least compared to how I remember it with Gabe!).

I am also "almost" crawling. I can get on my hands and knees and rock and then I will stand up on my tip toes with my hands still on the floor. Mama says I can't officially crawl yet but I can get from point A to point B with no problems. Gabe had better start cleaning up his little toys or I'll be having them for snack!! Mama has taken lots of pictures me lately. Here are a few more.

And one of me and my big brother Gabe! I'm pretty sure he hung the moon.

Dedicated

Yesterday was not only Mother's Day (and what a PROUD mommy I am) but it was also Baby Dedication at our church. Layla was dedicated to our church where her Daddy and I promised to love her as Christ would and raise her in a loving Christian home and direct her path in the direction that pleases God. Layla did wonderfully and of course she looked as beautiful as ever! Her Nana and Grandma from South GA come up for the event and her Grammy and Pop and Aunt April and Uncle Ty and cousins Jessie and Eli were all there for her special day.

Here are a few pictures of her in her special dress:

You can view more of them by clicking HERE.

She's growing so fast as you can see. You can tell from her milestones that she's really changing and learning new things everyday! I sincerely believe that she will be crawling soon! Oh my! Look out everyone!! I guess I'll find out how much she weighs today as I will be taking her and Gabe to the Dr. They've both had a cough and Gabe sounds a little rattlely and last night Layla was running a fever. Yep, only two weeks into daycare and she's already seeing the dr for sickness. It took Gabe more like three...

We are growing!

Miss Layla had her 4 month check up this week and as you can see from her stats she is growing! She was 15 lbs, 4 ounces and 25 inches long. Don't mention it, because he might get offended, but Gabe was only 14 lbs, 8 ounces at his 4 month check. ;-) I had the dr look at her "tooth" and she seems to think it is something called a "mucocele" - "An oral mucocele, also referred to as mucus extravasation phenomenon, is a swelling of connective tissue consisting of collected mucin from a ruptured salivary gland duct, which is usually caused by local trauma. The mucocele is a bluish translucent color, and is more commonly found in children and young adults."

ehhhh, I don't know. It really just looks like a tooth to me. And it's white, not blue. Regardless, something is amiss in that mouth of hers because she is the queen of drool and is CONSTANTLY chewing on anything that gets anywhere in the general vacinity of her mouth.

She is such a good baby though. She smiles and coos and laughs out loud when you tickle her. She's VERY tickleish!! This weekend she will be going on her very first camping trip! We are going to the mountians where Daddy can be close to some good trout streams and where we can all hopefully get a little r&r! I think she will really enjoy the cool mountian air! Gabe has been talking about it all week now! He wants to go look at waterfalls! I'll be sure to try and get some pictures!

This afternoon she gets to meet her little friend Tori for the first time! Tori's mommy and I have been best friends since kindergarten and I have the privelege of taking some pictures of Miss Tori this afternoon. Hopefully we can get one or two of them together!

Speaking of pictures, how about a few recents and a few from Easter...

Tooth Fairy? Really?

I seriously belive we have been visited by the tooth fairy. Gabe was 7.5 months old before his first tooth came in. I totally didn't expect to see anything so soon in my little Layla. This weekend Nana and Pa were here and Nana and Grammy kept saying they thought she was probably teething. Gabe showed signs of teething for a long time before his pearly whites actually arrived so I didn't really expect to actually SEE a tooth when I checked her gums Sunday night! But sure enough, on the upper right hand side it looks like there is a small piece of rice stuck to her gum that can't be anything BUT a tooth trying to poke through (because she doesn't eat rice yet!). The really weird thing is, it looks like it is the canine tooth which I remember being one of the later ones that Gabe received. It's all kind of baffling to me. I don't doubt it's a tooth though. Unless she has suddenly taken to want to chew on EVERYTHING in sight! I mean I know she likes to eat, but her new affinity to eating shirts, burp cloths, blankets,...anything she can get her hands on???

I took her to the dr on Monday because her eye was matted up Monday morning. Thankfully she (not the doc, we saw the nurse practitioner) didn't think it was pink eye but gave us some drops - just in case. The NP also didn't think Layla had a tooth coming in eventhough the nurse saw it too. Grumble. I really like it better when we actually see the doc. But Miss Layla is definitely growing! She was 15lbs and 4 ounces! She goes back for her 4 month check up in a couple of weeks and I'm betting she'll be way over 16lbs by then. Little chunker!

I do have pics of both from Easter that I will share as soon as I get around to it. For some reason it seems like just a little bit of time is just a lot bit hard to find these days!

Just some pics

Since I hardly ever get to have my pictures made with my kids, I was so psyched to finally have these. I think the last ones I have of me and Layla are from her birth!?!? If you want to read how this transpired to finally get me out from behind the camera you can read about it on http://www.thelandofgabe.blogspot.com/ but warning, it involves a dead animal. OR you could just look at sweet little "baby bear #2" here. Well, and me...

Three months? Can it be?

My baby is growing SO fast. She changes more and more everyday and I'm starting to be able to tell more about what she's going to be like and look like as she gets bigger. She is a WONDERFUL baby! She sleeps like, well, like a baby! And she ALWAYS wakes up smiling. That is one of my favorite things about her - she did not inherit my "wake up grumpy" attitude. Now Gabe, on the other hand...

Sweet Layla turned 3 months old on Sunday. Where HAS the time gone? Seems like just yesterday I was waddling around here, big as a house, worrying if I'd get my Christmas shopping done in time! And now here she is, three months old, growing like a little weed! A sweet weed though, not the kind you want to "roundup"...

Took these on Sunday...

Growing!

Yesterday was Layla's 2 month check up. She is now up to 12lbs and was 23 inches long! I thought that she was bigger than Gabe was at this point because she is in higher percentiles than he was for weight and height but I was wrong. I read in my journal that he was 12 lbs 2 ounces at 7 weeks and Layla is 9. I guess it's because the percentile range for boys and girls is different. The dr said she looked as healthy as can be and was really pleased with her growth.

She also got FOUR shots yesterday. They really wiped her out too. She feel asleep in the car seat coming home and slept in it for over 4 hours. She NEVER sleeps in her carseat once it is removed from the moving car! She also went down in her crib at 8pm and slept there until 4am. Some much needed shut eye for her mommy!!!

Welcome to the world

On December 2nd, 2007 at 8:57am we welcomed sweet Layla Grayce into the world, weighing in at 7lbs, 15ounces and 21 inches long. She was born via a planned c-section that went off without a hitch. She is beautiful in every way!

She has a big brother, Gabe, who loves her to pieces! He likes to "pet" his baby sister and tells me all the time that he loves her. He has not acted jealous at all with her which is a huge relief for his mommy and daddy because that was something we were very apprehensive about with having another baby.

At her first month check up, Layla weighed 9lbs and 14 ounces and was 22 inches long so she is definietly growing! She actually has her 2nd month check up next week and I am curious to see how much she has grown. My how time is flying by!

On December 15th, we moved into our brand new house. you can click on the link to see pictures of it. We are so excited to finally be in here. It's a beautiful house, one we designed and built with the idea that we will stay here forever; or at least somewhere close to it! We have 24 acres here with a pond and pastures and woods. All perfect places for two little someones to play and explore.

In January, Layla took her first road trip to Nana and Pa's for cousin JB's third birthday. She did pretty well considering it is a four hour trip one way. She knows she should get used to travel because mommy and daddy like to do a lot of that!!

Layla is very strong and can hold her head up on her own for long periods of time. She is also very alert. She can smile too. She likes to grin really big for her mommy and sometimes I catch her grinning at her big brother when she is sitting beside him in her carseat in the back of the car! I imagine she will really look up to him one day. I hope so...

You can see Layla's beautiful pictures on her Flickr album. Here is the link. It's also under the "fun places to visit" tab on the right. Check back soon for more updates on sweet baby Layla! And don't forget to keep up with her big brother on The Land of Gabe.