Friday, May 24, 2013

Happy girl

Layla is a really relaxed, happy baby.  Mike and I feel so lucky. She had been sleeping through the nights- 10pm to about 4 or 5 am- but just when I went back to work, she reintegrated her 2am feeding. But it's ok. Since I don't get to spend much time with her in the morning, I'll take my middle of the night time for now. At this point, she goes down pretty easily at night, but during the day, we've not got a real "schedule" yet, and she doesn't seem interested in long naps but rather prefers little cat naps throughout the day.

She's getting more used to her baths so they aren't quite so traumatic anymore. We also started using her head covering towel which keeps her super cuddly warm after her bath, which really helped. Also, the top of the towel has little ears which makes the whole thing obscenely cute.


We are still debating about who she looks like, but she's definitely starting to develop some of her own patterns. We do know that if she's fussy, we can put her in the Baby Bjorn, go for a quick walk around the block, and usually she falls asleep. That said, recently, she's been staying awake during walks, which is really nice. She still doesn't have great neck control, but she's trying to look around. I like to describe things to her when we walk.

She's started little smiles- mostly right after she eats, when we play or talk to her. There's nothing quite like the open mouth, gummy smiles. Or the drunk baby contentment.



Mike and Layla were playing the other day and he got a bunch of shots of her smiling, but this one is my favorite. We are so thankful for our sweet girl. 



Parker Family Visit

We have had a busy past 2 weeks!

We went to the doctor on Monday and Layla's updated stats are:
24 in tall (100th percentile)
11 lbs 11 oz (64th percentile)
her head is about 40 cm, which puts her in the 90th percentile-ish (I can't tell from the dr's report the exact numbers on this one.

She got her 2 month immunizations. She handled it like a champ. The nurse who did the shots told us that how we react will dictate how she reacts. So we both held her hands and talked to her while she was getting the shots. When she got them, she screamed bloody murder. One of those silent, open mouth, quivering bottom lip, gasping screams. And of course, like the stellar parents we are, Mike and I both started laughing. The nurse was like, "Um. That's not what I meant."

Layla calmed down pretty quickly, and overall didn't seem too bothered. No temperature or rash or anything. She seemed a bit lethargic, but that's it.

We had the last of our "Grandparent Visits" this week. The Parker family, Mike's Aunt Margaret, Uncle Bob and Cousin Seth, arrived on Saturday morning to meet the lovely Layla. Layla absolutely loved them. She was very relaxed and slept a lot.

We had such a nice visit with them. It was really lovely to have them all the way from Alabama. Bob and Mike did things around the house and Margaret and Seth helped with meals, read and we all played games in the evenings. It was a really nice visit.




We went to the waterfront in Alexandria for a little walk on Sunday afternoon after church. Seth took great care of Layla in her stroller. 



On Monday evening, we got Layla all dressed up in her Alabama finest, so that she and Seth matched. I am sure it won't be long before she's shouting "Rooooolllll Tiiiiiddddeee" with the best of them!







Saturday, May 11, 2013

Meeting the family!

This past weekend, Mike, Layla and I went to Salem to see the family and for Roanoke College's graduation. Layla got to meet her Uncle Matt for the first time, along with all her great uncles John and Mark and aunts Judi and Jodi. She even met her 2nd cousin, Silas and his mommy and daddy, Ada and Drew.



I love these mountains. 

Layla getting some serious wisdom

Uncle Mark and Layla. She promptly farted
up a storm... I think it was in UM's honor.

Uncle John and Layla were very good friends.

The babies meet for the first time! Silas is
SO CUTE and grown up at 4 months!

Love this... 

Sleepy girl. 

Matty, AJ and Layla 

Uncle Matt holding her for the first time. 

Jodi and Layla enjoying some downtime.

AJ and Layla solving the problems of the world.

I love this picture. I wish it was in focus.

Jodi and Uncle Mark helping Layla get warm.

Layla also got to meet her step cousins the Browns, who were extremely excited to hold baby Layla. On Sunday morning, we got the opportunity to visit our dear friends Scare and Emily and Katie. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures with Katie (ugh), but we got photos with Emily and Scare. 

Julia and Layla. I used to babysit Julia. 

Sophia and Layla. Sophia was very attentive to Layla's needs.


Love. 


Such a sweet picture


On our way from DC, we had a minor complication... A vulture chose to have one last bite of roadkill rather than survive, and hit our windshield. Evolution at its finest. We tried to get it fixed on the road, but it couldn't happen so we drove to Salem like this... We didn't even have time to be scared. Layla slept the whole time.



Dad gave the commencement address and we celebrated with the annual Stonewallapalooza, which is a huge party/bluegrass fest Jen and Dad throw in their driveway and backyard for the graduates, staff and faculty of the college. The whole family was there. It was a very celebratory weekend as it was also one of the last big events before Dad retires in June.

Laughs before the address starts.

There were about 5000 people in the audience. 
I was so proud to be in the audience. I was even prouder to have our Layla hear her Grandpa give the talk of a lifetime. He did it without notes and without fear. It was such a special moment to be a part of. Here's a link to his talk. The audio isn't great, but the message is clear. There are a lot of voices out there calling for attention, but the only true call, the only important call is that which tells you your vocation. 

This is challenging. Mike and I have been feeling it and hearing it every day. We are about to embark on a major life shift, with him quitting his professional job and taking on a much more challenging job of staying at home with Layla. I am about to go back to work and to figure out how to be a strong, successful professional leader and most importantly a mom and wife.  We are opening ourselves to a new vocation, a new call. We are doing our best to listen and to not be rigid and to fearlessly enter into this next stage of our lives.