7 Months Old!!!

I can't believe that my baby girl is seven months now. I think I say that every month, though. She is just growing up so fast. Just when you think you have her down, she is doing something new. She is seconds away from crawling, which I am both so excited about and so dreading. I am sure it will be interesting, and exhausting once she finally gets there. Now when you set her down instead of sitting there and playing for a while she immediately leans forward into a sort of rock then falls flat like a turtle. It is a constant cycle that I am sure will continue until she is mobile. I hate the fact that we don't have carpet for her. Hard wood floors can't be easy on those little knees.

She is very determined and I am sure that walking will be right around the corner as well. She has been pretty good at the standing thing for quite some time, and now she is starting to pull herself up on things. It is never a dull moment. One thing that I am enjoying is the fact that she doesn't roll from her back to her stomach. She has done it a few times, but usually she will get to that point and then throw herself back onto her back. I love this, as I am a worrier, and the fact that she avoids it, makes me worry a bit less when she is sleeping at night. I'm sure once she can crawl, though, that will change, so I am trying to enjoy it.

As always, we did our month photo shoot. Next time I am sure Daddy is going to have to help, because it was rather difficult to keep her from trying to lean forward to crawl.

Beautiful Girl

I have been having fun doing a couple photo sessions with my little one. She is so smiley (most of the time, anyway), and now that she can sit up it makes for even more fun pictures. Here are a few of my very favorites.

A Few of Layla's Favorite Things

Here are a bunch of videos of Layla enjoying some of her favorite things.

Any time with Daddy is always special. She especially loves it when he gives her a bounce!

Layla absolutely loves Starbucks cups. Her favorite color seems to be green, so maybe that is why.

Such a good little eater. I love how she moans as she eats. She does that while nursing too. It cracks me up.

Not only does she love her daddy, she loves to say "dada" all the time. She also loves to do what we call, "bouncing the thumb". She does it for a moment in this video. So cute.

Layla loves to sit in the backyard in the afternoon and play with her bucket and blocks. She could entertain herself for hours out there.

And of course, jumping in her stimulus package.

We also just started our daily walks to the park. She loves to go on walks now that she can sit up and see out, and spending time in the swings is her new favorite past time.

And who doesn't love a good belly laugh?

But she doesn't enjoy everything. Here is a bit of that feisty girl coming out.

Six Months!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but we were without internet for a month! It is amazing that a company can have that long of a wait period to reestablish service. Our roommate moved out and as the cable was in his name we had to cancel it and start it again. So stupid the way those cable companies work. Anyway, we are up and running now, and I am sure my little Layla bug will be soon, as well!!! She is growing up so fast. It is amazing how much she changes from day to day. She finally hit the six month mark, and I can't believe it has already gone by. I was watching a video of her when she was about a month old and it's like she isn't even the same baby.

Just in the last month Layla has started saying her first word, "da-da," and just two days ago she said "ma-ma" for the first time!!! Although, I have heard that only three or four times since, and she says da-da all day long. It is quite cute though, especially when she yells it when she is frustrated. I tell her that is what I do when I am frustrated too. =) She has also started sleeping in her crib in her room at night. I miss having her in the bassinet right next to me, but it is so nice not to have to tiptoe around when we are going to bed. It was a very easy transition for her too. Probably because her crib has to be so much more comfortable than her bassinet was.

She has also mastered sitting up. I just decided the other day that she was going to sit up on her own, so we went outside and I propped her up on the blanket and gave her some blocks. After about twenty minutes of constantly swaying and me having to steady her, she had it down. It seems that all I needed to do was just let her try more from the beginning instead of holding her up all the time. But she is sitting up quite well now and is loving it. She especially loves that she can see out from her stroller so much better when we take our walks. It also makes it much easier for her to entertain herself, which is important, both for her and me. =)

I'm sure the crawling is going to be just around the corner now. She will lunge forward on all fours every now and again and then rock a bit before doing a face plant. It is pretty comical. I must say that I am really okay, though, if she wants to take her time with that. I wouldn't be surprised, since it seems like she isn't a fan of being on her stomach much anyway. She is funny because she will roll over from her stomach to her back all the time, but she refuses to roll the other way. She will turn as far as she can to reach something, but if she starts to roll over she will immediately roll back. It is kind of nice though, cause I don't worry about her as much that way.

She is a noisy little bugger sometimes. She loves to shout, and babble, and moan. I love it, unless she is doing her shrill shouts indoors. She is beginning to become more attached to toys and will sometimes fuss when you take something away from her. Yay... She is also starting to cut her first tooth. I don't know if that is to blame, but she seems to be a bit of a fuss bucket more often these days. She will seem fine then just scream bloody murder, yet nothing seems to be wrong. I'm sure this is just a small portion of the feisty little red head she is going to be! =)

Layla's doctors appointment was the other day and he said she is perfect!!! Well, he didn't have to tell me that, I already knew it. =) She was 14lbs 13oz and 25 1/4 inches tall. That puts her in the 25th percent isle, which is awesome. I am so happy that she is maintaining her weight and not loosing.

She has been on solids now for quite some time and she is loving it. Pretty much all of the veggies I give her I have been mixing with sweet potatoes or yams, and that works out great. She loves the avocado, green beans, butternut squash, and zucchini that way. Not so much on the artichoke, carrots, or peas. They make her gag. (Carrots always made me gag too) But we will periodically keep trying. She also recently started getting a fruit in the morning with some oatmeal. She has had pears, mango, and nectarines so far, and she loves them all. I love making food for her. It is quite therapeutic for me. Although I am running out of freezer space for it all.

Fun Times!

Layla is loving the fact that she has figured out how to jump in her stimulus package. It cracks me up to watch her little feet, because it is like she is tap dancing.

Layla had a great time at the river up at Aunt Sally's farm. She loved jumping on the beer holder with a giant lobster on it and kicking her feet in the water. I was surprised too, since that water is quite cold. Good thing it was about 95 degrees out.

Sometimes you just need to scream. Love this. She is such a crack up.

Aunt Sally's Farm

Layla and I drove eight hours north with my mom up to our Aunt Sally's farm for the fourth of July weekend. Unfortunately Pete had to work so he wasn't able to make it this year, which was a major bummer. Layla was such a trooper and did so amazing on the trip. She loved hanging out with her grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins so much.

The whole gang!

Chillin' with her Aunt Sally


And her Auntie Mandi


Giggles with Grandpa


Me and my Monkey


Loves her Uncle Matthew


Swinging with her Auntie Shelby


Sticking her tongue out with Justine...


and Matti...


and Mommy

We all walked over to the river across the street from the farm, which is quite chilly, so I wasn't sure how Layla was going to react to it, but she loved it. She had such a good time dipping her feet in and surfing on the floating beer holder.

Her Uncle Erik and Aunt Mandi got her a Johnny Jump Up for the farm, which worked out great. She loved that she could not only jump in it, but she could turn it and see in all directions as well. We also put her in the giant swing chair, which she enjoyed because she could swing and play with her toes at the same time.

She was such a happy little munchkin. She just loves being outdoors and was all smiles pretty much the whole time.

Having fun at the pond


Flying Layla


All giggles

All that smiling and giggling makes for a sleepy baby.

So bright!


It just doesn't get any cuter than that.

Five Months!!!

My how time flies. Layla is already five months now, which is crazy. She is changing and growing so fast. I took her into the doctors office last week because she has a couple red patches on her chest that I wanted to have checked out. They aren't anything to worry about and the pediatrician said they should go away on their own eventually. Luckily they don't seem to bother her at all.

She now weighs 13lbs 5oz and is maintaining in the 25% isle, so that is good. She is doing great with the solid foods now. We are doing avocado and sweet potato right now and she loves it. Though her first taste of the avocado by itself resulted in a bit of some dry heaving. It was rather comical. So I found that if I mixed a tiny bit of sweet potato in with it she will just gobble it up. She would be a relatively clean eater, because she doesn't spit much food back out at all, but she loves to put her fingers in her mouth so food ends up everywhere. It is usually best when she eats with just her diaper on especially since sweet potatoes are not easy to get out of clothing.

As usual, we had our month photo session and she was all smiles for me. Such a little ham sometimes. She doesn't look at the camera much these days though, so it makes it a bit more difficult to capture a great shot with her looking. So we got pretty lucky this round. =)

So love that crinkle face smile!