Or maybe football

We had our one month pediatrician appointment today (a bit late, at 5 weeks, 4 days). Layla tipped the scales at 11 pounds, 13 ounces, putting her at the 95th percentile for weight. Luckily, she is also at the 90th percentile for height, so she's proportional!

Soccer Star!

Will Layla be a soccer player like her mommy and daddy?
All signs point to yes! Clearly, she's excited about it!

















Not only are they cute, but they rattle, too!

More Family

Aunt Meredith and Uncle Ronak traveled from St.Louis to visit after Christmas. Layla was on her best behavior while they were here...easy feedings, minimal fussing, etc. I'm not sure they got the true picture of this whole parenthood thing!


Here's Layla signaling "touch down" to Uncle Ronak.






And here's Layla being shy and hiding from the Paparazzi.

New Hampshire x2

We had two recent visits to New Hampshire. Layla did well on the car rides, which were good practice for our longer, eventual trips to Maine.



We spent Christmas Eve in Pelham with Aunt Trish, Uncle Kassam, cousins Ryan and Sarah, and Mimi and Bumpa. Ryan just LOVED watching Layla sleep and he spent much of the night talking to her and thinking about all the things she's going to be able to do soon. We made it home in time to get to bed before Santa arrived!







A few days later we headed to Auburn to watch the Patriots while we visited with Daddy's cousin Curt and his family. Here's Ally and Casey saying hello. Kevu (sp?), the dog, had a few good sniffs, too!

CRA Friends

There's been a baby boom at Chris's company. Here's Layla with her new friends!

First Christmas!

We have had such a fabulous Christmas....so fabulous that we haven't had a moment to blog about it!


Which one's bigger?

















Layla is closely examining the loot that Santa brought her. Santa knew that Layla didn't need much, so he focused on practical things like new pacifiers, bigger onesies, and a Spanish speaking octopus.















After all the excitement of presents, champagne, and cannolis, Layla passed out while....

















Mom and Dad made and decorated cookies.

Succes!

Layla slept well in her crib last night. Almost as importantly, Mom and Dad slept well. Layla managed about 5 hours in round one of sleep and then about 3.5 in the second round. Not bad!

Visiting with Grandparents

After leaving Georgia on Friday, Mimi and Bumpa drove from North Carolina all the way to our house on Saturday. They arrived around midnight, but at least they made it here in between snow storms.

Here we are in the first moments they met Layla, early on Sunday morning, while we were all still a bit sleepy. Layla though, was wide awake. She seems to always have a very pleasant hour and a half in the morning between 8 and 10 or so.



Here's Mimi saying hello!











With all the snow, there wasn't much to do except for cuddle and play....which is exactly what was on the agenda anyway! Notice Chris is not in the picture. He was probably out shoveling, which he did all weekend, for several hours each day.





Tonight Layla is attempting to sleep in her own room in her crib. She tends to be a very noisy sleeper at night...lots of snorting and pig-like sounds. She keeps Mom and Dad awake, not to mention nervous when we wake up to bizarre noises. So we'll see how this experiment goes and we'll update tomorrow!

Birthday

Happy One Month, Layla!!! We're celebrating with a snowy visit with Mimi and Bumpa. Pics soon!

Thumb!

While Daddy shoveled out the driveway, Layla hung out in the Baby Bjorn and found her thumb. Yum yum!

First "Play Date"

Last night Layla had her first play date, despite the fact that there was little actual playing that was done. It was more like a feed, cry, and look cute date. Alyssa is the daughter of Dave and Tami; Dave works at CRA with Chris. Alyssa's almost exactly one month older than Layla. She lives nearby in Arlington, so hopefully in the summer the girls can spend some time together at the reservoir or out on the town.

Favorite Toy

We've started placing Layla under her baby gym. It's the one place that we consistently get these near-smiles. She seems to love the tune that it plays and the lights that flash. I took a cute video of the whole thing, but I'm having trouble uploading. When Chris gets home hopefully he can work some magic so you can see just how much she loves her gym. In the meantime, here's a still shot of that cute little smile.

Daddy Time

One of Layla's favorite ways to spend an afternoon is curled up on Daddy while he reads from his Kindle. Chris has found the Kindle to be the perfect way to read while holding a baby....no pages to turn makes things easy!

Chris was on an overnight business trip on Tuesday, so Layla has been missing him. My friend Kate played back-up and came and spent the night with Layla and me. Layla had a good night, but it was comforting to know that I had another set of hands if I had needed them. Thanks, Kate!

Hopefully today's snow (1-3 inches) won't slow down Daddy's return!

And in other (fabulous) news....

Daniel is home!

Caitlin's Party

Lots of folks got a chance to hold the sweetest thing at the party. And there were some pretty tasty desserts there!

Hi, Tia!


Hi, Karen!







Hi, Johanna!






Hi, Daddy!




Such a small hand!

Cousins Visit

On Sunday we were visited by Aunt Trish and cousins Ryan and Sarah. We were happy to entertain them for a bit, while they sought refuge from their powerless house (thanks, ice storm) and the cramped quarters of their hotel room a few towns over.

The kids were happy to hold their newest cousin. Seeing Layla so tiny makes Sarah look soooo old and sooo big!

At the end of their visit, Aunt Trish held Layla for a good 30 minutes. Clearly, Layla did not want that arrangement to change. They got up to leave and the *second* that Trish handed Layla back to me, she produced a decent-sized spit up. I should have left her with Trish!

Busy Saturday

Saturday was quite the day. Layla and I started things off with our first trip to the grocery store. I was psyched that I got to park in the "Customer with Infant" spot. Score!

Then our good friends Harlan and Lao came by with their two daughters and a delicious lunch spread...complete with baklava. Layla has Annika and Cassie to thank for 99% of her wardrobe, so she was happy to see them so she could thank them in person. Here are the girls saying hello to Layla. After lunch we ventured to the National Heritage Museum right down the road from our house. We spent some time viewing the model trains exhibit. The big girls just loved it and Layla, surprise, surprise, slept through it all.

After the trains, we came home and were joined by four friends for dinner and a nice visit.

Finally, Chris, Layla and I headed out to Somerville for Caitlin's famous Christmas party. Layla was, by far, the most popular girl at the party.

After all of that, we had a pretty easy Sunday...just two lunch visitors and lots of football.

Here's a pic of Layla recovering from the weekend's excitement. Not sure who she was rooting for in this game :).

Party Girl!

Today Layla and I had our first outing without Daddy....to my staff Christmas party. The highlight of the party was that Layla actually woke up for a good 20 minutes of it. While she had quite an alert and awake day yesterday, today has been all about sleep. Prior to arriving at the party at 3:30, I don't think Layla was awake at any point for more than two straight minutes! That cannot mean anything good for tonight!

It was great to see friends and coworkers. They seemed pretty thrilled to see Layla, too (and me, too, I suppose!).



Before the party. Layla sporting her Christmassy red outfit. Thrilled to be posing, as you can see.









Even happier now that I unbuttoned the sweater to display her coordinating onesie.











At the party. Happy now in the arms of her North friends.











After the party. Quite cozy in her car seat!

Almost a Smile

Layla looks curiously at Daddy's funny face. We're anxiously waiting for that first "real" smile....but for now, we'll take the gas-induced version. Still pretty darn cute!

Layla (and Mommy) has a big day today. She's making her debut at Mommy's holiday staff party. It will be Mommy's first day out alone with her. Assuming all goes well, there will be pics to post later. Stay tuned!

The Babysitter's Club

Our friend Caitlin came by to visit Layla. In anticipation, Layla wore her hearts and love onesie (Thanks Tia!).

Caitlin announced months ago her desire to be Layla's go-to babysitter. Layla insisted on a try-out beforehand, so in the photo to the left, you can see Layla putting Caitlin through the "hold-me-while-I'm-sleeping" test.

Lunch time?

Here's some footage of Layla hanging out before a feeding.

First Mail

Layla received her Social Security Card yesterday. This was the first piece of mail to come addressed specifically to her.

Layla - Now in Moving Pictures

Here is a video of Layla being changed. I think we captured a range of emotions: quiet alertness, fussiness, crying and sneezing.

You can hear WBUR in the background. NPR is on pretty much all the time in our house and Layla has been a little crankier lately as she's experiencing her first pledge drive. I've explained to her that if only people would pick up their phones or get online and donate then we wouldn't have to put up with it anymore, but she wasn't having any of it. She's too young to understand and really just wants to listen to Tom Ashbrook without any interruption.

Trimming the Tree

As promised in our popular "Layla Picks Out a Christmas Tree" posting we are trimming the tree. Here I am adding decorations, still wearing my hoody and Carhartts.

We decided to set the tree up in our dining room as we couldn't quite figure out how it would fit into our living room.













We moved Layla's little rocker seat into the room with us so she could supervise. She insisted that we play Christmas music as we decorated but we realized that we did not have any Christmas CDs. No Roger Whittacker, no Nat King Cole, nothing. Luckily, searching around the radio dial, we found WROR 105.7 FM a radio station that plays all Christmas music, all the time (Boston locals take note). This allowed us to trim the tree in the proper spirit.
















Here's the end result. We completed the task by eating chocolate chip cookies that Becky baked.

Walter Visits Layla

Our friend Walter came by to meet Layla. Becky and I have been taking Spanish lessons for the past year. Walter comes by to do language exchange with us; we help him with his English and he helps us with our Spanish.

Layla Picks Out a Christmas Tree

Becky, Layla and I went shopping for the perfect Christmas tree this morning. It was a little chilly but thankfully it was a sunny and cheery day.

We ended up going to Seasons Four in Lexington, MA, just down the road from our house on Mass Ave.

In our apartment we always had a small fake tree on a table, so this year, in our new house, we decided to get a real tree.









As you can see, Layla was cozy in her Baby Bjorn (Thanks Will and Janine!). She was incredibly excited, as usual, and picked out the tree you see above.
















I'm not sure why I'm scowling in this photo. Honestly, I was enjoying myself.

I am in my, now ubiquitous, hoody and Carhartts. I swear I wear other clothes but since I've been on parental leave, I have no reason to look nice for clients or coworkers or anything. Plus the hoody and Carhartts are so comfortable and pretty much baby proof.

Stay tuned for more pictures of our fully trimmed tree in our home.

Growing Fast!

Layla had her 2 week weight check-up today. She was 8 lbs 1.9 oz at birth, she came home at 7 lbs 9 oz, and last Tuesday at her check-up she was 8 lbs 0.5 oz. Today she tipped the scale at 9 lbs 6 oz! She's a growing girl! She's also graduated out of the newborn diapers, and into the size ones. Truthfully, the newborns still fit her, but we ran out and didn't want to buy more since the size ones supposedly fit starting at 8 pounds. How did she get so big so quickly?!?!?

Thanksgiving Walk

Our neighbor, Henry Kon, just sent us this photo taken on Thanksgiving day. We were taking a walk around the neighbourhood and, seeing Henry playing ping pong in his garage, stopped by to say, "Hello." Becky, myself, and Layla are front-left. You can see my Dad and Charlie behind us.

Becky and I moved into our new home in East Lexington, this July. We feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such friendly and helpful neighbors. Layla will have plenty of friends and support growing up in our neighborhood.

Layla's Big-Little Cousins Have Good News!

If you're following Layla's progress, then you almost certainly have heard all about her cousins, Daniel and Sofia. The duo have been making so much progress lately, and it's looking like Daniel may even be coming home soon! Sofia is still working on her breathing, though it seems as if the doctors may have figured out what she needs in order to be weaned on the ventilator. Hopefully she won't be too far behind her brother.

I can't wait for the day that Layla gets to meet her big-little cousins. There's a link to the right so that you can continue to follow their progress.

Spitting Up

Layla has become fond of puking up a feeding per day. I love this because it means I get covered in goop and I have to do extra laundry. It's also great because then I have no idea how much milk is left in her tummy or when she will need to eat again. These puke sessions are especially fun in the middle of the night (last night at 4 am) when I spent a good 30+ minutes just getting her to EAT and then she gave it right back to me. Love it! (I apologize that there are no pics to go along with this post :). )

On Sunday we were visited by our good friends Joe and Natalie, along with their children Owen and Mia. Both kids were intrigued by the baby, but as you can see by the expression on her face, Layla was not all that impressed by the love and attention given to her by Mia. Hopefully Layla will be in a better mood the next time Mia gets to hold her. Chris and I have enjoyed many trips to Portland to visit Joe and Natalie; we've watched their children grow up and it's fun that we can now add one more to the bunch. Perhaps a Pilsbury-Farnham Sea Dogs outing will be called for in the Spring!

Growth Spurt?

Layla is feeding about every hour or so rather two to three hours as she usually does. We are wondering if this means she's going through a 10 day growth spurt. Feedings take about 30 to 45 minutes so Becky is busy and tired. Nonetheless, we're all very happy and enjoying the experience. She seems to change almost daily. This reinforces that these busy times will pass and that our miraculous little newborn is fast becoming a toddler. So we need to enjoy these days as much as possible. I'm so thankful that my job's parental leave is generous. I will be home at least through this week and have the option of staying home until the 11th. Life goes one however and I have interesting and demanding projects and clients waiting for me.

Our neighbors, Jay and Jennifer, brought us shepherd's pie for dinner. It was delicious and very helpful as we make sure Layla is getting all of the food she needs.

The Blanket!

Lori brought the blanket we made from my wedding dress by last night. It is so soft and warm and I just LOVE how it turned out. It's two-sided, with batting in the middle, so it will be great for cuddling up and keeping warm. We've already let Layla know, though, that there is no spitting up on this very special blanket!

Thank you, Lori!!!

Hangin' Out

At the end of another long day, Layla lounges with Daddy.