New Entertainment

We've been stocking up on things to entertain Layla while Mommy's in the hospital and caring for the baby. We want our friends/family who care for Layla to be well-stocked with time-consuming activities! Here she is playing with her new Play-doh toys.

And in other news....the bathroom work is complete, aside from the walls being painted. However, tonight while Chris was showering we sprung some kind of leak. Not too happy about this, and hoping it can get fixed quickly. Monday's my first day of school and I don't want to smell!

Two Week Countdown!

Baby Josh will be here in two weeks....or less! To mark the occasion, Layla finally said his name today. I had a doc appointment and apparently I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I don't actually think this means much since even the docs can't really tell you whether you will progress into/through labor quickly or slowly. With Layla I had an appointment one day and was told that there was nothing happening. Well, the next morning my water broke. So....who knows?! We just wait and see.....and in the meantime....let the nesting continue!

Baby Book

Joshua's baby book and memory box arrived in the mail today. As great as the blog is, I think it's still important to have something physical to pass on to the kids when they're old enough to be curious about their early years. Plus, we have to have SOMEwhere to store exciting things like hospital ID bracelets and clippings from first haircuts :).

Tile!

For those interested, we're making progress! Layla is really interested in all of the work and wants to know the words for everything...pipe, faucet, tile, etc. And she LOVES our contractor. She gets so excited when he arrives and you know he must be special to her because she even napped through his work this afternoon!

Visit with Friends from PA

One of Mommy's high school friends (actually, we've been friends since 1st grade) was in town for a family gathering, so we were able to meet up at the American Girl doll store so that her daughter could get a new doll. Layla, of course, wanted to touch everything and even insisted on trying on the teeny tiny doll shoes.

The kids were really sweet with Layla. Sam loved making Layla laugh and Maddie was a great helper.

Even though she didn't nap at all yesterday, Layla was still up and ready to go at 5 am this morning. I wouldn't have minded SO much, but all night she was up every hour or two screaming. I still think it's that last canine causing her trouble, and it still hasn't popped through, so I expect more difficulties tonight. On top of that, she has been sneezing a ton today and started a runny nose tonight....no big deal for most families, but it may mean we need to ramp up the nebulizer, and I think everyone knows how I feel about that!

Oh....the tub is working well now!

Crazy Week

This is a crazy week. First off, I am now 36+ weeks. That means I am huge and uncomfortable. Combine that with Chris traveling for the week. Combine *that* with the bathroom renovation being done this week. The bathroom is ultimately a good thing, but it has certainly complicated things for Layla and me this week. It's meant finding alternative bathing locations and staying out of the house for most of the day. Layla generally naps for 1.5-3 hours, but this isn't possible with all the work going on right next to her bedroom. But we're coping. Yesterday, a generous friend had us over for a visit with her one month old and a use of the bath. Today started off rocky with a 5 a.m. start, but things turned around. After breakfast at Panera, Layla and I spent the morning at The Klubhouse, in Woburn. She could just about do all of the equipment at this indoor play space, but there were portions she did need help with. That led to ludicrous scenes of a very huge mommy climbing around on the bouncy and wooden structures. I was so proud (and, frankly, surprised) that Layla was able to climb this slide and slide down without incident:

She also had a ton of fun on the racetrack. There were lots of older kids there, so she nearly got run over a few times (like when she decided to get off of her vehicle in the middle of the track). But we managed to play for 2 hours and she only got a few bumps through it all.

I decided that lunch at the mall would lead nicely to a stroll/nap. I was wrong. Although she fell asleep on the 12 minute ride to the mall, she was wide awake once we got there. Maybe it was the ShotCake that we shared for dessert that kept her up, but whatever it was the kid did not want to fall asleep. I gave up after 45 minutes, put her in the car and she was out before I'd even made it out of the parking lot. So we drove.....and drove....and drove. In the end, she got her nap and I got to explore some local areas I wasn't familiar with. Not an awful afternoon.

The bathroom is still completely torn up, however the tub was installed today. With the insulation still exposed in the wall, I opted to skip Layla's bath. But I needed to get clean. The contractor had told me that I'd be able to adjust the water to whatever temp I wanted. Well....the faucet isn't actually on yet, so the water is coming directly out of the pipe. The hotter I tried to make the water, the further out into the tub the water shot. Until it was basically hitting the far "wall" and splashing. Not wanting to soak the insulation, I turned the water back down. Let's just say it was a cold bath and I skipped the shampoo! I'm hoping that problem gets fixed tomorrow, but I'm not too confident. I'm already bracing myself for the cold shampoo I may endure!

Tomorrow....a breakfast meeting with baby Liam, a trip to the Acton Discovery Museum, a gathering with coworkers, and a playdate with some neighbors. Should be a fun day! Hopefully it ends with a warm bath for us both :).

Great minds....

It's funny that Chris put up that post with the pic from the park. I was just about to post these other park pics.

Hot summer, cool toddler

It has been a bit since the last Layla Blog posting. Becky posts most of the time, but since she's busy caring for L and growing a baby in this hot summer heat I figured I'd step up and post something here.

Here is Layla checking out a flower at the a small unnamed (?) park on the corner of Mass. Ave. and Bow St. (our street). This is usually where Layla and I end up after our Saturday morning visit to Starbucks.

By the way, this pic is from a stream I post online at http://twitgoo.com/u/chrisfarnham via my phone and Twitter. It is yet another place to see what I (and by proxy Layla) am up to.

Layla's life lately includes the following activities:

• Reading books
• Going to the reservoir to swim
• Playing with the sprinkler in yard
• Waking mom and dad up way too early
• Learning to jump
• Petting doggies at the park, Starbucks, our neighbor's
• Playing with cousins and friends

Becky has been working hard at home. This summer probably hasn't been as much of a vacation as she'd like. I have been traveling way too much but thankfully I'm home this week.

What's in a Name?

In the last few days Layla has finally started saying her own name. It doesn't happen every time, but now when you ask who she is, on occasion she says "Yay-ya". Those L's are tough to come by!

We've also been looking at lots of old family pics and Layla has learned to say Mimi and Bumpa.