7 Weeks Already!

Most of you who know me know that from the age of about 12 I babysat every chance I got. Sure, I liked the extra cash, but I've just always enjoyed caring for kids of all ages (probably why I have the job I do!). Even when I was in grad school, and perhaps past your typical babysitting age, I continued to work for a handful of families in the Boston area. While working with these children, and by watching how their parents parented, I really began to solidify many thoughts on how I wanted to raise my future children.

Today, one of my former families came by to meet Layla. When I met them in 2003, Jonah (stripes) was just 16 months old; he's now finishing kindergarten and Ben is in middle school! It was wonderful to share my child with the children I once watched.

So today I thank all the families of the children I've had the pleasure to care for in recent years. Layla is lucky I met you :). Thank you Ben, Jonah, Nina, Lucy, and Auggie.

Little Fashionista

Note how Layla's pacifier perfectly matches her green and yellow froggy outfit.

Sleep Update...and other cuteness

Update on sleep.

The last two nights have been much improved. Layla's woken around midnight, 4 am, and 7 in order to eat. In between there were just a few cries or pacifier adjustments. We've been fortunate that she doesn't need the paci to fall asleep initially, but it does help in the night when she wakes herself up.

Last night Layla was asleep by 9:00. She didn't truly wake up until close to 10:00 am. One would think that after 13 hours of sleep she wouldn't still be yawning!





Layla's morning moods:



Content.















Excited.













Happy.
















Silly.

"Tummy Time"

This was not the most productive tummy time ever. It quickly turned into nap time :).

Good days...more difficult nights

Full of smiles, Layla has been having such great days lately. Up until about 4:00 she is happy as can be. Today we had two spit-ups, and even then she just looked at me and grinned, not complaining that her face was covered in the milk she had just had for lunch. By around 4:00 she starts to get a little bit fussy, and by around 8:00 she is down for the count. She's been sleeping a few hours...maybe till 11:00 or midnight. Sounds great, right? Not so fast.

The last few nights, after her initial long spell of sleep, Layla's taken to waking every hour and a half or two hours. It's tough to know if she needs to eat, and when she does, it's often not that much because she is sooo sleepy. That means she's more likely to wake up "early" again for her next meal. Sometimes we can give her the pacifier and gain another 45 minutes or so of sleep. Of course, I don't really sleep, because I then lie awake listening, convinced that at any second she's going to wake up either to feed or because she's lost her paci. The main reason this is as frustrating as it is is because a week or two ago, she was consistently sleeping 3 or 4 or even 5 hours at a time. And now I'm happy if we get 2!

At around 6:00 or so, if we wake for a feeding, I often will bring her in bed with us and she sleeps on my chest. She LOVES this, and sleeps for at least another 2 hours, often more. Not so comfy for me, but I don't mind. I love her cuddles, and plus, when she sleeps like that she's MUCH less noisy than when she's on her back.

I know this is all par for the course and will work itself out eventually. What are the chances that happens before I go back to work in February?!

End of Vacation

Chris headed back to work today and I vacuumed up Christmas, but Layla and I squeezed in one last holiday visitor this morning. Dreolin popped by before heading back to California. Unfortunately, I neglected to snag a picture as proof of the visit. You'll just have to trust me that we had a nice time; Layla slept, woke up happy, and then ate her "lunch". Thanks, Dre, for fitting us in to your East coast visit!

Now....back to reality. Well, back to the reality we were in before Christmas. I'm already dreading February when the new reality sets in and I return to work. For now, we won't think about that!

It had been 6 weeks...

...since Becky's parents had last seen Layla. She's changed so much since that first weekend of life, and Grandmommy and Granddaddy were more than thrilled to spend time (hours and hours!) snuggling and cuddling and kissing Layla, in addition to oohing and aaahing at her cute little smiles.



Granddaddy has the magic touch!

















Layla was pleasantly lounging in Grandmommy's lap. Hopefully Granddaddy managed to snap a pic of Grandmommy's face, since we failed to get one!