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Saturday, January 19, 2013

She's Two Months Old!


     Another month has come and gone and our little lady has grown so much! Layla was just one day short of 10 weeks old at her last doctor's appointment and she weighed 12 lbs., 2 oz.! I can't believe how much she is growing. We are getting to know Layla better every day and I love what I'm learning! She has such a hilarious personality (like her Daddy) and quite the stubborn streak (which I'll admit is just like her Mama's).
     Layla has gotten so much more vocal in the past month! She is constantly "talking" nowadays and its so fun to play with her. For the past week or so, she's been playing this little game where she will start humming while she's nursing and then she'll stop and look at me and wait for me to hum back. Usually after I hum in return, she'll smile and then go back to eating. We usually do this three or four times and then she gets a very serious look and returns to nursing as though she's thinking, "Enough play time, Mom. Let's get back to work!" This girl definitely takes her eating seriously! Haha!
     Layla has become sooo smiley in the past month and she has the best smile I've ever seen! Lately, it's been pretty easy to get her to smile. Layla thinks I'm quite hilarious, actually! She likes it when I do lip trills and when I make loud, obnoxious kissy noises. She still likes having her feet played with, too. It's become part of our morning routine for me to pull her socks off and blow raspberries on the bottom of her feet. Really, she's extremely happy in the morning no matter what I do. It's definitely her favorite time of day. She loves watching the ceiling fan in our bedroom so we spend a good 15-20 minutes just hanging out in bed after we wake up each morning.
We love cuddling as a family on weekend mornings!

She knows she's cute!
 So far, though, we have not been able to get the little lady to laugh out loud for us. She has laughed out loud once in her sleep, but I'm excited for when she starts to laugh in response to her surroundings. Nate and I each want to be the first person to make her laugh but I guess only time will tell who will win this little competition. ;)
     There are lots of little things that Layla does that just melt my heart completely. I've even got a picture to share for one of them!
Itsy Bitsy Finger!
So here's the explanation: We put Layla in nightgowns with built-in mittens at night because otherwise she scratches her face as she's squirming around in her sleep. Every now and then when I get her out of bed in the morning, I'll find her little index finger poking out of her mitten. For some reason, it just cracks me up! Her little finger just looks so darn cute sticking out of her mitten. I love it!
     For the past few weeks, Layla has decided that she doesn't want to nap during the day. She sleeps for a total of 10-12 hours at night which is awesome, but she doesn't like to nap which makes for a pretty cranky baby by the end of the day. During the day, she'll only sleep while she's being held. The second I try to move her, she wakes up and won't go back to sleep. Therefore, this has become a pretty common occurrence around our house:
I've got to tell ya, Mama doesn't mind the excuse for a nap, either! :) Seriously, my heart gets mushier and mushier with every single nap. I can't even begin to describe how much I love snuggling my baby and watching her sleep. She is the sweetest baby I've ever known and I really do adore her.
     During the day while Nate is at work, I don't usually get much work done around the house, but Layla and I have plenty of playtime. She's usually pretty content to lay on the couch and entertain herself while I get ready and make/eat breakfast and then she's ready to play. For the past week, I've been getting some of her books out and we'll lay on the couch and have "storytime". She seems to really like it so far! She looks at the pages and smiles as I read the book to her. It's so much fun! I'm definitely hoping that she will develop a love for reading and that storytime will become a regular part of her childhood.
     So far, Layla loves her doctor. He's really great with her and we are so thankful for that. I hope she continues to like the doctor and that she won't end up being terrified later on. Here she is after her check-up (but before shots):
     
Layla was such a trooper for her shots! She cried for less than a minute after the shots, nursed for 10-15 minutes, and then was happy and smiley! We ended up taking pictures of her afterwards because she was being so cute!
 

     Another thing I've started to notice is that Layla is starting to recognize other people. She's been able to recognize her Daddy and Mama since she was really little, but I'm also pretty sure that she knows her Grandma and her Aunt Kristy now, too. I'm thinking this because whenever she's being held by someone that she doesn't really know, she won't take her eyes off of me. She will twist and turn in order to keep me in view if I move around while someone that she is unfamiliar with is holding her. But when my mom or sister hold her, she's more comfortable and I can move around without her trying to follow me. I absolutely love that she is starting to recognize other family members!
     Speaking of Grandma....Nathan and I left Layla with my mom last week and went on our very first baby-free date night since Layla was born! It was hard to leave her (harder than I expected it to be), but it was so nice to spend a couple of hours focused only on each other without having to look after someone else's needs. Layla also drank successfully from a bottle for the first time that night, too. We had tried to give her pumped milk a few weeks earlier, but she hated the bottle and refused to take it. Without me in the house, though, my mom was able to get her to take the bottle and once she latched on, the milk was gone in no time. Now, of course, I actually have to start pumping again (which is such a pain!), but it will be awesome to be able to go on monthly date nights with my man!
     Our lives have changed so much in the past two months and the changes are definitely for the better! We've traded sleep for snuggles, a purse for a diaper bag, free time for toothless grins, and it has all been worth it! Being a mom is AMAZING and so is my Layla Grace!