Leila's New Doll

As Leila gets older, she is getting better at letting us put her down for short periods of time while she stays content. She is also getting better about where she allows us to put her down.
I recently started reading a book on sleep training so that we get Leila off to a good start when it comes to sleeping on her own. In the book, it says that many kids struggle with falling asleep when they are put in bed because they were put down after they've become too tired. The book says that kids should be put down when they're getting tired but are still in a good mood.
Well, Leila started yawning yesterday morning, but was still in a great mood. She has trouble napping without being held, so I thought I'd give it a try and put her in her hushamok. (The book does say these ideas should be applied to babies 4 months and older, but I figured it was worth a shot.) She didn't fall asleep, but she didn't cry right away either. In fact, she decided to have a nice conversation with her sleep sheep. I didn't get the first half of it, but you can check out the part I did record here...

Leila also had some tummy time, which she tires of very quickly, so we spent some additional time with her on her tummy mat playing with the toys that hang over the mat.
You can see a bit of that here and here.

Last night, when Ryan came home, he was hanging out with Leila. She started to get hungry and thought his nose would make a tasty snack.

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Today, Leila came with me and her Aunt Rebecca on her first visit to the Galleria mall. We, of course, had to pay a visit to the Baby Gap store, where Rebecca found a cute little pig doll named Olivia. Rebecca showed the doll to Leila, who got wide-eyed and grinned and kicked excitedly. Being the loving aunt that she is, Rebecca felt compelled to buy the doll... and one of the Olivia books that the doll character comes from. How lucky is Leila?!

She even took a swing at it.

And these weren't even the biggest smiles! Is it any wonder Aunt Rebecca bought the doll?

Our First Mother's Day

Saturday night, Ryan and I took Leila on a quick trip to Target. The temperature dropped suddenly that night, so Leila's little sleeveless dress wasn't warm enough. I recently went through her closet looking at her size 3-6 month clothes and found some 0-3 month clothes that were hung in the wrong place. Among them, I found a green corduroy dress, a little yellow hoodie her Aunt Rebecca gave her, and a fluffy pink coat I bought a long time ago. I thought we'd take advantage of the weekend's cooler weather, so Leila wore her pink coat to Target and, even though I had already bought her something pretty to wear for Mother's Day, we switched gears and she wore the corduroy dress instead.

Her Daddy called it her "Diva" coat, but her Aunt Rebecca said she wanted to add the caption to the picture.

"Diva is a female version of a hustler"

(For those like me who didn't recognize this quote, it's from a Beyonce Knowles song.

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Saturday afternoon, "Uncle" Jeremy came over to work on his truck and later on, "Aunt" Rachel came over to eat dinner. Unfortunately, their little girl, Katelyn, was supposed to come too, but ended up having to stay home with a fever. We really missed her and hope she'll be able to come next time.
I had every intention of taking some pictures that night, but totally forgot. We were able to make up for it, however, on Sunday at church.

 "Aunt" Rachel and Leila

"Aunt" Alyssa and Leila

"Uncle" Chad and "Aunt" Heather

Here's a pic of Ryan with Karsyn Headley. She belongs to some of our friends that live in Lubbock and Ryan has known her daddy practically since birth and went to High school with her mommy.  Leila's daddy and Karsyn's daddy were born a month apart, just like Leila and Karsyn!

Here Leila and I are on our first Mother's Day, along with baby Karsyn and her mommy, Brandi, on their first Mother's Day, and "Aunt" Rachel and baby Katelyn on their second Mother's Day.

It's hard to believe that Leila will be that size in just one year!

Here is Katelyn taking an interest in her new friend Leila.

You can't really see it in this picture, but Katelyn and Leila were bow twins today. They were wearing the same exact bow!

On a funny note, Leila's daddy got her dressed on Sunday morning because Leila woke up late, which means I woke up late. So... we were running late. I had already pulled out the new green corduroy dress I had found and Ryan just had to put it on her. He did a great job and got the dress on and zipped and the blue tights pulled up tight. Ryan was holding Leila during the service, and I noticed something inside her sleeve area that looked weird. When I pulled up the back of her dress, this is what I discovered...

It's a little difficult to tell, but it is her diaper cover, still attached to the inside of the dress! Oh, the fun that daddies bring to the world of babies. It brings me so much joy!

For lunch on Mother's Day, we spent the afternoon with my family at my parents new house. It was our first get-together there and it was wonderful. I'm so thankful that they have been so blessed. I did, of course, forget to take pictures again.

I did, however manage to get one while we were at Ryan's parents for dinner.

Don't you just love Leila's hair?

Leila was apparently tired once we finally made it home, because she decided to get really comfy in her hushamok.

Doesn't she look like she's lounging lazily?

And, being worrisome parents, we eventually became concerned that her arms might fall asleep like this, so Ryan went over and pulled her arms down. She, being Leila, put them right back up by her head where she thinks they belong, but at least they weren't resting underneath it anymore!

2-Month Birthday

Well, I've already posted the Farm Friends smile, but I didn't post any video. After I caught the smile on camera, I tried the rest of the day to get it on video, but only got half-smiles, at best. It is some cute video, though, so here it is.
Video 1
Video 2

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Also, here is some video from the other day with Leila and her pink giraffe rattle.
Video 1
Video 2

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On Wednesday, Leila had her 2-month well-baby doctor's visit and we got her new measurements.

At 2 months, Leila...

Weighs 11 lbs. 3 ozs. (75th percentile)

Measures 23.5 inches long (90th percentile)

Since birth, she has gained 3 lbs. 2 ozs. and grown 4.25 inches!!

She also got several vaccinations in the form of 3 shots and 1 drinkable medicine. She seemed pretty sore on Wednesday night, and cried every time we moved her into a different position while holding her. Luckily, by the time she woke up for her 4 a.m. feeding, she seemed to be feeling much better. We haven't had any side effects since then.

Another thing of note...

Leila squealed at me that morning. She was stretching her vocal cords and let out 2 squeals! Unfortunately, I didn't have the video camera (something that won't happen again!) and, although I've tried and tried, I haven't been able to get her to do it again. But, when she does, I'll be ready.

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I was able to go out with some girlfriends last night to see the movie Babies, and I had a great time. Since I was going out, we didn't have a chance to take her 2-month birthday photo until today. So, here she is...

Thank you, Aunt Renae, for such a cute dress! It's so comfy, too.

Here are a few more shots we liked.

Leila's puppy always seems to make it into the pictures. She just can't get enough of her baby!

I mentioned Leila is getting grabby, right? She discovered the bottom of her dress today.

She looked like she was trying to see what was underneath her dress, but the pictures we missed were of her trying to put the dress into her mouth!

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The other day, I posted a pic of the new resident of our mail basket in our entryway. Well, I discovered a new one, today.

Becca's cat, Betsy, apparently likes the basket, too.

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Here's a quick interesting update.
Last night, Leila woke up twice and fussed a bit. I usually try to wait to pick her up until she starts to cry, so I waited. She ended up putting herself back to sleep both times!! That's a first, and I am so proud of her! She seems to grow and learn something new each day. It's truly remarkable!

Tonight, Ryan and I went to dinner with Leila by ourselves for the first time since she was born. We went to Outback Steakhouse to use a giftcard we had received as a shower gift. (It was also good at Carabba's, which I would've preferred, but wasn't brave enough to attempt yet. It's got a low-lit, quiet, dining-by-the-fireside atmosphere.) It turns out that we could've gone to Carabba's after all. We were able to sit, order, eat, and leave without Leila waking up! It was quite a success!

Quick Ducky Pic

Well, Leila did a little better last night than she did on Sunday. She did sleep for longer stretches, but she didn't really go down until midnight or so, so I stayed up later than I should've. The same thing happened tonight. I don't really know what to do about that. She is up for long periods throughout the day, and, most nights, she doesn't stay down for the night until around midnight. We have our 2-month well-baby visit tomorrow, so I plan on asking the pediatrician what she thinks.

I'm excited about this visit because we'll get to find out how much Leila has grown over the past month, but I'm dreading it as well because Leila will be getting 3 shots. :( She got her Hep B shot at our last visit and never got any fever, redness, swelling, or any of the really uncomfortable-sounding stuff. I don't know if the shot caused her to be moody, because she was already extra fussy due to the thrush medicine. Luckily, we are done with that, so we'll see how things go.

I, again, don't have the cord for the video camera, so the videos will have to wait until my next post, but here is a pic from today.
Deedee, this one's for you...

This is how Leila feels about duckies! She did this for several minutes, today, but had stopped by the time I had Becca make a run for the video camera. Hopefully, we'll get some video of it soon, too.

The Planner is Now Plan-less

Blogs are supposed to be kind of like a digital journal, right? Well, here is some real journaling(sp?)...

Anybody ever feel like the world is leaving you behind? I've been reading Ryan's facebook posts recently and it sounds like everyone is making plans. I know of someone going to Haiti this summer, someone to New York. My 3 sisters and brother-in-law are spending 3 weeks in Europe (a little more time than my 2 trips combined). I just heard a friend got engaged (congratulations Chris!), another is getting married, and 3 are having babies. Another 2 friends are making plans and preparing to start nursing school in a couple of months. My parents just bought a new house after renting for 32 years and a friend is packing up and moving from Austin to California. My sister-in-law got married in January and is finishing up her bachelor's degree and getting ready to start her master's. Two of my sisters are looking into purchasing new cars. The list seems to go on and on!

Now, what am I doing, you ask? I'm sitting here feeding my almost-2-month-old-daughter praying that the pattern she started last night won't continue and that she'll go back to sleep (in her own bed) and sleep longer than an hour and a half. My plans for this week include a doctor's visit for her 2-month check-up and... well, entertaining and taking care of her. Oh, and I am planning on going to the movies!! It will be my first time out without Leila (other than doctor's visits) since she was born and I've got to say, I'm a little nervous.

I would not, in a million years or for anything, trade my time with my baby girl. She is my precious gift from God; my little miracle; and I'm grateful for every moment I spend with her. But, I just found out that all of my hard work over the past year, and all of my well-laid plans have all been for naught. That "the wind is moving but I am standing still", and I'm trying to figure out where to go from here while it seems like everyone else has got it figured out and is moving forward, even if it is just toward a vacation. (Does this sound as selfish to you as it does to me?)

This is where that contentedness I mentioned comes into play. Here I am, so blessed to have my precious baby girl in my arms, and I'm upset that I'm not making any big plans. Don't get me wrong... Having a baby IS a big plan. But, after the having comes the raising, and the first few months are a blur of feedings and changings and not much else. I guess I'm just feeling a little claustrophobic. (Thanks, Rachel. I don't think the movie could've come at a better time!) I'm so used to always
moving; usually having too much on my plate. I guess I'm not good at not doing and just being.

Lord, help me to be content in all things. I really want to enjoy this special time with Leila. I'm sure there will come a day when I will wish I had no plans and had the time to just be a mom. Help me to learn to be thankful for where I'm at and not always worried about where I'm going.

Learning to Be Content

So, here's what's going on with us.

I've been getting a bit frustrated about the way the mail ends up on the kitchen table and seems to find a home there. So, I went looking through the house for a basket we could put in the entryway to house the mail until it is opened and discarded or finds another home. I didn't realize I'd be creating a home for something else, as well.

Isn't he such a funny cat?

Last week, Leila received a special gift from a retired Navy Chief Ryan used to work with and his wife. They sent her an adorable blue dress that will fit her later this year, and a soft pink giraffe rattle. We've tried getting Leila's attention with toys before, and it hasn't worked very well up until the last week or so. But, out of everything we've tried so far, that rattle seems to be the favorite. (Thank you very much Jose and Moire!)

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Here's a video of Leila talking a bit again. Just ignore it if you're getting bored. But, for all of you family that would watch hours of this stuff, this is for you. (Click on the bright pink link above.)

We're putting this picture in because Leila's daddy thought it was funny and needed to be captured on film.

Leila's hair can get a little crazy sometimes. :)

Isn't this just the cutest little face you've ever seen?

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These are some pictures of Leila learning to be content - something she's starting to get so much better at. Some days I can put her down, get into and out of the shower, AND get dressed without her ending up in tears first!

I'm really hoping that Leila learns contentedness earlier than I have. I still struggle with it all the time. My goal is to be "content whatever the circumstances" (Phil 4:11). I have yet to get anywhere close to this goal.
This is coming up now because I have recently learned that I did not get enough financial aid and will not start nursing school this month. I do plan on continuing to pursue my RN's license. It is my goal and I'm not giving up. I'll just have to find another way to get there. It may not be my ideal choice, but my ideal is no longer an option, so I must come up with a plan B. (Right now, plan B is to look into the community college options.)
On the bright side, I won't be able to get into any programs earlier than next spring, and this means that I will have the rest of this year to spend with my precious little girl! I am disappointed and unsure of many things right now, but I am thrilled that I get to spend Leila's first year focusing on her, without the pressures of nursing school. I truly believe that God knows exactly what I can handle and what is best for me, and I trust that I'll get where I'm going, in His time. (I just wish I knew what, when, and how it will all take place!)

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Friday night was spent working on cakes. This is just the second week that I've taken orders and I only had 3 to do, but those 3 kept me up pretty late. Part of the reason was that I had an order for a mad hatter style of cake. It is the 3rd one I've done, and I get a little faster and a little better each time. Here is a picture of it.

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On Sunday morning, we went to church and Leila was able to hear her daddy play the drums for the first time. I wanted to get a picture, but Leila ended up asleep in her car seat too quickly after church ended, and we didn't want to wake her. I'll have to make sure I get one next time!
Sunday afternoon, we went to eat with Nan and Poppy and then went over to their old house. It will probably be the last time we will see it while we still have the ability to go inside, so we decided to take one last look. We, of course, had to get a picture of Leila with her Nan and Poppy at the house I'll remember as the last and longest home I had with my parents.

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(Attention. There are bright pink links to video below!)
This afternoon, Leila and I had a fun reading time again.
Her Deedee gave her a book called Farm Friends. She paid attention to the whole book, but lit up with a smile when we got to the page with the duckies. (She did this two different times when I showed her that page, but I failed to get a picture both times. I intend to keep trying, though!)

Doesn't she look like she's reading this book all by herself?! I promise that I did not pose this picture!

Aunt Danielle bought Leila some new board books by Sam McBratney, the author of Guess How Much I Love You. Leila loved You're All My Favorites.

I tried to get some good video of the last book we read today. It was another Sam McBratney book, Let's Play in the Snow. We got through a couple of pages before Leila decided she was done for the day.

Car Ride

I may get into trouble with Leila's daddy for posting this pic, but I just have to!
Leila's daddy strapped a sleepy Leila into her carseat, and the three of us got into the car to go to the grocery store. Leila was being so good and hadn't fussed at all, and I was wondering what was so different about this trip and just hoping that it lasted. She had a burp cloth over her lap, but I noticed a little bit of skin around her hip area and thought she might've worked her knee up inside of the seat belt where it shouldn't be. I lifted the cloth to take a look and... burst out laughing when I discovered this...

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?
(She was actually strapped in this way! I laugh now just looking at it.)