7 Months Old and the End of Summer

Dearest Little Lyla,

"Little little Lyla, little Lyla Lyla Lou, little little Lyla, Mommy loves you!" I've been singing this to you lately and it makes you smile and giggle. You are so cute!! Today you are 7 months old!

7 Months Old!!

In the last month you've learned so many new things. A week or two before you turned 6 months old you started mastering sitting up and also going up onto all fours, preparing to crawl. By your six month birthday you were crawling slowly, and now, you have mastered the crawl. You are so fast!! You follow us around the house and like to get into everything! (Mommy's purse, the cupboards, your diaper bin...) You've also started pulling up to your knees. We think you will be pulling to standing any day!

You are a cute little crawling machine!! Today was your first time crawling outside!

You recently said your first word..."Dada". You have been obsessed with looking at pictures of Daddy or seeing him in person, and saying, "Dadeee, Dada". The other night you and I were in your room and we walked into the kitchen were he was doing the dishes and as soon as you saw him you said, "Dada!" We know that you know what you're saying. It's so exciting that you are starting to communicate. This morning you said something close to Mama for the first time. Your Daddy loves it that you said his name before mine!

What a funny little Packer fan!!!! 

Last night we were hanging out as a family watching the Preseason Packer game and I looked over and saw you hanging out next to Daddy looking like this. You were so relaxed, but it was just so funny to see you with your little belly hanging out and headband nearly covering your eyes!!! This picture made Daddy and I laugh. We love it!! Go Pack Go!!

Some new foods you've tried:

Mango: You LOVED the mango and tried to grab it out of my hand as soon as you got your first taste of it.

Kohlrabi: You were not a fan! Daddy and I laughed when you made grossed out faces and gagged like a little drama queen. =)

Oatmeal: You tried this for breakfast and didn't have much of a reaction. I mix it with fruit and you seem to like it better than.

Butternut Squash: You really enjoyed this, no surprise because it's pretty similar to sweet potatoes, which you love! I mixed it with applesauce and carrots, you loved the blend of flavors!

I've still been making all of your food so that it's fresh and healthy! I hope that I can continue to do mostly this even when I am back into the full swing of working. I have fun making food for you and seeing how you react to different blends!

Unfortunately, with your 7 month birthday, comes the end of summer. =(  I can't believe this time home with you went by so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital in the freezing cold winter. Now today, it's 97º out, you are crawling around like crazy, and it's time for me to go back to work. Tomorrow is our last day at home together. On Monday you will start going to the Lemke's house where you will play with baby Erica and your nanny Asah. I am so sad that you will be spending more time with someone else that is not me, but I think that you will have fun with Asah and she will take good care of you. Daddy will drop you off in the mornings and I will pick you up when I'm done teaching the 8th graders for the day. I'm going to miss spending everyday with you!!

I loved walking around the lake with you most days. I loved going to Mommy & Baby yoga class on Wednesdays. I loved spending time with our besties playing. I loved seeing you splash in your little baby pool. I loved carrying you around in the Beco baby carrier as we would water the flowers and garden. I loved reading books to you! I loved singing silly songs to make you smile and giggle. I loved spending my summer with my baby girl! I loved all of these things, but not as much as I love you!

Here we are taking a photo break from watering the flowers! Look at your adorable smile!!!!!

"I kiss your little eyes, I kiss your little nose, I kiss your little forehead, now here's how it goes....I love you and love you, I love you and love you. Little Lyla Jane, I love you and love you."

What a beautiful family we have. You light up our life little Lyla!!  We took this picture with the camera on a tripod and used the self-timer. Daddy danced around like crazy to get your attention and then jumped into the picture, not bad!!! You are such a gorgeous little baby, look at those eyes and that smile! 

There are so many things we love about you, little Lyla:
*We love when you are crawling and push into the "downdog" yoga position. (You now get your feet flat on the floor like you are trying to stand up.)
*We love when you crawl over to us like you are saying hi and sit by us.
*We love that you giggle when we say "stinky feet!"
*We love your reaction when you have air blown onto your face.
*We love how you go crazy jumping up and down in your jumperoo.
*We love that you say "Dada"!!

Love you forever little Lyla,
Mommy

Happy 6 month birthday!!!

Dearest Little Lyla,

Happy 6 month birthday big girl!!!!

You're 6 months old today!!

I can't believe how big you've gotten and how fast these first six months went by. I've been having so much fun with you this summer. Of course, the time is flying by. You are such a good baby. You smile a lot, you don't cry very often, and you are so much fun to be around! I look back at the pictures from the first week of your life and am in awe of your growth in such a short time.

You had your 6 month check up today:
28.25 inches = off the charts
19 pounds, 2 ounces = 90% percentile

In the last two weeks you've mastered sitting up.

In the last few weeks it seems like you've turned into a little person! You went from only being able to lay on your blanket and roll over, to being able to sit up on your own and scoot all around. (Almost crawling!!) I think you will be fully crawling within two weeks. Your personality seems to be that of a very independent person. You like to figure things out (today you were exploring the wipes container and started pulling wipes out...and trying to eat them.) I think you will be kind, a little bit shy, but very happy. Your little personality is really shining and I love it!!

Here you are at yoga class this month with your friend Amelia.

Most days after yoga we walk around the lake with Amelia and her mommy, Angie. You are such a good girl at yoga class. You love watching the other babies. Lately, you and Amelia like to crawl to each other's blankets and play together, like in the picture above.

More yoga fun!

To celebrate your 6 month birthday, we went to yoga like usual today (since it's Wednesday). By the looks of it, you had lots of fun. This week you made the first progress toward crawling. You've been propping up on all fours for about a week and a half, and now you move your legs and sometimes your arms. At yoga today you proved that you're really good at crawling on people already!!

Here you are with your bestie, Mila, each month since you were both born!!!

We hang out with our besties every week and it has been so much fun to see you both grow. This week we met Sarah and Mila for breakfast, went shopping, and then went to their house. You loved playing with Mila and her kitty. You pulled on his hair and kept smiling. Sometimes Miss Mila makes high pitched noises and you used to cry when she would do it, but you've gotten used to it now! We love our besties!!!

Here you are attacking Daddy's face. 

You love playing with Daddy when he gets home from work or school. (He's getting his MBA from The University of Minnesota right now, so he's at class two nights a week.) Daddy can always get you to laugh and smile. Everyone says that you look a lot like your daddy. You love Daddy and he loves you!

We've been adding to the foods that you've tried:

Green Beans-Not.A.Fan. You gag each time I have you eat them. You will eat them, but you make faces and gagging sounds with every bite! Talk about dramatic, but cute!!

Peaches-You tried peaches this week and you really like them. I buy them off a truck that comes up straight from Georgia. Yum! We went with our besties to pick them up last week. It was a fun little adventure.

Peach/Avocado blend--tonight I blended these two foods together and it was a hit! You LOVED it. You kept opening your mouth as Daddy fed you. You ate all of it and wanted more. 

Things we (Daddy & I)  love about you, our sweet Little Lyla:

We love the face you make when we say, "kick your feet, kick your feet" when you're in your bouncy chair...and then you respond by grinning and kicking your feet.

We love that you figured out how to jump up and down in your jumperoo. You get so excited!

We love when you attack your lovey, Monkey, especially in your crib.

We love when you grab Daddy's nose. (Mommy probably loves this more!)

We love when you smile when you see us across the room.

We love that you still love the "kikiki" sound. It makes you grin!!

Love you forever baby girl,

Mommy

5 Months Old & 4th of July

Dearest Little Lyla,

Happy Belated 5 Month Birthday and 4th of July!!

On the weekend of your 5th month birthday, you also got to eat real food for the first time. You'd been showing all of the signs that you were ready for "real food!" I was hoping to wait until you turned six months old, but you had other plans. You started with organic brown rice cereal a few times and then we moved straight to the real food. The first time we fed you the cereal you grabbed the spoon and pulled it toward your mouth! Your first "real food" was avocado. You loved it!!

Here you are after eating the avocado for the first time. YUMMMM! 

Since the avocado you've also had:

Homemade applesauce/apples: You really liked the apples and applesauce I made for you.

Sweet potatoes: These were a huge hit with you, you smiled when you had them for the first time and ate lots each time I gave them to you.

Banana: You just had bananas the other morning with breakfast. Your first bite seemed like you weren't going to like them, but you continued eating them. I wouldn't say that you LOVE them, but you definitely keep eating them, so they must be tolerable.

I'm looking forward to making as much of your food as I can keep up with. (I'd love to make all of it, if possible. I know it will be harder when I have to go back to school in the fall.)

 I'm currently writing this post from Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Tom's cabin in the U.P. We made the trek up here to spend some time with the family for the 4th of July. Instead of making the 8 hour drive from home, we first drove to Neenah and spent the night there and then drove up.

You had your first swimming experience here! We were blessed with beautiful weather and plenty of sunshine for swimming in the lake.

 Mommy & Lyla =)

Playing with Daddy...you're not sure if you like this!

Hmmm....I'll just sit here in my swimsuit and look around. You didn't splash and play like you do in your bathtub!

The second time around you seemed to enjoy the water more!

So cute in your big girl swimsuit. (I had to get you an 18 month suit...it was the only one that would fit because you're so tall!)

Your cousin Elayna loved swimming with you! She just turned 3 years old.

Cousin Ry-Ry loved to hold you, even though it seems like you're almost the same size! 

Cousin Gracyn loved to hold you and help feed you bottles. 

While we were up here we also stopped by Mommy's family reunion. It was for Grandpa Steve's side of the family. They have a reunion every year during the 4th of July time. We didn't tell your Great Grandma Levine that we were coming, so we got to surprise her. She was so excited to see you and to have all of her relatives meet you!

Here you are surprising Great Grandma--You loved her sparkly 4th of July vest and earrings!

Mommy's Aunts/Uncles, Cousins, and your Great Grandma Levine.

You're growing up so fast little girl!! I've had so much fun being home for summer break. We've spent our time: going to yoga on Wednesdays, spending time with our besties, taking walks everyday around the lake, and of course, playing! 

Things I love about you:

I love the way you kick your arms and legs when we bring you a bottle and you're really hungry!

I love the little "hmm" sound you make when you're content.

I love the big smile you get when you see Daddy or Mommy walk by.

I love the way you smile when we read Snuggle Puppy. 

I love the sound of your little giggle, especially when Daddy is pretending to eat your hands.

I love the way you kick really fast when we put you in your bathtub.

I love you forever baby girl,

Mommy

4 months old!

Dearest Lyla,

Today you are 4 months old!!!! I can't believe how fast the last four months have gone by. I had very good intentions of writing to you on this blog, but I knew I only had a short time with you on my maternity leave and I wanted to spend every minute playing with you or just staring at you, you're so cute!!

See, I told you that you are so cute! Daddy took this picture for us just the other day. That makes you about 3.5 months in this picture. 

You are getting so big. Two weeks ago I had to return to school after being at home with you for 14.5 amazing weeks of maternity leave. I was so sad to leave you and go back to work, but you've been in good hands. Daddy stayed home with you for awhile and Grandma Jane just spent the week with you. You had so much fun with her, it's so cute to see how your face lights up when she talks to you. This week when she was watching you, you rolled over from your back to your tummy for the first time all by yourself! She enjoyed taking you for walks around the lake and playing with you when Mommy & Daddy were at work. 

On April 16th (Grandma Jane's birthday)

you slept for over 10 hours at night. Until that point you were sleeping about six hours before getting up for a bottle. Every night since then you've sleep for 8-10 hours a night. Way to go!! Mommy & Daddy love it, of course! You really are such a good baby when it comes to sleeping (and everything else, really!). When it's time for a nap or bedtime, I lay you in your crib, put you in your swaddle, put monkey near your head, a Nuk in your mouth, and you go right to sleep! Your sleep habits have been a blessing now that Mommy is back at work.



Summary of maternity leave time together:
When I was at home with you we had so much fun. Every Wednesday we went to Baby & Mommy Yoga class at the yoga studio just down the street. You love yoga class.

 You love to look around the room at the other babies (there are usually three babies total), listen to the instructor's voice, and you love the baby Lyla massage time! After yoga class if the weather was nice we would walk around the lake with Angie and her baby Amelia.

Every Thursday we would meet Mommy's friend Nikki and her son Jack at the Mall of America.

Here you are with Jack taking a break from shopping!

We would spend the day walking around, since most of my maternity leave it was snowy outside. (It was the longest winter ever! We had snow through the beginning of May!!!) One day you had your first celebrity encounter. We were walking around the mall and we saw Tracy Morgan. He's a famous comedian that was on Saturday Night Live and is currently on the TV show, 30 Rock. He was asking Mommy questions about your stroller because his fiance was planning to get the same one. I made sure to get a picture to document your first celebrity sighting!

Sometimes our besties, Sarah & Mila would come to the Mall Of America too, they were there when we met Tracy. 















Speaking of our besties, we got together almost every week (and sometimes multiple times a week) for playdates with Sarah & Mila. Here is a picture from the first time that you and Mila met:

You decided to pose for us in the identical position!

One of our playdates consisted of a trip to visit the Easter Bunny. We were amazed that you and Mila both stayed asleep for a picture of the Bunny holding you together!

Sarah and I have so much fun watching the two of you together. You and Mila love to stare at each other, play, and hold hands! It's so cute! One time when you were playing together Mila stuck her hand by your face and you starting sucking on it.

I'll update the blog soon with lots of Lyla & Mila pictures! We love our besties!

Mostly, I had so much fun being able to spend everyday with you during my leave from work. We had some long days because Daddy would have night class and not get home until 9:30pm. I have 9 more school days until summer break and I can't wait to be home with my baby girl again! This next week Grandma Wendy & Grandpa Tom are visiting and Grandma Wendy will take care of you when we are at work. 

Here are your 'first year' pictures that we've taken so far:

May 24th, 2013---4 months old, with Grandma Jane

April 24th, 2013---3 months old, with monkey

March 24th, 2013---2 months old

February 24th, 2013---1 month old

Things I love about you, my baby girl, my little Lyla:
I love when I go to get you out of your crib after a nap or in the morning and you look at me and your face lights up with a smile.
I love your little giggle that we hear often now!
I love that you babble and talk a lot when you get tired.
I love the cute little noises you make, especially the high pitched little sigh you make.
I love when you grip onto my finger when I feed you a bottle (you usually have your other hand on the bottle).
I love you!

Love you forever,
Mommy

Mommy's (and Lyla's) birthday

Lyla love-- Happy 1 month birthday! Today is my 28th birthday and having you here (and sharing your 1 month birthday!) is the best gift I could ever ask for. This first month flew by and you've gotten so big already. This weekend Grandma Jane came to visit you again. We spent time hanging out together and the three of us went on your first shopping trip. We drove to the Albertville Outlet Mall and I picked out a birthday gift from Grandma. You slept the whole time! Grandma Jane fed you your bottles at night so that I could get a few full nights of sleep. =) Right now you are sleeping in your crib. So far you've napped in there during the day, but you have been sleeping in a cradle in our room at night. Actually, you and I have slept in the living room most nights in order to let Daddy sleep well! He is very busy right now with a new job at work and two graduate classes at The University of Minnesota for his MBA. I think we will try out your crib tonight and see how it goes. Typically you get up once during the night, but I suspect it will be twice tonight because you went to bed a little earlier than usual. This week I will post your newborn photos. I just got them back from Alyssa and they are beautiful! Things I love about you my sweet Lyla: 1) how you hold your hands in little fists by your face 2) how you stare up at me or Daddy when we feed you 3) that you fake burp (ie make funny noises) during feedings to try and get back to the food faster 4) the funny faces you make 5) your little smile we've seen a few times =) 6) I love how much we love you! Happy 1 Month Birthday Lyla Jane- Love you forever, Mommy

Your birth story --From Mommy

Dearest Lyla Jane--

One week ago yesterday was the big day that you finally joined us. We were waiting so long to meet you and you decided to show up one week early. I woke up at 5:30 that morning surprised that I had slept through the entire night without waking up. (I had been getting up 1-2 times each night at least before that.) As I got ready to go to school I thought I felt a contraction. It didn't seem strange though, because I had been feeling contractions on and off for a week and a half. As I made the fifteen minute drive to work, I felt another contraction about 30 minutes after the first one. I called your Daddy and told him that he better keep his phone near him at work because I felt two contractions already.

It was a big day for me at school and all week I kept telling my coworkers that I just needed to get through Thursday. My 8th grade students were having presentations that day that were open to the public and their families. I knew that having a substitute teacher that day would be a management nightmare. As the day was going, my contractions were still coming about every 30 minutes. I had an app on my iPhone to track them, but it was hard to do that as I was grading student projects, talking with parents, and managing the chaos that comes along with 8th graders and a project/presentation day.

I was so busy at school that I didn't check in with Daddy again all day and responded once to a text from Grandma telling her I was having contractions (she was very suprised!). As the day moved on, my students could tell that I was having contractions and I knew that they were coming closer together, but still only about every 25 minutes or so. The nurse at school was following me around yelling at me to sit down because she didn't want to deliver a baby at the middle school.

I finally made it through the day and realized that I better get things ready for a sub the next day and clear my last minute things out from the classroom. I knew in my heart that this was real labor and I would not be returning to school for 14 weeks. At 3:30 I finally called Daddy to tell him I would be leaving school. He answered the phone saying "so they stopped?" He was assuming the contractions had not continued throughout the day because he had not heard from me (I was just too busy!).  I told him that now the contractions were just over ten minutes apart. Daddy was supposed to have his first night class for graduate school of the semester that night. He asked what he should do about class. I couldn't make up my mind at that point and asked if he could just stop at home before going to school to check in on me.

At that point I was having a hard time concentrating, which was causing me to take longer to leave school! I finally walked out the door at 4:00pm and my contractions were just about 8-9 minutes apart. I called Daddy from the car on the way home and asked if he could come home immediately. (I actually called about five times and he didn't answer, which made me nervous...turns out he had gone to the bathroom.)  When I got home it seemed like forever before Daddy got home, by the time he got  home my contractions were less than 7 minutes apart. We gathered our belongings and called the doctor to make sure it was time to go to the hospital.

When we left home at around 5:35 my contractions were about 4 minutes apart. Of course, it was rush hour when we had to drive from our house in South Minneapolis to the hosptial in St. Paul. Daddy was nervous and dealt with that by making jokes on the way to the hospital. (I did not really find it funny at the time.) When we checked into the labor unit at 6pm, my contractions were a solid four minutes apart and I was already dilated to 6cm. (I kept saying throughout the pregnancy that I thought it would be awesome if I made it at home until I was 5cm, so I was proud that I made it to 6!) I couldn't believe how fast my labor progressed from 3:00-6:00. The time was flying by.

At that point I decided that you had to be born before midnight so that we would share the same date of our birthdays just one month apart. Our friend Alyssa got to the hospital at the same time as we did. She was there to photograph your birth. During the first part of being at the hospital, I spent time in the bathtub and on the exercise ball. I was so surprised that I was doing well and didn't feel like I needed any pain medication at the time. It wasn't until later (about 8:00pm I would guess) that I had alot of pain and got just a small amount of pain medication. It helped me through the worst of the contractions and then it was time to push...and push...and push...and push. I pushed for 2 and a half hours total. It was exhausting. At one point the midwife started to tell me I had been pushing for too long (she didn't finish her sentence, which would have been that I might need to have you vacuumed out). As soon as I heard "too long" I kicked it into high gear. You were born shortly thereafter. I pushed you out in pretty much one big push at the end. I heard the midwife tell Daddy that he couldn't cut the cord because you'd done it yourself. Apparently your umbilical cord snapped at some point during the delivery. I will take credit for such strong pushing at the end. Thank goodness everything was okay with that. My midwife had never seen it happen before and the pediatrican of 30 years had never seen it either. I gave one last push after you were out and your placenta went flying out about six feet across the room and rolled on the floor. Basically, it could have been a scene from a movie. Most people take about 15 minutes of pushing to deliver the placenta. I made it nice and easy to be done.

You were born on January 24th, 2013 at 11:32pm. You weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and were 21.5 inches long. I was very surprised you were so big, because my midwife told me that Tuesday that you would probably be just under 7 pounds and that you probably would not be born in the next two or three days. She was wrong on both counts.

When they placed you in my arms you were so alert and looked up at me like you knew who I was immediately. You were the cutest baby I've ever seen. (If you have siblings when you read this, don't tell them, they will be jealous.)  For me, the whole labor flew by so quickly. I made it through the day at school and pushed you out before midnight. While labor itself is anything but pleasant (in fact it's very painful) it was the best day of my life. Your Daddy and I were in awe when you looked at us. We were so glad you were healthy and happy. When your Daddy held you and smiled and talked to you, I fell even more in love with him, which I didn't think was possible.

And so you have it dear Lyla, that's the story of your birth. As I type this right now you are laying on Grandma Jane's lap sucking on her finger. You've been with us for a week (an exhausting week, but more about that later!) and we couldn't imagine our life any differently now.

Love you forever--
Mommy