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