Friday

Layla had fun playing with Laura today. When I left today I went in to say bye and had to take a picture because they looked really cute. Toys were all over the place! When I came home I saw Laura and Layla taking a walk down the block.

I took a video tonight of the game Layla and I play where I look around her and whistle-then stop and look at her. She loves it.

I have two Christmas presents for Layla to wrap tonight from Santa!

The Christmas Tree is Up!

I finally got the Christmas tree up. It looks really small and ugly in the picture.

I am really liking Layla's asymmetrical new hair-do.

Crawling-up the stairs? Ut oh!

Grandpa face

Layla is feeding herself gerber banana treats-I love the toothless grandpa face.

Layla standing in her crib

New things...

I bought some Gerber Graduates banana fruit snacks today and gave a few to Layla. OH MY...I need to take a video of this. I am so sorry that I didn't! First..Layla puts it in her hand and takes it to her mouth. If she gets the food on her fingers she can get the food right in...but if not..she tries to put it in her mouth and it is so funny. Once the food gets in her mouth..she looks like a little old man. She makes this face...I really can not explain it so I promise that I will make a video of it if not tomorrow then the next day and post it.

Laura told me today that Layla crawled on the floor and crawled over to something and grabbed a hold of it and stood up.

I need some advice from all of you moms out there. I know you are reading this so you better help a mother out! LOL. When your baby stands up in the crib...or anywhere else for that matter...how do they safely get down? My sister was telling me about how Cosmo would stand up and cry because he could not get down. Now what happens if I put Layla in her crib and leave the room for a second? What if she stands up... and falls down and hits her head? I was sitting in her room with Don watching her stand up and she started to fall and we caught her. If we weren't there to catch her it would have been awful! What do you do?

I don't have pictures from today. My mom came over to pick up some of Layla's new pictures from yesterday. Thank god she came because I was trying to be super wife by cooking, feeding Layla, handling the dogs at once. It became overwhelming and my mom rang the doorbell and saved me. I had her help feed Layla while I had my dinner. Thank goodness for moms-if only mine lived here! I still don't know how stay at home moms do it.... I give them all major credit because it is way too much for me to handle!

Christmas Pictures

Layla's First Thanksgiving!

I love holidays and I love them even more now that I get to watch Layla enjoy them too. My mom told me this week that I am her "little holiday girl."

I was excited about spending the holidays with Layla and Don so I bought Layla a really cute outfit this week from my favorite baby store...Hanna Anderson. Her outfit ended up not fitting (it was too big) but she still wore her new tights, shoes and hat. Maybe the outfit will fit for Christmas with the rate that she is growing.

We woke up and fed Layla her first Cheerio today...We weren't really sure if she liked it. We then all got ready and went over to Don's cousin Rhonda's house and had lunch ...it was so good! I told Jymme that Layla had her first Cheerio and she said "it wasn't her first." I wonder how many firsts we think we are having that really aren't? I know my mom busted out a sippy cup and was feeding Layla water long before we did.... LOL. What happens at grandma's stays at grandma's... LOL..Until Layla talks. Oh..I know..that will go both ways! That will be interesting...

Layla and I went upstairs and played with the other kids in this great playroom that Rhonda has...Layla loved it. I think she really liked being around the kids. Rhonda was so sweet and gave us a few toys for Layla to take home and keep. I also found out where the mystery outfit came from. Jymme took care of Layla last weekend while we were in Vegas. Rhonda had given Jymme some things to give Layla and Jymme packed them in Layla's bags that we brought home. We were so tired that Laura ended up unpacking Layla's things, washed them, and put them away...so that is how the mystery outfit arrived at our house. I also found a cute pair of shoes today too. So..thank you so much Rhonda! (And Jymme-for your time with Layla)

Don and I then left and went to my other in-laws... the Ravkinds. I can't say how great they are and have been to me for the 10 years that I have known Whitney. There is no family like the Ravkinds...and I mean that! In college-I would spend Thanksgiving at the Ravkind's house and will never forget Family Incorporated. I was shocked when I found out that I had to sit in a big circle and stand up and tell the group who I was and what I have been doing. LOL. Seriously-I will never forget that memory and even though I was a little nervous about that whole thing..I will always cherish the memory.

Here I go...I get all emotional on holidays.

The entire Ravkind family played guitar hero (yes, every one of them) and we hung out there for a few hours. Everyone watched while each person played guitar hero and (let me give you a visual) about 10 people were in the room and half were playing air guitar while someone was playing. LOL. Layla was a little scared at first but at the end she had been held by every person there and was having a good time. Little Allan saw me changing Layla's diaper and told me not to worry about putting her shoes back on...she can take them off and be comfortable! LOL. OH MY GOD. ADOPT ME!I hope Layla turns out like that!

Don and I got home and I fed Layla and gave her a bath. It was hard to get her to go to sleep. I guess because she had not screamed all day (she was being shy??) she had to get it all out here... before going to bed. She was doing her high pitched scream for about 2 hours or so and she just went to bed.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! I feel it is so important to be around the people that you love during the holidays and I am very thankful for my family and everyone that I spent today with.

Tomorrow we do not have any plans but Saturday my mom will be here and she will be taking Layla for the night. Sunday I am taking Layla to get some Christmas pictures taken. I am also going to take her to get her picture taken with Santa. I hope she doesn't cry but I have a feeling she will!

PS-Yes..Layla is big. Yes..she has big thighs and is tall and weighs a lot. I know. And guess what...I love every bit of it! (Thanks Heather)

Layla stands up by herself!

I put Layla in her crib so that I could run and get trash can liners for her room...I walked in the room and there she was-Standing up in her crib with her foot lodged in the crack with a huge smile on her face. She can stand up by herself now. I called Don in to come see and he lowered the crib again. It is now to the lowest position.

This is the mystery outfit. I came home from work and Layla had this outfit on. I have NEVER seen this outfit in our house before and I know exactly what Layla has because I have put it all away a million times. I asked Laura if she found it in the drawer (I probably should have asked a different way...because I don't think she understood me) and she said yes. No way. I think she brought it over to Layla which is so sweet.

Layla Feeds Herself.

Screaming??

Last night was complete hell! We got home really late from our trip...Layla did not go to bed until about 1..and woke up at 2 am, 4 am, 5 am and 6:30. She wanted to talk all night... It was a nightmare for me. I had to get up early and get ready for a meeting today. I was about to walk out the door when it was cancelled. Just my luck.

Today all I heard all day were screams coming from the other side of the house. I guess this is Layla's new thing. I video taped a little of it right after Laura left for the day.

Talking and Laughing.

More Babbling

I heard screaming yesterday coming from the other room. It was Layla and she was doing this really loud. I tried to get Laura to have her do it again before she left but she was camera shy. She started again at night.

Blowing in her sippy cup???

So the new thing today is blowing. Layla woke up early and I tried to put her in bed with me with a bottle hoping that after I could get about an hour of sleep...Layla wasn't having it. She was laying in bed blowing .... I am not really sure what this is about...I guess it is just a new sound she figured out?

Tonight I gave her some water in a sippy cup and she was blowing into it. LOL

Sharing her Paci!

Layla did the cutest thing tonight. She was laying on the floor with me chewing on her pacifier....and she kept trying to put it in my mouth. Then she would take it back and put it in her mouth...and then try to put it in mine again. She is SHARING!! AWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Layla hanging off the couch

In case you didn't notice Layla's new thing to do is stand on the couch and hold on to the back.

Peek-a-boo and laughing....