3 Weeks Old!

It is so hard for me to believe that Layla is three weeks old! I feel like she was born yesterday, but on the other hand I have been so busy with her and Ella it feels like I have been doing this for a long time. She is such a good baby! She is very calm and only fusses when she needs to eat, dirty diapers don't seem to phase her, but don't come between this girl and her milk!

As with Ella she is exclusively breast feeding and is doing great. I weighed her tonight on my scale at home and she weighed 9 and a half pounds! When I went to the doctor for her two week check up my scale said 8 pounds 2 ounces and the doctors said 8 pounds 8-1/2 ounces, so I am guessing she weighs a little more. She is now wearing some newborn and some 0-3 months, a lot of the newborn clothes are getting too short.

I really thought this was going to be very hard with Ella, but she is adjusting great. She loves her baby sister and constantly wants to kiss her, it is so sweet! She asks to see the baby all the time and loves holding her hand too. I hope as these girls grow up they are the best of friends!

Two Week Check Up

Wednesday morning I took the girls to the doctor for Layla's two weeks check up. They want your baby to be back to their birth weight at this appointment. Layla weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce at birth and at her two week appointment she weighed in a 8 pounds 8-1/2 ounces! Yes, she is eating well! I have a feeling she will follow in Ella's footsteps and be a big chunky baby. That is how I like 'em though. She had also already grown an inch and a half. No wonder all her newborn clothes are getting a little short!

First Bath

Last Friday Layla's cord stump fell off when she was 10 days old. Sunday night I decided it was time for her first bath. Of course, we couldn't find the little net that goes in her bath tub, so I improvised by putting down a towel for her to lay on. She didn't cry at all! She seemed to really like it.

My two sweet girls. Of course as soon as Layla got out of the tub Ella wanted in. It will be so much easier when we can bathe these two together.

Up To No Good

Lately we have been letting Ella watch TV in our room. That is where our DVD player is, so really it is easier than moving everything. Most of the time we stay in the room and watch it with her, but our bedroom is right off the family room so we do sometimes just keep the door open and watch her in there. Well, when things gets really quiet, or she hasn't come in our room in about 5 minutes I know she is up to something. A couple of nights ago I realized I hadn't heard her in about 5 minutes, so I sent Trey to check in on her. I knew by his face something was up and when he said "You have got to come see this!" I didn't know what to expect.

This is what we found...

In case you are wondering, that is mascara all over my sweet girl. She usually sits with me in the mornings and watches me put on makeup. I occasionally give her blush, but she knows where everything goes. I suppose when she was having a hard time getting the mascara on her eye lashes, she decided to use it as lip gloss instead!

What you don't see is that it is also all over her legs, feet, and hands. It took a lot of scrubbing to get the waterproof mascara off, but Trey finally got it. Oh, the joy of having a toddler!!!

Super Hero

Lately Ella has been obsessed with being a super hero. Every night after bath time she runs through the house with her towel over her shoulders like a cape yelling "Super Ella!". It is the cutest thing ever. She has also started getting Layla's blankets and wearing them as her cape, or as she calls it her "super".

Last night while I was changing Layla I heard Trey taking pictures of Ella and this is what I found on my camera. I love this girl!

A Nice Tan

I thought it was time for Layla to start tanning since it is almost bathing suit weather and I would like her to be a nice golden brown, so we bought her a baby tanning bed. Okay, so actually we went to the doctor last Monday for a follow up jaundice appointment and her jaundice lever had gotten to a 20 so the doctor ordered at home biliruben lights that she had to stay under for 24 hours. I was very sad her jaundice hadn't gone down and hoped the lights would help.

The lights were delivered Monday night at 8:00 and in she went. The first night was AWFUL!!! She hated not being swaddled and would only stay in the bed for about 45 minutes at a time. I got about 2 hours of sleep Monday not and no, those two hours were not consecutive. Tuesday during the day was better, she slept all day and stayed in the bed a lot. Tuesday night was the same as Monday night, but we went to the doctor on Wednesday and Praise the Lord, her levels were down to 13! With the good news came the great news that we didn't have to do the bed anymore! We just have to do sunlight 3 times a day for 20 minutes and I can snuggle with my baby all I want!



The Wait Is Over!

Tuesday, May 10th, we headed to the hospital at 5:00 a.m. My blood pressure had been getting high, so my doctor decided to induce me at 38 weeks. This is the last belly picture taken at 4:50 a.m.!!!!

I was a little nervous because I have heard bad stories about inductions. We got there at 5:40 a.m. checked in, headed to our room, and by 6:15 a.m. they had started the pitocin. They said I was having contractions on my own every 2-3 minutes, but I didn't feel them.

They checked me at 9:30 and I was dilated to a 3 and having very regular contractions, so at 10:00 they broke my water. My doctor told me I would go from smiles to very uncomfortable very quickly and would be asking for my epidural soon...she was right! I believe I received my epidural around 10:45. Then we waited and waited and waited some more. At noon I was complaining that no one had checked me and I didn't know how I was progressing, but no one came. At 12:45 I told the nurse I felt A LOT of pressure and it did not feel good at all, okay, it hurt...bad! She checked me and said that is because the baby was right there and we were ready to push!

We called my mom and sister in law, who had Ella, and told them to head to the hospital. My doctor said she wanted to wait 30 more minutes and if we could I wouldn't have to push much at all. I waited those awful thirty minutes and then it was time. I joked I was going to push her out in one push, and I almost did. I had to stop pushing because the cord was wrapped around Layla's body twice, so once the doctor gave the go ahead I pushed two more times and here came Layla!

They had to put an oxygen mask on her for a minute because of the cord, but after that she was perfect! She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 19-3/4" long. She has brown hair, but other than that she looks almost exactly like Ella!

Once again, I am in love!

Granny with Layla and Grandma with Ella. Ella wasn't too sure what to think of the baby. She was more concerned with the needles in my hand and kept saying "Momma you got a boo boo. It's okay Momma, don't worry." She is so sweet!

We got to leave the hospital on Wednesday because I was feeling fine and ready to get home! It was such a blessing not to have to stay another night because I was missing my sweet girl at home.

Here is our sweet girl all cleaned up and at home on Wednesday. It has been hectic and I am worn out, but these two girls are so worth it!

Maternity Pictures

We took maternity pictures over a month ago, I think...I can't really remember when and I am not going to get up and go figure out when, it's not that important. Anyways, my sister took them for us and I edited them. I have been busy chasing Ella, finishing up with my clients, and really had a lack of motivation overall, so I am just now getting to editing them! We are getting down to the wire and we are soon to be a family of four (only 4 days left!!!). so I thought I should post these before my blog becomes overwhelmed with picture of Layla.

My hubby hates taking pictures, but he did cooperate a little better for this shoot. I sure do love this guy!!!

And of course one of my sweet girl all by herself.

 This one below is still my favorite.

Last night I was laying in bed with Ella and we said our prayers and sang a few songs and she grabbed my face with her hands on both of my cheeks and laid a big kiss on me. She gave me to sweetest smile and said "I love you Momma." Ah, my heart melted. She is so affectionate and loving! It is those sweet smiles and words that make everything better. I wish I could have my own personal camera crew follow us along everyday and capture everything so that I never forget it. One day I know she won't look at me like I hung the moon, but for now she does and it makes me happier than anything!!!