WELL.....DID YOU SMILE?

Are you kidding?

Well, Laela has caught her first cold. We knew she did not feel good, but you would never know it by looking at her. Ro took her to the doctor yesterday to confirm that it was just a cold. She had a low fever, runny nose, little cough...yet she was still smiling! Oh poor baby. I just wanted to hold and cuddle with her.

Of course the doc weighed her as they do for every doctor visit. Well...we did think she had gained some weight...but are you kidding??? She weighed in at 12 lbs 9 oz. HOLY SMOKES! Let me remind you that she is 2 months old and we know one thing...this baby loves to eat!

Oh...by the way! A little bragging...last night Laela slept from 10:00 p.m. to 6 a.m. WOW! Thank the lord because I have been exhausted with school starting this week. (I am fully aware that since I bragged she will wake up at least once or twice tonight, but it is worth it!)

This past week...

Sorry to do this to everyone, but I have been so busy this week. Here is our week in a nutshell...

It has been a wild one! Laela had a wonderful week in daycare. Her teachers comment, on a daily basis, about how smiley she is. Oh...I love it and you don't know how wonderful it is to pick her up after a long day of work. She just smiles at me and then I forget how tired I am! Also, she found her feet this week and is "talking" so much more. Laela still loves to eat anytime we will give her a bottle and her naps have tapered down a little. Seems that she wants to know everything that is going on during the day so she really just takes small power naps with an occasional hour or hour and a half nap. Her bedtime routine has become a more consistent with her going to bed about 10:00 and waking up at 5:00. What more could we ask for...we are blessed to get 7 hours of undisturbed sleep. :)

Here are a couple of Laela's cute school outfits! Notice too how smiley she is and each of these were taken around 7:00 in the morning.

This outfit says 100% mommy's girl. So far this has been a proven statement. She is not completely spoiled yet, but there are times that daddy or someone else has Laela and she just wants to be with mommy. I love it!

Daddy almost didn't let her out of the house with this one on. The top says "sweet as can be" and the skirt is adorable. Daddy thinks it should cover her legs, but that is no fun!

I have been at school a lot this week. There are so many things to do and so little time. Because of the long hours, Ro has been spending a lot of time bonding with Laela. He has definitely learned a lot about her...what she loves to do, how to hold her just right, her eating/sleeping habits, and even her favorite song. YES...you read it right...Ro sings to Laela. When he told me about it, I labeled him a "closet singer." He won't do it when I am around, but supposedly Laela loves when her daddy sings "How much is that doggy in the window?" She loves the "ruff, ruff" part. He sang it to her one morning while I was getting ready and here she is giggling at him. Oh man...I can't wait to catch him in the act!!!

It seems that Laela's best awake/learning time is in the morning, so I take advantage of it. I love to read her books, sing silly songs, and just make noises with my mouth. Obviously she loves these things too!

Early today we practiced tummy time. Laela is doing such a great job holding up her head and thinking that she is a big girl. She can last about 5 minutes laying on the Boppy pillow, then she gets frustrated. Great job baby!

Here she is about 9:30 tonight. We just came home from visiting a friend. She drank her bottle about 30 minutes earlier and took a nap in the car. STILL SMILING even though we are getting her ready for night, night time.

1st day...

Today was Laela's first day in daycare. We started out on a great note because she woke up at 5:15 talking to herself. I thought...oh man...the alarm has not gone off yet and I bet it is early. I look at the clock and see it is 5:26 by this point. I waited for the alarm to go off, then got up to make Laela's bottle. (In the mean time...she is still cooing and drooling.) I get her up feed her and she went right back to sleep. PERFECT! By 6;00, I was in the shower while Ro continued to sleep a little longer. After Ro and I are mostly ready, we woke up the baby to get her dressed and ready for her first day at school! Of course I already set out a cute onesie/pant outfit last night (It would have been a dress, but the weather was ickey and the classroom was a chilly.) As always, Laela is ALL SMILES in the morning and off we went to daycare. We originally planned for Ro to take Laela and drop her, but after more thought I decided I could not miss it! We had a ton of things to leave with them too (including my typed out directions on Laela's typical daily routine and her likes/dislikes.) It worked out great! Ro unpacked the stuff and hugged and kissed on Laela as I told Ms. Aileen (the teacher) about how wonderful Laela is. Again...Laela is still smiling! Finally, it is 10 minutes until I have to be at work, so we tell Laela we love her and we will be back soon. We both did great...UNTIL we were almost out of the building and Ro asked if I was okay. Then the tears came! I cried on my drive to work and through the school doors. Then I realized that she is in good hands and they will love her too!

My lunch break came around and I had time to visit Laela. Of course she was super! She could not have been happier. She had a full belly and was asleep in a swing. Ms. Joanna (the other teacher) had only wonderful things to say about her. Kinda crazy, but today there was only Laela and a boy, Jackson who is 2 days younger, in her room. They won't get the other 6 babies until sometime in September. At least this way they can learn all about Laela without the fuss of the other kiddos!

Overall, Laela seemed to have a wonderful first daycare experience. Ro and I were also happy and we feel blessed that our little angel is so easy-going. (For goodness sake...who could not love a baby with cheeks like those!)

Oh yes...I started school today too! Let's just say that it is going to be a very busy school year!

Hat time...

Laela was decked out in her first outfit with a matching hat. She was so adorable, but I am not sure she is going to like hats. Hmmmmm...that is really going to make mommy crazy if she can't dress her up with ALL of the accessories!

PS - Check out the rolls on her left leg. Those have just started forming within the last couple of weeks and they are sooooo stinkin' cute! (Obviously she is not missing a meal.)

All wrapped up...

Laela loves being wrapped up close to mommy! Here she is in her peaceful sleep...

I thought that I would never like the wrap, but I have find it to be very useful. There are times when Laela just wants to be held and loved on, but there are things that I am trying to do (laundry, school work, email, etc). This is the answer! She absolutely loves it and she is snug as a little bug.

Happy 6 weeks!!!

Today Laela is 6 weeks old! Again I must brag about how much of a great baby she is. There were several opportunities for pictures today, so I got a little snap happy. (Only deal is...they are all black and white because Ro put the camera setting on that and I could not figure how to change it back. Oh well...they are still fabulous faces!)

Morning time is Laela's happy, smiley time. She loves when I make noises and talk to her!

One of her favorite things to do lately is imitate whatever we do with our mouth and blow bubbles. I took this picture because of her funny bubble blowing, but quickly realized that the angle of the picture makes her head look like one gigantic bubble! At least someone may get a good laugh!

This is the new favorite paci...the "magic paci." It is kinda funny because we were using the big, green hospital paci because she seemed to love it...so why change? Then, we took Laela over to Granna and Gramps house to stay for awhile. When I go to pick her up, she has this one in her mouth. I asked what happened to the other one and Granna said..."that is the one I found in the bag, so I used it." I forgot that I hid that one in there for emergencies. Well...turns out that she loves it (only when needed, which really is not that often...maybe twice a day and she spits it out when she is done!) Now...Ro and I call it the "magic paci."

Cousin Mikaila did an AWESOME job feeding Laela today. It is so funny because the bottle is almost as big as Laela's head! We have a well nourished baby. (As you might have seen in her cheeks!) Anyway, she is almost finished transitioning to all formula and she does great! We are alternating between 6oz bottles and 4oz bottles. Oh man! She can eat!

Around Five Weeks

Well...I have not even started school yet and I feel like I am slacking. I find it difficult to blog, spend time with Laela and Ro, start my team leader responsibilities, hang-out with friends/family, and shop. Hmmmmm...so much to do and so little time.

Laela has been growing super fast these last few weeks. She loves to eat, look at the lights, smile and sometimes giggle (Usually in the early mornings), and especially loves her mommy! Ro had the opportunity to babysit a couple of nights and when Laela gets tired, its her Mommy she wants! The other night, Ro watched Laela as I took a short walk. When I came, back, the dog was yelping, the baby was crying, and Ro was chasing after a wasp in the house. It was massive chaos! Also, Laela's sleeping habits have improved significantly. We have had a few nights where she has slept from 10:30pm - 6am which was awesome! She also seems to be recognizing our voices and is VERY aware of her environment (Her big eyes totally give that away).

We have been taking pictures, but I haven't posted them in a bit. Here ya go! Enjoy!

Laela is posing for the camera!

Laela sitting with her Mommy!

Laela loves to take naps in her crib. If you look closely, there is significant droolage.

Laela enjoys her swing!

Here she is wearing oversized shorts as she attempts to figure out her mobile.

I love this last one. I can picture her saying "No pictures please!"

1 month!!!

WOW time flies! We are loving every minute with Laela. She seems to be more active, alert, and awake during the day. Some wonder moments includer her holding her head up more and more, following objects, awareness of mommy and daddy's voice, smiling, and cooing. Also, most nights go very well. Laela falls asleep about 11:00, eats at 3:00, back to sleep until 6:00 or 7:00. Who could ask for anything better?
We went to the doctor for her 1 month check up and she is great! Laela now weighs 8 lbs 14.5 ozs and 21.2 in long. She is a little chunkier now so she is getting to wear some new clothes....SHE IS SO EXCITED for fun, new clothes (okay, okay...mom is super excited for her to wear all of the fun, new clothes)!!! The raw end of the deal was that I had t witness her first shot. Boo hoo....it was very sad, but Laela got a super cool pink camo band-aid to cover it.

Here are Laela's cute 1 month old feet! We thought we would throw in some flare and include a part of mommy & daddy.

Little Miss Gabby

Kim, Greg, and Gabby came down to visit us this weekend. We had not seen them in about 3 months, so they were excited to meet Laela and we were thrilled to see how much Gabby has grown! She is such a happy baby!

Of course Gabby and Laela are great friends now. Here they are...buckled in the car and ready to go to dinner.

Gabby kept tabs on Laela and made sure to check on her often!

We were so glad to see the Nebraska folk and we hope to see them again very soon!