Layla Bug

I can't decide if I'm too busy or too lazy to update this thing more often. Maybe it's both. Anyways, here's the latest and greatest on Layla Bug:

Layla turned 4 months old almost 4 weeks ago. (Wow, I really am behind!) She had a couple more immunizations. She barely cried after the shots. But later that night, when her chubby, little thigh was bright red, she had a good cry. Next time we'll request one shot in each leg instead of both in the same leg.

At 4 months she weighed 13.7 lbs (50th percentile) and was 25.2 inches long (90th percentile). You should see her thighs. They're so chubby and yummy. I want to eat her up.

This is her excited pose

Speaking of eating, we tried out some rice cereal a couple of weeks ago. Bug loved it, but her tummy did not. Maybe we fed her too much? The end result was Bug waking up 4 times in one night, unheard of for her, with a case of constipation and a lot of tears. I even cried, I felt so bad for her. So, we are holding off on the rice cereal for a few more weeks to let her tummy develop a little more. And next time we won't feed her so much. But I must say that she is a good eater! After only a couple of cereal sessions, she learned how to swallow most of the cereal as opposed to spitting it out. I was surprised at how fast she caught on. Too bad her tummy wasn't quite up to par.

Her bib says, "Chicks Rock!"

She just wanted to eat the spoon

She got super excited every time the spoon came near, as evidenced by her flapping arms

She started waking up in the night again, one or two times a night. It got old really fast. Last weekend we decided to let her cry it out. It was torturous, but it's yielded good results.

• Friday night: woke up twice. I fed her the first time. The second time she cried for 30 minutes, then fell asleep.
• Saturday night: she slept through the night: 10 1/2 hours!
• Sunday night: she woke up once, cried for 15 minutes, then fell asleep.
• Monday night: she slept through the night, 10 1/2 hours!

We'll see what tonight brings. Hopefully we're back on the right path. I've noticed with her better night sleep habits comes better nap habits. She's back to three naps a day: one 2 hour nap and two 1 hour naps. I'm lovin' it!

She's obsessed with eating her feet

She has mastered her little hands. She grabs anything and everything now, even if you think it's out of her reach, like the sacrament tray at church last week. Ha,ha. She talks all day long and laughs at the oddest things. Mitch and I will make the BIGGEST fools of ourselves, just to hear her hilarious, little giggle.

She's also started fake coughing. It's pretty funny. I read somewhere that around 5 months of age a baby figures out that they can get someone's attention by fake coughing ... I think we might be in for it with Bug if she's already fake coughing. I keep telling my mom that I think Layla's a spaz. Seriously, she's constantly talking, moving, watching, moving, grabbing, moving. She does not hold still. She's so very busy. I can only imagine what it will be like once she starts crawling, and heaven forbid, walking.

This makes me happy in my heart ... Bug playing the piano

Bug recently noticed Harvey and now she can't get enough of him. If you hold her by him, she will instantly grab a fistful of his fur ... and skin. Poor cat. He's good about it though. Layla loves to watch him as he walks around the room and she'll often dive for him if he's close enough. Good thing he's fast! (And spends most of the day outside.)

I love being her mommy. I feel so blessed. It's bittersweet to watch her grow. I love each stage, I love watching her learn new things, but I don't want her to grow up too fast. I love the smiles and giggles she gives me and Mitch. I love that we're her two favorite people in the whole world. That will only last so long, I'm sure, so I'm trying to soak it all up while I can. I love you, Layla Bug!

She's finally big enough for her jumper. She l.o.v.e.s it.

Fearless

Harvey and the neighbor's dog have a funny relationship. The dog either wants to play with or eat Harvey, and Harvey doesn't want to acknowledge that the dog exists. It makes for good entertainment for us and our neighbors. I got this good video of how they interact the other day.

We are all doing well. Lacey promises to blog some more, but she is busy keeping Layla happy which is a 24/7 job.

Bear Lake 2010

We spent a long weekend at Bear Lake with my fam. Here are a few things I want to remember about Layla's first vacation:

My mom and dad are awesome! They paid to rent the house. All we paid for was our portion of the food. Our cheapest vacation ever.

Layla was a doll the entire weekend. She loved all the attention.

We stayed in a house right on the lake. The view was incredible. It looked fake.

We devised the best feeding system ever: I would go out on the boat while someone stayed with Layla at the house. When it was time for her to eat, I would paddle the blow up mattress back to the house, feed Layla, then paddle back out to the boat. It was awesome.

Great Grandpa Kermit took Layla for walks each day in her stroller. She loved it.

Can't forget the chain gang. The boys (Mitch, Brock, and Jordan) paddled the canoe with me on the blow up mattress tied on the back of the canoe, and Natalie on the tube behind me.

Layla thinks Aunt Natalie is super funny. Natalie had Layla giggling pretty hard one morning. So

cute.

We're glad Grandma Ruth was feeling well enough to join us!

Can't forget watching the boys tip over in the canoe. And blaming it all on Jordan. So funny.

Layla didn't need a swimming suit. But boy does she look cute in it!

My dad loves whip cream. Pretty sure he used 1/2 a can on each crepe he ate.

Again, Layla was a doll. She loved having everyone there to play with her. She was full of squeals and giggles.

Thanks again, Mom and Dad! We had a blast!

Blessings

Layla was blessed yesterday by her daddy. It was a beautiful day. We had many family members and friends with us. Some even came from California to share the day with us. We are so blessed to have great family, and friends, and friends that are practically family.

Layla looked beautiful in her dress. Originally, the dress was all white. My grandma and I added the pink to it. I love the way it turned out. But my favorite part is the feather on her head.

It was fun to spend the day with family and friends. It was a special day and I felt the Spirit surrounding us.

Proud Miles Grandparents

Proud Bott Grandparents

Beautiful Baby

Layla, we love you so much. Daddy told me last night that he "wants the world for his little girl." I couldn't agree more. We love you!

Good Riddance

We finally got rid of our living room couches. Good riddance! My parents gave us our old couches, which is super nice of them, and you can't beat free, right?! But it was time to give those couches the boot. The fabric was fraying and there were staples poking out the bottom of the couches. So we got rid of those and bought a new couch and loveseat, which we LOVE. I did not like the throw pillows that came with the couches, so we had my grandma recover them. She did a great job. Our new couches are extra comfortable and the best part is that my family friend got us a sweet deal! I love sweet deals.

Update

I had a complaint today that I haven't updated our blog in a while. Oops. Sorry! I'd like to say it's because I've been so busy, but that's not the case. I just don't have a ton to write about. Anyways, here's what each of us have been up to:

• Mitch recently went to Huntington Beach, Cali and Albuquerque, New Mexico for work. He has also been on two scout camps with the 11 year old scouts. He had a technical paper he wrote published in a conference journal. As soon as the PONI site puts his paper up, I will put a link to it on our blog. He's also put his mechanic skills to use and fixed my car this weekend after it started overheating. Such a handyman!

Sometimes while Mitch is at work or out of town, I will text or email him pics of Layla, like this one. It makes him smile.

• 
• I had strep throat for the second time in three months. I had a temperature of 102! I felt like poop and it happened to be while Mitch was in Cali, so my mommy had to come spend an evening with me and Layla. Thanks again, Mom! I've been editing for an online company and I really enjoy it. My Grandma Ruth is helping me make new covers for the throw pillows for our new couches (pics to come) and we plan on making Layla's Halloween costume next. I'm also getting things ready for Layla's baby blessing next week. I'm really just hoping she won't cry during the blessing ...
• She turned 3 months old a few weeks ago. She's getting so big!
• Layla has found her feet and loves to grab them and try to eat them. It's pretty cute. She has not rolled over since the 4th of July, but she still likes tummy time. She giggles now. But only when she's in the mood. She's ticklish in her armpits. She loves to kick her legs in the bath now. She also got really good at grabbing her toys and playing with them. She still talks all the time and she makes some pretty hilarious sounds. She's so loud that the other night we had to pause the movie we were watching because we couldn't hear it over her loud, incessant babbling. She's going to be a talker! She outgrew her swaddle me. Our solution? A sleep sack! I think she looks hilarious in it!

Her sleep sack.

• 
This is still her favorite sleeping position. It makes me laugh the way she looks so relaxed.


• Harvey caught a bird, and seriously injured it, but did not completely kill it. I went outside for something and noticed feathers all over. I looked around the yard and finally found the poor bird, gasping for air and suffering. I felt so bad! I couldn't bring myself to finish it off, even though I probably should have because the poor thing suffered until it finally died. For the first time I wished I'd had a BB gun.

Happy Birthday, USA!

I think we wore The Bug out this weekend. Mitch had a four day weekend, which was awesome, and we stayed busy the whole time. Layla Bug was exhausted from all the festivities and slept most of the day on Tuesday. Too much partying for a 3 month old, I guess. :)

I love how her hair bow becomes a bow tie in the car seat. And look at those chunky thighs! Don't you want to just squeeze them?

We went to the West Jordan Stampede Rodeo one night. I love rodeos. Mitch does not. But, he's a good sport and tags along with my fam anyways. We've been going to this rodeo for as long as I can remember. It's a good time. We worried about it being too loud for Layla, but she didn't seem to mind. (I did call the pediatrician and asked if they had any suggestions to curb the noise; they suggested cotton balls in her ears. That only lasted so long before we got sick of putting them back in every time they fell out. I ended up just keeping my hands over her little ears. She actually fell asleep for awhile.)

Family pic at the rodeo. I love how Layla looks slightly confused.

We also had dinner at the Bott's to celebrate Grandma Jory's birthday. It was a fun time and a nice day to eat outside. We hope she had a Happy Birthday!

We had Brock and Natalie over to roast mallows. I'm pretty sure they were more excited about holding Layla than eating the s'mores, but either way we're glad they came! (And I'm really glad they love their niece so much!)

We went to a BBQ at our neighbor's house. It's always fun when we get together with the neighborhood clan. We lit some fireworks. The little kids loved it. Layla watched the entire fireworks show. She also let my friend Kassi rock her to sleep in her porch swing. So sweet.

I love the 4th of July. I love America. I've lived in and traveled to a few other countries and I can honestly say that we are so blessed. I told Layla, on her first 4th of July, that she is so blessed to be born in America. (I know, she has no idea what I'm saying yet. That's not the point.) I hope she takes the opportunity to visit another country (via mission, study abroad, or whatever) and see how the rest of the world lives and understand how blessed we are as Americans. I am so thankful to be an American. Even in the toughest of times, we are still so blessed.

What an adorable little American Girl!

She got a little scared the first time the camera flashed and this was her defensive pose.

She's so spoiled, she had two 4th of July outfits this year! The dress was a last minute purchase- I couldn't pass it up, too cute. (Apparently my friend Kim thought so too; Layla and Hadley were twinners at church. Ha,ha.) And thanks again, Kathy, for the patriotic outfit. It looks so cute on her.

Layla also rolled over for her first time last weekend! She rolled over twice all by herself, but she hasn't done it since. Maybe she figures that was good enough. We sure were proud of her though! We're totally those first time parents who get so excited over every little thing. We both clapped and cheered when she rolled over. She just looked at us like, "what's the big deal?" So funny.

Tummy Time!!!

I took advantage of Mitch being home Friday and Monday mornings and went running while he stayed home with The Bug. I ran 4 miles one day and 5 miles the other day. Wow, it felt so good! I haven't ran 5 consecutive miles in almost one year. I'm still slower than I was this time last year. I'm getting there though. Slowly but surely, right?

Hi Mom.

And this one is just for me. I love to watch Layla sleep. She's so peaceful and sweet. I always put her to bed with her arms wrapped up in her swaddle me. But she always wiggles at least one hand free to suck on it until she falls asleep ... and then I sneak in and take her picture. Hee, hee.