Schedule

This week Layla has been off of her normal evening sleep schedule. She typically goes down for a nap after her supper feeding at about 6, then I wake her up and feed her at 9:30ish, put her right back to sleep and she sleeps until 8am or shortly after that. This week she's been not sleeping quite as much between the 6pm and 9:30 feeding (one time waking up and wanting to eat at 7:30 and one time wanting to eat at like 8:30) and she's been waking up at 6am. At least after she eats at 6am, she goes right back to bed and sleeps until 9 or 10 which then gives me time to do some work, but this morning she woke up at 5am! That is too early for me to be waking up! Even 6am is too early for me to be waking up every morning! So I then go back to bed and sleep in until 8 or 9 which is just a waste of my time. I guess I figured there would come a time when she would stop sleeping so good, I had just hoped it wouldn't be yet. O, well, maybe she's just going through a growth spurt or something.

She is growing...I took her to get her Synagis shot today (to help protect her against RSV since she was a preemie) and she weighed 11 lbs 2 oz! She did not see her doctor today, so I'm not sure if she's on the growth charts yet or not. We go back for her 6 month appointment in about a month, so we will find out then. She REALLY did not like the shot today. I think she hates shots more and more each time she goes in. After she got poked she just turned red in the face and had this horrified look for about a minute before the crying/screaming began--like she was in shock at what had just happened--she gave this look like, 'Why in the world are you hurting me?!?'. Poor little thing:-). And now she'll have to have this shot every month for the next 4 months--at least next time she can get this shot at the same time as her other vaccinations so she gets them over with at the same time! Maybe by the time she has the 5th shot she'll be used to it--yeah, right, I doubt that!!

Weekend In Review

Layla had a play date with her new buddy, Ella (Koning), on Friday. Layla was very excited. Here she is chillin' with Elv before we left.


The girls had lots of fun together...


But then, like typical girls, their moods quickly changed...

Saturday we slept in, then headed to Crane's Orchard for lunch. Layla had a good time looking at all the people. Unfortunately, she no longer likes to just sit in her carrier while we eat. She likes to sit and look around. It'll be nice when she can sit in a high chair so she doesn't need to sit on our laps the whole time! O, well, as long as she's in a good mood I don't mind!

Saturday night we did some shopping and then spent some time at Barnes and Nobles. It was there that I changed my first diaper in a public restroom--well, not my diaper, hers, but you get what I mean:-). We then concluded the night with a late dinner at Applebee's. Layla was in a very happy mood the entire day since she was still able to get lots of naps in. She does pretty well napping while we're out if we're driving or she's being pushed in her stroller.

This morning we went to see Alden Lucas get baptized and then to the lunch afterwards. Layla was being noisy sitting in church, so we watched most of the service from the cry room, but at least she made it long enough to watch the baptism. We're not supposed to send her to nursery until the spring, so it'll be interesting to see how she does in church all winter! After the lunch we went to Joe's parents' house to celebrate Joe's sister's birthday. Needless to say, Layla has been a bit crabby today from all the excitement and has been sleeping pretty much since we got home!

The Pumpkin, The Witch and The Tigger

As anyone with kids knows, it's hard to get pics where both kids look good! Here was my attempt...


Get cousin Layla out of the picture!


Gavin is more interested in grabbing at Layla than having his picture taken and Layla is more interested in grabbing at the bear!


At least they look like loving cousins by looking at each other!


Probably the best one...at least they're both looking forward!


They really didn't like this pose!


This was on the ride over...it seems to happen a lot that somehow her headband ends up over her eyes while she rides. It doesn't seem to bother her...like a sleep mask I suppose:-). Maybe she pulls it down on purpose--she thinks they're sun glasses:-).


Layla and Hilda, her Build-a-Bear (I just named it:-D)


Uncle Mike, Gavin, Layla and Joe


This was the best one I got with the dogs...they might be harder to pose than kids:-)


A good one of the people...too bad Remi got bored and decided to leave the picture.


Our happy family...

Progress

I think that because I spend so much time with Layla that I don't notice how much she's grown. The other day I was noticing that her toes almost touch the end of her bouncy seat. She may still be small for her age, but compared to what size she started off, she's grown a lot!

She received the cute monkey sleeper above as a gift in a preemie size and then also got it as a gift in a 3 month. I loved her in it when when she wore it before and now she gets to wear it again!

I am baby-sitting my nephew today and had a quick chance to get a pic of all 3 kids so I did.

And this one I just thought was cute...she looks like a little boxer:-).

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day

From reading some different blogs tonight, I learned that today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day. My heart breaks for those that have suffered/are suffering from losing a child. Tonight I pray a special prayer for all of those that have experienced this type of grief in their life.

It's kind of ironic that today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day when a year ago today we were experiencing a miscarriage. Praise God that a month later we found out we were pregnant with Layla and are now blessed to have her in our life:-). God is good!

Is Fall in the Air?

It was such a beautiful warm fall weekend!! But I think for possibly the first time in my life I'm ready for the cooler weather. There were so many bugs around this weekend it was disgusting! We normally don't have any lady bugs, but this weekend they've been stuck on the outside our windows and a few minutes ago one got in the house when I let Elvis inside--yuck! And last week I had an incident trying to kill a fly in our bathroom. I accidentally broke our light fixture above our mirror while swatting at the fly with a towel. I had gotten up at 6am to feed Layla and then do some work from home, but that didn't go as planned since I then had to clean up the shattered glass all over our bathroom! So I will be happy when all the bugs freeze to death. Layla also has some cute cooler weather clothes that I'm excited to put her in:-).

Even though it was hot yesterday, we still got in the fall spirit by wearing orange and black:-)...



Taking a family walk Friday night...


And here is just us after church yesterday...

"Best Deer Day Ever"

Those were the words that came out of Joe's mouth last night when reflecting upon his day. Joe's day began by shooting a deer early in the morning on his first hunt of the season. Not only was it his first deer of the year, but it was also his first deer that he's ever gotten with a bow! He was super excited! And I was excited too because he gave the meat away so we didn't have to try to make room in our freezer for more venison nor did I have to see the deer! And of course I was also excited since I know it makes him happy to kill deer:-).

Then later in the day the four of us (Joe, Layla, Elv and me) went for a drive out by our house to look for deer. It wasn't exactly "deer shining" since we had to work around Layla's schedule and so it was light out for most of our drive. In one spot we saw 7 deer and 2 of the bucks were fighting/wrestling/butting heads/whatever you want to call it. That was the first time that Joe had ever seen that in real life--normally he just sees that in his hunting videos...which brings me to the next part of his deer-filled day. When we returned from our drive, Joe relaxed with Layla and watched his new hunting DVD. Oh, and I even found Layla some cute pink camo pants yesterday too! Oh, deer!!

4 Months Old!

Layla is 4 months old today!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone! She'll be getting married before I know it...haha, hopefully not for a LONG time! She is getting more and more fun every day. She squeals, smiles and cooes like crazy. She's sleeping through the night. She can support her head enough now to sit in her Bumbo. She has come a LONG way from the tiny squirmy baby that slept all day in an isolet. I remember longing for the day when we could take pictures of her without a feeding tube in her mouth or nose. Now that seems so long ago. It seems like just yesterday that my water broke at home and we were faced with the uncertainty of giving birth to a premature baby, yet in some ways pregnancy seems like a distant memory to me (thank goodness or I'd probably never do it again! :-0). God has blessed us with a beautiful healthy little girl and we are so thankful for the joy she has brought into our lives!!

1 month


4 months

3 Month Pics

Layla had her 3 month pictures taken by Tracy VanDermeulen a couple of weeks ago and they turned out great! Tracy did such a great job!! To see a few of them you can visit Tracy's photography blog http://tracyvdmphotography.wordpress.com/. To find out more info about Tracy VanDerMeulen Photography visit http://www.tracyvdmphotography.com/.

This also reminded me of Layla's birth announcements that we sent out awhile ago. Sondra's Ink (http://www.sondrasink.com/) did them and I think they turned out really cute! Thanks to Jill for taking the picture of her for the announcement!! For those that didn't receive one, here's a pic of it...

Perfect Angel

I found this old halloween costume of mine when I was getting my fall decorations out the other day...I thought it suited her well (most of the time anyway!).

Ella Jeanne Koning

We are so excited that our friends Brad and Jill had a beautiful healthy little girl yesterday!! We went to see her today and she's absolutely adorable!! Jill had her at 4:45pm yesterday and she was 22" long and 9 lbs 4 oz.

The happy family...(I forgot to get a family pic of them today so hopefully Daysha doesn't mind that I took hers:-0)










Proud daddies:-)


They're going to be life long friends!!

Fall is in the Air

It sure was a crisp fall day today! We walked around downtown Zeeland during their Pumkinfest.

Alden, Layla and Jonathan posing with their new "friends"...



Layla going for a ride on Elvis...


Layla preparing for Lord of the Dance... (her hands were cold that's why she has socks on them)