About Time!

It's about time Layla outgrows these pants!

Here she is wearing them early last October...

And here she is wearing them yesterday. They're capris now instead of full length pants and the shirt is different (it's two sizes bigger) :-).

Our Week

For some reason this week my morning sickness seems to be at its worse. I don't really get it because I'm almost 16 weeks now (which by the way this time last time I was half way!). Why is it worse now?? It seemed to be better for a few days last week and then hit me again on Sunday. Oh, well, such is life, right? :-)

This morning like normal didn't start great and I had a hard time keeping anything down. But we REALLY needed groceries, so I took the chance of getting sick in Meijers and decided to get some groceries. It was of course super busy with super slow walkers wandering all over the store and the lines were of course a mile long too. I swear every time I get groceries they tell me it's been a crazy busy day. And I don't always go on the same day! But today was because it was cloudy (but not rainy when we went) so I realize it makes sense why everyone else decided to go there too. We finally got home, I put Layla down for a much needed nap and started to unpack the groceries. I got finished with the fridge and freezer items when I decided to sit for a minute. I wanted to quick check my email (and maybe Facebook for a second:D) before eating some much needed lunch and unpacking the rest of the groceries. All of a sudden Elv jumped on my lap then quickly jumped off and stretched weird on the floor. I looked at him and noticed instantly that his face was totally swollen! Even through all his hair I could tell he looked weird--his eyes were tiny with a little red around the rims, his cheeks were puffy and his lips and neck were swollen too. So I quickly called the vet and they said to bring him in so I woke Layla up after only like 20 minutes of napping and went to the vet. Joe freaked me out on the way there by telling me that his dog growing up nearly died from that because his air ways started swelling up and closing in. So of course then I was stuck in construction and stuck behind slow people and was worried he'd die in the car! Well, he's okay. It took awhile for the vet to see him, but they gave him a shot of Benadryl pretty much and it really seems to have helped. His puffiness had even decreased by the time we got home so I couldn't get a good picture of how silly he looked with his puffy face (I can call it silly now that I know he's okay:D). Now he just needs to take Benadryl pills until it's totally gone. We're just glad he's okay:-). It seems like we bring him to the vet all the time. We're getting to know them pretty well:-).

He just always seems to have some sort of issue! Here's a pic a little bit after getting home--still doesn't look normal, but not nearly as bad as what it was! (I know it's hard to tell too if you don't know him--but even the Vet Asst that always helps us was laughing at how silly he looked!)


Last night we went to Post Family Farms in Hudsonville for the Right to Life Family Picnic and Auction. It was a nice picnic with good food (pumpkin donuts and bbq pork) and of course it's always nice to support such a great cause! We went with my dad and Joyce, and Em, Mike and Gavin. Unfortunately I had a migraine while we were there (which I rarely ever get) so I could have done without that, but it was still a good time. I started getting dizzy and couldn't see straight pretty much as soon as I pulled in and of course non of us had any Tylenol along:-(.

Me, Layla and Joe:-) (don't mind her blue pipe--it's her backup)

Em and Gavin posing as pumpkins...

The guys with the kids by the horse barn. The kids look real excited, don't they? I don't blame them--I took one step in and smelled it and had to leave before I threw up!

Layla enjoyed looking at the goats as long as Joe was right by her but didn't want to get too close!

And these are from Tuesday when Gavin was over. Monkey see, monkey do:-).

They had a good together. I don't think they hardly fought at all:-). And Layla wouldn't take her morning nap--she's still on two naps a day, but Sunday (because of church), Monday and Tuesday she didn't want to nap in the morning. Thankfully now the past couple of days she's been back to a morning nap. I don't think she's quite ready to go down to one nap yet--unless she can always nap for two hours in the afternoon--but she needs to work on that!

Oh, and a funny thing that happened today was that I received three books in the mail that we had ordered from Barnes and Noble. I was supposed to receive one about a nun that worked in a prison in Mexico--but instead received an explict (like really explicit) romance book about warewolves!! Haha!! I'll be exchanging them:-).

*Update on Elv: I just felt a big bump on top of his head, so he must have gotten stung in the 3 seconds he was outside (I guess that's why he wanted to come right back in!). At least it's that and not just hay fever as the vet suggested--that would have meant probably more reactions!

Daddy and Layla!

Layla enjoyed waking Joe up from his nap today by using him to climb onto the couch.

Layla later enjoyed tubby time with Daddy...

All clean in her new Minnie towel!

This is unrelated and dorky, I know, but every summer I love watching how much the flowers grow. I'm totally not a "flower person". Meaning I can name less types of flowers than Joe can and I have hardly ever received flowers as a gift from Joe and am totally fine with that--why spend the money on them when they just die?? Yet I'm always amazed at how quickly they become so big every summer in our yard. I am also still very pleased with our color selection this summer:-) (the pink is a hot pink--they look more pastel in the second picture than what they really are).

End of May...

Today...

Our garden has also grown a ton and we've been getting lots of good veggies out of it! I'll have to take some before and after pics of that later:-).

Week In Review

This week seemed to start off a little rough. I know it really wasn't too bad, it just felt like one of "those weeks". Tuesday Layla had a fever of 103.6. She had a fever earlier in the day too, but not quite as high. Tylenol seemed to help take it down, but not get rid of it. Layla has just seemed "off" lately--not as happy as normal. I don't know if it's teeth or what. Tuesday with Gavin all day she was not real happy. Every time Gavin would push her over she'd cry--normally she cries sometimes when he hurts her, but not everytime he pushes her over! She really didn't appreciate when he bit her (who can blame her for that though?)! So it was just a long day. Then shortly after Gavin left, the dog that we were taking care of for a few days arrived. And by "we", I mean "I". Joe was traveling for work Tuesday through Thursday--exactly the time that the dog was at our house. About 20 minutes after he arrived, he started throwing up all over the house! Like a dozen times at least!! Him and Elv had been playing and then he had a big drink so that's probably what caused it. Picking that up then made me have to throw up (from "morning" sickness--sorry if that's too much information:D)! I was also trying to make sure that Layla and both dogs stayed out of it! Gross! I work on Wednesdays, and the dog wasn't used to being at our house so it whined much of the night. I was also up during the night to give Layla Tylenol (which I'm normally up a couple time being pregnant anyway) and just with normal pregnancy sleepiness I was very tired on Wednesday! Then that night I was reading in bed, it was after 11 (which is late for me:D) when suddenly Elvis started acting weird. As a side note, I was reading a really good book called Under the Overpass, it's about a guy who chose to live homeless for five months in order to learn from it and to then share his experience and what he learned from it with others and inspire them to make a change in their life (no, not to live homeless). I then heard Elv's stomach gurgle and knew what was coming. I was able to catch it in my hands (gross, I know, but didn't want it in my bed), but as I was cleaning it (and myself) up, he made a couple more spots on our bed--my pillow and the comforter included. So then it was time for a late night sheet changing! I was annoyed for a second, then I remembered what I was reading about and thought, hey, at least I have a bed to clean up! I would highly recommend the book to anyone!
Hopefully Elv just had an upset stomach or something. He normally never throws up. Sunday he had another seizure:-(. It was his second one ever (his first was early March). He throws up lots after having a seizure, so hopefully Wednesday night's puking wasn't the after effect of another seizure that I missed! :-( So Thursday Layla seemed to be doing better, but was still crabby. We therefore missed a church play date, but she was super tired too from not sleeping great the night before so I don't think she would have been much fun anyway! Friday we had a play date with Em and Gavin and my cousin, Mandi, and her kids. Here they are at their play date...

Layla (14 mo), Caleb (18 mo), Gavin (25 mo), Natalie (3 yrs), and Remi's tail:-)

Dr.Appt

Layla went in for her weight check today and also to make sure her ear infection from awhile ago was gone and to make sure her head was growing at a normal pace (not to quickly). She did great at the appointment! Her head grew a little, but not too much and her ears were fine. And she weighed 17 lbs 15 oz!! I couldn't believe she gained that much! Maybe it helped that her appointment was right after lunch:-). In early July she was 16 lbs 1 oz (she was sick then--early June she was 16 lbs 5 oz). So thankfully she's been growing at a greater rate the past month! We'll still try to "fatten her up", but I'm glad that she gained that much. The doctor gave us some samples of Pediasure today and she didn't even want it! She just wanted her normal milk instead of the sweet strawberry milk--strange girl!

Height: 29.25" - 25-50%
Weight: 17 lbs 15 oz - just about touching the bottom of the chart
Head: 46.7 - 75% I think

A a year I was 17 lbs 1 oz and 29" and at 13 months I was 17 lbs 8 oz and 29.25" so still pretty close to how Layla is growing!

She has also just in the past couple of days pretty much given up on crawling and is only walking (except in grass).

Happy "One Year"!

So I realize that Layla is really 14 months today, but her adjusted age is 1 year! One year ago today was my due date! It's crazy to think that she should only be just turning a year when now her birthday seems like so long ago! She's grown so much in the past 14 months and we love her more every day (yep, even on bad days:D). Here are some of the basic things she's doing now. I haven't filled her baby book out since she was maybe a few months, so here's her baby book update:-). Oh, and she goes in for a weight check on Thursday so I'll know her weight then. Hopefully she's gained lots of (or at least some) weight!

She walks maybe 50% of the time and crawls the rest. She'll often walk and then start crawling once she falls down. She is starting to learn to listen better to instructions ("hand me Dolly" "give Elvis his toy"--VERY simple instructions). And the words that she says that we're pretty sure she knows what she's saying are: Mama, Dada, Bye-bye "ba-bye", ball, book "bo", baby "baybay", uh-oh, baba (her sippy), more "mo"...I think that's it. Every once in awhile I hear a "hi" when I say it to her. Of course sometimes she makes some of the same sounds while just blabbering too so it's hard to really know what she's saying:-). She likes to play with her Little Peoples sets (especially if they make lots of noises), she still enjoys her laugh and learn kitchen, she loves books, balls (although she mainly just gets excited about seeing them--she doesn't play with them real long), her brother Elvis, and little objects like her monkeys in a barrell and some little leap frogs--she enjoys putting the little things in and out of containers. She still naps twice a day--about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon--if we're really lucky, one of those naps is an hour and a half. She has just never been a long napper, but I'll gladly take long nights over long naps (unless I could have both:D)! Her bedtime is about 7:30/8 and she wakes up at 8/8:30. I don't think she'll be ready to drop her morning nap for awhile. I know that a lot of kids drop it around a year, but she'd probably still only sleep an hour in the afternoon and by 10 she's ready for her nap so I think it'd be a major struggle to keep her up until after lunch every day! She still enjoys eating and will eat most foods, but everyonce in awhile (like this week) she doesn't want to eat all that much (I told her she has her weight check on Thursday and needs to gain weight by then, but she just doesn't listen:D). Well, I think that's about it for her update! I love watching her grow and learn and am excited to have her keep learning new things (not that I want to wish her life away or anything, but I think it will be nice when she can actually communicate with me in sentences!).

I took this video this morning b/c the kids were giggling so much with eachother for quite awhile. It's funny to watch them make each other laugh by barely doing anything!

I knew they were being too quiet this morning. This is what I found them doing...(I think Elv didn't like it b/c some of his toys are buried in that pile:D)

First Steps (sort of)

Here are a couple of short clips of Layla's "first" steps. Okay, so they aren't exactly her "first" steps since she took her very first one three weeks ago, but close:-). Don't mind my terrible video skills and low stuffy voice (at least my voice came back today!). We really need to buy a video camera so we will actually record more of what she does (and so it's better quality)!