The Costner Clan

We Love Daddy!

2012-02-08T11:15:00.000-06:00

Matt's birthday was in January, and I wanted to do a little something for him from the kids. He didn't have any pictures of them for his desk at work, so I captured a series of pictures that would work in a frame with three photo slots. I thought the end result was pretty cute!

Lyla wasn't feeling particularly cooperative that day, so I had to take what she would give me. She wasn't having any part in holding a sign (you can tell she wadded it up), so I taped her's to the wall. And she looks a little wild in the "Daddy" picture because I had wrestled her to get there, ha!

I used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the signs. Simple, but I think Matt really liked it. Maybe we can update the shot from time to time.

Ethan - Six Months Old

2012-02-01T09:56:00.000-06:00

***More catching up***

ETHAN IS 6 MONTHS OLD!!!

Half a year...wow! I can't believe how fast it has gone! We've packed a lot of joy into those six months with this sweet blessing!

This month has been a month of more milestones for our big boy. Shortly after his five month birthday, Ethan sat up all by himself with no hands.

He can also now push up to his hands and knees and rock back and forth. I wish you all could have seen him grin from ear to ear when he did it. He has also started blowing raspberries ALL THE TIME.

The Moose is still eating like a pro. He eats every 3 hours and is now eating between 6-8 ounces each bottle. He's starting to show signs of wanting to hold his bottle, too.

We also try to offer him solids 3 times a day, but he's a little finicky and doesn't always want them. We've tried all fruits and veggies now, and he loves them all.

And we've also just introduced puffs. You can tell that he was a little unsure the first time, but he really likes them now!

Little Man's nighttime sleeping has continued to improve now that he's eating more consistently. He'll typically sleep through night a few nights in a row and then have a few nights were he wakes me up. The key is getting him to eat a big dinner - if he does that, he usually sleeps all night. But you can't always convince him to do that. :)

We typically put Ethan down between 9:00 and 9:30 at night, and he sleeps until 7:00 the next morning. He is still taking 4 naps a day, with two cat naps and two long naps.

Our big boy still LOVES his toes and constantly tugs on his socks. He's becoming more and more of an independent player, too.

We moved a big chair out of our living room to put up the Christmas tree, and we decided to leave it upstairs for good. So that means we have a big open space in the corner of the living room where Ethan can play. Pretty soon, though, he'll probably be joining his sister in the playroom!

Ethan really enjoys playing in his exercauser and playing with his new Christmas toys on a blanket. And he's become very fond on our music table. Lyla used this as a stand-up toy, but we pulled the legs off and Ethan is loving it as a sit-down toy.

He's pretty much outgrown his activity mat, but he still likes to play with it (and destroy it) every once in awhile.

And the Christmas tree has provided lots of entertainment. He hasn't pulled anything off of it, but he loves to kick and kick and the branches.

Sweet boy can now put toys and things in his mouth, and his favorite thing to gnaw on are the straps of our stroller. He can keep himself entertained for an entire shopping trip just chomping away...and slobbering a ton!

For the first time in awhile, Ethan hasn't jumped another clothing size - but then again, there's a big gap between 12 and 18 months clothes. He's still in 12 months clothes, a size 4 diaper, and he wears size 1 or 2 shoes. We don't fuss with shoes very often, but he has some really cute hiking boots and some Converse shoes like his daddy wears that we like to put on him every once in awhile.

Like Lyla, Ethan has basically been a bald baby. He's starting to grow some hair slowly but surely. I'm anxious to see what color it will be and if it will be curly like his sister's.

Speaking of Lyla, Ethan is just crazy about her! He loves having her attention and just squeals when she is nearby. She loves the reaction she gets from him, so she checks in with him regularly just to get a laugh. I can't wait to see the friendship that will develop between the two of them!

With the colder weather, we've needed to bundle up, which usually means a hat and blanket for Ethan...sometimes mittens. You can see that he loves his hat. He uses it more as a sleep mask, it seems!

These six months have been busy, but wonderful, with the addition of Ethan to our family. It's hard to even remember a time when he wasn't here with us. Children truly are a blessing!

Ethan - Five Months Old

2012-01-31T14:05:00.000-06:00

***As you all know, this post is long overdue. Ethan turned 5 months old on December 9, 2010. I won't make any excuses, I'll just do my best to catch up quickly! Luckily, I made notes along the way so that I could remember what he was doing when.***

ETHAN IS 5 MONTHS OLD!!!

Our boy is such a joy! He's really starting to show his personality and is just so much fun to have around.

Ethan is one of the happiest babies I've ever met and charms us with smiles and laughter all day long. Who can resist that adorable grin?

And when he's not smiling, he's usually playing "lizard"- sticking his tongue out...often with a little curl, or doing this:

...sucking on his bottom lip. He even bruised his lip from sucking on it so much. Wow!

He's also very fond of his fingers rather than a paci. It's amazing we get anything done around this house with so much cuteness!

Ethan is living up to his nickname of "Moose" as he continues to grow and grow. He has moved to size 12 months clothes and a size 4 diaper - the SAME size diaper as his sister! Lyla stayed true-to-size with clothes, so it's been shocking to me for Ethan to fly through sizes way ahead of schedule. Such is life with a boy!

And a growing boy has to eat, so you can bet that he's still putting away lots of bottles. He has 5-6 bottles a day and typically eats every 3 hours. Ever since he turned 4 months, he's been waking up at night for an extra feeding, too. Who can blame him when he's growing so quickly? We introduced him to solids to try to try to help him get all the calories he needs, and he's really liking his veggies so far. And he's even slept through the night again a few times since starting solids!

Little man has transitioned to a new nap schedule with more awake time lately. He takes a cat nap in the morning, then a long nap before lunch, a long nap after lunch, and a late-afternoon cat nap. Two of his naps still overlap with Lyla's, so that is great help for me to get my work done while they both sleep!

Typically, Ethan will sleep around 10 hours a night, with the occasional 20 minute feeding somewhere in the early morning hours. We've had to start putting socks over Ethan's hands while he sleeps because he scratches himself a lot. We're in the last stages of swaddling these days and will be moving to a sleep sack soon. We've also moved Ethan from his Pack N Play to a real crib finally. I love his new furniture!

Ethan has become very interested in his toes and socks - one of his favorite toys! He also loves playing in his exercauser and is beginning to spend time playing with toys on a blanket.

He has started pushing up his front-half with full extension in his arms. That's a lot of work to lift a moose body! He's also strong enough now to tripod sit with the support of his arms in front. (This is one of my favorite shots of him.)

One of our favorite little Ethan "tricks" is his sleepy head shake. You can't deny when he gets tired because he starts to shake his head back-and-forth, almost like he's rocking himself to sleep. Too cute!

You've probably noticed in the pictures, but Ethan has some red, dry patches of skin (eczema) that we are working on treating. We cover him in greasy Aquaphor twice a day and it really seems to be helping. You can almost see the glisten in this picture. Ha!

We are so blessed to have this little boy in our lives!

We'll end on a silly note. A guy at work took Ethan's picture and then used an App on his phone to add a little soul patch so that he looked JUST like his daddy. So awesome!

You Ought To Be In Pictures

2011-11-25T21:55:00.000-06:00

For all my family that checks this blog regularly in hopes that I've actually written a new post...here's to you. :)

I take pictures of the kids all the time and videos, too, all in hopes of posting regularly on the blog...time just gets away from me. But I wanted to share a few great shots I got of Lyla and Ethan recently. I'm thinking these may be worthy of frames!

Love this gummy grin!

Those dimples are just too much!

Blowing a kiss...mmmmwah!

A smile to melt Mommy's heart!

Ethan - Four Months Old

2011-11-11T10:04:00.000-06:00

ETHAN IS 4 MONTHS OLD!!!

Typically, I mention that I feel like time is flying, but this past month has felt more "normal." I guess that means we are probably getting the hang of having two kids!

Our big boy has changed so much over the past month. He went through a major growth spurt and is now wearing size 9 months clothes! Silly boy only wore his 6 months clothes for about a month...too bad I bought several things for really cold weather that he never wore. Lyla followed clothing sizes nearly perfectly, so I wasn't prepared for him to fly through sizes so quickly. Lesson learned, ha! He also jumped right into size 3 diapers.

Ethan had his 4-month check-up yesterday, and he weighs 16.5 pounds and is 25.5 inches long - both are the 75th percentile. We really thought he might be in an even higher percentile than that, but I guess there are some really big boys out there to compare him to!

In addition to his growth spurt, Ethan has learned lots of new tricks this past month and had lots of "firsts." In fact, as I was selecting pictures for this post, I realized I need to make several separate posts to show them all off. We'll see if I can stick to that commitment. :)

One new thing Ethan has discovered are his hands. His fists are tasty snacks for him, and he much prefers them to a pacifier. He has also started to laugh the most adorable belly laugh. He's very ticklish and just chuckles when you tickle him. Even Lyla thinks his laugh is amazing. She will come running to him every time he laughs with a big smile on her face. It's really sweet.

Our big boy has also taken his first turn in his Bumbo chair and the excersaucer. He's quickly outgrowing his bouncy seat, so it's great to have new fun things to move on to. He's still a little wobbly in the excersaucer, but with a blanket stuffed in for support, he does great.

And of course, the trusty playmat is still a favorite. (Can you see his toe peeking out of his PJs? Too cute!)

A few weeks ago, Ethan had his first big road trip to Little Rock. He was an angel in the car both ways and slept like a pro in the hotel. My family loved getting to meet him. He's a charmer for sure!

When we got back from the Little Rock trip, we introduced Ethan to his first taste of cereal. He's been a great all-night sleeper for so long, and then he started regularly waking up at 4am starving...so mommy decided it was time for a little cereal before bedtime. He doesn't love it just yet, but that's to be expected. It's at least helping him stay full through the night, which I appreciate very much!

Throughout the day, Ethan continues to eat 4-6 ounces of milk every 3 hours with a nap between each feeding for an hour or two. And MOST nights, he sleeps 10-11 hours. The last couple of nights have been great!

Ethan's biggest accomplishment this month has been the big roll over! On his four-month-birthday he was surprised me when I turned my back and found him on his belly! He'd been so close to the roll-over for a long time...we were just waiting for him to piece all the moves together. He was so proud of himself and now, you can't get the boy to stay on his back!

We love our little lobster man!

Party Line

2011-10-18T14:54:00.000-05:00

Lyla has been mimicking the use of a cell phone for quite some time. She has a toy cell phone that she plays with in the car. And for the past several months, she's held just about every object you can think of to her ear to pretend talk. Just recently, she's even gone to just using her hand and can often be found talking on "double phones."

Just recently, though, her conversations on the phones have really developed. You can tell she really pays attention to Matt & I when we are on the phone because she uses a lot of intonation and emotion while she's talking. And she's always on the move while chatting.

I snuck up and videoed her as she pranced around the house on her phone the other day...and it's too cute to not share!

Ethan - Three Months Old

2011-10-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

ETHAN IS THREE MONTHS OLD!!!

Well, I'm late again. It's probably safe to say that this won't be the last time. Posting during the week is difficult with everything we have going on, so most of my blogging will have to happen on the weekends.

Regardless, it's time to celebrate Ethan once again! THREE MONTHS OLD! I remember thinking that time flew with Lyla, but man, it's going twice as fast with two babies in the house!

Our little man is such a joy to our family! His awake time lately is so sweet - full of smiles and coos that warm our hearts. He's turned out to be such a content, easy-going baby, too. With every day, he gets easier and easier to care for. Such a blessing!

Ethan is wearing size 3-6 months clothes and a size 2 diaper - at least for a few more days! I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs, but it feels like a lot! He went through a growth spurt right before he turned 3 months old, so I'm anxious to see how much he weighs next month at his check-up.

You can probably guess that he's eating really well, too, huh? We feed Ethan 6 times a day right now, and he eats anywhere from 4-6 ounces at each feeding. During his growth spurt, he was having up to 8 bottles a day...glad we are back to normal!

Ethan is still sleeping really well for us, too. He sleeps around 10 hours every night and takes 5 naps during the day. We're still swaddling him, but he is getting so strong he can break out of just about anything.

Ethan is really found of play time on his activity mat. He spends a lot of his awake time punching and kicking all the dangling objects. Just like his sister, he often plays so hard he falls asleep right on the mat. He's getting so strong and is showing signs that he's working on the beginning stages of rolling. That and sitting up. He spends a lot of time in his car seat and bouncy tying to sit himself all the way up.

Another favorite of Ethan's is going for walks with the stroller. I've been trying to go for a walk every morning, and Ethan usually gets the majority of his morning nap while we are out on our stroll. The weather has been so pleasant in the mornings, so I don't blame him! (FYI, the bar in that picture is an attachment we use to snap his car seat in the stroller. He can ride either way, but I try to let him out of the car seat when I can. The car seat is great, however, when he has fallen asleep in the car, and I don't want to wake him to transfer him to the stroller.)

A few weeks ago, Ethan visited a pediatric therapy clinic for a little Physical Therapy. Nothing major is wrong, he just needed a little help loosening the muscles on the left side of his neck. We had noticed that he was getting quite a flat spot on the right side because he always looked that way and slept on that slide. We've been doing the stretches for a couple of weeks now, and he's made a huge improvement!

What a precious addition this boy is to our lives! We love you, sweet boy!

A Little Harmless Flirting

2011-10-03T16:54:00.000-05:00

It's official, Ethan has found the love of his life - well, at least for a little bit. And who - or WHAT, shall I say - is the object of his affection? His bedroom ceiling fan!

I know all babies love lights and ceiling fans. I can remember Lyla watching them. And we probably all remember her special affinity for the kitchen chandelier. But this is a whole different ballgame.

Ethan's best view of the ceiling fan is from his changing table. The minute I put him down, he begins to coo and smile and babble at his love. It sure makes diaper duty a little less mundane.

I happened to catch him in the act today and just couldn't wait to share it with you guys. Enjoy!

(PS - I feel like I have TONS of things I need to share here...trying to be better, I promise!)

Deja Vu

2011-09-28T12:02:00.001-05:00

Even though I don't think Lyla and Ethan look just alike, I think they both favor their daddy. And there are moments when Ethan will make a face or a movement that reminds me of Lyla at his age.

The other day, as I was flipping through some pictures on my iPhone, I paused on a shot of Ethan that reminded me a lot of a similar picture I have of his sister.

Even more amusing is that both of these pictures were taken after they got their 2-month vaccinations. Insert "Twilight Zone" theme music here...

Ethan - Two Months Old

2011-09-23T09:37:00.000-05:00

ETHAN IS TWO MONTHS OLD!!!

Well, I'm actually so late with this post that he's nearly 3 months old, but I am hoping you will forgive me. I took all of the pictures and wrote everything out to have the post ready for his actually 2-month birthday, but then moving got in the way. We've also had a few internet issues in our new house, but I'm finally getting it done today! And because I'm such a rule follower, you can rest assured that all the facts and pictures are indeed true of where Ethan was at his 2-month birthday. I haven't blurred the lines at all and have saved everything else of the 3-month post. :)

Now, on to Ethan...

Our sweet boy is a growing weed these days! He had a check-up on his actual 2-month birthday and weighed in at 12 pounds and was 23 inches long. Those measurements are nearly identical to his sister's at the same age. Ethan just moved to size 3-6 months clothes and a size 2 diaper.

Ethan experienced a "first" this month with his first trip to the hospital (if you don't count delivery) due to a fever. Fevers can be an indication of infection, and at his age, that could be tough for his little body. He had to stay 48 hours for observation and testing to make sure there was nothing serious or life-threatening going on but ended up being released with the diagnosis of a virus that would go away on its own, thankfully. There were some tough moments for this momma when the doctor told me we would have to go to the hospital...makes you truly appreciate the health of your children!

Little man's stay in the hospital threw off his scheduling progress just a little bit, but he has settled comfortably into a great schedule now. He generally eats every 3 hours and has a healthy appetite of drinking between 4 and 6 ounces at each feeding.

Ethan is also napping really well. We try to approach his day with a feeding, then playing, then sleeping rotation, so he naps between each feeding currently. And his night time sleeping is really making Mommy proud these days! He slept through the night for the first time at 6 weeks and made it a part of his nightly routine around 8 weeks...such a blessing! Ethan has been a great baby since he was born, but this great schedule has really helped ease the load these past few weeks of caring for two babies. I am so thankful for good, cooperative kiddos!

Our boy is big on smiling and cooing lately, something that just melts my heart...especially with his sweet dimples. Like most babies, he loves overhead lights and ceiling fans and will "flirt" with them when he spots them. He also loves to have cooing conversations with Mommy and Daddy. He even spits with his tongue when he gets really tickled. So cute! And just like his sister, he loves to play the game of Lizard where he pokes his tongue out over and over.

Ethan has really started to like being in his bouncy seat or swing. He loves to look out the window and both are great for calming him down when he's upset.

We've been using the newborn lounger pillow as well, but the sneaky guy figured out how to slither right off of it! This was such a surprise to me because we used that pillow for months with Lyla! Oh well!

Bath time has become fun for Ethan. He loves the warm water and splashing around, but he HATES getting out. I guess it must make him cold, so he let's the world know that drying off and getting lathered up with lotion are not welcomed. Hopefully he'll adjust to that over time.

One other first from this month was Ethan's first Razorback game day. We dressed the part, of course, in a Razorback jersey and football socks. Both were gifts that I just LOVE!

We just love this little guy and are so thankful for his addition to our family!

Lyla Lately

2011-08-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

Taking care of two babies as well as buying and selling a house doesn't leave much time for blogging. But I definitely wanted to capture some of what Lyla has been doing lately. This girl is a hoot and keeps Matt and I laughing all the time these days. I hope you enjoy and find her just as funny as we do!

Let's start with her definition of toys these days. She still loves all of her toys, especially now that she has this cool new storage system for all of them in her room, but she's also been having fun with more non-traditional toys. I let her "help" me cook the other night, and now my favorite bowl scrapper belongs to her. Seriously, I tried to sneak it away, and she found it in the dishwasher.

With all the packing around the house, I gave Lyla her own small box in an effort to keep her from "helping" with my boxes. I had no idea she would love it so much. She spends lots of time playing and rocking it in every day.

And then there's her gift bag. Our friend, Ryan, brought her a present last week (two REALLY cute Razorback tops), and they were in this little red bag. Well, he might as well have just given her a bag because she hasn't stopped playing with it. She packs and unpacks it all the time (much like her box) and even carries it like a purse sometimes. I've already had to repair it with tape and I'm fearful of the day it finally rips for good. Poor girl will be so upset.

The last one is my favorite because it really shows off Lyla's creativity. My sister gave her a pair of sunglasses months ago that have been a huge hit. We knew it was only a matter of time before they broke, and last week, the screw fell out to one of the arms. Never fear, though, Lyla quickly found a new use for the broken piece - a pot stirrer! Seriously, she cracks me up!

Some other great Lyla antics:

HER way of riding in a shopping cart...

Discovering the fun of opening (and unloading) drawers...

Anything and everything can be turned into a cell phone...

Toys, boxes, furniture, and humans - they are all great for climbing...

Eating peaches, and using the leftover juice to "style" her hair (note to self, peach juice is quite the curl activator!)...

And crawling...that's for babies. Our girl completely gave up crawling this week and is a full-time walker! Join us as we all scream with excitement!

Ethan - One Month Old

2011-08-09T21:44:00.000-05:00

ETHAN IS ONE MONTH OLD!!!

Our boy is a month old already! Just like my second pregnancy flew by, I feel like our days with Ethan are going twice a fast as they did with Lyla. I guess that makes sense with the hectic schedules that come with having two babies!

Matt and I feel like Ethan has changed a lot in the last few days. He's filling out so much in his face and arms and legs...he doesn't even look like the baby we met at the hospital. We still aren't sure who we think he looks like, but everyone says he's another Matt look alike. Apparently, I'm no good at passing on my traits to my kids! ha!

Ethan weighs somewhere between 8 and 9 pounds. Last week, he weighed 8.5 at the doctor's office and won't get weighed again until his 2 month check-up. He wears size 0-3 months clothes and just moved to a size 1 diaper.

Our little man is really taking to a good schedule lately. He had a booger of a diaper rash last week that was making it hard for him to nap consistently, so I'm very thankful to have him pain-free this week and back on track. He is sleeping 5-6 hours a night before waking me for a feeding - we are so blessed to have had two good sleepers! After each feeding during the day, we try to have a little "awake time," and then he usually naps until his next feeding.

Ethan has also developed quite an appetite, too! The first couple of weeks, he wasn't eating very much and was spitting up a lot...but with a little work, he now is an eating pro! He usually eats every 3-4 hours during the day and will eat between 3 and 5 ounces at a time.

One of Ethan's favorite things to do is swing, or even more so, be dangled in your arms and bounced. It's a great bicep workout!

Ethan is such a precious addition to our home! (Aren't those dimples the best?!)

Ethan and Lyla both at one month old:

Girlfriends

2011-07-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we ran into my dear friend, Arwen, and her family at - of all places - Fayetteville Auto Park. Matt and I like to cruise through every once in a while just to see what they have. We aren't seriously in the market for a car, but we realize that in the future, we will probably need a bigger car to accomodate our family, so it's fun just to see what all is out there from time to time.

As we were pulling off the interstate, I was certain I saw Arwen's husband and two girls, Campbell and Romy, walking the lot, and sure enough, she was there too! I jumped out of the car and raced over to her for a hug! She hadn't gotten to meet Ethan yet, and I hadn't gotten to see her new baby bump (that's right, she's pregnant!), so we were both thrilled for the accidental run-in.

We ended up hanging out to chat for about an hour, and then Arwen and her girls made a brief pit-stop at our house afterwards. One of my favorite things about the whole evening was how ENAMORED Lyla was with the two big girls. She always stares at big girls when we are out and about - like she just can't wait to grow up. So having two big girls giving her all their attention was fun overload for our girl. She squealed and giggled all night!

The girls were oh-so-sweet to Lyla, too. They cheered her on as she "performed" all her skills - repeating her favorite words, blowing kiss, taking a few steps - and they taught her a great new way to blow raspberries on her arm...which she thought was HYSTERICAL...and still does!

Seriously, these girls are going to be great big sisters to the new baby, and I may just hire them to come hang out at my house and entertain my girl as well! It was such a treat to get some surprise time together!

Sibling Love

2011-07-25T16:01:00.000-05:00

One of the questions everyone asks lately is, "How is Lyla adjusting to having Ethan around?" To be honest, I don't think it has affected her too much just yet. She basically just ignores him and has only shown a streak of jealously a couple of times.

She likes to tell him, "Hi," and wave to him and today, she's even tried to add his name in...it's the cutest "Hiiii, Ethan," in a high-pitched voice. Matt also taught Lyla to tickle Ethan's toes so that she would be less fascinated with poking his eyes and nose. Thank goodness!

Big sister also likes to "help" with diaper changes. She's in a stage where she like to pack and unpack things, so the diaper holder is irresistible in her eyes! And when she's made her mess with the diapers, she typically moves on to punching all the music and vibrate buttons on the Pack 'N Play. Such a good helper, I tell you!

I think Lyla's favorite part about being a big sister is that she loves playing in Ethan's swing and bouncy seat. Who knew she would enjoy these toys a second time around? I left the room briefly the other day and found her in his swing when I came back with very proud smirk on her face.

Honestly, the transition to two has gone really well. I'm blessed to have a husband who is a great helper - seriously, he's doing FAR more than his share of work around the house, and I love him for it! And we've had great help from family and friends, too. We are fortunate to have two great kids that make the job easier, as well. We were afraid Lyla had spoiled us with her amazing temperament, but Ethan is following right in her footsteps, thankfully. Even with the lack of sleep and challenging moments that are bound to happen, I can't tell you the number of times during the day that I just pause and thank God for my life because I couldn't imagine anything more perfect!

He's Here!

2011-07-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

FINALLY! Our precious boy is here! (Actually, he's been here two weeks, but hopefully you'll cut me some slack for taking a while to get the post written.) Ethan Isaac joined us on July 9th at 9:12p.m. And we've loved every minute of having him here! Ethan weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was recorded at 21 inches long (although we've seen him measure 20.5 since then).

The day before he was born, we had our 40 week check-up, and I had made dilation progress to 2.5 centimeters. Dr. Bailey said he thought we would have a baby soon, and he was willing to give us an additional week to let mother nature do her thing before scheduling an inducement. We were very thankful for that because our birth plan was for a natural childbirth, and inducement drugs would make that really difficult.

That night I began to feel really uncomfortable. Of course, late in pregnancy, there are a lot of uncomfortable moments, so I tried not to think too much about it. However, as I was headed to bed I thought to myself, "I'm going into labor, I know it." Around 2:30 a.m., I woke up to the early stages of contractions. They were more annoying than painful at that point, and I really just wanted to be out of bed moving around so that they didn't bother me. I was able to sleep a little around 5:00 a.m., and the contractions stalled out a little until I was back up for good with Lyla.

From around 9:00 until lunch time, I had consistent mild contractions, and we got really excited that we were headed towards the first moments of holding our boy in our arms. But then, all contractions went away completely. We tried walking around the block, walking at the mall, anything we could think of - but we couldn't get the contractions back. It's common to have "practice labor," and we knew that, but I was disappointed to not really be in labor.

We spent the afternoon around the house and realized there were a couple of things in our rented storage building that we would like to have for Ethan. The building is literally just down the street, so Matt headed out to grab a few things while I rested. Around 4:45 p.m., I texted him to tell him I had a contraction, and then another, and another. They were coming FAST and STRONG out of nowhere. And they never slowed down. I continued to labor for the next few hours at home with the assistance of Matt and our doula, Rachel.

When I was checked at the house around 6:30 p.m., I was at 4 centimeters and decided to get out of bed and labor on my feet to try to speed things along. Within a few contractions, I was really feeling the strength of labor and made demands to go to the hospital. We had planned to wait until we were about 7 or 8 centimeters before going, but I felt an incredible sense of urgency to get there. I kept telling Matt that I wanted an epidural, even though I knew I was managing my contractions well. But that was the only reason I could articulate, at the time, that I needed to get to the hospital.

In hindsight, now, we feel like the Holy Spirit was working to get me to the hospital when we needed to be there...because by the time we were there, around 7:30 p.m., I was between a 7 and 8, and Ethan's heart tones were measuring a little lower than the doctors would prefer. Thankfully, the OB on call was in the hospital already, and she came down to check me and work with Ethan. She tried massaging his scalp to stimulate his heart rate, and that worked. We were very thankful for that, but that also meant that I finished out the rest of labor with her hand massaging Ethan's scalp. Let's just say that made my contractions a whole lot worse and made me desperate for pain relief...but it was all worth it to keep him okay and to avoid needing an emergency C-section.

I was still requesting an epidural as I moved to a private room because of the intensity of everything going on. My OB was hoping that I would complete quickly with Ethan's heart tones the way they were, and she promised me that I wasn't looking at 20 hours of labor like I had seen before with Lyla. :) About an hour after we had been at the hospital, the anesthesiologist made it to my room and set about prepping me for an epidural. Just as he stuck me, I had a contraction that made my body voluntarily start pushing...and my OB knew I had completed and we could just move without dosing the meds...and I was all for it and thankful that I could still have the natural delivery that I really wanted. The doctor was concerned enough for Ethan's heart tones at that point that she had me push immediately without a contraction. And after everything I had endured, pushing was the easy part...and Ethan was out before I could even realize what was going on. In fact, as I opened my eyes, I really couldn't even believe he was there...everything had moved so quickly with less than 5 hours of real labor and less than 2 hours at the hospital.

It turns out, the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around Ethan's neck, which was why his heart rate kept dropping. Like Lyla, he had meconium in his amniotic fluid, so they cleared his lungs out and took him to the nursery to make sure his breathing was okay. Thankfully, this time, we didn't require NICU help, and he got to come back to our room after they cleaned him up. We stayed at the hospital two nights, and then got to bring our boy home on Monday.

Lyla spent a few nights in Fort Smith with her grandparents while we adjusted to having Ethan at home. She came home on Wednesday, and the REAL test of having two kids began. Thankfully, Matt had the full week off from work and was able to help me a ton, and my mother-in-law has spent this week with us helping me as well and my mom is coming this weekend. I'm so thankful for the help! Balancing two kids is definitely a new challenge for us, but we are up for it. We are just so thankful for our two blessing that the lack of sleep and the hard work is worth it.

There is so much more to share from the past two weeks, so I will try to get a few more posts up and running soon!

Lyla Lately

2011-07-08T13:46:00.000-05:00

I think I've decided to only do the monthly posts about the kids through 12 months. Let's be honest, Ethan will be lucky if I get all 12 completed for him! But I still want to keep everyone up-to-date from time to time on what Lyla is doing. It will just be easier if I don't have a deadline of the 10th of every month. So here is one of the first "Lyla Lately" posts to keep you informed. :)

Since she turned one, Lyla is now facing forward in a big girl car seat. She LOVES to ride this way and talk about everything she is seeing. (And I know, there have been reports lately that you should keep your child rear-facing until the age of 2. We've chosen to go ahead an let her ride this way and feel like she is plenty safe.)

Lyla is trying lots of new foods lately and has a great appatite! We keep calling her "monster baby" because she looks bigger and bigger everyday. One of her new favorites is pickles. She loves to suck the juice out of them, ha! Really, we haven't found many foods she doesn't like.

Along with new foods, Lyla loves feeding herself these days, too. We had a particularly messy evening of creamy mac & cheese the other night. It was one of those nights I felt like I could hose her off easier than cleaning her up, but oh well. She had a blast getting that dirty!

I don't know that you can see it here, but Lyla now has half a tooth that has grown in and a second one about to break through...both on the bottom. She waited a long time to start cutting teeth, but I think they will all come quickly now!

Our big girl has really done well switching over to sippee cups and whole milk, too! Initially, it was a little rough...she wasn't excited about her new milk. But in a matter of days she took to it well and left all her bottles behind at the same time. She learned to sign for "milk" and now requests her favorite beverage all the time! I love that the transition wasn't as hard as we had thought. Such a big girl!

Independent playtime has picked back up since Lyla got new toys for her birthday. I'm so thankful to all of you for these toys! She had gotten a little bored with her "baby toys" and now loves stuffing her stroller like a shopping cart or filling her doll house with anything small enough to get through the door (including milk cups and pacis). She's also loving puzzles, books, and still plays with her music table all the time. This is such a fun age of play.

In addition to traditional toys, Lyla loves to play with shoes. She loves to make a MESS of my closet while I get ready, but I figure it keeps her entertained long enough for me to get my makeup and hair done, so it's worth it. And we make a fun game of putting them all back once shoe time is over. Ha!

Lately, when Lyla wakes up, she starts dumping things from her crib...mostly, her babies. We've found many things all over her floor that she tosses in protest, too funny! Poor Matt has had to make a few trips under her crib to rescue all the items dumped out of the back side, though.

Lyla Bear still hasn't taken off walking, but she has become a great balance artist and stands by herself all the time. Once she notices, she sometimes sits down, but she's gotten so good at standing and walking behind her stroller that I think walking is in the near future.

Such a silly girl! We just love her personality and can't wait to see the next developments from our girl.

I Scream, You Scream...

2011-07-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

I think we all know the popular saying, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." Well, Lyla is definitely showing the screaming part to be true.

We let our sweet girl try ice cream for the first time a few weeks ago. I let her sample a few bites of mine, and she loved it. She became very serious about consuming as much as possible. When mine was gone, her sweet Nana volunteered to share a little, too. But even that wasn't enough to appease Lyla. She then began eyeing her daddy's remains, but we knew she really didn't need more. That caused some tears.

A couple of days later, I shared some ice cream with her that I was having for dessert. (Okay, okay, you are going to quickly realize I eat a lot of ice cream. It's typically frozen yogurt or something good for me, though!) When it was all gone, I told Lyla "all done" using the sign language we've been working on. She melted to the floor with a broken heart and crocodile tears instantly. It was pitiful.

And then the next night, we had dinner at Jason's deli. If you've eaten there, you know there is a soft-serve machine for all to enjoy for dessert (one of the reasons I LOVE Jason's!), so we decided to let Lyla have her own small cup for dessert. I honestly thought I fixed too much for her, but she gobbled it all up. When Matt told her "all done," she again fell apart. Poor girl just loves her ice cream and never wants it to end. We've decided she would make herself sick on it if we let her!

I have to confess, too, that Matt and I can't help but laugh through each meltdown...it's really funny. I can't believe how much she loves her ice cream. At least I can know she got ONE thing from me!!!

First Birthday Party

2011-06-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

I've been a little slow to get these pictures uploaded, but I wanted to share some of Lyla's first birthday party. We had a great time celebrating her big milestone!

We had to party at mine and Matt's office. There is a large, open room on the ground floor that is great for parties...plus, it means no fussing over clean-up at home!

We were thrilled to have family and a few close friends join us for the celebration.

Lyla's cousin, Lindsay, is almost a year older than her. I can't wait to see their friendship develop as they get older. Can't you just see a similar shot in about 15 years as they are headed out to drive? Gosh, that's scary!!!

We served a few light snacks since we had the party right after lunch. We had fruit kabobs, nuts, and some punch If you were at mine and Matt's wedding, this is the same punch we served there. It is a favorite of mine!

I just got a Cricut (a die-cutting machine), so I had a lot of fun making the decorations for the party.

I also made border frames for Lyla's monkey pictures that I have taken of her each month. It was so fun to compare how much she has changed over the past 12 months!

We dusted off our cake making supplies to make some fun treats for our big girl. I took the easy route with the cupcake decorating and left the teddy bear to Matt. He is such a pro and did a great job making the bear look furry and cuddly.

It took him hours, but I thought it was ADORABLE! I'm sure our Lyla Bear will appreciate it a lot, too, when she looks back at the pictures later in life.

Sweet birthday girl

Lyla was a little unsure about all of us singing "Happy Birthday to her.

But she was even more unsure about her cupcake!

I thought she would gobble it up, but her first taste of icing was NOT her favorite! She liked the plain cake, though.

Lyla is a little weird about messy hands, too, so icing fingers were not her favorite.

Silly girl doesn't realize what she's missing out on!

Lyla got some amazing presents at her party...lots of cool toys, books, puzzles, and clothing!

She and cousin Lindsay had a great time sampling on the new lights and sounds of her toys.

Cousin Nathan is so good with the little ones. He stole some snuggle time with Lyla towards the end of the party.

The birthday girl had such a big afternoon! While Matt and I cleaned up afterwards, she passed out hard in her car seat.

Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us. And for those who weren't able to make it, know that you were missed!

12 Months Old

2011-06-10T21:48:00.000-05:00

LYLA IS TWELVE MONTHS OLD!!!

Okay, seriously folks...were did this year go?! How do we have a little girl who is ONE already? I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital. And the hardest part for me to wrap my head around is that I know that it's just going to go faster from here.

So what's our one-year-old doing these days? Well, LOTS! We won't have her check-up until next week, so I'll have to share her height and weight stats with you then. She seems really tall to me, and I'm really curious to see how much she weighs. She is currently wearing a size 3 diaper...but our pack runs out this week, and we have a box of size 4s waiting for her. The 3s are nice and snug! She is also wearing size 12 months clothes (not for much longer!) and a size 3 shoe.

One of the my favorite things from the last month or so has been introducing Lyla to table food. She was so bored with baby food and kept spitting it on me, but I was nervous to try much without any teeth. (Oh, by the way, the first tooth broke through last week! Hooray!) But I read that most kids use their gums to mash food even if they have teeth in the front...kind of like how we use our back teeth to chew our food. So I started experimenting with soft table foods, and she has done great! We've tried so many things, and the only one she hasn't liked so much is black beans. Can't say I blame her on that one. I love being able to share my plate with her when we go out and coordinating her meals is much easier now that she can eat so much. Such a fun stage!

Lyla is also drinking all whole milk now - no more formula. We started transitioning her to whole milk a couple of weeks ago by gradually adding whole milk to her bottles and decreasing the ounces of formula. She has taken to the change really well, although she doesn't like ice cold milk just yet. She also is VERY unsure about milk out of a sippee cup. She is a pro and drinking juice from a cup, but she does not like her milk that way. I'm working really hard on that one lately because it's time to give the bottles up!

Our sweet girl is still sleeping around 11 hours each night, but she's showing signs over the past couple of days that she may want an even earlier bed time. We put her down around 8:30 pm and get her up at 7:30 am, but we may move her bedtime up a little earlier to see how it goes. She also takes 2 long naps during the day.

Lyla is all but walking these days, too. She has the balance and coordination to do it, she is just still a little unsure about letting go. She has stood on her own several times now for a lengthy period of time but taking those first few steps is still a little intimidating. She got several stand-up or walker toys for her birthday, so I bet those will encourage her right along.

We took Lyla swimming again a couple of weeks ago, and she just loves it! She is such a little fish! We had her in the pool for over two hours, and she cried when we made her get out. She even stuck her face in the water a few times on her own, and her little arms and legs rarely stop moving under water.

Lyla is also doing some really funny things lately that I don't want to forget to capture. Somehow, the girl learned to dance, and she does this adorable booty shake when she hears music, or sometimes it a cute shoulder shrug. She has yet to do it for me on camera, but I promise to post a video if she cooperates. She also does this really funny grunt with her mouth closed, almost like she is making the sound of a car revving the engine. Such a silly girl!

This year has been such a blessing for Matt and I as parents. It's a daunting task to be responsible for raising such a precious child, but we have loved ever second of it! We're celebrating a year's worth of memories today and looking forward to many more to come!

June 10, 2010:

June 10, 2011

Lyla's Dedication

2011-05-16T11:50:00.000-05:00

On Mother's Day, we participated in Baby Dedication at church. This is basically a ceremony where parents commit to raise their children to follow Christ, and the church agrees to support them in their effort. It's also a really fun way to see all the new babies in the church. :)

Matt's parents were able to come up for Lyla's big day, which consisted of joining 11 other families on the stage for a time of prayer with the pastor and the church. Lyla was a great sport, as usual, and loved it when the crowd clapped or laughed. She joined right in with them. And when the pastor prayed for her, she got so tickled that he said her name, and she tried to jump in his arms. Such the social butterfly!

Below is a copy of the information we submitted for the ceremony that includes an anecdote about Lyla as well as a section of scripture we picked out for her. Psalm 18 is one of mine and Matt's favorite passages, and we pray that Lyla will one day claim these verses as truth in her heart.

Anecdote:
Lyla truly is a joy to us. She is so full of life, smiles, and laughter. She never meets a stranger and loves to wave “hello.” We pray the Lord will capture her heart early and that her sweet spirit will make her a testimony to God’s great grace.

Psalm 18:2-3

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

11 Months Old

2011-05-11T09:54:00.000-05:00

LYLA IS ELEVEN MONTHS OLD!!!

Somebody pinch me...there's just no way my baby is almost a year old! With another month under our belt, we have lots of new milestones as well. That's what makes this stage so much fun...all the new developments we get to witness every day.

Lyla weighs around 21 pounds right now. She still wears size 12 months clothes and size 3 diaper...but I think we are getting ready to move up a size in both. I'll be interested to see her stats at her 1 year check-up because her legs look so long I'm confident she is going to be a tall girl.

Speaking of legs, our sweet girl is really on the move these days. She is a pro at pulling up on anything and is getting really good at cruising around the room from object to object as well as bouncing up and down while standing. She also is getting very brave and trying to balance on her own. It's so fun to watch her think really hard about it and then choose to let go to see what happens. I think we are really close to the days of standing and walking!

In the meantime, Lyla is a speed crawler. She can get away from me so quickly that I've resorted to shutting all the doors throughout the house to ensure she doesn't wander off too far when I'm doing dishes or laundry or working. It sure doesn't take long for that little girl to disappear!

Lyla is still eating three meals a day just like the "big people" do. Fruits are still her absolute favorites, especially bananas. And we are finally getting more meat down her by "hiding" it in her fruit. Whatever it takes, right?! Since Baby Girl still doesn't have any teeth, she hasn't gotten to try many table foods yet, but I've been able to share a few things with her that are really soft like baked potatoes, cooked carrots, and fruits.

Lyla has also gotten really good at using a sippee cup now. She mainly just has a little watered-down juice out of a sippee for practice right now (not much though, don't worry!). We tried moving her to drinking her milk out of a sippee, but she got pretty frustrated at the slow flow, so we are letting her continue on bottles until we make the move to cow's milk in the next month.

One of my favorite developments of late is Lyla's ability to use sign language when eating to help me know what she wants. We've been showing her signs for months, but within the last couple of weeks, she's really picked up on using the sign for "more" and "all done." I love that she can better communicate with me so that I know what she wants. And I think she does, too! Yesterday, while eating sweet peas, she told me "more" after every single bite. The girl likes her peas! (Stay tuned for videos of her showing of her sign language skills.)

In addition to communicating with a couple of signs, Lyla is also developing a small vocabulary of words she can say. She says "Daddy," "Lyla," "Bye," and "Hey" really well and is actually starting to use them in context correctly. She still doesn't utter any "m's" unless she is crying, so "Mommy" is still on-hold for now. (Matt promises she said Mommy the other night, but I still haven't heard any signs of it.)

Our big girl is really into exploring during playtime. Her favorite pastime lately is to unpack her toy box that we keep in the living room. We try to pack her toys back up frequently just so she can dig and explore and drag them all back out. She will spend 20 minutes standing over the toy box pulling one toy after another out...it's really cute, as if she's never seen those toys before!

Another sign of her curiosity is that she will not leave Matt or me alone when we have a computer out. We joke that she really wants to play with the "magic box" that lights up and does cool things. Too bad for her that these boxes are definitely off limits for now!

When she's not playing hard, Lyla is still sleeping like a champ. She gives us a solid 11 hours at night as well as two long naps during the day, each between 2 and 3 hours. I sure hope her baby brother is a good sleeper like she has always been!

Lyla has had a couple of other big milestones within the last month, both involving water. A few weeks ago, while we were at a hotel in Little Rock, Lyla Bear got to take her first swim with Daddy in a big pool. We totally let her swim redneck style in just a diaper. We had intended on just letting her splash her feet on the edge while Matt swam with our nieces and nephew, but the sweet baby got her bottom wet quickly, so we just let her go all the way in. And boy did she love it!

Sweet girl also made the move to the big bath tub recently since she had outgrown her baby tub. The first time I put her in the big tub on her own, she got so excited...and the splashfest ensued! I love that she has so much fun in water and doesn't seem to be afraid at all right now.

Time sure flies with this girl, but we cherish every day! These past 11 months have been full of joy and love and excitement for our family. We are so richly blessed by our Lyla!

It's a Texture Thing

2011-05-08T21:28:00.000-05:00

I really love warmer weather and the yummy fruits that come into season during those times. The other day, I was enjoying my first watermelon of the year and thought I would let Lyla get a taste of it's wonderful goodness.

She absolutely loved the juice and gnawed on several pieces with me. However, when she actually got a bite of the "skin" she was done. She wanted it out of her mouth right away! Guess we'll stick to watermelon juice for a bit!

P.S. - Just so no one worries, I never let her get close to a seed. No choking hazards allowed!

P.P.S. Today was a great first Mother's Day celebrated with my family and with the dedication of Lyla at church. I'll post more on that soon. :)

A Tale of Two Bellies

2011-05-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

It's only fair that Ethan get a little time on the blog before he arrives, so I thought I would show off my growing boy/belly. This picture is from week 30, last week. He is super active, although he's quickly running out of room for somersaults. His activity seems very different from Lyla's, which just makes me all the more anxious to meet him and get to know his personality more.

Matt and I try to take a belly picture each week of pregnancy to document the journey along the way. During Lyla's pregnancy, there were a couple of weeks that we weren't so diligent, and week 30 was one of them, but I thought it would be fun to compare week 29 of Ethan (on the right) to week 29 with Lyla (on the left).

Wow! I will grant you that my belly popped out quicker on this pregnancy and that it remembers how to stretch back out easily this time around. I just hope Ethan isn't REALLY that much bigger than Lyla. Yikes!

The countdown is on...only 9 more weeks!

Giddy Up

2011-05-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

Horse or high chair...you decide

So Much To Say

2011-04-30T08:54:00.000-05:00

Lyla is really developing her vocabulary lately adding lots of new syllables. (For the record, still no "m," so I am not holding my breath for"Mommy" anytime soon!) She loves to say her g's, l's, y's, b's, d's and is getting really good a stringing them all together. One of our favorites to hear from her lately is "gulley-gulley-gulley."

We've also really loved the long gibberish coming from Lyla the past couple of weeks as she tries to participate in conversation with us. Too cute! It reminds me of young kids pretending to speak a foreign language. I captured a quick video the other day of her telling me many things.

Enjoy!

Fun in the Sun

2011-04-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

My work schedule has been fairly hectic lately, and that means that Lyla and I haven't had nearly as much playtime as I would like. So today, we took advantage of the beautiful weather, and had some great Mommy-Daughter time.

We set out for the park to have a stroll, take some pictures, and play on the swings. I've been wanting to get some pictures of Lyla outside, so I pretended to be a photographer and snapped about 100 of her to get a handful that are pretty cute. Actually, with my subject, it's hard not to end up with cute pictures!

We strolled around the park a little, and Lyla loved watching all the birds flying around the creek. We made our way over to the playground, and I was incredibly disappointed to discover there were no swings.

This mommy was on a mission to swing, so we loaded up and headed to park #2 where I knew there were swings. Lyla was losing a little steam at this point, but as soon as she saw all the "big kids" playing, she was her happy self.

She absolutely loved the swings and would have stayed all afternoon. I let her swing on her own for awhile in the baby swing and also let her sit in my lap to swing higher in the regular swings.

I even managed to climb to the top of the playset to let Lyla ride in my lap down the slide. I'm sure there were other parents laughing at the prego woman on the slide, but oh well!

We had a blast on our afternoon out. I've felt guilty not having much time for Lyla lately, so this was just what I needed - sweet time with my girl!

10 Months Old

2011-04-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

LYLA IS TEN MONTHS OLD!!!

Wow, double digits! What a big girl we have on our hands! I still like to call her my baby (of course), but she is definitely growing into an independent little girl these days.

Lyla is growing like a weed, it seems. I think she probably weighs a little over 20 pounds now, and she seems so tall. She still wears size 12 months clothes and size 3 diaper. Now that we are wearing a lot more summer clothing, seeing her bare legs makes them look so long.

Our girl is very active these days and doesn't stay still long. She started crawling just after she turned 9 months old and really took off about a week later. She is so proud of her mobility and keeps us on our toes chasing her around the house.

Lyla Bear also figured out how to pull up a couple of weeks ago. It started in her bed first, and now she can use the coffee table, couch cushions, etc. to get to a standing position. When we picked her up from the nursery at church today, they said she was trying her hardest to walk. I quickly told her she could slow down on that progress for sure!

Sweet girl is still very proud of all of her "tricks." She is still an avid waver to all - friends and strangers alike - and has learned to put a high-pitched "hi" with it. She has no idea what "hi" means but that doesn't stop her from using it all the time! Lyla also enjoys lots of clapping, spitting, and shaking her head side-to-side.

And as busy as she is playing and showing off, she still has such a content attitude as well. She loves to just chill in the stroller when we are out and about and loves to prop her feet up - something her Mommy does a lot as well!

Lyla is still on a sleep schedule of around 11 hours each night. She has officially moved to two naps, and it's really not as bad as I thought it would be. She takes a late morning nap and then a late afternoon nap as well, both of which are 2-3 hours. She still loves covering her face to sleep and is very attached to her pink minky blanket that her Nana made for her.

With a new daytime sleeping schedule, her eating schedule has changed just a little, too, and I must say, I am a fan! Lyla now eats three meals a day and they are all around times that we eat our three meals, so that is very convenient. She has developed quite an appetite for solids lately, and much to my surprise, her favorite foods are all fruits! We go through a big jar of fruit every day, now! She is especially fond of Strawberries & Bananas, Blueberries & Pears, and Fruit Medley. She also still likes Squash and Sweet Potatoes a lot and enjoys Chicken Noodle Dinner as Spaghetti, too.

Lyla really enjoys feeding herself and tries to "help" with the spoon all the time. She's great with finger foods, but I think I'll keep control of the spoon just a little longer! She's also becoming really good at using her sippy cup. Hopefully, that will make our transition away from bottles very smooth in the near future.

These days, everything is a toy to Lyla. She is so curious that everyday objects are great fun for her to explore. Two of her favorites are empty water bottles and straws. She also spends a lot of time trying to unpack her backpack and our work bags to find new "toys."

Another popular past-time of Lyla's is removing her socks and shoes. We can't keep her shoes on her in the car, and we've quit putting her down at night with socks on because she just pulls them off instantly. We joke about the graveyard of socks behind her bed because that is her favorite hiding spot for them once she removes them. My big belly can't crawl back there to retrieve them, so they may just stay there until we move. :)

Lyla still hasn't sprouted any teeth, but she sure acts like they are coming any day with all her drooling and gnawing on things. I suppose she'll get a mouthful all at one time sooner or later, and until then, I'll cherish her gummy grin.

Life is so full with our silly little girl. She is such a joy, and we feel so blessed to get the privilege of sharing life with her.

Tight Spaces

2011-03-22T08:46:00.000-05:00

As Lyla becomes more mobile, the poor girl has found herself in some sticky situations. A couple of weeks ago, I found her foot stuck in a toy as she pushed off of it to crawl.

Last week, she crawled under her exercauser to play, and then couldn't get back out. That one caused a little panic. (Didn't stop me from taking a picture before rescuing her, though. Bad Mommy!)

And then last week, she stuck her foot through a toy again. She didn't like it at first, but then proceeded to play and roll regardless of the clanking on one foot. Glad she is resilient!

This is all fun and games to me until her head is stuck between banister rails or something similar. Mommy's not ready for those days just yet!

Sneaky Little Thing

2011-03-15T15:43:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned that Lyla is a very curious little girl right now. She is also a very determined girl.

Typically, we leave her bedding comforter draped over the rail of the end of her bed - mostly just for decoration. It stays there for the most part, unless Lyla doesn't go to sleep right away or plays in her bed a lot, and then she tends to drag it down in bed with her.

The other night, I put her in bed and knew she was still keyed up, so I decided to avoid having the comforter dragged in the bed and instead put it on her rocker, which is beside her bed.

When I came in the next morning to get her up, I found this:

Sneaky little girl decided my actions were not enough to deter her from getting her comforter, so she instead reached through the railing to her bed, got ahold of the comforter, and tugged on it until it got stuck between the rails. I'm still not sure how she even reached it...crazy girl! Wish I could have witnessed it first hand!

I blame Matt for all of this...she seems to have his stubborn determination to the core! :)

9 Months Old

2011-03-10T22:02:00.000-06:00

LYLA IS NINE MONTHS OLD!!!

NINE months. We've now gotten to share life with this sweet girl for as long as I carried her inside of me. Amazing. In those nine months, she has stolen our hearts. We couldn't love her any more, I'm convinced!

Our growing girl is changing every day it seems. We had a check-up last week, and she weighed 19.75 pounds and was 28.5 inches long - both are in the 90th percentile. She is still wearing a size 3 diaper and wears size 12 months clothes.

As she is growing, she is becoming stronger and more independent. She still doesn't full-on crawl, but she does an army slither that gets her where she needs to be and rolls a lot, too. She is very interested in standing and has pulled up to one knee and one foot. The poor girl has no concept of gravity yet, though, so she fearlessly lets go and crashes to the ground.

Lyla still eats 4 bottles and day and eats solids 3 times a day. We just moved to stage 3 foods this week, even though she is still toothless because she was spitting food on us at every meal. My wise OT friend, Ashley, advised that she was probably bored with stage 2. Sure enough, she loves the chunks and textures in her new foods, and we can now come out of hiding when we feed her!

Another favorite of Lyla's lately are Mum-Mums, a baby rice cake. She loves these and they are a great distraction when Matt and I are out to eat or Lyla gets a little cranky in public. She really gets a kick out of feeding herself and has gotten very good at grabbing small bites between her thumb and pointer finger to put them in her mouth.

Lyla Bear is still giving us great sleep with 11 hours at night and 3 naps during the day. We've even gotten more spoiled lately as she no longer needs us to get her pacifier during the night if she loses it. We were getting up once or twice a night before just to plug her back up, and it is so nice to not be disturbed by that anymore. She's really fine to sleep all night without a paci once she spits it out, so hopefully that will make weaning her from it easier down the road.

Sweet girl still loves her eyes covered when she sleeps. She's grown very fond of sleeping with all her babies and her blanket, and you can nearly always find something over her eyes when you check on her. Such a little diva. Maybe we'll get her a sleep mask one day!

One of my favorite things about this stage of life for Lyla is her curiosity and desire to learn new things. She gets in to everything and thinks everything is "hers," but it's really fun to watch her explore. Matt calls her a Wild Rhino a lot because she is all over the place and never sits still anymore. She is picking up new skills all the time, her favorite being waving "bye-bye." She's been doing that for weeks and even says "bye-bye" very clearly while she does it...all day long! She loves to wave at every stranger we see when we are out and had about 10 people telling her bye as we left Walmart today. She is VERY social and a little flirt to boot.

Lyla also loves to clap her hands and is just starting to pick up on high-five and clicking her tongue. All of her new talents are just too cute for words, and if I can get her to perform for the camera, I'll be sure to post some video. I'm still waiting for her to say "mama," but she's mastered just about every other syllable out there.

As far as toys are concerned, her kitchen and excersaucer are still favorites. Nana recently got Lyla a toy cell phone which has been a huge hit, and she's also really taken to her singing cow that Aunt Tiffany got her and her driving/steering wheel she got for Christmas.

We say it everyday, but we really are blessed by this girl. She is such a good, sweet, joyful baby...we are so fortunate. I tell her all the time that she should teach her baby brother everything she knows because she is such an angel. We are enjoying every day, and our lives are so rich and full as a family!

The Distraction

2011-03-07T08:20:00.000-06:00

I think I spoiled you all with lots of posts during the first couple of weeks of February. However, our schedules blew up for the back-half of the month, and I went MIA.

So, the reason we've been so busy? This:

Yep, it's official, our house is for sale! We talked about moving a lot since finding out we were expecting baby Ethan. We LOVE our current house, but we've simply outgrown the storage space. Babies just have so many things! We joke all the time that if we could just add some additional kitchen cabinets and closets to this house, we'd stay. But with the interest rates as low as they are right now, we've realized we can upgrade to more house and not have to change our monthly payment. So, we're off!

The sign went in the yard last week on Monday and we were on the MLS by Monday evening. And our first showing was Tuesday, followed by a showing on Saturday! So exciting! We are hopeful for more traffic soon, and are praying for just the right buyer for this house.

We haven't started looking at houses just yet, but there are a few on the market we would be interested in. We just don't want to get too attached to anything until we know ours is in position to sell. Matt and I appreciate your prayers during this time, both for the house and for our schedules. We've got a lot going on, but it's all because of the blessings in our lives, and for that we are thankful!

PS - I know most of you come here for photos and videos of Lyla, so I'll be sure to post some soon!

Perfecting Her Skills

2011-02-15T10:57:00.001-06:00

It seems like lately, Lyla learns something new every day. And even when it's not something new, she is learning to do some old things much better. So is the case with Lyla's favorite thing lately, spitting. Yep, that's right...spitting.

She's figured out how to be really silly with her spits now and make a big mess, much to her delight. We laughed and laughed the other night as she put on a spray show, so I thought I would share.

Message of Love

2011-02-14T16:53:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be fun to have Lyla send out a Valentine's message to all of you. I think you'll enjoy the outtakes a lot, possibly even more than the Valentine!

My Funny Valentine!

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

2011-02-14T15:49:00.002-06:00

I think you probably all know this by now, but...we are having a BOY! We are so tickled about our little man, and can't wait for Mr. Ethan Isaac to join us in July!

Our ultrasound was a little different than planned because of the winter weather we have experienced in the area. My clinic had been closed all week, but fortunately, they opened on Friday in time for us to have our scheduled appointment!

All the grandparents had planned to attend the "viewing party," but the roads were still too dicey for my mom to get here from Little Rock. In fact, as she tried to set-out, she watched a wreck happen right next to her and turned around. She was disappointed to miss out, but she was able to come up on Saturday morning for a visit, and got to watch the ultrasound on DVD.

Most of us in the room for the ultrasound were expecting to hear "GIRL" - everyone except Matt, I believe. As the appointment usually goes, the technician checks all the medical stuff first, looking at all of the baby's vital organs and taking measurements to make sure everything is developing as expected. That means that you don't have the big gender reveal until the end of the appointment.

However, as the technician found two little arms, followed by two little legs, she swung around from the second leg and BAM, you couldn't deny what was there. She blurted out, "well there's a boy!" and we were all completely caught off guard! Matt was still making adjustments to our video camera to get ready for the big moment, so he wasn't even recording yet. And the rest of us in the room were casually talking as we watched the screen. So we all squealed and were shocked with the announcement, not only because she said BOY, but also because we weren't expecting to know for several more minutes.

As soon as I heard her say "boy", I quickly looked at the screen and BOY was she right...little Ethan left us no room to argue that he's no girl. I'm so thankful that the technician captured that moment, though, because later when she was trying to show us again, she couldn't get the same angle with the perfect shot. She could still see he was a boy then, but I would have never noticed. :) This little guy knows me SO well already - I like absolute answers with no doubt!

We immediately announced his name, and celebrated the blessing of a baby boy. I have to admit, as we talked through boy names before, I never thought we would need any of them...but I'm so thankful to have my Ethan! I've already spent a lot of time looking at little boy things online and daydreaming of what it will be like to have another boy in our house. And my dear friends surprised me with a cake and clothing for him right away...so he's already on his way to being spoiled!

I guess I should mention that Ethan looked very healthy and measured right on track for our due date of July 4th. He weighs about 9 ounces right now and just turned 20 weeks today. We are incredibly overwhelmed with the blessing and gift of our baby boy. Now we just have to be patient for another 20 weeks to wait for him to arrive!

8 Months Old

2011-02-10T14:13:00.000-06:00

LYLA IS EIGHT MONTHS OLD!!!

I know I say this every month...but I just don't understand how time is going by so quickly! I don't know how our baby girl is now EIGHT MONTHS OLD. Wow!

Every day continues to get more and more fun with our sweet girl. She is in a super-curious stage of development right now. We joke about how Lyla thinks EVERYTHING is for her - your cell phone, the remote, your food, whatever! She wants it all!

Along with her curiosity comes a lot of new growth and development. We spent about a month in size 6-9 months clothes, and then most of them became too tight...so now we are in size 12 months for the most part. Lyla still wears a size 3 diaper, but we've made the official move to Huggies now. We've been Pampers enthusiasts since she was born because everything else caused leaks and blowouts, but now that Lyla has gotten saw tall, we found that Pampers were too short in the stride - which caused lots of leaks and blowouts, go figure. The Huggies fit her much better, now.

For the most part, Lyla is still on the same eating and sleeping schedule...although I can feel a change coming on. She sleeps about 11 hours a night and takes 3 naps a day, but for several days in the past week or so, she has been taking a later and longer morning nap, which then makes for a later afternoon nap and no need for a third nap. I imagine that will be a schedule she will follow as she gets older.

As for eating, Lyla still takes four bottles a day and eats solids three times a day most days. She is still a little fickle about solids, but is doing really well for the most part. She still loves her veggies, especially the orange ones, and really likes "combo" meals for dinner (like Turkey with Sweet Potatoes and Chicken Noodle.) I've even gotten her to eat a few fruits recently - pears and bananas. She really loves puffs and has even sampled a few yogurt melts.

One of my favorite parts of this stage is how well Lyla plays by herself. She is content to play on a blanket with her toys, which is great for helping me get work done or chores completed around the house. She still loves her exercauser and her kitchen is a new favorite.

This independent playtime also extends to her crib before and after naps. These days, Lyla wakes up very happy, so rather than crying for someone to come get her, she just plays in her bed for awhile. She has about 4 or 5 stuffed animals and dolls and often throws what we call an "animal party." The animals and dolls are always stored in the corner of the bed, but Lyla drags them out and plays with them all. She does this before and after sleep. We'll find her asleep on her giraffe or with a chicken or moose on her head a lot, having fallen asleep in the middle of animal party.

Lyla is also working on her babbling vocabulary. Matt and I laugh a lot because one of Lyla's favorite things to say is "hey" all the time. She has no idea that it's a real word, but we think it's really cute. Since she is also good at the dadada babble, she will often sound like she is saying, "Hey, Dad." Very cute!

She has also just recently learned to wave "bye-bye" and even babbles a two-syllable sound with it. She can't really say "bye-bye" but she mocks me a lot with a similar sound. Lyla still isn't crawling, but she can rock back and forth and slither a little. She mostly just rolls to get where ever she wants to go, and she has started working on pulling up to stand. She can even stand on her own if we get her positioned holding on to something. Maybe she'll just go straight to walking!

Much to my dismay, Sweet Girl still won't let me put a bow in her hair. I managed to sneak one in a few days ago, but I quickly found it on the floor just minutes later. I'm so ready to get back to a bow phase for her! Maybe once her hair grows in a little more I'll be able to!

Sweet Lyla is such a treasure to us. We love sharing our lives with her, and we are so excited to continue to watch her learn and grow!

Boy or Girl?

2011-02-09T09:10:00.000-06:00

Up until now, nearly every post on this blog has been about baby Lyla. But today, the focus is on baby #2, or "new baby" as I often refer to him/her. Our new little blessing is at 19 weeks and is about the size of a mango (as if that is a common reference for everyone...next week is cantaloupe, so that should help you a little!)

You may remember that back when we were pregnant with Lyla, our friend Ashley administered the super-scientific gender test known as "the Drano test." (You can read here about that adventure.) The test mixes Mommy's urine with Drano crystals and produces a color-test result - blue for girl, brown for boy. You need to be at least 16 weeks when you perform the test.

With Lyla, our mixture was ice blue and was, obviously, very accurate. And Ashley has had nearly 100% accuracy over the many years she has administered this test. So you can bet we were anxious to test again for New Baby!

This time, we saw another beautiful shade of the rainbow...and the result was...

DRUM ROLL...

BLUE. Bright, Turquoise BLUE.

Somebody should probably start praying for Matt if this test turns out to be accurate. He's going to be seriously outnumbered in a house full of estrogen!

We should get official results on Friday when we go for our big ultrasound. Honestly, we don't care either way...we'll take a house full of girls any day, and a boy would be a lot of fun, too!

So what do you think we are having? Now is your time to weigh in before the big announcement. Boy or girl?

Shake Your Grove Thing

2011-02-05T13:02:00.000-06:00

One of Lyla's favorite toys to play with lately is her kitchen. It has several different audio settings, and for the past few weeks, I've had it set to make "real-life" sounds - so the faucet makes the sound of running water, and the oven door squeaks like you opened it.

The other night, though, I decided to switch things up and set the audio to play songs. Lyla gave the faucet one tug, and looked at me with amazement - I WISH I had the camera turned on at that point because it was adorable. I still managed to get a cute video of her dancing to the newly discovered music. Priceless! You'll notice that, at the time, she still wasn't exactly sure how to make the music come back on...but now, she is a pro.

"Mmm, mmm, somethings smells yummy. Time to put, something in my tummy."

"Put some water in the sink, if you're thirsty pour a drink. Clean the dishes, fill the pans, don't forget to wash your hands."

I could go on...and on...

Snow Way

2011-02-03T16:28:00.000-06:00

Like many of you, we've been snowed in for a few days. Lyla and I haven't left the house since Monday evening, but Matt has managed to get out the past couple of days to go in to work.

As I listened to all of the forecasts, I couldn't wait to introduce Lyla to her first REAL snow. And I knew the perfect warm and snuggly outfit to put her when the timing was right.

Much to my surprise, sweet girl was not so crazy about the snow. She was thrilled to get in her bear suit (a hand-me-down from the Elliott girls that I just LOVE), but as soon as we stepped outside, she was nothing but stoic.

Now, I can't say I blame her. The snow was still coming down just a little and the wind was blowing in her face, so my visions of adorable, smiling snow-angel photos were blown.

I think I may love these even more though! Sweet thing! (Yes, those are socks on her hands.)

Photo shoot round 2 was with the dogs, and Baxter and Bandit lived up to all of my expectations. As soon as the snow and ice started falling, they were ecstatic. They worry me to death because they refuse to get in their houses once it snows, even when the ice is freezing in their fur - seriously!

They frolicked and played for a while, but we finally decide it was just too cold and they needed to thaw out. So now, they have spent the last few days in the garage in snuggly beds, but we let them out a few times a day to run off a little energy.

Sweet Bandit thinks the yard is just one big snow-cone for him to eat. It's adorable. Especially when he licks the remnants off his nose. (Seriously, I am in love with this shot of him!)

Baxter just loves to race as fast as he can across the yard. He managed to slow down for just a minute to get his photo taken.

And just in-case you missed it or don't live in the area, below is a video at the height of the snow fall. I don't think I've seen flakes that big or that fast ever before!

In a Cave

2011-01-26T11:16:00.000-06:00

I've previously shown you Lyla's "diva" move where she put her hands over her eyes while she eats. Apparently, her desire to be covered has grown because now, she prefers to have a blanket or fabric over her face.

She does this a lot in the morning when we snuggle for her first bottle. But it is also a great sense of comfort for her when she is having trouble getting to sleep.

Her daddy likes to say "I'm in a cave," in a funny voice every time she pulls something up over her face. I tend to like to snuggle and burrow down in my covers, so I guess that's what she's doing.

I've even caught her with a stuffed animal on her face...silly girl! I had to make sure we captured it for memory's sake!

Our Newest FURRY Family Member

2011-01-14T10:30:00.000-06:00

Most of you know our sweet dog, Baxter. He was mine before Matt and I got married, but he quickly chose Matt as his favorite once he met him. We love our Baxter-dog!

Baxter is 7 years old, but he still plays like a young dog. We've felt a little guilty since Lyla'a arrival that we haven't been able to spend quality time with Baxter. When the weather is nice, I take him for walk with us, but he doesn't get the attention he used to. Poor guy.

Over Thanksgiving, we dropped by to visit my lifelong friend, Jenny, and her family while we were in Little Rock. It was mandatory because baby Hattie and baby Lyla needed to meet. They are future college roomies...though the school of choice is still being debated between the SEC-rival mommies.

While we were at the Paul residence, we visited with a dog they were hosting for a trial-run. The Pauls already have a large Bloodhound, and like us, they were feeling sorry for her lack of attention and wanted to see about getting her a companion. A co-worker of Jenny's was needing to re-home her Border Collie mix named Hook (teenage son didn't live up to the responsibilities of care), and so Jenny agreed to dog-sit for a few days to see if her dogs would get along. Alas, they did not. Poor Chiffa, the Bloodhound, just wants to rest on the porch, not chase a rambunctious puppy around.

As we visited, Matt and I kept seeing this sweet dog appear at the window, and even though neither of us talked about it, we were both thinking he would make a great friend for Baxter. His personality seemed very similar, and he was just the cutest thing. Before we left, I asked Matt if I could go out and meet him. I expected Matt to discourage me knowing that I would just want to take him home, but instead, he was all for it. I spent a few minutes outside with him and just fell in love!

Matt and I both thought he would make a great addition to our family, but we agreed to pray about it and made the final decision the next day. We weren't able to take him home that weekend, but when we were back in LR for our Disney trip, we picked him up and brought him home.

We decided to change his name to Bandit because of that cute mask print he has on his face. It took a couple of days for Baxter to fully trust him, but they are best buds now.

Bandit has turned out to be exactly what we had hoped - a great playmate for Baxter. They wrestle in the yard a lot and they curl up for naps together. Baxter even let Bandit sleep in his house a few nights with him because Bandit doesn't really like his.

We are so happy now that our furry family is complete. And little Lyla just LOVES to watch them from the back door!

Anything is a Toy

2011-01-11T13:25:00.000-06:00

Lyla is in a stage where she is curious about everything, of course. This often means that just about any object she can get her hands on becomes a source of entertainment. It is so fun to watch her explore her surroundings, and to be honest, we've used it to our advantage when we needed to distract her. :)

Here are just a few of the creative toys Lyla has been playing with lately...

her socks...

my watch...

empty soda bottles..

a plastic spoon...

a paper cup...

wrapping paper...

and a potato chip bag.

7 Months Old

2011-01-10T20:28:00.000-06:00

LYLA IS SEVEN MONTHS OLD!!!

Our sweet girl is celebrating another milestone today as she turns 7 months old!! This is such a fun age, and I think I tell her a million times a day what a joy she is. Lyla is all smiles and giggles and so full of curiosity that she is just so much fun to have around. Every day truly gets better and better!

Lyla is a growing weed these days! She weighs around 18 pounds and wears a size 3 diaper. She still wears size 6-9 months clothes, and even though we just moved to that size, I'm already putting some of them away because they are too short or too small. I know she is in a growth spurt because she is eating so much - she even woke us up last night at 3:00 a.m. for a middle-of-the-night feeding, something she hasn't done since she was 2 weeks old. We've had it so easy with her sleep schedule that it was a big surprise and hard on Mommy to function a little!

Speaking of eating, we braved the world of meats, and Lyla could take 'em or leave 'em. Ha! Luckily, I discovered that you can buy meat mixed with veggies or rice, so we didn't have to try the yucky meat paste. She still isn't crazy about it, but Chicken and Sweet Potatoes went down okay. We tried her first taste of fruit this morning - something I was so excited for and thought she would love - and she spit those bananas back out and locked her lips. I mixed them in with her oatmeal (a favorite for her), and she wouldn't eat them that way either. This silly girl doesn't know what she's missing out on with the sweets!

We've also ventured into the world of self-feeding with fruit-flavored puffs. Lyla still doesn't have any teeth, but the puffs dissolve in her mouth, so they are easy for her to eat. Like most things, she wasn't crazy about them at first, especially the texture, but after a few she was opening her mouth like a baby bird begging for more! And after a few failed attempts, she finally figured out how to get them out of her hand and into her mouth. Such a proud moment! (Now, I just have to stop her from stuffing tons in at one time!)

With the exception of last night, Lyla is still keeping her sleep schedule of around 10-11 hours at night. And she is still taking 3 naps. Her late-afternoon nap is only 30-45 minutes, and she tried to drop it a couple of times last week. That makes for a long evening of cranky pants, so I'm not sure I'm ready to give it up just yet!

Much to her mommy's excitement, Lyla's snuggly and cuddly side is developing even more. Lately, when you get her up from her nap, she just hugs you and loves on you so much. I love those moments! And on the sillier side, she also loves to eat her bottom lip and her toes/shoes...a lot!

It's amazing how independently Lyla can play these days. She got a lot of toys for Christmas, and she loves to just spread out on a blanket and sort through them all. That is a big help when I need to get work done - I'm very thankful for this stage! She also still really enjoys time in her exercauser, which is great and will be even more handy once she is mobile and needs to be contained.

Lyla really likes her bath time and is starting to "play" while she is in the tub. We got her a few squirt toys, and she got a bath book for Christmas, so those have been fun additions to her favorite game of kick and splash.

I can't imagine life being any sweeter with this girl, but I know tomorrow, I will find that it is. The parenting thing is such a blessing and a gift that we treasure more than we ever realized we would!

6 Months Old

2011-01-06T11:18:00.000-06:00

LYLA IS SIX MONTHS OLD!!!

Well, she's really almost 7 months old, but I never got this one posted on time. I wrote it out, but didn't get good green monkeypictures of Lyla on the big day, so I thought I would wait and get more. Then Disney World and Christmas happened, and well...I'm posting the not-so-great picture just so we have a record of 6 months. :)

What in the world?! How can she possibly be six months old?! That is half a year...it just blows my mind that she's already been here that long. Time sure does fly by!

Along with her half-year milestone, our baby girl is really growing and changing a lot! Matt and I have started calling her "mutant baby" because she has grown so much lately. And she is able to do so many new things....she definitely seems like a big girl!

At her 6 month check-up, Lyla weight 17.2 lbs and was 27 inches long. That puts her in the 80th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height...great news as far as I'm concerned! She is wearing size 6-9 months clothes and moved to a size 3 diaper in the last week.

In the past month, Lyla has started solid foods. We've tried squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and sweet peas - all with success minus the green beans. She really loves those her veggies! We'll move on to meat next, which I'm not so crazy about. The smell is just icky. :) She can't try fruits until the very end.

With solid foods, Lyla's eating schedule has changed just a little. She still takes an 8 ounce bottle every 4 hours, but at breakfast, she has cereal, at lunch, some veggies, and at dinner, some more veggies. As always, she's a great eater! And she's still a great sleeper, too, sleeping 10-11 hours every night with 3 naps a day!

It is so much fun to watch our girl play and move these days because she is constantly learning new things. She is very "grabby," reaching for anything she can get in her hands. She will even open and close her hands just thinking about reaching for something, or someone. She is siting really well and doesn't even use her hands for support. And she wants to crawl SO badly. She can get up on all fours, but hasn't figured out the movements from there. For now, she is content to roll around the room to get where she needs to go.

Lyla is a big babbler these, too, with lots of "dadadada's" and "babababa's" all day long. She loves to play in her excersaucer or sit in up in her Bumbo to play with her activity gym. She is also such a smiler these days. We absolutely love getting a reaction from her over everything we do.

As much as I hate it, Lyla's days of wearing bows are numbered. She won't leave them alone these days, and they have become one of her favorite things to chew on. Not exactly what Mommy would prefer. Guess we'll have to wear lots of girly colors and clothes to make sure she's not mistaken for a boy!

All along, people have told us that being a parent just gets better and better every day...and boy are they right! Lyla is so much fun these days, we can't wait to see the coming months as she learns more and can do and say more. We feel so blessed to be her parents!

Yum Yum

2010-11-18T16:05:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned before, we introduced Lyla to vegetables last week. First she tried squash, then sweet potatoes, and then carrots. So far, she has loved them all!

The first few bites were a little amusing, though. She wasn't so sure about this new taste and texture.

But, after a few more bites, I could hardly get the spoon out of her mouth. She was gnawing and sucking and slurping up every bit of goodness.

Such a good little eater!

Baby Babble

2010-11-14T13:49:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned before, Lyla has really started to "babble" a lot. We here repetitive "dadadada," "glubglubglubglub," and "blablablabla" all the time now! You can tell she is thinking so hard about using her tongue and her jaw and everything in conjunction as she "talks."

I thought you might all like to see for yourself. Bear with me on the video, Lyla was leaning against me, so I was balancing the camera upside down. :)

5 Months Old

2010-11-11T13:35:00.000-06:00

LYLA IS FIVE MONTHS OLD!

Five months sounds so old to me...I need someone to press "pause" for a minute before we get to six! With another month comes several more milestones for little Lyla. We are having so much fun watching her grow and change every day.

Lyla weighs about 15 pounds now and wears a size 2 diaper. She is still wearing size 3-6 months clothes, except for pajamas - she just moved to size 9 months on those.

Lyla is a pro at rolling over now and spends a lot of time on her belly. She really wants to just tuck her knees and take off, bless her heart. She spends so much of her time these days trying to get on her knees or trying to sit up. She will be a mobile baby before we know it!

Our sweet girl is very vocal these days and just started to put together syllables in her babble. Last night, we listened to lots of "dadadadadada" from her...so cute!

Lyla's sleeping schedule isn't quite as regimented as it has been, but she is still a great sleeper for us. She sleeps about 11 hours each night and takes 2-3 naps a day. She has shortened her morning nap drastically, which has been an adjustment for Mommy. Instead, she takes a longer nap later in the afternoon, and many days, she skips her mid-day nap. I love that we have more waking hours with her now...she's a lot of fun!

Baby girl is still a great eater, too. In the past month we've introduced cereal, which she has grown to enjoy. And just this week, we started vegetables. I'll have another post with pictures and videos, but she was a HOOT when she first tasted squash. Once she got a couple of tastes, though, she was gnawing on the spoon she liked it so much! Today, we are adding sweet potatoes to the mix. It is such a joy for me to get to be a part of sharing something new with her and watching her adjust. That's one of the most magical parts of parenting, I think.

Lyla has moved on to some new toys now, too. She has a Bumbo seat that helps her sit up now. She'll sit in it for a bit, but it still adjusting to that one. We also borrowed an excersaucer from Nana and Pops this week and she LOVES it. It's been great to have a new toy to keep her busy when I need to get something done. Lyla also loves her crinkle blanket, crinkle turtle, and her taggie blanket.

We are really looking forward to the holidays and getting to share Lyla with all of our families. Last weekend, my brother got married (yeah!), and it was so much fun to watch our family pass Lyla around at the reception. I'm so thankful she is good with anyone and not afraid of strangers yet.

I've said it a million times already, and I'll say it a million more...this girl is such a blessing and such a joy!

The Fairest One of All

2010-11-08T11:08:00.000-06:00

Some friends of ours have a photography studio in downtown Rogers - NovoStudio. They do amazing work, and I would highly recommend them!

On Halloween night, they were taking pictures of kids in their costumes, so we decided to drop by with Lyla to get a few pics in her Snow White costume. They turned out so adorable, I just had to share.

I love her curled toes in this one.

Such a sweet face...she really could be Snow White.

She was so proud to be sitting in a chair by herself!

Matt says this is a perfect Disney World postcard. Maybe we should offer to sell it to them!? Ha! :)

My Love For Crafts

2010-10-26T17:12:00.000-05:00

I love to work on crafty projects, and can spend hours in Hobby Lobby looking at new things to try. I'm not exactly artistic, but I like things that don't require excellent free-handing skills.

There are several new things I'm wanting to get in to, including making my own hair bows for Lyla (stay tuned on that one!) But last month, I picked something back up that I had dabbled in a little bit last year - fabric appliques. I discovered these shortly after we got pregnant and was excited by the thought of "making" my own clothes for Lyla...or at least dressing up cheap t-shirts to look like something from a boutique. I made a few onesies for my niece Lindsay last year, but didn't get back in to it until now.

I have several I'm planning for Lyla for the upcoming seasons, but I need to figure out what size I think she will be before I commit to anything permanent. In the meantime, I made a few things for my friend Jenny's two girls - Lucy and Hattie. Lucy just turned 3, so I made her a few things for her birthday, and Hattie was born just before Lyla, so we wanted to celebrate her arrival (albeit late).

These are matching shirts I made for both girls to wear during October (these were complete in Sept, I was just slow to post). I'm not really into witches and goblins, but I love some candy corn!

I made these two for Lucy. As I mentioned, she just turned 3, and she also looooves some ice cream, much like her momma. I hope she will be tickled to wear her favorite treat on her shirt!

And these two are for Hattie. I don't really know what Hattie looooves just yet, but I couldn't resist these cute patterns.

I will be making Lyla's soon - a strawberry, a fall-ish tree, a monkey, and a turkey for Thanksgiving. So much fun! Right now, I'm ironing them on, but that creates a lot of hassle because you can't dry them without ruining the bond. I'm hoping to brush up on my sewing skills soon and then work on a better application technique!

4-Month Check-up

2010-10-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

That's a title full of hyphens, huh?!

Lyla had her 4-month check-up on Thursday. She is growing and developing right on target, but I was a little "off" when I guessed her weight to be 16 pounds in her 4-month post. :)

Current weight: 14.8 lbs (75th percentile)
Current height: 25.5 inches (80th percentile)

She also got her next round of vaccinations while she was there. This round was a little more emotional for her, but Mommy gave her lots of lovin' to calm her right back down.

And this time, she scored a Peanuts bandaid! Thursday night was a bit rough for the poor girl after getting her shots. Her daddy spent A LOT of time rocking her and singing to her to try to calm her down. I'm thankful we only have to endure the shots every two months.

She Works Hard for the Money

2010-10-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

I have had this picture for a couple of weeks and keep forgetting to share. It's too funny not to, though!

One day, while working at home, Lyla was needing some Mommy time. Sometime, I will let her sit in my lap while I type or work on things on the computer, which is what I did on this particular day.

For some reason, I let her sprawl out across my lap and before I knew it, she was sound asleep. This was a particularly busy day, so I was ploughing away at something on the computer, and looked down to find this sweet image in my lap...

I don't know what's funnier - the fact that she fell asleep this way or that I was so oblivious to not even realize it...especially with her foot on my keyboard!

More Milestones

2010-10-19T09:57:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned, the past week was a big one for Lyla! Not only did she roll over for the first time, but she also tried cereal, too.

The first time we tried, on Wednesday, wasn't exactly successful. Lyla Bear wasn't so sure about the taste or the texture.

We gave her several spoonfuls, all of which ended back up on her chin or her bib.

We gave it another run a couple of days later, and she took one bite, but then gagged on the spoon every other bite.

Finally, we tried again on Sunday, and she finally decided this cereal thing was good. She managed to get several bites down, and ever since, she's been a pro. She still gets a confused look on her face with every bite, but I think she is enjoying the full belly. Plus, she thinks her booster seat is WAY cool!

Introducing new things to this girl is so much fun!

Ready. Set. Roll.

2010-10-18T08:57:00.000-05:00

I did a little traveling for work last week, so Lyla spent some time with her Nana and Pops in Fort Smith. Of course, the first day I was gone, she decided to roll over for the first time! She did it once more for Nana while she was there, but I didn't get to witness her new skills until Friday. I looked up from my computer and saw Lyla working to pull herself over by grabbing onto the leg of her activity gym (smart girl!) I jumped up quickly, and captured the sequence of events from there...

Pulling up...

Engaging the abs...

Shifting of the hips...

Grabbing the mat for leverage (too bad it is flimsy)...

Grunt, and viola...

Look how proud she is!

But wait, this arm seems to still be stuck...

Head down to try to shimmy it out...

Quick break to eat the mat...

And, finally, completely settled on the belly!

A well deserved fist snack for a reward!

In addition to her first big move, last week was also a big week for Lyla as she tried her first taste of rice cereal. Stay tuned for that update, coming soon!

My Future's So Bright

2010-10-15T20:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Lyla and I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon outdoors. We went for a long walk, and for the first time, she rode in her stroller sitting up. The seat actually reclines a little, so even though she can't sit on her own, she can stroll in a seated position. She LOVED it!

Just before we left, I remembered that my eye doctor had given me a pair of really nice sunglasses for Lyla. They have protective lenses in them and a head strap. While I don't think she will wear them often, I thought it would be fun to try them. She did great with them, and I snapped what might be the cutest picture EVER of her. I'm not sure what that smirk is all about, but sweet girl has got the pose down!

Ah! I love that girl!

Something Big on My Heart

2010-10-14T11:20:00.001-05:00

Typically, I use this blog to update friends and family on the latest happenings with the Costners...which usually involves lots of pictures and information about baby Lyla. This post, however, is about something a little different, something big that is on my heart that I just want to share and get out to as many people as possible. It's about a program that Matt and I have become familiar with that we are captivated by, a program for hosting orphans from Eastern Europe in your home.

Still with me? Good! I'm sure that feels like a little bit of a curve ball for some of you, but orphan care and adoption is something that has been on my heart for as long as I can remember. When we were dating, Matt and I discussed adoption a lot, and we felt like it was only a question of "when" not "if" we would move forward with making adoption part of our family story. (Please note, this is not about us announcing that we are adopting...though I can't wait for the day that I get to write that post!)

Because of our strong desire for adoption and the burden we feel for the world's orphans, I tend to follow a lot of adoption stories, journeys, blogs, etc. This past summer, I came across an organization doing something I had never heard of - brining orphans to America to be hosted in Christian homes for 4-5 weeks in the summer and at Christmas. The group is called New Horizons for Children (NHFC), and I have quickly become so fond of the work they are doing.

NHFC is a non-profit that works with Eastern European orphanages to give hope to the forgotten kids in their countries - mostly children over the age of 8 or sibling groups - the "hard to place" children. A team of individuals tied to NHFC travels to the orphanages twice a year to interview perspective children for hosting. They look for children who, despite the hard times and tough things they have had to face in their short lives, possess a quality of resiliency that helps them move beyond their circumstances to still enjoy life. They are looking for children who still thrive academically, still have a sense of humor and laugh at themselves, still look out and care for others in light of everything they have experienced...children who would merge into a family well.

Many of the children who participate in the program end up adopted, either by their host family or a family they meet while in America. To be clear, though, NHFC is not an adoption agency. Adoption, or the potential for adoption, is never discussed with the children, either. The children look at the program as a chance to see America, work on their English, and take a break from life at the orphanage. It's a chance for them to see how a real family operates and loves one another - something most of them have never seen before. And it's a chance for them to learn about their hope and worth in Christ. These lessons are essential because as older children, they are on the brink of being on their own. At age 16, the children "age out" of their orphanage and are forced out on the streets. As you can imagine, the statics are very bleak from there. With little life skills and very little hope of technical or educational training, 80% of the kids turn to crime, drugs, and prostitution to survive, and 15% will commit suicide within the first two years. The idea is that participation in this hosting program will, at least, give them hope for a better life once they leave the orphanage.

When Matt and I learned about the program and began to read about some of the participating children, our hearts were gripped. Especially now that we have Lyla in our lives, it is painful to even imagine what these children are experiencing. They are constantly on my mind as we love on Lyla...as I realize that no one has or is loving on them. It's heartbreaking.

My hope is that by sharing this information out, someone else will learn about the program and feel the heart tug that Matt and I have felt. We actually learned about it through a friend-of-a-friend's blog...so who knows! There are children who are currently on the list to be hosted for Christmas, and while we are unable to host this year, I'm out to advocate for the kids to find those who can or might want to in the future. If this is something you want to learn more about, check out the NHFC website (newhorizonsforchildren.org), or feel free to ask me questions. You can sign up through the website to actually view the photolisting of eligible children for Christmas hosting. The cost is $2500 to host, but many of the children have scholarships for part of the fees.

I realize that hosting will not be for everyone, but maybe you have the ability to donate a scholarship for someone else who wants to host. Or maybe neither of those are an option for you, but you can join me in praying for these children. Whatever the case, that's why I'm sharing what's on my heart. God is able to do IMMEASURABLY BIG things beyond my imagination, and I trust Him with that!

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

Choosing Favorites

2010-10-14T08:03:00.000-05:00

Lyla may not have everything figured out just yet, but she definitely has picked her favorite parent. And I'll give you a clue...it's not me! ha!

She LOVES her daddy so much, and I couldn't be more thrilled. A girl's relationship with her daddy affects her in so many ways, so Lyla's love for Matt is an answer to a prayer I've been praying long before I ever met Matt. But that doesn't stop me from playing the pitiful, jealous role every time she chooses him over me. :)

It's amazing how he can do the same thing as me, but get such a different reaction out of her. Case in point - the other day when I was trying to shoot her 4-month pictures. I tried and tried to get her to smile...or even show some sort of emotion while I snapped tons of pictures. And this was the general reaction I got:

But then her daddy came around the corner, and boy did her mood change. I was able to get several of the best pictures the sweet girl has ever taken!

Silly girl knows what she likes! And I can't say I blame her!

Four Months Old

2010-10-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

LYLA IS FOUR MONTHS OLD!

Wow, how time flies! These have been some of the busiest and yet happiest months for Matt and me! Having Lyla around and watching her grow is such a joy!

Lyla is learning so much these days and becoming such a big girl. I even had a dream that she was walking the other night - at 4 months old! ha! I think I must be feeling like it's all moving way too fast for me! But at the same time, I love watch her new accomplishments and the effort she puts into figuring things out.

One of her favorite new discoveries is her feet! They are always in her hands, sometimes even in her sleep, and she loves to get them into her mouth - socks and all!

She is also working really hard to roll over. She spends a lot of time on her side and has even made it nearly to her belly once, she just can't seem to figure out how to get her arm out from under her chest without knocking herself back over.

And if you haven't seen the previous post showcasing her new screeching talent, it's a must see!

Lyla is growing like a weed - sometimes it seems like she changes with every nap! She weighs around 16 pounds now - we'll know for sure after her doctor's visit this week. She is wearing size 3-6 months clothes and a size 2 diaper. Size 3 is definitely in our near future!

She's still doing great in the sleep department, too! We are so blessed to have a great sleeper! She sleeps at least 10 hours each night, sometimes closer to 12. And she takes 2 solid naps during the day - one for three hours in the morning (great working time for mommy!) and one just after lunch for about 2 hours. She'll usually even take a light nap just after dinner.

Lyla is also still eating very well. She takes 4 bottles during the day, and we offer her 8 ounces with each one. She doesn't always eat 8, sometimes just 4 or 5. But sometimes she wants the whole thing, so I just make 8 every time and don't fuss over anything we pour out. She is getting ready to start cereal this week, too. I can't wait to see her reaction!

Over the past couple of weeks, she started this new "thing" where she will cover her eyes while she eats. It's so funny - almost like a little diva who wants an eye pillow to rest! She does it sometimes in her sleep, too. Oh, the funny things she comes up with!

Sweet girl is also still a slobber machine! I feel like we are always wiping drool - from her face, her clothes, our hands - everywhere! She's also becoming more and more interested in toys. This musical guitar is a new favorite of hers...and I'm sure her daddy doesn't mind that at all!

We are just so thankful for our Lyla Bear. Even though it's only been four months, it's hard to remember life without her!

Raptor Baby

2010-10-07T11:38:00.000-05:00

While we were in Dallas, Lyla discovered a new talent - screeching. We have affectionately named her "Raptor Baby" or sometimes "Barn Owl" based on the beautiful noise she makes. At first, she would only do it for Matt, but I got to see it this one time in Dallas and a few times since. It's definitely something she saves for Daddy, though! He is her favorite parent, after all. :)

Although it tends to be high-pitched, it's absolutely adorable. Enjoy!

Oh The Places

2010-10-01T15:36:00.000-05:00

I am finally back! We were traveling all last week for work, which meant there was little spare time for blog updates, so you will have to forgive my lapse in posting.

When I say "we" were traveling, I mean Matt, Lyla, and myself. Matt and I work for the same company, so when it came time for me to need to spend a week in Dallas for work, they sent the family down with me. We are so blessed to work for such a family-minded company!

During the day, I was out and about in Dallas conducting research, and Matt and Lyla stayed back at the hotel. Matt worked from the office space in our suite, while Lyla played and made every attempt to distract him all day!

We were strategic is selecting our hotel, opting for one with two separate rooms with a door to the bedroom. That meant that baby Lyla could always find a quiet place to sleep. We also had a full kitchen, which was great for preparing and washing Lyla's bottles. If you know Matt, you won't be surprised by his creative approach to stacking the newly-cleaned supplies while we were there.

At night, we stationed her Pack 'N Play in the living room area, which is also where we stored all her toys, clothes, and diapers.

During the day, Matt would work just off of the living area, so he would move the Pack 'N Play to our bathroom area behind a closed door where she could nap peacefully.

During her wake-time, she would play on her floormat or in her swing out near her daddy's desk. You'll have to ask him all about Lyla's Barn Owl screech...something she learned how to do while in Dallas for hours and hours a day - the perfect noise when you are trying to concentrate on work! :)

Matt did a great job playing Mr. Mom during the day, and Lyla was a trooper with the car ride and the new environment. We were all very thankful, though, to get back home late Saturday to our own beds and our normal routine!

The Incredible Shrinking Dress

2010-09-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

Many of you may remember this picture from the day that Lyla finally got to leave the hospital. You may also remember this beautiful dress. It is the one Matt picked out for Lyla while we were pregnant for her to wear on her first day home. I can vividly remember getting her dressed on that day, and I remember thinking how cute she looked in her GOWN.

Flash forward to last weekend, when Lyla wore that dress to church. Somehow, that gown has shrunk a whole lot! My little Lyla Bear is growing so much!

By the way, this "feet together" pose is her new favorite. So cute!

Three Months Old

2010-09-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

LYLA IS THREE MONTHS OLD!

Three months...wow! Matt and I both feel like she is getting so big! I know she may still seem small and helpless to most people, but to those of us that get to watch her grow and develop everyday, it seems like she has changed so much. I'm amazed by the new things she can do all the time!

This past month has been a very busy month for our baby girl. She took her first big road trip a few weeks ago to Knoxville and had her first few hotel stays along the way. We spent around 24 hours in the car in just 4 days, and she only fussed about 10 minutes the whole time. She really is too good to be true!

Lyla weighs about 13.5 pounds now. She is just beginning to wear size 3-6 months clothes and a size 2 diaper. Most of her size 0-3 months wardrobe were gifts, so we've been trying to grab a couple of outfits here and there to build up her closet for fall. I hate to buy too much, though, since I know she'll grow out of it all quickly!

Our sweet girl is still an amazing sleeper. She naps four times a day and sleeps 10 hours each night. We moved her wake-up time to 7:00 several weeks ago, and we just moved her bedtime up to add another hour. She is just too sleepy headed in the morning otherwise. She even slept nearly 11 hours last Friday night. We skipped her last feeding because she was way too sleepy...I have a feeling that may end up being her preferred schedule.

We are still swaddling her for sleeping time because she wakes herself up if we don't. She is getting so strong that she can break out of the velcro blankets, though, so I think the swaddling days are numbered.

We've also increased the number of ounces she is eating over the past month. She still eats every four hours, generally, and now takes 5 or 6 ounces. If we get rid of that last late night feeding for good, though, we will probably have to increase those daytime bottles even more!

In the last few weeks, Lyla has really begun to discover her hands and feet. Along with that, she has finally figured out how to get her hands in her mouth and keep them there...something she has been trying to do since the day she was born! She has also been playing with her ears a lot and even fell asleep recently holding them. Silly girl!

Lyla has also moved to the needs-a-bib phase. Most days, she is very slobbery and makes lots of spit bubbles...something she is very proud of! Yet another thing I never knew I would think was so cute!

I can't wait to compare the next picture!

More New Talents and Discoveries

2010-09-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

As soon as Lyla discovered how to really work her hands and feet, I knew it was only a matter of time before she accomplished this...

Interesting choice of fingers, huh?

She has been trying to get her hands in her mouth since day one but was lacking the coordination to keep them there. She still likes her pacifier, but I think her fingers may ultimately win out. Check out the video below, and you'll understand...make sure you can hear the sound effects. :)

I also had a lot of fun with her the other morning watching her play with her toes. I'm pretty sure she was playing her own version of "This Little Piggy."

This development thing is just too much fun!

Game Day

2010-09-04T19:10:00.000-05:00

Lyla's first Razorback game day has arrived! We aren't going to the game, but we've definitely had a lot of fun dressing for the occasion today.

We had breakfast at Rick's Bakery this morning - a Saturday favorite for us - and ran into our friends, The Hunters. They have two young boys who were really excited to meet Lyla. Their youngest boy, Stiles, even gave Lyla her very first Silly Band - a pink pig. So sweet!

We're planning to stay in tonight and listen to the game from the house. We've been traveling so much lately and will be doing so again later in the month, so we decided to dedicate this long weekend to a lot of R&R. Thank goodness!

What a cute little fan! Go Hogs Go!

Dexterity Development

2010-08-31T20:18:00.000-05:00

Lyla spends a lot of time on her activity mat. It's a great place for her to get in a little playtime after she eats, especially on the days I'm working. It has lots of dangling pieces, music, and a light show.

Today, as I was typing and she was playing, I realized I was hearing an awful lot of "clinks" and "clanks." I looked up to discover my little girl experiencing a first - she was controlling her arms and using her hands to grab one of the dangling toys on her gym. Now, she's made contact with all of these items before, but it's usually just accidental slaps and kicks as she gets excited. But this was intentional and a little more controlled. I swelled with pride over her achievement and grabbed my phone quickly to document the occasion.

Then, as if that wasn't good enough, as Matt and I were eating dinner, she figured out how to work her legs to kick the cute hippo rattle. We just laughed and laughed at her as she sent that piece flying over and over again. This time, she was the one proud of herself! (Please excuse her lack of clothing, she had a diaper leak just before dinner, so I didn't worry about a new outfit.)

It's so amazing to watch her brain develop and learn more and more everyday. I know that soon, these milestones will seem like nothing compared to what she'll be able to do...but for today, I'm a super proud mommy!

She May Not Look Like Me...

2010-08-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

...but I have now found something I know she got from me! The "leg out."

I do this all the time when I'm a little warm under the covers, so I got tickled when I found her sleeping this way. Who knew sticking a leg out was hereditary?! Ha!

Two Month Check-up

2010-08-23T17:19:00.000-05:00

Lyla had her two-month check-up this week and everything seems to be going well! She has grown a lot since birth -

Weight: 12 lbs (75th percentile)
Height: 23 1/4 inches (75th percentile)

She also got her first round of immunizations. I was prepared for this to be a traumatic experience (for me!), but the nurses did so well that I didn't even know they had already given the shots. Lyla was a great sport and, as soon as her mommy grabbed her up off the table, she stopped crying. Doesn't that make a mommy feel so good?!

This is her afterwards with her Daffy Duck band-aids on each thigh. She had a little bit of a rough night after the shots, but for the most part, she has done so well. We continued to be immensely blessed by this girl!

Living a Legacy of Love

2010-08-19T20:09:00.000-05:00

Lyla is very fortunate to have a big family on my side and Matt's side to give her lots of love. Recently, she has gotten to meet some of the most special members of our families...the GREATs.

Mamaw Costner (Great-Grandmother)

Mamaw Morrow (Great-Grandmother)

Great-Great-Aunt Juanita

Great-Great-Aunt Louise

Grandmother Smith (Great-Grandmother)

These women are great examples for Lyla of strong women who love their families. I am so thankful for the generations of love that she is already getting to experience.

Talky McTalkerson

2010-08-13T16:20:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned before that Lyla is really beginning to talk up a storm. A couple of days ago, I was working early in the morning and had Lyla join me at the kitchen table. I was so tickled at her "conversations" with the kitchen light fixture, that I had to video one of them to share. Enjoy!