Coming home

A few pictures from our first days home with our babe.

Leaving the hospital

Poor little girl in her bilibed. Luckily it was over soon, but it was so sad to bring our babe home and not be able to snuggle her.

Grandma helping with Lyla's first bath

enjoying a snooze with daddy

my most amazing coworkers got me this cheesecake! Not helpful in loosing the baby weight!

Lyla's first walk

The Hospital Days

Playing some major catch-up here back from when our little babe was born. We had a nice hospital stay and some great visitors while we were there. Mimi and Papa were first to the scene, arriving just a few hours after Lyla was born. I called my mom when my water broke and she was able to reschedule her flight and ended up arriving the same day Lyla was born! We also had Jason, Sarah, Laura, The Glenns, Kevin and Ashley, Donald and Monica, and even Chad and Des and baby Baylor who was only 4 days old at their visit! He was so tiny, they had to tag him to come in so the hospital would know they weren't stealing a baby :). 

We loved all of our company, and also loved facetiming with Aunt Jamie, Spencer and Syd, and chatting with Aunt Julie. I wish we had a picture of everyone, but here are a few below of our great visitors.

one proud dad

papa and Lyla

Grandma Jeanne, one of Lyla's namesakes 

Cute Liz and Mya. Mya was reallllyyy excited about the baby!

Uncle J

Lyla and Baylor--born just three days apart! Lyla was born on Baylor's due date.

puffy mama and baby

most beautiful baby i'd ever seen

one of our first family photos

Halloween

Though this was technically Lyla's second Halloween, it felt like her first since we were in the hospital last year, and hadn't prepared anything for a Halloween baby. We went simple and Lyla was a cute little skeleton. I went to a Shriner's Halloween party with Debbie and Callie and we were surprised when we met up to find that Lyla and Callie were twins! They sure were cute hanging out together at the party. Ashley and Kevin invited Lyla over to have dinner in a pumpkin with their family and we hit a few houses for Lyla's first trick-or-treating experience (aka she sat in the stroller in her costume while her cousins trick-or-treated). It was a fun night and I'm so glad Debbie and Ashley invited us to participate in their activities with them!

 

twelve months

I have already done a few posts about Lyla turning one, put I have put off an "official" monthly update, partly because I'm honestly having a hard time coming up with lots of new things that Lyla did this month. Though there aren't a lot of concrete examples, I do feel like she seems older to me. I feel like she understands more, is more aware of and interested in things around her. She is much more interested in books and reading. "Hi" is still her only official word, but I think she does know how to say "mama" and "dada", but just uses them when she feels like it. Also pretty sure that she says her own version of "Lyla" all the time, and on occasion we've thought she might be trying to say "I love you". She is looking much closer to taking steps, so we'll see if that happens soon. I will leave you with some of the beautiful pictures that Laura took of Lyla at one year old (all stolen from her blog: Laurabphoto.blogspot.com).

One

Today Lyla turned one. I can't believe my baby is one and that I have been a mom for a year! I love that little girl so much and am so grateful to have her as a part of our family. Lyla is full of life and personality. It has been so fun to get to know her and learn more about her. I can't wait to watch her learn and grow and to see who she becomes. When she was born, I was so terrified of her growing up because I wanted her to stay my little baby forever. While at times I do miss my tiny newborn, each stage is more fun than the last, and I feel like more than just being my baby, lyla is becoming my little buddy and companion. She knows me and I know her. It is an amazing thing to be a mom and to understand your own little person's wants and needs--to be the person that they look to over anyone else in the world. It is completely humbling and such an amazing blessing. I love my little Lyla Jean  so so much. Happy first birthday little girl!