A Breath of Fresh Air

We had a very low key kind of weekend. Basically, we did nothing but spend time together. Oh how I love those kind of weekends!
Rhett had to go to baseball practice Saturday morning and into the early afternoon so Ly and I spent a little Mom/Daughter time together. For lunch we met Opa at Smokey's for some yummy BBQ. After lunch, Ly and I went back to Opa's house and Ly and I were able to spend some good, quality time with Opa. Rhett came over after practice and we decided to take a nice little walk down to "the back" (where the field, cows, and horses are). It was breezy and cool and on the verge of raining, but I just absolutely love taking walks. There's nothing more refreshing. Okay, okay...so maybe getting a facial is, but I think we all needed some good fresh air.
My cute girl...Straws are always entertaining at restaurants...

Playing with blocks at Opa's

Saying "Hi" to Hondo with Opa...

Taking a stroll...

It was a bit chilly, but Ly was all bundled up...

Me and my sweet hubby. I am so thankful for him and that he loves me, even though I'm nuts...

COWS! MOOOOO! :)

"Walking" with Daddy

My loves.

Sunday we went to church and then lunch with Opa (yes again). After lunch, Rhett watched Ly for a little bit while I went to Books a Million. Every once and awhile I just need a little quiet alone time to decompress. I wanted to look at children's books for Lyla and I also wanted to read up on how the heck to get Ly to sleep through the night! I found what I was looking for and more! I ended up getting a "touch and feel" Elmo book for Lyla, it's called Good Night Elmo! She loves those soft, interactive books.I also read Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks: A Step by Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success by Suzy Giordano. Okay, so obviously Lyla is a little older than 12 weeks. We are starting a little late (just a little), but I was amazed at all the helpful information I found! I know it will work! I am so hopeful! The only thing is, we're going to have to start next Friday night because, as described in the book, retraining a baby's sleep patterns will probably take all night. I wish we could start tonight, but unfortunately Rhett and I have to both work in the moring. Here's the jist of what I found out:
***She needs to get enough food during the day, whether by solid food, baby food, formula, or breatsmilk (approximately 4 meals during the day).
***She needs a routine (which we have) at night and that routine needs to consist of a bath, change in pj's, feed bottle, and then put down for bedtime in her crib (when she's tired, but not yet asleep). The putting to bed when she's tired thing is where we fail. We always rock her to sleep and then put her to bed, because we know if she's awake when we put her in her crib then she is not going to sleep.
***Here's the part I found interesting and so true: Everyone pretty much has the same sleep cycles of drowsiness, light sleep, deep sleep, and dream sleep (REM). When adults wake up from light sleep, they then essentially put themselves back to sleep. It's something you were trained to do and babies need the same training. It makes complete since. Lyla wakes up from light sleep and cries because she doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep. She needs us to soothe her and get her back to sleep. She needs to be "trained" to put herself to bed.
***What the books suggests is to start out with the routine mentioned above. Once Lyla is drowsy and tired, we should put her in her crib, say "night night", and walk out of the room. If she gets upset, count to 30 seconds, go back in, soothe her by rubbing her back until she's calmed down, say "night night", and then walk out again. What's going to be hard is that we're going to have repeat this process until she puts herself to sleep. Ultimately we could be up all night the first night we attempt this so that, my friends, is why we're waiting until Friday night to start this. The book said that she should get better and better at this each night, cry out for us less, and end up putting herself to sleep.
Wish us luck! :)

While at the bookstore, I also came across Mr. Darcy's Decision by Juliette Shapiro. Apparently, it (along with some more books by the same author) is a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I was so excited to find it because I loved Pride and Prejudice and I always wondered what happened after Elizabeth and Darcy were married. Obviously it's not by Jane Austen, but I definitely think it's worth the read. I've started a little bit of it and so far, I'm enjoying it.

Lyla's 10 Months old! I am just in complete shock that she will be 1 in two months. Where has the time gone?! I really need to start planning her birthday. I am just not a party planner. I hate planning parties. However, since it is my baby girl's 1st birthday I want to of course do something fun and special for her! After this one, her parties will take place at Gymboree, Chuck E. Cheese, Dreamland, etc... :) So anywho, I'm not going to post a 10 month update because that's basically what I did in the post below. Have a great week everyone!

My 10 Month Old girl!!!

The lowdown on whats's been going on with Lyla

Not too much going on in our neck of the woods. Baseball season has officially started and that means Rhett is at Tate alot these days. WHICH MEANS, a not very happy me or Lyla. We miss him. Anywho, such is life. I have to suck it up and get over it. Coaching means more income and that, we definitely need right now. Hmm, I like that...complete and utter bluntness. I do think that will be the new theme with my blog. No more everything's completely perfect and fairytale-like (although I do not believe I ever posted like it was). Honesty. Me likey the honesty. So anywho, here's the lowdown on Lyla: We're working on getting Lyla totally on solid foods. Solid foods are so fun, but I found that I have to be careful with what I feed her because things upset her itty bitty belly. Like beans. Beans upset her belly. Who knew. Just kidding. I'm just stupid and I underestimated how sensitive a baby's belly is. I'm learning. Also, we're starting to see that Lyla may in fact be left handed. She picks up most things with her left hand and she eats with her left hand. Her Uncle Wesley is a lefty, sooo...we shall see if we are right about that one. No steps yet. We work on walking sometimes, but the girl just loves to crawl. I think she knows that she can get somewhere faster by crawling then by trying to walk. And she's right, for now at least. Little does she know that when she does walk she'll soon be able to run! Oh and then we'll be in so much trouble. Let's see, Lyla absolutely loves bath time! She tries to climb into the tub and she screams bloody murder when we take her out of the tub. She splishes and she splashes and she loves to be wet. One of my favorite things is to just sit there and watch her play with her toys (or washcloth) in the tub. That is definitely one of her happiest moments of the day. On to her sleeping. Lately it has been horrendous, although I will say last night was better. She's getting a ton of teeth up top (at least 3 more!) so we're guessing that has something to do with it. A couple nights ago she did not want to go to sleep. Period. It was getting to be about 2:00 am and I thought I was going to lose my mind. Mind you, both Rhett and I had to wake up and go to work in the morning. Anywho, that whole situation got me to thinking about gratefulness. *Warning: Get ready for a rant* I get so very sick of reading or hearing about some folk's opinion that because I (or someone in my situation) don't enjoy sitting up with a crying baby in the middle of the night, then that just must mean I am not grateful for my daughter. WRONG! What I am not grateful for is the fact that I am tired. What I am not grateful for is that something is bothering my daughter and causing her pain so much so that she doesn't want to sleep. What I am not grateful for is that fact that I have to get up in a couple hours and go to work at an emotionally exhausting job. I am, however, incredibly grateful for the screaming baby in my arms. Honesty. If you don't like it, don't read my blog. I'm just telling it like it is. Here's a bit more...Lyla is the best and hardest thing that has ever happened in mine and Rhett's lives. We've learned so much about how selfish we were. Being a parent is not easy. You have hard days and easy days. However, the good times do of course FAR out way the bad. If anyone thinks that being a parent is/or is going to be a piece of cake and that you are always going to be completely grateful at 2:00 in the morning rocking a sick baby then you are sorely mistaken. I am a grateful person, but I am also realistic. Whoooosh....okay, now that's just my opinion, but I guess that's pretty obvious though since this is my blog. I apologize for the rant. I have a problem with keeping my mouth shut when something bothers me. Another New Years resolution I can work on I suppose. Now, on to a cute baby play date!
Yumm...looks like it's pretty good huh?! Clapping because she's proud of herself I guess. I don't know, but it's cute!

She loves this little orange ball. She'll just carry it around everywhere. I love it.

Playing with (or on) her stuffed animals.

BATH TIME! Her favorite. And she's playing with her favorite toy...her washcloth. Seriously, she'll wave that soaking wet thing everywhere and get everything soaked! It's hilarious!

Bath time with Mommy's the best!Recently Lyla and I had a play date with one of her boyfriends. Cayden is a 6 month old cutie and we always love to go see him and his mommy Brandi. Brandi was babysitting a cute little 18 month old (Aubreigh) as well, so we were surrounded by a bunch of babies! Okay, so maybe only 3 but it was sure chaotic! :) I love chaos! I know I've said it before, but baby play dates are the cutest! Aubreigh was petting Lyla, Lyla was trying to bite Aubreigh's baby doll's head, and Cayden was giggling and smiling at the two cute little girls. He was in heaven.
Meet Cayden....he's pretty darn cute!

Ly's probably thinking, "Oh Mom, not a boy!"

"Ohhh, okay! This isn't so bad. Boys are nice"! Correction, some boys are nice.

Just a couple of babies playing....

Fun!

Basically, this is just Ly and her Mommy (ME!) playing... Who the heck knows...

She is my heart!

She is so much fun at this age! I just love playing and laughing with her!

You just have to have some fun and laugh...everyday if possible.

A little of this and a little of that!

Not too much going on. I can hardly remember what went on this past week/weekend, actually. Oh, but it's all coming back to me now...
Monday was The Bachelor: Wings of Love Season Premiere! YAY! I love The Bachelor/The Bachelorette! I love all the drama and let me tell you, The Bachelor has the most drama ever! Hello, 25 women fighting for one guy? Oh yes...that's what I'm talking about! However, the selection of women Jake has to choose from is slim pickings. I think I made a mental that most were either incredibly psycho or desperate or both. I did like Tenley (sp?). Yes, the one that kissed him first. I think she's sweet and I think they're perfect for each other. I can tell already! She is definitely top 3 material!
Thursday night was the National Championship game, which we watched most of at my Dad's house eating lima beans and ham (Mmm!). Rhett and I were rooting for Texas and we kept doing the "Hook em Horns" and at one point every time we did it, Ly would raise her hand as if she was doing it too! Ha ha! That's my girl. Never, NEVER, root for Bama! :) However, they still won. Crap! Oh well, it might actually have been a really good game had Colt McCoy not gotten "hurt"...
Rhett and I were looking forward to Friday night all week long. We planned to have a dinner and movie date night, just us. Friday night we went to Famous Daves and used a gift card we had gotten for Christmas. I <3 Famous Daves. They, to me, have the best BBQ! Anywho, after dinner we went to the movies and used more gift cards. Free date night, sweet! Rhett was kind enough to let me pick the movie (I threw the "it's still sord of my birthday week" card out there), so we watched Daybreakers. I love sci-fi movies, if you didn't already know that. Daybreakers was a vampire flick, but it was a different take on vampire genre. Basically, what if the entire population were vampires and humans were becoming an endangered species? Craziness! I really liked it and Rhett actually said it was pretty good! Score! Rhett's parents babysat the entire night and even let Ly spend the night, so let me tell you...a full night's sleep felt oh so nice.
Saturday was a pretty busy day. We took down all the Christmas decorations and turned our extra guest bedroom/Rhett's "man" room into Ly's Playroom. Ly's Playroom is definitely a work-in-progress. All her toys are in there, but I want to make it so much fun! I want to paint fun things on the walls and put shelves up for her toys and stuff like that. Like I said, a work-in-progress. It will take me forever to do it all. I'll let that be a New Years Resolution as well. Finishing Ly's Playroom. That is if we still live here... Anywho, Saturday night we had steaks at Rhett's parent's house. Yum! We then came home and just relaxed.
Sunday was church in the morning and then lunch with basically my entire fam at Cock of the Walk. Not much else occurred the rest of the weekend. We just played alot with Ly in her playroom.
"Hello"!
Playing in a drawer...Libby is her accomplice.
Lyla is constantly chasing Libby. Libby, however, does not want to play with Lyla...

Ly's Playroom...or at least the start of her playroom. There is so much more I want to do! :)

Where's Lyla?!

Playing, playing, playing! I love that she has fun playing and doesn't need to be constantly entertained.

Oh yes, I wanted to talk about Ly being 9 months old...even though it was two weeks ago. Oops. I am so bad at this! At her 9th month checkup she weighed 20 lbs and was 29 inches long. I think the doctor said 75th percentile for her weight and 95th for her height. She is still crawling, pulling up, and walking around things holding on. She has not stood up by herself or taken any steps without holding onto us or something. She is eating mostly table foods now and she of course, still drinks formula. I am however, trying to wean her off of that slowly, but surely. She babbles alot now. She says "Momma", "Bye Bye", and "Ba Ba" all the time, with "Momma" being her most frequently used word. :) Now that she can say "Momma", I am trying to get her to say "Dadda" too because I know Rhett is dying to hear it. I want him to know what it feels like to hear your "name" after so many months of waiting. On to the sleeping. Oh the sleeping...ugh, I'm wondering if she will ever just completely sleep through the night. We have random (rare) nights where she will sleep through the night, but most of the time she wakes up because the paci fell out of her mouth. We go into her room, put the paci back in, and she goes back to sleep. Any helpful advice from all you moms out there? Or is it too late? Oh, I hope it's not too late! We get sleep, but I would love for her to just love sleep as much as we do. So, that's about all I can think of! Have a great week everyone!
My 9 month (and two weeks!) old girl...

Ly and I. I love being her Mommy.

She's says, "Thank you Aunt Jo Jo for the pjs! I'm finally big enough to wear them"! :)

Gratefulness

This may be a random post of my random thoughts but here goes...
I've always loved to browse other people's blogs. I of course read my friend's blogs (or acquaintances, whatever) over to the left all the time, but I also love to read blogs from people that I don't know. Blogs are great. Even if you don't know someone that well or at all, you can get so much out of reading their blog. With family and friends, it's awesome because I can know what's going on even though the distance between us may be great, it doesn't have to feel that way. When I read the blogs of people I don't know, most of the time I get addicted to the ones that are about children (usually around Lyla's age because I can better relate) and the craziness that having kids entails. Well, I've found a couple of blogs that I am addicted and that are such an inspiration to me.
(1) The Sullivans This blog makes me cry almost every time I read it. Talk about pain, joy, sadness, heartbreak, and hope all taking place with one family, all within one year. Sara, who battled breast cancer, gave birth to a beautiful little girl. She and her husband both thought she beat the cancer and that they were in the clear. Until she had a stroke and died only a couple days after having had her baby. Now her husband is not only dealing with the grief of losing his soul mate so suddenly, he is now left to raise and care for an infant all on his own. I could not imagine losing Rhett. He is my partner, my teammate, my soul mate...the thought of raising Lyla without him scares me. However, Sara's husband continues to blog and even through his grief you can see such hope and faith. Anywho, their story is a truly inspirational one. I'd advise you read their entire story. You won't regret it.
(2) Katie's Keepers This is another blog I find myself reading and checking daily. This family shows amazing faith in the face of complete despair. The Rowe family lost their daughter Reese (I love that name!) days after she was born. Again, something I cannot bare the thought of...losing Lyla. Katie continually blogs about how difficult it is to go through life everyday, but she always has a positive outlook and knows that God will get her through this. She is completely honest with her feelings, you can feel her pain and it really is heartbreaking.
Reading their stories breaks my heart. Over and over again. I could not imagine going through the pain they have gone through. It makes me incredibly grateful to have the love of my life helping me raise our daughter. Basically, I know that my life has not had any difficulties that even remotely compare to the stories of these blogger families. I guess I just wanted to say be grateful for what you have, because someone is always in more pain than you. What's my resolution for the New Year? I am going to try and be more optimistic and grateful about life in general and enjoy the time I have with the ones I love.

Settling down...

The past couple of weeks have been so busy and hectic (but fun!), so it's nice to finally settle down at home with my family.
I still have a few pics from our visit with my Mom and Charlie...
Here's Ly... to me, she looks exactly like Rhett here... Peek-a-boo! She loved peeking at us from this spot.

Here's the other side... She is so cute! :)

My Mom and I! I miss my Mom so much! I can't wait until the next time we see them again, which will be at the beginning of May in Miami for my cousin Karen's wedding. On the way home we stopped in Savannah to eat lunch with Uncle Wesley at Tony Romas. Because it was my birthday, I got a free bottle of their yummy BBQ sauce. Score! Speaking of my birthday, I had a nice 27th bday. Except for the fact that I was in the car the whole entire day. Brightside, I was with the loves of my life so it was all good!

Back at home-sweet-home playing with her toys.

And THIS is why we need a playroom.... Our house is not that big anyway (perfect size for our little family), and it is just being overrun with toys. Which is fine by me, but I would like them all scattered about in a little playroom for Ly is all!

I have lots to keep me entertained now! YAY!

A fond farewell to 2009

2009 started out with me being about 7 months pregnant with our precious Lyla... March 24, 2009 was the best day of our lives. Lyla Grace was born via C-Section at 7:46 am. She weighed 8 lbs. 5 ozs. and was 21 and a half inches long.

How could we love someone so much we just met?

The rest of 2009 we watched Lyla grow and become quite the little personality...

December 2009 we realized that we already received the best gift we could ever ask for. We are so thankful for her. She lights up our lives even in darkness. She is our little ray of sunshine. I could not imagine our lives without her. I never knew love like this before...

So here's to 2010 being as an amazing year as 2009 was. We are so excited to see what God has in store for us...

**Read post below about our fun filled Christmas ** :)