Bath Time...

(Oh how I've missed you!)

Ever since Grandma Milko left Hayden hasn't had a bath in her bath tub! Daddy and I take turns bringing her in the shower with us each morning. It just makes things easier-one less thing to do at night! Tonight, I let Hayden take a bath in her tub just to play. She had a great time in the bubble bath.

Grandma Milko brought this toy with her when she came about a month ago. It's a fishing rod that has a magnet in it. There are 3 little magnetic sea creatures that she can "fish" for. Pretty neat!

Peacock Feather

Aunt September sent a package of goodies! She went to the zoo in Michigan and got Hayden this peacock feather and got Layne a bib. At first Hayden wasn't sure what to do with it, but she quickly solved that problem.

Kickle kickle Gra-Gra: Tickle tickle Grady!

Kickle kickle Elo: Tickle tickle Elmo

Kickle kickle Mazie: Tickle tickle Mazie

This morning the three of us (mommy, daddy, and Hayden) went outside while Layne tried to cry herself to sleep. Hayden made a friend-Mr. Snail! She didn't really want to get close to him, but we managed to get this picture anyway!
Big Ball!

We also played with the big playground ball that Uncle Johnny got Hayden for Christmas last year. She loves to bounce it and then go get it. She even rolled it down the ramp and driveway and into the woods! Daddy to the rescue!
Just making silly faces while she bounced on the ball.
Silly silly!

1 Month Old Today

It's hard to believe that Layne has been here for one month today! We are so blessed to have her as an addition to our family. She is transitioning well-we had two 7 hour nights in a row this week. So, we are getting there. Check out Layne's little smile.

These two pictures were actually taken yesterday. For some reason I was convinced that she was 1 month old on Friday-I thought it was the 16th. So, I took the pictures and posted them yesterday! Then I looked at the post date and realized that she was not a month old yet! So, I took these two pictures off until today.

New Markers

(that we don't use!)

Jeremy and I are involved in a church plant team that is helping to start up a church about 15 minutes from us. They have weekly meetings and services once a month (for now). I haven't been going to the meetings since I've got Layne to keep up with. This Wednesday Jerm came home with gifts from the Jersey Church Plant Team. They gave us a gift card, candle, and these animal sound markers for Hayden. When you take the top off and put it back on it makes an animal sound. She loves them.

Pile of Pillows

Today Hayden decided to stack all of the pillows so that she could get comfortable while she watched "Bardy" Barnie on TV.

Like usual, Hayden had to stop and pose for a picture! What a nut.

Sisterly Love

We took a trip to the store today and it was a rough one. Layne screamed a lot while we were in the store. She also screamed a little while we were in the car on the way home. She eventually stopped though. When I was getting the girls out at home this is what I found! Hayden had reached over into Layne's car seat and held hands with her in order to console her! I know I am Hayden's mother, but she amazes me with her compassion and sweetness towards her little sister and many other things. She has such a good heart.

We had to stop and say "cheese!"

A deer in headlights!

Pepperoni Pizza!

The Wheels On The Bus

Hair Dryer

Bubbles Everywhere!

Today while Layne was napping Hayden and I decided to go outside and watch Elmo blow bubbles. She loves to watch Elmo blow bubbles.

She wanted to look at the camera while she said "cheese" but she couldn't take her eyes off the bubbles. She really does say "cheese" when I take the camera out and tell her to smile....just like her mommy!

This is why Grady love to go out with us when Elmo is blowing bubbles!

He eats the bubbles! The bubbles smell SO GOOD-just like strawberries. I guess the combination of the wonderful smell and seeing Grady eat bubbles made Hayden decide that it would be a good idea to dip her finger in the bubbles and take a taste. Too bad the batteries in the camera were dead by this time because the face was priceless! It tasted so nasty that her eyes were watering! All she wanted to do was go inside and get some "ice wa" ice water.

Good Times

Layne loves bath time-well, except for the getting out part.

And of course, Hayden love to help mommy give Layne a bath. She is going to be such an experienced mother one day!

Holding the Little Sis

Hayden wanted to hold Layne today, so we tried it out-sort of. Hayden felt very responsible while she had Layne in her lap. Hayden liked it so much that she started to cry when it was time for me to feed Layne.

I didn't realize how observant Hayden was until.....

she stuck her finger in the binki just like mommy and daddy do!

Relaxing

Here is Hayden last night relaxing on the couch while daddy plays with her hair. Moo even jumped up to join them! The relationship between Moo and Hayden is a love hate. Hayden loves to pick on Moo constantly and Moo hates it!!

Fast Asleep

Like I said in an earlier post-Layne is a binki girl. She is very particular about the binkis that she will take though. This is her favorite, but she has a hard time keeping it in her mouth by herself. She has learned to put her hand on it so that it won't fall out so easily.

3 Weeks Old Today

Here are the girls on Layne's three week old birthday. Look at big sis all grown up! Today was quite an eventful day. Well, it all started last night really. Layne only woke up once last night! She did decide to start the day at 6:30am, but I can live with that! Now on to today's events-first, Layne's umbilical cord fell off! She really was hanging on to that thing. Then, the three of us went to the church to get a little bit of work done. Jeremy has been doing a really great job the past three weeks of getting important work stuff from the church and bringing it home for me. We went in for about an hour and things went pretty well. Then we headed to BJ's to get diapers and wipes. There were a few tears here and there from Layne, but nothing too bad. Last, we came home and gave Layne a "real bath" since the cord fell off. She enjoyed it.

Which is Which?

Here is a picture of Layne in her bathrobe after her bath (left) and the other is a picture of Hayden in the same bathrobe after her bath when she was 18 days old. And Layne is 19 days old today. Sometimes I look at Layne and think she looks exactly like Hayden with a little bit of a rounder face. Other times I think they look totally different. What do you think?

Routine Update

Well, Layne is slowly falling into her own little schedule. She has been doing very well at night. She is only taking one feeding to get down for the night (which is a change from last week), she is sleeping for a stretch of about 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours at a time, she goes right back to sleep in the middle of the night (last week it was taking us about an hour or two to get her back to sleep!)and she is only waking up twice during the night! She is also doing a little better with napping during the days as well. So, we are making progress and mommy and daddy are very happy about that! Before long we will all be sleeping through the night again :-)

Mommy's Maid

Hayden wanted to help me mop the floor today. Thankfully, we have two mops so she was able to jump right in and learn how to mop with mommy. Sorry about the hair in her face. She loves to take her Doorda (Dora) barrette out.

Crazy Girl

The other day some of the preschool teachers came over to bring us a wonderful dinner. They also brought Hayden and Layne gifts. Layne got diapers and a onesie. Hayden got the headband, mirror, and comb. The mirror has some characters from The Backyardigans and it talks. She just loves it! It was so sweet of them to bring us a meal and think of Hayden too!

Cry, Cry, Cry....

This is what Layne likes to do when we put her in her crib during naptimes. Well, she does fall asleep sometimes. She hasn't learned that after you cry for a little bit you are supposed to fall asleep. She just can't do it on her own-it took Hayden a while to learn it though so we're not worried. Normally, we just walk in her room after about 10 minutes and pat her on the butt or back and she'll fall asleep.

We have also started to give her a binkie and that works too-if she can manage to keep it in her mouth! Hayden never really cared much about binkies, but Layne really likes them.

New Family of Four

Today we decided to take a family picture of the four of us. We are all adjusting well to this new little blessing that God has given us. Yes, the infant stage is challenging but we are so happy to have little miss Layne in our lives.

Here's a picture of Jerm and his new little princess. Two weeks old today!

Hayden's Art Work

Hayden was drawing on her dry erase board yesterday while I was putting her clothes away. After she was done drawing I asked her about the pictures she had drawn.

As you can see the first one is a picture of Pappy.

This one is a picture of Daddy. What a little left handed artist. She definitely makes it a point to use her left hand when she is drawing with her markers.

We had our youth pastor's wife do the name canvases for Layne too. She finished about a week before little Layne came into the world. We are using the same nursery bedding, theme, colors, room, and furniture for Layne so we asked MaryAnna to come up with something a little different for Layne's canvases but we still wanted it to match everything. She did an amazing job! We love them.

New Friend

This morning Layne discovered a new friend-elephant. She even tried to reach out and grab him! It kept her awake and entertained, which was the goal. Layne doesn't have clothes on in some photos because it's a method to keep her awake during her "wake times".

She got tired of looking at elephant so she rolled over on her side (by herself) and looked at Grady's dog bed for a while. She sleeps on her side so it's a very comfortable position for her.

Well, last night we decided to venture out of the house for the first grocery trip as a family of four! I was a little nervous, but it had to be done! Layne cried pretty much the whole way to the store and Hayden just stared at her with a worried look on her face. Then we got to the store and had to decide who was going where. Layne and her car seat went in the front seat of the cart and Hayden just sat in the basket part with all of the groceries. Layne was fine for a little while. Then she started to scream. I ended up having to park the cart and take Layne's car seat out of the cart and rock her. I had to do that a number of times in order to get through the store. Hayden loved the basket seat with all of the groceries. She tried to open just about everything. I had to keep a close eye on her. I would just tell Jerm what to get and he would go and get it and then try to find us in the store. It was an experience!

I love you Layne!

Multitasking Story:

Tonight, right as we were about the start eating the dinner that Jerm made for us Layne woke up from her nap and was VERY hungry. There was no putting her off until dinner was over. So, I was feeding/holding her with one arm and eating dinner with my other arm. I also had to tend to Hayden occasionally as well. It was a crazy sight!

Kisses for my little sister.

Squeaky Clean

Here's Layne after her bath this morning. She really doesn't cry much at all during bath time. I remember Hayden screamed for the first few weeks during bath time. Notice that her umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet, so she hasn't have a "real" bath yet.

Hey Girl!

Keeping Layne Awake!

Hayden, daddy, and I try very hard to keep Layne awake after I'm done feeding her. It's all part of the BabyWise schedule that we are following (we did the schedule with Hayden too and it works!). We have found that taking her clothes off works the best. Once we get her awake we play with her and talk with her to keep her up.