Another Valentine Post

I know I already posted something today but there were a few other things I wanted to mention. As I was putting Layla down for a nap earlier I began to think about what today is and what the future holds for her. As I mentioned in my previous post, this day was never a super exciting day for me and I always hated seeing couples together. Rarely did I have a date on this day and that was always depressing to me.

 Remembering all of that, I began to pray that this day would be different for Layla as she grows up. I don't want this day to be one that she dreads and I want the focus to be more on the love that God has for her and not about having a boyfriend or not. I also want it to be a day that Antony and I can really shower her with love (of course, I want every other day to be that way, too, but you know what I mean). My parents have always tried to make this day special and to this day I still get something from them. But my dad would always get my sister and I flowers and I loved that. I pray that Antony and I can make Layla feel special the same way that my parents did for me.

  Alright, enough sappy, serious stuff. Here are some pictures from today! We didn't take any pictures during Layla's play date (it was more for us Mom, anyway, ha); but we had a great time!

Layla made a special card for Daddy. We greeted him with the card when he got home this morning. 

 This afternoon Layla got to play with colored, heart-shaped ice cubes, Valentine's Day cookie cutters and a muffin crumbs. 

Happy Valentine's Day! May you feel the love of God today :) 

Happy Valentine's Day!

   Like most singles, I used to hate this day. Now that I'm married I like it a little better but I still think its a bit of over kill. Do we really need a day to remind us to shower each other in love?

    But anyway, now that we have Layla I think I'll have fun with the day. I want to carry over the tradition of making a Valentine themed breakfast like my mom used to do. Today I made heart shaped chocolate chip muffins (muffin pan courtesy of my mom) and scrambled eggs. Of course, Layla isn't old enough to enjoy food like that yet but I didn't want her to miss out! So I let her play with Valentine cookie cutters and gave her a little bit of soggy muffin (yum!) and some steamed blueberries which ended up just being juice. I let her play around in it for some texture play. She didn't really eat much of it which is probably for the best, haha.

   Layla also has a Valentine play date this afternoon! Lucky girl. Its her first Valentine's Day and she already has a date, haha. I met a girl at church this past Sunday and we ended up having a lot in common and only live a few minutes away. She's also a first time mom, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and her little guy wakes up frequently to eat so we have a lot to talk about. Her little boy is 5 1/2 months old, so very close to Layla's age. I'm very excited and love how God worked to let me and Stephanie meet. We haven't hung out except for the few minutes in the mother's room at church, but I feel like we could be good friends.

Pictures will come soon!

Just today the thought hit me - 'I wonder if I would enjoy being a doula.' 'Could I handle being in the room when another woman is in labor?'

I relive the moment Layla was born almost every day. It was the most incredible, painful, amazing, wonderful experience I've ever had and it would be great to be able to help other women have the same great experience. It would also be a very tense and possibly stressful thing.

I just started doing a little bit of research this afternoon and there is a lot that goes into becoming a birth doula (good thing!). Before I make any decisions, I'd like to talk to some other doulas to see how much it costs, how long it takes, if I have the right personality, etc, to be a doula. I know it would be a very rewarding thing but I know how serious it is, as well, and I would have to be 100% committed.

Who knows if I'll still be interested in this in a week, ha. This may just be an idea that comes and goes but your thoughts are welcome! I'm going to do a little more research and probably talk to the doula we hired when Layla was born.



Enjoy this adorable picture of Layla from our trip to Babies R Us today :)

More on Cloth Diapers

http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/cloth-diaper-mysteries-solved-wicking-stripping-and-pul/

I'm really liking this girls blog. She has all kinds of information on cloth diapering. Our current issue right now is dealing with stinky diapers. They need stripped desperately and I've tried a few things that haven't worked but just ordered some RLR. If that doesn't help the stink, this blog has some other things for me to try.

This post is really for me so I can save this link :) Its on one of my pinterest boards but things get lots on there sometimes, ha.

Cloth Diapering

http://allaboutclothdiapers.com/are-disposable-diapers-really-that-bad/
This makes me so glad we use cloth diapers! This is not to harp on those of you who use disposables because I would be using them, too if my sister hadn't introduced me to cloth. Even then I almost said 'forget it. This is too complicated and frustrating.' But now that I've figured out what diapers work best for us I love it! It saves so much money and is so much safer for Layla. Its ridiculous the chemicals and toxins that are in disposable diapers and most people aren't aware of it! Layla can't even wear them anymore...I've put her in a disposable a couple of different times recently and after just an hour of wearing it, her little bum breaks out in a horrible rash. I know it could just be the brand, but even so, there's so many different things in those diapers that can cause a rash. And then we go and slather on butt cream (IDK what all is in that stuff but I'm sure there's plenty of controversy with that as well) to make the rash go away. 

Anyway, this blog I found on pinterest talks about cloth vs. disposable and she mentions the harmful toxins that are in disposable diapers. Dioxin is one of those ingredients and it has been found to be linked to"cause damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver."  I know that's probably a rare thing but still, why risk it? 

The blog goes on to talk about other things about disposable diapers, of course they're all negative. But I just found it interesting. 

I think cloth diapering is becoming more common and more talked about but its still a 'disgusting' thing for a lot of people. So far it hasn't been gross but Layla is still exclusively breastfed so those dirty diapers are pretty runny still! We'll see how I feel when that changes, ha. 

I love my fluff. Especially having a girl, there are SO many cute options for diapers and I think that'll become even more fun in the summer when we can show them off! 

You can't take adorable pictures like this with a disposable diaper! :)  (sorry for the blurry-ness)

Layla's First Swimming Experience

Our Water Babies instructor was sick today so we didn't get to start the class but we still got to go swimming! It was so fun to play in the water with Layla. We decided she's going to be a natural swimmer because she was kicking her legs (of course) and splashing her arms in the water so much! It was so cute. I'm excited for next week so we can actually start the class (hopefully) and meet some other babies and toddlers. 

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So, I've been trying to come up with some different meals for dinner, other than our most common chicken and rice-a-roni meals. One of my moms friends from high school has a blog with tons of bean pot recipes so I've been looking through that and I talked to her today to learn more about using my bean pot. It was a wedding gift and I haven't used it until today because I just didn't know anything about it! I'm excited to try some new things and maybe it'll make mealtime a little easier. Tonight I made Cheesy Mexican Chicken Casserole. It was really simple and turned out good, the only thing I didn't like was that I had to cook the chicken beforehand. Other than that, it was super quick and easy! 

Check out her blog for the recipe! Teresa's bean pot creations

Water Baby

Tomorrow is our first Water Babies class and I'm so excited! If Layla knew what was going on I think she'd be really excited, too, haha. Normally she showers with us but recently I gave her a bath in her little tub and she loved splashing and playing in the water so I have no doubt that she'll love swimming!

Today was Layla's 6 month check up and she's right on schedule. She's in the 75th percentile for height and weight at 17.6 lbs and 26.5 inches. She was her ornery self when the nurse was checking her, too. She wouldn't relax and lay down...she always keeps her head up and does 'crunches.' And she sneezed and then did her fake cough, which the nurse thought was pretty funny. She said her son does the same thing. Then after the nurse finished checking her over she started jabbering. I think she's finally getting comfortable being herself around other people.

She's finally opening up more around my family, too. We spent a lot of time at my parents house this past weekend. Typically, Layla is pretty quiet and shy but this time she finally came out and was talking and smiling so much! I was so glad that she let them see her happy, fun side :) My parents have seen her like that a little bit but Kourtney, my sister, hadn't really ever seen her so excitable. Her and Macey (my niece who is 11 days older than her) were so funny together. They kept stealing each other's toys and were much more aware of each other! I'm so excited to watch those two grow up together!


Tonight is Life Group (any minute now, actually) so I better wrap this up! We'll try to get some pictures of Layla's first time swimming and I'll share them soon :)