My Heart is in New York

Happy Memorial Day everyone! What a great holiday. I always love Memorial Day because it is the kick off to summer. I have many great memories of time spent during this long weekend every year. This year was no different. I have a cousin who is stationed in Germany in the Air Force and he crossed my mind several times today. Another thing that is always on my mind when I think of people fighting for our country is not only the sacrifice they make, but the sacrifice their family makes. I couldn't imagine my husband being gone for months at a time. They are much better women than I am for sure! So thankful for this country we live in and the people who sacrifice everyday to keep it that day!

Today we got up and Lucas packed his bag and said his goodbyes and we headed to the airport. I didn't want to watch him say goodbye to Layla because I didn't want to get emotional. I didn't watch but I did get emotional anyway! Can I still blame it on the hormones?? Then I told him I teared up because he would have been diappointed if I didn't, since I ALWAYS do when saying goodbye to him. After an hour delay in Nashville because of storms in Chicago, and the running to catch his next flight, he finally arrived in NYC. He said the place he is staying is kind of like a studio apartment and they are both sleeping on air mattresses (not the same one). :) You can't complain about free and I assume he will be so tired at night that he won't care what he is sleeping on. If you know my husband, you know that he can sleep anywhere. He "talked" to Layla on the phone tonight and she was waving to the air. SO cute. She loves her daddy!

After taking Lucas to the airport, we spent the afternoon at some good friends house, watching the kids play in the baby pool and slip and slide and eat some GREAT food! It was a beautiful day spent with great friends! As I said yesterday I hope to have some pics of our activities up as soon as I get my computer set up.

BTW, Layla is standing more and more each day and even ventured out and took a few more steps on her own today. She is getting more brave and I expect her to take off anyday. Did I mention she will be 1 tomorrow?? Crazy.

The party is over and I am tired!!

We celebrated Layla's first birthday party today. It was a couple of day's early because her daddy leaves tomorrow for NYC. I had planned a pool party at my parent's house. We just had immediate family and our closest friends. As I kept checking the radar throughout the afternoon it appeared that we were going to get a little wet. Fortunately, we set everything up under a sheltered area so atleast EVERYTHING wouldn't get wet. Just about the time everyone got their food and sat down the bottom dropped out!!! I was trying hard not to get upset. When you picture your child's first birthday you just don't picture everything soaking wet :) Anyway, much thanks to our family and friends who survived the brief down pour! The rain was gone after we finished presents and were able to all get in the pool with the kiddos anyway.

Layla was such a trooper. She got a little ansy when we were all crammed together trying to stay dry, but she chilled out and really enjoyed her cupcake! It was all over her face and I believe that she would have eaten the whole thing if I would have let her sit there long enough! She also really anjoyed seeing all her new presents. SO crazy how only 6 months ago at Christmas she could have cared less about her presents, but she was really checking them out today! She also stood for quite a long time and took a couple steps in front of everyone. Everbody got excited and started cheering for her so then she got startled and dropped to the ground. After presents, we got in the pool. She was diving into bed by 8:00! What a great day with many memories. Layla is so blessed to have so many people that LOVE her so much. Hopefully pictures are to come as soon as I can get somewhere to upload them!

Self Employed!

As of today, Lucas is officially self employed! He went into the office this morning to turn in his phone, keys, and credit card. I asked if he was sad to leave and he said no not really, everyone else is sad though! His business partner has been in NYC already working for about 2 weeks now. Lucas flies out at 12:00pm Monday and will be gone for 2 weeks and then home for a week. God is already opening up doors for more new work. Very exciting!

Life of a Nomad

This morning, I packed up everything that Layla and I would need for the next few months and loaded up the car. We hit the road about 11:30am and arrived at my parents house about 3:30pm (WE had a pit stop in Jackson for lunch). As I was packing up our things, preparing to leave, I begin to have a few sentimal thoughts. The past year of our lives in Memphis have been life changing. No exaggeration. God has taught us so much about where we have been in life with Him and where he was going to take us in the future. It has probably been one of the most monumental "seasons" of my life with my Father. I can't put in one post about all the things He has spoken to me and my family this last year, but for the first time in my life I get butterflies when I think of my Jesus because of the new love that I have for Him. As I was leaving behind our nice house, and all of our stuff, God just spoke to me and told me that I was taking along everything that I need for happiness. I have my husband and my daughter and Him! I am thankful for this season of simplicity and looking forward to what is to come.

So now I am at my parents. Layla and I (Lucas is coming tomorrow)spent the afternoon riding around on the Gator and looking at the cows. If you now ask Layla what a cow says she will Moo. Then after we got nice and sweaty we put on our bathing suits and hopped in the pool. Layla is a little fish! She LOVES the water! She was even dunking her face into the water and then laughing about it. Crazy kid. I am going to have to watch her for sure.

We are officailly done nursing. I was interested to see how she would act this morning after the episode that we had yesterday. I got her out of her crib and she was loving on me. But she was not trying to undress me like she normally is. I usually cannot set her down until she has nursed. So, I just sat her in the highchair, gave her some milk in her sippy cup and her yogurt. She was just happy as can be! Talking about a child weaning herself, Layla has for sure. Next to go is the paci. She only gets it in the bed and the car right now but I am thinking about cutting the tip around 13 months. Any thoughts on this moms?

Since I am at my parents, the only connection I have to the internet is a Verizon Air card. I am going to do the best I can to keep my blog up to date but sometimes it might be challening.

Everyone have a great night!

I have to be honest..

Well before our fun birthday party, Layla and I had quite a morning. First of all she woke up about an hour earlier that usually screaming instead of playing in her bed. So, since Lucas was still home I sent him in to get her while I was trying to finish getting ready. For almost a year now, the first thing Layla has done every morning is nurse. Since I have been weaning her, the only nursing that we had left was the first one of the day. Well, I sat down with Layla today and she kinda bit down and I said Ow! Well, she had a melt down! She refused to nurse. Never in her life has she done that! Well, after she calmed down I tried to nurse her again and she was still screaming when she saw it. By this point I was in tears too!! After she calmed down and ate some banana, I tried one more time and she had another meltdown. So today, was the first day that she hasn't nursed! Maybe this was her way of telling me she was done. To be honest, when I started nursing, I thought this was going to be the LONGEST year of my life. After a lot of work, Layla and I worked out all the kinks and now i am definitely am an advocate for breastfeeding if at all possible. Layla has not been sick at all, not even a fever the whole first year of her life. I know this is because of God's protection but breastfeeding definitely helps. I was surprised by my reaction of tears today when she didn't want to nurse. I knew this process what inevitable, but this was the only cuddle time I got during the day with Layla. She is NEVER still. So I will see how tomorrow goes and if she wants to nurse again. Not sure if i will let her, but we will see how the morning goes!

Early 1st Birthday Party!

Today, we celebrated Layla's First Birthday with the moms and babies from my First Time Mom's Group in Memphis. We had a little picnic at Shelby Farms. Another little girl in the group turned 1 yesterday, so her mom and I arranged this little get together with our friends. We had a great time! It wasn't too hot in the beginning but then it started to get warm. We sure are going to miss this group of girls! They have been so sweet and such an encouragement to me through this first year of parenthood. I hope we can stay in touch as our little ones grow up!

Smartest Kid on the Block

I just have to share something that Layla has done a couple of times. We now know that it was not coincidence the first time :)

I have this little toiletry bag that I keep all of her things in. Lotion, Desitin cream, Aquaphor tube, my Lanolin cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, brush, and nose syringe. I told you all those things so that you know that there are a few tubes of things that look very similar.

Every night after her bath I had been getting her toothbrush, putting toothpaste on it and then handing it to her while I lotion her up. Now if I tell Layla to get her toothbrush and toothpaste, she will dig through the whole bag and get the toothbrush (easy) and then she can dig through the bag and pull out the tube of toothpaste! Maybe not that smart, but I thought it was pretty impressive that she was able to distinguish the toothpaste tube from the others just by watching me do it a few times!