Just chillin

Kayla in her blue church dress. This Sunday she was really good in church and didn't get fussy at all. As you can tell, she saved this for the picture at home.

She's beginning to hold her head up better, but can't maintain it yet. She loves to be held any time that she's awake. She will look around at everything and just take it all in as I walk around the house with her on my chest.

Miss Kayla just chillin on the couch. She's able to sit up better when I prop her up with pillows. That is, she won't fall over spontaneously. She loves getting her picture taken and we can't stop taking her picture.

New Adventures

This was so funny!! Kayla is holding her bottle by herself for the first time at 6 weeks old. I guess she was really hungry!!

Chad got out Tickle-Me-Elmo to see Kayla's reaction. Right now she really didn't know what to think and was getting fussy with it. We thought it was funny though.
She likes to chill in her chair when she's in a good mood and has us in sight. If those two things are not present then Kayla is not happy and will let you know!!

Having tummy time on her mat. She can almost hold her head up. She was really calm this evening. Usually she's kindof fussy in the evenings till she settles to bed around 11:00. She was having a really good time here cooing to mommy and daddy and looking around.

Sunday I bravely attempted to cut Kayla's nails for the first time. She was asleep in my arms, so she didn't really react when I clipped her skin on her right pinky finger. She just flinched a little bit, but then it started bleeding and wouldn't stop. It probably bled for about 20 minutes till we could get a bandage on it. Chad was not at home at the time, so I was just appling pressure till he returned and could rescue her. I felt really bad, but I know it happens alot. She really didn't even notice (even the "baby bandage" on her finger).

6 week appt.

This Kayla smiling at Dr. Birch. She just started smiling good yesterday. Its hard to get it on a picture though b/c she doesn't do it for very long. Dr. Birch said that Kayla was so cute that it almost makes her want to have another baby. I thought that was sweet!!
This is my OB/GYN, Dr. Birch. She was wonderful throughout the entire process. She is from West Monroe, so we always had alot to talk about back home and she always understood the trip when I told her I was going home for the weekend. She still has family there too and often goes back home. I loved having a female Dr. b/c she understands first hand all of the ups and downs of pregnancy.
Some of the work crew. They all had fun passing her around and complimenting how pretty she was. They had alot of questions for me about her and how its been going. To sum it up... Good.

Today I went for my 6 week check-up to the OB/GYN. Everything checked out good and my Dr. got to see Kayla for the 2nd time. This time she was really alert and looking around. She was so good this morning as I was getting ready, driving, at the Dr., and visiting work. I had fun today showing her off and appreciating all of the compliments on Kayla and me. So, good to see all my co-workers again. Its good to be off with my baby, but I do miss them too.
P.S. You can leave comments on the blog entries. I look for them and they are welcome. Let me know what you think of everything. :)

A day in the life of Kayla

She loves to lay back and relax on the boppy after being fed.

Kayla loves to look at this dress while we change her diaper. I guess she likes the colors and the contrast from the wall. She mostly looks at bright colors and lights now days.

Before she got her diaper changed today. She has a pretty bad diaper rash and cries almost everytime we wipe her now days. I feel really bad, but it has to be done. Boudreax's Butt paste is seeming to work pretty well.
Kayla with daddy in the evening. Here she was very alert, happy, and trying to talk. Saying "a-boo", "a- goo", and "a-gi".

Kayla usually wakes up around 8 or 9 and stays awake for about 4 hours in the morning. She's alert and sometimes talks to us. She can be fussy during this time if she is uncomfortable, hungry, or just simply wants to be held. I try to put her in her bouncy chair so that I can get stuff done, but she usually doesn't like it and loves to be held. Its a challenge to figure out her fussiness sometimes. She usually goes back to sleep around noon and wakes up for another long 4 hours around 5 or 6. Then she's up till about 10 or 11. As you can see, our lives are run by when Kayla eats, sleeps and is awake. We love spending time with her though. Daddy is good at talking to her and it seems that she waits for him to come home. She loves to look at him. She eats about 2-3 hours. Sometimes more and sometimes less. She's going through a growth spurt right now though and she eats and sleeps alot. She's an amazing 13 lbs already. She eats really good, when she's not pooping it out the other end. She does that alot too. I'd say she goes through about 10 dirty diapers a day. All of them have some sort of poop. I guess thats normal for breast fed babies. Overall thats her schedule. I get nervous when she gets off her schedule, but it doesn't seem to phase her much. She's pretty easy going as long as she's fed and comfortable.

Fun with friends

My friend Becca holding Kayla. We all love on each other's kids. We're one big happy family.
So two have had their babies already this year and two to go. Here we are all together at the BBQ this weekend.
She loves to look at daddy's funny face in the evenings and talk to him. Hopefully soon she'll be smiling as us.
I found her sleeping like this yesterday. She always seems to kick off her covers and likes to sprall out.

This past weekend we had a BBQ with our community group members and friends. I realized that we have become sort of a family b/c we all take care of each other's kids and babies and share parenting advice. Not everyone has kids, but we all enjoy hanging out and watching each other grow in life. These are some pictures from this weekend. Kayla is in a growth spurt right now. She wants to eat every 2-3 hours on the dot and tells you if you are too late in getting it to her. She loves talking, playing and looking at her daddy. We're noticing new sounds she's making like "a-boo", and "a-goo". Chad says she's going through the alphabet in her own order. Nights are somewhat better, but still challenging, as she wants to be wide awake at 3:00AM and cries if you put her down in the crib when she's awake. She keeps us on our toes and we are all still learing, but loving the time we have with her everyday.

Mom, Brittany, and Tristin in town

Compare the two. I don't think they look anything alike right now. But, do cousins ever look alike?
Me and my sister Brittany with our babies. Tristin (her baby) is 31/2 months old and Kayla is 5 weeks old. We had a lot of fun, but it was at times stressful when both of the babies were fussy. It was fun to compare the babies' schedules and temperments. It was a rare occasion for them to both be awake and happy. This day we all loaded into my mom's Impala and went on a 2 hour trip to Tulsa, OK and went to Babies-R-Us. It was again, fun but stressful. We got really good at loading the babies in and out of the car this week. Imagine 2 carriers, 2 baby bags, and 2 baby strollers. Fun stuff!!
We all got pedicures this week. Tristin wanted to get hers done too. Kayla of course slept the whole time.

Kayla's 1 month old!!

1 month old picture

Having fun while lying on the bed

Before going out to our anniversary dinner

July 15th is Kayla's 1 month birthday. She is growing up so fast. She really is starting to show interest in our faces and is playing with us in her own little way. She is also telling us that she's hungry and uncomfortable by the different cries that she makes. We enjoy seeing her grow up everyday. This weekend we celebrated our 3rd anniversary and Papa came over to stay with Kayla so we could spend the night at Embassy Suites and get a full night sleep. It was wonderful, but we were a little nervous and missed her alot. (As new parents would be). I made sure she had enough milk, but was still worried that she wouldn't. Everything turned out great though. Dad held her most of the night as she sleeped.

Fun with Jaime and Sonny

Last week, my best friend Jaime and husband Sonny came in town to visit. It was their first time here, so we showed them around the community. She also took some great pictures of Kayla with her new, fancy camera. When I went to have them developed, the picture lady wanted to have a copywright for the pictures b/c they looked professional. When Jaime and Sonny were here we went shopping, out to eat at fun restaraunts, rock climbing, saw beautiful waterfalls, went to the Walton 5& 10 museum, and shot off fireworks. Kayla had fun with it all. She was of course asleep most of the time. I posted some of the awesome photos that Jaime took.

1st day at church

Sunday, July 8th was the first day we brought her to church. We knew when we didn't get going until 7:30 that we would not make it to the 9:30 service. So, we took a little extra time and went to the 11:00 service. Good thing too b/c the electricity went out in the middle of mommy getting ready and right before she needed to do her hair. (it came back on within 15 minutes)

She was so cute in her little pink dress and frilly socks. We got to show her off to a lot of our friends and she was fairly quiet during the service. All in all it was a sucess. Its fun dressing up, taking her out, and showing her to all our friends.

Awake Alot

Kayla is beginning to be awake alot more in the mornings and a couple of hours in the evening with dad. Sometimes a total of 6-7 hours. Thats a lot according to my Dr. Here are some pictures of her cute self being alert. She tends to grunt and squirm a lot so you never know what you'll get with the digital pictures. We think that she's either uncomfortable or trying to push something out. (or maybe both) Its fun to watch all of her faces even though at this point they aren't real purposeful.

Keep in Touch with Kayla

Kayla Gail is now almost 4 weeks old and I'm just sitting down to start her blog. I'm keeping this for all of you who can't be here in NWA with us and still want to see her cute face everyday. I might not update everyday, but I hope to keep you up to date with events and pictures in her life.

These pictures are of her first few days, coming home, and with Shara's family.