An update on my loves...

Laylin Jane is off of the monitor! We're so thrilled that she is growing and thriving. She is still such a peanut, only weighing in at 12lbs and 8oz at just over 4 months, but never the less, she is chunking up at her own rate. She's so tiny, but still has little rolls and its so cute to see her putting on weight. We had her 4 month check up last week. She did great with her shots, got a great report and stayed around the 10th percentile for all her measurements (8% for head circumference, 9% for weight and 11% for height).

She has taken on a new interest in toys lately. She reaches for objects now and is starting to hold on to them better too. We're still working on her reaching for me, but that will come soon enough. She is a mama's girl for sure, just like her big sister. She's not quiet rolling over yet, but I can tell that will come soon too as she is eager to roll over on her belly. She is drooling a lot and like to chew on everything she can get to her mouth. She's smiling a lot and laughing out loud. Look at these cute faces!!

Isla Rae is a ball of energy as always. One of her favorite things to do right now is play hide n seek, we play every night before bedtime. Its so funny to watch her "hide". She usually picks a spot in plain site and I have to pretend like I don't see her. She gets so excited. The funniest thing though is most of the time when Joel or I go to hide she will forget to come find us and we'll be hiding for several minutes or have to come out and find her...then she'll excitedly tell us to go hide again, lol. 

She also LOVES to sing. She recently had a school play and sang three songs in the play. She practiced for weeks at home and I taught her some other Christmas songs in addition to those. three. She has a lot of Christmas Spirit and loves to pretend like she is giving gifts. Such a sweet heart. She'll hand me one of her toys and say, "Here mommy, I made this for you. Merry Christmas." So sweet.

She also loves gymnastics, or "nastics" as she calls it, while wrinkling her nose up as she says it. She just started this month and is already doing really good tumbles! She's got great form. She loves to dance too so that will be the next activity to come... maybe when she is 3.

I've been having so much fun with these two and wallowing in this period in my life. Everyone tells me I will look back when I'm older and these will be the best years of my life. I believe that's true and I can already tell how precious each day we're gifted with really is. These girls are the light of my world. I'm so blessed they call me mama. 

The Adventures of Isla...

In the words of Isla...."Oh my goodness!"

What a fun and FUNNY weekend we had with our beautiful energetic girl. She was simply hilarious this weekend.

First of all, we're potty training...which makes every day exciting and lots of unexpected 'treats' happen for everyone.

On Friday, Isla walked in her room and noticed the mess had magically disappeared. I told her I had cleaned her room for her. She said..."ooooh, thank you mommy!" excitedly. 

I was feeling so appreciated until she went behind the curtains (while naked) and peed everywhere. 

On Saturday, Joel went to help some family members with some home projects and it was just me and the girls. We had been taking Isla to potty every 30 minutes. When it was time to go, I noticed she was 'hiding' behind the chair. I asked her to come out and it looked as if her diaper was about to fall off. I asked her to come over to me so I could fix it, and then I noticed it was still intact... it was just so full of poop it was about to fall off! She had been hiding, doing her business. 

She looked at me with her head hanging down and said, "I didn't poop mommy."

I replied, "well, who pooped in your diaper then?"

She said, "daddy, did it."  (reminder: he wasn't even home)

I said, "your dad pooped in your diaper?"

She said, "yes, hurry lets hide it!"

On Sunday, we were sitting at the table eating our sandwiches. She ate all of hers so she got to eat some pretzel mix. I was tending to Laylin and noticed Isla was having a full blown conversation with herself at the table... all by herself. So I started listening in.... she was holding a tiny pretzel up close to her face, talking to it... Here is what she was saying...

Isla (talking to her pretzel): Ooohhh I'm so sorry. Shh, shhh, it's okay. 

Me: "Isla what's wrong with your pretzel?"

Isla: "It's sad." 

Me: "Why is your pretzel sad?"

Isla: "Because it misses its mommy."

Me: "Where is its mommy?"

Isla: "I ate it" 

and then she eats the 'baby' pretzel, haha.

And besides all the funny things she said this weekend, she cracked us up with her funny actions too. We play hide n seek a lot at home and do lots of chasing each other. She has always loved to be chased. We've been working on hiding a lot because she normally either doesn't wait for you to come find her or when you say, ready or not here I come... she replies with, Here I am, hiding under the table.... or Here I am behind the curtains. haha. Joel and I laughed at her until we were both crying last night. Joel was playing hide n seek with her and she kept telling Joel to go hide, in which he did, but she would get distracted and forget to go find him. Poor Joel would be scrunched down in an uncomfortable spot hiding forever until he would finally give up and come out because Isla would have forgot to come find him. 

She is the sweetest, most adorable little blessing in my life and I have so so so much fun with her! Oh my goodness.... I wish I could stop time. 

Splish Splash...

I've mentioned before how much Laylin loves bath time. She smiles nearly the whole time she is in the water and loves for water to be poured over head...(unlike big sis who hates to get her face wet)

Today, her love for the water really started to show. She got so excited as I bathed her that she was kicking, splashing with her arms and squealing... yes, squealing. It was so funny!

It's so so cute to watch her little personality develop. She was so calm and relaxed once we got done and went right to sleep.

Love my sweet little Laybug!

My growing peanut...

Someone is chunking up!!

Laylin is...

• laughing out
• smiling a lot
• making spit bubbles
• cooing loud
• recognizing voices
• holding her head up very well
• very active
• kicking a lot
• sleeping well
• loving toys
• GROWING!

Giggles and chuckles...

My sweet angel started laughing today... and I mean really laughing out loud. I love love love to hear her get cracked up. She has become very playful and ticklish under her chin. She did it for the first time on Sunday, a little yesterday and A LOT today! I really got her going. I haven't got a video yet, but we were able to call dad at work and let him listen in on all the chuckles. It simply made our day. I love that one look at my daughters can make all the troubles and stresses of the world melt away in an instance. I'm so blessed to be their mommy!

My girls...

My girls have been keeping me busier than ever lately. Since Laylin's choking incident right before she turned two months old, we've all been in overdrive and I've mostly been unplugged from writing. We're getting back to normal, or I should say our new normal and Laylin is doing well. She's on a cardio-respiratory monitor which both keeps me up and night and gives me peace of mind at the same time. We're not sure how long she'll have to be on this or her medication at this point, but likely for at least another month if not longer. 

At 9 1/2 weeks old she finally tipped the scales over 10lbs. At two months she was still coming in under 10lbs at 9lbs 10oz. Our little peanut is in either the 20th percentile or below on the charts, but is growing proportionally from where she started at 6lbs, 9oz. I could really tell a difference in her weight while we were in the hospital. I could see her chunking up and her little rolls forming on her thighs and under her chin. I love a chunky baby! Isla had rolls like that too, even more so. 

Laylin is so so sweet. I look at her in awe every day. She has the tiniest dainty features. Small face and head, tiny hands and sweetest expressions. She even looks precious when she cries (which before this recent incident, she didn't cry much at all). I feel like God has blessed me with the best baby! 

She loves to cuddle, take baths, suck on her paci, swing, coo and she is even starting to laugh out now. I've noticed she really hates to wear hats, but other than that I haven't noticed anything that she notably dislikes. She is, for the most part, a vesry content baby. 

My other "baby" has really taken off growing a lot recently too. Isla loves to sing, dance, tell stories, color and anything princess or Tinkerbell related. But her most favorite thing in the whole wide world right now is SHOES! She loves shoes. She probably changes shoes at least ten times a day. I'm forever picking up tiny shoes all over the house and find them stashed all over the place. I think little Miss Isla is going to be a girly girl. She is so much fun and each day these two girls bring more joy to my life than I ever thought imaginable. I seriously feel like the richest person on this earth to be their Mommy!

Favorites of the Bradbury girls...

My girls are growing and changing so much every day. There are so many things I love about each of their stages/ages.

I'll start with Isla who is 2 years and nearly 4 months old...

• She calls popcorn, "copcorn"
• How she shouts "fireman" every time the fireworks display over the castle before a Disney movie
• The way she says yellow, "llellow" using no y at all 
• Her favorite word is, marvelous and she throws her hand over her head with a big expression when she says it.
• She loves wearing her dress up high heels. Its usually the first thing she does when she gets home... takes her normal shoes off and puts on her heels. She LOVES shoes!
• She tells me, "I love you sooooooooo much" often. She will point to her little eye, then cross her arms over her chest and then point to me. She did this the other morning when Joel was taking her to school. I watched her through the window pointing to her little eye, crossing her arms then pointing to me all while mouthing, "I love you."
• The way she plays with her babydolls and calls them all Laylin.
• How she rubs her earlobes when she gets sleepy or tired to soothe herself. She started doing this after we stopped nursing and hasn't stopped yet. Its so sweet.
• Her excitement and sweetness for life every morning. She brings so much pure joy to my life.

And our little peanut Laylin, who is 7 weeks new...

• I love her smiles while she is sleeping
• The soft "Ohhhs" that she coos back to me
• Her daintiness and petite little features
• The softness of her skin and little dimples on her hands
• The way she loves to snuggle and be warm. She loves to be swaddled
• How she loves to lay on my chest with her legs tucked up and around me like a little frog
• Her sweet whispy hair

My girls bring us so much love and laughter. I seriously never knew my heart could be this swollen with love and contentment. God has blessed me beyond measurement with their beating hearts!