Thursday, March 21, 2013

Easter is a comin'

If you're not yet in the Easter spirit you need to take yourself on a little trip to Target.
Talk about some cuuuute stuff!

 I could've brought home the entire Easter aisle last week but somehow I escaped with only purchasing these little gems







Every time I go to the store I can't help but drool over the incredibly cute Easter dresses that are out.  Seriously I'm obsessed.

If I could have it my way Lyla would have a dress for every hour of Easter.

... And if I could fit myself in one of these I would!




Here's some of my faves:








The big thing in the works right now is Lyla's first Easter basket. I already know I'm going to get her one of Thirty-One's adorable Mini Utility Bins for the basket itself. 

And I'm not just saying that because I'm a consultant either!

{But here's the expected plug-- Visit my website here!}



 I mean, how could you not get one of these cuties for your cutie?!







I've collected a few things for her basket already, despite Jesse's constant reminders that she's only 6 months old and won't remember Easter.

....Like that would stop me.





Here's the start of her collection:



Obviously I still have more shopping to do!






Too bad this little one isn't big enough to run around searching for Easter eggs yet. 





I AM curious how that works here in Alaska.
Does everyone snow suit up and dig in the snow? 

St Pattys Day

Another fun holiday for this little lass. St Patty's day was an overall relaxing day for our family. Jesse and I started our morning with what else but a big ol' bowl of Lucky Charms.


I had bought this box the night before in order to make a little treat for the holiday but my first bowl was just too delicious and I had to pour another heaping bowl full! After breakfast I realized I would've needed to refrain from my trip down my childhood memory lane in order to make the goodies so... That was a bust.

But I don't regret it.






One of my flight attendant friends had a layover in Anchorage that day so our whole afternoon was spent visiting with her. I did however have time to make Lyla a new bib to use at dinner that night.


Don't look at that picture too closely because I make it in like 15 minutes.





Anyways, our night ended with Lyla showing off her new skill of sitting up on her own! She's been able to do it for like 3 Mississippis {the technically term} for a while now but this time she did for about 10 Mississippis!!! Total awesomeness.


Remember how Lyla was a special occasion show off during my pregnancy?
Well, apparently that's still her thing.
Popping on Jesse's birthday
Popping again for our gender reveal party.


Rolling on Valentines Day
Sitting up on St Patty's Day

What will she do on Easter?!

Stay tunes folks!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

My favorite.


There are so many parts of my day that I love.

I love seeing Lyla first thing in the morning
I love when she blows raspberries
I love how excited she gets when eating
I love when she gets in giggle fits and laughs screams so loud my ears start to almost hurt


But I have come to truly love and cherish one part of my day. At that is 10:30pm.



For months now I have a "dream feed" with Lyla. What that means is at around 10:30 at night I sneak into Lyla's room and I give her one last feeding. This is called a dream feed because I go in like a ninja and give her this feeding while she pretty much still snoozes away.

I believe this has not only been a big key in getting Lyla to sleep through the night (she goes to bed at 8, has a dreamfeed at 10:30 then sleeps until 8) but it is also helping keep my supply up now that she is down to only nursing 4 (sometimes 5) times a day. But now that she has been sleeping so well for so long I could probably start to wean her off the feed. In fact, I have told Jesse a few times that it is probably time to do it.

But you see, this time of my day is something I look forward to more than any other time.

We all know life is busy.
And distracting.

I really do try to take time every day to soak my precious baby in but, lets be honest, it's not always easy to do.




When I go into Lylas nursery at night, it's like time stands still. I believe that this is a gift from God. He somehow makes this beautiful moment and all the emotions that comes in it happen again and again.

There's not a night that goes by that I hold her and become flooded with love for her. I sit there and stare at my beautiful child and become almost overwhelmed with feeling of love and protection. Gracefulness. Pride. Hope. Adoration. The list goes on.

Tonight as Lyla laid in my arms she started smiling in her sleep. I haven't seen her do that since she was a newborn. I remembered how someone once told me when babies do that it's because they are with angels. And I just sat there watching her smile away, so pure so innocent. So tiny. And so happy. And for every ounce of love i have for her i know God loves her that much more. And it made me start to cry.

I know I sound like a complete sap right now but I promise you I cry at this time at least once a week. I am so blessed. So blessed by my daughter. So blessed by my husband. So blessed. Life is so perfect.


I know I can't feed Lyla like this forever. Actually I'm already starting the slow process of weaning her off of it by backing the time back slowly.  So it's even more important for me to cherish these moments.  

I can honestly say that, without a doubt, I will always remember these moments with Lyla, and look back longingly at them.








God is good.
All the time.

Friday, March 8, 2013

momentous.


Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  
It is to decide to forever have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

5 months!



We've got smiles for miles on this little babe!










We've been having a blast over here in the Elmore household.
Lyla is just a complete joy to be around and entertaining ta-boot!



Check out that tongue! I swear we spend about 3 weeks straight staring at it. She would stick it out the moment she woke up and wouldn't put it away until it was time to go to bed.

(and there would be a few raspberries in between too!)
 Ha-larious!






Another entertaining thing was the night Lyla finally found Ernie. She use to watch him from time to time but never really paid him too much attention.
Then one night, out of nowhere, she reached over and started playing with his ears!



It was so funny!


 Jesse and I held our breath as we waited to see his reaction. Just as we suspected, he didn't care one bit and patiently waited for the "fun" to be done.








We hit a big milestone this month! 
 We have a roller!!! 

 Lyla's Valentines Day gift to her mommy and daddy was showing off her rolling skills.



What a big girl! Never a dull moment here with this one.









My mom came and visited us for two weeks last month. It was great to have her here with us. We decided that, since she unfortunately isn't here to see a lot of Lyla's "big" moments, we would let Lyla have her first taste of rice cereal with Gramma!


It was a fun time with some funny faces! I honestly don't know how she felt about the whole experience because her facial expressions were such extremes. But we took about 10,000 pictures and I love every one of them!


{note: it is VERY clear now how much she LOVES to eat!!!}








I'm writing this entry 2 weeks late (of course!) and I just want to say that 5 months is my FAVORITE age so far!