4 Weeks!

Leyla is 4 weeks old today! She continues to be the sweetest little angel. Just over the last week or so she's started to "coo" and smile when smiled at (not all the time and yet to be caught on camera) and both make my heart melt. She coos the most during bath time and diaper changes. She seems excited to have found her voice! Bath time is my favorite time with her. Perhaps because I give her her bath after Connor has gone to bed and its "our" time together (she's also just a huge fan of bath time in general which makes it extra fun). I love the way she stretches out her arms and legs in the water and smiles when I spray her off. I got this (pink) soft bristled hairbrush and she really loves it when I comb her hair (even though its mostly just fuzz and Andrew laughs at me). She's just a joy. She still loves loves loves to snuggle and basically just melts into you when you pick her up. She's still a champ at night (and with no pacifier!) Most nights I put her to bed around 9:30pm and she wakes to eat at 4:00am and 7am (at which point I'm up for the day) so I'm really only waking once in the night. A very sweet deal!! If I could use one word to describe her it would be delicious. That's just what she is- the way she looks at me, the way she feels in my arms, the way she smells (a mix of new baby and soap and puke)- I love it :)

I am really appreciating getting to be a parent the second time around. Not just because we're more laid back and everything just feels easier this time but because I'm so sure not to rush things. When Connor was a newborn I was in such a hurry for him to get bigger- so he wouldn't feel so fragile, so his head would be stronger, so he'd be stronger, so he'd start eating more and sleeping better, etc. I spent his first couple months so nervous and worried about everything. This time around I'm enjoying every last second of this snuggly little baby. We are in NO HURRY, quite the opposite- I wish time would just sloooooooow down. There is laundry to be done and dishes to be put away and emails to be returned, yada yada- but whenever possible you'll find me on the couch with a little baby asleep in my arms or fast asleep on my chest (its tough to find the time to do that with a toddler running around but I'm doing my best!) We took both kids to a dinner party on Saturday night. While I was cradling a sleepy Leyla in my arms one of the women there told me that she'd give all the money in the world to have just one more day of holding her kids when they were that little (both of her sons are in their late 30's now) and it made me tear up! Hormones maybe, but she's so right and I dread the day when my babies will be all grown up. I feel like I get to re-live Connor's newborn stage again through Leyla right now- since she looks so much like him and makes so many of the same expressions that he did at her age. This time I know to cherish every second because it goes by oh so fast...

We have Leyla's 1 month check up tomorrow so I'll have her stats then. Hopefully she's still gaining weight as consistently as she was at her last two appointments. Her NB sized closed are pretty much too small for her now so I thinking she's just about 8lbs now if not more!

Some pictures from the last two weeks.

Her first bath!


Her first jacket, a gift from Andrew's Aunt Nancy! Melanie- it really is like having a "doll" to dress right now!!


Proud Mommy ;)

A little smile in her sleep.


My current view. Picture taken a few minutes ago on my phone. The majority of this entry was typed with one hand :)

And I can't forget my boo! Here he is (duh) leaping off of something!