Grateful heart

When times get hard, things always seem worse than they really are... you know?

Lyla has been so, so, so very sick for over a month now and I feel like I've lost sight of how wonderful my life is. Reality: I love my family. My husband is wonderful and supportive... my daughter is healthy, happy, and growing. I have such a grateful heart. :)

Lyla's 5 Months Old!

Weight: 18 pounds. You enjoy food. What can we say. :)

Height: 23 1/2 inches (I think?)

Food: You take a 6 1/2 ounce bottle 5 times a day. You have started fruits and veggies-- you eat a veggie at lunch and a fruit at dinner! You LOOOOOOVE apples. Sweet potatoes are a strong second. :) At night you eat oatmeal and fruit.

Sleep: Oh you poor baby girl... and your poor sleep deprived parents. Sleep has just not been you forte lately. You have been extremely sick for about 3 weeks now. Because of this, you've slept in your pack and play in our room, not your crib. Lots of nights you've ended up in bed with us. I know, I know- we never should've started that but, what cha' gonna do with a sad, sick little baby. :( Your Momma's weak in the heart. When you are not sick however, you sleep from around 7:30 to about 6 ish, with a quick little whine around 3 am.

New: You found your tounge. Ha! You stick it out all the time-- even when you cry sometimes. Silly girl. You also spend the majority of your time on your belly now. You flip yourself over as soon as I lay you down. You've started sleeping on your belly recently. You've also started pulling your legs up underneath you when you are on your belly... I'm worried your going to try to start crawling soon! You laugh a lot and make raspberries. And my favorite, when you smile at me, you lean in and grab my face and put your head against my head. AWW. SO CUTE!

Love: You love baths, to sleep cuddled up next to mommy, apples, your bouncy saucer, and our puppy Olivia when she's acting up. AND your pink owl. You chew on its ear. :)

Hate: You HATE napping. You just will not give us a long nap. Instead you take tons of short naps which makes for a cranky baby at night sometimes. We are hoping you will out grow this because we really don't want to have to sleep train you. :( You also hate coughing... its the only thing that makes you cry at night. You rub your little face when you are tired... and then scratch the holy jesus out of your forehead. It's terrible! :( You have such a grip!

We are looking forward to: Everything. In the beginning, you were fairly boring- now it seems like everyday you change. :) It's scary and excited. I wish time would slow down!

Here you are... Best part of the blog, in my opinion. :)

Christmas was hard... all that playing. :) 

Note: The obsession with the pink owl.

Waiting to see Santa. :) 

Christmas post coming soon! Enjoy the rest of y'alls break!!

- Amanda 

LJ's first thanksgiving

I don't have much to say about his holiday other than it was just fabulous. I LOVED being able to spend time with my lil' family and my big ole' family in Denison. I got lots of rest and ate lots of food. Perfect. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

LJ and her turkey outfit. SO CUTE!

I may have punched Cade and told him to smile.. this is what I got. Ha. 

Looking at black Friday ad's. Yes, we do 'that'. 

Momma!

Doober. :)

Great Grandpa, Lyla, and Thea

LJ

Nom, nom, nom. 

Mom playing with LJ. Check out that bald spot. Geez. Haha

Grandma and Megan

Dad and Megan

The cousin's, my aunt and my grandma

We did lots of this over the holidays. :)

Pissed. Ha. 

Our tree. Almost done decorating! I love it!

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. 4 WEEKS TILL CHRISTMAS BREAK! YESSSSSS!

-Amanda 

4 Month's Old

Holy CRAP. I don't think I will ever be able to write a post about how much you've grown without beginning it with a shocking phrase. You are forever changing.

You, beautiful baby girl, are 16 weeks old. And by God, you have earned every single day. You are weighing close to or right at 15 lbs. Obviously, you are starving. You go down for the night at 7:30. We wake you up and feed you at 10 and you sleep until about 6:00. So far, we are SO thankful for your sleep schedule.

You are becoming your own little person. Now, you smile at strangers, you big ole' flirt. You are a sweetie-pie and I personally CANNOT get enough of you. Your little cheeks run my life. Ha!

You were taking an 8 oz bottle and your ped. was like WHOA monster and we backed you off to 7 - 7 1/2 oz now. I have a feeling you'll be REALLY happy to able to start eating more than just milk in the near future. :) You eat 6 times a day.

Last week you rolled over from your belly to your back! The day before thanksgiving you rolled from your back to your belly. Whenever you get extra pissed at night you flip yourself onto your stomach and get REALLY mad about it. Oh well. You'll figure it out punkie. :)

You got a cold about 3 weeks ago so you've been sleeping in our room in your pack and play because you would wake up frequently. Plus, your mom is a big ole' pansy and likes having you right by the bed! You are back in your crib as of yesterday. Your bedroom feels like it's 100 miles away at night.

You are getting better at playing. You really LOVE this giant octopus that rides with your in your car seat. You and that thing are besties. You chew on it's legs... gross. I still love you. No judgement here. You just recently started hanging out in your exersaucer. You get pissed at the toys on it because they only play music when you smack it and you've not figured that out yet. Haha. It's like your cussing them until I come in a restart the music. Then your good.

I am looking forward to your milestones like being able to sit up on your own and recognizing me when I pick you up from daycare. Which, by the way, is NOT getting easier. Either way, you are beautiful. We love you. Until next time!! :)

Melting my heart. I mean good Lord. That face. 

- Amanda 

I am a THANKFUL woman.

I spend WEEKS talking with my 3rd graders about being thankful and trying to get them to write about what they are thankful for. This got me thinking about what I'm thankful for... TOP 10...

1. For sweet, beautiful, growing baby girl- Lyla Joy.

2. My husband. He's HOT and a super dad. 

3. My family. My healthy dad, my beautiful sister (who is kicking ass in nursing school), and my funny momma. 

4. Our baby girl's grandparents. They love her so very much. LJ is lucky to have to have 'em. 

5. My job. I am grateful to be employed and to be able to help give my family a happy, comfortable life.

6. Lyla's aunts and uncles... They are such special people. She is lucky to have such cool family members. :)

7. I'm thankful for my family's health. As of right now, we are all healthy and happy. I thank God every single day for this!

8. My friends. We may not have many, but the one's we do have are really wonderful people with hearts the size of Texas. 

9. My students. I genuinely have a PHENOMINAL class this year. They are wonderful and I got lucky this year. Especially with being gone for the whole first part of the year.

10. I am thankful to always have the holidays off with my family!!!

Well, there ya go. I am a thankful woman. I am able to step back from my life and see that I am very blessed.  I hope you all think about what you are thankful for... tis the season. :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Gobble Gobble y'all. :)

- Amanda 

Just a little update!

Hi Everyone!

We are alive and well. Lyla is beautiful, Cade is busy working on his next big play- Sweeny Todd, and I'm studying away. It's been C.R.A.Z.Y. I won't lie to anyone, if I wasn't one class and an internship away from achieving my degree, I'd bow out of grad school immediately. It's definitely required some prayer and will power. I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving break.

Lyla started rolling over this week! Eek! She rolls over but gets mad when she realizes she's on her belly. Ha. Its hilarious. She'll be 4 months old next week! WHAT! I feel like she was just in my belly. Now she's laughing, making sounds, and rolling over. Geez. Anyway, here are some recent pictures of our little chunk. :)

Hanging out in her bumbo... so chubby. I LOVE IT! Ha. I love the bottle of wine behind her... this is the life we lead. :D 

 This hat is officially good luck- this was on the day A&M beat Alabama. WHOOP!

 Gobble gobble. Ha!

 Lyla in a part of her costume for Sweeny Todd. :) She was cast as baby Johanna. 

Punky and her piglet. Nom Nom Nom. :)

 Frisco Square. 

Lyla's first Halloween! 

:)

I'll post Lyla's 4 month post next week. I hope everyone is doing great!! 

Lyla's Baptism

In the beginning of October Lyla was baptized into the Methodist church. We were so very happy to see her become a part of the Christian family. As soon as she is old enough she will be able to re-dedicate her heart. Here are some pictures!

Dad holding LJ. :)

Miss. C, Ro and JJ's baby girl.

Cade, LJ, Roy and me

BIG smile. :)

The Vacante Clan. LJ's God parents. 

Aunt Megan

Mimi & Papaw and Nana & Papa

LJ and all her Aunts and Uncles

:)

LJ and her God parents. These guys are wonderful.

:)

 Everyone who came to see her!

Yep. All the time. 

Guess who has started chowing down on her thumb? :) So cute!

Hope everyone had a great halloween!

-Amanda