Busy as a bee!

Wow, we have gone through so many changes lately!
Lyla has been growing like a beautiful weed. She is tall, healthy, and happy. Her abilities are amazing. She can now scoot, crawl, and even pulls herself up to stand on her own. She is a strong and powerful little girl. She loves to clap, scream, laugh, smile and throw her arms in the air and just be silly. After going through months of tough times with colic and fussiness, she has now become a happy, very happy, beautiful baby girl. I'm so proud of her. To top it off she can talk (mom, dad, hi) and she can sign! She signs milk, and all done. She will even tell me when she's done eating her cottage cheese but point to the chicken that she still wants to eat. That brings me to pointing, she points at all objects that interest her. Her main interests now are noses, teeth, eyes, smiles, smoke detectors, our cat Rosie and anyone that will smile and play with her. She loves her family and her extended family. She is one loved girl.
She is strong willed and sensitive. She knows what she wants and she will have her way at telling you. Also, if she doesn't want something she will be the first to let you know. Our main challenges are when she does not want to get into the car seat she dives across it to the seat and I have to pull her back up and hold on to her for dear life. All the while she screams as if the world were coming to an end at any moment. Sometimes she even cracks a smile at me in between these wailing cries. Our most recent difficult hurdle was her "nursing strike". After a biting incident where I scared her with my scream she decided she did not like it when I scream. Therefore she refused to nurse for 3 days. She wouldn't come close to me to eat... she flat out refused. Those three days were hard and filled with pumping and preparing food for her. Finally, day four, she decided she wasn't mad anymore. She's back to her old self now. Mommyhood is filled with joys, laughter, cries and monumental moments. Even though we've had some tough times, it is those times that open my heart beyond my imagination on a daily basis. I never knew I could love this much. Being a mom and having my own family is a dream. I wouldn't change it for anything. It is much better to wake up bright eyed, and filled with love with a loving husband at my side and a perfect healthy baby in her crib.
It's not always simple and sweet, it can be complicated and cranky but it's my life!
We're staying busy as bees and Lyla's Bee-day is coming up! More to come!

C is for Cookie, Carousel, Complicated and Confident

Last night at 2am I heard "C is for Cookie". I'm not kidding. It kind of freaked me out, but then again I've been hearing things since I became a mom. I hear Lyla crying when she's not crying, I hear her saying mom when she's sleeping, so I just chalked it up to my strange voices. Well, one hour later at 3am I heard "I like Cookies" "C is for cookie". Hmmmm.... Jason woke up and said "What the heck?". I then knew I wasn't hearing voices. After I came to reality for a bit I realized that it was the new toy we bought Lyla for Easter with a gift card my dad gave her. It's a cookie jar that you can put shapes into and it tells you letters, and words, etc. Phew! I really am not hearing voices! Back to bed.
That brings me to C is for Carousel. A few weeks ago Jason and I took a day trip into Seattle and Lyla went on her first carousel ride. She loved it! Our day was so joyus, we went for a long walk on the pier, walked to Pike Place market, had coffee and a hot cinnamon roll, watched cheese being made, rode the carosel then had lunch at Elliott's. It was so fun to have a family day in Seattle.

Next, sometimes things can get complicated being a working mom and trying to maintain my life as well as my famlies life. Lyla started teething and our nice 2 weeks of sleeping through the night were over. She decided that life was complicated and that she wanted to be nowhere else except in mommy's arms. Jason and I went through a few nights of horrendus screaming and I even brought her to bed with us. After being up all night I became cranky, complicated and sleep deprived! My wonderful hubby came up with a plan. Literally, he typed out a plan and we both agreed to it. We were going to let her cry.

So, now that brings me to confident. I've learned a lot in the last few days and most importantly that I need to teach Lyla to sleep for her benefit. So that she can become a confident sleeper and not cranky (I'm trying to use C words here...). It started Friday night and she cried for about 18mins. We went in to comofort her and let her know that we love her and are here for her. We also let her sleep with her pink teddy bear and brown monkey that she loves. Saturday night it was about the same and last night even less. So today I was all alone for her nap time. Lyla was crying, and did not want to sleep but in between her rubbing her eyes I knew she was tired. So, I put her down, told her I loved her and let her sleep. It only took 8 mins! It was a hard 8 mins of her tossing, turning, sitting, and grabbing but then she fell asleep sitting up and quickly fell to her back and zonked out. She's still asleep now as I write this.
I am now feeling a bit more CONFIDENT! I hope this keeps working.

The quickest shower ever

I have mastered the art of fast showers. Actually, everything in my life is fast now.
I only have a given amount of time that Lyla will be content for. I would say that averages about 12 minutes. Okay, what can you get done in 12 minutes? Well I can do quite a bit. I strap her into her pink pappazan that she is too large for but I still make it work, then I get everything ready, shower, jump out to hand her Pete the Pelican, back in shower to rinse of conditioner, back out again, get ready (if it's my day off it means curly hair), swirl my bare minerals makeup brush with one hand while prepping my eyes with the other hand, eyeliner on, Pete again, makeup done, hair partially dry and put back into a pony, Pete is way across the room, quickly choose some casual clothes (I'm not wearing Bebe much anymore), deodorant on, sing aloud, Pete back into her hands, and I'm done. Poor Pete, he really gets beaten up in the process but Lyla loves him.

My next adventure was Lyla's cranky day at the bank. We all have those days where our hair doesn't look good and we feel bloated and constipated, right? Okay, maybe it really affects babies more and they are not afraid to show it. Well after a long morning of crankiness I needed to go to the bank. Not only the bank, but inside the store and not the drive through. I had to add my maiden name to my account. Seems like a simple task, but not so much. I pull out my sweet beautiful cranky bloated pants from her car seat and carry her inside. The teenage acne prone teller was quick to help me and didn't seem amused by Lyla's smiling at him, he went on to ignore her. So she thought, "What the heck?", she needed attention! While attempting to get my i.d. out of my wallet she quickly pulled out all of my receipts and cards and tossed them to the floor. She thought that was funny and let out a big laugh and a smile. Teenage boy was still not amused as I was now making the line a bit longer. Okay... let's cash this check is all I'm thinking. He directs me to the next teller whom can add my maiden name to the account. Lyla's mood quickly changes. The line is long. As the new thirty something year old man is working on my account Lyla lets out a big cry. A big one! The line was long and everyone was staring. Her face turns a reddish purple color, the cry comes again...she starts grunting, screaming and bearing down. Yeah, she's gotta go and she's going now! Oh man, she is going to blow! It was quite a show and meanwhile I'm trying to put away my cash, receipts, card, tend to my pooping baby and then the new teller asks me if I want one of the 3 credit cards I'm approved for.
I quickly said "Are you serious? Do you see what's going on? I have to go." Lyla was finished at this point. We both smiled and left.
She was happy the whole way home.

Oh the joys of motherhood. I'm lucky to have such an active, happy, loving, emotional, heart filling baby! Don't we all wish we could just let loose like her? Smiles!

We made it!

I boarded the plane for the first time in my life with anxiety, the fear of the uncontrollable, there was no turning back.... I had to get on the plane and hope that Lyla would not loose control mid air while sardine packed between people at all angles. I was all prepared with my diaper bag, aka mommy's lifesaving trinkets. My first job was to disinfect the seats with my wipes including all the tray tables. Shortly after this was done I had each toy prepped and ready for Lyla's pleasure. Her yellow duckies (yes, plural, she love them both), Peter the pelican, and the light up handheld radio were all waiting for her to play with. Next job, gourmet food ready for engulfing. On her menu was pureed pears and sweet potato puffs. Okay, so I sound pretty organized, right?? Still my stomach was turning. I'm not sure why but my inner fear was that of her screaming the entire plane ride and people wanting to kill me. Okay, so to put it bluntly I was scared of being judged. I think this fear came from my past times of flying and hearing the babies cry and feeling somewhat annoyed. The fact is, I am now on the other side. I'm the mom with the baby that doesn't like to sleep for hours, the baby that loves to talk, holler, and dance. She lets the world know she's alive and her name is Lyla!
Two and a half hours later I realized I was alive and we made it. It may be a blur but we made it!! She did great and she is an attention grabber. Don't get me wrong, she was not quiet, but she was my little Lyla and she did wonderfully. Now, time to prep for our Hawaii trip this summer. I don't know if I'll be able to make it four and a half hours without at least two of the mini trash white wines for sale... they're good for something!

The trip was a blast, we had so much fun with Jason's family just relaxing. The weather was perfect. Not too hot to make me sweat and worry about the radiation on my innocent baby and not too cold that we had to wear our jackets. We had delicious blackened fish tacos, ice cream, wine, Karin's home cooking (Jason's step-mom) and lots of laughs. We can't wait to go back for some Laguna Beach fun!

Maaammmmma

Last week I set down Lyla on the living room floor to go grab the laundry. She has a new technique of yelling that is quite loud and heart wrenching. She loves to make her voice known. Well, when I stepped away, there was no yelling (strange) but I heard a loud "Maaaaammmmmmma". Yes, that's right, she said mama! For the last few weeks she's been toying with da da da da and a few ma ma's here and there but no specific outcry. This was the best feeling. I had goosebumps and heart flutters, she made my day and my week. I'm so proud to say I'm the mama of little Lyla.

Life has been whizzing by between working and being a mom and a wife. It's pretty much like having three jobs.
Job #1: Wife, this entails taking care of my cute hubby with dinner, cleaning, loving, cuddling, and trying to look pretty for him (i.e. showering and applying makeup).
Job #2: Mom, this entails cleaning poopy diapers that look like the food digested that day such as orange, green or brown, bouncing, bathing and cleaning all creases that can collect odd things, laundry, bouncing, breastfeeding, bouncing, playing, laughing, bouncing... did I say bouncing?
Job #3: Lead Dermatology Physician Assistant this entails taking care of patients and all of their various dermatologic needs (i.e. skin checks for skin cancer, acne, warts, rashes, cosmetics,and lasers), maintaining lasers and office needs.

I enjoy all three of my jobs. Now, I just need to find a little time for myself. I guess that would be Job #4? Since the new year started I've tried to focus on working out, feeling better about myself and getting everything organized. I love being organized!

I always heard my patients tell me throughout the day that being a mom would make life fly by, but I didn't realize it until now! My jobs are taking over, but I LOVE IT! I'm a wife, mom, professional, daughter and friend to many.
I hope I can be the best at all of the above!
Hugs!

She's my Love

It's been a while since I have had time to sit down and write. Lyla and I stay busy playing, going for walking, laughing, babbling, and just being together. I'd much rather do that than anything else! I can't believe it's been 6 months. I'm still amazed at the joy she brings to my life. Even though she would be considered a "fussy" baby she makes every day pleasurable. She brings a smile to everyone's face that looks at her. She also opens up my eyes to the small things in life and makes me smile about the littlest things. Each day I can do something new and silly and she thinks it is hilarious! She is also the only one in the world that wants to be with me every second of the day, every day, all day, and never gets sick of me. For now, I'll cherish that as I know it won't last forever! She's my love.

The Secrets about Mommyland.....

The blessings that Lyla brings me far outweigh the sleepless nights and spit ups on my new clothes. I've found that I tend to talk about the hard nights, difficult times and the challenges that being a mom brings to my life. The problem is, the positive parts are so much better! So why don't I talk about those as much? I'm not sure. The secret about being a mom is that it's a feeling only a mom can describe. It's an intense feeling of loving someone but multiply that by a million. Some days I want to hold Lyla and never let go, I look at her and love her more than I ever knew I could. Each day it's more, each moment makes me melt... she's my lovely little girl.