Pierced ears & Cloth Diapers!

We have a growing collection now. Thanks to Colleen and Ella!  

Layla also got her ears pierced today ( July 17. ) She screamed and seemed so upset that the lady who she liked so much had betrayed her like this! It only last a minute or two & then she was back to loving everybody she could get to look at her! Layla gets quite the attention, it stems from her ginormous bows & big baby blues then she sucks you in with her smile & your hooked! ;)

ALMOST 7 MONTHS?!

8 Months!! Already?

I don't know where time has gone. Layla is getting so big & SO MUCH FUN! She's got quite a personality. I don't know where to start, it's been a while. She's crawling, backwards! ALMOST forward. ::laughing:: Shes not a big 'Solids' eater. Thats OK! She'll choose something she can hold in her hands before anything pureed. She was never big on bottles. Shes working on sippy cups but only water. She does best with the sippy cup with a straw attached. Still breastfed just as much as day one!! Go us! So proud of our big girl! Layla is such a joy to have around. She makes our life extremely easy! She's easy to take out & we get complimented EVERYTIME we take her to a restaurant on how well behaved she was! We also get complimented on how stunning she is EVERYWHERE we go. I'm probably just being bias but either way, shes beautiful and everyone knows it! :)

She had her first trip to the emergency room and was admitted for 3 days in May. Poor girl has a gastro infection! her fever was about 102.3-104 for 4 days in a row! The scariest few days of my entire life we're watching my little girl suffer in so much pain. When we were in the emergency department waiting for them to give her an IV, I stepped out to call my mom. When I walked thru the security door past the waiting room I heard the cry of a terrified baby. She was SCREAMING in fear & I knew it was my child. I cannot begin to describe the pain that filled my body listening to my baby cry like that. I ran back to her room and looked thru the window to see two nurses holding Layla down & Chris doing his best to calm her. I couldn't go into that room. Thank god for Chris. I have never been more proud of him. I would have never been able to get thru our daughter being so sick, without my amazing husband by our side! On a positive note, the Galisano Childrens hospital at Upstate University is amazing!! The entire staff who helped take care of Layla until we were 110% ready to take her home we wonderful & muchly appreciated!!

We took Layla to her first 4th of July show! She loves fireworks! She also loves swimming & we've been at my parents house almost everyday for the past week during this heat wave we're having!

Wrapping things up-

Shes in 12-18 months clothes

Still nursing 4-6 times a day

Sleeping mostly thru the night ( in my bed ) & yes! We are working on it!

She was 29.5 inches & 20 pounds at her 6 month ( almost 7 months) appointment!

Layla is almost 4 months old!!

Life with a new baby is very busy & I haven't had the time to update at all. Quick update!

My little baby girl is almost 4 months! Time is flyyyying by! Shes working on rolling over. Some days she gets it, some days she doesn't. she grabs her toys and plays with them. She laughs, SOMETIMES. Most of the time it's just a "empty laugh" as I like to call it. Laughing but no sound comes out! So cute, but I wish there was sound. :)

Hmm.. what else is our lovely Layla up to? We have successfully been breastfeeding for almost 4 months! YAY! I would love to make it to a full year if we can! It's so funny, because when I was pregnant I was all for breastfeeding but kinda thought to myself that I probably would last a week them switch to formula! No way! It's such an amazing feeling to be able to give this to my baby! So far she hasn't been sick with anything, not even the smallest of colds! Thank god! Especially since she was a winter baby in Upstate NY!

Our girl is getting so big!! I'm sure she is probably about 16 pounds now and about 27 or so inches. Shes still in a few 3 month outfits, mostly Circo onesies, but we're movin on up to 3-6 months in the majority of clothes! She's quite the looker too! I swear every parent thinks their child is beautiful, but Layla turns head everywhere! I even heard a man compliment my daughter to his son at the mall the other day!!

Cutting this short-- hopfully I'll update more soon!

Can you believe it's been a month?!

Time Really does Fly!

Layla's swinging in her swing, pretty happy and content, for now! Lets see if I can get a quick update!

Tomorrow Layla will be 5 weeks old already! I can't believe it. She's growing SO FAST. Already to 10 lbs. 12 oz. 22 3/4 inches long. She's really learning to smile now. She can follow things when you put them in front of her face. Right now shes got a HUGE grin on her face as she watches the butterflies go around and around above her. Being a mother is exactly what I imagined it to be, only better, because I'm not imagining it anymore. My baby girl is here & I could never ask for anything better than this!! When Chris goes to work in the morning, I get this huge feeling of HAPPY when he kisses us both goodbye and says "I love you both"

We had a good Thanksgiving, Twice. First at my parents then at Chris' Grandparents. We also had Christmas/newborn portraits done! Grandma Carolin came to visit for a few days. We really enjoyed having her & Ben here & we're definitely looking forward to visiting Houston for the wedding in March :)

2 weeks post baby!

Welcome to the world Layla!

My beautiful baby girl is taking a nap & while she's doing that, I'm going to attempt to recap Labor and Delivery & whats been going on since!

Layla is 2 weeks old already! It seems like just yesterday we were immpatiently waiting for my due date, which came and went.

November 6th 2009 Chris and I made our last trip from home as a couple, to become a family of three! We left the house at about 5:15pm and made our way to Crouse Irving Hospital! We checked in and got admitted. My room was waiting for me with a gift bag from Jessicas Mom! My first nurse just so happened to be the woman from our birthing class! :) I got hooked up to the monitor and IV & got checked for dilitation ( still at 1CM! ) The Dr. came in and gave me cervidil (sp?) to help me dialate. They say only about 10% of women actually go into labor from the cervidil. Chris was able to sleep, which was good! I was a little too excited and nervous to get a good nights rest. The nurse gave me some benadryl and I dozed a little better. It was kind of hard though, with IV fluids running non stop and Layla pushing even harder on my bladder, I was getting up at least every 45 minutes! Finally 12 hours later at about 8AM they took out the meds and checked my cervix which was at 4CM!!! I was in the 10% to go into labor!! They gave me the go ahead to shower and get something to eat. Chris ran to Dunkin Donuts while I showered then we ate & took a quick walk around the floor, before startingthe Pitocin at about 10AM. I have to say, this isn't going to be a very interesting story since I found the first 8 hours of labor to be a piece of CAKE! So much for the horror stories that being induced is so much worse. I couldn't have asked for a better experience! The pitocin started very low and they gradually increased the dosage every 15 minutes. We started at 2 ml and ended at about 52ml. Still managing the pain pretty well I got the epidural just incase I wouldn't be able to handle it when it got too late! The epidural was a cinch too, so glad I went through with that! After the epidural was in they asked me if it was working & I said I didn't know! The nurse said it was because the monitor was showing a HUGE contraction! YAY!

Chris got some more sleep while he could and I tried to stay busy, since I could not sleep! I was finally bored out of my mind and thirsty as anything so I sent Chris for his 100th trip to get me some juice which he did very quickly everytime I woke him up! :) Then we watched the penn state game while labor really increased! 6CM to 7 in about 2 hours. 7CM-8Cm in about and hour 8-9 in another hour. Then the pressure kicked in. This wasn't what I was expecting, it really hurt! With every contraction it was getting worse. Chris was great, he held my hand and rubbed my leg and counted for me. Enough was enough, about 45 minutes of that and I couldn't take it anymore. It was time to push!! Chris ran to get the nurse who said I wouldn't be ready yet. When the nurse and the resident made it to my room 10 minutes later I was fully dialated and READY! I had a few practice pushes and they said they could see hair! After about 45 minutes I could feel my babys head! Shortly after that, we welcomed our gorgeous baby girl, Layla Grace Bratt into the world at 7:52 PM! I remember Chris saying " She's here baby! She's beautiful! " They put her on my chest and wiped her clean. Layla wasn't crying. I honestly don't know that she was even breathing yet. I kept asking if she was OK & they told me yes. Then they took her from me & had to stick tubes down her throat and nose to clean the fluid from her lungs. Chris stayed with her & he looked SO PROUD! As scared as I was, Those were the most amazing moments of my entire life! They had to take Layla to the NICU for a "pit stop" as they called it. She was OK, but they just wanted to do a full check. Daddy went up with her.

When daddy brought her back we enjoyed our new addition and ate varsity pizza! Pizza will never taste as good as it did right after giving birth! :)

I guess the rest of the story & whats been going on are going to have to wait.

Mommy & Daddy love you more than you will ever know Layla!

Layla Grace Bratt

November 7th, 2009 at 7:52PM

9 pounds 1.5 oz. 20 3/4 inches

We're gonna be PARENTS!!

Checking into Labor & Delivery TONIGHT!

The big event starts off tonight. There's a million different feelings running through my head as I try to prepare myself for what Chris and I are about to go through. Apparently, Chris has everything ready for himself. I asked him last night if he was nervous and he told me "No." How are you not? It will never be just the two of us anymore. As much as we tried for this, wanted this and are very much as prepared as we can possibly get ourselves, our entire lives are going to change this weekend!! I knew from as far as I can remember that I wanted to be a mommy. I've been ready since the day we started trying for this little girl, in Oct. 07'. Now the final hours are here and I'm lost for words when I think about what it will be like to meet the little person Chris and I created!

How am I going to handle the pain? In the beginning I used to joke about how teeny she was in there but would eventually be very big and need to come out! It hasn't really hit me that she will be coming out whether I'm ready or not. I don't think you can prepare yourself for this type of thing. Chris says its inevitable, so just try to relax and we'll get through it when it comes! Yeah, he's right, but whose going to be birthing Layla? I'm more scared about this than I was about my lung surgery. They put you to sleep for those kinds of things. I really hope I don't need a C-section. I'm so worried about some type of emergency situation happening (since those things always happen to me!) and having to be put to sleep and not have chris there for an Emerg. C-section! I don't know why they put those thoughts in your head during the birthing classes. Ugh.

Chris is working right now. When he gets home we'll have dinner & make our final trip to the 8th floor at Crouse Hospital. The next time we come home, we'll be a family of THREE!

Kirby will be staying with my parents until we get home then they'll bring him over once we're all settled in! Kirby can't wait to be a big brother!

Well, Thats all for my pregnancy updates! Next time I post, There will be baby pictures!!!

We'll let everyone know once Layla arrives!

xoxo

We love you Layla

love mommy&daddy

OVERDUE :(

Layla is coming this weekend

whether she wants to or not!

My appointment this morning confirmed my fear of Layla's estimated weight! She is so big! When the tech scanned over her face, it looked double the size it was 3.5 weeks ago. Actually, it looked more like she mashed her face against a window! Her nose was all wrinkled up & her hand is still on her face, (the same place it's been for the last 4 months.) I guarantee she will come out Head/hand-to-face then shoulders! Anywhoo, She was still being very active, kicking those little thunder thighs all over the place. I think she's just trying to tell me she still has room and she wont be out until she doesn't! Sorry sweetheart, your mama has other plans!

I told the tech my fear of finding out her weight & at the end she asked me if I wanted to know. Obviously I needed to know. The look on her face was priceless when she looked at the screen for the result, and then she literally GASPED! 9 pounds 8 oz! I almost broke out into tears! This baby needs to come out NOW!

After that, I had a Non stress test and everything looked perfect! Then I saw the Doctor. Her first words were " You're still smiling, that's a good thing! " then she said the most beautiful combination of words, " Well, we can induce if you would like, but we don't have to." HAHA!

" ABSOLUTELY, take her out! Can we do it this Friday?"

She walked out and came back and I'm scheduled to be induced Friday, November 6Th at 6PM!

We will have a baby this weekend! :) :)

We can't wait to meet you, Layla!!

love mommy+daddy

It's your due date baby!

It's your due date baby, and your late to the party!

Dear Layla,

It's 10:00pm on Halloween night. You were expected to arrive today, but apparently your quite comfortable staying curled up inside of me! As much as I do love feeling you, barely able to squirm around, I would really like to meet the little lady with such a strong punch. Like the one I just felt on my bladder! Your daddy cannot wait to meet you! He carved your name into a pumpkin tonight, just in case! It's been approximately 40 weeks that I've been carrying you around. It's actually quite amazing! This whole experience is the most wonderful, nerve wracking, happy, anxious & scared time of both daddy and my life! We're so ready for the adventure to begin!! So, would you please make your entrance sweetheart, we're dieing to meet you!!!

EDIT: It's November 1st! Layla is officially late and going to be a November baby! I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning. They're doing a sono to check growth & for the first time ever, I am TERRIFIED of how much they are going to tell me she weighs! I'm have this awful feeling they might say over 9lbs. I sure hope not! Either way, as long as shes healthy, I will be happy! This is also the first time Daddy wont be there with me to see his baby girl! That's OK. He'll see her soon enough, I Hope! I will be discussing induction with the doctor since I am overdue now. Hopefully, something is progressing though and we wont have to go that route.

Carolin,

Chris and I want to thank you again for the video camera! Now we're going to be able to capture this special occasion even better than I had hoped we would be able to! & Now, for as far into the future as I can see, you inbox and probably home mailbox will be overfilled with home movies and pictures of Layla! Thank you again. Layla, Chris and I are truly lucky to have you! We love you and can't wait to see you!

We love you Layla

love mommy & daddy

Any day now!

Come out Baby girl!

The world can't wait to meet you!

I'm officially 38 weeks! TWO WEEKS till baby Layla's due date. Chris and I are anxious and excited beyond words for the arrival of our daughter! Daddy is constantly telling her to get her butt out here and he's not the only one! I have given her some words of encouragement myself. :)

Layla's great-grand parents bought us the most amazing swing. Chris and I both have turned it on multiple times just to watch it! It's got a TON of features. I'll post a video when it's dark so you can see the effects!! :)

Thank you so much great-grandma and grandpa Bratt! We love it & so will Layla!

Doctors say everything is good. Something can happen anytime now & we're hoping!!!

Not much to update on. We will call everyone as soon as we know something & will post when possible!

PS. Chris got a job! :) Hes working at a response monitoring center & starts Monday! Will let everyone know how he likes it! :)

We love you Layla

love mommy & daddy

The Countdown is ON!

31 days till Halloween!

Our little girls expected arrival!

-Sept. 30 2009-

Today we had our final ultrasound for measurements! Layla is IN POSITION! I really thought she was taking after daddy, but now I'm having second thoughts. She's weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz with a month left to go! They guess shes gonna be upper 7 lbs, lower 8's! She's a healthy girl! That's all that matters! We got very lucky today and had a girl learning to do ultrasounds stand in on ours. She was curious about the 3D ones & Chris spoke up and asked if we could have one!!!! I'm not so sure which one of us she looks like. Either way, Shes absolutely beautiful! She'll be a little of Chris and a little of me & that's amazing!

I had my Group B strep test today. Should have the results in a couple days. The doctor said if the baby were to come out now, she would only probably need a couple days in the NICU. So, we've made it!! We're in the very last stretch & it's moving quickly! Not a whole lot is new. I just really wanted to post these pictures!!!

We love you Layla

love mommy+daddy

& Yes, That is hair!

Nursery!!!

Layla's Nursery!

The replacement part for Layla's crib came today! Funny story? Chris opened the box and laughed, showing me the CHERRY COLORED replacement leg. Infuriated me, called Delta Enterprises to complain that after waiting a week and a half and dealing with the biggest butt of a woman when I originally called, they sent me the wrong color! The woman I talked with today by the way, was also rude and of no help at all. While she had me on hold sending me to an answering machine, Chris said that he got the crib together with the old part. I asked if I was supposed to be mad at Delta or him. He said, him. haha There was nothing wrong with the leg in the first place. He just had to push and pull on the headboard. Using his man strength, he got it this time! haha.

Anywhoo. It's together and GORGEOUS! I love her room! I may have Chris rearrange a few things. We'll see!

Birthing Class is over! We Graduated and got a Certificate! :)

We had our hospital tour too! It really made it feel real! I really like that once you check in, you stay in the SAME ROOM the entire time until 2 hours after the baby is born. They have Whirlpools in some rooms but if you don't get a room with one, they have a central one in the middle of the floor. NOT TO SHARE WITH OTHER WOMEN AT THE SAME TIME. I had to clear that up, since my sister was a little worried about a bunch of women in one "pool" birthing their babies. haha

Everything here is pretty much ready! Her car seat and diaper bag are ready to go. Her bottles are in the kitchen, her baby bath is in the bathroom under the sink. Her pack and play is next to our bed & sheets are in the hall closet! Your welcome anytime now Baby girl!!

It's so weird that in 2 1/2 weeks our baby will be READY if she wanted to come into the world a little early! If not its only 5 more weeks!

We have a doctor appt. this week. Then our FINAL sono next week on the 30Th!

Check back!

We love you Layla Grace Bratt

love mommy+daddy

Quick update!

Quickie Update

33 weeks 3 days pregnant today! Wahoo! Almost there! As of now, my doctor has pulled me out of work for a week to see if my stress level goes down. I had to make an early appt. with the doctor last week cause work & pregnancy stress are taking their toll on me! :( the midwife said she wanted me out a month ago!! Well that was news to me. She wanted me out for the remainder of my pregnancy but I thought we could try a week for now and see how it goes. It wont be long before I'm on maternity leave anyway :) Baby Layla's heart rate was a littttle fast and they put me on the monitor for 30 minutes. No contractions YAY!! but a very stressed baby girl :(

My baby shower was Saturday. It was nice and personal. 9 people including me. ha

My mom did a nice job even though her back was KILLING HER! Chris and I are very appreciative! thank you, Mom! :) I wasn't feeling my absolute best, but I enjoyed myself & was very happy to see everyone who did come. Thank you!

Chris surprised me with gorgeous pink roses before he went to his dads! He left them on the table with a note that said, " IT'S A GIRL! I couldn't be happier! I love you! " That made my day :) Thank you, Chris<3

Layla's room has been painteddd!! YAYY! It's a very pretty light pink. Her room isn't finished yet. We have to wait on a replacement part for the crib :(

Thank you Aunt Colleen!

Thank you Aunt Colleen!!!!

We were not even expecting this! The UPS delivered this to us today!!!! SO EXCITED!!

We love it!!!! Chris could hardly wait to take it out and put it together!! It is absolutely adorable!! I cannot wait to put her in it!! Thank you so much! This was a very nice surprise!

Pretty face!

Wonderful News!!

sorry, its a picture of a picture!

Layla is growing "absolutely beautifully!!! " as the midwife put it! She's 3 pounds 3 ounces! She has her daddies mouth and is head down, for now! We had a new ultrasound tech today, who we thought was going to be miserable. Turned out shes the best we've ever had! She got great pictures of the baby & even though she told us at first we couldn't do a video, eventually let us & daddy got the perfect shot!! Mommy & Daddy are both good too.

We started Birthing class last night, too! Nothing special!

Well, thats it for now. Keep checking!!

We love you babygirl!

love mommy+daddy

:)

Thank you Mom Bratt for Laylas gorgeous bedding!!

Thank you Grandma&Grandpa Veley

for Laylas Travel System!

Third Trimester!!

The Third Trimester is Finally Here!!!

It snuck up fast!

We're getting pretty anxious! Laylas room is coming together! We picked out her bedding set ( Thank You Mom Bratt! ) It is absolutely gorgeous! We bought most of the accessories that go with it! The theme is Dragonflies, Flowers and Butterflies in Pink,silver & cream! I cannot wait to have it out of the bag!! We brought her bassinett into our room, too! It's really starting to feel REAL! Shes gonna be here before we know it! I've never wanted summer to end so quickly, I'm not complaining though! I love being pregnant!! Feeling our daughter move around inside of me is the most AMAZING feeling in the ENTIRE world! I could never thank Chris enough for giving me this. I cannot wait to see the little face we created. I cannot wait to see Chris hold his daughter! It's all just unreal to me. <3

So I got the results of my glucose test back! PASS! No diabetes :) my contractions have stopped & they took me off the meds. :) :) I was scheduled for a non stress test yesterday, but they forgot to order it, so we checked the heartbeat on the ultrasound!! Miss Layla Grace was flipping around all over the place and waved hello to daddy & I ! We're having a sonogram done next week to check her growth! I can already tell you though, shes huge! She's running out of room quickly!!

My mom and Sister are giving me a baby shower September 12th :0

Ummm I think thats about all for now!

We love you Layla<3

love mommy + daddy

28 weeks

It's been a couple of weeks now. Everything is going good! I've strarted experiencing contractions at 25.5 weeks and was put on some mag. gluconate to calm them! Its helped but not taken them away all together! :( I had my glucose test today!! It wasn't even bad! Tasted just like orange soda! No complaints, the lab lady even did a good job drawing the blood! haha

Layla is quite the mover these days! She kicks, punches & flips nonstop! Hope shes active like daddy after shes born!! We had a sono a couple weeks ago & saw Laylas face!! Shes beautiful! We are getting very anxious!! We cannot wait to meet her! We had a little family babyshower while chris' mom was in town! Thank you! Thank you to everyone, for everything!

Baby Registry!

WOW! 24 weeks pregnantttt!! Never thought I would be able to say that! It's finally starting to feel like a reality. Maybe it's the fact that our little girl is constantly reminding mommy she's in there! She loves music & loves when I eat! She knows my voice and responds MOST of the time when I talk to her. We have an appointment Thursday to meet Dr. Silverman, one of the doctors who could possibly deliver our daughter. Then we're having a sono the following week! We've invited Chris' mom to be there! Very excited about that!! :) His entire family gets in next weekend & WE CAN'T WAIT! I found a dress for the wedding! HOPEFULLY it still fits in 2 weeks!

All for now!
we love you baby girl!
love mommy & daddy!

Also, We're registered!

• 
  Target -
  
• Registry ID: 014399700606249
• 
  Walmart -
  
• Search under Kelly Bratt or Chris Bratt
  
• 
  Babies r Us -
  
• Search under Maiden name - Hooley.
  
• We had tech. difficulties with it and babies r us was supposed to delete the other two!
  

Guestbook! Please sign it for our daughter<3

2am & playing with baby!

Our Daughter is...

Gonna be HUGE!!!

So it's 2am! I cannot sleep, due to my wacky work schedule! There isn't anything on TV, Kirby and I are bored. We just finished the box of Texas toast and went out for his nightly pee! I figured I would try to fix the layout on our blog and give a short update! We're now at 22 weeks! Woo-Hoo! Chris and I registered the other day at babies r us! It was a long process, we were hot & my back was killing me! We're going to register at walmart and target as well! Probably not until I've checked out the carseats, some of those are so HARD!!! how on earth can babies be comfy sitting on HARD HARD plastic? Some on the other hand are much cozier! I just need to touch them! Chris' birthday was kind of boring :( He celebrated with his grandparents, Carl and Caitlin a few days ago. I couldn't wait to give him his presents, so he got those a week ago! So, we spent his 24th, running errands and doing laundry! We had a nice dinner of hamburger helper though before I went to work! haha

Our daughter played a mean little joke on us the other night and sent us up to labor and delivery to be put on the monitor! She normally moves all day long and just decided to slow it down a little! Which scared me and prompted me to call the dr. They told me to go labor and delivery and get checked out. Everything was fine! She started moving as soon as I checked in! Figures! We did get to peak in on her on the sono! haha HOLY CHUNKY GIRL!! Our baby has THUNDER THIGHS ALREADY!! I couldn't believe it! It doesn't help that mommy keeps shoveling down junk and grease! haha Shes fine though!

We finally got out to see Chris' aunt Chris and uncle Mike! They made a delicious dinner, as they always do when we go! It was very nice to see them & we really enjoyed it! :) We cannot wait for Carolin and the rest of his family to get here! :) :)

I decided to get out a flashlight and put it over my belly! It didn't take long for the baby to find exactly where it was and kick it!! Each time I moved it from one spot to another she would hit or kick exactly where it was! Very fun! haha

Thats all for now!

We love you so so much little girl!
love mommy + daddy!!