1 year older and wiser too!

I celebrated my 31st birthday last weekend with my family. Robert got me my mother's charm necklace fixed and added Layla to the it. I showed the girls when I put it on, and Alyssa said to me, "I know why you wear that necklace with our names on it." "It is so we are always close to your heart." I thought that was pretty dang cute and insightful for a almost 6 year old.
We loaded up the 3 girls and took a little road trip to Oklahoma City and stayed overnight at a hotel with the kids. I know, not very romantic, but it was nice to get away from the normal chores and day to day routine back home and just be together. We did some site seeing with the kids on Friday and the weather was gorgeous! We ate a couple of good places, went shopping, and swam in the hotel pool. We came home earlier than expected on Saturday because the weather turned on us. It was freazing and raining, and I had packed spring clothing for the kids. Oops!
When we got settled in back home Robert decided that it wouldn't be a true Peterson birthday if there wasn't cake involved. This is true. Petersons love the sweets! So he wanted to make me a birthday cake and have a few friends over to celebrate with us. I was a little worried, but he did a really good job as you can see. It was yummy! Thanks babe for putting forth the effort to make me a cake when you could have just went and bought one. I love ya!
I was thinking about being into my thirties and how good it feels. I ammuch more comfortable in my own skin and where I am at in my life than I ever was in my 20's. I feel very content and blessed at this stage of my life. We are busy and sometimes it gets a bit crazy, but I wouldn't change it.

8 Months old!

Our Layla Rose turns 8 months old this week! It is crazy what a difference a couple of months can make. Last time I posted about her at 6 months, she was not crawling or sitting up for long periods of time. She has also discovered that she loves to eat baby food and cereal. In a few short months she will be on whole milk and done with nursing! Kind of bitter sweet, but I will look forward to the days when I can leave the kids for more than just a few hours and not worry that Layla is freaking out for mommy!

Layla has been such a mild tempered and sweet baby. She is sleeping more and more through the nights, which of course is AWESOME! She still takes a good long nap from about 11am to 2pm. She goes to sleep around 8pm most nights and sleeps until 6 or 7am. She loves to watch people around her. I can move her from room to room with me as I work around the house in her activity center and she is content to play and observe the world going on around her. She has brought so much joy to our family. 

Layla and Bella playing together. They have become really good buddies while Alyssa is gone to school all day. Bella is a good little helper with her.

 You can see that she finally cut her 2 bottom teeth finally after teething for months. She has been a trooper about it though. She is in the stage of everything goes into her mouth to chew on it. She chewed up one of Alyssa's library books the other day because she left it laying on the carpet in front of her.  

 She has almost completely mastered crawling! She may not be very fast yet, but she can get from point A to point B just fine by herself now. We are almost into the toddler lockdown stage. Soon nothing will be safe from her grasp!

 This is Layla with her friend Charli. They are about 3 months apart in age, and aparently on the same track on their growth chart. Both are70% in weight and have 90% heads! Their mommies are great friends and so naturally they are great friends too!

 Layla is still a thumb sucker! She is a self soother, which is really nice now. I just worry about her sucking her thumb when she is 3 years old or something. But for now it is pretty darn cute!

Happy 8 month birthday baby girl! We love you!