Baby Fries's Blog

8 months, Traveling and Growing Up

Layla turned 8 months old on July 24th when we were visiting her Uncle Chris, Aunt Rebekah, and three month old cousin Timothy in Florida. She continues to grow in personality as she has learned to be louder, chats constantly, smiles, laughs, has developed a fake laugh, and blows bubbles with her lips. Whenever we go to the store or anywhere besides home, her head is on a swivel, taking in all she can see. Jared and I love watching her reach for things, look at things, and just play hard. If she is not eating or sleeping, she wants to play and she wants someone to play with her. Sometimes she is content to sit and play by herself, but most of the time she wants one of us around.

Layla got to travel quite a bit the month of July. For July 4th, we visited some Campbell friends who live in Statesville, NC. Then we went to Florida July 21-25. Layla did well traveling in the minivan we rented for the trip! We were suppose to have an SUV but that didn’t work out so we were given a minivan. We must say we liked the minivan for the space. We definitely packed more than we ever would have originally. Jared drove the black Chrysler Town and Country to Florida and back while I rode in the back seat with Layla. When he picked up the minivan from the rental company, he called and said ” I have definitely become my parents now and grandparents for that matter,” as both have the same vehicle. It was a little more difficult traveling as Layla didn’t sleep as much and wanted to play. She definitely let us know by crying that she was not happy about getting in the car seat every time we put her in it.

We stopped in Atlanta on the way down to Florida to meet our friend Julie, who use to work at ETSU, and eat lunch at Chipotle. It was great to have Julie meet Layla for the first time. Unfortunately, at least 20 minutes of my lunch time was spent in one of the bathroom stalls, with no changing table, trying to clean up a dirty diaper that had gotten on Layla’s clothes, and herself, and then on her changing mat. At one point, I had Layla upside down on my knees, trying to put a diaper on her. Once I got her put together, I walked out of the bathroom, leaving the mess, and gave her to Jared before I went back to the bathroom to clean up the disaster! Then I tried to quickly rinse the mess on her clothes off in the sink before anyone else entered! :-0

Once we got to Lake City, we had a great time meeting our nephew Timothy and having the cousins meet, play, and of course take pictures of them. Layla gave Chris and Rebekah a glimpse of what is to come and possibly taught Timothy how to be louder with his voice by the time we left. We also had our first encounter of Layla not liking to not have something she wants. While sitting on the floor, with Timothy laying close, she saw that he had a pacifier in his mouth with a strap attached. Layla is fond of her own gator pacifier strap as she likes to chew on it. She started reaching for Timothy’s strap but we pushed her hand away and would not let her have it. She got mad! She kind of let out an aggravated cry/grunt and became upset that she could not have it. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with bad temper tantrums in the future.

On Friday after our arrival, Jared took me to Gainesville to work UF Volleyball Camp. Layla was dressed in her Gator onesie to visit campus. Layla met the Florida Volleyball Head Coach, Mary Wise, and played with a volleyball in the O’Connell Center where the Gators play. If Layla does play volleyball one day, she can say she took a picture with one of the most successful female coaches of the sport when she was 8 months old.

The weekend before our Florida trip, my parents’ came to visit Layla and to keep her on the Monday and Tuesday before we left as we took a vacation week from daycare. After getting over her initial shyness of them as she was 6 months last time she saw them and has since developed a little stranger anxiety, Layla had a great time with Grandpapa and Grandmama. They laughed, walked, played, and took naps. I think she had my parents worn out by the time they left. Layla really enjoyed her time with them as did my parents. I don’t think she will be shy next time she sees them. She was raising her arms up to them to be held by the time they left. My dad did make reference that it took two of them to take care of her all day and that it’s hard to get anything else done in the day. I don’t know that they remember now how they did it almost 28 years ago with me.

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After working Florida camp, we returned home on Sunday July 25th. We arrived home at 1:30 am Monday morning. Layla woke up once we arrived home and was sooooo excited when we took her to her room. She definitely knew where she was and was just chatting away and smiling as she sat on her changing table, getting dressed for bed. Of course, it was difficult getting her back to sleep after that.

I worked one more camp away from home the last few days of July. Jared and Layla stayed home. Jared said she played hard and then slept hard as a result. On my way home, I got a text from Jared saying I better hurry as Layla was getting ready to crawl. She kept getting on all fours, which she had not done until this point, and was very close to figuring it all out. She would get on all fours and then reach forward for a toy, but then go down on her belly. I definitely wanted to speed home when I heard that she was getting ready to move. Below is the video we took that night when I got home. She hasn’t crawled yet but it will probably happen very soon.

It’s amazing how much Layla continues to grow and change each month. I’m not sure Jared and I are ready for her to crawl as she will want to be into everything but I know we’ll love it. Layla is so much fun and we enjoy every minute of her. It is bittersweet to watch her grow as I love her at this age but the changes and growth are just amazing to witness.