Kayla Elise Darden was born on October 31, 2007. She was one week late and scheduled to be induced on the evening of 10/31 at 10pm. Thankfully she was born at 9:31pm...29 minutes before the induction!
My Mom (Barbara) and husband (Cary) were in the labor and delivery room to help me through everything. I had a great delivery and a healthy, beautiful baby. We had her name picked out long before her birth. Kayla means "pure". We chose her name mostly because we just liked it!
She weighed 8lb,6 oz. and was 19.75" long. She was born with dark hair and blue-grey eyes.
She scored an 8 and then a 9 on her Apgar score. For more on that, click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apgar_score
The nurses said Kayla had beautiful skin and great color.
Here's one of Kayla's first pictures:
Kayla had lots of visitors at the hospital. My Dad and Donna, my Mom (below in purple), Cary's Mom (Nana) and Dad (Poppy), Cary's sister (Aunt Carmen-below in black, and husband Uncle Todd), and my brother Adam. We were also able to share the good news with everyone via email and phone.
We stayed at the hospital for two nights and came home on a Friday. The weather was beautiful.
Here is Kayla's first day home. She barely takes up any room in the carseat!
Kayla's first two weeks were great! She ate and slept a lot. She had trouble feeding at first so this is how she got her milk.
She drank out of the tiny tube that we held on our finger. We eventually switched to bottles.
After Kayla's first two weeks in the world she decided that she was not happy about a few things and decided to make herself known.
She was pretty fussy and it took us several weeks to figure out that she just really liked to eat! So we fed her more. She also gets cranky when she's tired. But we developed a signature, foolproof, no cry move. It looks something like this:
You hold her like so and rock her back and forth. It still works, but she's a lot heavier!Kayla never really liked to be swaddled much past the first week of her life and she doesn't cry when she has dirty diapers.
Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from her first few weeks:
After her first bath.
After her first bath.
Getting cleaned up! She loves baths.
Her first smile at 4 weeks old.
Two of her cousins, Abigail and Haley, take their first peek.
2 weeks old looking very alert!We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas 2007 in Georgia. Kayla got a lot of nice presents. Here are a few photos:
Doing what Dad calls "ladies exercise"...She loves it!
The Darden crew.Here are a few of my favorites from the New Year:
Mimi came for a visit and we got snowed in!
Kayla spends just about every Friday night with Nana and Poppa Shu. Here are a few from their house:
One of my good friends had a baby girl one week after I did. Her name is Mya and they got to meet each other a few weeks ago. Hopefully they'll be good friends!
Well that catches you up for the most part.
Kayla stays with a woman in our neighborhood three days a week while I work. The babysitter has a 2 year old little girl who just loves Kayla.
I'm sleeping well. Kayla's typical nap schedule is a morning catnap, a long afternoon nap, an occasional evening catnap, and then she is ready for bed at about 8pm. She usually sleeps until 2am or 3am, wakes for a bottle, and sleeps until 6:30 or so. Every now and then she'll sleep all night long which is GREAT! She sleeps in bed with me right now, but we're slowly transitioning her to sleep in her own bed. In fact she's sound asleep in it now!
Kayla is three months so she's really enjoying "talking" to us, watching brightly colored objects and movement, and we let her watch her Baby Einstein movie every now and then and she really likes it. She also loves the singing in church and will let just about anyone hold her.
She has rolled from her tummy to her back - but not the other way yet. She's very strong and loves to "stand up" and sit with support. She also loves to move! We like to take walks with her and the dog. She sits front facing in a Baby Bjorn (a wonderful carrier if you're looking for one) and really enjoys being outdoors and looking around.
Check back often and I will do my best to update! I think you can leave comments without signing up - but I'm not sure.
Kayla spends just about every Friday night with Nana and Poppa Shu. Here are a few from their house:
One of my good friends had a baby girl one week after I did. Her name is Mya and they got to meet each other a few weeks ago. Hopefully they'll be good friends!
Well that catches you up for the most part.Kayla stays with a woman in our neighborhood three days a week while I work. The babysitter has a 2 year old little girl who just loves Kayla.
I'm sleeping well. Kayla's typical nap schedule is a morning catnap, a long afternoon nap, an occasional evening catnap, and then she is ready for bed at about 8pm. She usually sleeps until 2am or 3am, wakes for a bottle, and sleeps until 6:30 or so. Every now and then she'll sleep all night long which is GREAT! She sleeps in bed with me right now, but we're slowly transitioning her to sleep in her own bed. In fact she's sound asleep in it now!
Kayla is three months so she's really enjoying "talking" to us, watching brightly colored objects and movement, and we let her watch her Baby Einstein movie every now and then and she really likes it. She also loves the singing in church and will let just about anyone hold her.
She has rolled from her tummy to her back - but not the other way yet. She's very strong and loves to "stand up" and sit with support. She also loves to move! We like to take walks with her and the dog. She sits front facing in a Baby Bjorn (a wonderful carrier if you're looking for one) and really enjoys being outdoors and looking around.
Check back often and I will do my best to update! I think you can leave comments without signing up - but I'm not sure.
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