Loss of different kinds

Hair Loss - I looked at the back of Layla's head last night and most of her hair was gone! I don't know if this has been a slow process, but it sure seemed like it happened overnight! Her little "tail" she was born with and had forever is no longer there. And she used to have a little bald spot surrounded by lots of dark hair...that's not so much the case anymore :-( It's so thin! She still has long dark/turning light hair on the top of her head...giving her a reverse mullet look! Haha. She does have hair on the sides and back...it's just short, light and seemingly thin compared to what I'm used to. It's very sad to see her beautiful baby hair go. I'm regretting not getting more pictures when she was 1-3 months old that really show-cased her crazy hair! I'm curious to see what her hair will look like in her 9-month pictures, though. Below are a few pictures that show her hair changes over time...

March 5                                              April 5

April 23                              June 8

Sep. 6


Weight Loss - Unfortunately this is not about myself (or Jeremy)...my precious Layla lost 5 oz. from her last doctor's appointment 3 weeks ago :-( I've tried to justify it in various ways - she fed right before she was weighed last time and hadn't eaten for several hours this time. But still! She has been PIGGING OUT the past week or two. I was truly hoping for 16lbs. She has felt a lot thicker to me lately. So I was very sad (I actually shed some tears) when I walked into the appointment and Jeremy said she weighed 14lbs. 11 oz. It was not the direction I was expecting at all. Last appointment, the doctor said she would look into blood tests if her weight gain wasn't improving. However, she's now going to wait and see how Layla's weight looks in a month and a half (9 month appt.). She's waiting because Layla is obviously happy and healthy looking. She's not having any issues with fevers, throwing up or diarrhea. The doctor kept reassuring us that everything is okay. She said it's not unusual for breastfed babies (I'm not sure if this is true of she was just easing our minds...all the breastfed babies I've known have gained weight with no problems). But the doctor has a great point in that Layla is a VERY happy baby and doesn't seem to be suffering from anything. Despite that, I'm really praying for excellent weight gain over the next several weeks...the last thing I want is to have blood tests run on my little sugar pie.

Stress Loss - We were able to enjoy our Fall Break visiting our dear friends Becky & James in Atlanta and we had a wonderful time! If only we had a few more days to enjoy their company! You can read all about our trip and view a few pictures on their blog. We also drove over to Talladega, AL to visit some friends from church who moved down there in July. They're currently living in their RV while they wait for their house to be built. The quarters were rather small for 4 adults, a baby, and two dogs (one of which is 134lbs!). We enjoyed the visit, though. We ended the trip by staying in a hotel in Nashville to break up the return trip. It was nice to lay in a bed all evening and do nothing only to wake up in the morning to a delicious hot breakfast made by someone else. :-) I took a bag full of papers to grade during all the driving and I'm so glad I didn't! I think most will just have to end up in the trash...unless I can find some time to have the students grade it in class together :-)