Layla Rani Gautam - Month 12

12 Months of Layla! You are officially 1 year old! Lots of emotions over the past few weeks but mostly just in awe of how fast you have grown and how much you have learned. A year ago on 2/11/2022 Mama and Dada made their way to the Upper East Side to deliver and you came into our lives a day later at 5:43 PM weighing 4 pounds 13 ounces and 17.5 inches tall. We called you small but mighty and you have proved that right every single day. You are our bright, strong willed and beautiful baby. You have reinforced our values, shown us patience and allowed us to embrace change. This past year has been as challenging as it has been amazing and your Mama and Dada have both grown immensely because of it. 

This past month you started walking with your push walker and gaining more confidence standing with no support! You even took a few shuffle steps holding nothing right when you turned 1 - you will be walking in no time. You really love your food and are very sure of your taste preferences (Indian food for the win). You absolutely adore going to the park and swinging and you finally grew enough hair to make the worlds tiniest ponytail. You officially stopped drinking from bottles and got to try your first taste of sugar (not a fan by the way but we are sure that is going to change!) We got to celebrate two birthdays in our house - Mama's and yours. Yours was a much bigger affair and your Dadi and Dadu threw you a really grand party in Houston. It was so special and lots of family and friends attended from all over the country. You are truly so blessed to have such caring grandparents. 

In the past year you have traveled to Ohio (3 times), Houston (2 times), California, London, Italy, Belize, and Florida. You got to go to California again right after your birthday and attended your 3rd wedding. You are one well traveled young lady and are quite the pro at time zones now. You have almost quintupled your birth weight and grown about 10 inches. You have tried over 130 foods and drank more than 261 liters of milk! We only know this because of our obsessive tracking of your day to day :)

Layla, you are one of a kind and we will forever and always cheer you on. This last entry marks the last official blog post but know we will always be documenting your life and all your firsts as we continue this journey together. We love you and thank you for making our family complete - we did not know what we were missing until we met you! 

HIIIIIIIII BUBBY!!!!!! I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!!!!! YOU'RE SUCH A BIG GIRL NOW!!!!!!!!

The last 12 months of our lives have been an incredible ride with you. You have become such a fun, curious, interactive, and "spirited" baby. You show glimpses in your personality that directly resemble your mama and definitely things that resemble your dada. You love to cling to us but you also let us know what you want when you want. You love crawling around and you can almost walk! You are able to stand and walk along walls and you're building your confidence to start walking on your own. We have been giving you so many different foods to try and sometimes dada is jealous because mama spends so much time in making sure you get the best of the best for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all of your snacks. You still love being outside and taking in the sights and you certainly love going on swings! I have figured out all of your tickle spots now and one of our favorite games is to tickle you soooo much before you go to sleep to get all that extra energy out. You have such a big and cute laugh that fills up our whole house. You have become very chatty and even though you don't say real words me and your Mama just know you'll have so much to say when you get bigger. 

As much as you have grown, you have helped me and your Mama grow as well. You have taught us to be in the moment, to stay calm when things might get crazy, to be OK with not always being in control of the situation, and to always remember that some days will be hard, but the best days are the days when you're full of laughter, show excitement about the smallest things, try new foods and activities, and give us that big big gummy smile and squeal. 

Layla - we love you so much and are so happy you are with us on this crazy journey of life! We are so excited to watch you grow and can't wait to continue trying new things, learning new things, and being there with you every step of the way. You have so many people that love you so much and we will always be here for you baby girl.