Lyla Elizabeth's Arrival and Other Big Changes for the Webb's

Our family has been through so many changes these past few months! First, we decided it was time to try for another baby, and because of that, also decided to begin preparing for a new addition by moving to a safer, more family-friendly house with more room to hold our growing family. Good thing our head was there, because we quickly found out we were expecting baby #2!

It took a couple months to secure a contract on our Inman Park home, and nearly two more months to get to the closing table, both on the sale of the IP home, as well as the purchase of our new house. Drew and I spent countless hours browsing the internet, driving around different neighborhoods, until we finally landed on Indian Hills in Marietta. We couldn’t be happier with our decision!

So we packed up our little cottage in Inman Park that we so adored, and moved the family to East Cobb in late January. We then spent the next few months fixing the place up to where we felt it was livable for us – we knew once Baby Lyla arrived there would be little time to devote to renovations, paint, etc. And boy were we right! It’s somewhat like riding a bike (caring for newborns), although the make and model of the bicycle varies which throws a kink in the old saying.

Lyla Elizabeth Webb arrived 3 weeks early thanks to the dreaded preeclampsia that mommy seems so prone to getting. But to our surprise, the labor and delivery went extremely smoothly and at 5:21pm on April 27th (just 2 days following mommy’s big 3-0 birthday), we had a beautiful, healthy, 7lb 1oz, 19” long baby girl.





The first month of her life has flown by – as you can see, I’m just now getting around to posting this. Everyone told me it would be so different with baby #2, and everyone was so right! I am more relaxed, and as a result, everyone else seems to be too. We even transitioned Lyla to her big girl crib at two weeks old, restoring some normalcy to mommy and daddy’s bedroom. The master had become a hybrid nursery complete with bassinet, changing station (our bed), and all of the other necessary paraphernalia for a newborn.





Our biggest challenge has been little Miss Emmy’s adjustment. It only took about a week or so, but now the jealousy seems to have somewhat subsided. One of the best parts has been seeing Emmy and Lyla together. Em did have some specific “feelings” that she didn’t know how to deal with when we first came home, but now she can’t get enough of the baby. And why wouldn’t a near 2-year-old love a newborn? It’s a life-sized, working baby doll. She kisses “Baby” or “Yay-ya” on the head at least ten times a day, and is always trying to be the big helper by picking up the baby (which don’t worry, Drew and I don’t allow her to do that on her own just yet).





The next big change is that I've decided to have Emmy at home with me and Lyla for the remainder of my maternity leave. I'm excited and terrified at the same time. With Emmy at daycare I was able to focus on Lyla. Now I'll need to make sure both girls get the attention they need and that Em isn't sitting in front of a TV all day. But when else will I get the opportunity to spend this much time with Emmy when she's still so young? I'm excited to bond with her even more than we already are.





Emmy and Lyla are such blessings to our family. Before Lyla was born Drew and I talked about how we didn’t know how we would love a second child as much as we love Emmy. We knew it would happen, but had no idea how immediately. The emotions were overwhelming as soon as she was delivered and placed in my arms. It’s going to be such a journey watching her grow up beside her big sister, seeing the love they’ll have for each other being so close in age. No doubt there will be fights, but we have a strong suspicion these two are going to grow to love each other very quickly. It’s pretty amazing to imagine Emmy likely won’t remember life without Lyla, and of course Lyla will have always had Emmy. It’s often difficult for me to remember life before my children, at least on my sleepiest, zombied days! Which is fine by me; life feels so much more fulfilled these days.





** Professional photographs artfully captured by Kristin Leigh of Bloom Photography - www.kristinleighphotography.com **