kids grow up fast

as addelyn skyrockets in age (3 months old?!?! already? how!??), i get a little nostalgic for the babyhood of my other kids. i found these photo gems of layla at 6 months old. what a great baby -- her hair was as wild and sticky-up then as it is now. her "smile" consisted of her opening her mouth as wide as she could. so happy and eager to please.

somehow we've warp-sped into her teenage moody years, involving an unpredictable mixture of happiness, temper, sweet thoughtfulness, vindictiveness, and the sillies. she is both "best brudders and sistahs" with carson as well as his arch-nemesis, able to, on a whim, make him cry and yell out of frustration and hurt.

she's such a funny thing, trying to figure out the world and her place in it. to watch the journey (and deal with a little emotional wreckage along the way) is frustrating at times, true, but it's also entertaining and endearing and i wouldn't trade my front-row seat for anything.

love you, lays.