Welcome to the World, Layla Eleanor Grace

This is long and it's probably slightly hazy on the very minute details (remember that I'm not getting nearly as much sleep as I used to, haha) but there are moments here that I remember so clearly that they must have just happened and more than anything else I have ever experienced in my life, I needed to write it all down.  It's perhaps the most important story I've ever told.

Introducing...

Hello, friends!  It's been a while...   A lot of really crazy and wonderful things have happened since I wrote last.  I turned 30 and celebrated with the perfect night downtown, we moved from Edgewater to a two-bedroom in Evanston, Tom ran two marathons (DNF one, but victoriously finished the other), he got a new job, and I gave birth just 10 days ago to our firstborn daughter.

(Photo thanks to Tom)

Say hello to Layla Eleanor Grace!  Born November 10 at 12:10pm--8 lbs 13 oz, 19.75 inches long.  The most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  The sweetest, most laid-back little one.  She's only been with us for 10 days but it feels like we've known her forever.  Already I cannot imagine my life without her.

Though I haven't done any writing here the last nine months, I have been keeping up with it!  In July, I started keeping a journal for Layla and have been writing her letters since the second trimester.  I've continued writing to her now that she is born.  I also documented my pregnancy via my Instagram, which you can find @veilsandstarlight, lots of short-form writing, bits and pieces of the adventure of growing a daughter.

I am still looking for the words to perfectly capture how I am feeling about this new stage in our lives, but suffice to say, I am delightfully sleep-deprived, I am more in love with my husband than I thought possible, I am head over heels about this tiny girl.  Somehow I really do feel like I've woken up from a deep sleep to a bigger and brighter and more vibrant world, and I'm finding my voice again in this place, with her in it.  More to come soon!