Ayla's First Christmas!

Can you believe Christmas has already come and gone? This year, I didn't have a chance to go all "Martha Stewart" on our house...most of our decorations stayed packed in their boxes. It was more like a drive-by Christmas decorating. I'm sure next year, with a 15-month old, I'll have a LOT more time...HA.

We've had a wonderful few days of celebrating with our families and friends. It's always our favorite time of the year...we're very lucky to be able to be with everyone we love.

Santa stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house to drop off Ayla's very first gift from the Big Man himself...an adorable hot pink piggy bank!We know she didn't have any idea what was going on...the decorations, the gifts, the pictures...it was more for us than anything else. :) Either way, we wanted to make it special since it was her first Christmas. We didn't go crazy with the gifts...just a few little things. Daddy surprised us both when we opened a beautiful little sweater from Baby GAP!

And we can't forget Ayla's gift to Mommy and Daddy: She has slept through the night since Christmas Eve! That's SIX nights in a row (and hopefully counting.) She has been sleeping anywhere from 10pm-11pm until 6am-8am...generally 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 hours!!! The only thing I'm a little worried about (of course) is that she hasn't been eating more during the day to make up for her skipped feeding overnight. Hopefully that will change with time...she seems to figure these things out on her own. You'd think by now, I'd learn to NOT freak out all the time. :P

Snow Days

This is Ayla's second snow day this week! (More for me than her, really.) It seems that if there's a single snowflake in the air, my mom insists that we stay home and off the roads. As a result, I've worked a whopping three days this week...a grand total of TEN hours. Impressive, I know. Earlier, I had Ayla all ready to go in her carseat so we could head out when my psychic mother called and told me to stay home...how does she KNOW?! I swear she had some sort of micro-chip implanted in my head because she knows everything. No, seriously, she does.

So I get to play stay-at-home-mom for another day, which is nice because tonight, Ayla will be staying with Grandma and Grandpa for the first time (overnight) so Dean and I can attend his work Christmas party. (THANK YOU!) This way, I'll get to spend some extra time with her. :) Last night, she slept through the night for the second time ever...10:30pm to 7:00am! (The first time was about a week ago...December 13th, to be exact...from 10:00pm to 7:00am.) Hopefully she decides to do it again tonight so Grandma and Grandpa don't have to get up at 3:00am! She's gotten to be really good at falling asleep on her own. At bedtime, we swaddle her, turn on the sound machine, cuddle & rock her for just a couple minutes and put her in her crib. Sometimes, she's still completely awake, but she'll talk to herself for a little while and eventually fall asleep with no problem.

Ayla is primarily on formula now (she loves it!) I still have some frozen breastmilk that I want to give her til the end of the year (I wanted to make it to three months.) I'm really glad I was able to start out her first couple of months exclusively on breastmilk...I know there's nothing better for her, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about having more freedom. I'll no longer be tied to that pump...I felt like I was always watching the time to see how much time I had left before I had to pump again...it limited how long I could be away from home. Now I don't have to worry about that AND AND AND [ahem...cue angels singing]...I get to eat dairy products again! Bring on the ice cream and mac n cheese! Dare I say, I've gotten used to not eating all that. No worries though, by tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be back to normal. :) I have a few buckets of yummy-goodness in the freezer just waiting for me to eat...

We can really see her personality coming through...she's SUCH a happy baby! (The only time she REALLY gets upset is when she's hungry...I think she gets that from me. Hungry=cranky.) She smiles all the time and I think we're hearing the beginnings of a cute little laugh. It's so much fun talking to her and getting her whole face to light up while she coos back. She's noticing more things around her and toys actually seem to interest her now. She really likes things that make noises...especially music. This morning, she laid in her crib perfectly content while she listened to and watched her mobile.

She continues to amaze us every day...what did we used to do without her? Life has so much more meaning and purpose now that she's here...

Dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Crazy hair no more...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I've figured out that after I wash her hair, if I brush it until it's dry, it doesn't look quite so wild! She's cute either way, but now we have options. :)

I dug through her little toy bin and picked out this little crazy-colored giraffe equipped with rattles and crinkly noises and she LOVES it! As soon as I dangle it in front of her, she smiles and kicks her legs.

My dad took some great pictures of her earlier today while she was happy and smiling:

Tomorrow, Ayla is going to spend the afternoon with her Aunt Marla! Marla is going to pick her up from Grandma and Grandpa's house and head over to the restaurant for lunch so I'll get to see her while I'm at work! :) Here she is sportin' her "I Love Aunt Marla" onesie (an hour before she pooped all over it...yuck!)

TWO MONTHS!

She's growing TOO fast!!! Before we know it, Dean will be walking her down the aisle...ok, maybe I'm getting a LITTLE ahead of myself there...but still, time keeps flying by! She smiles a lot now, which is soooooo fun! She also "talks"...if you sit and chat with her, she'll coo and gurgle in response...it's too cute. :) And have I ever mentioned that she toots like her daddy? :) It's incredible that that tiny little body can produce such loud noises. She is finally in her own room and in her crib! It was a slow transition from our room to the living room and eventually down the hall to the nursery...she has been in there for three nights now. She's sleeping more, which is wonderful! The other day, she slept til 5 in the morning!!On December 4th, we took her in for her two-month check-up with Dr.Davey. I was excited to see how much she had grown, but knowing that shots were on the agenda made me a bit nervous. :(

Dr.Davey said she's doing really well in all aspects and very healthy, so that's great to hear! She is now 11 pounds 3 ounces (56th percentile) and 22 3/4 inches (60th percentile). My fear that she wasn't eating enough was pretty much squashed. :)

When it was time for her shots, the nurse came back in to administer them. Dean and I both bent down to hold her hands and talk to her while she did it. I kept my eyes on her face, but I definitely knew when the first poke happened. Her eyes shot wide open and her poor little face turned bright red. For a split second, I thought maybe she wouldn't cry...hmm, not so much...it just took an extra couple of seconds for the pain to register. After she realized what had happened, she started screaming...and then mom started crying. I was trying so hard not to, but seeing her cry like that was not easy! I felt sooo bad for her! Three shots in those little roly-poly legs!She was pretty sleepy the rest of the afternoon and evening...she developed a mild fever and just looked so out of it. :( She was back to her old self in a couple days though so all is well! :)