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...