Sunday pics...

It's been a little while since we've taken pictures on the good 'ol hot pink rug! It was nice and sunny in Ayla's room, so I thought I'd snap a few shots.

She is doing remarkably well without her pacifier at night. She'll wake up a couple times, but has, for the most part, been able to talk herself back to sleep. Sometimes she needs a few pats and all is well again.

Since she's not waking up several times a night constantly looking for her pacifier, she has been sleeping better and wakes up even happier than she did before! We'll hear her in her crib talking and cooing in the morning...it's so cute!

When we decided to go binky-free, I was so incredibly worried about how she'd sleep overnight, but she has really surprised us. Her naps, on the other hand, have been really difficult. It has been frustrating for me and I've almost caved a couple times, but have had some encouraging words from several friends so I've stuck with it. I've gone too far to quit now! She hasn't been taking her usual long nap the past couple of days but she doesn't act tired and is pretty alert. Maybe she's just going through some changes and it happens to be at the same time as her pacifier-weaning. OR maybe since she's sleeping better at night, she doesn't need such a long nap during the day?

We'll see how this next week goes...one day at a time. :)

Bye-bye Binky...

I've gone a little blog-happy lately...it's because I've been home for so long and run out of things to do while Ayla is napping. Hmm...I guess there is always laundry to be done, but that's no fun.

Anyways, in the middle of the night last night, Dean and I decided that Ayla sleeps just fine without being swaddled. Ultimately, it's her pacifier that's the problem. Now that her arms are free, she constantly pulls her pacifier out and then proceeds to cry. We were re-plugging her all night long, so finally we quit doing it and once again, let her figure it out on her own. She cried a lot less last night and I'm so proud to say that she woke up twice and was able to fall back asleep on her own, binky-free!

All day today, we didn't use a pacifier...I stuck them in a drawer...out of sight, out of mind. It was more for me than her...I didn't need them taunting me while she was throwing a fit. She was able to fall asleep for both naps...it took a LONG time for her to relax and finally zonk out, but she did it. I was dreading bedtime because it was going to be the first time ever that we've put her to bed without the help of a pacifier, but much to our surprise, she squawked for nine minutes and was out. No crying. Tonight is Night #3 of swaddle-binky weaning...keeping my fingers crossed that she does well.

Dad update: Everything went well!!! My mom was still at the hospital with him after the surgery was done, so she asked my aunt to call me late last night to let me know that he was just fine. This morning, I talked to my mom and they were already home from the hospital since it was such a quick and easy procedure...thank goodness. Turns out, what they thought was a clogged artery was actually one that was basically kinked so it wasn't nearly as free-flowing as what a normal artery should be. I'm anxious to read all the doctor's reports so I can try to understand everything. It's been difficult being so far away from them during all of this. Ayla and I talked to my dad (and mom) this afternoon on Skype...he looked and sounded great and he was so tickled to be able to watch Ayla bounce away in her jumperoo. We are so happy that it went well...and completely relieved, too!

Update on arms out & chicken noodle...

Sooo, last night swaddling Ayla with her arms out went just about the same as last time...fell asleep quickly, up at midnight, several trips to and from her room...finally at 3:50am, we decided to let her figure it out even if it meant without her pacifier since she kept pulling it out of her mouth. We let her "cry it out"...it was the longest hour of my life. At first, she was just fussing but it eventually turned into a real cry. I felt so bad, but she really needs to learn to sleep without relying on a full-body swaddle and a pacifier...I know it's OUR fault, not hers, but we're trying to help her. She finally fell asleep around 5:00am...she made a few noises, but slept until almost 8:00am. Right now, it's no surprise that she's taking a nice long nap because she slept so poorly last night. Dean and I are both sportin' bags under our eyes and probably will be for the next few days so if you see us and we look like we've been hit by a truck, this is why. I hear that when you let them cry it out, the duration of crying lessens with each night and within a week, they'll become accustomed to falling asleep on their own. Let's hope this is true...

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to have Ayla try chicken noodle for dinner...it was no good. :( She took a few bites and threw up...a lot. She just had to break in her new highchair, I think, because it was all over it. I tried a couple more bites after we took a break and her eyes started watering and she started gagging again so I didn't want to push it anymore. It was really bland so I'm surprised she didn't care for it. I tossed the jar and gave her green beans instead. I'm going to try a few more flavors and if I get the same reaction, we're going to skip the meats and just stick with fruits and veggies.

Big Girl!

I just packed up Ayla's swing...what a lifesaver it was for the first few months! Not only was it a source of entertainment when I needed to put her down so I could get things done, it was her "bed" for a while in the beginning. And most recently, I put her in it to feed her. I'm a little bit bummed to pack it away, but she's getting too big for it and honestly, it's nice to have it out of the living room.

As a trade-off, I got her high-chair out of the storage room and fed her lunch in it for the first time. It worked out just great! What a big girl! :) I strapped her in, put a toy on the tray, and she kept herself busy long enough for me to feed her a whole bowl of food. After feeding her both fruits and veggies for the past couple of weeks, it seems like she actually likes vegetables more than fruits. A little surprising! I think, maybe, she doesn't care for the tartness of fruit...every now and then, she makes that sour face where one eye shuts and she sticks her tongue out. Today, she happily gobbled up her peas but was pbbft-ing her fruit before the bowl was finished.

I said I wasn't going to do it, but I bought her some jars of dinner with meat in them. It just seemed so gross, but I decided to go with the ones that had fruits or vegetables mixed with meat and various flavors instead of just a jar of straight up pureed turkey...which, by the way, looks like a jar of skin. So nasty. We're going to try Chicken Noodle tonight and see how she likes it. :) Speaking of baby food, have you been down that aisle lately?! There are soooo many choices! The level 1's are basic...just one veggie or fruit in each container. The level 2's, however, blend different flavors together and there's even dessert! I get a little overwhelmed trying to decide what to get so I end up just walking away without anything. We'll try the dinners first and then move onto level 2 fruit & veggie blends...

Last night, Ayla woke up fussing and when we went in to check on her, we found that she had rolled over while swaddled and couldn't roll back since her arms were in the swaddle. It was scary because her face was just flat on the mattress. Because of that we are, once again, going to try keeping her arms out of the swaddle so she has the ability to move if she needs to. Last time, as you all know, it didn't go so well...so wish us luck!

And just a side-note...most of you have heard that my parents are in Taiwan right now and that my dad has to have surgery at the end of the week because of a clogged coronary artery. We are hoping that one of the two minimally invasive procedures will be enough to fix it...if not, he will have to have a bypass. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We can't wait to have him home and healthy.

Live Traffic Feed

I came across this Live Traffic Feed option and decided to give it a try. By adding this, I can see from where visitors are visiting our blog. (It's in the lower, right-hand side of the page.) It has been so interesting! Several places are pretty obvious...I can tell they are certain friends or family members from not only throughout the country but also throughout the rest of the world. There are lots, however, that are just random people...I don't think I know anyone from the United Kingdom. It's weird to me that someone I don't even know somehow found their way to our blog. :) Whomever these people are though, hopefully we're interesting enough for them to read about from time to time. :)

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!

When we can lay Ayla down for a nap without her waking up, we consider it a VICTORY, with a capital V. She used to fall asleep on her own wherever we put her...her swing, the floor, the couch, upside-down...but now it's not so easy. She'll only do that at bedtime when she's swaddled...or if she's in our arms. Spoiled, much? So, maybe 1 out of 5 times that we try to put her down, she stays asleep and it's wonderful. It makes me want to do a cheer...a quiet one, of course.

Today I was lucky...she stayed asleep on the floor for an hour!

Rolling...again.

After a two-month hiatus, Ayla has decided to start rolling again. I'm thinking the couple of times she did it back in January were just practice runs. :) The past few days, everytime I lay her on the ground, she rolls right onto her belly...not always a good thing when it's after she eats and we get to see round two of rice cereal and peas. Mmm.

We finally made it to the new Hobby Lobby near our house this week (I'm a dork...I love that store.) We picked up this cute baseball hat:

And we also got a few things to decorate some headbands. Craft time! I had to buy headbands in the regular section...all the baby ones were far too tight for her 82nd percentile-sized noggin. They all left painful-looking indentations on her poor head!

Swaddle Monster

Dean and I have created a monster. A swaddle monster. Ayla is almost 6-months old and we still swaddle the little lady. We stopped doing it soon after we brought her home from the hospital because we were afraid the blanket would come loose and cover her face...we used a sleep sack instead. After about six weeks of her sleeping no more than two hours max at a time, Dean decided to try swaddling her again and...POOF...she slept for over five hours. From that moment on, we were hooked. Not only do we swaddle her, we put a little tummy wrap around the swaddle so we don't risk having the blanket coming loose. She now sleeps for over 1o hours, only waking a time or two overnight to ask for her pacifier (which is a whole other species of monster that we'll deal with later...one thing at a time, people.)We realize that the longer we swaddle her, the harder it'll be to wean her off of it, so a couple nights ago, we decided to leave her arms out. Much to our delight, she fell asleep quickly (rolled onto her side...it was so cute) and she stayed sound asleep for three hours. At that three-hour mark, she woke up every half-hour to an hour for the next FIVE hours. Finally, at 5:00am, we caved and re-swaddled her (with her arms in) and she slept without a peep until 9:30am. It's like a drug...we can't stop! She's going to be 7-years old and we'll be swaddling her with a queen-size comforter.

Here are a couple pictures from St.Patrick's Day:

Beautiful Day!

The weather today was sooooo perfect! We hit the mid-70's! Ayla and I met Dean for lunch at Panera (it's always nice to see him mid-day...it doesn't happen too often!) After lunch, Ayla and I headed out to Village Pointe to meet her baby friends--twins, Paige and Paxton (and their Mommy, Taylor, too.)

While we waited for them, we went into DSW and I finally used a gift card that I've been hoarding since Christmas. It was from the wonderful people from work...whenever I receive a gift card, I wait until I find just the right thing. I've been drooling over a gorgeous pair of shoes, but those pair of shoes equal about nine months worth of formula for Miss Ayla...so we went with these instead and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!After we met up with Taylor, Paige, and Paxton, we walked around, stopped in a couple stores, and just enjoyed the beautiful day.

Eventually, we decided to head back to our house to feed and change the babies...we even squeezed in a couple catnaps. Once they were all relatively happy, we went for a walk on the trail through the neighborhood. We started out okay, but towards the end, we had some upset babies! It was a bit of a circus for a little while. At one point, I was holding Ayla with one arm and pushing the stroller and hanging onto Kody's leash with the other and Taylor was holding Paige and pushing their stroller with Paxton in it and she took a turn with Kody, too. I'm sure we were quite a sight. :) It was fun though and just need to do it more often as the weather continues to warm up.

Right now, I have one tired baby and dog...both are sound asleep!

This 'n that...

Ayla has now had a taste of every Level 1 veggie and fruit, with the exception of bananas because I heard that they can cause constipation and we don't want to go down that road again. She has eaten everything with no problems...her favorites are sweet potatoes and pears. I was hoping she would love peaches since they're my favorite fruit, but if I don't mix them with oatmeal or rice cereal, she does a little shimmy after a couple bites because of the tartness. :) Supposedly once solid foods are introduced, babies will naturally consume less formula/milk, but she eats even more! Right now, she has baby food twice a day and her bottle schedule remains the same...our little piggy. :)

Next week, I get to stay home with her again. My dad went back to Taiwan and my mom is joining him on Monday. She had planned on staying home, but since my dad has been there, he had his heart checked out because of some pain and discomfort he has been feeling lately. He really wanted my mom to be there with him. After several tests and scans, he found out that his arteries were spasming and there wasn't enough oxygen getting through??? He is now on medication and the doctor seems confident that it's not serious. However, he didn't seem to get very much information on what was going on...everything my mom asked, he said he didn't know...SO, they're planning on going back to the doctor so my mom can get everything answered. Thank you to everyone who has been thinking about him...we've talked to him on Skype (video call) and he seems to be in good spirits. He doesn't really care to talk to my mom and me...he just wants to see Ayla and coo at her. It's cute. :)

Hopefully Jim Flowers isn't kidding when he says the weather is supposed to be beautiful next week...70 degrees on Monday and Tuesday! I want to take advantage of my time off and take Ayla outside...maybe stroll around at Village Pointe and get some fresh air. I've been so anxious for spring!

Here are some random pictures:

Taking a snooze in the car after Grandma's b-day brunch at Mahoney.

Is it bright in here?

Killing time while we wait for Daddy to get home from Florida.

Silly Daddy!

Quick family pic before bath-time.

Naked baby!

Warm and snuggly in a robe after her bath.

Playtime at Yeh-Yeh & Nai-Nai's.

Rubber ducky, you're the one...

Bath time at the Peterson household is becoming more and more fun now that Ayla really enjoys it. It's a part of our evening routine that seems to calm her...instead of stressing her and us out like it used to just a few short months ago.After all remnants of baby poo, baby food, and spit-up have been scrubbed away, I like to let her sit and play for a few minutes. She loves to kick her chunky little legs and splash water all over the place...because of this, I no longer put her tub on the bathroom floor. By the time we were done, we had formed a small lake on the ground. We've since graduated to putting her tub in the big tub. Once she's sitting up on her own, we'll probably ditch the baby tub all together. The rubber ducky has always been around but only recently have they become good buddies. She still has a bit of trouble wrapping her little fingers around its awkward shape so she ends up bear-hugging it instead. :)

5 months!

Ayla is 5-months old today! With each passing month, I'm amazed at how much she has changed...in looks, personality, and developmental milestones. She has been swatting at the toys on her playmat for a while now and has been able to grab things if we place them in her hand, but lately she understands that she can reach for something and as a result, it'll end up in her hands. Once she has grabbed something, she'll sit and turn it around and study it. She's making the connection that they're her hands and she can use them. She continues to do well with tummy-time...I put a toy with a mirror in front of her and she grins and flirts with the cute baby in the reflection. She still hasn't really started rolling over again...every now and then she'll do it, but it's rare. She just likes to flip from side to side while she's laying on her back. I'm sure with time, she'll be rolling all over the place!She LOVES her jumperoo! As soon as the music starts to play and the lights start to blink, she gets a huge smile on her face. She really gets going in there sometimes...so much so that when we take her out, she's still trying to jump.She's getting MUCH better at eating from a spoon (and perhaps I'm better at feeding her.) So far, she's had rice cereal, prunes, peas, green beans, and squash. Everytime she tries something new, I think she enjoys it more than the last. I've discovered that sometimes she needs a distraction to keep her interested long enough for me to feed her. I think the only thing I haven't done is cartwheels through the kitchen...and only because there's not enough room for my sweet gymnastics skills. Yesterday, Kody was her source of entertainment. She watches him wherever he goes, so I made him sit in one spot where she could see him and she ended up finishing a whole bowl of food...a first! She stared at him the whole time...I'm not even sure she blinked. I'll have to bribe Kody with treats from now on...It's so easy to make her smile and laugh now! She's ticklish so when we bury our faces in her belly, she just giggles and cackles. It's hilarious! Her happiness is contagious. Every now and then, she'll let out a single "HEHE!" when nothing is going on...somehow, she thought something was worth laughing at. :) She's still a very happy baby for the most part, but her moods change as quickly as mine when I'm PMS-ing...poor Dean. She'll go from blissfully happy--our perfect, sweet little angel to a clenched-fist, bright red, screaming ball of fire who is angry at something we haven't quite figured out yet. She gives us no warning, my friends. And then two minutes later, all is well again. She has developed a strong dislike toward her carseat this past week. She used to not mind it but now when I put her in it, she arches her back and yells at me and continues to do so for the entire length of our car ride. I'm hoping this is just a phase. A couple times, she got so upset she threw up...no good, no fun. I'm afraid to say that she may have a bit of a 'tude these days. When I'm doing something she doesn't like, say, wiping her face and hands off after eating, she throws a fit. If I stop, she smiles and almost has this smug look on her face like, "Ha! I got what I want!" So now, I just keep doing what I need to do until I'm finished and let her freak out for a second or so (I'm not about to let her be a crusty-faced, sticky-fingered baby...yuck.) I figured it's never too early to start teaching her that flipping out does not equal getting what she wants. I dunno, maybe it is too early and I'm a mean Mommy. :P

Good days, bad days, fits and giggles...we'll take it all because she is worth every single second of it. We are often floored at how much we can love this little person whom we are so blessed to have in our lives.