Cute Sweater

I just wanted to post a few pictures...I've been waiting for Ayla to grow into this cute sweater. It finally fits! :)


I had an eye appointment yesterday evening...Daddy and Ayla had a little too much fun in the waiting room. If she's anything like me, she'll be needing these someday:

Chicago

I had a really nice, schedule-free weekend with Lisa. I mention that it was schedule-free because it was fun to just wing it and not have set plans...that's how we like to do things...if we try to plan too many things, we end up not wanting to do them. Weird, I know.

We stayed at the Whitehall Hotel, which was only a block away from Michigan Ave., so tons of great shops and restaurants were within walking distance. We took advantage of the great weather on Friday night and just strolled along the street...if we saw something we liked, we stopped in. It was great!

Saturday and today, the weather wasn't so amazing, but we still managed to squeeze in some shopping and sangria in the Lincoln Park area. I'd have to say we both did rather well with limiting what we purchased. We each only brought one very small suitcase so even if we wanted to buy buy buy, we couldn't have squeezed much more in them. I found some fun jewelry and I couldn't resist getting this super cute monkey for Ayla from an adorable baby store called Giggle.Before we had to head to the airport today, I met Bryson (Dean's cousin) for lunch...definitely always great to see him. I'm so glad we were able to work something out! He was in the middle of a long and painful process called moving. No fun if you ask me...especially when it was raining off and on.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm happy I was able to do it...thanks Mom and Dad for watching Ayla! It was my birthday present from them. :) It was good to get away for a couple days and spend time with one of my best friends.

And although I had a wonderful time, when I finally got home and had an adorably sleepy Ayla in my arms while she was having her last bottle of the night, I knew I was right where I was supposed to be.

It doesn't get any easier...

Sigh. I had to fight back the waterworks when I left my parents' house after dropping Ayla off. :( I know it's only for the weekend, but I already miss her. I stayed for a little while so I could spend some time with her before heading back home to get some last minute things done before picking up Lisa to go to the airport. It's very strange to be in the house by myself...even Kody's gone. I don't remember the last time it's happened!

I had to take some new pictures to have on my camera so I can look at them over the weekend. :)

Strike a pose!

She likes to sit on my dad's lap and watch him play Mah-Jong on the computer.

And thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes!!! I can't believe I'm 29! Crazy. For the first time ever, I didn't wake up with that warm-fuzzy "it's my birthday" feeling...it just feels like another day. A nice day though. :)

Cheeseburger in Paradise

We went to Cheeseburger in Paradise last night for an early birthday dinner...my actual birthday is tomorrow but both Dean and I will be out of town for the weekend. Dean is heading to Vegas today for a friend's bachelor party and I will be in Chicago with Lisa for some shopping and pitchers of sangria. :) And Ayla and Kody will be spending the weekend with Yeh-Yeh and Nai-Nai (my parents).Dean gave me a gift certificate for a couples' massage (I told him not to get me anything, so he justified it by saying it was for himself too). We had planned on getting massages in Cancun, but never ended up doing it because of cost and time, so this is perfect. Lee, Barb and Marla gave me gift cards to my favorite nail salon and also one for an hour massage...AND free Ayla-sitting when I decide to use them. Looks like I needed some stress-relief or something! :) Works for me! Thank you, everyone!

Before we put Ayla to bed, Marla took some fun pictures of the three of us...I LOVE them. I always tell Dean that I feel like we need more family pictures...thanks Marla! :)

Tummy snoozin'

We just went in to check on Ayla and for the third night in a row, she is snoring away on her tummy. We put her down on her back and it seems that while she's soothing herself to sleep, she flips over. The first night she did this, she woke up upset so we flipped her onto her back only to find her on her belly again not too long after...this continued for most of the night. Last night, she slept really well and as far as I know, she stayed on her tummy the entire time...we'll see how tonight goes. It's just weird because during the day, if she's on her belly playing for longer than ten minutes, she starts to get fussy, so how in the world is she okay with sleeping for ten hours that way? Silly baby. I hope this is okay since putting babies on their backs to sleep is pounded into our brains by every doctor, nurse, expert, parent, etc. from the moment they're born...but I think that's when they're really young, right? It'll be interesting to see if this is just a phase or if she'll continue to prefer sleeping this way.

She keeps us on our toes! There's always something new going on and no matter how insignificant it may seem, it's always fun and exciting to us. :)

Biter Biscuits

Dr.Davey gave us the okay to give Ayla biter biscuits for teething and also for learning how to feed herself. I've been looking for the Gerber brand ones for a while but haven't had any luck. SuperTarget carried them for a while, but of course when I decided to buy some, they were no longer available. I may have to check Babies R Us. So anyways, I found a different brand that I assumed were comparable (Earth's Best Organic Teething Biscuits). Once she figured out that it was something to eat and not a toy to bang on the highchair, she loved it! And Dr.Davey wasn't kidding about it being messy...there was sticky drool everywhere! I had to fight the urge to wipe her off every two seconds and just let her go at it.
We've also been trying Gerber Puffs...I need to get a picture of her face when she has one in her mouth. It's so funny! I think the texture bothers her at first because up until this point, everything she has eaten has been soft. She squeezes her eyes shut and wrinkles up her entire face like I just gave her the grossest thing ever but once it starts to melt, she might like them. I'm sure with time, she won't be able to get enough of them.

Sippy cups & more...

A couple weeks ago, I started giving Ayla an empty sippy cup to play with. I read that this way, she can practice holding it and kind of figure out what it's all about. This week, I decided to put a little bit of water in it to see what she would do. (Is it okay to give her water at this age, moms?) With a little help, she can get a few sips in. I've been giving it to her after she eats dinner...who doesn't need something to drink after pureed chicken noodle? Mostly, she just likes to grab it with one hand and shake it all over the place so she can listen to the water sloshing around in there. I think she knows that the spout goes in her mouth though...every now and then she'll gnaw on it and since it's a soft silicone spout, it's pretty easy for her to get a drink out of it.

She spends a lot more time on her belly now and is able to last longer in this position before freaking out. Lately, she has been lifting her legs a little bit and also pushing with her feet in an attempt to reach a toy that's slightly out of her reach. It looks like the beginnings of an army crawl. :) I don't think it's going to happen anytime really soon, but with some practice, she'll get there. She's still working on sitting up by herself...she can go a little longer before tipping over and she has figured out that she can prop herself up with one arm.

I forgot to mention in my last post that she already had to have her first haircut. We had to tame the mullet. The hair at the nape of her neck was pretty long when she was born...six months later, there were a couple of chunks that were close to two inches long. Mullets are not cool...not even baby ones. :) Another option could have been braiding it into a rat tail...also not cool. So, my dad trimmed it for her and now we can see her cute little neck. Remember a while back I mentioned that Miss Ayla may have a bit of an attitude? Well, she does and it's officially here to stay. She now sticks her chin into her chest and grunts when she's not exactly thrilled with the current situation--getting her face wiped off, being in her carseat, getting dressed, or just being plain bored. Sigh.And just a random funny about Kody. Everyday, he gets two scoops of food...some days, he doesn't eat his morning scoop so come dinnertime, I just put the second scoop right on top. When he finally decides to eat, he does this...everytime:Right down the middle...what dog does this?! Most dogs would just scarf down the whole thing, but not our Kody-bear. I always joke that he must count the pieces as he eats so he knows when he's halfway done. Goofy boy. Dean and I finally watched "Marley & Me" last week (we both read the book). After we bawled our eyes out, we couldn't give Kody enough hugs...I think he was a bit weirded out. :) We've been making an effort to pay more attention to him because ever since Ayla was born, he's been pushed down on the family totem pole. He deserves as much love as he unconditionally gives to us.

Little Bunny-foo-foo...

Happy Easter! Our day was filled with family, great food, and Easter baskets brimming with goodies. We had the whole gang over at our house today and even got to watch Haylee and Bennett (my niece and nephew) hunt for eggs in the backyard.

It was really nice to be able to spend time with both of our families. I think Ayla got a kick out of having all of her favorite people in one house! :)

6-Month Appointment

We went in for Ayla's 6-month well-baby check-up this afternoon. For her previous two appointments, Dean was with us, but today he wasn't able to make it. I was fine with it, but as the appointment drew nearer, I felt myself getting more and more nervous about her shots. :( We always hold her hands during them, but I felt like I needed someone to hold my hands.

When we got there, she was super happy and talkative...she couldn't get enough of all the action in the waiting room. She was flirting with everyone in the room...it was so funny!

She weighed in at 16 lbs. 9 oz (59th percentile) and she is 27 inches long (86th percentile). And are you ready for this? Her head...92nd percentile. No wonder she tips over when she tries to sit up! :) At her 9-month appointment in July, she'll be off the charts! Hehe...

She cried...no, screamed while Dr.Davey was examining her. She usually likes him, but today she just wasn't having it. I couldn't hear a thing he was telling me! After he was done and I was able to pick her up, she kept sneaking glances at him and would stick out her lip and let out a tiny whimper. :)

He said she looks great from head-to-toe...as always, I love to hear that. He also explained how her diet will become more diverse in the next few months...biscuits, crackers, Cheerios, puffs, yogurt, pudding, bread, and eventually small bits of food that we eat. It'll be fun to see her try everything! He said not to worry too much about her not liking the pureed dinners with meat in them...we can even skip them if we want to because she gets enough protein from her formula and pretty soon we can give her real meat. He also gave us props for not using her pacifier anymore...I'll take every bit of encouragement I can because we still have some tough moments here and there where I know that darn binky would temporarily solve everything. If her doctor says it's a good thing, it must be, right? :)

She actually did okay with her shots...she cried less than she did with Dr.Davey! Her little face still turned bright red, but she didn't get as upset as I expected her to. Good for her...and good for me. :) By the time we got home, she had forgotten all about it because she was all smiles. She's now taking a much-needed nap before we head to the airport to pick up my parents...finally!

6 Months!

Our little lady is 6-months old today! I can't believe that half a year has gone by already. She has definitely grown into her own unique little person with her own personality, likes and dislikes, good days and bad days.

Every single day I have a moment...a moment where this feeling of total awe washes over me when I look at her and I shake my head in disbelief that she's here and she's ours. It didn't seem that long ago that I was hoping and praying for that positive pregnancy test...life is amazing, isn't it?

I've taken the advice of many to enjoy each day and each moment as it happens because we all know how quickly time passes us by. Sometimes when I'm holding her and trying to get her to nap and all she's doing is crying, I think about how anxious I am for her to fall asleep so I can put her down and get things done around the house, but during that blessed moment when the crying stops and she finally falls asleep, I don't want to do anything but hold her. Sigh. She's my little lovebug.

6-month Ayla tidbits:

-She is officially binky-free.

-She is going to bed between 8:oo and 8:30pm.

-She is sleeping through the night (10-11 hours) with no crying.

-She is rolling all over the place.

-She can sit unassisted for a few seconds before toppling over.

-She "PBBFTTT"s all day long (sticks out her tongue and blows spit everywhere)...she does it when she's full, happy, upset, crying, tired, etc.

-She recognizes her bottles and also the bowls I use to feed her. If she's really hungry, she gets all excited and says, "Ooh!"

-She loves her "jumperoo" and is entertained by it longer than anything else.

-She loves Kody even more...he's her buddy.

-She loves to stare at her hands and feet.

-She laughs and giggles at the goofiest things...it's the sweetest thing ever.

-She needs to be held and cuddled for several minutes after waking up. She'd much rather sit in a dirty diaper for a while rather than be put down, even for a second.

-She likes to be read to...she enjoys looking at all the pictures. We've made it a part of her bedtime routine.

-She's fascinated with my cell phone.

-She loves "dessert"...takes after her mama. :)

-She reaches for and tries to grab everything in sight.

-She adores her Glo-Worm...he's often a lifesaver.

Plain and simple...she is amazing.