Memorial Day Weekend

Why can't every weekend be a 3-day weekend? Because then I'd wish for 4-day weekends...can't ever be satisfied, can I?

For once, I was thrilled that the meteorologists got it all wrong yet again...they forecasted a drizzly, rainy, gloomy long weekend but we ended up with gorgeous sunshine instead. It couldn't have been more beautiful. We spent a lot of time outside with Ayla and she loved it! Dean had several projects to work on in the front yard, so we sat on our blanket and watched him work.

Trying to grab the camera

Saturday afternoon was a rough one for Ayla...we've been having such a hard time getting her to nap lately. It takes about ten minutes of holding, swaying, walking, and rocking to get her to fall asleep. That's only half the battle. Once she's finally asleep, putting her down without waking her up is the difficult part. I don't understand how she can be completely mouth-open-snoring-asleep and then wake up the instant her body touches her mattress. It's the most frustrating thing! After a couple tries, I'm completely discouraged. At bedtime, she goes down like a dream...how can naps be so different? So anyways, on Saturday, I could NOT put her down so she napped for a total of less than an hour. No good. She was so crabby and worn out. By 4:30ish, she was sooo miserable that she just cried hysterically. At that point, I mirrored her state of mind and cried right along with her. Nothing I did would calm her down...usually I can get her to relax after a few minutes but she was just beyond that. I held her upright and just hugged her and swayed until she finally fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion with her head perched on my shoulder. She has never done that during the day...she was so tired!

I decided that she couldn't and I couldn't go through another day like that so the past couple of days, we've let her cry herself to sleep for her naps. The first time was the hardest...she cried for 20 minutes before she fell asleep. Since then though, it's only taken about ten minutes or so and it's only been two days. It's definitely hard to hear her cry, but in the end, I think it's a good thing for her to learn how to do and as a result, she has slept better and longer. I know if I stick with it, it'll keep getting easier. I have to learn to push that mommy-guilt aside...when she wakes up each time, I don't think she remembers that I'm the mean one who left her in her crib to fend for herself. :( Besides the dried snot that's all over her nose, she seems just fine. I'm home with her the entire month of June (my parents are heading back to Taiwan) so I'll have plenty of time to keep working with her. I just hope that the next few days, my parents will be able to tough it out while I'm at work and continue with what I'm doing so this weekend's progress isn't thrown out the window...they hate hearing her cry more than I do.

Sunday evening, we had dinner at Dean's parents' house...my parents came over as well. Needless to say, we had enough food to feed about 20 people. It was all so good though! :) Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures...odd, I know. For the first time ever maybe, Ayla slept through our entire dinner. It was nice to be able to sit down and eat and not have to juggle a fussy baby...a rare thing these days. That morning, Dean and I discovered that we could eat a whole plate of food in four minutes flat. I'm not sure whether or not we should be proud of that.

This morning, Dean's parents came over and we sat outside on that patio and had Bloody Mary's and cinnamon rolls...weird combo, but each was great on its own. Dean had some flowers to plant in the front yard, so we all moved up there and hung out.

Playing with Grandma and Mommy

My two babies

Basking in the sun...or just blinking.

Trying so hard not to pluck those pretty flowers

In the afternoon, we went to a BBQ at Bill and Taylor's house (parents of twins, Paige and Paxton). It was fun to spend time with friends and to see all the babies together. My how quickly they all grow!

Daddy was on sunscreen duty...

Paxton, Paige, and Ayla

Karter joined the party after a little while.
Ayla in mid-fuss...the two little ladies took turns grunting and whining...must be a girl-thing because the two boys were as quiet as can be.
All in all, it was a great weekend!

Sunny Days

It was so beautiful and sunny today, so we decided to spend some time outside. I think Ayla is like her Daddy...she seems to love being outdoors.

Swinging in the morning at Yeh-Yeh and Nai-Nai's house...check out those huge feet!

After her dinner, we slapped on some sunscreen (eventhough we ended up sitting in the shade the whole time), grabbed some toys and a blanket and went outside to wait for Daddy to come home from work.

All kinds of toys and she opts for the bag of yogurt melts.

Kody, of course, came out with us. A person with two dogs walked by and he didn't even budge...good doggy.

I love this floppy hat on her, but just recently, she has figured out when something is on her head, she can take it off. I had to keep putting it back on in order to get a few pictures!

Daddy's home!

Two green thumbs?

"I could hold you for a million years..."

That's a line from a miracle song called "To Make You Feel My Love," sung by an artist named Adele (Garth Brooks also recorded it and someone else as well...can't remember who.) Anyways, I call it a miracle song because I've discovered that if Ayla is fussing and/or crying in the car and I start this song, nine out of ten times, she quiets down almost immediately. It's the weirdest thing. I've tried other songs and so far nothing else works. As a result, I pretty much listen to it over and over again...I have every word memorized and I almost sound just like Adele...and by almost, I mean totally tone-deaf.

Ayla has learned how to scream...like a high-pitched, ear-piercing scream. It's awesome because she just wasn't loud enough before. Sheesh. She has a great set of lungs! Sometimes it's shocking how those sounds can come out of that tiny little body. And speaking of being loud, she loves toys that she can shake, rattle, and jingle...pretty much anything that makes noise. A couple of pennies in an empty water bottle is just about the most entertaining thing ever. I always tell her to "shake, shake, shake" and she'll jiggle whatever she's holding. Or she'll hold one thing in each hand and bang them together. It seems like with any baby, things that aren't really supposed to be toys are the most fun. She still loves to play peek-a-boo...it always makes her smile and laugh. Mirrors also continue to be a favorite. She giggles and smiles and reaches out at herself. So cute. She's a very busy baby...always looking around for something to grab and play with.

I think she sometimes stops drinking her bottles before they're empty because she's bored. So the past few that I've fed her, when she stops with one to two ounces left, I've let her try and feed the rest to herself. She gets a kick out of it! She'll take the bottle, giggle at it, have a couple sips, look up at me and giggle again...it's so funny! She's been able to finish off a couple bottles this way. She winds up with milk all over her face so I'm not sure that she's ready to eat the entire thing on her own yet, but we'll keep practicing.

I just have some random pictures of Ayla that I've taken over the past couple of weeks...as the weather has been warming up, I've been having so much fun dressing her everyday...short-sleeves, dresses, capris, etc. I love it! I can't wait until I can get that little bikini out! :)

Unfortunately, the only time I really think, "Wow, she looks like me" is when she's making this face and is on the verge of crying.

When her teeth started to poke through, she kept feeling them with her tongue.

You can kind of see her teeth in this picture.

When she's happy or excited and wants something, she puts her ams up and twists her hands.
Happy baby!

Cute outfit, but totally not in the mood to smile for the camera.
We participated in the Heart Walk downtown Saturday morning. It was really chilly so we had her all bundled up!

She fell asleep just as the walk started and stayed asleep for the entire thing...almost two hours!
We had to give her a bath in Grandma and Grandpa's bar sink on Sunday night because of a yucky diaper!

Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day! Dean got up and spent the morning with Ayla so I could sleep in and when I woke up and opened our bedroom door, there was a little table sitting there with cards, a really yummy, drool-worthy looking chocolate cake and an outfit for Ayla that said "Mommy's Girl." So cute. Ayla even signed the card herself. :)

Dean continued with baby-duty so I could shower and get ready for the day with no interruptions...it was awesome. Things go much quicker when I don't have to take breaks every 30 seconds to entertain a near-meltdown baby.

We went downtown and had brunch at the French Cafe with both of our families...it's always so good and it's nice to get the whole crew together. After we ate, we went to check out Marla's new place in the Old Market Lofts...very cool place...it's like a whole other lifestyle down there. I love it!

Overall, it was a great day!

A couple of Ayla updates: her two bottom teeth are poking through! I'm going to work on getting a picture once they're all the way in. She hasn't been sleeping well the past few nights...I'm not sure if it's related to teething or not. I'm hoping it is so she can get back to her regular sleep schedule once her teeth quit bugging her. Naps have also been pretty brief so by the time bedtime rolls around, she can hardly keep her eyes open.

She has started to really babble...it goes a little something like this: "Muh-muh-muh-muh-muh. Da-da. Ba-pfffffffffft. Wuh-wuh-wuh-WUH!" I think she's trying to say "My mom is the coolest mom ever." :)