And the things I do to get this little girl to eat. She often falls asleep after just a few minutes of eating so we do all kinds of things to try and keep her awake. My latest discovery, if I lay her on the ground she eventually wakes up and wants to eat again...ok, not that great of a discovery, but if I hold her head up, like in this next picture, she eats. Not exactly the most comfortable position for me to be, but if it works, I'll do it. :)
Playing Play-Doh with Nai-Nai
Mother's Day with my girls.
She is soo my daughter. She was afraid of the ants on the ground so she was all curled up in her chair trying to bend over and play in her sandbox. We're working on her fear of bugs. I don't want her to end up like me.
I packed up the girls this morning for one more day at my parents' house before they leave for their trip to Taiwan. Much to Ayla's delight, her cousin Bennett decided to come play too.
We went outside and threw some water balloons...always fun. :) Ayla is a chit-chatter. She's always liked to talk but wow, she really doesn't stop nowadays. If she's not talking to another person, she's talking to herself. It's pretty entertaining to listen to. She makes up stories and bosses her dolls around...some of the things she says sound...ahem...strangely familiar. Funny what she picks up on. :) Her imagination is in full swing right now.
I had a great Mother's Day! Dean let me sleep in...it was wonderful! We went to lunch with my parents and in the afternoon, I went shopping all by myself for a couple of hours. I really needed it. It felt soooo nice to get out and have some time to myself. It was an instant recharge. We then went over to Dean's parents' for dinner. Dean snapped a couple pictures of me with my little ladies...I'll post them once I get them uploaded. I hope all of you amazing mothers had a good day yesterday...you deserve it!
This week, we've tried something different. I've given Ayla the option of not napping and having quiet time on the couch instead. She has to lay down and watch a movie...no talking and no getting off the couch. So far, she has done really well with it. One day, she surprisingly chose to nap. I decided to switch it up because she was waking up in the morning earlier and earlier. As a result, her naps became longer and longer--2 to 3 hours. And that messed with her bedtime...she wouldn't fall asleep until 9:30 sometimes. I'd rather she sleep more overnight and frankly, some afternoons I just don't have the energy to wrestle her down for a nap...especially if Aubree needs something too. She has obviously been going to bed earlier--between 8:00 and 8:30 and sleeping past 7:00 in the morning...and that time has slowly creeped later which is nice. :) It's also nice to not have to worry about planning the entire day around her nap. Hopefully this continues to go well!
I haven't been able to capture it on camera yet, but just wanted to get it down in the books that Aubree has started to smile a lot the past couple of days. So sweet. :)
Where's Ayla?
Our good friends, Chris, Meghan, and Heidi were back in town...so so so great to see them! Ayla and Heidi got to play together a couple of times.
After a few pretty horrendous days with my cute but "terrible two'er" things have improved. A friend of ours said the hardest thing about having a new baby is her toddler. She wasn't kidding. My patience has been stretched to the max and I have never in my life been as frustrated as I have been with Miss Ayla. It's hard to believe this tiny little person can make me feel this way. I'm slowly learning how to deal with it...I'm not saying I don't still get upset because Lord knows I do; I'm just figuring out what works with her and what doesn't. Freaking out does not work. I learned that the hard way. Ask Dean. I threw my very own adult-sized tantrum several days ago. No good. As difficult as it can be, if she's whining or throwing her tantrums, ignoring her works best. I need to get some earplugs though. Ayla, when you read this someday, know that we love you so much no matter what, but my goodness, you're a pro at pushing our buttons.
Other than that, everything is going well. Aubree still has us up once or twice a night but it's usually around the same times. During the day, she still eats every couple of hours. I'm hoping she starts to eat more with each feeding. I feel like I'm feeding her all day long since she doesn't take in very much each time.
And I'd like to thank our parents for helping us out this weekend. My parents had Ayla all day Friday and took her and her cousins to the zoo. I know she had a blast and it was great for her to get out of the house. On Saturday evening, Dean's parents took both girls so Dean and I could attend a wedding reception. It was sooo nice to get out of the house! So THANK YOU--I don't know what we would do without you!
