Ayla's First Month

Ayla is now one month old! While most of her time is spent sleeping and hanging out at the house, we have had a few fun adventures this month- outings to target, the park, the zoo, the doctor, the grocery store, the bowling alley, IKEA, and church, vacations to Tallahassee and Orlando, and visits from Kaeme, Papa, Gene, Andy, Dana, and Stevie.

She has been a pretty good sleeper, but waking up to feed her every three hours was no easy adjustment for me, I do like my [continuous, 8 hours of] sleep. But now that I am used to sleeping in three hour increments, on the rare occasion that she gives me a four or five hour stretch I feel like I've had the best night's sleep of my life! It's amazing what a little perspective can do :)

She is gaining weight like a champ, and as of her one month birthday, has outgrown her newborn clothes... onto the 0-3 month collection. At her doctor's appointment today she weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces, and measured 21.5 inches long, putting her in the 76th and 59th percentiles.

This is the picture we took with our phone at the hospital and sent to our friends and family to announce her birth via text messaging. If I didn't send it to you, that means I need your phone number on my new phone, or it's not on facebook, which my phone incidentally syncs up with.

On the day we brought Ayla home from the hospital there was an unexpected cold front. We bundled her up in whatever hats, gloves and blankets we could find for the ride home. Once we were home my mom took every opportunity to snuggle with her to keep her warm.

The weather warmed up quickly though, and by Valentine's Day we were outside taking pictures.

Here she is sporting her cute heart outfit from my mom, while almost falling out of the red basket.

Ayla got to share her first bath with TJ!

During our trip to Tallahassee, Ayla was able to meet her cousins Warner, Rylee, and Rex along with Aunt Brittany and Uncle Alex.

Ayla and Papa frequently took naps together in the lazy boy.

And she got in a few snoozes with Daddy too.

Last week we drove down to Orlando to pick up Trent's dad from the airport. While we were there we stopped by Downtown Disney- here she is hiding behind TJ in the baby bjorn.

Last weekend we decided to take Ayla to church for the first time. Here she is all dressed up in her cute outfit from Rachel Glenn.

And here is our very first family photo! For some reason, none were taken of all four of us together at the hospital (or anytime after), so here we are, one month later.

Ayla is just beginning to smile more, usually while she is sleeping. More often than smile, she does this cute grunting noise that sounds just like a chuckle.

So far she has been such a good baby for us. We can't get enough of her pretty little lips and distinctive little nose. I think she looks like my sister or maybe my mom, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, the family took a vote, and we've decided she's cute enough to keep.

TJ's 21st Month

TJ's 21st month was his first month as an official big brother. Bringing little Ayla home from the hospital, and having her stay, hasn't phased him too much. He hasn't shown any signs of jealousy, except he is 100% envious of her pacifier. Overall he is very sweet and loving, and always tries to share his things with her, even a pacifier when she starts to cry. We tell him over and over to "be gentle with baby sister," but I still feel the need to keep a close eye on him when she is in reach.

One of the first times holding Ayla. He will usually hold her for 2.5 seconds before he is done and is ready to push her off his lap.

I received the advice from many people to have a gift for TJ from the new baby. I forgot about this until we got home from the hospital and decided these blocks would have to do. They are his new favorite toy. He wants to play with them all day. When I ask him who gave him the blocks, he always says, "Ayla."

We went on a walk to the park for the first time with Ayla. TJ swung while Ayla slept.

We went to the arcade and played some skee ball. Ayla slept while TJ played.

Andy, Dana, and Stevie were so thoughtful and came down to Gainesville and brought us lunch. TJ loved playing with cousin Stevie.

TJ and Stevie loved how Andy read this book to them. They wanted him to read it over and over and over again.

After a rain storm TJ put on his rain boots and went outside to take full advantage of the big puddles.

Fishing for a special leaf.

Found it!

Helping push the trash can in.

We took the kids to the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo.

It was so much fun, TJ loved seeing all the animals, and Ayla enjoyed being pushed in the stroller while she slept.

His favorite animals were the peacocks and these tree kangaroos. It was fun watching them eat their lunch.

We took TJ bowling for the first time, and the last time, because let's be honest- it was a failed outing. Even though we went on the BOGO free night, it was still way expensive and TJ was fussy when it wasn't his turn to bowl. And it was the first outing that Ayla didn't stay asleep the whole time.

TJ got to spend a lot of time with my parents this month. My mom came down to help for a week, then TJ spent a few days in Tallahassee with my parents. Trent had a three day weekend so we all went to Tallahassee for that. He was obsessed with playing basketball the whole time we were there. All he wanted to do was play "Bass-key ball" "Bass-key ball!"

Trent had TJ doing a little workout with him outside. It involved flipping tires like Tim Tebow.

This little yellow dump truck has been TJ's favorite toy to play with at my parent's house for a long time.

My mom has been such a big help with TJ. She makes everything fun for him, like playing with squirt bottles while going to the bathroom.

And of course TJ was a big help to my mom- vacuuming the kitchen floors like a pro.

More like a professional mess maker- there is so much for him to get into at my parent's house. Here he is getting into my mom's makeup bag.

All of a sudden my little toddler seems so grown up. I used to adore his tiny little features and pinch his tiny little bum, but now every time I look at him I can't help but think he is humungous! Despite him being so grown up, we still have him sleeping in his baby crib, rather than a toddler bed. I can't imagine him going to bed easily without it, and I'm not willing to give up his long three hour naps quite yet. Potty training is still going well. He can now do the whole process- pull down pants, climb onto the toilet, wash and dry hands- all by himself. He also seems to be talking much more this month, saying words more clearly and putting multiple words together. I could ramble on and on forever about all the new things he is doing and learning, but mostly I want to remember how sweet my little boy is, and how his smile and excitement for life brings so much joy to our lives.