Ayla's Second Month

My little girl is growing up- slowly but surely. She is now two months old and is busy sleeping, eating, and gaining weight, leaving little time for anything else. We didn't take a ton of pictures of her this month, especially while she was awake. We did, however, take the following pictures:

Taking a nap on the beach at Cedar Key.

While Trent, his dad, and TJ were having their boys weekend at the beach, the girls were at home watching FSU play basketball.

Ayla woke up during the St. Patrick's day play group to say, "so many cute boys, which one do I choose?" These two twin boys had the same due date as Ayla but came a few weeks earlier.

Ayla loves to sleep at the beach. Hopefully she keeps this trend up alllll summer long because I love to sleep on the beach too. Here she is sporting her daddy's glasses to shade the sun at Jax Beach.

Ayla also loves to swing in the hammock. We like to swing during the day while TJ plays in the dirt. We also like to swing just before night time during Ayla's fussy hour of the day- the hammock calms her down real quick, and it is usually just the trick to get her to fall fast asleep for the night.

While at Lake Wauburg, Ayla chose sleeping over playing in the water with TJ. I'd say that was the wiser choice considering the danger lurking in that dirty water.

Ayla slept through the Easter egg hunt in Daytona.

At the top of the tallest light house in Florida, she slept through that too.

Ayla loves to be in her car seat when in motion i.e. in the car or in the stroller. I am willing to bet she was asleep under that shaded cover during our walk to the jetty in Daytona with Grandma Doodle.

Ayla woke up Easter morning (wearing her cute bunny shirt that Aunt Sabrina made) to see what the Easter Bunny brought. Turns out it was just a bunch of stuff she couldn't use so she gave it all to TJ.

After opening our Easter baskets we jumped in the car and headed to the park for another Easter egg hunt with friends from dental school. Ayla slept in Grandma Doodle's arms while TJ fetched the eggs.

Ayla got all dressed up in her Easter best for church. It's hard to see in this photo, but she is wearing a pretty blue, yellow, and pink, floral dress of Kalil's.

While we were in Jacksonville my mom took some pictures of our family.

I made some little grey and yellow shoes for Ayla to wear by following a tutorial I found on pinterest.

Trent loves to kiss his baby girl. 

TJ loves to give his baby sister kisses, too.

Ayla of course slept from start to finish. Our family pictures on the beach didn't really turn out since it is almost impossible to get a 22 month old to sit still. But we had fun trying. Thanks mom for the great effort :)

We think Ayla is just a doll. She was such a good sport to go along with all the happenings of this past month. We love her go-with-the-flow style and are so grateful that she does well in her car seat. Thanks Ayla, for joining us for the ride. It is certainly more fun with you aboard.

TJ's 22nd Month

TJ had a fun month filled with some of his favorite things: family, friends, and the beach. He started off the month with a visit from Grandpa Gene, followed by a trip up to Jacksonville to see Stevie, Kame, and Papa, and lastly, a visit from Grandma Doodle. TJ may have to share the attention with his new sister, but with visits from all four grandparents, he certainly didn't get short-changed this month.

After picking up Gene from the Orlando Airport, we went to Downtown Disney where Gene took TJ for a ride on the train.

During his stay, we took Gene to our closest beach, Cedar Key, where TJ buried him in the sand.

Cedar Key might not be the prettiest beach, but it does have a pretty awesome playground right on the water.

 TJ had a blast climbing up,

yelling down,

and swinging.

But mostly he just liked to swing. I swear this boy could swing all day long if a person had the patience and strength to push him that long. It might have something to do with the fact that he lived in an infant swing for the first five months of his life. And you can bet Ayla is being raised the same way.

Of course you can't go to Cedar Key without picking up some of Tony's World Famous clam chowder. Despite the unsure look on his face, I do believe TJ enjoyed it as much as the rest of us.

Trent, TJ, and Gene took a boys weekend down to Sarasota to hit up the beautiful beaches of the Gulf Coast. Gene and TJ also took a few trips to the park. Gene played with TJ, and TJ likes to play hard. By the end of his two week visit, Gene was exhausted. Here he is sleeping mid-day while TJ desperately tried to get his attention.

TJ was invited to a one-of-a-kind, super-duper, St. Patrick's Day play group. By one-of-a-kind I mean the Kim-kind which means the decorations were through the roof, the food was the bomb, and the company was fantastic. Here TJ is enjoying some St. Patty's day snacks with some of his close friends.

And here TJ is enjoying a drink with his leprechaun 'stache.

We played at the Longleaf pool with some friends. TJ loves to splash in the water. 

He also loves to play with water toys.

Kim and Stace invited us over to their house to watch a session of General Conference and to eat dinner. These two bare-bummed boys crawled past me, pushing their cars, without their pants on. "Where's the camera, Trent?"

Next up: Trip to Jax Beach to visit Cousin Stevie. Kame and Papa were there babysitting while Andy and Dana were at a wedding. TJ was in heaven that weekend at "Stebies" house. Like TJ, Stevie also loves his Cars. He has lots of Cars toys. And he lives on the beach. Enough said. Now when we pull into our own neighborhood TJ whines, "No home! Stebie's home!" or while we are driving around town he will optimistically ask, "Stebie's house!?" "Sorry bud, not today."

Trent and his Junior at their favorite place on earth.

Trent wanted TJ to burry him in the sand. Trent called me to help. I was catching some much needed rays and declined the offer...

But this little lady perked up from a few yards away and accepted the offer. 

Favorite place on earth I tell ya.

To finish off the month, TJ's Grandma Judy aka "Doodle" came to visit. We first hit up Lake Wauburg, a lake owned by the University for student's and their families to enjoy. I say "enjoy" but of course that comes with the condition that you like playing in dirty water while baby alligators lurk from a distance. Judy was brave enough to sit with TJ on the shore and protect my baby from all those baby gators.

Grandma Doodle spent much of her time pushing TJ on the hammock in the back yard and also the swing at the park. TJ enjoyed every second of it.

Grandma Doodle took us to Daytona Beach for Easter Weekend. We hit up the local Easter Egg Hunt and searched for eggs beach-style with a sand bucket turned basket. 

We also visited the tallest light house in Florida- located on the Ponce Inlet in Daytona.

And we climbed to the top.

TJ climbed every step on his own. I am not usually afraid of heights, but boy did this make me nervous.

My little one year old, however, showed no signs of fear. Here he is taking in the view from the top.

After climbing down, we headed to the beach. The "tallest lighthouse in Florida" looks awfully tiny from here.

Ever since our trip to Jacksonville Beach we promised TJ we would buy him a kite. After looking high and low for one, the dollar store in Daytona finally pulled through for us. On the Ponce Inlet in Daytona, TJ flew his first kite.

TJ has officially graduated from the highchair and now sits comfortably in this booster seat at the table with us. He is a good eater, as usual. This month he has also become quite good at jumping, identifying colors, sharing, talking, counting, and making friends. At times he is a good brother to Ayla- giving her spontaneous kisses, gently patting her on the belly, and wanting to include her in our activities. Other times he is a not-so-good brother- stealing pacifiers, pulling her arms, and not-so-gently patting her on the belly. Maybe he is simply testing his limits with her, or perhaps becoming a bit jealous of all the attention she is receiving? Who knows?
Occasionally he's a stinker but overall he's a sweetie. That we do know.