Ayla's Sixth Month

First of all, thank you to my next door neighbor growing up, who also happens to be my mom's sister's husband's brother's wife, and also my second mother, Elaine, for taking Ayla's 6 month pictures. The one above is a little preview and a few more are at the end of the post. Thank you, Elaine!

Our little six month old is such a sweetie pie. She is going on her third straight month of being a bad sleeper, but she makes up for it in her sweet disposition. She is trying to crawl, and talk, and eat real food, without much encouragement from our part. When you lay her down on her back, she tries her darnest to sit back up by keeping her head tucked into her chest. When you put her on her belly she tries to wiggle herself around. And when you sit her up she plays happily with anything within reach- with a special tendency towards paper and plastic bags. She keeps me on my toes. I'm pretty sure she is ready to grow up and do all the things that TJ can do, despite us wanting her to stay little forever. She is starting to show a little preference for her mama, and seems to recognize familiar faces, but still doesn't mind being held by anyone. You give her attention, and she will take it!

My mom made this purple dress for me when I was Ayla's
age. We soaked the dress in oxyclean and drove up to
Havana to buy some new silk ribbon for the sleeves and now
it is as good as new. Ayla wore it to church in Tallahassee.

Here she is with the famous seamstress and Kalil.

Ayla got her first taste of sand at the beach. She couldn't
stop eating it!



We woke her up from a nap to get her 6 month pictures taken
 and as usual she was all smiles. Here are a few of my
favorite expressions.



I am in love with those eyes and the one raised eyebrow.
 And those chubby rolls that seem to cover her entire body-
I just can't get enough. Especially now that each crease
between each roll has it's very own tan line.

We took her outside and she stopped smiling. Who can blame
her, it was hot and the grass was itchy. One thing that I have
figured out about this girl, is that she does not like to be hot. 

TJ's 26th Month

I had TJ pick out his picture for this month's blog post. He chose this one because it shows his swimsuit, which also happens to be the one he always wants to wear. He is a bit more opinionated these days, but is still very much an easy-going type of guy. It doesn't take much persuasion to get him to help out- just tell him it's the "big boy" thing to do and he will jump to it. A few weeks ago I overheard an older child ask him if he was a baby, and TJ replied, "Nope. I a big boy." 

Too big for the crib- that's for sure. While on vacation he
learned how to climb out of the crib which landed him in
the ER for his very first round of x-rays.

Of course 10 mintues after the x-rays he says his arm no longer
hurts and he's ready to leave. After a long wait we find out
that it is indeed broken and TJ is sent on his way with a
temporary cast.

When we got back to Gainesville we had a new "gator blue" 

hard cast put on to replace his temporary one.

We went up to Tallahassee because of some issues with our
town house. While there, TJ got to spend some time with lots
of extended family. He loves every single one of them.
Here he is with cousins, Rex and Mason. 

And here he is with cousins, Warner and Rylee. They were
 so sweet to sign TJ's cast!

Everywhere we went TJ was asked, "What happened!?"
He would always reply- "I broke my arm. I fell out 'da crib"
Here he is telling Ayla what happened to his arm one last
time before having his cast removed.

And here he is immediately after, telling us how "the people
 put headphones on him (to block the noise), and cut TJ's
cast off."

TJ is really into things that move- trucks, trains, cars,
tractors, and airplanes.

He is our sweet little big boy.  He is a ball of energy, and
sometimes finds himself in time out, with a broken arm,
or covered in permanent marker, but we wouldn't have him
any other way. He still loves to help, and tell's me he wants
 to "make mama happy." And that is exactly what he does.