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.

Baby Girl Savage has Arrived

Our sweet baby, Ayla Rose Savage, was born just one week ago.

Here is her story:

The Short Version

Friday

8:00 pm: Grandma Kaeme arrives to Gainesville to watch TJ

11:00 pm: Mom and Dad head to the hospital

11:30 pm: Mom is admitted to hospital with a cervical dilation of 5.5 cm

Saturday

12:00 am: Mom is given a very large dosage of epidural narcotics

2:35 am: Mom is given the okay to push

2:41 am: Ayla is born

7 pounds 4 ounces, 19.5 inches long

The Very Long Version (A mother's perspective)

It was the week of Ayla's due date and I was torn- I wanted my baby to come early, but my mom, Karen, had obligations at work until Friday and wouldn't be able to come down to help with TJ until then. Sure enough, my mom arrived around 8:00 pm on Friday and within a few hours of her arrival I was having contractions and Trent and I were headed to the hospital. My contractions were not super regular, about five minutes apart and manageable, and I was scared that maybe the hospital would send me home. But triage checked me and said that I was dilated 5.5 cm and that I could stay.

I immediately asked for an epidural. Within the hour, the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist were in my room and I was ready for the contractions to magically go away, as they did with TJ. I was ready to take a nice long nap. But for some reason the epidural didn't work the same as it did with TJ. The nurse kept telling me, "this is going to be the last contraction you feel." But I continued to feel hard contractions, one after the other. So the nurse anesthetist administered more drugs through the epidural. I still felt the contractions. The anesthetist continued to give me more and more medicine, until eventually it felt like elephants were sitting on my legs- they were so numb yet heavy, as if they were glued to the table. But I still felt the contractions. No naps for me.

Eventually the contractions did ease up, but then I got the shivers. My whole body was shaking uncontrollably, making my bed clank against the wall. haha. I laugh about it now but at the time it really freaked me out because I could not stop shaking. I think maybe I was given a bit too much epidural- the nurse said it totaled 22 ccs, about twice the normal initial dosage. There was only one doctor at the hospital and no midwives. There were SIX of us in labor. I was the sixth in line, so I had to wait my turn. When the doctor came into my room at 2:35 am, I pushed for five minutes and that was that. Thanks to those 22 ccs, I didn't feel a thing.

The doctor cut the umbilical cord and handed her over to the nurse to clean her up. As Trent and I watched, we both thought she looked just like TJ.

Later that morning my mom brought TJ to the hospital to meet his new baby sister. He jumped up on my bed and saw the baby and then saw a half eaten banana on the side table. He asked for it, but instead of shoving it in his mouth like I suspected he would, he pressed it to Ayla's lips. He is the best sharer I know. I have no doubt he will be a good big brother to Ayla.

We stayed one night at the hospital, then took our new baby girl home.

She has been such a good, sweet baby. Doing all the things she should: eat, poop, pee and sleep. She has had no problems with breast feeding but I have had some pain so I mix in an occasionally pump and give her my milk through the bottle. Look at those tiny little legs. She is so itty bitty.

She doesn't cry much at all. But when she does, she screams. Look at that tiny little dimple by her mouth, I love it.

But this is what she does best. She sleeps for 3-4 hours then wakes up to eat and have her diaper changed. She repeats this cycle all day and night long.

We are head-over-heels in love with her already.

39 weeks + 4 days pregnant

Here are some pictures of my little baby shower dinner from two weeks ago...

All the lovely ladies that were in attendance.

Brittany and I with the cute crafty present she made. I loved all the adorable little girl things that were so generously given to me by my wonderful friends. It really made me excited to be having a girl!

Here is the amazing banner that Kim made, which is now hanging in the nursery.

And the beautiful centerpieces made by Rachel. She is so good at this sort of thing.

And the delicious cupcake favors made by Irene. Baking is one of Irene's many specialties.

And here is one last side view shot of this pregnancy- 3 days shy of the due date.

At my appointment last week I was 1 and 30% but today I was 3 and 70%. We are crossing our fingers that Baby girl might be a little more punctual than her brother, and actually come on or before her due date, rather than 10 dreaded days late, like him. Wouldn't that be nice?

TJ's Twentieth Month

TJ's turned twenty months old today! In preparation for becoming a big brother and no longer the baby of the house, TJ decided to do a little growing up this month, and said "bye bye" to diapers. He has been interested in sitting on the potty (and actually doing a number or two) for a few months now. His interest peaked just before MLK Jr. day, so I did a quick search on babycenter.com and decided to go with the first method I found- potty training in three days. Trent was able to help over the long three day weekend, and it all went very well. TJ did lots of this:

And Trent and I did our fair share of cleaning up of small accidents (thank goodness for tile floors), lots of rushing TJ to the bathroom, and plenty of celebration dancing and cheering for TJ's hits in the potty. After the three days were up, we hesitantly labeled TJ "potty trained" and nervously took him out in public with just his big boy underwear on. We anticipated accidents, but it has been three weeks now and TJ has yet to disappoint- no accidents away from home (except for that one time at the Sirman's house- Sorry Stace!!)

TJ's favorite part of the potty training weekend was running around the house without clothes on. And the awesome celebration dancing, of course.

One of TJ's first outings in underwear was to the local museum. It was actually his first public restroom experience, and despite the fact that public restrooms are disgusting, it went very well. Thankfully TJ isn't afraid of public restrooms like his mama.

TJ checking out the butterflies through the glass window. Because we're too cheap to pay the eight dollar admission to go inside :)

Smile and look normal. Fail.

Rylee and Warner were such big helpers throughout the museum. They picked TJ up when he couldn't see for himself...

Made sure he didn't fall off the high stools...

And kept a tight rein on that monkey tail.

We had a blast at the museum. I am so glad Alex and Brittany stopped by with the kids to play for the day.

TJ eating his lunch out back. I should have taken more pictures this month of TJ playing outside. With all the nice weather we have been having, the backyard is where we like to play, especially with our new sandbox, blackboard, and hammock.

Our little "lettuce head" enjoying lunch with Daddy at Crispers. TJ actually hates lettuce, but if he wears this over sized "lettuce head" shirt, he gets his meal for a buck.

A fun trip to the library with Kim, Julian, and Ella Grace, turned out to be even more fun after locking TJ in the car. I checked with my mom and sister and they confirmed that I am The Best. Mom. Ever. They have two and four times as many kids as me and have never done this. And my kid is only twenty months old!! Thank goodness for Kim for having a cell phone to call all the firemen, who rushed to the scene...

pried open the door...

and saved TJ from having too much fun while being locked in the car. In the short 10 minutes or so that he was locked in, he managed to climb into the front seat, find deodorant and lotion, and make a mess of it on the seats and windows of the car. I may have shed a tear or two in the drama of it all, but TJ definitely did not. And at the end of the day, my car smelt amazing.

We made a spur of the moment decision to go to Dudley's Farm last weekend. Here is a picture of Trent helping TJ balance and walk along a log.

Trent, TJ, and the monkey walking down the path to see some horses plow a field.

We lucked out because it just so happened to be "Plow Day" on the farm. It was actually quite interesting to see how horses used to plow fields back in the day.

TJ enjoyed trying to pump water from this well, but the well just about pumped him. He's not quite old enough to be put to work on the farm.

But we do put him to work at home. He still loves to be right in the middle of what we are doing, which is sometimes helpful, other times, not as much. With all these last minute projects before baby girl arrives, TJ is one happy little helper, but the projects are a bit longer and more drawn out for me. However, the "To Do" list is getting shorter and we are hoping TJ will be a big brother VERY soon. We will keep you posted.