Let's See How Far We've Come...

We have been in St. Louis, MO for 2 months and 12 days.  I cannot believe how much Ayla has grown and all the big girl things that she has learned!

Since moving here these are the milestones that Ayla has reached (and with flying colors!).

-Outgrowing her 0-3 month old clothes.

Her first big girl clothes. (6 month size)

-Learned how to sit up on her own,  no help from her momma!

Sitting up during our slumber party in the living room while daddy was away.

-She has become my little ducky, loving up the water!

Floating in the swimming pool!

-She learned to scoot around on her tummy using her arms to drag her (slowly) where she wanted to go.

Scoot scoot!

-She learned to love playing independently!

Playing in her exerscauser with her favorite block.

-Ayla had her toenails painted for the first time!

Light pink toenails!

-She started saying "DA-DA-DA-DA!"  Because she loves her daddy!  (And it's easy to say!)

-She got two bottom teeth!

Teeth!

-She learned to CRAWL!  No more scooting!  She crawls like a crazy girl, so quick!

 -She can pull herself up on EVERYTHING!

SO BIG!

-She has enough hair to have a pony tail!

Tiny, but still a pony tail!

-And she has learned to feed herself baby cheetos!  (Gerber Graduates Lil' Crunchies)

She doesn't want me to put it in her mouth any more, she takes it and does it herself!

 YUM!

My baby girl has grown so much!  She is getting to be such a handful and so much fun.  I love every little thing about her.  Helping her discover and learn new things is amazing.  My perfect tiny girl.  :)

St. Louis, MO.- PART 1

It's hard to believe that one month ago we packed up our little family, left Utah, and headed to St. Louis, MO!

The ride was a long one, and it was hard for our girl, but she was a trooper!

I am so glad that we have the chance to live somewhere that we probably never would have even visited.  Joseph is selling home alarm systems door-to-door (ew, I know, I would hate it!) for Pinnacle Security.  As you probably know, St. Louis is not the safest of cities, which makes it a great market for security systems.  I cannot believe that Joseph hits the doors every day, rain or shine, for ten hours a day!  Luckily I get to stay home with our baby girl exploring this awesome place that we temporarily call home.

It is so beautiful here!  Everything is so green and lush.  I can't say that the weather has been great.  I'd say it's poured cats and dogs about 75% of the time so far, but I don't mind.  I actually enjoy the rain as long as it isn't touching me!  The other 25% of the time it has been HOT and STICKY.  I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in the summer months!

Pinnacle has put us up in the Edgewater Court Apartments.  I love them!  The complex is HUGE.  There's a play ground, a few swimming pools (indoor and out), an exercise facility, tennis courts, a jogging trail, a 2 acre lake, trees, flowers, and wildlife everywhere!

THE LAKE!

OUR LIVING ROOM.

DINING ROOM/KITCHEN.

6 Months!

Today my tiny baby girl is 6 months old.

I cannot believe that it's already been 6 months since we were in the hospital waiting for our girl to arrive!  She has changed our lives an incredible amount.  All for the better!

Ayla is the baby I always dreamed about.  She is the shining jewel in my crown!

Every day she gets a little bigger, a little sillier, and oh so much smarter!  She amazes me with her expressions and her giggles.  She knows how to push all my buttons already just by changing the tone of her crying.  :)

At 6 months old this is what our Tiny loves:

-Squealing a really long, drawn-out, high pitched squeal just because she can.

-Baby Bop. As well as everyone else on Barney.

-Mean Girls!  She will not look away from this movie!  She stops playing and stares intently at the TV.  I fully believe that she understands every word that is being said.

-Squash.  Ayla loves squash and devours the entire can and then squeaaaaaaaallllllllllsssssssssss at me when I don't have any more for her.

-She enjoys music in the car.  She will cry and cry, thrashing around in her seat unless I turn the music up.  When I do she sits contently staring out the window and enjoying the music.

 -She loves to be sang to.  And she loves when there is dancing going along with the singing.  She especially loves, "Ya'll gonna make me lose my mind up in here up in here!" (Dr. Dre)  She laughs hysterically while I act like a gangster.

-She still likes to be swaddled when she sleeps but always wants her left arm out of the swaddle.  Every morning I wake up to a tightly wound baby with her left arm over her head.  ( i sleep with an arm over my head too, funny eh?)

-She LOVES when daddy gets home.  No matter how grumpy she has been with me, how tired she is, how sick she is, she always has a big smile for daddy.

I have been so blessed to spend the past 6 months with my beautiful and perfect little girl.  I can't wait for all the fun that the future holds for our little family!

Waking up happy!

Eating her blanket :)

So happy!

Loving Baby Bop!

She looks so pretty :)

Sitting up like a big girl!

I love my big tiny girl!

Jigga

Today Ayla rocked her Rocawear shoes for the first time.  :)

We love Jay-Z.

The After Math.

One thing that I love about Easter is the hard boiled eggs.  I don't like to eat them plain.  I don't especially care for them on a sandwich.  But I do love them like this:

Deviled with blue spots that somehow made it through the egg shell! (You can tell by the picture that I made the filling a tad too creamy this year.  Oh well.  There's always next year.)

YUM!

Our Lively Place...

Recently Kelle Hampton asked the question, "Where does life occur in your home?"  I've thought this over a lot.  Where is our lively place?

It came to me this morning.  I was making faces at my girl.  She was giggling her sweet giggles back at me.  She was laying on her changing pad, contently nibbling her toes.  The changing pad that is no longer on her changing table.  The changing pad that moves around the house -what ever room we happen to be in- because that's where our girl is happiest.  I learned very quickly with our little monster that if I wanted to calm her down, I needed to lay her on her changing pad.

The changing pad is her comfort zone.  The changing pad is where she loves to smile at me, her daddy, her kitty.  Where she talks and sings the most.  Where she can most comfortably see everything going on above and around her.  The pretty pink changing pad that so compliments her light skin and dark hair.  The changing pad where Tiny is learning some of life's most important lessons.

The changing pad is our ever-moving lively place!

This is the day when Ayla learned about her new special place.  And how much she loved it.

Where she learned that lounging in an over-sized robe after a warm bath is one of the best feelings!

This is where she fell in love with her kitty, Malky.

And where she learned that even if you love someone, it's sometimes hard to share your special place...

So naturally Malky learned that this is also HER favorite place.

It's where Tiny learned to wave at the camera.

And where we all learned that sometimes none of us know what we're doing and the best solution is to just cry about it.

Where Ayla learned that the right amount of charm can melt daddy's heart like butter on a hot biscuit!

This is where Ayla learned that her mommy is the funniest gal around.  :)

And she learned that watching cartoons in our jammies is the best.

It's where she learned that no matter how much money you spend on toys... the best things in life are free.  And are toes.

She learned that it's where we like to play dress up.  And un-dress up.

Yup, mommy's still funny.

It's where she is learning to LOVE holidays!

And most of all....

It's where I learned that no matter how much I love her today, I will love her so much more tomorrow.