My Sensitive Big Girl

Ayla is growing so quickly.  Aside from getting bigger physically, her personality is growing like a weed!  I love getting to know her funny little quirks and her silly facial expressions.  She really shows everything on her face.  (Just like her mommy.)

She's become so independent (at times) and as much as I like the breathing room, it makes me sad that my little Tiny seems to need me less.  Of course if she is sleepy or teething or doesn't feel good, she is as clingy as they come, but when she's in a good mood, don't even bother the girl!

Here are some things that she does like a big girl:

-Play with her foam puzzles
-Look at her books
-Watch Elmo (Her current FAV)
-Climb up and down the stairs
-Eat food, she wants to do it herself!
-Ride in the front of the cart, swinging her legs and yelling her head off
-Carry things in her mouth (while crawling) and deliver them to me
-Splash water on herself in the bath.  (I always have to do it again to get the soap off and that makes her MAD)
-She can undo her own diaper now, which is scary.  We have not had a disaster yet but I feel one looming...

It's hard to believe that in a little over one month she will be a year old!  It has gone so fast!  I already miss the days when she was a tiny, squishy thing that slept all the time.  The older she gets the more tired I feel and I will admit, some days my patience flies out the window, but I love every minute of being her mother.  I can't wait until she can walk with me and I can put little braids in her hair and we can have girly conversations.  I can't wait for silly things like taking her in for her first pedicure and first haircut at the salon and letting her shoe shop with me and pick out her very own shoes!  I'm excited for my little girly best friend!  With my luck she will be a total tom-boy and watch hockey with daddy and not want to be around me, but that would be ok too.  Watching this girl love on her daddy melts my heart to butter.

Some cute pictures of my big girl!

Ayla in her cute big girl shoes grocery shopping at Harmon's.

This is Ayla on her 10 month birthday eating yummy lunch at Iggy's!

(She loves to have her own plate with a little bit of ketchup and anything else we're willing to share with her)

Last week we decided it would be ok to give Ayla *half* of a chocolate chip cookie while we were driving.  When we got out of the car this is what we found.  She was perfectly happy with herself until we started laughing.  Our poor girl is so sensitive that it breaks her little heart when we laugh at her.  Without fail a breakdown occurrs when we laugh at silly little Ayla.  The cuddles that happen after these breakdowns are the best :)

Recently...

Ayla and I recently had the opportunity to go to Washington state to visit family for 2 whole weeks!  This was definitely a long, much needed vacation!  It was the longest Ayla had been away from Joseph and I know if was rough for her to be away from daddy for so long!  It seemed like as soon as we got home from St. Louis we were off to Washington!  Getting a break from the heat in St. Louis and Utah was wonderful for Ayla and for myself!  We actually needed to wear jackets at times and I loved it!  I miss the Pacific Northwest a lot.  If I could move there tomorrow I would!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Ayla and I on the airplane.

Ayla in front of grandma's house.

Ayla and Grandpa John.

Ayla enjoying the greenery!

Eating lunch at Grandma's!

.Petting some donkeys.

Watching Sesame Street with Grandma.

Ayla hanging out with Emory.

Eating ice cream with grandma.

The last fun thing we did was visit Pike Place Market in Seattle!

We also had some studio pictures taken of Ayla.  She didn't really like to cooperate, but we still got some good ones!

Ayla, my mom, and I made the 15 hour drive from WA to UT and Ayla did so well!  We drove over night which really helped a lot.  :)  Every time I make that drive I think to myself, I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!  Flying is so much easier.

We're now back to our regular routine.  We're living in Eagle Mountain and Joseph is working away.  I'm in the process of applying for some jobs.  As much as I love being with Ayla I miss the social interaction and the second income.  I'm hoping to find an evening job so that Joseph and I can trade off with Ayla and we won't need to put her in daycare.  Wish me luck!

Here are some pictures of a recent day spent with our friends Kaitlin and Nina!

AYLA YEAR ONE

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to view this photo book larger

I cannot believe that my baby girl is going to be a year old in two and a half months!  Time really does fly.  It seems like just yesterday I was hearing her screaming for the first time at the hospital.  She's grown so much and we have done so many great things as a family!  This book will be for her (and us!) to look back at for the rest of her life and see what went on her very first year!

Babies Don’t Keep

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew

And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

 

IT'S SO GOOD TO BE HOME!

We have finally made it back to Utah and we couldn't be happier!  St. Louis was an experience that we're glad we had but that we don't want again!  I never thought I would be so happy to a place that I have hated for so long.  (UTAH.)

We're technically still homeless, but staying with some family friends and enjoying their company!  Joseph is back on the phones at Pinnacle Security and I am with Ayla all day.

Ayla and I are making a trip to Washington to visit family and we will get to be there for at least 2 weeks!  We're so excited to go home!  I can't wait to be with my family and be away from this heat.  Sadly Joseph isn't coming.  He has to keep working and get an apartment set up for us.  I will miss him a lot.  And Ayla has become SUCH a daddy's girl.  I feel terrible taking her from him for so long.  :(  It's so cute to watch her light up when he comes in the room and have her say: "HAAA DAAAA!"  Which means "hi dad!".  We'll have to Skype a lot and make lots of phone calls to dadaaddaadaaa.  :)

Some other exciting news:  Joseph's brother and sister-in-law had their baby!  His name is Benjamin Joseph Salazar and he's perfect!  Such a sweet little guy!  I'm glad that we got to come home early and see him when he was just a week old!

Here are a couple pictures from our ride home from St. Louis:

At a rest area in Nebraska!

The Proud Uncles

Cute cousins :)

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.  :)