Holy cow, a lot has happened in a month so this will be looooong.
Dan's birthday was Saturday, August 16th, and luckily he had off and his family was down here to visit. Aila was a little under the weather but they swam in the pool all day and relaxed...or should I say entertained Ashlan, and who am I kidding- that's anything but relaxing, lol!
Aila's baptism was on Sunday, August 17th. I think things went as well as they could have gone. Everyone behaved themselves, for the most part. Afterwards, we went to the Olive Garden, and both girls were on their best behavior there too. It was pretty relaxing for having two kids there, lol.
Aila had about a month of "rough" sleep, which I'm assuming was from the 4 month regression. Dan was out on the couch a lot and she was sleeping with me, because that's the only way we could get some sleep sometimes. She wasn't awful sleeping with me but when she'd sleep by herself, she'd wake for her binky a lot and it was just easier to have her next to me than keep walking to her room in the middle of the night. Thankfully, she got better for a few days and was back in her crib and waking minimally, if at all but lately she's been fighting us for going down to sleep, which makes me think she's overtired. However, she has learned to roll in her sleep, so that helps her stay asleep, I think. We were still swaddling her up until two to three weeks ago, when she rolled over in her swaddle during a nap! Good thing I saw her do it, because she didn't have her hands to help hold her up. We cut out the swaddle cold turkey right then and there. She actually didn't do so bad, but that's either because I was putting her down with only one arm in it for the week or so prior, or just because she learned to roll over. Either way, for a few nights she slept from 11-7 without needing to eat, so woohoo! Ashlan's alarm clock also broke...the time was gradually speeding up, so we stopped using it. She knew that she couldn't come out of her room earlier than 6, so we were a little nervous that she'd start to come out earlier again. Instead, it went the opposite! She hasn't gotten up before 7 since that happened, which is unheard of for her!
Aila turned 5 mos on Sept 4 (where the heck is time going?!). She's in some 12 month outfits already! She can still squeeze into some 9 mos but that's really squeezing, lol. She is definitely ahead of Ashlan. I have pictures of Ashlan wearing things at 7/8 months that Aila can't fit into now. Wow!
Ashlan started preschool last week. She is only three so she's going two days a week from 9-1pm but that's plenty of time for now. She started on the second of September and had a great first day! We took her out for ice cream afterwards and she was singing songs to us that she had just learned. :) I had forgotten to get her a backpack and lunchbox so we just used what we had the first day but we took her to Target and let her pick out her own ones. She picked a Minion book bag (it's super cute, but hilarious she picked it because we haven't even seen either movie yet!) and a Barbie lunchbox. She started dance too this week- half ballet/half tap and loved it.
Anyway, she's been asking to go to school for months- ever since we took a tour. Of course I will too, but Aila will miss her terribly. Those two are like the ying to the others yang. They both smile so big when they see each other. When Aila's upset, Ashlan can always get her to smile when all else fails. I love that the school is only a mile away and I've heard great things about their reputation. Next year she'll go to the Catholic school near us but we couldn't send her this year because you have to be four, but she was definitely ready for something now. She didn't even want to leave when we picked her up the first day. When we said we had to leave bc everyone else was taking naps, she looked at us incredulously and said, "Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Like "no way, who does that anymore? Lol. It was so funny. I really like that her school sends me pictures of her during her day there too and I get a report each day at day end that goes over what they learned that day. She is loving it though and I'm toying with her going MWF next month, but we'll see.
So my car (I had a 2008 Kia Sportage) had been giving me trouble recently and we knew it was time for a new car anyway since we wanted more room. We had been looking online for a slightly bigger SUV for months now but figured it was time to just do it. So we went to Carmax last Tuesday (with both kids- were we nuts?!) to look. We ended up getting a 2014 GMC Acadia that had low miles on it, and had leather, remote starter, heated seats (though we don't need them as bad in FL), a backup camera (which I needed, lol!), etc. It had more but that's most important to me, lol. We put half down (that's the biggest check I've ever written!) and the car payment was what it is now for the Kia and only a 1.95% interest rate for 5 years. We thought that was pretty good. The salesman actually said the particular company that loaned us the money only do it for about 5% of customers so we felt pretty good about that, lol. We wanted to pay cash for the whole thing but we decided to pay off the pool loan instead bc the interest rate is about 6% and that was a good rate back when we got it like 8 years ago! I have to say that both girls were absolute angels for the 4 hours that we were there! I was very surprised since número uno is super active. We did bring in her movie player but she only watched it for about 30 min, and so did Aila, lol. They entertained each other a lot and kept me smiling and laughing too.
So, Dan and I decided no birthday party for Ashlan this year. Making it up to PA is hard to do anyway AND we gave her a choice of party or Disney fun and she enthusiastically said Disney (duh, lol). We told her we'd take her to a character meal and to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her hair and nails done, but we wouldn't give her gifts bc that would be her gift. She agreed so maybe she's like Dan and me...we'd much rather have experiences than gifts, but we'll see how she feels about that when her bday comes, lol. I was able to snag the last Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appt for the weekend on that Friday so we'll have to give ourselves plenty of time to drive down there so we'll leave early in the morning. I also made reservations at Animal Kingdom for a breakfast with characters at the Tusker House on Sunday of that weekend. They're not princesses but they'll do. We'll have to make Cinderella's Royal Table another time. Apparently you need reservations six months in advance for that...which we think is nuts, and there are many other problems that us annual passholders are having, but I digress...that's another blog in itself. ;)
Ashlan started preschool last week. She is only three so she's going two days a week from 9-1pm but that's plenty of time for now. She started on the second of September and had a great first day! We took her out for ice cream afterwards and she was singing songs to us that she had just learned. :) I had forgotten to get her a backpack and lunchbox so we just used what we had the first day but we took her to Target and let her pick out her own ones. She picked a Minion book bag (it's super cute, but hilarious she picked it because we haven't even seen either movie yet!) and a Barbie lunchbox. She started dance too this week- half ballet/half tap and loved it.
Anyway, she's been asking to go to school for months- ever since we took a tour. Of course I will too, but Aila will miss her terribly. Those two are like the ying to the others yang. They both smile so big when they see each other. When Aila's upset, Ashlan can always get her to smile when all else fails. I love that the school is only a mile away and I've heard great things about their reputation. Next year she'll go to the Catholic school near us but we couldn't send her this year because you have to be four, but she was definitely ready for something now. She didn't even want to leave when we picked her up the first day. When we said we had to leave bc everyone else was taking naps, she looked at us incredulously and said, "Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Like "no way, who does that anymore? Lol. It was so funny. I really like that her school sends me pictures of her during her day there too and I get a report each day at day end that goes over what they learned that day. She is loving it though and I'm toying with her going MWF next month, but we'll see.
So my car (I had a 2008 Kia Sportage) had been giving me trouble recently and we knew it was time for a new car anyway since we wanted more room. We had been looking online for a slightly bigger SUV for months now but figured it was time to just do it. So we went to Carmax last Tuesday (with both kids- were we nuts?!) to look. We ended up getting a 2014 GMC Acadia that had low miles on it, and had leather, remote starter, heated seats (though we don't need them as bad in FL), a backup camera (which I needed, lol!), etc. It had more but that's most important to me, lol. We put half down (that's the biggest check I've ever written!) and the car payment was what it is now for the Kia and only a 1.95% interest rate for 5 years. We thought that was pretty good. The salesman actually said the particular company that loaned us the money only do it for about 5% of customers so we felt pretty good about that, lol. We wanted to pay cash for the whole thing but we decided to pay off the pool loan instead bc the interest rate is about 6% and that was a good rate back when we got it like 8 years ago! I have to say that both girls were absolute angels for the 4 hours that we were there! I was very surprised since número uno is super active. We did bring in her movie player but she only watched it for about 30 min, and so did Aila, lol. They entertained each other a lot and kept me smiling and laughing too.
So, Dan and I decided no birthday party for Ashlan this year. Making it up to PA is hard to do anyway AND we gave her a choice of party or Disney fun and she enthusiastically said Disney (duh, lol). We told her we'd take her to a character meal and to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get her hair and nails done, but we wouldn't give her gifts bc that would be her gift. She agreed so maybe she's like Dan and me...we'd much rather have experiences than gifts, but we'll see how she feels about that when her bday comes, lol. I was able to snag the last Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appt for the weekend on that Friday so we'll have to give ourselves plenty of time to drive down there so we'll leave early in the morning. I also made reservations at Animal Kingdom for a breakfast with characters at the Tusker House on Sunday of that weekend. They're not princesses but they'll do. We'll have to make Cinderella's Royal Table another time. Apparently you need reservations six months in advance for that...which we think is nuts, and there are many other problems that us annual passholders are having, but I digress...that's another blog in itself. ;)
Lots of pics this time and in no particular order, sorry!
With Dan's family at Aila's baptism. She threw a little fit at the end of the Baptism and then promptly passed out for pics, lol.
I forgot Ashlan's dressy shoes, whoops, lol. They were in the car.
Grammy reading to Aila.
Me, Ashlan, and Dan's sister, Katie, at the Olive Garden after the Baptism.
Ashlan giving Aila kisses.
Love.
The girls doing their nails.
Ashlan trying out her bike.
Help from Daddy and Grandpa.
Grandpa, Grammy, and Aunt Katie took Ashlan to Fernandina Beach for some sun time. She fell asleep on the ride into the city after the beach, so Grandpa was carrying her. :)
Entertaining the baby, lol.
Almost bedtime!
More baptism pics.
Godmother Katie
Cannonball!!!
Spending time with Aunt Katie. :)
I think Ashlan's having a Popsicle because she never sits still like this when she's outside, lol.
Aunt Katie is so entertaining!
Practicing her tracing skills, and this was before she started preschool!
Not too shabby. :)
Grammy and Aila.
Silly girl. This was a before preschool pic and she wanted to pose like an Egyptian, she told me, lol.
First day of school!
Her classroom.
The backpack and lunchbox she picked out.
A pic from her teacher on her first day. :)
It was someone's birthday in her class so she got a cupcake on her first day there! She loves cupcakes, lol.
At the dealership. These two melt my heart. <3
Momma's new ride. I love it! (And I better since I'll probably drive it into the ground, lol.)
Snuggles. So sweet!
I love this pic!
First dance class.
Before school on second day- she asked for hair "like Anna's".
Second day of school pic.
Happy 5 months Aila!
Aila loves snuggles from Ashlan.
I didn't even tell Ashlan to kiss her. :)
Love this one too!
After school hair- it kept pretty good!
A pic from her teacher.
And after preschool, lol. She can't hang on those days. :)
First taste of oatmeal. She loves it!
Kept grabbing the spoon. :)
So, she started out with her head on this blanket in the bottom of the pic. She kept moving herself up with her legs until she got to the tile. That's one way of moving around the house, lol.
Pretty girl.
Ashlan sharing her toy. Aila just likes to press all the buttons, lol.
No comments:
Post a Comment