May news

No sooner had I wrote the last post about Ashlan not listening and acting out, and the next day she was like a different child again!  She did get more sleep and we stopped running around so much, so maybe she's back to her normal self- we can only hope!  Lol.  

We celebrated Mother's Day the whole weekend.  :)  We don't do gifts, just experiences, so on Friday Ashlan and I went to a pottery/painting place for some mommy/daughter time, where she made me a mug.  Saturday we went out to eat at Longhorn and both kids were angels!  The filet and fabulous Pinot Noir were just icing on the cake. :)  We never could have done this with Ashlan as a baby, lol.  She was way too demanding!!  We've since been out twice to eat since Aila's been born and it has gone really well.  We're so glad Aila is such a chill baby!  So on Mother' Day, both kids slept in a bit, I got woken up to a "Happy Berfday, Mommy" (Ashlan got confused), I got a sticker-decorated and scribbled on card from her, and then had sushi and wine for dinner.  Pretty good weekend!

We used the church nursery for Ashlan for the first time ever a few weeks ago.  We normally don't go when the nursery is offered and it was so weird to not have Ashlan next to us!  She had fun playing with the other kids though and it was nice not to try and entertain her and have her be quiet for an hour and 20 min, lol.  Now she doesn't want to sit in church when we go and the nursery's not available, lol.

Aila has been an amazing sleeper.  She always goes down around 10pm and lately has been getting up between 7 and 8am.  She is up once in the middle of the night to feed, but only 45 min to an hour max.  It is refreshing to have a child who likes to sleep!  Ashlan still gets up at 6am though, lol.  No surprise there, haha.

So Aila is not a binky girl.  She rarely takes one.  Every once and awhile she will, but it's definitely rare.  She is such a calm baby.  She still only gets mad when she's hungry, and even then, she just fusses a bit at first and only cries if I can't get to her as fast as she wants.  I just can't believe the differences in both kids.  She is also starting to smile a lot more at us.  It's so sweet.  She'll be moving just a bit in the middle of the night (how she gets me up to feed her) and when I turn the light on and go to her crib, she looks at me and greets me with the biggest smile from ear to ear.  Makes my heart melt.  :)

Dan's parents and sister visited for a week around Memorial Day.  It was nice to have them visit us and Ashlan had a great time playing with all of them.  The pool was used nearly every day for a few hours and they all had fun looking for Ashlan in "hide and seek".  Grammy taught Ashlan "Go Fish" so they played that game a lot too.  Our nearby park also got a lot of use.  

So Ashlan and I were playing Candyland today and I said, "I love lollipops" after looking at the board and landing by one.  Ashlan doesn't even look up and says, "And I love steak".  Lol.  What?  She rarely eats steak so I don't know where that came from!  Maybe me bc I love steak but we hardly have it because it's not on Dan's menu anymore.  Just so random, lol.

Ashlan's swim lessons ended a week ago.  It's nice to finally have time to ourselves again.  Ashlan really did awesome though.  Her teacher even told another parent (who told me) that she was really beyond this class and stood out from the others.  That made me feel so good to hear!  She is such a little fish.  She doesn't wear her puddle jumpers (swimmies) at all anymore.  She is jumping in the deep end and swimming to the shallow end, so she's definitely swimming on her own now.  We're so proud of her!  

The only time both kids have ever been asleep at the same time when it hasn't been bedtime, lol.

Love her!!

Only smiles for her big sis!!

I love them interacting together!!

My running buddy.  :)  Looks so much like Ashlan in this pic!

Hugs from big sis!

Aila's little half smile, lol.

Grammy and Ashlan were pooped!

Last day of swim class!

My little fishie!  <3

Both were passed out.  <3

So happy!

Ashlan still always wants to hold and kiss her, and Aila loves to see her big sister.

Time with Grammy.

Smiles with Aunt Katie.

<3

Such a silly girl.

Tummy time!

May news- Happy one month birthday Aila!

Things are going pretty good lately, but not as awesome as they were a few weeks ago.  Aila is still an amazing baby.  We feel very lucky that she has such a laid-back personality- so completely different than Ashlan, lol!  It's Ashlan that we're having trouble with...just her attitude, but I suppose that is to be expected.  This just started the past week.  It seems the more time I spend with her, the more she's acting out...so I'm not sure what the deal is there!!  Hopefully this stage passes soon, because she was so wonderful for the past few weeks.  

I've been taking the girls to play places and been having play dates for Ashlan a few times a week.  We also started her swim lessons this week and they're a half hour Monday through Thursday so maybe we're trying to do too much.  I just thought it'd be a good distraction for her.  But for example, on Tuesday we (Ashlan and I) got our hair cut, had gymnastics and swim lessons, on Wednesday we went to the Chick-fil-A play place to let her play and then swim lessons, and on Thursday we had a play date and swim lessons, so maybe I'm just overbooking her.  And all this with a newborn- I'm exhausted just from that, let alone all the laundry that comes with a newborn, and diaper laundry...never mind cleaning the house, lol.  Ashlan does look exhausted, so maybe we just need a few days in a row of early bedtimes especially since she hasn't taken a real nap since she turned three, just maybe a catnap in the car, etc.  Swim lessons are next week also, but then they're over, thankfully.  It just seems like we've been going non-stop lately.  

Swim lessons are going well though. She does seem like she's a little advanced for the three and four-year-old class though.  They are just working on things for introduction to swimming like dunking your head underwater, blowing bubbles, jumping in the pool into someone's arms, and dog paddling and kicking but in someone's arms, and she can do all of those by herself and then some.  She is learning to float though but other than that, I think she's learned more with just Dan and me teaching her!  And she can touch the bottom of both our pool and the swim lesson pool in the shallow end, lol.  

Today just Ashlan and I went to a place called Arts Ignited to paint pottery.  We had a great time there, but she did have a meltdown on the way out because she didn't want to leave, lol.  Pics of that are below...

Aila is doing great though!  She's a month old already!  She is smiling at us and cooing a lot more now.  She has such a goofy, bubbly smile...you can't help but smile when she does it to you.  She is such an angel baby, I hope that continues!  She still goes down about 10pm or so, I wake her around 3am to eat, and she will fall right back to sleep until 6am or so.  So awesome for a newborn!  Ashlan was up every two to three hours to eat, and she always woke me up, lol.  I'm hoping to stop the middle of the night feedings soon but her pediatrician said she should not go longer than 5 hours between feedings for now because newborns blood sugar can drop too low, but I really think she'd let me sleep 6-7 hours if I let her.  Aila is about 10lbs at one month, when Ashlan was about 11lbs at this point.  So she may not be as "solid" as Ashlan, but she seems to be just as tall.  We'll find out in a month what her height and weight is for comparison with Ashlan though when we go to get her first vaccinations.  Ashlan is still a great big sister.  She still always wants to hold and kiss her, and will try to entertain Aila if she gets fussy.  You can tell she really loves her.  <3

We had some newborn pics done for Aila and included the whole family on some too.  Click on the link below to see.  Enjoy!  http://bcjphotography.smugmug.com/Friends/B/

Loving the swing!

She looks so tiny on Dan!

In this pic she looks *exactly* like Ashlan when she was that age.

Love this pic!!

Helping me sort the cloth wipes- my big helper!  She gets so mad when I do them and don't ask her if she wants to help, lol.  

Happy one month baby girl!

There's just something about a sleeping baby.  :)

Ashlan's swim lessons.

One of Aila's smiles- though I caught it going down, lol.  It's much bigger than this!

This is what she does during Ashlan's swim lessons, lol.

:)

Ashlan passed out before swim lessons...and slept right through Aila's car screaming (she was hungry, I guess, though she ate before we left!).  :(  

At Arts Ignited.  She picked Piglet to paint.

April news

Things are going great here!  We are settling into somewhat of a routine, and we are very impressed that Ashlan has been such a great big sister to Aila.  I will use the restroom and put Aila in her swing...when I come out, I will see Ashlan sitting next to her gently pushing her and either trying to give her the binky (if she's fussing) or entertaining her.  Or if I have to run into the other room, I'll put Aila on her activity mat and when I return, Ashlan will be under it with Aila, talking to her.  It's so sweet.  She is always wanting to hold her, or kiss her head, and that just melts my heart.  She also plays with her one doll, calling her "Baby Aila".  We'll randomly find the doll in the swing, on the activity mat, in Aila's crib, etc.  Very cute.  :)  We haven't really seen any jealousy yet, and hope it stays that way!  She really seems to understand that the baby needs me more right now, and she has become much more patient in waiting for things that I can't get to immediately.  But then again, she has no choice, lol.  

I spend a lot of time wearing Aila so I can still do things with Ashlan.  At my two week checkup appointment a few days ago, I was cleared to start walking again, so we have been going to the park and for walks when possible.  For instance, yesterday I was wearing Aila so Ashlan and I could make cookies.  Old habits die hard, I guess , lol.  :)  Aila just slept through it all and I love that I can both hold Aila and be with Ashlan too.

We started Aila in her cloth diapers a few days ago.  They are super huge and look a little ridiculous on her, but I'm able to tighten the snaps so we haven't had any leaks, and definitely no blowouts.  That's why I love cloth!  :)  They look so cute on her!

Aila has been a dream baby so far, with the exception of a day or so when she had her two week growth spurt, lol.  She sleeps a ton more than Ashlan ever did as a baby, and usually only gets cranky when it comes to food.  I have a feeling she might be feisty though, because even though she's a super chill baby, once she gets to her breaking point (at least regarding food), she flys off the handle, lol.  But so far she has been a dream, and we feel so blessed.  We're very thankful we had Ashlan first though, because that would've been a rude awakening if we got her personality second, lol.  

Aila is very ticklish on her feet and doesn't need the binky near as much as Ashlan did.  She can actually fall asleep without it and sleep without it all night!  This means we're not getting up to put it back in her mouth.  ;)  She is usually very easy at night.  She goes down around 10ish and wakes around 6am.  She will feed once, usually around 2pm and I usually have to wake her up.  She mostly goes right back to sleep, so even though our sleep is broken a bit, we really can't complain.  She's so much easier than Ashlan so far!  

So Aila has more hair in the back than front.  I was holding Aila and Ashlan very seriously said, "Mommy, her hair is on backwards."  Dan and I both lost it, lol.  She's too funny.  But we're very proud of her and how mature she's handling having a new sister.  :)  And you can tell she's proud to be a big sister too.  She loves to wear her shirt that says big sister on it.

Also, Aila has rolled over three times already!  For those of you keeping track, she's not even three weeks yet.  I don't put her down very often or for long, but when I do, it seems she rolls over, lol.  She's usually only down for a few minutes when it happens.  I always put her on her stomach for tummy time and she doesn't like it at all, and gets mad, and then throws herself onto her back by the time I get back.  She's a strong little one!   She has cooed only a few times but Dan and I have managed to get a smile or two.  Maybe it was a fluke, but the smiles had appropriate timing, lol.

I forgot to mention, Ashlan is now able to jump in the pool in the deep end and swim to the shallow end without her swimmies on!  Granted she is doggy paddling, lol, but she can still do it.  She also doggy paddled the length and a half of the pool!  She'll be 3 1/2 in June.  We are so proud of her, and can't wait to see how she does in her swim lessons in May.  

Angel baby Aila

Kisses from big sister- we did not tell her to do this!

Ashlan playing with her dolls, on Aila's activity mat.  The one on the left is "baby Aila".  Lol

This is Aila at nine days old!!

Nana and Ashlan coloring eggs for Easter.

Ashlan entertaining Aila.

Ashlan smelling Aila's feet- wonder where she got that from, lol.  Check out Aila's eyes, haha.

Sweet baby in the carrier.

My carrier for Aila is getting tons of use!

Ashlan rocking out to the Wiggles.  :)

Love my two girls!

<3

Aila's cloth diapers.  A little big but I'm able to tighten them.  They don't look near as bad with the onesie on, lol.

Baby smiles, she was sleeping.  <3