2 months

At 2 months Ayla...

• has almost doubled her birthweight, weighing in at 8 1/2 pounds
• would be very happy being held all day long in the rocking chair
• smiles when she is talked to and when you tickle her little cheeks
• speaking of cheeks...look at how chubby they are getting!
• loves to be naked or in just a diaper, she gets really happy on her changing pad
• newborn sized clothes are getting pretty small (mostly lengthwise)
• loves her ergo baby carrier and will fall asleep a couple minutes after I put her in
• babbles and coo's - the sweetest little sounds 
• went on her first shopping trip with Aunt Sara and Momma
• usually sleeps from 9:30pm-2:30am, from 3am-5:30am and in bed with mom from 6:30am-8 or 9am
• eats a little bit all day long, she usually doesn't go more than 2 hours without eating during the day
• currently fighting her first cold
• is getting really good head control and loves to grab onto hair and shirts (so watch out!)
• spicy food and dairy doesn't seem to agree with her little tummy, so momma is avoiding them :(
• loves to fall asleep on Papa John when he visits - it only takes a minute and she is out
• finally started to like the swing for a few minutes at a time
• loves to lay and watch the fire with Momma and Aiden in the mornings
• just as sweet as can be and is growing up too fast for her Momma...the newborn stage doesn't last long enough if you ask me!

halloween activites

So Halloween night this year was a bit of a bust for our family. Aiden didn't want to wear his costume, he got scared as soon as we started trick of treating which put an end to it pretty quickly and Ayla was a little fussy that night. There were tears. And a fit. And mom's vision of how Halloween would go didn't quite work out. Good thing we had fun doing activities to prepare for Halloween ;)

First up was the Halloween house, I did the frosting and Aiden added the candy. He had so much fun, I think he would gladly decorate a Halloween house every night - he keeps asking to!

He was so proud of the finished house. He even sat still and let me take a picture of him next to it.

Next up was pumpkin carving/painting with Lisa and the twins. Lisa and I carved, and the kids painted their little pumpkins. Aiden painted a little bit of his pumpkin and then decided that exploring Chris and Lisa's backyard was more fun. Addison and Ryan painted their pumpkins but enjoyed mixing all the paint colors together a little more. I think by the end every paint color was a sort of army green.

Ayla's little mini pumpkin got glittered pink this year and the big pumpkins got a traditional (easy)
face carved on them. The elaborately carved pumpkins will have to wait until the kids are older ;)

The night before Halloween Aiden and I decorated cookies for his teachers (and a few for us). Once again, I did the frosting and he did the candy decorations - he tried frosting but it was a little too hard for him still. He also helped me make the frosting and especially enjoyed licking the beater ;)

And last but not least, we made "stained glass" jack o lanterns to hang on the sliding glass door. I shaved orange and yellow crayon and cut shapes for faces. He sprinkled the crayon onto wax paper and used the shapes to make faces. When he was done I put another sheet of wax paper on top, ironed them together and cut them into a pumpkin shape. He glued on green stems and we hung them up. He shows them to me several times a day "look at all those pumpkins Momma!"

Halloween day is when the trouble began. Aiden was supposed to be a pirate. He had a costume and hat and sword, but when I went to put it on him for school, it was "all done pirate", "bye bye pirate", "see ya later pirate" - he was not a happy camper. So, with 5 minutes to spare before we had to leave for school I threw together his Giants baseball player costume, which he was just fine with!

We attempted to get the pirate costume on again for trick or treating (I even tweaked it and sewed!) but, no luck. Miss Ayla went as a baby. In a pumpkin onsie. Because she was swimming in all the 0-3 mo. sized baby costumes. Oh well. Next year!

Now, for a kid that only went to 1 house to trick or treat, he sure ended up with a lot of candy. Between school and leftovers from Lisa, we had plenty.

And somewhere along the way I found a bag of costumes that were Sophie's (you know, before the children came into the picture I dressed up the dog) and I decided it would be a good idea if she modeled them all. Frog dog, hot dog, bat dog, and witch dog. Aiden got a kick out of it. Sophie...well, not so much.

Years from now, when we talk about Ayla's first Halloween, I will smile and show the kids the following  pictures....

See how we are all smiling? It was great! There were no tears. Or screaming. Or refusal to wear a costume. Heck, there were even no dirty diapers or spit up. And I weighed 30 pounds less. It was perfect!

Ha.

Just kidding. I will tell them the truth, because I think that some of life's experiences (yes, even holidays) are supposed to be just like this. Completely imperfect, but experiences just the same :)

pumpkin patch

Last weekend we took our annual trip to the local pumpkin patch with Chris and Lisa and the twins. Ayla slept on me in the carrier while Aiden, Addison and Ryan ran around like crazy and checked out all the pumpkins and animals at the patch. It was the first really cool, fall like day so far this year - last years trip was in the 90 degree heat (see it here)!

our kiddos at the pumpkin patch...

family picture with our new addition:)

pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

 Addison being adorable in her little fall outfit and boots (Ayla gets the hand-me-downs...right?!?!?) and Aiden taking a little break from running through the gourd tunnels to smile for the camera

indian corn

an escape chicken chillin' on a table full of pumpkins

Ryan and Aiden watching the chickens (this is the only pic I got of Ryan!) and Addison picking out her pumpkin 

Aiden checking out the goats and sheep. Yeah, he tried to kiss that black goat. He may have succeeded ;)

We wandered around for a bit and then picked out our pumpkins for the year. A big one to carve, a medium one for Aiden and a little one for Ayla. The trip to "the patch" is really the kick off to our holiday traditions and events - I love fall and winter. I am so happy this year to have little Ayla to include in all our holiday fun!

1 Month

Oh my, I'm so behind in Ayla update blog posts already...she is almost 7 weeks old already and I am just now posting her one month update. If all goes well I will be posting her 2 month update in about a week ;) Anyway, here it is...

 At one month Ayla...

• Loves to cuddle in really close and be held all day
• Sleeps best wrapped tightly in a nice, soft swaddle
• Had her first bath
• Getting more awake and alert everyday
• Grew out of preemie sized clothes and diapers
• Spends about half the night in her sleep-n-play rocker and the other half in bed with Momma
• Likes her "kick time" on the floor 
• Sucks on her thumb or on 2 fingers
• Loves having her hands on her face
• Is a good little eater - can usually be found attached to mom from 8am-11am and 5pm-9pm
• Hates her car seat and cries when the car stops moving for any reason
• Is so loved! She the sweetest little baby and really easy going...most of the time
• Went on her first trip to Nana and Papa's house

At the carwash

Aiden and Jeremy washed our cars the other night while Ayla and I got a little fresh air and watched them hard at work. Aiden splashed in the bucket of soapy water and ran to get sprayed by the hose at every opportunity. Pretty soon, he came over to me and said "wanna towel?" which is his new thing if ANY amount of water gets on him. Then this Momma got some cuddle time in with her babies while Aiden warmed up and dried off.

Aiden has been so cute lately, he gives kisses freely to us and to Ayla and will out of the blue come up and ask me "wanna hug?". He really is just the sweetest little guy and I think he is adjusting well to having a baby sister. I have seen him do new things and become a little boy over the last couple weeks - even his teachers at school commented on it. Watching him grow up makes me happy and sad all at once, he will always be my little baby boy though ;)