Mother Love

It was a super low-key weekend for us! And while I always love getting out and doing things on the weekend, the quiet ones are just as nice too.

Friday: Ayla and I were actually visiting my parents in South Carolina for a few days while Ben was away on a work trip, so we spent Friday with them. We’re getting our kitchen cabinets done from a shop local to them, so mom and and I went over in the morning to pick out our paint color and hardware. Now I can’t wait to get them installed! We went out for lunch after visiting the cabinet shop, which ended up being more like a scarf-it-down kind of meal since Ayla wasn’t into the whole lunch date out thing that day. It’s amazing how fast you can get packed up and out of a place when the little one decides to start wailing at the top of her lungs! Sorry, cozy cafe lunchers…we’re leaving now! We spent the afternoon and evening at home with my parents and called in an early bedtime since I was planning to leave in the early morning to head back to Tennessee.

Saturday: We left my parent’s a little before five o’clock in the morning, because as crazy as it sounds to leave that early for such a short six-hour trip, it’s just so much easier to travel when Ayla will sleep for the first few hours. It’s one thing when there are two of us traveling, since one of us can be back in the back with her to help entertain when she starts getting restless. But when it’s just me, it’s a helpless feeling when you can’t do anything to help when she’s bored. Singing to her helps, but one can only sing “you are my sunshine” so many times before you just can’t sing it anymore, hehe. She took a while to fall asleep once we left, but thankfully she ended up sleeping for almost three hours before waking up for the day. We got home around noon, and just spent the rest of the day at home doing some cooking and unpacking and taking a walk around the block for some fresh air.

Sunday: Ben’s flight got in around eight thirty in the morning, which was so nice since we still had the rest of the day to be together. Ayla did her typical little shy-girl routine when he came in the door…looking at him for a few seconds, then sticking her thumb in her mouth, then shyly looking back at him for a few minutes before getting her big smiles on her face for him. Cutest thing! We had naps in the morning and a big welcome-home lunch and then a family walk to enjoy the pretty fall day. It was so gorgeous out! We left for church a little earlier than we needed to in the afternoon so we could stop for a little smoothie date, and then spent the next few hours at church. Ayla did so good this week, and even managed to fall asleep in the stroller so Ben and I got to sit together for an entire church service for the first time in a long time. Hopefully it’s a new trend, hehe. We came home after church and did our usual Sunday-supper routine…which is basically pull everything edible out of the fridge and make plates of whatever you want. It was such a good Sunday being together with my little family again!

Here are five things I love:
– this is pretty funny + cute
– this beautiful word for moms
– this flu tonic
– this handy list
– this song

Have a great week, dears!

My little baby girl turned six months yesterday. Brace yourself for the cliche…but where has time gone?!?

It’s strange how it can feel like the past six months have gone by in the blink of an eye and yet it also feels like an eternity ago that we were just two people living together without this sweet little soul to brighten up our every day. I can barely remember what life was like before Ayla was born, and that’s ok. I don’t need to remember!

So, six months! I will be the typical first-time mom and make a big deal about this, ok? I mean, it’s a HALF BIRTHDAY. It deserves to be celebrated in style with a little cake and extra kisses and such. We love this little girl so much and she’s changed our world in the best kind of way. It’s not alway easy, being a parent…but it is so fulfilling and full of purpose. Although disclaimer…I do have those days where it’s like please-stop-fussing-already or man-i-really-want-to-just-go-sit-at-a-coffee-shop-by-myself-for-an-afternoon or dear-child-WHAT-do-you-want. But I think that’s just normal parent life, right? Some days are tougher than others, but I think it’s amazing how one of those sweet little smiles or funny little giggles can take away the frustrated feelings away so fast and make my heart melt with love for her all over again in an instant.

Here’s what she’s been up to lately::

– learning to sit! She’s just in the past week gotten the hang of sitting up on her own, although we still have to be close by to watch so she doesn’t topple over when she’s on the floor. She’ll make the funniest little pleased-with-herself expression when she’s sitting on her own. So far, she hasn’t shown much interest in attempting to crawl or move around and she doesn’t like tummy time at all (as seen in the tummy photo above).

– eating a few solids! We’ve started slowly introducing solids to her in the past week…only avocado and banana so far. She’ll take a few tiny spoonfuls of each before wrinkling up her nose and refusing to take any more, hehe. Apparently she’s not totally sold on it yet! I’m not in a hurry to get her on solids, but wanted to start introducing new foods once she was around six months.

– developing big personality! It’s exciting to watch her personality emerge more and more, and she really is a generally happy, full-of-life little girl. She won’t easily give a smile to a stranger, but when she’s in her normal surroundings, she will smile and grin and giggle all day long. In contrast, she can also project quite a wail when she’s unhappy as well. I’m fairly certain the lady in the bathroom stall next to the one I was using to change Ayla’s diaper when we were out for lunch on Saturday would have thought that I was doing something super terrible to this little baby who was s.c.r.e.a.m.i.n.g her head off, hehe.

– sleeping for solid nights! She’s been doing really good at nights for the past few months, but would still wake to feed between 4 and 5. It was still a good night’s sleep by new mom’s standards so I definitely wasn’t complaining! But just in the past week, she’s starting sleeping right through until 7 30 or 8. Sometimes she’ll wake a little earlier than that, but will put herself back to sleep after a few minutes.

What about you: what milestones are you celebrating in your children these days?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!