ONE YEAR!!!

Well, needless to say I am severly behind on the one year post.

We held her birthday party on her actual birthday 05-15-11. It was such a great time. Both Grandparents made it in town, both of my sisters and one brother-in-law also made the trip. Robby and I are so thankful for a great family that loves Ayla as much as we do. I know she feels how loved she is by everyone. She loves her family

There is so much that has gone on... We have moved out of the condo into a much bigger two story townhouse. Ayla has her own playroom and bathroom, what a lucky girl. We went to Tennessee for July 4th and had a blast. We visited the Knoxville Zoo, even the adults liked it as much as her!

Ayla has grown into such a funny, sweet little toddler. She is a blast to be around -so much so that we have only had a babysitter once since April. A lot of people have suggested that Robby and I go away for a night or a weekend.

Here are my feelings on that: I leave her every Monday thru Friday all day. I simply am not that interested in being away from her anymore than I already am. Robby shares that view with me also. We chose to have a child, she is not here by accident. Our goal is to raise a daughter that among many other things, feels loved and accepted and a part of us. Now, I know the importance of setting a good marriage example for her, but at an age appropriate time. Our example to her right now is: eating breakfast and dinner as a family. Putting her to bed together, and lots of family hugs, walks and play time. Right now, during these tender formative years, I just can't see how it benefits her to not only have her parents work outside the home (therefore her spending her days with someone else) and us get a babysitter all the time so that we can have a "date night". Before she was born, we promised ourselves that we would have a date night once a month. We haven't exactly stuck to that, and that's ok. She goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 so in reality Robby and I get plenty of time alone together. Sometimes on Saturday nights, we wait our dinner until after she goes to bed and make steaks or something not as toddler-friendly, then after dinner we will snuggle up on the couch and watch a netflix movie. It really is just the same as a date night, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

I should note that our lack of utilizing a babysitter is in no way attributed to the pool of babysitters. We so far have only used Emily, a friend, past-coworker and all around great person that used to be a nanny. We feel very comfortable with her and trust her completely. Some of the teachers at Ayla's school have offered to babysit and if the absolute need arises and Emily is not available then we will entertain someone else. When we do go out, usually Emily would come over as we were putting Ayla down for the night.

But this last weekend (our first date night since before her birthday!) we thought it best to have Emily come over at 6:30 so Ayla could have some play time before bed with Emily. That way, in the off chance that she woke up at some point there wouldn't be any confusion / fear that mom and dad weren't there. Of course, she LOVES Emily so it all went smoothly.

We had a great time, we went to Fleet Landing for dinner downtown, then went walking downtown.

Anyway -

Ayla is about 25lbs and roughly (i saw roughly because she is only still when sleeping) 32/ 33/ 34 inches tall. She is wearing size 4 diapers but is getting ready to start wearing 5's. She is wearing 18 & 24 month clothes and even some 2T!!!

She has decided she likes shoes, Grammy and Poppa keep buying her tons of shoes. She is currently in a size 5 / 5.5. She says "shsss on my fttt" which means "shoes on my feet". We are working on the "please" part. Her favorite word is puppy, therefore her favorite things are puppies!!!

She is down to one nap a day, 12-2pm. Which means we can't really be out and about because she just won't nap anywhere like when she was tiny. She needs her bed , so on weekends Robby and I have started napping during that time too. It's been a nice break.

About 5 weeks ago we went paci free. It was an adjustment for her, but we didn't look back. She had a few days of rough evenings but all in all it was easier now rather than later. Lesson learned though, if we are blessed with another child paci use will be much more limited and tossed when bottles are tossed.

Speaking of bottles, she's been off them since 9 months but now she has graduated to open regular cups!!! Yikes, so not ready for that. Daycare has taught how to drink from a cup, hoping to cut down on germ passing since they don't drink after each other with plastic cups. I guess the sippy cups were being passed around.

Anyway, I'll post some pics and videos this weekend.