The Joy's of Motherhood

Mom's, do you remember those times where you would blog at least 4-5 times a week, always make sure your facebook status was up to date? Your clothes were always free of spit up, your hair was always nicely put together and most days you were showered and ready for lifes events by 9am at the latest. The day's where you would at the jump of a hat leave for Vegas or some vacation you and your sweetheart decided to do while eating ice cream on the coach, or running to the mall 'real quick' because you wanted a new shirt. The days where your house was always spotless and when you answered the door you always had your hair done, make up on and a bra on?

I remember those days as if they were yesterday. It has been 6, almost 7 amazing weeks with my little girl and I wouldn't trade them for the world. Yes, maybe I have answered the door looking like a train wreck. Maybe I'm never showered before noon and my house is slightly a mess. Going to the mall is like preparing for a vacation and vacation... what are real vacations? But I honestly LOVE my life. I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with my little sweetheart these past 7 weeks and look forward to the next little while with just the two of us in the day. I posted some pictures and updates below. A lot of these pictures I took during the day while staying home with her. If I wasn't able to stay home, I would have missed out on all of this. I'm so jealous of those mom's who get to stay home all the time with their kids and see every moment of their little growing lives!

Ayla Updates

Ayla will be 7 weeks on Thursday and she has quite the little personality! She is so smiley (especially when she has gas ha ha) and she really loves life! She only got up ONCE last night. I put her down around 11 and she woke up at 4 and then at 7 ready for the day. We have a nice routine where I try to have her in bed by 8 or so, she will take a nap and then wake up at 11 one last time to eat then is down for the rest of the night you could call it. At  7 weeks old, granted I'm a first time mom but I think that is pretty great! During the day we play peek-a-boo and ready nursery rhymes from this cute book her Great Grandma Carroll gave her. She is able to sit on my lap while holding her own head up for quite some time with no assistance. She has been doing this since about 4-5 weeks. She coos and talks to me all day long. We have great conversations and she always ends with a smile after I tell her how much I love her! She has about a 2 - 3 hour nap each day and then has small 45 - 60 minute naps throughout. She is so noisy and loves to grunt, squeak, whistle and any other noise while sleeping and eating. She is probably the noisiest eater I know but I love it!

At almost 3 weeks old we did a cute little photo shoot. She didn't like being on her tummy very much but loved to be on her back and it really made her tired!

Ayla & Daisy - Best of friends :)

This bear is from her Aunt Amberly. It is such a neat story. Brittany was going through some of Amberly's old toys and found this bear. She had this huge prompting that Amberly wanted Ayla to have it. I love that she followed her heart and gave it to Ayla. It is so special and I look forward to the day where I can tell Ayla that story and the special meaning it has. I'm sad that she didn't get to meet her Aunt Amberly on this earth but I know Am was taking care of her up in heaven and sent her down to us. I'm glad they were able to meet up there. It makes me feel so good that she was in good hands and that Am was always by her side before coming into our arms.

She is the funniest sleeper. She always has her arms up in weird ways.

Grandma Ekins loves her little girls. She always says how special little girls are and how much fun they are. I am so happy that she is here to meet Ayla & love how much she loves her.

Nana loves bathing Ayla & taking care of her!

Daddy loves his little girl! They have such a sweet bond. Everytime I go to Zac's work to see him the first thing he does is get in the back seat to see his little girl. I love how much he loves her and that he misses her when he is away. It's so special to me that they have that bond and that I know he will always take care of her.

Beautiful girl snuggling with her monkey that Bausten gave her!

Ayla's first bottle at 2 1/2 weeks old. 

I wanted to make sure she would take a bottle because I have to go back to work so we decided to give her one early. She took it like a champ and never has had any confusion going back and forth between nursing and a bottle. Bottles have made my life so much easier as I can take her anywhere and not have to worry about her getting hungry and me not being able to find a place to feed her. It's awesome! Zac fed Ayla her first bottle. It was so sweet to watch him be able to feed her for the first time. He loved being able to take care of her :)

Don't they look so much alike!

First attempt to feed her..

She wasn't eating very well because she was so tired so here he is trying to wake her up

Hanging her in the air didn't work so we had to undress her... then she finally decided to wake up!

Ayla's many faces

 

Sweet Memories/Moments

In church two sunday's ago the teacher talked about sweet memories. Moments that you would like to freeze and that just make you happy. As a mom, I find that it's the little moments that make me happy and that I want to freeze... Moments like...

Watching her sleep with her hand raised (she does this all the time)

or her foot sticking out of the covers because she wants to raise it like her hand

Having her hand smaller than my palm

Watching Zac & Baby do skin to skin to make her feel better when she was sad

Watching her snuggle with her daddy

Her laying on my chest.... this is probably my favorite. There's nothing I love more than snuggling with her on my chest. It makes me feel like i'm the only one she wants and that she knows I can keep her safe

Comforting her after she just got pricked on her heel at the doctors office to test her Belirubin (sp?)

Watching them snuggle once again

Her growing out of her nightgown. I love this because it reminds me that i'm the one making her healthy and that I'm helping her grown big and strong. Even though it is sad to watch her grown up and that I would like for her to remain my baby forever, I still love that she is growing and I love watching her personality develop

Week over Week

Newborn

2 Weeks Old

3 Weeks Old

1 Month old

6 Weeks Old

She is growing up so fast. I can not say enough times how much I love motherhood and how much I love this little girl. I know we all want to pull our hair out sometimes and thing we are going to pass out while walking because we are so tired but would never give it up.