4 Months Old

WOW! What an exciting time in our life. Ayla has become so curious of her surroundings and absolutely is in love with life! Just as her Daddy blessed her to be in her blessing! She is always laughing and smiling. In the mornings she is so awake and alert. She loves to talk and have conversations. I'm convinced she knows exactly what I'm saying and she talks back. She is for sure going to be quite the talkative little one when she gets older which I am totally fine with! :)! Motherhood is just wonderful and I am in love with it :)! I love watching her grow into a her own person and just to see the light in her eye's brings light to my life.

Stats
Height: 23 Inches (12th Percentile)
Weight: 12 Lbs 15 Oz (50th Percentile)
Head Circumference: (25th Percentile)

Accomplishments
* Ayla has found her feet! This was recently on Thursday(5/23/2013)  and it is absolutely adorable! She has been grabbing them more and more the last few days. She even started grabbing them today while I was changing her diaper. If this is what changing diapers are going to become then I am in trouble. She likes to grab her feet and wiggle around so the diaper slides everywhere... my little stinker!
* She isn't rolling yet... I know I know.. STILL! I think we are close but just not quite there. She rolls to her sides and thinks that it's fun but has absolutely no desire to roll completely over. She will roll from side to side when she is on her back but when she is on her tummy she puts her arms & legs up and screams while balancing on her tummy. Hopefully by 5 months she will be rolling.. if not, whoever needed rolling anyways, right :)!

(Excuse the "Mom" voice)

* She loves her voice and loves to talk. She goes loud and soft and will mimic what we say.. the best she can. What a cutie!
* Ayla sleeps through the night and has for quite a while. I'm glad she hasn't regressed at all. She is such a good sleeper and we are so blessed for that. We have our routine down and she has done great to stick with it. Most nights she goes to be around 7:30-8 and then always wakes up at 5 for me to feed her before I leave to work. What a great system! I love cuddling with her before leaving for work. It makes the day not as bad.
*Ayla has really started to sit up. She can't do it by herself yet but now even in the bathtub she doesn't like to lay down. She loves to just sit on my lap and play with her favorite ball.

Trying to roll

Bath after shots

First Stroller Ride

We decided to go on a walk & take Ayla in the stroller instead of the Baby Bjorn like usual. Can you believe she is big enough to sit up in the stroller & not have her car seat?!? So exciting for her! It was a little windy & cool but she LOVED looking around at all the scenery. She usually is sleeping on my chest so this was an exciting new adventure for her!

Moab 2013

Once again we went on our annual Moab trip. Well... kinda annual. We use to go every year but then Am got sick so we haven't been in a couple years. It was so much fun to get back to what we know! The hikes, the picnic's, playing ball in the park & especially enjoying each others company. This year we had Ayla so it was quite a bit different but so much better! Everything with her is better than it was before we had her. We absolutely adore her and I can't imagine life any other way!

We left Friday & met everyone down in the Arches parking lot. We weren't able to check into our hotel yet so we went & hiked Delicate Arch. Zac got me a baby bjorn awhile ago & I am SO GLAD that I had it. It was awesome. Ayla does pretty well in it & she just slept the entire time! Which was wonderful :) Once we got to the top she was hungry so I had to nurse her at the top of Delicate... apologies to everyone who walked by) but it all worked out! It just was so much fun :)!

After Delicate we went back to the hotel & unloaded. We then had dinner in the park, met up with the Rhodes & played ball. Saturday is always the day we have our big hikes. We took Ayla on Double O primitive loop. SO much fun but SO scary. There were parts where I was worrying about the other kids with us and parts where I was worrying about myself & hoping that I didn't fall with Ayla on the front of me. She again was such an angel. Unless she was hungry, she just slept! I nursed while hiking which is always fun but hey, I'm pretty proud of myself :)! I love this hike & love the fact that we do it everytime we go. It's just become one of those traditions :)

Landscape Arch

Kiddos being "Spider's"

The Famous Grandpa/Twins picture we take every year on the way to Double O.

Nathan made it to the top!

After such a long hike (it took us 5 hours to do the entire thing) we headed back to the hotel & went swimming! One of my favorite things :)! Ayla had a lot of fun & enjoyed just chillin :)!

All ready to go to the pool

Daddy takes such good care of his little girl

Sitting in the water for the first time!

Happy Family

Sunday we went to Denny's for Breakfast & then up to see the Window's. It was such a great vacation & I am so glad that we were able to go as a family. I love that everyone has kids and that we all can go & do family things. It's great to be able to have fun together and have the cousins get to know each other better. I love that Ayla is going to be able to grow up knowing her cousins & have a great time with them :)! Another great vacation down & we are already excited for the next one! What's next, Grandpa Carroll? :)!

Mother's Day

This year was my first Mother's Day where I was actually a MOM! It seriously has been the best 4 months of my life. Zac (& Ayla) got me a beautiful pot for the front porch. I have wanted one for so long but it has been one of those things where I just haven't done it. When I woke up Zac was making me breakfast & I was able to stay in bed and cuddle with my little princess! We went to church with his parents and then stayed & had lunch. Later we went to my mom's and celebrated Mother's Day along with Jordan's Birthday. What a great day it was! I am so lucky to have such an amazing Husband and Daughter!

Easter 2013

This year was Ayla's first Easter. Holiday's have become so much more exciting and fun now that we have her and I absolutely love it! We went to Barb & Dave's church & then to their house for lunch. We were able to go to my mom's for dinner and spend time catching up!

For Easter Ayla got a book, outfit and bunny. She was so adorable in her outfit and we read her book each week!

Snuggling with Daddy Easter Eve

Ayla's first Easter Basket

Girls Easter morning

After church

The best family picture we got with all 4 of us... ha ha ha

Yay we got one! One of my favorite pictures :)!