1,000 Days of Ayla

My baby is going to be 2 in four days.  Four days!  How is that even possible?  That's 730 days!  But I guess when you're 9,855 days and counting, like myself, those 730 days are a drop in the bucket of time.

They've been the 730 most important days of my life.  Add the 270 days of gestation, that brings us to 1,000 days.

1,000 days of Ayla.

I have probably 10,000 memories of those 1,000 days, but I can't imagine ever having enough time to write them all down.

Here are a few favorites...

• When Ayla was born, I remember looking at her and thinking, "You're my baby?"  She was so puffy and swollen related to my own puffy/swollen/high blood pressure-ness, plus she looked Asian due to how that affected her eyes.  
• When Ayla was 3 weeks old, I remember crying hysterically and telling Brandon that she was growing up too fast.
• I'll never forget those early weeks all she wanted to do was sleep on my chest.  I wanted to hold her every moment of the day and felt so guilty if I put her in her swing or bouncy seat. 
• When Ayla was a month old, she smiled at us for the first time.
• Poor baby Ayla suffered terribly from constipation.  I'll never forget how sad that made me.
• One day, we went to pick up Ayla and all of a sudden the moro "startle" reflex was gone.
• She loved being swaddled, but she would bust out of any swaddle Brandon or I did, no matter how perfect the swaddle was (Brandon was the best).  How we loved our SwaddleMe blankets
• When she wasn't crawling by 8 or 9 months PLUS she wasn't much into rolling from back to tummy or tummy to back, I was so worried.  Worry, worry, worry.  She didn't care for rolling, which in large part happens in babies due to the SIDS prevention "back to sleep" campaign.  (Always put your babies on their backs to sleep.  Back sleeping has been directly linked to a reduction in SIDS).  
• Crawling around 10 months, but lots of butt scootching before that.  When she crawled, she only actively used 1 leg.  We teasingly called her other leg her "gimp" leg (no offense intended...but I can joke because I have plenty of firsthand experience with physical limitations).
• I'll never forget going to Iowa with Ayla and showing up at people's doorsteps to surprise them.  When Ayla cried, that meant it was time to hop in the car and head to the next place.
• A few months later, Ayla got to spend time with her great-grandfather (my gpa Leroy) and braved the 30+ hour road trip, in the snow, to see him before he passed away.  She was the best traveler, but she cried after every pit stop (we took frequent stops for stretching and diap changing). 
• Ayla's first birthday was a fun day.  She swam, she was surrounded by friends and family, and she destroyed the giant cupcake that her Ti-Ti made for her!
• When we visited with B's family in Iowa the summer right after she turned one, she got to truly enjoy fireworks for the first time-she just love, love, loved them! We went when she was 2 months old, but for her back then, it was just good sleepytime. 
• Also on that trip, she teased us with her near walking, but didn't do it until we got home (her Nana told her she better not walk while we were away!)
• From 14 months on, Ayla has been a walker, runner, jumper, and dancer.
• Dancing to Black Eyed Peas and demanding "Boom Boom"
• Every new little word learned in the last almost year: Mama, Papa, Boo, Okie (Oskie), more, milk, eat, food, happy, sad, mad, angry, cry, help me, please, thank you, sorry, "lucky" (yucky), potty, pee pee, poo poo, undies, plus she knows names of colors, names of characters in books and movies (so many characters!), chick names of many foods including "chocolate bunny" and "chocolate chicken" from Easter goodies, hold me, raining, windy, sunny, book, no, yes, fine, careful, coming, let's go, sit down, get down, ready-set-go! Hug & kiss.  Nana, Gpa, Oma, Ti Ti, Den-Den, Danielle...also knows Nana's, Gpa's, Oma's, Ti-Ti's, Mama's, and Papa's "real" name.  She knows her full name (well 3/4 of it considering she has 2 middle names, she knows her first, first middle name, and last name).  I am truly amazed by the talking, asking, explaining, and expression Ayla has done and continues to get better at!!
• Ayla likes to tease us, holding out a snack for us to take a bite of and then snatching it away at the last second.
• Recently, Ayla was chasing Boo around the house with her toy lawn mower and laughing.  Another day, she was just running after Boo laughing and snorting.  Yep, she snorts like her mama.
• Snuggles and hugs and kisses and rocking while reading books at night.
• The way she drags around her "Mama blanket" (aka my baby blanket that she has an exact replica of) like Linus drug his blankie around.
• When I had a migraine, I told her "Mama's sick," to which she responded by kissing my head and saying, "Better!"
• Her newfound love for Toy Story 3, Shrek 4, and her non-stop coloring (with her left hand...and right once in awhile).
• Back a handful of months ago, she sat on the potty with no success.  When we went to get a diaper, she stood in the corner of our bedroom and peed down her leg.  When it hit her foot, she started screaming and crying hysterically, saying, "Ew, ew!"

This is just a few of my wonderful memories that come to mind of the last two years...the most wonderful and challenging and tiring and beautiful 1,000 days of my life. 

Happy 1,000 days of Ayla.