Mama Speaks

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 ...

Happy Sunday!  This morning I am prolonging the inevitable chore of getting dressed for my fun, busy day ahead.  My Aunt Kari is in town, so her, my mom, and I are going to go see John Edward (psychic medium) in Orlando.  Luckily, my bridesmaid dresses came in for my girls this same week, so we are picking them up for my 2 girls (sister and future sis-in-law, who will be getting married 5 months and 2 days after us).  It wouldn't be an Orlando trip without an IKEA stop, so we'll be going there.  (My aunt has never been!  Eep!) Then, after our show, we will be going to Ming Court for some Chinese/sushi.  Sadly, it will be farewell to my aunt (her name Kari means "pure of heart"-so fitting), as she will be returning home to Iowa. We've spent a ton of time together this weekend, and we've all especially enjoyed Ayla's antics. Ayla's Antics   Ayla loves all shoes, but these were some of her favs at Payless. Putting on everyone's shoes and walkin...

There are days like today when I feel like a bad mom.  I feel impatient.  I feel at wit's end.  Sometimes I feel like I've exhausted every option I can think of to change a situation whether it be Ayla running from me when we get home rather than come inside or how to get her to be still for 30 seconds to change her diaper. We had to run to Target for diapers this evening, which was an ordeal, let me tell ya.  First, Ayes leaked through a pair of stupid pull-up training pants (which she hadn't even been wearing for more than an hour!) and refused to hold still long enough to let me change her.  Kicking, rolling, standing and jumping, letting her whole body go limp.  Stern mommy voice.  Held her kicking feet.  She screamed, I screamed back.  She didn't like that, so she pinched my lips shut.  I tried not to laugh.  Finally made it through the whole getting changed bit. And then came time to go to the car.  She love to make ...

My household is experiencing a case of the terrible twos...about 5 months early!  Ayla's latest obsession is hitting, kicking, and slapping me.  Also, when she finds something she isn't supposed to have (usually something expensive and/or breakable) and is told to give it back, she instead runs and LAUNCHES said item at the nearest hard surface.  It is exhausting.  She is so smart (all moms think that, but I've had non-biased parties tell me so, so it must be true-wink) so we spend a lot of time talking about her behavior. Me: "Do we hit?" Ayla: "Nooo!" Me: "Is hitting nice or..." Ayla: "Meeeen!" Me: "What do you say?" Ayla: "Sawddy" (sorry) Then, she says "aww" and hugs me.  Which is sometimes followed by another slap.  The struggle is day-to-day.  Do I give her a mean mommy face?  Do I ignore her since she's looking for a reaction?  Do we do (another) time out?  I vary my strategy because...