Not one, but TWO!

So, as I have previously mentioned, Alayna is teething. She is in the process of getting her bottom, front TEETH...yes, that's a plural. Her second tooth broke through the gums this morning. And her first tooth is still not all the way in. Poor girl.

As you can imagine, life has been quite interesting. My days seem to be filled with holding a cuddly, whiny baby. I LOVE the cuddling, just not so much the whining part. Lucky for me there is way more cuddling than whining. Thank goodness.

I am hoping that we will soon be back to normal and there will be no more teeth...for a while at least.

5 Months Old

With all the traveling we did this month, I have not had time to post about Alayna being 5 months. So here we go. Better late than never.

5 Months Old! This past month Alayna has learned so many new things. It is exciting to watch her and see how much she has grown. Her physical appearance has changed as well over the past month.

It seems that her cheeks have gotten more and more rosy the last few weeks. I have gotten several comments about her rosy little cheeks. This feature seemed to win the people over on the plane.Her hair is another feature that has been changing over the past few months. I am afraid the flash on the camera has been deceiving many of you because in pictures her hair looks quite dark, but in real life her hair is actually lightening. It is now a lot like the color of my hair (strawberry blond as my mom likes to call it). It may not have as much red as mine, but there is some.
This picture doesn't totally do it justice, but you can tell it is not as dark as it used to be.

Over this past month we have also noticed some interesting quirks that Alayna has started doing. Such as rubbing her eyes. You may recall that I have mentioned in previous posts that she does this when she gets tired. Well, she still does, but the frequency has definitely increased. I don't think it is because she is more tired. I think it has developed into a habit. Or maybe since it is spring here, she might have an allergy to something in the air.

Water bottles. They have become the toy of choice. I don't know why, she just likes them. Full or empty, it does not matter. In fact, water bottles kept her entertained for most of the trip to Laramie.

Alayna loves the sound of whistling. I think it intrigues her. Most of the time if she is crying and you start whistling. She will stop. Needless to say, my whistling skills have dramatically improved, although Dan really is the best whistler in our house.

Lastly, the fake cough. It has become a sound that I hear a few times throughout the day. And there is no doubt that it is fake. I don't know why she does it. She just does. At least it's not a real one.

For Valentine's Day we got a Baby Einstein DVD for Alayna. Over the past few weeks, she has started liking it more. She can actually sit there for almost all of it.

Here she is just chillin' in the Bumbo chair.

And another way to watch it. This one gets a little tummy time in as well.

March 24th I noticed Alayna's first tooth! Who knows how long it really was showing, but this was the first time I saw a flash of white when she smiled. Ok, so this picture is HORRIBLE! Sorry. Just imagine you can see a tiny bit of white in the front of the bottom gums. Meanwhile, I will try and take a better picture. It's harder than you might think.

And by the way, teething is not my favorite thing (and I'm sure it's not Alayna's favorite either), but it has given me some WONDERFUL cuddle time with my sweet little girl. The other day I just sat and held her for 40 minutes (which Never happens). And she just let me. It was perfect.

Toes. They have been a fascination for Alayna for quite sometime, but she has not been able to grab them and pull them to her until just recently. They must be yummy. She has them in her mouth quite often.

No more noodle legs! Thanks to Grandma L. Alayna can stand. Really well. And for a long time. When my parents first came to visit us a couple of days before we went to Laramie, Alayna did not stand on her legs. They were "noodle legs" as we call them. And by the time we came back from Laramie, she was standing like a pro. Grandma L. worked with her every time she played with her.

This was the first thing that Dan noticed when we came home. Thanks Grandma!

And now, her biggest accomplishment. Rolling over (from tummy to back). I was beginning to think she wasn't going to ever roll over. But I was ok with that. I still don't know what I think about mobility for her.

I am actually partly to blame in the fact that it took her so long. As mentioned in a previous post, she HATES tummy time so I did not make her do it as much as I should, to avoid the crying, but here she is. Rolling over. Yea!

Laramie

Alayna and I just got back from a trip to Laramie to see my family. I had not been back to my hometown since we moved in June and it was a much needed vacation for the both of us. We had such a great time spending time with family and friends. It was her first trip to Laramie and I think she really enjoyed it.

Of course I did not get the camera out as much as I should have so some important family members are not pictured (Sarah, KaLee, Ronnie, Easton, Phil, Karissa, Craig). So I guess we will have to make another trip before long.

Here is Grandma and Alayna reading her bedtime story, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? One of my favorite parts of being with family was the extra help all the time. Grandma is getting Alayna in her nightie. Alayna sure looks like she enjoys spending a little one on one time with Grandma.

Uncle Jordan and Alayna. Aren't they so cute together? It was so fun to watch them play together. Jordan is such a great Uncle.


Grandpa is telling Alayna some of his great stories. Look at how interested she is.

What a cute pair. Alayna loved Grandpa...especially his glasses. Those glasses kept Alayna entertained (and quiet) during church for several minutes. It was so fun to watch them interact.

Most of our time in Laramie was spent in warm weather (high 50's/low 60's), but toward the end of our stay, the typical Wyoming weather got the best of us. This picture doesn't even really do it justice. There was a pretty big storm and it was quite cold. (I definitely am getting used to the weather in St. George. It was in the 80's while I was enduring this weather.) I had to scrape my windshield. Something that I haven't done in a year! That was weird.

As always, the days flew by and our vacation was over before we knew it. We had a marvelous time and can't wait to go back.

Here is Alayna flying in an airplane for the first time. I think she likes it. Don't you?

My little brother, Jordan, told my mom that it wasn't fair that Alayna got to ride in a plane when she was only 5 months old. He had to wait a lot longer than that. Too funny.

By the way, Alayna did great on the plane! She cried for maybe 10 minutes collectively. I think she didn't like it when the Captain would talk on the intercom. It was pretty loud. And she fell asleep within 30 seconds of take off. (Probably the fastest she has ever fallen asleep in my arms.) Do you think there is a way to create that plane ride effect during church? I would kill for her to fall asleep that fast again.

Oh, and she did even better in the car on the way to Laramie. She maybe cried for twenty minutes collectively throughout the 10 hours. I am not kidding. If you don't believe me, ask my family.

We loved our trip, but there is nothing like being with Daddy. We sure did miss him!

(The entire hand in the mouth is due the tooth that is coming in.)

Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us come!

Vegas

A couple of weeks ago we were able to go to Vegas with some of Dan's family. It was a blast. Here are some pictures of our trip.

The drive to Vegas. This picture may be a bit deceiving. You may think that our ride consisted of a baby sleeping peacefully the whole way. Think again. Alayna actually only slept for about 15 minutes. (It wasn't bad though, considering the trip is only about an hour and a half from St. George.)
Here she is sporting her Wyoming shirt. Go Cowboys!

Uncle Phil and Alayna matching. (Minus the bib.)

What a rock star! Cousin Ashlyn was kind enough to share her sparkly heart sunglasses with Alayna.

Daddy and Alayna sitting in the Cheesecake Factory. Notice the "not-so-thrilled" look on Dan's face. Alayna had just threw a nice tantrum. She was exhausted and wanted her bed, but alas her bed was three or more miles down the strip so Daddy's arms had to be good enough.

(Note: Her crying was loud enough that people from other tables kept giving us the evil eye, but what are you to do when the restaurant you are at is in Caesars Palace and it is a good fifteen minute walk to even get outside? So we just let them stare. And she really only cried for about 10 minutes.)

We can endure a little crying when this is the result.

We went to The Flamingo for lunch one day. The kids loved watching the flamingos. Even Alayna enjoyed them for a couple of minutes.

We loved spending time with family. Ashlyn and Jace were so good with Alayna. They were so cute to watch. Jace made sure to let me know what Alayna was doing at all times. Ex: He would say, "Baby Alayna crying." every time she cried.

Here was some Ashlyn and Alayna play time. (Ashlyn and Alayna are the only girl grand kids on Dan's side of the family so it was fun watching them spend time together.)

Probably the favorite thing to do was go swimming in the incredibly warm outdoor pool at the hotel. That is, everyone enjoyed it EXCEPT Alayna.

Here is a rundown of her first swimming experience.

Daddy and Alayna getting into the pool.

Just chillin' with Daddy before he puts her into the water. (Notice, no tears.)

The "I'm-not-so-sure-I-like-this-look".

"Yep. It's official. I do NOT like this one bit!"

Daddy, will you please get me out of here!

What a sad face.

We really thought she would like the pool considering she LOVES baths and the water felt just like a nice warm bath, but it was a no go. We even tried it twice and the results were the same.

I video taped it, but the majority of it is her crying. I think we are going to bathe her in her swimming suit a few times before our next attempt. Maybe she will like it then.

We had such a great time! Thanks Thad and Ilene!

Ready or Not

Here I come!

So tomorrow is the big day. The day all my dreams come true...ok maybe not, just my dreams of going to Laramie. Alayna and I will be traveling with my family. We are so excited (and nervous). I don't know if they are as excited, but hey, they are the ones that offered.

If you have ever traveled with a baby before, you know anything can happen. Especially when our trip consists of 10 hours of driving. Lucky for us, we will be splitting the driving between two days and our traveling home is flying in an airplane* (which also makes me nervous).

Let's just hope that Alayna has learned some patience from the Vegas** trip that we just got back from and will be a good traveling baby. We'll see. I'll keep my fingers (and toes) crossed and I'll let you know.

So here's to being with family back in my home town!

Yea!

*If any of you have traveled with a baby on an airplane and have any tips, they would be much appreciated. :)

**More on this trip in a later post.

A Preview...

Of our little swimsuit girl. (This is for you, Mom.) We bought a swimsuit for Alayna this last weekend since we are going to Vegas with Dan's family and there of course are going to be pools to swim in.

I figure one of us should look stinkin' cute in their swimsuit and since I am positive that person is not going to be me, Alayna will be taking on that task.

They really do make the most darling swimsuits for babies. Why don't they do that for adults?

After A Long Day At Church...

This sweet little baby just finally gave it up, in Daddy's arms.

Note: This rarely happens, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of the sweetness.

Take a look at her hand. Just too cute.Dan actually contemplated whether or not to just hold her while she slept.

That's true love.