Santa Claus is coming to town...

... and Ayla is the least bit interested in meeting the big guy! We weren't surprised that our little one would be scared to sit on his lap for a picture, but didn't expect her to cower at the mere sight of him!!! No picture with Santa this year!!
Ayla does however love to see ornamental Santa's, snowmen, raindeer and all things Christmas. She even does her own very high pitched "ho-ho-ho"! (still only Saying DADA for words but learning some sign language - Thanks jen!)

Not only has Ayla had to face the trauma of encountering santa, but she also came down with her very first full fledged Flu. Poor girl has been out of it for days on end. It's so hard to see such a teeny little thing become so vulnerable. It seems that the flu is thanfully making it's way out! Now we just need to keep mom and dad healthy over the next few weeks. We're looking forward everything the holiday brings... Including the FOOD! We'll need lots of fatty goodies to put some meat back onto Ayla's skinny bones.

Wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! We'll be sure to post more in the new year!!

15 Months and Counting

Just thought I'd post a quicky on where our little one is at this month!
She's graduated from walking all over the place to RUNNING! She never stops. It's a rare sight to see Ayla in one spot. The girl likes to MOVE! Whether she's dancing to her favorite music ( the Dixie Chicks) or running after her new Buddy Hurley - she's an active one! Now that I type that out I remember just how active she was in the womb.
Still no words - but it seems that she's become more vocal over the last few weeks. I can't wait for the day she can chat back and forth with us. I know I will be swallowing my own words when I can't get her to STOP talking!!
The Holiday Season is fast approaching and I can't wait :) It should be lots of fun this year. Ayla already seems to enjoy seeing all the Christmas decorations and she of course loves tapping her knee (and bouncing her head) to all the Christmas tunes we hear. We'll see how much she likes Christmas when I sit her on "santa's" Lap in a few weeks!! Post to come....

Fast.

Sometimes I get the sense thats just the way life is going. Fast. Everything happening at a rate of speed that you try and control. I look at my daughter now and wonder when did she grow up so fast. How did that happen one day I was putting her in her very first car seat ride. Now I taking her out of that very same car seat because she's outgrown it.
The other day I came home from a long day at work. A day I didn't think I would ever remember. I put the key in the door and opened it only to see my daugher walking towards me with her arms wide open saying "Dada". I'll never forget it for as long as I live but it's all going by so quickly.
I don't want to stop time. I don't want to stop watching her grow up. I just don't know how I'm going to remember all these times together. Alyson stopped by today with her beautiful baby girl Kate. I held Kate in my arms and I think Al asked me if it made me think of doing it again having another child. I think I answered I'm not sure but if I said what I was thinking at the time it would have come out like "I just wish I could remember like it was yesterday what it felt like to hold Ayla when she was this small". I don't want to turn back time I just want to remember every single moment I have with my daughter for the rest of my life. Not possible but I'm going to try.

Say "hi"

Thought I would post another funny pic.
If you ask Ayla to say hi - she simply opens her mouth as wide as possible and pretends to say hi. . . she just can't quite figure out how to get her words out?!

A few of Ayla's new faces

A friend of mine recently posted a few pics of her little girl doing this "face"...I thought it was funny that they were both into this "look" at around the same time! It cracks me up... let's just hope it's a phase!! Jen (my friend) refers to it as the "what the F___K are you talking about" face.

Cold house

We were so used to the warmth of our little Condo we didn't know what hit us when summer dissapeared. Here Ayla is eating her breakfast in her hooded sweater. She also LOVES her new hand me down toque from her cousin Hayley... she kept this one on for over 1/2 a day!!

Been a while

Ok yes... I know it's been a long while since we last posted. Unfortunatley every spare minute that we've had has gone to painting, working or of course parenting! Ayla is certainly keeping us on our toes. Since turning 1 in August she hasn't allowed us to catch our breath. She is SO close to walking - so far only 9 steps at a time. I think she would be a full fledged walker if she didn't try running each time she got up. I'm happy with her taking her time... This walking this is a whole new ball game. Ayla still isn't talking, but it doesn't stop her from trying! She is currently in a stage where she will open her mouth all the way and pretend to say "HI" - unfortunatley nothing comes out! She can say "dada" and knows what and where eveything is in the house. She's a smart little girl and we love her SO much! Here are a bunch of pics that show her in action. More posts to come... I promise!

Our new home

Throught I'd post a pic of the house and the happy new homeowners!




We get the keys on the 15th of August and move in on the 18th :) Looks like we've got ourselves another BUSY year ahead of us!!

The Sunglass Series

Ayla has been letting me use her as my sunglass model... These are pretty cute!! ( Love her "dog the bounty hunter" shades!)

Busy Busy

Us Cumiskey's have been a busy bunch!!! We've finally found our little dream home to be! It's funny how life takes you in circles - and we've done ourselves a 360. Life is taking us back to the place we grew up.. . Good ol' Tsawwassen! We're so excited to have found a house that we know will be wonderful for our daughter & family to grow in. The house is a wonderful rancher with potential coming out of the wazooo! This house has been taking up lots of my precious blog time. All that being said our little bundle hasn't stopped with her busy life. I suppose that's another reason I haven't been able to blog. She's certainly become a very inquisitive little girl. It seems like our "baby" is no longer... waaaaahhhh!! She's moving around like crazy and in NO rush to walk. She's trying desperatley to talk... and I think her first word will be dada. We had another tooth sprout through...which brings us to 7 and I think that there may be a few eye teeth on their way.
We've moved past always eating soft mushy baby food and graduated to REAL food - pasta, chicken, cooked veggies etc. She still loves her cheerios more than anything else! This is also an added bonus for our scavenger dog as Ayla finds it "FUN" to drop all her food onto the floor. Hurley has been eating like a king!!! The squishy face is now in the past and the new Ayla face is the scowl!?!??! Not sure where she learned that one, let's just hope it passes quickly!

Scrunchy Face

For all of you who see Ayla on a regular basis - you will know her signature face! The Krinkly face!!
For all of you who Don't see her - I thought I'd post a pic!

It's been a busy month for the Cumiskeys. We've finally sold our condo and have been busy busy busy trying to find our new home. Ayla has also become a MUCH busier and curious little girl. It seems like she has grown about a foot in a week. She's not walking yet. (thank god!!) but she is getting into EVERYTHING! She is talking (babbling) more than ever! Pointing at everything. Eating big girl foods. Sitting up in a big girl stroller. The list goes on and on!! It's hard to believe that she is 2 months away from being a year old.

Pearly Whites

I though I would post a quicky... Ayla's two front teeth have made their official debut! (Don't mind her messy face)..
They aren't in all the way but they sure are throwing things outta wack. Poor girl is back to waking throughout the night. Last night it took mama over 45 minutes to get her back to bed. (that is a first since she was a newborn). I also forgot to mention in the last entry that our little miss loves to use her new fake laugh! She is such a little, sleepy, teethy peanut. ... I already miss my little Fang.

Busy Busy Baby

Our little girl is growing up way too fast. She is a fortified crawling professional. She's a fortified "explore every nook and cranny of this condo" pro and is quickly making her way to the top of the pro. "i'm going to cry when you put me to bed" list. She's getting far too smart for this mommy!!! This condo is seeming smaller and smaller by the day. Our pending sale counldn't have happend at a better time. Of course I won't breathe until it all goes through. Ayla and Mommy are going a little stir crazy in the condo. Some days it would be so nice to just putter around in a backyard garden and have Ayla puttering with me. (Or in a playpen!?!). We're back to sleeping through the night...even with the emergence of yet ANOTHER two teeth?!?!?!?! We've moved past our baby being a little vampire and I already miss my little fang. She's sprouting both middle teeth and those suckers haven't been so easy for her. We've had lots of cuddles and crys in the last week. Unfortunatley Ayla is still on her bottle strike, which makes it hard for mommy to leave her and enjoy some evenings out. I figure it could be due to those new middle chompers?? I just hope she decides to end the strike sooner than later.

Also have some new firsts to report; Cheerios! (new favorite!!), first swing ride, first time swimming (no pics - waaahh). Lots of new pics to come on the flickr link! Keep your eyes peeled.

What it Means to be a Father.

I had my first big test at being a parent all by my lonesome on Saturday night. I spoke of the apprehension of seeing Dania going out our door and it just being me, Ayla and the dog we call Spit. I won't lie I was really nervous. It was a first for me and although I have a sense of what I'm doing, doing it all by yourself when no ones around can be a little overwhelming.
Dania left sometime around 5:00pm. Spit needed to go for a walk so Ayla and I kissed Mom on the cheek told her to have a great time and headed out just the three of us.
Ayla was tired so she decided to have a late nap in her chair on wheels. We were out and about for half an hour before heading inside for the big night.
She decided to sleep for about an hour. Any parent will know a late nap means a little night on most occasions. I must have checked in on her ten times. Around the 10th time the little angel opened her eyes and said "where's mommy..?". No she didn't she can't talk. I picked her up and enjoyed my after nap cuddle time which only lasts five minutes but oh it's the best 5 minutes in the world.
It was getting late so I new she'd be hungry so she had some oatmeal. Her new thing at nights. You want to fill that belly up for sleepy time. Dinner time was great no squirming or fits of rage. Just a happy little girl with here Papa.
Meal time was over so I thought we'd play for a little bit. Playtime is really just crawling around on the floor and putting things in her mouth.
Play time came drawing to a close I saw some tired eyes peering up at me so it was time for bath time.
Bath time was amazing she had so much fun in there. Splashing around playing with the shampoo bottle and letting out high pitched screams. I dried her off and changed her into her bedtime outfit.
I knew the big test of the evening was coming and that was bedtime. With no bottle no boob I decided on a little more oatmeal. Ayla ate it up I guess she was still hungry or new in the back of her mind what Daddy was up to and she thought she'd help the cause. I started the bedtime proceedings at around ten to eight. It lasted until about 8:45. She was tired and we walked around the condo for awhile. While walking around she did everything in her power to not fall asleep on my shoulder. She'd but her head there but seconds later would wake up as if she just missed something.
When I finally put her down I did so with a huge smile on my face. I was proud of myself I was proud of the daughter I'm raising.
Saturday night is one of the best evenings of my life. I learnt in that small amount of time what it really means to be a parent. Your child depends on you and you have to be there every step of the way. I like girls nights because it means it's Dad and daughter night to.

Creeping

Ayla has moved quickly past crawling and has moved onwards and upwards to "creeping" (so they call it??!)
Pulling herself up onto anyting and everything she can stand up on :)) There's not alot of room to move around in this but she certainly has managed to find plenty of things to get into!! It's amazing how much she changes from day to day!!!

Daddy's Big Day

Well tomorrow night Dania has finally decided to take an evening to herself and go out with the girls for some much deserved time away from the nest. When Dania first told me she was going out I had a huge sense of panic. I didn't know what to think. Dania is always around, always looking after Ayla as no other mother can. Panic turned into dumb questions like "what should I feed her for dinner", "how long do you guys play for". Only questions a father would ask.
My biggest concern for tomorrow night is bedtime. Bedtime is not my speciality. I don't have a big roll during bedtime and with Dania not being here to do what she does Daddy's a little worried. To add to my worry is the fact that Ayla no longer wants anything to do with the bottle. We can't even put the bottle near her face. She squirms, she screams, she has a fit. Of course I don't have the ability to breast-feed so with out Dania here it could be an interesting night for Hurley and I.
With all the panic and apprehension of Saturday night just being the two of us. I'm also really excited. Dania does not go out nearly enough. I don't get the chance as Dania does to just spend time alone with Ayla. It's going to be a fun evening of walks, eating books, and giggles. I hope Ayla is looking forward to it as much as Dad is.

Big bad Growth Spurt

I'm realizing that my dear nights of sleep which I used to know are for now a thing of the past. Ayla is Smack dab in the middle of her 9 month growth spurt. Some refer to it as the "9 month Sleep Regression". Regression indeed. Our little angel who once went down and 7 and slept through till the early morning is now up 3 times a night. It's just like having a newborn in the house!! We atttempted Fomula last night - but she was having no part of it. She only wanted to dine at the mammary diner. Mind you it could have been because it was SOY formula. It actually smelt worse than dog food. Poor thing. They say that she has too much learning buzzing around in her brain and it makes it hard to sleep. I certainly hope this passes quickly!!!! I love to see our daughter grow, but.... Who needs sleep anyhow!?!?!?

Baby Bjorn

I had to post this picture of Ayla with her 80's cop looking daddy!! She absolutley LOVES seeing the world from her comfy front facing baby bjorn! She squeals with excitement everytime we take her out for a walk. Whether it's down the street or whether it's for a fun adventurous hike!! This pic was taken a few weekends ago at deas island. I love the look on her face along with her little clenched fists.

Growing

Haven't posted in a while. Ayla has been keeping us on our toes!!! She is changing leaps and bounds every day. Sitting, crawling, creeping, lifting herself up onto anything she can reach, trying to eat anything she finds! I can barely get a diaper on her. She just wants to move and explore the world. We're happy to report that Ayla has finally surpassed the 14 lb mark!! She now weighs 15 lbs 9 oz and is a long and lean 27 inches. She's a tiny little peanut but she is strong like an ox!! We're having so much fun with her right now :))

Fang

I just wanted to post a picture of our new baby Droolcula! She vantts to suck your bloooood!
Poor thing has been really suffering with these two new front teeth. Not as much sleep happening as usual, but as everyone knows - we're spoiled when it comes to Ayla sleeping!
I know her teeth are bothering her but I think she's miffed that she can't make a good baby mess in the house! Always cleaning up after her for "showings". No fun for baby.

New teeth

Our baby girl has cut another 2 teeth! The first just started to rear it's ugly little sharp head on Monday! Well... I guess it's not ugly, it's CUTE! The second came through this morning! They aren't the 2 middle teeth, they are the 2 side teeth. I thought at first that they were the eye teeth, but I was wrong! That would explain her red red rashy face all last week. Poor little monkey. Not only are her new teeth poking through, but she's mobile!! She's almost got the frontal crawl down! She can scoot real quick... It really keeps us on our toes!!! She's not 100% there with the crawling, but we can wait!!!!

Crawling & Teething

Ayla is moving around like never before. We certainly can't take our eyes off her if she's on the floor!
She's got Crawling backwards- 101 down pat, but still hasn't quite mastered forwards. She's learnt how to "creep" forwards.
One minute she's in front of us and the next minute she's on the other side of the room. I'm certainly glad that we don't have any stairs for her to fall down! It sure can change from one minute to the next. Ayla is also able to go from crawling to sitting on her own! It's so cute...! ! She's going through another bout of teething which has brought on quite the drool rash and now a diaper rash. Poor little angel. Anything she can get her hands on will make it into her mouth...books, toys, fingers, Tv Remotes YOU NAME IT!! She'll chew on it. It's also changed her sleeping patterns from sleeping through the night to getting up to feed and waking up very early in the morning! It's been a big change for me!! (I'm very spoiled...I know).

Mammma

Ayla has been "saying" mama for a while now. I figured that she didn't really know she was saying it. Now I have perhaps changed my mind. Since the beginning of last week she is always saying "mummmah" "muhmuh". It's bloody adorable!!!! This morning I heard a clear MAMA! Mind you every time I ask her to say it she goes silent. It's really cute either way! She also uses the words, Aieya, blahlala-la, AHHH She just said MAMA again!! Daiiiieya (kinda like if you were karate chopping chopping and saying HIYAH!) Baaa baa.. .lots of new "words". It's so great to see her being vocal.

Sharing....

Ayla has a few new firsts to share with all of you...
First time she ate finger foods.... She had her first Baby Mum Mum just 2 days ago! ( Rice husks)
First time she shared!!! - Well... Ok, she was sharing with Hurley. Those two are going to be friends forever at this pace. (see pic!)
She's also been saying Mummmma muma muuuuummaa LOTS. She says it all the time, but I don't think she know's she saying it. It's cuter than cute and makes my heart melt! I can't wait for the day that I ask her to say it and she belts it out!
She's still not crawling forward, just making her way backwards around the house. We've noticed in the last few days that when she's on all fours, she is trying to get on her feet????? YIKES!! She can take her time with walking and that would be just fine with us!

Easter Dress

I just had to post a few pictures of Ayla in her Easter dress!!
The colors are just like a brightly painted Egg! The girl has more clothes than mommy and daddy combined!

Big girl tub

Ayla has officially moved out of her infant bath and into the "big girl" tub! She has so much fun swimming and splashing around in the water. It's not easy for us to bathe her in this tub being as it's sunken AND it has a bar running across the ledge...but what can you do?!?! Anything for the baby!! Her favorite tubby toys are her Dr Seuss bath book, her rubber duckie and of course anything she can put into her mouth. She's even growing a little more hair to style into little mini hawks when wet!!

If it isn't one animal it's the next...

I don't usually write about our animals. We have a cat that I'm sure most of you know about. We refer to him as the money pit. That's all that he is. Scratch that. He's still a great cat, he's just pissed that Hurley and Ayla exist. We've been trying to find him a new home for what seems like years. It's always hard to let go of any animal, but the day we realized 100% that the cat had to go was when Ayla was sucking her thumb (or eating?... either way) and she had cat hair in her mouth. No more. Too much fur flying around this house for our liking. Morrie is waiting for the cat room to be finished at the Richmond Animal Protection Society. This will be his new interim home. Let's just hope that they can find him a loving home quickly. Poor guy. Then there's our little Hurley. SICKER than sick. Like I said...if it's not one animal it's the next. Poor little guy has an intestinal infection. The vet has him hopped up on all sorts of medicine. Little guy can't last a few hours without having to make a run outside. . . Imagine how much fun that can be when you live on the 3rd floor of a condo and have a baby!!! I feel for him. He's SO not himself. He's always at my feet, begging to be played with, barking at passer by's in the hallway, dying to be the center of attention again. Not the last few days. He can barely make it out of his kennel in the mornings. I just hope that he can kick this bug sooner than later. There's nothing worse than seeing any animal suffer.

So much for the other website...

As I figured...my free website was too good to be true! (All that work makes me sad like the photo above of Ayla in her early days.)! This will be the new easy access site from now on...of course nothing will be as fun and friendly as my .mac site...
Ayla is currently sleeping. She seems to be settling into a great little routine. Always in bed by 8pm!
Ayla had to get her 6 month shots last Monday and was pretty cranky all week. It seems to me that whenever she gets her shots it triggers her teething. Poor little girl was just not herself. The week passed and she's back to her happy little self! I'm starting to freak out because Ayla is days away from crawling. It's so exciting to see her move around so much, but everyone keeps telling me that I'm not going to know what hit me once she starts to move. She's able to move backwards, but hasn't figured out forward.