Nicole Lay

Sunday, April 12, 2015

First weeks in Georgia

So far we absolutely love living in Georgia! It is definitely a big change from living in Florida but we really love everything about it up here (besides the fact that we miss our Florida family and friends so much). We are renting a ranch style house in Fayetteville. We live on a culdesac and we have the sweetest neighbors! The neighbors to our right are around our age and they have two small children. All of the neighbors who live on our culdesac came over to introduce themselves and welcome us to the neighborhood when we were moving in and we have had the pleasure of speaking with them several times since. We also met a nice family around the corner from us who also have two small children close to Audrey's age. Everyone has just been so welcoming and sweet including Sam's amazing family who lives here.

The weather has been so beautiful this weekend. It has been in the 60's during the day and in the 50's at night.Sam is actually doing yard work while I am writing this. We have finally started settling into our home and are just about done unpacking and organizing. As soon as we are done I will do a house post so that everyone can see our house.

Yesterday Felicia, Audrey and I went to a local antique store and found a really cute Welcome sign for the front door and some cute pictures for the kids rooms and bathroom at Hobby Lobby while Sam did more yardwork. I managed to snap a couple pictures of Audrey when we got back. This morning we went to church and then to Sunday dinner and I took some pictures too. I hope you all enjoy them!

Audrey is thoroughly enjoying living in a house with carpet

She plays with her stroller that was a gift from Aunt Jen and Uncle Eric everyday. She puts all sorts of things in it, pouches, blocks, hydro-cortisone cream, whatever else her little toddler hands can get to!

This is our family room which is currently being used as Audrey's playroom

I'm very excited to have a mantle and a fireplace! I have been looking at "Mantlescapes" on pinterest and I can't wait for the next Holiday so that I can really decorate it!

This was taken just before leaving for church. Audrey actually went to the nursery for the first time by herself and she did great! One of the ladies who works in the nursery asked me if she could keep her!

This outfit was from her Aunt Jen and I think it is adorable!

She had to do a few laps with her stroller before church :)

Audrey decided to bring her baby to church. Felicia was more worried about sending Audrey to the nursery than I was by the way! She wanted to stay with her. She is such an amazing big sister :)

After church lounging.. Audrey seemed excited about the Braves game at first...

After about a minute she realized it may not be as interesting as it seemed...

Definitely not as interesting as it seemed...

And she is officially over it! Good thing Dad is going to have a boy to enjoy the games with soon because Audrey takes after her Mama when it comes to baseball!

I took this a few days after we moved in. The first few days Audrey rolled around on the carpet pretty much all the time. I think she was shocked at how different it was from tile!

I love these cute overalls my Mom got her!

We miss everyone so much! I will try to post more pictures soon!

Love you all! xoxo

Nicole

Easter in Georgia

We had a really lovely Easter this year! It was our first Easter living in Georgia and I couldn't have imagined it being more fun than it was. We went to church with Sam's sweet Aunt Madge and then had Sunday dinner and the kids had an Easter Egg hunt with our Georgia family. We missed our Florida family very much! Here are some pictures and I am sorry that I didn't take more and didn't post them sooner. I find myself frequently enjoying moments so much so that I forget to take pictures and later wish I had, especially with so much family and friends living so far away - I definitely want to keep everyone updated. I will try to get better!

We went to Sunrise service for Easter and it was in the 40's that morning so I had to layer underneath Audrey's dress. Audrey's Easter dress for church was not warm enough so we improvised and she wore this one. It actually looked really cute with her dark blue coat and tights but I didn't snap any pictures while we were at church :( Luckily she was able to wear her Easter dress for Sunday dinner because it had warmed up by 2pm :)

She wasn't interested in waiting to unwrap the Cadbury eggs. Those were definitely her favorite Easter candy! She takes after her Daddy!

Audrey was very interested in pushing this around!

She is definitely proving to be quite an outdoors girl! She loves being outside!

Daddy or Uncle Bill owe her a ride on this soon!

Audrey's cousin, Harper is so sweet to her! He plays with her so nicely. She follows him around every time we see him!

We hope everyone had a Happy and Blessed Easter!

Nicole
xoxo

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Audrey's Eight Month Update

I am sorry that I haven't posted in such a long time! I know I will say this every month for the rest of Audrey's first year and then I will probably say it every year but I can't believe Audrey is eight months old! This month has been so much fun! She is doing so much and her personality is really starting to come out. I am sorry that I did not post a seven month update or that I haven't update my blog in a while. It has been a really busy couple of months for us. Here is Audrey's eight month update!

Nicknames: Nugget, Nuggets, Princess, Audrey-kins and Daddy calls her Audrey Grace a lot

Teething: She has two bottom teeth in front now. You can see them in all of her pictures and it's so darn cute! She is still teething but this month it hasn't been that bad. I think she enjoys putting things in her mouth now more as a means to explore and get to know the way things feel. She seems to like to grab anything she is not supposed to have! Cell phones, remote controls, kitchen utensils, clothing hangers, etc and she tries to put everything in her mouth. I can feel the top two teeth coming through and I can see the corner of one of her front top teeth breaking through. I have a feeling those will come out this month.

Clothing: She is mostly wearing size 9mth but she still fits into some 6mth clothing and she can also fit into some 12mth clothing. Alot of her 6 mth onesies still fit because she has a small neck and shoulders but length-wise, she has almost grown completely out of them.

Diapers: Still in size 3 and I am still using Honest Co diapers and loving them.

Eating (Solids): Audrey eats solids 3 times a day. For breakfast, she usually eats a banana with oatmeal, for lunch and dinner she eats a variety of fruits and vegetables, grains and she also eats greek yogurt or regular yogurt. She is not a picky eater and enjoys most foods. She has started picking her food up herself this month which has been really fun to watch. It is really nice to be able to let her try some of our food too now that she can chew. We spoiled her a little this month and let her try some deserts too. She loves vanilla icecream and she also had some blueberry cheesecake that she could not get enough of!

Eating (Breastmilk): She is still breastfeeding and it is still going very smoothly. She nurses about 3 times a day and at night before bed. She wakes up at least once in the early morning to nurse and then she will go back to sleep for a couple of hours. It is nice to be able to feed her solids when we are out now as opposed to breastfeeding. She is so curious about her surroundings now that breastfeeding her in public has become impossible. I am hoping to continue breastfeeding her until she is a year or until she self-weans.

Sleeping (night): She is sleeping through the night and is still sleeping in our bed with us. As I mentioned in her previous updates, this works for us for now. We need to lower her crib now that she can pull herself up in it. At some point in the next two months I do plan to transition her into her crib.

Sleeping (naps): Audrey usually takes two naps a day. She wakes up in the morning around 8am and will go back to down for a nap from 10-11 and again from about 3-4.

Milestones : Audrey has started really trying to crawl this month. She has almost mastered it. She can also pull herself up to standing position and wave hello and goodbye. She says Mama, Dada, and will say Hi sometimes, she will even say Hi Dada once in a while. She will also give hugs and kisses!

Social: She is very social and loves meeting new people! She is not always very quick to smile back but she loves looking at people's faces. She loves to play peek-a-boo and peering at you in the mirror when you are behind her and then turning around to see you (Daddy plays this game with her a lot). She does have separation anxiety when she is away from me or from Sam. As a result, it has been difficult leaving her with sitters but she loves her Aunt Chris and we have been able to get some time out alone this month. We really enjoy taking her out with us. She loves restaurants and is such a good baby when we go that it's really enjoyable to have her with us. It is nice to have alone time with my husband though so we try to have a date night at least every two weeks, even if it is just to have dinner alone at home.

Likes: Peek-a-boo, looking in mirrors, having her feet tickled, holding on to my hands and pulling herself up to stand, bath time, swimming in the pool, jumping in her bouncer, swinging at the park.

Dislikes: Being away from Mommy and Daddy for long periods of time and she also dislikes having her diaper changed during play time. She will cry and try to sit up until I am done.

Fun things we did this month: We went to Naples with Grandma while Daddy was in Connecticut for a business trip, we went to the beach club with Uncle Eric, Aunt Jen and her cousins, we bought a kiddie pool and Audrey played in it for the first time and absolutely loved it! We also took Audrey to the zoo for the first time in June.

Mama: I feel great! I just started working out again and doing a little cardio during the day. I feel so good when I get a workout in! I am officially a "Stay-At-Home" Mommy now and I could not be more happy and blessed to be able to spend this time with Audrey. Sam and I debated whether I would go back when she was a year old and thankfully, there is no need for me to work now. At some point when Audrey is ready for pre-school I will definitely go back to work but for now I get to stay at home with her and I am so lucky and blessed to have a husband who can provide enough for our family that I am able to do this. It is the best gift Sam has ever given me.

Daddy: Sam is doing great! He loves his job! It is so adorable to see how cute he and Audrey are together. I fall in love with him all over again when I see how much they love each other.

Siblings: Felicia and Jackson are so good with Audrey! Felicia is like her second Mommy and if Sam or I aren't near her, she is usually happy as long as Felicia is. She is such a big help to me. I am so lucky to have her! Jackson makes Audrey laugh on a daily basis. Just looking at him makes her laugh!

Looking forward to: We are looking forward to Daddy's birthday next month and going up to Georgia and Tennessee for the annual Lay/Mason family vacation in October to visit extended family!

Now that she is more mobile taking her monthly pictures is getting difficult! She had a lot of fun pretending that she was going to climb off of her bean bag!