Afternoon Photoshoot

Ainsley has been staying awake for longer and longer amounts of time the past few days. I just don't know what to do with myself without a sleeping baby! It is really fun though to see her so alert and to be able to give her more attention in terms of talking to her and playing with her since she isn't in the swing snoozing away like usual. Here are some pictures of her from the past couple of days. It's nice to finally have some of her awake and I feel like they show pretty well how much she has grown!

I Love You Daddy

First Father's Day

So this is your first Father's Day,
Your first one as a dad;
Get ready for surprises now,
The wildest you've ever had.

Just when you think you've got it down,
There's a new and different stage;
This little person changes a lot
With each fascinating age.

Being a dad takes all you've got;
Your heart and mind you'll invest;
It's the hardest job you'll ever have,
And the one you'll love the best.

By Joanna Fuchs

Ainsley has been blessed with such an amazing father. He takes such good care of her and loves her so much. I'm so thankful for the father he already is and cannot wait to experience with him the father he will become. She is one lucky little girl! I must say I did a pretty good job with Brantley's gift and was a very nice wife. So nice that I gave him a gift card to Game Stop to buy a new video game. I think he was a little surprised I would do something that crazy because he asked me, "You know this is how much it costs to buy a new game, right?" Haha. Also he got a cute little book called, Daddy Calls me Doodlebug, and a couple of framed pictures of Ainsley for his desk at work. Brantley was also excited to have an excuse to eat his favorite meal ever, the Filet Bryan, at Carraba's. We love you Brantley/Daddy and hope you enjoyed your first Father's Day with us. I know we did!

It was also Ainsley's first Sunday to go to church! What a wonderful start to Father's Day. I decided to have her wear the same gown she wore home from the hospital. I just love it so much and felt like it was the perfect occasion to have her wear it again. Also, it was nice to see it actually fit her the way it's supposed to unlike 2 months ago when it swallowed her up! What a beautiful outfit given to her by her Aunt Terri.

About to head to church

My best attempt at getting a picture of her in the gown after we got home from lunch. She was a hungry girl and decided to start fussing when I wanted to take pictures. Of course, this is the way it normally goes!

Warning: A second new post below. Don't miss it!

A Trip to Memphis

This past weekend, one of my best friends growing up got married! It was a long time coming. They only dated for 10 1/2 years! Kara and Vik began dating our sophomore year of high school. I've known Vik since Kindergarten and Kara even longer than that. When I found out their wedding date, back in the fall, I was so worried I was not going to be able to make it to the wedding because my due date was May 29th and the wedding was June 19th. But Ainsley helped out a little by arriving early, so we were all able to go! It was nice getting to go "home" to Memphis and see people I haven't seen in a while and show off Ainsley. It can sometimes be overwhelming to see so many Memphian friends at one time because we do not go back very often. But none the less, it was a great time. It was Ainsley's first road trip. Even though it's just a 3 hour drive, it was a good practice round for us in terms of stopping for feedings and just seeing how she takes the longer car rides and being in her car seat for longer periods of time. Overall, she did extremely well! Also, my friend Morgan was FINALLY able to meet Ainsley. I was really excited that she and her husband were there. After staying at the reception for a little while we headed to Huey's to get dinner with Brandon and Morgan and catch up on life. This was not planned so it was a nice treat to end the day.

Beautiful Ceremony

Beautiful Bride

Morgan, Me, and Baby A

Our Cute Little Family

Our Little Trooper

(Check out those long skinny legs!)

My 2 Month Check Up

I went to the doctor today. Dr. Walters told Mommy and Daddy that I was doing great!

It was a really good visit...

Until they did this...

So now I'm doing this...

We took Ainsley Sue for her 2 month check up this morning. It was at 8:45. I'm normally not alive at 8:45, but when I made the appointment a month ago there wasn't really much of a choice. (So please ignore how I look in the picture above!) We could not wait to see how much our baby girl has grown. The doctor said she looks great and not to change anything that we are doing. It was nice to get A LOT of questions answered. Going a month or two between appointments can stir up many questions. But all of them were answered and I felt reassured about how Brantley and I are doing as parents. I wasn't sure how I would handle Ainsley's first shots. Let me rephrase that. I wasn't sure how I would handle her first 5 SHOTS! The nurse walked in with a tray full of shots and I immediately said, "Are those all for her!?" I then got a little worried. I was making it okay until that first needle went into Ainsley's leg and she let out the biggest scream/cry ever! I immediately teared up. It's the most terrible feeling to see your baby in pain. The nurse just told us to talk to her so we had our hands on her and were talking to her the whole time, but it was so hard. The nurse did all 5 shots in a row as quickly as possible. 3 in one leg and 2 in the other. She kept saying how small/skinny Ainsley's legs are and that she doesn't think she's ever given shots to a baby this small. With no meat on her long legs for cushion I'm sure it hurt. Since we got home she has slept the entire day except for the 2 times she has eaten. But even while she was eating she would start to cry, which she never does. To end this post I will leave you with Ainsley's 2 month stats and what seems to have become my phrase of the day: "Poor baby."

June 18th Two Month Stats:

Head Circumference- 14 1/2 (10th percentile)

Height- 21 3/8 in (10th percentile)

Weight- a whopping 7 lb 11 oz (less that the 3rd percentile)

With weight she still isn't even "on the charts" yet. But to us we now have a 7 pounder in the house! Whoo Hoo!

2 Months

Our baby girl turned two months old on the 14th. Ainsley is growing so fast! Her face has really filled out and she seems to keep getting longer and longer. She has started being more alert during the day, but along with that comes some fussiness, which I'm not used to. She had been sleeping 24/7 and was always content. But in the past couple of weeks, since her due date, she has started to really cry when she is hungry (every 2 to 3 hours) or when she just wants to be held. Uh-oh. I hope she's not getting too spoiled already! Her 2 month check-up is this Friday. We can't wait to see how much weight she has gained!

Just a reminder...

One month later...

Ya know...just hanging out by the pool...being cute...

I've been dying to get Ainsley in this swimsuit. Yesterday we headed over to some family friends to go for a swim! Maybe I'm a tad bit biased, but she is definitely the CUTEST baby girl EVER! Okay now that I've done my bragging...here's the proof.

(P.S. This was my baby bonnet from when I was a baby.)

"2 for 1"

Instead of writing 2 separate posts about the past couple of weekends here ya get it in one...

Brantley's parents and sister were able to make a quick trip to Nashville to visit us and Ainsley. We were so excited about them coming! Patty and Kenneth flew in the day after she was born for a couple of days, but his sisters had not been able to meet her yet. The night they got here we took them where else but The Loveless Cafe. It's a Nashville landmark where we take friends and family when they come to visit. So good! We also got Ainsley out of the house for the first time (besides when I've taken her to my parents several times). So this was an interesting experience for Brantley and me in terms of making sure we had everything we needed, were prepared with enough bottles, and timing things just right figuring out when and where to feed her. Kinda stressful, but great to get out of the house and do fun things! We went to Cool Springs for lunch and a little shoe shopping, walked around downtown Franklin, and went downtown Saturday for lunch and to walk around. It was great having them here and we wish they could have stayed longer!

Mimi and Aunt Alyssa

Pawpaw

Look at that cutie wide awake!

Mimi feeding Ainsley at Merridees in downtown Franklin

Downtown Nashville

Centennial Park

Mimi, Mommy, and Ainsley

Pawpaw, Daddy, and "Baby A"

The Pearce Clan

Sunday night we went to a family friend's house. The plan was to go swimming and grill out. Well, of course, it rained. But it was nice getting to visit with everyone inside! We don't get to all be together very often, so it was good to catch up. Also, one of their sons (my brother's best friend) and his wife were there with their sweet baby boy, Maddox. He is three weeks(ish) older than Ainsley. My mom and Ms. Lynn were so excited for Maddox and Ainsley to meet! They went through their pregnancies at the same time with all us kids. It was neat getting to take pictures of Maddox and Ainsley to add to the old photos of us as babies together. Something to cherish.

Carrie and Justin with Ainsley

Michael, Emily, Daniel, Katie and Maddox

The Girls

Mom and Mrs. Lynn

a.k.a. Lili (pronounced "LeeLee") and Lolly

The next weekend our good friends, Neal and Cindy, came up from Fort Worth to see us and meet Ainsley! We were so excited to spend time with them. They are expecting a precious baby boy in September so we can't wait for him to arrive and meet Ainsley too! We didn't do much besides our usual going out to eat and playing games, which was actually nice and relaxing. Also, I went with Cindy to Target to help her register for baby stuff. It was fun not being the one registering this time! It can be overwhelming so it was great being able to give her my opinion and advice on things whether she takes it or not. It's hard knowing what will work best for you and your baby until he/she is here and you are actually using it. We had a wonderful time catching up and we miss them already. Next time we see them little Camden will be here!

Pancake Pantry of course!

Getting some practice...

The Girls (and Camden)