Spring Break 2016

For the 6th year in a row, we rented out our home for Austin's big SXSW Festival and fled to our beloved town of Wimberley. Iyla and I were there for 6 nights, BC for 4 (due to a work conference)- and it was as tranquil and relaxing as expected.

Here's a summary of our break in photos, starting with our lovely cabin:

Upon arrival to our cabin, we showed Iyla her new room & new toddler blow-up bed, to which she promptly took a great 2 hour nap!

It was raining for the first two days we were there, but that didn't deter us. Iyla loved wearing her rain jacket & boots and finding every puddle there was to jump in:

She also found this kitty in a downtown store window, and wouldn't leave its side for a good 20 minutes:

We returned to one of our favorite Wimberley restaurants, The Leaning Pear, and tried out their rope swing:

On two of our mornings, Iyla and I dropped BC off at a local coffee shop to work and headed out for our own adventures. The first morning we attended a story time at the local library, and the 2nd morning we headed out to the EmilyAnn Theatre for a showing of Aladdin:

The grounds of the EmilyAnn Gardens were an absolute kids' dream come true, complete with play houses, a wooden boat, a Cinderella coach, dinosaurs, and fairy gardens!

Back at our cabin, Iyla brought out her own theatrics by converting my eye pillow into the perfect "Minnie bow:"

Our friend Andy drove into town one evening to join us, and we all headed out to the gorgeous Trattoria Lisina winery & restaurant, where we taught Iyla the art of fine dining:

We spent many mornings strolling around the downtown shops and parks, always with Iyla's purse in hand:

On Day 5 when BC had to leave for his work conference, I broke out a new set of princess dolls for Iyla, which were a huge hit and quickly became regulars at every place we dined:

We had a fun play date with Wimberley friends Harper and Tatum:

Went out for ice-cream:

And then packed up the car to head to Phase Two of our vacation: a road trip to Houston to visit Mimi and Grampy! We stopped along the way for cookies lunch:

Iyla and I were roommates while in Houston, and she loved her special new toddler bed. We each "read" in bed at night before it was time for lights out:

Iyla played with Mimi and Grampy all day every day. Here, a little dress-up styled by Grampy:

Dinner out at a local Italian restaurant, Johnny Carino's:

Then it was time to head back to Austin to finish out the break. Iyla and I headed out for a breakfast date and a SXSW kid's David Bowie tribute show:

And finally, to cap off our break we took Iyla to her first ever movie: Zootopia at our local Alamo Drafthouse Theater! She loved it and thankfully did great.

All in all, it was a fabulous 2016 spring break!

Weekend Road Trip & Other Updates

Summer has officially arrived in Austin, and with it comes extreme heat. Right now we are in the mid 90's most days, and that temperature will keep creeping higher and higher until we reach our peak in August/September, where days can get up to 110+. With the impending heat, Iyla and I have had to adjust our daily walks. I usually take her in the afternoon, but lately we've been rocking the early morning walks, often corresponding with her first nap of the day.

 Iyla and her Sophie. I resisted buying this super popular baby toy for a long time...it arrived last week and has quickly become an absolute favorite for this little lady.

 Sweet naps in the park

In the distance you can see Lady Bird Lake. I continually feel SO grateful that we live just blocks from this gorgeous scene!

Iyla is now offically on a predictable nap schedule! It is wonderful & restricting at the same time. Wonderful because we can plan around it, restricting because now just running out on adventures or errands is a challenge, as I have to be super strategic so she doesn't doze off in the car & throw off the schedule. She will go down 1.5 hours after waking for the day for a 40 minute snooze (usually around 8am). Then around 11:30-12 she'll take a 1-2 hour nap. By 4pm she is ready for a short 30 minute refresher. Bedtime is still 7-7:30, though ever since her shots last week she's been waking more than 1x/night, so I am starting some light sleep training again.

Iyla has been working really hard at sitting, and doing AWESOME at it! She can now balance herself in a tripod position, and hold herself up for small amounts of time. Sometimes she'll grab hold of her toy basket and practice her balance with that- shifting ever so slightly side to side. I wish I had a photo of this- but I can't leave her side long enough to take one, lest she topple over!

Iyla took her very first road trip last weekend to Houston to visit her Mimi and Grampy and celebrate my cousin Heather's upcoming wedding. My aunt Sheri and cousin Heather rode in the car with me for this ladies' weekend, while BC held down the fort in Austin (and had some much needed boy time with his friends). We timed our 2.5 hour drive to leave at Iyla's longer afternoon nap, and overall she did great! She slept about 1.5 hours each way, with my aunt entertaining her the remainder of the way.

Iyla LOVED being in a new house and getting lots of love from all of her family. She was eating it up, and even making a brand new exclamation noise that sounded like a very short 'Ha!' laugh. We also discovered that she LOVES dogs. Or at least my brothers' little dog Paco. She was hooting and hollering and just delighted to watch that pup run around her- it was really fun to see.

I had brought along her bathing suit in the event that an opportunity to try out Mimi & Grampy's pool was in order. She looked SO cute in her little suit!

She knows she is adorable!

Iyla loved the water... for her typical 5 minutes. She was kicking her legs all around & mesmerized by the patterns on the side of the pool. I was glad she didn't show any fear of getting in the water... as water play is a huge necessity for our Austin summers.

She went right to sleep that night in her Pack n Play, which is a GREAT omen toward our upcoming 2 week road trip. And the most amazing thing? The next morning when she woke, I took her in the bathroom to change her. I hadn't brought along her baby potty, but had the thought to sit her on the big toilet and see what happened. She peed AND pooed on it! I couldn't believe it. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

In closing, two more hilarious pictures of Iyla from the past week. In the first you can see her studying her dancing form intently... I swear she stands in ballet positions all.the.time. Future ballerina? And check out her ballerina bunny below her- they are doing the EXACT same pose. Crazy.

Here, her signature eyebrow raise caught on camera as she admires a picture of BC on my desk. We get comments all the time about how expressive her face is. Iyla Grace is not hurting for charisma, that's for sure!