are you ready to bumble?

this is now how we ask the dogs if they want to go for a walk. our stroller is a bumbleride. and they've already started to associate the stroller with going outside. smart doggies they are. we finally had a nice day of weather, so we decided to head over to the biltmore for a picnic.

this is the view from above the stroller, looking through the canopy...



nope, that's not mary adelyn. it's a good thing we can check on marie to make sure she is having a good ride.







nice little saturday.

string bean

6 month measurements:

26.50 length (75th percentile)

14.5 pounds (25th percentile)

any guesses which side of the gene pool she got that from? well, at least she got my blue eyes.

pretty in pink

we managed to sneak in some picture time on the front porch this afternoon while the rain subsided for a few minutes. is everyone else getting as much rain as we are? it has rained at least once a day for the past week or so. if it weren't for the mountains on the horizon, i'd think we had moved to the beach. ok, enough a/b the weather, onto the girlie!

we've been waiting anxiously for the day that mary adelyn reaches out for us to hold her. we had no idea she'd be reaching out for her baby first.



meet marie. mary adelyn's new best friend (thanks mimi!). i'm sure she'd still consider layla her best friend if she could just squeeze her like that.

speaking of layla, she was at the screen door whining to get out on the porch during our photo session. mary adelyn thought it was the funniest thing.



i mean really, it should be a crime to be this cute



do you see what i see?



yes, those are ruffles on her shorts. who would have thought that we'd be in to pink ruffles?

still there?

sorry for the pause in posts. we are now the new owners of a brand spanking new laptop. so, we should be back in the blogging business. things have been quite busy here in the mountains. i'll let the photos do the talking.

nah, i'll still narrate. it's hard to believe that the girlie has reached the SIXTH MONTH milestone!

six month tricks:
sleeping on her side and belly
attacking the mobile at 4am
yogurt, avocados, sweet potatoes, and bananas
reaching out to pet the old ladies (aka the dogs)

looks like she is just as surprised as we are.



nope, the six did not last long.



and for anyone wondering how delia managed to get a bacterial infection.



this is pretty much her new sitting area in the backyard. the groundhog hole happens to be just a few inches from the end of her nose. evidently, close calls with groundhogs can lead to bacterial infections. ah, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. no learning curve there.

b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

she ain't no holla back girl... so, mary adelyn has added one more food to her menu. and it is clear that she is bananas for bananas.



and for everyone wondering what the heck that is on her head, it's called a doc band. evidently a combination of her being past due, a long baby, and my short torso all conspired to keep her head from being perfectly round. basically the back right side of her head is a little flatter than the other side. plagiocephaly is what all the cool kids are calling it. she starts week 4 tomorrow, of a probable 8-10 week treatment schedule, wearing it for 23hrs a day. we've been making weekly trips to charlotte for adjustments. so far, so good. she hasn't shown any signs that it bothers her. and we've already started to see progress. the photo on the right was taken on mother's day, so this is after 2 weeks of treatment. check it out...


yes, this girl is going to have more head shots than an actress.

bad karma?

our house has been under a bit of a curse this week. despite the fact that i informed a bank teller that she accidentally gave me an extra $200 when i cashed a few checks on wednesday.

we've had multiple trips to the vet for both layla and delia. layla is on her 2nd round of antibiotics this month. she has somehow injured her left dewclaw. and as you can see from the picture below, she is now sporting a new head accessory. the alday girls are trendsetters when it comes to head gear.
and delia has come down with a bacterial infection causing her to vomit and poop blood. yeah, it wasn't pretty. so she has been on iv fluids (see catheter on her right leg), antibiotics, and a special diet. we were just thankful that it was an infection, and not a baby ground hog obstructing her bowels. whoever said that there is nothing that can prepare you for parenthood, obviously never had a lab.this might be a sign that we have officially entered the world of senior dog owners. they have more prescription medications than we do.

and to top it all off, our fridge has been making a loud humming noise. so we've been crossing our fingers and hoping that it will just magically go away. the noise, that is.

needless to say, our week has been busy.

mother's day

i hope everyone had a wonderful mother's day! we certaintly did! of course, the day is destined to go well if you wake up to this...

mmm, chocolate. as you can see, i didn't waste anytime checking this place out. my little girl knows me so well already. and byron is still trying to get used to addressing me as mom on gifts from the little one.

here are few pictures from the day...

and be careful, eating too many sweet potatoes and avocados might cause you to have these...

not sure where those cheeks came from. they just showed up that morning.

Ta-Dah!

yes, it is true. the aldays are finally joining the blogosphere. i hope you were sitting down when you opened that email. maybe someday we'll venture over to that thing called facebook. but i wouldn't get your hopes up.

so, how did this all come about? or what you are really thinking: how in the world did she convince byron to embrace yet another part of the 21st century?

as i was sitting down to send a mass email of pictures from our first mother's day, i mentioned to byron that it would be much easier if i could just post them online and everyone could view as much as they liked and whenever they pleased. and then i went on and on (according to byron) about how i'm not even sure that everyone enjoys having their inbox raided by our pictures, how it might improve our "keeping in touch" skills with our friends and family, and just the mere fact that mary adelyn is way too cute not to share. so, since it was mother's day, byron said that i could have anything i wanted. and lucky for you, i decided to create this blog.

please join us as we attempt to share a little piece of our everyday life while stumbling through this thing called parenthood.


stay tuned for mother's day pictures...ok, here's one to tide you over.