I'm pretty sure...

I over compensate for Ayla on my blog.
I have all these adorable pictures of her.
Deep sigh...
She does take super cute photos...

But man.
Ayla is hard work.
And I'm not sure if you all know that about her.
Hard work, I tell ya.
If you see us on the street, you wouldn't know it.
But if you could be a fly on our wall, you may just be appalled by what you see.
Persistant, demanding, independent, aggressive.
INTENSE.
And sometimes just down right mean (and most times, Lani is on the receiving end of it...or Paul).
And it wears on you.
By 11:00am I am more than ready to put her down for naptime.
I dread the day she give up naptime.
She naps well and wakes up rea-dy to go.
She is extreme.
Either flailing about, swinging fists,
or 2 seconds later
snuggling in for a hug and kiss.
To be honest, we've never had to work too hard at the parenting stuff.
Brigg and Lani were so easy.
Look at them sideways and they were put right back into line.
So this is all new for us.
And there are days when we feel like we are failing her.
But we keep plugging away.
Trying new things.
Praying.
they.
work.
:)
And also hoping we get the right equation figured out before those tween years.
It could be a long road.
She loves hard and she pushes hard.
And as I sit here typing this, listening to her heavy breathing through the monitor, I think to myself
"I will be better. I am going to be better from here on out."
And then she wakes up.
And hits me.
Or scratches me.
And again, I'm at a loss.

Anyway, just thouht you should know.
This adorable little curly-haired, angelic looking girl...
...well, she has a little attitude as well.
And it's taking a toll on her parents these days.
Ah...parenting.
Hard work. Lots of hard work.
Yet so so many rewards....