Flowery butterfly

The botanical garden and arboretum is definitely one of our favorite places to visit. I feel so calm and always notice the cool shade under the trees by the entryway. It's a welcome experience in the middle of July. We have been extremely thankful for all the rain lately. With the rain, the temperature has remained primarily in the double digits. That's a very happy change. Summer in Oklahoma actually has been pretty close to pleasant.

In other news, Alaina seems to have completely weaned from the bottle. We have replaced it with sippy cups instead which is a whole other habit we will have to break her of but oh well. It was actually way less dramatic than I was expecting. Again, thankful. 

At one point I had considered not doing sippy cups at all. She loves straw cups. But the sippy cups work really well in the car and, given how much she has hated her car seat lately, this is a necessity. She will only drink milk out of one particular style of cup. Man, babies are finicky. :)

She has been doing really well on 100% soy milk. 

These changes, a few days without illness, and a new bedtime routine where she has been falling asleep within moments of rocking her have caused Chad and I to feel like we may one day be able to accomplish things and develop yet another "new normal." I don't want to jinx it though. It has only been a few days.

The circular pattern threw her off a bit. 

One of my new favorite things is that Alaina loves to hold our hands. She will grab our hand and smile while she leads us to her room when she needs her diaper changed or when it's bed time. She gets especially giddy if she is holding both mine and Chad's hands. Absolutely precious. I'm not sure if it's as cute as when she gives us kisses or when she "blows" us kisses but it's pretty close to tied with those. 

She is seriously my favorite. If she gets any cuter I may explode.