Weekend with Grammy

This past weekend my mom came up for a visit. Brian had a conference all weekend, so she came up to keep me company but also for a good dose of Ashley time. She's figured out how to see her once a month so she doesn't miss out on her changes although she couldn't believe how much she had changed since Christmas. She took the train up on Friday and we decided to get some dinner at a restaurant nearby. Usually Ashley is on her best behavior, but the combination of being tired and having two poopy diapers didn't go over very well with her and she let everyone around us know. She was fine when we walked around, but as soon as we sat down to eat she would fuss. So, we passed her back and forth while we tried to finish our dinners and get her home. Saturday was a lazy day and we didn't get out of our pajamas until noon when we decided to get Grammy her Christmas present which was a UW sweatshirt and get some lunch. That night we went to church, made dinner at home, and watched the movie License to Wed (hilarious for those who haven't seen it, loved the part with the mechanical babies). Sunday was another card camp. We made the cutest cards and of course Ashley was back to herself and was such a good girl. The woman who puts of the card camp had her almost the entire time. She has nephews, but no nieces and just wanted to eat Ashley up.

State Farm Baby

My Uncle Dick is a State Farm agent in Illinois and has sent a box full of stuff from the office. Mostly things for Ashley such as a bib, onesie, sippy cup, Cheerios container, oh and of course some stylin' sunglasses. But he also sent a few things for us such as (stated in his letter) a "nightlight to find our way in the dead of the night, a flashlight to locate diapers, a clean sleeper, fresh bedding, or a host of other things we may need in the baby's room, a stress ball to throw at something when we're at wits end, and most important a couple of great cocktail glasses to fill at the end of the day when we can sit back, relax, and take time to visit about the daily adventures of parenting and other important things in our lives as my grandparents did when they had kids in the house. Thanks Uncle Dick for all the goodies, State Farm will be embedded in her earliest memories!

Comfy Cozy

I love observing Brian with Ashley, he does the funniest things. Last Sunday he wanted to dress her for church and this is the outfit he picked out for her. I don't know if you can see, but her outfit is red, totally matches her hat! Anyways after he got her dressed he tucked her into bed while we finished getting ready. I didn't know he did this until I turned around and saw her in bed. I got a good laugh at seeing her like this. She looks so cute!

Sweetest Thing Ever

This was the sweetest thing ever. I got up with Ashley last night at 12:30am which is also when Brian came home from a late night of studying. She fell asleep on my shoulder and when Brian came in to say hi, he was talking in a whisper and she woke up, popped her head up and looked right at him. She got a big smile on her face and started talking to him, it was so precious I got tears in my eyes. It's hard having him gone so much, but it's moments like this that really make me hang in there. She knows and loves her papa very much!

Baby Bucks

On Saturday we volunteered Ashley for the PA students to practice their well child checks and she made $25! It will go into her piggy bank for her to spend on whatever she wants when she's old enough. Who knows what $25 will get you in 10 years though. Maybe we'll put it in the bank and it can gain some interest! Anyways she had 5 exams and was there for about 2 1/2 hours. She did amazing, I'm so proud of her. They were looking in her ears, poking at her belly and having her do tummy time and she hardly made a fuss. Not really a real life situation for the PA students, but it was good practice. She was one of two babies there, the others were toddlers up to about 6 years old.
This is Brian's classmate Alice checking Ashley's heart

Play Date

Last Thursday our neighbors Trent and Rachelle went up to the mountain so I got to watch Kylee, who is now 10 months and walking! I brought Ashley over because Brian was working. We had so much fun. At first it was really easy because they both fell asleep within half hour of them leaving. The only challenge was carrying them both upstairs and getting one diapered/changed while the other is entertaining themselves, but we worked it out. Ashley got a little tired toward the end because it was past her bed time, so when Daddy came home her took her home to get ready for bed. This Thursday they are going to watch Ashley while mommy works goes to the gym!
It was so funny because Kylee kept taking Ashley's binky out and throwing it on the ground. She hasn't had one since she was 3 months old and I guess she felt like Ashley shouldn't have one either.
Kylee loved this bouncy chair Ashley was in. She knows the sign for baby so she kept signing baby with her hands every time I referred to Ashley, it was so cute.

Curious Girl

I was cooking in the kitchen and Ashley thought it smelled good she told Papa to lift her up so she could see what was going on in there. She doesn't know it yet, but she'll probably learn most of her cooking from her Dad, I can teach her the basics though, just nothing fancy. She is definitely getting to be a lot more fun. We can interact with her so much more. She's interested in toys, books, funny faces and noises. She gets to talking and kicking her legs and arms. It's amazing what little can excite a baby. She definitely keeps us entertained. All of that play time gets her tired though and she's been sleeping up to 8 hours at night! We put her to bed around 7pm and she'll wake up at 2 or 3am and then 6 or 7am ready to be up for a few hours and then back to bed. Now if mom could go to bed a little earlier I would get more sleep too! We haven't set a schedule for the afternoon because mom's usually out and about, but I guess that comes around 4 months. She can still sleep in the car and stroller no problem, so that's a good thing.

Does she look like...

Mom or...

Dad?

Mom Gets Pampered

I received a very generous gift certificate to Gene Juarez from my friend Ann for a baby shower gift. She likes to give mom's a gift since the babies get so much. What a thoughtful friend! So, I got to use it today. Brian suggested that I make the appointment so he could watch Ashley while I got pampered before classes started back up. Oh my goodness it was the best thing ever! I got the Spa pedicure. The girl brought me into my own dimly lit room with relaxing music. She put an eye mask on and reclined me so I was laying flat. I got a paraffin treatment, reflexology massage, and got my nails all spiffed up. It was a treat!

Tummy Time

At Ashley's 2 month check up Dr. Filipo said to start doing tummy time 3-4 times a day to get her neck and back stronger. We had already been doing it a little, but now it is time to get down to business. My girlfriend got her this Boppy and it has a mat and toys to go with it that we'll bring out later, but she seems to do pretty well with it. She'll last about 3-4 minutes and then she's done. I guess they say they'll work up to more time later, but at least this gets her used to it. It is so cute to watch her look around and she loves when Brody comes up to her. Now she's right at his level and they can really get a good look at each other. Another thing we've started to do it put her down in her crib. We started this on New Year's Eve when we had friends come over and we didn't want her to wake up with the noise. We have a video monitor and absolutely love it. Anytime we think she is waking up we can look at the monitor and see if her eyes are open or if she's just fussing in her sleep. Without it I think I would be checking on her every hour to make sure she was ok. Now we can just look at the monitor and she what she's up to. It's funny though because our neighbors have the same monitor so we can see each others baby when they're asleep. We figured this out when we first set up the monitor and was testing it out. We changed the channel and saw another child sleeping. We thought that was pretty weird. Come to find out that it was our neighbors baby that we could see when we switched the channel.

2 Months

Ashley had her 2 month check up today. I had originally scheduled it for next week, but changed it because Brian will be back in school and I needed him there to get me through her first shots. I was so thankful that she handled them so well. It's tough on a mom! My eyes got welled up as soon as the nurse said she was going to get started. I got myself worked up for nothing, she only screamed for a short time while the nurse gave the shots, but calmed down right after and is now peacefully asleep. Thank goodness! So, here's her stats: She is in the 95% for height at 23 3/4 inches, 50% for weight at 10 lb 11 oz, and 75% for head size at 39 1/2 cm. No wonder she's growing out of her clothes so fast.
This is her 2 month car seat picture. I took it in a hurry and she looks like she's busy doing something that requires a diaper change
Seattle Smiles
She's a little scrunched up in this picture, but I love capturing her peacefully sleeping.