Fall Festival

What a gorgeous weekend! I worked Saturday morning- it was chaos all day. Lots of emergencies and sick patients. Luckily I finished by 1. I raced home and had lunch, then went to our neighborhood pavilion. Our nieghborhood had a festival all afternoon and I was helping out with some of the events. They had so many fun things for kids of all ages- we all had a blast. Ainsley got her face painted, rode a train, played in a pool of balls, ate candy, ran around with our friend Maddy, sat in a firetruck, and did arts and crafts.

Big smile

Arts and crafts- a lot of ink ended up on her hands, my legs, and my shorts, but we had fun!

Fall weather at last!

I had an awesome weekend! I love the weather- mid 70s during the day, bright blue sky, and cool at night. I wish it would hang around for 4 months, but I will take the days I can get. We had a pretty busy, but fun weekend.

Friday Ainsley and I went to our playgroup and saw lots of friends. We went on a walk with Remi and played in our yard -tending the flowers. My garden looks spectacular right now- everything has started blooming and growing like crazy. The plants are obviously very thankful for the rain and cooler weather!

Saturday, we drove to Plantersville, Texas for a wedding. Ainsley took a short nap in the car and watched Finding Nemo for the rest of the drive. Thankfully, she was a very good passenger. The wedding was at this old church in the country- a very pretty setting. Ainsley enjoyed the reception- she was dancing and running around with the other children. We drove back that evening- making for a long day, but it went ok too.

Sunday we went to the park and played for a while with Ainsley and Remi. Then a family trip to Lowes- yard stuff. I bought some pansies for my garden and planted them- they are always such pretty, happy plants.

We went to the pumpkin patch near our house in the afternoon with some friends. Ainsley enjoyed herself- she ran around looking at all the pumpkins and enjoyed the small ones that she could lift.

We spent as much time outside as possible- love this weather! We grilled out and had yummy fajitas for dinner.

Vacation synopsis

We had a really good, relaxing vacation last week. We flew to Arkansas to see my family. The first flight went great, then Ainsley had fun running around the Dallas airport, stretching her legs. She was so happy- everyone was smiling and laughing at her antics. The second leg of the trip did not go so well. During the descent, Ainsley had problems with her ears. She got really upset and was crying hysterically. I had milk to give her, but she drank it earlier in the flight ( bad mommy). Did I mention that she also drank a large glass of milk in the airport? She would not listen to us as we tried to get her to yawn, she would not eat, and she would not suck on the straw from her glass. Then, she coughed, and vomited- all over herself and Dan. More vomit. We were going down, I did not have the diaper bag ( it was in the overhead bin), nor did I have any napkins, towels, anything to clean. The sour smell of milk vomit permeated the air, I am sure everyone around us smelled it. Finally, the smell must have gotten to the flight attendent, she came and checked on us and brought us some towels. Note to self- no milk before airplane trips.



We arrived and Ainsley immediately seemed to feel better when her feet were on the ground. She was running and jumping through the airport. All of our luggage made it and we met my Dad and started on the 2 hour drive to their house. Ainsley fell asleep in the car and slept for most of the drive.

Ainsley found this bear- it was my younger sister's from years ago. Ainsley loved the bear- it was almost as big as she is, but she carried it all over.




It was a combination of weather in Arkansas- some gorgeous weather- around 70 and sunny, then cold and rainy.



Feeding the carp at the boat dock. My mom, Dan and my uncle Lynn are pictured.




We were able to play some tennis, do some boating, and Dan and my Dad played golf. A true vacation, right? Tennis, Golf and boating!


We had an evening boat cruise with the whole family- lots of great appetizers and an awesome dinner. I wish I had pictures of all the food- it was spread out all over the boat, yummy!
Watching the sunset.

The temperature dropped rapidly when the sun went down- everyone bundled up. The moon rise was awesome over the water, guiding us back to the dock.




Dan and I left Ainsley for one night and we took a small birthday getaway. We went to a small resort like place for a fancy dinner and stayed overnight. We had an awesome dinner and enjoyed the quiet and lack of interruptions. Ainsley had a great time with my parents and did not seem distressed at our absence at all!


Ainsley enjoyed going on walks- there are lots of birds, squirrels, trees, and leaves that she pointed out. She is getting amazingly good with words and knows what so many things are. We took her out on the boat a few times and she loved it. She liked the water and looking at everything around us- pointing out all different things, naming them, then saying: "hello" and waving.

The last two days of the vacation turned cold and rainy so we were forced to stay inside. A bummer since we would have preferred tennis and the lake, but we made the best of it.

I got to celebrate my birthday with the family too- we went out to dinner then had an awesome strawberry and cream cake.




Ainsley has now learned how to say Happy birthday and runs around saying it all the time. She loves for us to sing the song too.

Ainsley calls my Dad, "Papa." She took to that name right away. She was following my mom around calling her Papa too, I was thinking she should call her Papette or Poppy instead- those are pretty cute. My Mom didn't like grandma much but did not have another name in mind. We will see what we end up with...

The trip home went well- no big problems on the airplanes. I fed Ainsley little bits of brownie to keep her swallowing and had a cup of water for her to drink from. We also worked on yawning and she tried that some too.

We were all sad to leave such a fun place, but still glad to be home.

Vacation

We are leaving for a much needed vacation soon. It seems like forever since we had our last trip. We are going to visit my parents in Arkansas for a few days. They are so excited about seeing us and Ainsley! We plan to have a relaxing time - we will go out on their boat, play tennis, and laze around. I am off to buy some books tomorrow (hopefully). It is going to be great weather there- 70s during the day, 50s at night- can't wait!

Two of my aunts are going to visit for a few days too- that should be fun for all of us.

18 month Stats

We had our 18 month check up last Friday. Ainsley is doing great! She is 35 inches tall - off the charts tall. She weighed 28 pounds- 50-75%. Tall and thin as the doctor said. She is doing great with her milestones and is ahead physically and mentally. We were looking at books while waiting on the doctor to come in. We were going over colors- Ainsley knows blue and yellow pretty well. The doctor came in while Ainsley was pointing to a color and said - "Wow, colors are a 3 year milestone." Who knew? The doctor asked Ainsley to show her the blue bear- Ainsley went and got the book, flipped through the pages, opened it up and walked to the doctor, then pointed out the blue bear! What a genius!

Ainsley is still struggling with the strep throat. We thought she was over it- but a few days after we stopped the antibiotics it was back. I had to take her to the doctor last Wednesday too. She tested positive for strep again and was put on a new antibiotic. After 2 days on this antibiotic, she was still febrile, her throat hurt and she was fussy. We discussed this at length with our regular doctor at the visit Friday (she was unavailable for all of our previous appointments). She tested Ainsley again and she was still positive so we started a 4th antibiotic. It is so frustrating because I have been told by at least 2 doctors (one of Ainsley's and mine) that strep is one of those things that responds to everything, there is no resistance. Really?

They sent a swab from Ainsley to the lab again for a Culture over the weekend and I am supposed to hear from her doctor tomorrow.

Dan and I both went to the doctor last week too and were tested for strep and put on meds. I have been ill with a sore throat and congestion- I suspect a cold, but the doctor put me on antibiotics. Our strep cultures were sent to the lab so we will hear soon.

Yesterday, Dan and I took a small daycation. My sister and her husband watched Ainsley for the afternoon and we went to Lake LBJ for a party. We enjoyed boating, riding waverunners, floating in the lake, good fajitas and a sunset boat ride. It was a nice getaway. Sara and Dave had an awesome time with Ainsley and did a great job entertaining her because she went to bed a little early and slept for 12 hours, about an hour longer than usual. We appreciated it this morning as we were able to sleep in a little!

18 months old

Ainsley is now 18 months old- where has the time gone? I don't have her height/weight yet as we go for her 18 month check up this week- I will post them when I know. I predict she will still be off the charts in height - every person that meets her thinks she is at least 2 years old.



All dressed up- check out the hat, sunglasses, bracelet and purse. she puts it all on, walks to the door and says "ba bye" and waves.
Here she even has a sticker on her face. All accessorized ( right Celene?)
We have been battling illness with her for the past few weeks. She was a bit fussy for a while and not sleeping well- I thought she was getting her last molars in. She continued to be a little fussy, stopped eating well and I noticed her breath smelled bad. We went to the doctor and she was diagnosed with strep throat. Apparently this is really uncommon in children under 2, usually older kids get it. We can't really figure out how Ainsley got it, but it doesn't matter too much I suppose. She was started on Amoxicillin. She did not improve on the amoxicillin and after many phone calls to the doctor's office dealing with an unhelpful nurse, we went back and were put on a new antibiotic. After a few days on the new antibiotic, she improved. Poor baby- I felt terrible that she was ill for so long. Now she is back to her happy and rambunctious self.



Grandma visited during her illness (I think Ainsley has been ill for every recent visit from Grandma). It was a short, but really fun visit. Grandma got us lots of really cute outfits- you will see them in the pictures below.

Ainsley loves to play chase and she does it all the time, even when you aren't really playing. Here is the look on her face as she gets ready to run.

She is poised on the other side of the desk, waiting to see which way I go...




Ainsley is talking all the time- repeating almost everything you say. She learns about 5 words a day- truly amazing. She loves to dance to music and learns new dance moves from me, the Backyardigans, and some she just makes up. She can read several words. I made a bunch of flashcards a while ago and we have been showing some to her everyday for a few minutes. Ainsley is pretty good at reading these words - Hi, Bubbles, Mama, Dada, Cat, Dog, Milk, UhOh, Book, More, Apple, Ball, Ear, and Chair.

Ainsley loves to play on beds- the more pillows, the better. She "helps" make them daily. This is her "helping" at Nannie's. She piles up the pillows and some blankets and then pounces on them.




Very serious face ( usually only for pictures)

What a character.




In her pretty party dress from Grandma on the way to the Hajek twins' birthday party.

Gathering all the balloons.


Playing in a pool full of stuffed animals with one of the birthday girls.

Rain! The good and the bad

We have been anxiously waiting for rain. It has been so hot and dry here that we are desperately in need of lots of rain. Every day there is a 20% chance of rain, but it rarely happens. Finally last night the sky darkened, there was thunder and lightning in the distance and we felt little raindrops. Yipee! We sat outside for a few minutes on the back porch and watched the rain fall until it started getting us all wet. We went inside and started the evening routine.

This was a big storm - lots of lightning and thunder and a nice rain. I was cleaning up dinner and Dan was bathing Ainsley when all this happened simultaneously:

1) I saw a huge bolt of cloud to ground lightning- it hit the ground behind us and to the right
2) There was a massive bolt of thunder- amazingly loud
3) Another loud boom- like an explosion. The entire house shook
4) the power went out
5) Ainsley jumped from the tub and into Dan's arms- good catch Dan!
6) Remi, Brie and I jumped straight up in the air ( good startle reflex!)

Ainsley held on to Dan's neck very tightly for a long time- poor baby was really startled.

Good news- it continued to rain for a few hours and we got a nice soak.
Bad news- our power stayed out for hours too.

I heard sirens and there was a firetruck a few houses up on our street. I am sure the house got struck by lightning, or it was really close. Luckily the truck was not there long so no fire resulted. It was raining and there was too much lightning for me to go out and be nosy.

Ainsley went to bed fine. I lit some candles and we watched a movie on our laptop. After a few hours with no power, I started to worry it was a major problem and it would not come back on for a while. I was thinking of all my groceries ( I had just been to Costco....) We called the power company at 9:15 and they could not say when it would be fixed just that they were working on it and 550 houses were affected. So, we took some of our frozen items out and Dan drove to his parents. Of course, our power came back on at 10. I called Dan and he had to turn around and go get the frozen stuff to bring home. A fun late night adventure for him... not. Oh well, surely if we had left it the power would have been out all night. But, we are truly very very thankful for the rain! I am hoping for more today.