And Then There Were Four

Christmas 2011

2012-01-11T12:35:00.014-06:00

December 2011

December was a very big month for all of us. We spent a lot of time preparing for the Holidays- decorating, shopping, and celebrating. Dan and I had several Christmas parties to attend together and I had 2 on my own. It made for some busy evenings!

Ben landmarks:

Ben stopped nursing suddenly on December 5^th. He had a cold a few days prior and was teething. He did not ever want to start nursing again- though I tried for a week.

Upper left incisor December 4^th
Upper left tooth and Lower Right tooth December 18^th
Climbing and climbing and climbing!

Out of shopping cart December 7^th
Out of high chair December 10^th

Said ball December 14^th – not repeatable though
Pushing car and walking behind it Mid December

He continues to be a very happy and energetic little boy. He is into everything- he loves to take things out of cabinets, loves to eat toilet paper, loves to giggle and laugh. He really likes to play peek-a-boo and laughs so hard! He hides himself from us too! He likes to be chased- he will crawl away from you and when you chase he starts laughing. Then we tickle him once we have caught him. He is very ticklish- like his Daddy- especially his feet and underarms.

He is starting to walk on furniture more and more. He has taken a few steps on his own- 2 a few times, but he is so fast when he crawls that I think he prefers that. His first steps were 12/18. Since then I have been trying to have him walk more, but when I stand him up in front of me, he will take one step and then fall onto me for a game. This week he is actually walking more when I hold his hands and getting better and better at it.

His sleeping has been so-so over the past month. He has good nights and bad- where he is up several times a night crying. Most of those times, he goes back to sleep when I hold him for a few minutes. Occasionally, he will be up crying for a while. I suspect teething is the culprit as he got 3 teeth this month. It is so frustrating for me and my sleep it completely interrupted.

Ainsley had a cute little Christmas program at her school- they sang several songs for us. She and Mandy also did a little Rudolph presentation for us that was super cute. We took her to see a Beauty and the Beast play December 17^th. We could only get tickets for the 8pm show so it was a really late night for her. Luckily, she took a long, late nap in the afternoon. We made a big production of going out – she got really dressed up and wore a little makeup. She even wore high heels. We left Ben with Grandparents and headed out. The play was fantastic! Ainsley really liked everything about it and was so much fun to have there. She knew the story from the book/movie that we have. She laughed really hard at the antics of La Fou, Gaston’s sidekick. He was very silly and energetic. He kept falling and doing silly somersaults all over the stage. She had an imaginary friend La Fou for days after the play. We were out really late – we got home at 11:30. She was up until 12 am- the latest night ever for her. She went to bed and got up at 6:30- of course (she never sleeps in).

December 22^nd we left for my parents’ house in Arkansas. We left after work so that the kids would fall asleep in the truck on the way. We got on the road at 6:45 pm. I sat in the back with the kids, Remi sat in the front passenger seat and Dan drove. We were packed in tightly and the bed of the truck was very full too! I entertained Ben for 45 minutes and then he fell asleep. Ainsley watched a movie, and then she fell asleep. It was a very quiet ride from 8:30 on. The kids slept beautifully! I actually watched a movie myself. There was no traffic and we made great time. When we stopped for gas at 11, the kids woke up. They were up for a while before falling back asleep, but they were happy. We drove really late- until 1 am- so that we would not have as far to go the next day and also because there was no where to stop. We ended up in Texarkana and stayed at a hotel near the highway. It was not really a good stop- the hotel was only so-so. The kids woke up when we stopped and Ben was up until 2:30 am crying. I don’t know why he was so unhappy, but he was. Dan had to unload everything from the back of the truck (we were worried it would get stolen). Some went into the cab and the rest came to our room – of course on the second floor. Ben then woke up at 6 am and would not go back to sleep. It was a short and frustrating night for us. Since we had made it so far the night before, our drive was only about 4 more hours.

We took our time in the morning- getting ready to get back on the road and letting Ben wander around. We had breakfast at the Waffle House and discovered that they did not have pancakes- which Ainsley had wanted. Luckily, she settle for a waffle. While we were at breakfast, we spoke a little with a man in the booth behind us. He asked us if we were traveling and where we were from. He made friends with Ben- Ben blew raspberries at him- haha. Anyway, the man was nice and surprised us with the gift of free breakfast! When we tried to pay, we found out he had paid for our check when he left. It was such a nice gesture from a stranger.

The remainder of our drive went really well. Ben fell asleep right after we got in the truck, though he did cry for several minutes first. He slept for over 3 hours! Ainsley slept for over 2 hours. They both woke up about 10 minutes from Grandma’s house!

We enjoyed our visit with my parents. The kids love their house and had so much fun getting lots of attention. We went to Christmas Eve service with my parents and then opened some gifts. Ainsley opened gifts from Mommy and Daddy and her Aunts. We figured she would have so much to open the next morning that she would need a head start. Ainsley was really into presents this year-she kept wanting more and more. She actually had a few hissy fits about other people opening gifts; apparently, she wanted them all.

She was up fairly late Christmas Eve and then Dan worked her up talking about Santa. She did great though- after she fell asleep, she stayed in bed all night. Ben had me up from 1-3:15 am. He would cry and then go back to sleep when I held him only to wake up as soon as I put him down. This went on for a long time. Mommy was exhausted in the morning!

Ainsley had a few issues with joining us for pictures- she pretty much refused to be in most of them. We got a few nice pictures with her, but we wanted more.

We had fun being “Santa.” I wrapped gifts and we put them all out. The living room looked amazing! Ainsley’s big gift was a car- a red convertible mustang. She also got a sing along/karaoke cd player that was pretty awesome. She got clothes, purses, bags, fairy wings, games and more. Ben got several trucks and balls, books and games. It was quite a haul for everyone.

View from my parent's house. It was very beautiful and peaceful there- lots of birds, great sunrises, sunny days and quiet.
Ben's baptism

Hanging out with Grandma!

Family pictures on Christmas Day

A boy and his loyal dog!
Daddy time!
Ainsley's new car! She and Ben had so much fun riding in it! Ben was a great passenger- he just cruised with Ainsley. She was a great driver. That car has some serious pep!

Pure joy!

We enjoyed our stay at Grandma and Papa’s house! It was very relaxing and nice. The kids enjoyed all the attention they got from 4 adults. Ben made us all laugh and kept us on our toes as we followed him to keep him out of trouble. Ainsley enjoyed making cookies, painting, walking and going to the park. Of course, she really enjoyed driving her car! Ben was a great passenger too. I could not believe he stayed in the car with her for so long- at least 10 minutes. He was totally relaxed and enjoyed the ride. He never sits still for that long!

The drive back went ok- we did it in one day and drove until 1 am. It was nice to get home and sleep in our beds, even if it was a short night.

Since we returned, we have been trying to recover, catch up and organize- put gifts away, unpack, remove Christmas decorations, etc. It has been hectic! Work has also been really busy for me and Dan. Dan worked late every day last week- sometimes he was not even home when I went to bed. He also had to work all day Sunday.

November

2011-11-28T16:34:00.015-06:00

Ben is now 10 months old and so CUTE! The weather this past month has been fantastic- clear and sunny most days, with temperatures around 75-80. We spent a lot of time outside on walks, at the park, and in the backyard. Ben loves to move around and get into everything. He crawls up on his knees now, not just army crawling, and he is really fast. He walks really well around the furniture and moves from one piece to the next easily. He can balance himself on his feet standing for just a few seconds at a time. He got another tooth- the lower right incisor Nov 3rd. I think he is working on several more.

Ben loves to:

flush toilets- he discovered how to do that on his own on Nov 3rd. Then he kept trying to do it. Now he tries to go around the toilet every time he is in the bathroom- not a place he should be, sigh! He also stuck his hand in the toilet water- yuck.
Open doors and cabinets to see what is inside
examine anything and everything trying to figure out how it works
throw balls- he is really good at throwing them too!
unroll toilet paper and try to eat it. He can unroll an entire roll super fast!
chew on anything paper or cardboard
take a bath- he enjoys splashing and is very tolerant of being washed. No tears!
play with my iPhone. He screams when I take it away.
kiss my face. His version of kissing is to open his mouth and slobber all over my face. It is so precious and it makes me feel loved! We usually start out the day with kisses, I talk to him and he "kisses" my face. I really want a video of it but have not quite captured it yet.

He can say "Uh Oh" and does so on a regular basis! so cute! His version is not exact but is really close and he definitely uses is correctly! It sounds more like Uh Ew. I think he can even say Ainsley. He has said something that resembles her name a few times over the last week when she is around!

He climbs on everything. He climbed up onto Ainsley's rocking chair and stood on the seat and started bouncing. He climbed up the attic ladder stairs on his own when Dan had them down yesterday ( 11/27). He got his knees up, then pulled himself up to get his feet on each rung. He was halfway up with me spotting him and he wanted to keep going. CRAZY! Ainsley was NOT a climber.

Ainsley still loves her little school and has several new friends. She loves her little brother and likes to help with him. She tries to pick him up which is a little worrisome, but she is usually very careful with him. She likes to cuddle and kiss him- which is so sweet to see! She is so smart and inquisitive. She will come up with the most thoughtful questions and I realize her brain is always churning. She seems so much older than 3.75... She wants to know why the moon changes size. Why the days are shorter. Why it is fall, and how we know it is fall. She asks "why" a lot, and you can tell she processes all the information. She says "goodbye! I love you! Don't hit anyone!" when I leave in the mornings! Her version of stay safe and it cracks me up. She is so sweet and funny!

My cute kids in their pajamas looking out the front door!
Ainsley- crawling with Ben
reading
The park!
Crazy hair!!
Celene came to visit for a few days just before Thanksgiving. We had not seen her since February. We had a fantastic visit and wish we saw her more. Ainsley enjoyed having her Auntie here and they did lots of special things together. I was not wanted, she wanted Celene for everything.

Making cookies with Auntie Celene

Ainsley is so pretty! She is changing every day and her features are becoming more pronounced. She is a little girl, not a toddler anymore! Her hair has gotten longer and smoother too and she actually lets me style it occasionally.

Thanksgiving outfits!

Fashion diva!
This is a cute hat Ainsley made in school!

Thanksgiving we celebrated with the Coffey Family- we all enjoyed it thoroughly!

Ben played with a balloon- he thought it was fascinating and entertained himself for a while! He took a nap at the perfect time in the afternoon and allowed us to eat our fancy dinner without having to entertain him! I was a little sad he missed his first Thanksgiving, but I was very happy to relax and enjoy my meal!

The girls had their own special table.

Decorating the tree at home.

We put up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. It was really fun! Ainsley could not wait to decorate and put up most of the ornaments. She helped me put up the other decorations around the house too! We did not do all of the decorations that I usually do- mainly because we worried about Ben tearing stuff down and eating it- HA! (just like having a puppy). We only put up the unbreakable ornaments on the tree this year...we did not want to risk all of them with Ben. Ben has pretty much taken off all the ornaments on the bottom half of the tree and they have bounced around on the floor, so I think this was a good decision.

We went to the mall over the weekend so I could do a little shopping (<1hr). The kids walked around with Dan and got ice cream. There was no line for Santa- amazing! so we stopped off for pictures. Ainsley did great- she sat on his lap and smiled, but would not tell him what she wants for Christmas. Ben was great too- no crying! He kept looking at Santa and staring with his serious little face. I thought he was going to reach up and grab his beard, but he resisted the urge!

Later, Ainsley told us she did not know if that was the real Santa. I was pretty surprised, and asked why, but she did not specify. I told her that sometimes Santa has helpers because he has so many places to be. I kept thinking that she is so young to have these doubts. But, she is SMART!

Ainsley has not been very informative on what she wants for Christmas. When we ask her, she says she wants a bike for Ben. How sweet is that? But, Ben is not quite ready for a bike, so we will have to figure something else out.

Santa Pictures

Dan has had all of his childhood toys stored in boxes in our attic. He went into the attic last weekend and brought a bunch of them down. I have to admit, they are pretty awesome! The original Tonka trucks- actual metal toys that were made in the USA! An ET doll. Star Wars stuff. Optimus Prime (transformer) and many other things. The kids loved playing with the toys. It was funny to see Ainsley running around in her pink tutu playing with Dan's toy gun. I was not excited to introduce her to guns, but...at least they were toys

This is Ben playing with a helicopter. It took about 2 seconds for him to spin the rotor- I was impressed!
the gun- toting outfit
I am so excited about this upcoming holiday season with my awesome family!

Halloween

2011-11-01T11:12:00.007-05:00

Ben is an active, energetic little guy! His 9 month check up went fine- he is healthy and "perfect." He was 30 inches tall, 90%, 21#14 oz, 75%, and his head was 47 cm - >97%. Even better- no shots!

He loves to mimic noises- snorting, sniffing, kisses, laughing, etc. We get little laugh-offs because I will be laughing, then he laughs, then I laugh more, etc.

He climbed stairs on his own 10/19, he got up to our landing

he got cheerios- 10/21 and loves them! It is one of the best entertainments for him!

Ben loves banana pieces! I was feeding him some the other day and I leaned over to clean something near the high chair. He grabbed my hair with his banana fisted hands, smiled and then laughed. Oh well, who judges me, right? Everyone needs a little banana gel.

Ben has been sleeping terribly for a few weeks. His ears still look fine and the assumption is that it is his teeth ( even though none are visible near the gumline). We really want him to start sleeping better soon.

Ainsley started a little Mother's Day Out program 2 weeks ago and she LOVES it! I am so excited that she likes it. She did not want to go, and had a 1 hour tantrum about it the morning we were to start. I stayed strong and she went. Luckily she calmed down and put on a brave face to try the school. When we arrived, all the other Mom's and kids were there and they were very excited about the new girl. She became instant friends with all the kids (6 total), especially the other little girl ( only 1 other girl). She has not shed a tear at drop off or while she is there and she really seems excited to go. She is such a big girl! She has helped me pick out her clothes and pack her lunch too.

Halloween was fun this year! I dressed up with Ainsley in a matching outfit. Ainsley was Tinkerbelle and I was a Woodland Fairy. It was stressful to work, then get home and try to get everything ready. We were hurried and got a very late start on trick or treating. Mandy stayed and had dinner with us, then went trick or treating with us too. We didn't get many pictures so here are a few.

Ainsley loved the whole night. She enjoyed getting candy and going house to house. She was not scared of the decorations and scary costumes either! We were some of the last out- even though it was only 8:15. I guess no one else works until 6 and can get an earlier start. Such a bummer for me, especially since our late afternoon was really slow- no one wanted to come in.

Ben was a trooper- he wore some of his costume all night and was great in the stroller. He enjoyed looking around and watching everything.

Ben 8-9 months

2011-10-18T11:16:00.003-05:00

Ben has 4 teeth now! 2 on top, 2 on the bottom. I guess he is working on some more as he is sleeping terribly! He is a crawling machine- he is a fast little bugger. He walks really well on the furniture and can pull himself up too. He stands in his crib- which often makes it hard to get him down, he just stands up and hangs over the side, suddenly becoming happy again. He takes 2-3 naps a day. Usually an early morning nap for an hour, a mid day nap for 1-2 hours, then a late day nap. The late day nap is the one he is not wanting to take which makes for a long afternoon. He has been up from 1:30-7 or 8 several times. If he goes to bed too early at the end of the day, he gets up at 4 am- FOR THE DAY! He will be up for a few hours, happy as can be and not tired at all. Then he naps around 6 or 7. This makes for a very tired mommy.

He has started eating solid foods - puffs, biscuits, mum mums, some banana. He went on a swing for the first time- he thought it was ok, but was not that excited about it. He went to the beach - see previous post. He ate sand the first time at the beach, then learned his lesson. He got covered in sand each time we were there, but didn't eat any more.

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Vacation 2011

2011-10-17T21:13:00.002-05:00

Our biggest news is that we had a wonderful family vacation this month! We were away for 8 days and it was a well needed rest and good, quality family time.

We started out in San Antonio with the Hajek family. We planned to see Sea World and the Zoo. Though, I think the girls would have had fun just playing together. We stayed at a nice hotel right by Sea World and had a beautiful suite! We arrived Friday morning and were able to check in early, then we headed to Sea World. It was a bit rainy while we were there, but we were still able to get out and enjoy everything. I think it rained some each day. The girls enjoyed the sharks, fed the dolphins, and watched a few shows. They liked the Azul show- dolphins, beluga whales and a cirque de soleil feel. Very entertaining. They got slushies- Ainsley's first and she loved it. They went on lots of kid rides too- roller coaster, ferris wheel, drop thing, merry go round. Ainsley loved the rides- I was a little surprised she was so excited about them! Then they all played on a big playscape for a long time - we drive all the way there for a playscape, but they had fun! We went back to the hotel and the girls played in the little pool- it was a great pool. They had so much fun! We had planned for them just to get there feet wet ( they were in clothes) but that did not last long. They swam and were soaked but having so much fun! We had Rudy's for dinner out by the pool- nice! Then the kids were crashing ( no nap for Ainsley) so we rushed back to the room for bed

Saturday it was rainy out but not terrible. We had a yummy breakfast buffet and then Ben took a long nap which delayed our start for the day. The girls watched a movie and then we went to the zoo. Ben was not too happy- I guess he was tired of being confined- in stroller or in someones arms ( usually mine) He seemed clingy, much more so than usual. The zoo was nice- not crowded and fairly cool with the rainy weather. It sprinkled on us some but was not terrible. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant they had there sitting outside high above some of the animals. After lunch, Ben started screaming and would not stop. I thought he was tired, but he just would not go to sleep. I had him in his sling, but he was pretty miserable. I decided to take him back to the hotel. We had to rearrange carseats- put Ainsley's into Joe's SUV. Ben fell asleep briefly on our walk out, but woke up in his carseat and was happy as can be on our drive back to the hotel. When we got back, I fed him and he seemed content to stay awake- I thought for sure he would crash. Sara and Dave came over and hung out with us the afternoon and evening. Ben was pretty happy which was nice. We had a great visit!

Ainsley and Dan came back a bit later so that was nice too. We all went to dinner at Panera and had fun- Sara and Dave experienced a little of our chaos- 4 kids at dinner! Bathroom breaks, feedings, crying, making them eat, etc. After dinner, we put the kids to bed. Sara read Ainsley a story and then told her a great little bear story. Sara and Dave stayed to visit with us for a while which was nice. A great added bonus for us to see them! Sara also hand delivered birthday presents to me- lots of Ben pictures that she took of him at 6 months, an oil painting that I love in a beautiful frame, books, and little makeup stuff!

Saturday night the big storms arrived. We did not get much sleep. Ainsley woke up to the thunder and lightning and joined us in bed. It was a big storm with lots of rain- Texas really needed it, but we were sad it rained on our outdoor vacation. I mean really, it has not rained here in 2 YEARS, but we made the most of it. It rained all morning, until 1 pm. We had a buffet breakfast again, then the girls played in a ballroom at the hotel. Ben took another long nap so I guess it was ok that we were stuck inside. At 12, we got ready and went for lunch. The skies were clearing. When we got back to the hotel it was not raining anymore. We got to Sea World at 2 pm and it was 66 degrees- crazy! I didn't bring any real warm clothes for the kids as the forecast was 90s and 70s. Anyway, Julie got the girls matching pink sweatshirts so they looked super cute. Ben was snuggled with me in his sling so he was fine. Sea World was totally empty so we enjoyed that. The only bummer was that most of the drink/snack stations were closed so we had to walk a ways for drinks. Ainsley loved the sea lion show- she was enthralled with what the animals were doing. She was amazed at the walrus who made an appearance later. She said, "Whoa, he's big!"We fed Sea lions- the girls all took turns dropping fish into the water for them. Julie and I rode the big roller coaster. There was no line and so we walked right on. We even stayed on for a second ride!

Monday we packed up and headed to the beach. The drive was long and Ben did not want to be confined, but luckily they both fell asleep after we stopped for lunch. The condo at the beach was really nice- right on the ocean with a gorgeous balcony facing the ocean. There was a gorgeous moonrise the first night- full moon over the water- not much can beat that. Ben went to bed early but unfortunately woke up really unhappy at 10:15- right when we were trying to go to bed. It took hours to get him back to sleep. Then he woke up at 5 am. Not much sleep for us. He remained fussy all day Tuesday- wanting to be held, not eating, crying much more than normal. Dan did a bunch of work yesterday- was on conference calls all morning. Poor Ainsley wanted to go to the beach. First Ben was napping so we had to stay, then he was fussing. We went to the pool and played there for a while but I had to leave with Ben because he was crying. Luckily Dan came to play with Ainsley. They went briefly to the beach. I took Ben to a doctor yesterday to be sure he did not have an ear infection. He had mild cold symptoms over the weekend. He was fine of course, just teething again. Bummer to waste vacation time, but wanted to be sure. It was an experience- the building looked abandoned and the office was much less nice than I am used to. We saw a nurse practitioner who was very nice and interacted a lot with Ben.

Dan and Ainsley went to the beach in the afternoon and Ben napped. They had a nice time building stuff in the sand. Last night was much better- Ben slept well, 8:30-5:30, Ainsley slept well, but she joined us in bed at 12:30.

Wednesday we all had great beach time. I played in the water for a long time with Ainsley. Dan and Ben hung out on the beach under our umbrella. I returned to find Ben covered in Sand from head to toe- some in his mouth too. He tried to eat sand- no surprise there. He was a bit uncomfortable in the water- I think the noise and scope of it was too much for him. When Dan was holding him he was holding on really tight and looked nervous, he just got his toes a little wet. Dan took Ben back to the room for a bath and a nap and Ainsley and I stayed at the beach. We hunted for shells, played in the waves, sat in the sand, dug holes, etc. Great times!

Some of our friends from Austin were in Port A at the same time so they came over for a bit in the afternoon. We went to the pool and visited. We splurged and had dinner out at Virginia's on the Bay. We sat on the water and watched the boats and dolphins while we ate.

We were supposed to leave the beach on Friday but we decided to stay an extra day and leave Saturday. We went to the beach every day and enjoyed the family time. We saw the gorgeous full moon come up every night on the water- it was so big and full, almost looked orange a few nights. We saw the sunrise each morning too- gorgeous scenery.

Family vacation pictures! I had to make a video since there were so many pictures I wanted to share. I love them! Happy memories!

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A big few weeks for Ben

2011-09-15T11:07:00.003-05:00

Ben finally got his first tooth! He got his lower left incisor in on September 1st. I could feel it just breaking through the gum tissue. He got his second tooth the lower right incisor September 11th.

Ben has also started crawling. He has been pushing himself on the floor for a week or so, but on September 11th he was actually crawling. He does more of an army crawl right now, but he has great forward movement!

Even before crawling, Ben was getting into everything. He moved himself around really well( combination of rolling and pushing) and was constantly trying to get his hands on things on the floor, in drawers, on the couch, etc. He loves remotes and cell phones. Anything and everything goes in his mouth. He also has started screaming loudly when you take things away from him.

He has started standing really well too with support, it is actually hard to get him to sit.

He has been a little unhappy - presumably from his teeth. He is not as content as normal but I hope it is temporary!

Ainsley has been doing great. She loves her little brother - it is hard to express how cute she is with him. She sings when he is crying, she likes to entertain him and refers to herself as "big sis."

She has started having imaginary friends, she tells the most amazing stories, and she loves to do roleplaying at home. She can write her first and last name on her own! She can also write Alissa, Dan and Ben!

Ainsley stories

2011-09-06T10:40:00.002-05:00

I wanted to post a few cute stories about Ainsley- she is really just amazing!

Auntie Sara mailed Ainsley a postcard. I took the kids in the stroller down to the mailbox to get the mail. I gave Ainsley the cute postcard- two fish with googly eyes! She asked me to read it to her so I read it on our walk back. Sara asked if Ainsley had been going to the pool, talked about having fun swimming with her when she was here, and asked if Ben had any teeth yet. I only read it one time.

That night when Dan got home, he saw the postcard and asked Ainsley what it said. She pretty much recited the entire card from memory on her own. Amazing ! She has such a good memory and is soooo smart!

Ainsley also acts so grown up sometimes it is funny/scary. We were sitting at the dinner table a few weeks ago and Ainsley was being pretty loud. Dan and I were trying to talk but it was impossible with her chattering/singing, just making noise. It seems like when Dan and I try to talk, Ainsley becomes louder and louder. We have been trying to work on this. Anyway, I told Ainsley to keep it down because we want to be able to talk at the table. Of course, she asked Why? We explained that it is nice to sit and talk together at the table to discuss our day. That way I can tell them about my day, Dan can tell us about his day, she can tell us about hers, etc. We always ask her about her day with the Nanny to try and engage her in conversation and have her tell us about her projects, etc. Most times she says she did not do anything or can't remember so we have to encourage her.

The next night we sat down to dinner. Ainsley looked right at me and said, Mom- how was your day? I was so startled I looked at Dan and he and I shared a big smile. I told Ainsley all about my day at work. She looked directly at me the whole time and nodded her head and smiled. When I was done, she looked at Dan and said- How was your day Dad? He went through the same routine! Then she told us a little about her day. It was just so cute - she sounded so grown up.

August 2011

2011-08-30T11:32:00.005-05:00

Ben is now 7 months old. He still does not have any teeth! I can't believe they have not broken through yet, hopefully soon! He is doing great. He started clapping yesterday, August 29th. He makes lots of fun noises. When he is upset or crying, he always makes the "n " noises- funny how he has his negative choice! He takes solids well and laughs a lot. He has started getting up super early- 4:30 - 4:45 am and he is up for a few hours, then takes a nap! I am trying to break him of this but don't really know how. If I leave him to fuss, he gets worked up and cries hard. If I feed him with the hope he will go back to sleep, he often is just wide awake and happy. I guess I may try feeding him, then putting him back in his crib to see if he falls asleep.

Ben has become super active. He is not crawling yet, but he is really mobile. He rolls all over the place, can turn around and get where he wants to go. He is reaching up for things and trying to grab anything he can see. He will not sit still in my lap anymore, he wriggles around until he is free. The other day he leaned over me to the arm of the couch, pulled himself a bit, I grabbed his leg and over the edge he went, headfirst. I was able to gently lay him on the ground since I had his leg. He is always looking around to see what is near him- he is extremely inquisitive!

We did not send Ainsley back to her school this Fall, electing instead to have her stay with Mandy. I feel like Ainsley needs to be around other children, so we may try to do more playdates, or maybe one day a week at a childcare center.

Bubbles!

Ainsley loves her baby brother. She gives him lots of attention, likes to be there when he wakes up, she checks on him, she cuddles him, she has even helped to feed him. Of course, Ben loves Ainsley too. He likes to look at her and often smiles and laughs at her antics.

Ainsley has started to take pictures with our camera. She has 'hijacked' it a few times and taken hundreds of pictures around the house. It is so funny to look at the pictures and get her view of everything. She photographed every object in each room. For example in our bathroom. She got a picture of: sink, faucet, mirror, light fixture, tub, shower, toilet, wall, light switch, carpet, tile. Then she moved to the next room. It was so funny! At first, she got her fingers in the pictures,and they were blurry, but then she figured it out. Here are 2 pictures she took of Ben.

My only news is that I broke my pinky toe last week. It was Thursday night, we were in the middle of putting the kids to bed. Ainsley was screaming/crying because she did not want to go to bed. Dan took Ben to his room to try and put him down. I was working with Ainsley. We had kids music playing so I went to turn it off. As I was walking back to Ainsley, I caught the corner of the couch- a loud thunk. It hurt, I sat down and looked at my foot. My right pinky was in a very abnormal position and my foot hurt. Groaning. Only good news is that Ainsley stopped crying and worriedly ran up to see what happened. Brie ran up the stairs to see me- she loves when I sit on the floor so she can get attention. Unfortunately, she saw my foot sticking up and decided to rub her face on my toes. She started at the big toe and worked her way to the pinky. OMG, really? I pushed her away. Dan, Ben and Remi came next and Remi walked right up to my foot and wanted to sniff- luckily Dan pushed her away. My toe is not loving the attention.

Granddad came over the watch the kids while we went to an Urgent Care center to have my toe fixed. We got the kids to sleep first, then left. I was unable to put any weight on my R foot. I tried walking on the heal but there were shooting pains and I could not support myself. Dan had to help me quite a bit. I was actually quite impressed with the after hours place we went- it was a beautiful new facility- very nicely decorated,very clean, a nice and professional staff, they had great equipment and we were in an out quickly. The doctor came in- he was really old and had a hard time walking himself. He looked at my foot and said it needed to be put back in place and the best thing to do it just do it because the local hurts more. Then he pulled really hard on my broken, displaced toe. OMG agony for 15 seconds of pulling. I felt a slide, pop. We looked down and it was only about halfway back to normal position. He had to pull again. NO! This time, he just pulled really, really hard for about 30 seconds ( maybe shorter, but it seemed like a LONG time). This time thank goodness it was straight. I think the local would have been less painful, especially since it took 2 attempts at reduction.

The radiographs were taken then and showed P2 to be fractured, obliquely. It was beautifully reduced- the bones were well aligned. Now I have to wear a post op shoe/boot for 6 weeks to allow the bone to heal and tape the broken toe to my 4th toe. I could actually put weight on my foot with the shoe after it was fixed.

It is amazing how much a toe hurts. Of course, since I am nursing Ben, I can't take any prescription pain medications, just advil and tylenol. My foot ached the first few days, but now is better for the most part. It does ache at times, especially when I am on it a bit or when I move just the wrong way. I hope the pain decreases rapidly as my lifestyle is not really conducive to rest. I have to be on my feet at work and at home with 2 kids, pets, stairs, etc. I also really hope that my toe heals straight since I can't rest as much as I feel I should.

Summer Heat

2011-08-30T11:17:00.003-05:00

This summer in Texas has been unbearably hot. We have set all kinds of heat records for Austin too- not something I am too excited about but at least everyone agrees it is HOT. According to meteorologists, Austin usually has 12 days a year that are over 100 degrees. I am not sure I completely believe that estimate, but I guess we may have a lot of 99s and 100s. Or maybe it is just because over the past few years the summers have been extremely hot. In 2009, we were 1 day shy of tying the all time hottest summer ever. 68 days over 100 degrees. The record was 69 days over 100 degrees set in 1925. I remember being upset that we were so close to the record and did not get it. I mean, if we had to suffer through a hot summer, we should have set the record. Well, Texas heat has done it this year. We officially have had the hottest summer ever on record. We have had 75 100 degree days, and are expecting at least 2 more. We set the record for the most number of consecutive 100 degree days in a year too. We had the hottest temperature ever recorded in Austin at 112 degrees on August 29th, 2011. Many days have set the all time high record for that day as well. The mornings start out at 80 or just higher, so even they are not refreshing. It has been CRAZY hot, in case you didn't know.

One more tidbit- it is so hot here that people's compost piles are spontaneously combusting and causing brush fires.

The weather people are excited because we are expecting cooler weather this weekend with a slight chance of rain. The cooler weather has highs in the high 90s -- 98, 96, etc. Hard to get too excited about that, but I guess I will take what I can get. I really want low 90s to 80s.

Another horrible thing is that we are also in record droughts for all of Central Texas. We have not had rain here in forever. The lakes are extremely low- almost the lowest ever. The rivers are pretty much dry. We have been on water restrictions for a while, but they are going to get worse very soon- we can only water with sprinklers once week starting in September and they think we may not be able to use sprinklers at all next spring. Everything is dying- trees, plants, grass, weeds, etc. Driving down the road the vegetation is "burnt" a reddish brown color. Animals are suffering from heat exhaustion and lack of water- wild and domestic. They have record numbers of horse, cattle, pig rescues and of course the wildlife are starving too.

We need rain desperately and hope to get lots this Fall. However, I think it would have to rain for months to make a dent in our deficit and fill up the lakes and I feel that is unlikely to happen. I think we have to hope for a tropical depression or three to come and sit over Texas - without the dangerous flooding please.

We have tried to do fun things with the kids- but overall, that really only includes the pool and other water activities. It is too hot for parks, the zoo, walks- morning or night, or anything outdoors. It has been a long summer in so many ways, we need relief! I would love relief in the form of lots of rain and cooler weather, but I will take COOLER weather as a start.

Ben's 6 month information

2011-08-19T19:12:00.006-05:00

Ben had a great check up this week. He was pronounced "perfect" by his pediatrician.

Height- 28 inches ( 75-90%)

Weight 19# 12 oz ( 75%)

Head- 46 cm ( 90%)

He is overall bigger than Ainsley was at 6 months. She was 27.5 inches, 18#3.2oz, and her head was 44.5 cm. Ainsley was greater than 90% though, I guess they do boys and girls on different percentages.

At 6 months, Ben still does not have teeth. He is still working hard on getting them and had a really fussy week. We were worried he had an ear infection because he was unhappy, not eating, wanting to cuddle and lethargic. A trip to the doctor before his 6 month check up showed that he was fine except for his teething.

He has a full head of dark brown hair- it is thickening in nicely.

His eyes are still a beautiful blue with a few brown specs.

He sits up great and can support himself on his legs and even move them in a "walk" when you help him.

He can now say nananana, and today said mamamama for the first time.

Just after I did my last post, Ben and Ainsley got sick. I spoke too soon about Ben having been healthy. They had fevers and no other symptoms for 4.5 days. Not sure what it was, but lucky for everyone they did not feel too bad. Dan and I have colds this week, so I suppose they may have had colds too- but they did not have any congestion or nasal discharge.

I was home with the kids today and I felt awful. It is my third day of a cold. I was so tired this morning I felt that I was going to fall asleep at any moment. Add to that sinus pressure and headache with hyper 3 year old and Ben. It was a terrible morning. Luckily, I got a short power rest when Ben took a nap around 11. I did not sleep, but rested. Ainsley watched tv. When I got up, I had 2 diet cokes for caffeine and then I actually felt that I could make it through the rest of the day. I even played limbo with Ainsley. We had a super active day and I am now totally exhuasted.

Ben was super happy today. He was giggling and laughing all day and the smiles came easily for the first time in a while. Still no teeth, but he may be a little more comfortable.

Ben 6 months old

2011-08-08T15:46:00.014-05:00

Ben was 6 months old last month. Time is flying by! He is super cute and active. He is always reaching for things and he is able to manuever himself around to get what he wants too. He rolls around like crazy and repositions himself to get the best view of everything going on around him. He makes lots of noises- he blows raspberries and brrs. He says dadadada, gaga, other g and d sounds, and squeals. He is really fun to listen too and carries on great conversations.

It is a little easier to get him to laugh now too- he giggles with activities, tickling, blowing bubbles on him, bouncing him, and sometimes he just laughs when you are laughing. He loves watching Ainsley. He watches her closely and laughs at her antics - especially when she is acting "crazy." Either by running, laughing, jumping, or getting in his face and bouncing around.

We do not have our 6 month height and weight yet- he has not been in for his check up yet. His doctor is out of the country for a few weeks, so we go later this month. We weighed him at home and got 20 pounds.

Ben sleeps from 8 pm- 5 or 6 am. I like 6 am better, but unfortunately, he often gets up closer to 5 am most of the time. YUCK for me, but he is so cute and happy you can't be mad. I wish I could sleep in though.

Ben has done well with solid foods. He has liked everything we have offered so far. He is eating: oatmeal, rice, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, apples, bananas, and prunes. He holds a sippy cup well and chews on it and sometimes actually drinks water.

sweet potatoes

He is happy to join the family at meal times. We often feed him while we eat ( he usually gets 2 meals a day). Sometimes we just put him in the highchair so we can interact with him while we eat.

He is sitting up pretty well on his own. He can hold himself up but still loses his balance frequently as he reaches for things around him. He is always trying to get things and somehow ends up with objects that I have already moved. He wiggles around until he grasps it again and then I have to move it farther away.

He chews everything. Anything near him goes in his mouth. He does not have any teeth yet, but is really bothered by his mouth. He has had a few days where he is fussier than normal which I think is because of his teeth. He has not been sick at all recently which we are very thankful for. Ainsley has been sick pretty regularly this summer- every 2 weeks.

Ainsley really seems to be enjoying Ben more and more. She loves to snuggle him and she likes to entertain him and help with him too. She does want her own attention too- but she likes her brother which is fantastic.

We have been spending a lot of time at the pool too- we all enjoy the water, especially during this horrible heat wave.

Check out Ainsley's long legs- what a great picture!

Ben just needs something to chew on - here he is chewing his hat strings. So content! Ainsley loves her tube and "swims" around while wearing it. She doesn't like getting her face wet yet so we are not really swimming. She does love the water though!

Hanging out in the exersaucer. Big sis is always nearby!

Snuggling

My Mom and Sara, my sister, came to visit for a week in July- right around Ben's 6 monthiversary. It was an awesome visit! We all had a great time with the kids and each other. We spent a lot of time at the pool, did a little shopping, and played lots of fun games with Ainsley. Of course, they both got a lot of quality snuggle time with both kids. Ben has the most kissable little face!

I took Ben to have portraits done on his 6 month day. My Mom and Sara went with us. It was pretty much a disaster, but we got a few decent pictures. Ben- usually so happy and tolerant, was fussy. He had a bad teething day and was also tired during picture time. We worked hard to get a few good shots- but he usually smiles so much better. Ainsley was also coming down with something- she had a fever but no other symptoms, and she felt better after tylenol so she came with us. You can tell by her picture she was not 100%. My sister said it is a picture of "the saddest kids in the whole world." You would certainly think that looking at them. It does make me laugh though.

fun with Mandy

Story Time

2011-07-05T21:29:00.004-05:00

Last night Dan told Ainsley a bedtime story. She loves hearing "little bear" stories that we make up. These stories actually started the last time my Mom was visiting. She would make up little bear stories for Ainsley and now Ainsley demands them all throughout the day- often 10-15 stories/day. She has also developed favorite themes to the stories that she tells you to follow, and she injects thoughts and changes during the story too.

Dan's story last night was about the three little bears and the bad wolf, instead of the little pigs. At the last house that was made of brick, the wolf could not blow the house down so he climbed onto the roof and fell down the chimney into a big pot of stew. Then the little bears gobbled him up.

Ainsley: "They ate him?"

Dan: "Yes."

Ainsley with a frown on her face: "But wouldn't he be all hairy?"

HAHA! that is our little thinker.

June 27th

2011-06-27T17:06:00.007-05:00

Ben is now 5 months old! He is still a happy, healthy, entertaining little guy. Ainsley loves to help us with him and is a great big sister. She sings when he cries and helps us entertain him some. Snuggling with little brother Ben- such great pictures!

I think these pictures just show so much of the kids' personalities- all their facial expressions are priceless.

Ben can roll over in all directions now- front to back and back to front, both ways. He blows raspberries, he smiles all the time and he is laughing more and more. He loves to put everything in his mouth and try to chew it. He pulls hair whenever he can ( Ainsley does NOT like this).

Yesterday Ben put his hands on both sides of my face and pulled me towards him. He opened his mouth and put it all over my mouth and nose. I started laughing out loud because it was just too funny and cute. When I started laughing, he started laughing too- it was adorable. I wish I had a video of it!

Ben has a thin layer of hair all over his head and it is still dark brown. However, when I was looking at him today, it almost looks like there is an auburn tinge to it. His eyelashes have gotten really long - fitting in with the rest of us! He still has bright, blue eyes. He has dimples and chubby cheeks. He does not have any teeth yet, though he bites and chews everything.

Dan had a good Father's Day with the kids. I love this picture- one of the best yet! Everyone looks so happy!

Bath time

A great sight! I came home from work on Saturday to find Dan vacuuming with Ben- it was too cute not to take a picture!

We all got to go on a boatride a few weeks ago with some friends. it was so wonderful! We had dinner at a fun restaurant on the water and our friends brought the boat up to meet us. We then went for a boatride and swam in the water for a while. It was the end of the day so it was a bit cooler ( only mid 90s or so- ha). This was Ben's first boat ride and he did great- he even tolerated his life jacket.

Ainsley had fun playing in the water too- but it was too hectic to take many pictures so these are the only ones we have.

Below is Ainsley and cousin Samantha having ice cream with Nannie. They sure enjoyed it!

Ainsley and Ben snuggling on the couch.

Ben is touching Ainsley's face and grabbing for her hair and her teddy.

Ainsley- trying to get away, Ben holding tight! Mommy intervention was needed.
I started Ben on solids 2 weeks ago. We started with rice cereal. This is a picture of his first meal- he took it pretty well. However, it goes a lot better when he doesn't "help" with the spoon. We did 2 weeks of rice cereal once a day and I introduced oatmeal yesterday. If he does well with that, I plan to introduce sweet potatoes soon!

Unfortunately it is extremely hot here- it has been 100 or over for at least the past month. This makes it so hard to take the kids out and do fun outdoor things. We have been trying to go to the pool fairly often- we go early in the mornings. Ben and Ainsley really like the water and it is nice to cool off. We have a sprinkler ball that Ainsley likes to play with too and we do this while Ben is napping inside.

My garden already looks kind of sad- more like an August garden than a June garden. Most of the plants are very heat stressed. We would really love some rain- even an entire week of rain would be fine by me!

Ainsley and Ben

2011-06-14T11:33:00.009-05:00

I was looking back through some pictures of Ainsley when she was 4 months old. I am amazed at how much she and Ben look alike- their baby pictures were so similar. I wanted to post a few pictures of them at the same age for you to see.

Ben 4.5 months

Ben 4 months

Ainsley 4 months

Ainsely 4.5 months

Ben 4.5 months

Ainsley 4.5 months

Both kids are doing great. Ainsley has finished school and is now home with Ben and our Nanny. She seems to really like being home and gets to do lots of fun things every day. Ainsley loves to make Ben smile and she sings to him when he is crying. She does not like him pulling her hair though- but I don't know how we can stop that.

Ben has continued to do well. He is eating well, sleeping well, and growing! He got his first rice cereal earlier this week and it went ok. The second feeding went much better- as in- he actually swallowed some. It seems the first meal ended up on his bib and plate.

4 Months Old

2011-05-27T17:47:00.013-05:00

Ben is now 4 months old! He is a cute bundle of happiness and joy. He is the most precious little guy - we all love him so much.

Weight - 16.8 pounds

Height - 26 inches

Head - 43 cm

For comparison: Ainsley was 16.3 oz, 26 inches, and her head was 42 cm. Amazingly close!

He can roll over from front to back. He seems to like tummy time a little better now that he is stronger. Which is a good thing as it will be hard to keep him on his tummy now that he can roll over.

He can grab his feet

He can laugh out loud- though he makes you work for a laugh!

He smiles all the time and makes lots of happy noises

He can carry on a conversation!

Going on a walk

Just a beautiful shot of Ainsley.

Papa visited in late April as I posted before. Everyone had a great time with him and I wanted to post some pictures.

Papa's motorcycle!

A family walk!
Sucking his thumb
Cuddling!
A trip to the pool! Ben did great his first time in the water. The water is still quite cool- but he did not protest at all! what a trooper! Ainsley loved the water, but she was cold- her lips are slightly blue, even though it was over 90 degrees outside.

the cute little bundle I find when I get Ben from his crib!

Ainsley is almost done with her school- her last day is this coming Tuesday. She will be home for the summer with our Nanny and Ben.

These pictures are of Ainsley eating some Easter chocolate. She loved her chocolate bunny!

Cute little Ben after a bath!

Back to work

2011-05-03T16:44:00.004-05:00

My last week off passed really slowly but I did not get a chance to get much done. Ainsley was recovering from her surgery and it was a long and painful recovery. I thought she would be sore for 1-2 days and then do well. It was a full 8 days before she was feeling ok. She was horribly painful, swollen and sore. She would not talk, eat or drink for pretty much that entire week. I could not get her to drink anything, I even tried syringing stuff which she spit out. We had ice cream, milkshakes, smoothies, soda, gatorade, juice, popsicles, etc. No luck. She spit out her pain medicine too. It was so sad as I know she hurt, but all I could do was try to give her fluids and her medicine - which she refused. She slept ok after the first 3 days, thank goodness. She was drooling profusely as she did not want to swallow.

We rechecked with the surgeon on the 29th of April and he said when they don't drink, they take longer to heal- go figure. Amazingly, she must have listened when I spoke with the doctor. In the car on the way home, she asked for a drink and finished a juice. Then she ate chicken nuggets and fries ( we made a special stop at Wendy's). She seemed to suddenly feel better. She was talking more and much happier Friday afternoon.

My Dad came to visit for a few days last week. He spent some good quality time with all of us and even bonded with Ben! I left Ben with "Papa" while Ainsley and I were at the doctor and everything went great. I was proud of my Dad. When I came back, he had changed two diapers ( one poopy), given Ben a bottle, and just put him down for a nap! Go Dad!

Ainsley and I spent some time at the pool- the water was still cold, but we had fun. Ainsley was much more herself over the weekend. She was much happier thank goodness! She actually ate pretty well too which is great. She lost 3.5 pounds, 10% of her body weight between the long term strep and her surgery. She was eating poorly for a few months with her bad throat and not eating at all with her recovery.

I went back to work on May 2nd. Everything went well and everybody did well. Ben is home with a Nanny and he really likes her. Ainsley went to school and was pretty happy to go, after a 10 day break after her surgery. She was a little sad because we got there early and her friends were not there yet. There were a few tears from that. While I was off, I was taking her to school closer to 9 am and she was one of the last to arrive. When I work, I have to get her there early. We walked in and she said, "None of my friends are here." (Tears). She did have a good day though.

My day was good at work too. I had a full schedule with my morning spent in surgery. It was not crazy busy but just right. Everyone seemed glad to have me back too which was nice!

It was a slightly busy and hectic evening last night though- making dinner, bathing and getting the kids to bed, phew! Then to clean up and prepare for the next day. Exhausting.

Ben 3 months old

2011-04-26T19:52:00.008-05:00

Ben was at the doctor last week and he weighed 14.6 pounds. He is very long- already growing out of clothes! He is very alert and responsive. He loves to play little games and be tickled and he smiles all the time when playing. He even has an almost laugh, a giggle. He makes lots of cooing noises. He started drooling all the time a few weeks ago- I suspect he will be an early teether too. Now he grabs my fingers and tries to put them in his mouth. He sucks his fist when he is awake and sucks his thumb (Right) when he is sleeping/trying to sleep.

Ben is sleeping great at night. Recently, he has been sleeping 10-11 hours at night. He is up for 1.5-2 hours at a time during the day, then he usually takes 45 min- 1 hour nap. Sometimes he takes a longer afternoon nap but that varies. He has started going to bed around 8:30 at night which is fabulous if we get Ainsley to bed then too. Then I have a little me time- usually used to catch up and do things for the next day, but I can have a glass of wine sometimes, or maybe even watch some "me" tv!

Ben loves to be on his playmat and look at the lights and listen to the music. He loves to watch Ainsley and focuses really well on faces even from a few feet away.

Easter Sunday. Ainsley and I were cats
tummy time

Ben really hates tummy time but we are trying to get through it. He does better with a little pillow under his chest and a few times recently, he has actually been ok for 5 minutes at a time!

Painting!

Cute baby boy. He looks so alert and handsome in this picture!
Ainsley loving on her baby brother

I was tickling both of them- they loved it! I wish I had a third arm so I could record it- the giggles were precious. Ben is just starting to have a little laugh and of course, he has the most beautiful smile. He smiles all the time and it just brightens my day.

Ainsley is still recovering from surgery. She is not doing as well as I was expecting. I thought she would feel bad for a few days ( the doctors said recovery is usually very fast). However, she is still pretty miserable and it will have been a week tomorrow. Her throat is still a bit swollen and very sore. She is not eating, not even much soft and delicious food ( ice cream, pudding, popsicles, etc). She is hardly drinking either. It is pretty much impossible to get her to take her pain medicine regularly which does not help- we've tried it in everything. She does not want to talk. I feel terrible for her because I know her throat hurts but it is so frustrating that she will not listen or take her medicine- as that is all I can do to help her throat. She has been extremely cranky for the past week, making my days very long and exhausting. I keep thinking tomorrow will be better, and I guess each day things change, but there has not really been any huge improvement yet. Maybe tomorrow. I hate that she is still suffering.

We recheck with the surgeon on Friday.

Ainsley's Tonsillectomy

2011-04-22T13:50:00.004-05:00

Ainsley had her tonsils removed 4/21/11. We had to get up really early and be at the surgery center by 6:30 am. We took Ben with us since we had to leave so early in the morning- it was not ideal, but we were hoping it would work out to have him.

Side Note: Ben went to bed at 8 pm Wednesday night, and I had to WAKE him at 6 to leave, he did not get up to nurse during the night. AMAZING!

We arrived at the surgery center and started the pre-op stuff. We went back with Ainsley and met the nurse and anesthesiologist, then the surgeon. We decided that she would benefit from a sedative- she got some valium to help keep her calm. I was really worried about what she would do when they took her from us, with the valium, she did great! No tears from her.

The surgery only took 10-15 minutes and she was only away from us for about 30 minutes total. The surgeon said that her tonsils really needed to come out. They were very enlarged ( a large portion of them was hidden during oral exam), and they were severely infected. There were large pus pockets inside with some inspisated material. He also said that the tonsil tissue was very diseased, it was falling apart as he was trying to remove them. Usually, he said they just pop out. Her adenoids were the same. He also found some pus up in her sinuses and removed that and did a nasal flush. I was so thankful to hear that they were really bad and that we had made a good decision with the surgery. I was right to think that she always has strep and her low grade fever was likely from that. She has been around 99.5-100 degrees most days since February.

Ainsley's recovery was really awful for us. She was really upset- crying and a bit hysterical. She was flailing around some too. Dan got into bed with her because I was holding Ben. Of course, Ben was tired and crying right at this time- so unfortunate. After about 5 minutes, Ainsley was reaching for me, so I got in next to her. Dan was trying to soothe Ben, but he was pretty upset. I ended up nursing Ben in bed next to Ainsley. Talk about having your arms full! They kept giving her IV pain medicine to help calm her/help with her pain. She was crying/screaming so loud it was painful just thinking about her throat. She was coughing too, which led to some productive gagging. She was really craving water and they let her drink ice water.

She was very distraught over having the IV catheter in her arm- it was heavily bandaged. She also had 2 ID bands on her leg and a pulse ox monitor on her toe. She hated all of it and wanted it off. We tried to keep it covered to distract her but it didn't work for too long. Ben fell asleep after nursing so I held him for a while and held onto Ainsley. When she started thrashing again, Dan took Ben. She would go through periods of calm, then agitation. I kept hoping she would fall asleep but sh e fought it off. It seemed to go on forever but was about an hour. They removed the IV catheter then and she was a little better. They also moved us to a room where she could watch a DVD. She was better, but still upset about the monitor on her toe/id tags. Luckily, at 9:30 am, they said we could go home. Ainsley was pretty good in the car on the way home, quiet. Ben was getting hungry again though.

Unfortunately, right before we got home, Ainsley vomited up all the liquids she drank- it seemed like gallons. It went everywhere in the backseat. Luckily it was mostly clear.

We arrived home and it was a mad scramble to get her out and clean her up some, get Ben out and feed him, and for me to go to the bathroom!

Ainsley was calmer here, but her throat really hurt. She was really swollen and could not talk well. We kept giving her popsicles which seemed to help some. She ate and drank well today- all soft foods or liquids. She took a nice 2.5 hour nap which was much needed. She did wake up quite a lot though crying out/coughing so I know she was uncomfortable. We got a prescription pain medicine and some antibiotics for her. It is really hard to get her to take the pain medicine. We even made it into jello in individual servings.

The late afternoon went fine- we watched lots of movies and snuggled on the couch. She continued to drink and take popsicles.

She went to bed well last night- she obviously did not feel well.

The night was ok- she woke up screaming and hysterical again around midnight. She was crying pretty hard for 30 minutes. She would not take any of the pain medicine though we tried really hard to give it. Finally, she fell asleep with me holding her. I slept with her the rest of the night. Overall, the rest of the night was better. She woke up occasionally but for very brief times- crying/coughing.

At 7 am- she looked at me and pointed to the clock- it was yellow ( ok to get up). She said "Play." she wanted to play. She would not eat/drink this morning, or take her medicine which was concerning. After about 1.5 hours, we got her to take her pain medicine in some apple juice. Her throat was still really swollen and she could hardly talk.

Side note: Ben had another awesome night. He went to bed at 10 and slept until 7:30 this morning! Keep it up buddy!

At 9 am, our new Nanny, Mandy arrived. She was coming over to spend some time with the kids and get used to them before I go back to work. Ainsley was so excited to see her. The child who had previously been lying on the couch, not moving, watching tv, groaning and not talking jumped up and ran to Mandy. She was jumping around and dancing to see her! Dan and I looked at each other, WHAT? but we were happy to see it. Ainsley played and talked and was even singing loudly while Mandy was here. She was running around and very perky, actually too perky- we had to ask her to calm down. It confirmed that I made the right decision regarding our Nanny which was nice!

Ainsley seems better this afternoon. I think the swelling has decreased a little and she seems to be talking slightly better - though it still sounds like she has her mouth full of something. She has been asking for food- actual food like turkey and cheese, goldfish, and bananas which she can't have. How ironic that now that she can have all the pudding, ice cream, and jello that she wants, she won't eat it. We even made some beautiful milkshakes.

Hopefully each day will get better and better! I know we made the right decision to have her tonsils removed, but I hope her recovery is fast.

A trip to the Zoo

2011-04-19T16:22:00.006-05:00

Ainsley, Ben and I went to the Zoo on Saturday with some friends. We had a great time! It was a gorgeous morning- cool in the low 70s, sunny and bright. It warmed up quickly though.

Ainsley and Maddie enjoyed running around and looking at all the animals. They particularly liked feeding the goats and deer. For some reason though, the animals were not as hungry as usual so they focused on a few deer that were interested.

Me and the kids!

Cute girls!
Dancing

Lunch at the zoo- corn dogs and snow cones. The girls LOVED the snow cones. Ainsley's face was stained blue all night.

Ben sucking his thumb- he just started doing this and I hope it helps him to sleep better/longer!

2.5 months old

2011-04-15T15:10:00.009-05:00

Ben is more alert and active than ever. He smiles all the time- so cute. He has been focusing really well on objects and people and his distance for vision is improving a lot too. I moved Ben upstairs to his own room and crib when he was 9 weeks old. He was getting a little big for the basinette and he is such a light sleeper I worry that we were waking him in the mornings. When I sneezed or coughed, he startled and moved around.

I started working with Ben on sleep training this week to try and get him to fall asleep on his own. It has been working pretty well.

Ben loves to smile and interact with us. We play tickle games and make noises. He starts smiling in anticipation when he thinks you are going to tickle him- it is so cute. He loves it when you talk baby talk to him and he smiles and coos. He has started sticking his tongue out too- trying to mimic my tongue as it moves.

At 10 weeks, he started drooling quite a bit. I think he may be starting to teethe (Ainsley teethed early too).

Just before he was 11 weeks old, Ben slept through the night! He slept from 10 pm- 6 am. It was fantastic. He has done that a few times since, or at least close ( 10-5 or 9-5). I am hoping he consistently sleeps through the night by the time I go back to work- in 2 WEEKS- YIKES.

Ben sucked his thumb for the first time on 4/14. He has been trying but has not been successful until yesterday. I hope this helps with his falling asleep on his own. Usually he sucks on his fist.

Grandma arrived for a visit when Ben turmed 2 months old. She was in Texas for about 2 weeks, She split the time between us and Sara ( still in San Antonio). We had a great visit!

Ben doing some tummy time- which he usually hates. He seemed content this time- hence, the pictures.

Ben loves to lay on his back and look at his toys and listen to music.

Some things never change- Brie, sleeping on the changing pad.

However, one thing that Brie has done different this time is that she has gotten in Ben's crib. When he was crying hard ( during sleep training), I came to check on him and she was in his crib by his feet. She looked at me and meowed hard- as if to say, what the heck lady? he's crying. She laid down at his feet for a while. Then, he cried some more and was waving his arms- she got up and walked next to him to sniff his hand. I stayed in the room and watched, then took her out. Such a protective, concernerd kitty cat.

Cooing

Smiling. He kicks and waves his arms like crazy when he is on his back. He also talks a lot.

Ainsley has been doing ok. She still has strep throat. A long course of clindamycin did not clear the infection. We saw and ENT and he said she has strep colonized in her tonsils and so treatment options would be 2 months of antibiotics or tonsillectomy. The antibiotics may or may not work, could cause GI issues with her, and our pediatrician is worried about her becoming sensitive to them ( as she is already somewhat sensitive to penicillin products). Thus, she would not have any real antibiotic options in the future. Surgery would be curative. After talking to the ENT, I spoke with our pediatrician and she said definitely do the surgery vs the antibiotics ( for above reasons). So, Ainsley is scheduled for surgery next week. Kids her age do great with the surgery and recover quickly. She will be out of school for a week - which should work as I will still be off.

Poor baby, I know she does not feel 100%, she has a low grade fever and I am sure her throat bothers her some. I can't wait for her to be better.

Ainsley in a cute school outfit.
before school

After school. One of the teachers does the girls hair. It always looks fantastic-I have no idea how she makes it so perfect

Coloring Easter eggs with Grandma and Sara

Oops- just realized I did not take any of the finished easter eggs

The most recent Ben picture- 11 weeks old

A gorgeous family picture from this week. Ainsley saw a little girl with a painted face when we were eating out one day. She really liked it and has been asking me to paint her face like a cat every evening.

Ben- 2 months old

2011-03-28T12:09:00.010-05:00

Ben turned two months old last week! He is such a big boy! He has been a cute and happy baby! At his 2 month check up he weighed 12.7#, and was 24 inches long. The doctor said he looked great! Ainsley still loves her little brother and likes to help out when she can. Ben has started smiling- it is so precious! He loves to give smiles to Ainsley. He grabs onto things like my hair and fingers. He tracks objects with his eyes and focuses better. Of course, he is cooing lots too.

We were sick again 2 weeks ago. Ainsley had strep again and also an upper respiratory thing with a fever and a cough. I had been coughing all week from allergies and didn't realize I had gotten sick too until I woke up with a fever in the middle of the night. In the morning, I started wearing a mask to try and save Ben from illness, but it didn't work. I was sick with a fever and cough, not much else but a back ache. I was sick for 5 days. I was put on antibiotics since I had a fever for so long.

Ben got sick a few days later. It started with a cough, not too bad though. It was hard to tell if he had a fever initially- it was really warm and he was a little warm, but not crazy warm. There was one day where I knew he had a fever and he acted a little sick. But, he still nursed and was not too fussy. I felt bad that he was sick- but there was not much more I could have done to prevent it. Second baby illnesses stink! Ainsley was 8 months old at least before she was sick for the first time. Ben was about 8 weeks.

At Ainsley's recheck for 2 episodes of strep in a few weeks, she still had it. She is now on clindamycin in case she is a carrier. We may have to consult an ENT soon to discuss a tonsillectomy. Let's hope this round of antibiotics cures her so we don't have to keep going back to the doctor.

Ben at 8 weeks
Ainsley holding Ben
Smiles

First smiles at about 7 weeks. I love the two of them smiling- so precious!

Ainsley helping to entertain Ben around 6 weeks. Such a sweet big sister!
Ainsley jumping on the trampoline. Check out the static!

Sara came up for a visit and we took the kids to the opening of Nordstrom Rack. It was fun to get out and look around. Ainsley sure enjoyed it. Her trying on hats!

Ben - 1 month old

2011-02-24T15:36:00.008-06:00

Ben is 1 month old! He is still doing great. He is happy and content baby for the most part. He is a little fussy in the evenings and has started staying up late - which is a bummer for me. I don't get much sleep at night- expected, but still hard. He nurses well and I am sure he has gained at least a pound since his 2 week check up. His cheeks are chubby and he is getting a double chin. His arms and legs are getting plumper too.

Ainsley loves her brother and calls him "Benny." I think that is a cute nickname for her to use. She is currently in a phase of adding -ey to all her words. Milkey. Juicey. Etc. I think she got that from other kids at school. She likes to watch him when he sleeps and will try to soothe him when he is crying.

Ainsley has had it rough lately. On Valentine's Day, she was sick. She was diagnosed with strep throat and Influenza B. Both at the same time seemed so unfair. Of course, it was just after my parents left to return home. Dan ended up taking off the entire week from work to care for Ainsley since I had to keep Ben away. Ben and I had some good bonding time that week. We were confined to my bedroom, but we made the most of it. Poor Ainsley was so sick, it broke my heart to hear her crying and coughing, etc. Then this week, she was twirling around in the living room and she lost her balance and hit her head on the armoire. She got a big bump and bruise on her forehead.

In cute camo shorts! It was 84 degrees on his 1 month b-day
Thinking

Dave and Sara visited this week for a day. Ainsley was happy to see them and their dogs.

Dave and Ben did some good bonding- they took a nice nap together on the couch.
I like how they are surrounded by all three dogs!

Ainsley and Sara did some drawing and reading

Sara and Ben
One day this week when I had both kids on my own. Luckily they both napped well so I got a little nap too!

Ben- 2 weeks old

2011-02-10T13:09:00.006-06:00

Ben is 2 weeks old! Amazing that time has gone by so quickly. My Mom is still visiting and she is a really big help. She watches Ainsley and does most of the household stuff so I can focus on Ben, Ainsley and sleep. I have been able to take naps most days which are desperately needed. Ben wakes up to eat every 3 hours, occasionally it has been 4 at night, but not regularly. I was hopeful after one night of 4-5 hours, but it did not last. In general, he is a really content baby. He had a few really fussy evenings last week, one fussy afternoon this week and 2 nights in which he woke up and was AWAKE for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. The evenings made me wonder if the fussiness was due to something I ate- I had asparagus both nights. The fussy afternoon was after I had eaten some spicy queso. I asked the pediatrician if there were foods I should avoid, she said no. But I wonder... I avoided spicy food and vegetables and he has been great since then.

Ben had his 2 week check up on Monday. He weighed 7# 14 oz! He was 7 ounces more than his birthweight so he is doing great! The doctor thought he looked perfect and we are good until his 2 month check up.

Ben's face has filled out some and he is looking more and more like Dan's baby pictures. He is learning to like his baths- no more screaming/crying like he did for the first one.

He is awake for a bit more each day. He enjoys looking around and getting snuggies from the family. Ainsley still likes him and wants to look in on him and help with him.

Ainsley's 3rd birthday

2011-02-09T19:50:00.014-06:00

Ainsley's third birthday was February 5th. We started the day with Shipley's donuts- yum! Ainsley's donut was pink with sprinkles! Nannie and Granddad came over late morning to help us celebrate. Of course, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma were here too.

Opening gifts- it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to open more than 1. She was happy with her first gift- a puzzle- and spent the next 30 minutes putting it together over and over.

Fairy wings

Her computer- the thing she had been asking for! She loves it and takes it with her all over.

being like Daddy
No cake on her actual birthday because her party was the next day. Instead, I made a cookie in the shape of a 3. This picture was taken after she had started eating it. She looks great but ignore me - I look exhausted.

We had her birthday party on Sunday, the 6th at My Gym. We did not want to have the party at our house with Ben and My Gym sounded like a fun party. It was awesome! We had a great turnout of friends of ours and Ainsley's. She had a fantastic time! My mom stayed home with Ben and I was able to slip away for the party. Luckily, Ben slept the entire time I was gone! What a good baby!

Bubbles!
A Game
A large tent that was filled with stuffed animals kept all the girls' attention for a while. During this time there were car rollercoaster rides too- everyone loved that! Ainsley was collecting the animals- every time I took a picture, she was surrounded by more animals!

Three little monkeys!

The party was all about her and she was a trooper! At one point, she was pulled around the room on a sled with balloons while everyone sang happy birthday to her! So cute!

Of course, she loved the cake. We got a princess cake at her request.

The party guests!

We did not open gifts at the party so the kids could all play more. We brought the gifts home for Ainsley to open and - most are still unopened. I keep asking her if she wants to open them and she says, "No, Maybe tomorrow." I finally opened a few of them for her last night.

On Monday, Ainsley had another birthday celebration at school. I made cupcakes for the class and they had a little party for her!

I think she had a great third birthday!

Snow Day

2011-02-09T18:22:00.005-06:00

It actually snowed here last week- not too much snow, but enough to shut down the town and allow Ainsley to play.

She went to Maddie's and played with her. Luckily Maddie had an extra pair of gloves for her to wear. We found we were sadly unprepared for snow when we were getting her dressed.

snowman
eating snow was fun!

Ben- 1 week old

2011-02-03T17:21:00.005-06:00

Celene flew in from Puerto Rico over the weekend for a nice visit! We were excited to see her. Sara came up for the day on Sunday so we had all the Hadley girls together!

Ben has continued to do well. He seems to be a very content little guy!

He nurses well and sleeps most of the time. He continues to nurse every 3 hours. He is up for about 2 hours a day and is very content during that time. His umbilical cord fell off on Saturday- when he was 5 days old.

the little princess checking on her brother!

First Bath

Ben still seems really tiny to all of us. He kept his legs tucked up tight to his body for the first week- making all of his clothes too big, even the newborn stuff. I would put him in an outfit and come back to find the sleeves and legs empty- his arms and legs were tucked in close to his body. The clothes looked so funny! I actually had to go buy some newborn stuff for him as everything else was too big, even some of the newborn outfits. He is starting to stretch out his arms and legs now- learning he is not restricted anymore!

Ainsley had several great daddy dates last week since Daddy was not working. This is when they went to the park to feed the ducks and swans. The weather was much better and warmer then!

Ainsley got a beautiful dress from Grandma for her birthday- it has a matching dollie dress too.

Celene gave Ainsley a tutu- which she wants to wear ALL the time, even when it is only 20 degrees. She gets dance in school- she looks so pretty dancing in her tutu!

Baby Ben's Arrival

2011-02-03T16:13:00.010-06:00

My Mom arrived in town on January 20th, she was originally going to come on the weekend but came early because of bad weather in Arkansas.

My first day of maternity leave was Friday January 21st. I spent it with my Mom and Ainsley.

Over the weekend we relaxed and caught up on sleep/chores, etc. Ainsley enjoyed having Grandma around- they have so much fun together! The last night of my pregnancy.

I slept well Saturday night, terribly Sunday night. I woke up at 2:30 and could not go back to sleep. I was up until it was time to get ready – 4:45. Not a great way to start the day but it will be good regardless!

January 24th

We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am. We got checked in to the labor and delivery ward quickly. I had a catheter placed and was started on my oxytocin drip at 6:45.

I started having contractions very quickly. They initially were not painful- which is a good way to start. I noticed a stronger one at 7:24. Another strong one at 7:34. Another at 7:37, 7:41, 7:45, 7:48. Every 3-4 minutes seemed pretty quick after less than an hour on the drip!

I got an epidural later in the morning - 9:45. It helped some, but was effective more on one side than the other so the doctor had to bolus me some more. This helped with pain relief, but not 100%. By 11 am, I was more comfortable. Things had progressed some, not tons. Between 11 and 12 though, things rapidly progressed. Ben arrived at 12:20 pm. He weighed 7# 7.7 ounces and was 21 inches long ( our measurement). He was healthy and crying.

He has a lot of dark hair- I would say black in color. His eyes are blue. He has a large stork bite on the center of his forehead and small ones over each eye, a small one under his nose too. His eyelashes are a little light in color and they are short- the biggest surprise. I would have thought they would be long like mine and Dan’s. Maybe they will grow! He seems very thin, but has a few little chub spots. He has a rounded face with a slightly pointy chin. I did not see that he looked just like Ainsley- similar but different.

Dan's parents came to visit around 3 pm.

Ainsley, Sara, Dave and Mom arrived at 4:30. Ainsley was so cute! She came and said hi to Dan and I, then said, “Where is Ben?”

He was in the crib so she ran over to see him. Dan picked her up and showed her Ben. She had the cutest smiles. She wanted to touch him and then she just stared at him. So precious! I gave her the baby Ben doll and she was really happy with it.

Family pictures

Ainsley could not wait to hold Ben- she was so excited! She did not want to give him back.

We stayed in the hospital for 2 days and were discharged on Wednesday the 26th. We went home and tried to get settled in. Ben has done great- he nurses every 3 hours and sleeps most of the time.

His first doctor's appointment was on Friday the 28th and it went well. He had gained 4 ounces since Wednesday- the doctor was impressed! He has started to be awake for a little bit of the day now too. He is very content when he is awake- looking around, quiet and happy.

37 Weeks

2011-01-13T11:15:00.006-06:00

I have been having pretty regular contractions, more after a long day at work. One day last week I had 8 contractions in an hour- luckily they slowed down but I still had a lot that night.

I had an awesome baby shower on Saturday- it was so much fun! Thanks everyone for coming. We had lots of good food and I enjoyed visiting with everyone. I loved opening the gifts- I got so much great stuff. Cute clothes, blankets, burp cloths, rattles, books, towels, robes, socks, etc. Ben should be pretty well set! After gifts, we did cake- amazingly good cake!

Here are some cute pictures from the shower.

Fabulous cake- and it tasted as good as it looked!

We did not get pictures of everyone as we took the pictures at the end.

New Years, 36 weeks

2011-01-12T08:57:00.007-06:00

Playing dress up!

My parents came to visit for a week just after Christmas. They arrived late on the 27th and stayed until Jan 2. We had a great visit with them, as always. Ainsley was so excited to see her Grandma and Papa - she had so much fun! I got some much needed rest- Ainsley did not want much to do with me since Grandma was around. If she woke up in the night, she went to their room, and she went to them in the morning too! I was able to stay in bed until I had to get up for work and on a few days, I was able to sleep in! It was pretty nice.

Riding her new bike!

Dan and I even went out for a date night- we had dinner at Moonshine- a restaurant Dan had been wanting to try. It was really fabulous- it is our new favorite. It has a great atmosphere and the food was fantastic. I had a rainbow trout stuffed with cornbread and drizzled with a sauce, lots of veggies and a yummy dinner salad. Of course, we saved a little room for dessert and had a massive brownie with malt ice cream. After dinner, we went to see a movie- we saw True Grit and really enjoyed it. I can not even remember the last time we went out to see a movie in the theater.

New Years Eve we went with my parents to a wildlife farm in Johnson City. It was not something I had heard of before, but it was really neat. It was a chilly day, but sunny so we braved the weather. There were lots of animals there. We took a tour- you are pulled in a covered wagon by a tractor. You can buy animal food to feed to the animals so they come right up to the trailor looking for food. They had a lot of exotic deer, buffalo, scottish cattle, camels, llamas, sheep, goats, ostrich, emu, zebra, and others. Ainsley was not sure about the big animals at all- she was a bit scared of them. The buffalo and big cattle were my favorite- I was able to drop food into their mouths, and they licked my hand. Their tongues are much rougher than cats and actually left abrasions on my hand. I was able to pet them too- they are truly massive in size. The camel was pretty neat too- I have never been so close to one and they are HUGE. Ainsley really did not like the camel. We had lunch in town- not many options so it was just ok, then drove home. I took a nap when Ainsley did- nice!

Scottish cattle

Camel- he tried to steal my food bucket

In the afternoon, Joe, Julie and the twins came by. We had not seen them in quite some time so we had a great visit. The girls played great together and we were able to sit and visit on our own while they entertained themselves upstairs- what a treat! They decided to stay for dinner so we ordered pizza and had a geat evening. My Mom had started making bread so the girls got to help with that- they all really enjoyed kneading it, rolling it and shaping it. They stayed until close to 9. We had so much fun- thanks for the visit!

Ainsley was tired, but we had a hard time getting her to sleep because she was scared of the fireworks. They seemed to be all set off right by our house. I sat with her for a while, then Dan sat with her for a while. We had planned to watch a movie, but did not in the end. We went to bed early- 10:30.

Work for me was really busy the entire first week of January. Usually January is a bit slow for us, but not so far. I was swamped every day- unfortunately, that meant I was on my feet a lot too. Exhausting.

My doctor check up for 36 weeks went well. Ben moves all the time and keeps me company. I have been sleeping really poorly due to sciatica. I wake up every hour or so then have to change position, then run out of positions. Yuck. Then I sometimes can't fall back asleep for hours. I sleep better on one of our couches- it is really soft and angled so I have been sleeping on it some. Ainsley likes to talk to Ben in my belly and her Ben in her belly too- so cute!

Christmas

2011-01-02T19:45:00.008-06:00

The 2 weeks prior to Christmas were quite rough on our family, but Christmas itself was great. Christmas Eve started a little rocky- I woke up with an ear ache and went to see a doctor in the morning. I had an ear infection- crazy! Dan took Ainsley to see Tangled- her first movie in a theater while I was at the doctor. They had a great time together. They shared a snack pack- soda and popcorn. Dan said Ainsley loved the experience and liked the movie too!

We had a fairly quiet afternoon- I was feeling poorly. Ainsley took a long nap and woke up pretty late in the afternoon. We had wanted to go to a family Christmas Eve service but did not make it. We had reuben sandwiches for dinner- a Hadley family tradition. We all enjoyed them. We listened to Christmas music and played together for the evening. We read Ainsley lots of Santa stories and were trying to prepare her for his visit! We left out milk and cookies for him- Ainsley carefully chose which cookies he should have. She was a little hard to get to sleep that night- not too big of a surprise!

We played Santa after she fell asleep and laid out all the presents and toys.

Christmas morning I was shocked to be woken by Dan, not Ainsley. He was the first one up and was so excited he woke me. He turned on all the Christmas lights and got the video camera ready for Ainsley's arrival. She woke a few minutes later and saw her bicycle first thing from the top of the stairs. She was jabbering away as we walked down the stairs together. She was so excited about her bicycle! It is a princess bicycle with a bag on the front, pink tassels, flowers on the wheels, etc. Very girly and cute. There was a matching helmet too.

Trying out the bike was great at first, but then Ainsley decided she didn't like the helmet. Lots of tears, then giggles. Here is her tragic face- see the drying tears? But she looks so pretty....

We lit a fire, put on some Christmas music, and all sat around to open gifts.

Ainsley was satisfied with her bike- she did not care that there were other presents there for her. I kept trying to get her to open them, and she said, "No, I 'm ok." It was a little strange! I gradually guided her through opening some of the gifts, but it took a long time. I ended up opening most of them for her. After opening each new gift, she would play with that one until we stopped her. She liked all her presents and was content with each one- who knew? Good thing I didn't go overboard. Dan and I squeezed opening some of our gifts in there too, but it was hard for me to go slow and wait forever with my gifts. Maybe next year Dan and I will have to open our gifts on Christmas Eve. Ainsley didn't actually make it through all of her gifts on the 25th, we opened some on the 26th.

Ainsley got a new baby with lots of baby accessories- crib, swing, stroller, etc.
New puppy slippers
Doodle board- a favorite!

Ainsley playing with her new Barbie Baby Doctor set

A doctor set

We went to Val and Gordon's for Christmas dinner. We joined other family there and had a great time. We were the last to arrive- we had to wait for Ainsley's nap. More presents were exchanged. Then Ainsley, Eliza and Sam all played with their gifts- arts and crafts. They did great together. We had a wonderful dinner- turkey and all the trimmings, then dessert.

Trying out her dress up clothes on the 26th

Ainsley riding her bike with Daddy- in her princess dress and all

34 weeks

2010-12-23T09:47:00.004-06:00

Last week was a very difficult one for our family. Ainsley came down with a bad cold on the 12th. She started out coughing and having a runny nose on the 11th, but acting fine. She became lethargic on the 12th in the afternoon and started running a fever. Monday, she seemed ok but had a bad cough and a fever. Tuesday- the same- bad cough and fever, but somewhat perky. Tuesday evening, her fever was 103.6 and I thought she was really lethargic. Wednesday, she continued to have a high fever- 103.8 in the morning and was really lethargic, flushed and clingy. I took her to the doctor Wednesday afternoon and she was tested for flu- neg, and strep throat- also neg. They thought it was viral.

We got home and watched a movie together. She was burning up and had already had ibuprofen recently. I took her temperature and it was 104.6 - YIKES! She was crying and said her chest/back hurt. I started freaking out a bit- she was flushed and her eyes were glazed. I gave her tylenol and wiped her with a cool cloth, but she only came down to 104. She slept terribly that night and so did I. She would wake up and seem mentally altered- not aware of things and confused. Thursday, she seemed to be a little better- her temperature seemed to actually respond to the ibuprofen/tylenol- in that it came down to 102 from 104. Thursday night was horrible. She was screaming and uncomfortable almost all night. She wanted me to hold her and sit up with her- I could not recline, she would wake up and scream. It was a long, awful night. Her temperature was 104.5.

I made an appointment with her doctor first thing in the morning- but of course, could not get in until 3. It was the longest day EVER! Ainsley was so uncomfortable and unhappy. She was screaming the entire morning and was totally attached to me. I had to carry her everywhere- even to the bathroom with me. She did not want me out of her site and wanted constant comfort. She started saying her left ear hurt and just screaming. She slept fitfully on me 3 different times in the morning- thank goodness for some rest for her. She stopped being a good patient on Thursday- she would not let us take her temperature and she would not take her medicine ( ibuprofen/tylenol). I tried several times to give her medicine Friday morning and finally forced it in. Amazingly- she felt better shortly after- ha! Her temperature came down and she stopped crying, her ear no longer hurt. Of course, she seemed better at the doctors too. The doctor did not find anything on her physical- her ears looked good- WHAT???, her chest sounded fine, her throat looked good, etc. With her fever having been so high for so long, the doctor wanted to do chest radiographs and labwork- so off to the hospital we went. Ainsley did amazing for her blood draw. She did not move at all as they stuck her with the needle and drew her blood. I was holding her, they had a second nurse hold her arm, and a 3rd person draw the blood. Thank goodness he was a good phlebotomist! The radiographs were worse. I could not stay in the room with her since I am pregnant and she was very upset that I had to leave. I had called Dan, but though he left work as soon as I called, he did not get to the hospital in time to be with her. Luckily, the x ray techs were also good and fast. The doctor called a few hours later and told me she has pneumonia in her right middle lung lobe. Awful, but at least they found something. We got some antibiotics and luckily she responded to them quickly. She slept a little better Friday night, but not great. Saturday, she seemed a bit more like herself and luckily had no fever after two doses of antibiotics.

She continued to be really fussy for the next several days, but was playing some and starting to sleep better. She did have some major tantrums- over the littlest things. It was a very trying time.

Also, I started to feel ill last Saturday- probably due to lack of sleep. I had been fighting off Ainsley's cold really well but I think those sleepless nights did me in. Now I have had a bad cold all week and can't really take any good medications. I got sudafed ( only ok decongestant) and I don't feel it is working for me at all. I have been sleeping poorly and just overall fairly miserable with congestion and sinus pressure.

It is a really good thing that I got so much Christmas stuff done early this year as it would not have gotten done otherwise!

Ainsley actually started eating 2 days ago and seemed to be back to her happy self- FINALLY! Hopefully she will stay healthy for a while now.

Ainsley

2010-12-14T14:56:00.002-06:00

I wanted to post some of the funny and amazing things that Ainsley has been saying lately.

Ainsley loves the book and movie, Beauty and the Beast. She will walk around with a book and pretend to be Belle. She has even started singing and dancing while holding her book open. She will tell Dan- you be Gaston. He has to take her book and throw it in the mud. Then she gives him a dirty look, wipes off her book, and mutters something about "Gaston." It is so funny!

I was working on getting our portable DVD player attached to the seat in the car- we got a new case that does not fit very well. I spent 10-15 minutes on it and tried multiple different ways to attach it with no real luck. Also, I don't really fit in the back of the car with the carseats so I was in an awkward position and uncomfortable. After a while, I got frustrated and said the case was a piece of crap.
Later that day, Ainsley was playing with her blanket and she thought there was something on it, she brushed at it and said " piece of crap." I had to contain my giggles!

Ainsley claims she has a baby in her belly too. Sometimes, she has 3 babies in her belly. She will say she feels him moving, and point to areas that are head, foot, etc. She pays so much attention to all the little details it is amazing. She also claims that her back hurts, her tummy hurts, and that she can't bend over because of the baby in her belly. (All my complaints at times) Too funny!

She can now do the longhorn symbol with her hand and whenever she sees football on TV she says, Texas fight and holds up her horns! It does not matter who is playing, all football gets the same reaction.

At her school, during the afternoon storytime, one of the teachers does the girls' hair. She brushes it and styles it in some pretty amazing updos. Ainsley won't even let me brush her hair most days and refuses to wear even barrettes for me. However, at school, she lets them do quite a bit. Now when she is at home, she will sit behind me and do my hair. She is "Janet" and I can't move and she brushes and pulls at my hair for a long time. She has started to brush her dolls hair now too ( thank goodness for me)

She will do a lot of roleplaying too- she pretends to be a mommy or a teacher mainly. Very cute!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T11:39:00.005-06:00

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at home. I cooked for some family at my house and we hosted Dan's parents and my cousin and his family. I made several things on Wednesday so I would not have as much to do Thursday- which worked out nicely. I was still really achy after standing in the kitchen so long on Wednesday though. Thursday, Dan and I played with Ainsley in the morning, then we got down to business and started the turkey and some sides. Ainsley actually slept in until 7:15, so we were unsuccessful in getting her to nap. We tried and she tried, but she could not fall asleep. Guests came over around 3 - I think Ainsley was also excited about that. She and Eliza ( my cousin's daughter) had a great time together. They jumped on the trampoline for a long time, then played upstairs too. A cold front blew in around 3:30 or so and the temperature dropped from 75 - 45 really quickly. The girls stayed out on the trampoline for quite a while though.

We had dinner at 4, everything was really yummy. Ainsley only ate a few carrots- she didn't even try anything else. Oh well.

After dinner, everyone helped me clean up ( thank goodness) and we sat down to visit and watch the Cowboys play on TV. Ainsley and Eliza ran around playing, then went back out on the trampoline for a long time. They did not care that it was quite chilly, especially with the wind/darkness.

We were just thinking about having dessert when Ainsley coughed/vomited. Unusual, but, trampoline maybe??? Well, 15 minutes later, she started vomiting profusely. It went everywhere. Poor baby. It was so awful. I grabbed her and tried to get her to my bathroom, but she vomited at least 5 times before we got there. The house was a huge mess. She was ill a few more times. Then she fell asleep. Everyone was sweet to help clean up- what a mess.

We still had dessert- pumpkin pie and blackberry/apple pie. My cousin left after dessert, but Dan's parents stayed and watched the Texas vs A&M game with us. I could not stay up to finish the game - I was too tired. I checked on Ainsley several times and she seemed to be sleeping well.

Ainsley was sick a few times overnight, and in the early morning. By mid morning- she was able to hold down gatorade and seemed a little perkier. She is still having some GI issues from this which we are hoping will go away soon. I thought we were really lucky since Dan and I did not come down with it over the weekend, but Dan was sick last night. Hopefully, I will not get it!

So, it was a great Thanksgiving until the very end.

We decorated for Christmas over the weekend- Ainsley had a blast decorating the tree with ornaments. She still goes up to it and moves some of them around. She loves the decorations in the house and the lights outside too. This is going to be a spectacular Christmas for us!

Ainsley has been saying that she has a baby in her tummy too. She wants us to feel him move and she points out where his head and feet are- it is so precious. She will touch my belly some, but I don't think she has actually felt the baby move because she takes her hands away too soon.

The furniture came in for the baby's room- but 2 out of 3 pieces were damaged so they will have to go back. They are ordering us more furniture- hopefully they will not be damaged. I was looking forward to getting everything set up.

My mom and sisters surprised me with a virtual baby shower last week. I got 3 packages in the mail full of baby boy clothes! It was so cool. I have not really gotten many boy outfits yet, now I am on my way. It is finally starting to feel real that the time for him to arrive is very soon.

I spent part of the weekend washing all the baby clothes and hanging them in the closet or putting them in the dresser. I also went through Ainsley's baby stuff and took out the stuff he can wear- the yellows/whites/greens. I also got a great big bag of stuff from Kelly with clothes he can use too!

30 weeks

2010-11-23T09:47:00.006-06:00

Time seems to be going by really quickly, yet somehow still slow. I am now 30 weeks pregnant- 3/4 of the way done- yeah! Things are going well- baby seems to be growing and doing well. I have some discomfort with my back- mainly after a long day at work or lots of physical activity at home. I am trying to take it as easy as I can, but it is hard with work and having a toddler at home.

This baby seems to move all the time. They are supposed to have periods of sleep and awake, but it really seems to me that he moves all the time. Hopefully this does not mean he will be up a lot at night when we bring him home. Every time I wake up at night to shift positions, he is moving around and kicking. Hopefully it is just him repositioning as I reposition. I am having sciatica at night- that is my worst discomfort. I wake up and shift positions all the time, often with little relief. Some days are better than others and I can not figure out why.

We are planning to take a short childbirth class in December to refresh us on all that will happen. Our first class was really long and I was not looking forward to repeating it, but this class is only 6 hours so much more bearable.

Ainsley enjoys feeling my belly and talking to her brother. She is so cute and gentle when she touches my tummy. She has been happy and giggly lately which is infectious. She seems to be liking her school more and more and has lots of little friends there. We had a parent teacher conference last weekend and the teacher said Ainsley was doing great. She eats well, plays well with others, participates, and sleeps well. All great things!

We found out that my sister Sara will be moving back to San Antonio in December. It was rather sudden, but we are happy they will be closer. Ainsley loves her aunt and uncle and their dogs too!

We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year- not too many people. Dan's parents and my cousin and his family. Then we plan to decorate for Christmas over the weekend. Ainsley is excited about that- she sees lights up in the neighborhood and says we need to decorate.

We ordered furniture for the baby's room- it should be in this week. I am anxious to get the room finished- even though we have plenty of time. We are looking at bedding but have not made a final decision yet.

I think the next few months will fly by with the holidays to keep us busy. Our December is rapidly filling up- scary!

I wanted to post a few halloween pictures of Ainsley.

Dan had to have her pose with a soldier's gun. Kind of funny.
princess and fairy

We went trick or treating with her friend Maddie and had a great time. Afterwards, we hung out at Maddie's house with a bunch of neighbors. It was really fun. Ainsley enjoyed eating some of her candy. She was actually really good about only getting 1 piece a day after Halloween, so we didn't have to take any candy away from her. Though,I helped her eat quite a bit!

Puerto Rico Trip

2010-11-02T09:09:00.009-05:00

Ainsley as she arrived at the beach. She is such a beach bunny- her glasses, bag, and fancy shoes. It was so cute! I was already at the beach with Celene- Ainsley and Dan came to join us.

Downtown San Juan- unhappy Ainsley that we bribed with mallorca.
Dancing at the reception. There was a band- Ainsley had a blast dancing. She stayed up until 10:30 which is amazing for her. She was so cute and fun to watch.

The church- build in the 1500s- very beautiful!

Rehearsal dinner- they had a salsa dance instructor team there.
View from our room

Ainsley and Grandma

On Oct 20th we left for Puerto Rico. Celene's wedding was on the 23rd and we made a family vacation out of the trip, so we stayed for a week. We had a fantastic trip!

The travel time was long, but overall went ok. The resort we stayed at was fantastic- very nice grounds with lots of pools, a great lagoon and beach area and lots of places to eat. Our room was really nice and had a fantastic view of the ocean. We got a connecting room to my parents which worked out great- Ainsley had lots of people to play with!

We did wedding stuff on and off for the first few days- I was fairly busy with it so Dan and Ainsley hit the beach with Grandpa and Uncle Dave. Ainsley loved it! She got a great sand bucket from Celene and had fun building sand castles.

We spent one day at a spa where we got manicures, pedicures, and a massage. What a treat! We ( the wedding party) had our own special relaxation room where they brought us champagne and fruit, then later some fancy desserts.

Most of our free time was spent at the beach with Ainsley and family. It worked out great for everyone because the family got lots of Ainsley time and Dan and I had a little break. The island was really beautiful, the water was clear and a perfect temperature.

Ainsley jumping in her puddle on a beach in Condado.

I got lazy and decided to leave the pictures at the top for you to browse through.

25 weeks

2010-10-18T15:57:00.011-05:00

We have had a nice couple of weeks. We finished painting to baby's room- it looks fantastic.

I celebrated my birthday. Ainsley and Dan made me a cake- the best cake ever! Ainsley is also getting the hang of birthdays and loves singing "Happy Birthday!" She sang it to me quite a bit over the course of a week. Ainsley loves baking- she loves to help and lick the bowl/utensils! Of course, she was a big fan of the finished product too!

We had Maddie over to jump on the trampoline. They have the best time together! Check our the static on their hair- too funny!

Ainsley and I went to the zoo on Oct 8th with some friends. She had a fantastic time feeding the goats and deer. We even went into the petting coral and she pet the goats- she was very brave.

On October 10th, we went on a family outing to Sweet Berry Farms. It was a gorgeous day - sunny and clear with a nice breeze. The farm was super crowded, but we had a good time anyway. Ainsley's favorite part was feeding the goats at the farm- she stood around their coral for over an hour. She got to pet a horse too- not as exciting as the goats though. We played with the pumpkins and picked out some great ones for our house. We will be painting the smaller ones soon. We had a nice picnic lunch together under the trees-very nice!

Then, we walked to the other side of the farm and picked flowers. They had gorgeous zinnias and Ainsley and I had fun picking them. We had gorgeous bouquets!

I am doing pretty well- I am sleeping a little better- I have finally found some fairly good sleep positions so I don't wake up every hour. I still wake up, but not as often. The baby moves a lot- sometimes he will kick/punch and I feel like my whole body jumps with the force of it. Ainsley has been brave and put her hand on my belly to feel her brother moving from time to time.

Ainsley seems to be enjoying school - she is a little happier when I drop her off and she is always really happy when I pick her up. She talks about ther other children and the things that they do during the day. She has lots of art and activities that she brings home each week too. They sure do start teaching them a lot at such a young age! Last week she learned about South America and the different countries there, the people, animals, etc. She also learned about the human skeleton!

23 weeks

2010-10-04T13:53:00.002-05:00

I am now 23 weeks- almost 6 months! Things are going well. I am feeling better, I have more energy and I am not too big yet. I feel lots of baby movements- a lot more than I felt with Ainsley at this stage. I suspect I feel more earlier because he is the second baby- that is what they say anyway. Dan was finally able to feel him kicking around which was pretty cool. Sometimes it feels like he is doing flips which definitely gets my attention.

My belly is much more prominent now than it was - baby is getting big! I am having a much harder time physically with regular every day things than I did with Ainsley. My back aches at the end of every day and my belly muscles hurt daily too. I think this is largely due to me having a toddler to care for, lift up, clean up after, etc. I swear I drop everything and have to bend over way more than usual. Clumsiness is part of it too. Ainsley will sometimes help out with picking things up and getting things for me which is really nice. I say sometimes because she can be a bit moody- I think the terrible twos continue. Overall, she is very good, cute and happy. However, she can have some very abrupt and unreasonable mood swings that are set off by the littlest thing.

I am having some trouble sleeping. I have always had insomnia to some degree, and it is worse during pregnancy. I have lots of pillows and wedges to help me sleep, but I still wake up almost hourly to change position. If I get woken up in the middle of the night, sometimes I can't go back to sleep for hours.

Ainsley is doing well at her school. She does not like for me to take her, she would rather stay home with me. Drop offs are still a challenge and I am sad because she cries most days. But, she is really happy and chatty when we pick her up. She does lots of good artwork and seems to have made lots of friends. She is learning yoga- they have it at least once a week. She practices yoga poses at home all the time and is really happy to do it. I am amazed at the number of poses she knows.

We painted the baby's room last week. It looks really great. It is not finished yet, but the basics are done- will post picture later. We have not yet gotten furniture or bedding- still to come!

We gave Ainsley a double bed ( previous guest bed) and I just ordered a quilt for her. She picked out the quilt- it was actually the one Dan and I liked best too. I found 4 that I liked and let her choose from those. Hopefully she likes it when it arrives!

19 weeks

2010-09-07T14:44:00.002-05:00

I am now 19 weeks along. I had my big anatomy ultrasound last week and everything looked great! The baby looked wonderful- lots of movement and weighing just what he should ( estimated) for a late January arrival. He weighed approximately 0.5 pounds and they estimate babies of this age are 8-10 inches long. The earlier hemorrhage I had in my uterus seemed to have resolved- whew! Hopefully no more problems!

I am finally feeling good every day. The nausea hung around until 18 weeks- unbelievably long. Now I can actually eat and not worry about feeling ill later. I still have to eat small, frequent meals, but that is ok with me! I am still tired- I think that is due to second baby, working, caring for toddler and a gazillion other things.

I started to feel the baby move around 18 weeks. The movements were subtle but present initially. I could not feel them with my hands on my belly, only internally. Now, I feel lots of movement internally, but only an occasional movement felt when my hands are on my belly. Dan has not been able to feel the movement yet. I think that will come in the next few weeks.
It is such a nice, comforting feeling to feel these little punches and kicks.

My belly growth has slowed quite a bit. It seems like I got a belly faster than last time, but now it is growing very slowly and I am happier with my size/time of pregnancy!

Ainsley started a Montessori school last week. She is going to go for full days on the days that I work, and probably an extra morning every week. She seemed to like it. I took her for a half day at first. Drop off was a little rough, but the teacher was very sweet. Also, there is a little girl that Ainsley plays with in our neighborhood in her class. When we arrived at school, Maddy ran up to see us. When I left, the teacher picked Ainsley up to take her outside as a distraction. Maddy went with them and stuck by her all day ( so the teacher says). It was so very cute! Love you Maddy!

Maddy was there for Ainsley's first full day on Thursday too. This is the first time Ainsley has been at a school or anything all day without me or her Grandmother in the afternoon for naps. The teacher called at lunch time and said Ainsley was doing great. She had not napped yet, but was active, happy and participating in everything in the morning.

I picked Ainsley up at 5:45 and she was very happy. She was eating pretzel sticks. When I walked up she said, " look, they're crunchy." Then she demonstrated crunching a pretzel. She did this to the other 3 adults we saw there too. Pretty funny. She wasn't emotionally upset to see me at all- which means she didn't miss me too much, right? When we were going out to the car, there was another little girl getting into a car and she yelled across the lot- "Bye Ainsley" and Ainsley replied "Bye." I am very excited that she will form lots of good friendships!

Drop offs were rough the second and third day. When you arrive before 8, most of the teachers are not there. There is a group of early arrival children with one teacher in a room. This seemed to cause Ainsley quite a bit of anxiety- which is understandable. They did not do a great job of distracting her the first day, better the second. I think she only cried for a few seconds after I left. Today- drop off went great. She did not cry at all and seemed excited about her day at school. Hopefully it will go well without Maddy- she is not there today.

We are really excited about this new learning opportunity for Ainsley and hope it continues to go well.

Big news for Ainsley- she had a sleepover at Maddy's house a few weeks ago. Maddy and her Mom watched her while Dan and I went out to dinner. We were planning on picking her up at bedtime and taking her home. Maddy's mom suggested she stay over if she fell asleep and she did. We were still going to pick her up, but Maddy's mom was cool with her staying over. Dan and I were a little unsure of it, but decided to see how it went. Ainsley had an awesome time- she asked to go back daily for at least a week. She would say- "I want to go to Maddy's house, and take off my shoes, and you leave me there." HAHA.

Ainsley knows that I am going to have a baby. She knows that she is going to have a baby brother. She knows that there is a baby in my tummy. I am not sure she grasps this concept entirely, but she is getting there! I think she will be a great big sister.

Update- Finally!

2010-08-22T21:00:00.005-05:00

I have not posted any updates in so long, I feel quite behind. The biggest news is that I am pregnant with Baby number 2! I am just over 4 months along, due the end of January. We are so excited about this new addition to our family. I feel I owe it to this baby to try and post updates as I did with Ainsley!

The early days of the pregnancy were quite rough. There were some complications and problems leading to lots of stress and doctor visits, but we are hopefully in the clear now! In addition to that, I felt ill starting at 7 weeks, and still sort of do.

Nausea started at week 7 and is still sometimes present. It was all day, every day nausea-it was so awful! Last week I felt better for the first time in 2.5 months, so I am hoping I am over it. In addition to nausea, I was exhausted all the time, I had frequent headaches, and I was very busy with work. Yuck!

Lots of issues means lots of ultrasounds though- so that has been really neat. We have been able to see the baby a lot. At an ultrasound I had in early August, the pictures were amazing. The ultrasonographer thought it was a boy, but said it was still too early to be certain. I felt pretty certain- that would explain why I felt so crappy ( to me at least!) I love this picture- you can see him so clearly!

We were able to confirm that it is a boy last week! We are so excited! We would have been happy with either, but one of each sounds pretty great!

You can see him trying to suck his thumb!

Now, I am 17 weeks and finally feeling better. My last check up went well. I am still tired, I take naps most days that I can. I guess raising a toddler while pregnant takes that much more out of you – I don’t remember napping after the first trimester with Ainsley.

I started to show much earlier with this pregnancy than with my first. I had a little tummy bulge right away, but it was not noticeable to anyone but me. It would change with the day- starting out small in the morning, bigger by bedtime, likely due to my very slow digestion. I was unable to wear my shorts by 3 months, so I resorted to maternity or exercise shorts. Now, I have a definite round bulge, though luckily I have not gained much weight yet. I moved out my regular clothes and put maternity clothes in instead and significantly cleared up my closet space.

I am not able to feel the baby move yet, even though I have thought I felt a few random big kicks. I am anxiously awaiting that fun sensation!

We are trying to prepare Ainsley about the baby- I think she knows there is a baby in my tummy, but I don't think she is clear on what that means.

Ainsley has been doing fantastic. She is a learning machine- she is so smart and quick. She is really happy, giggling and laughing all the time. We are going to start her in a Montisorri school this September. She will go for full days when I am working, and likely one other morning a week ( for some me time).

Recent Events

2010-04-13T10:01:00.013-05:00

Ainsley continues to grow and change so quickly it amazes me. She is a happy and cheerful little girl! She now knows how to "tease" and will do something and say, "I teasing." I am amazed she has that concept down.

This is her on a walk- she takes her own stroller now and puts her babies in it. She wanted to wear the hat and glasses too!

She likes to say "Shoo." I tell the grackles in our yard to "go away, shoo" so she now says that whenever we see grackles. She also likes to "shoo" mommy or daddy away when she wants private time. It is pretty funny when she says it to me.

I set up Ainsley's art easel in the yard and she painted some a few weeks ago. She loved it and actually stayed pretty clean.

She also did amazing paintings!

My parents visited and Ainsley helped us do some gardening. She enjoyed following Papa around and putting some plants in!

Our Easter Egg hunt with our playgroup. Ainsley loved hunting the eggs. She did not really care what was inside, she just enjoyed finding them. On Easter morning, we hid and re-hid the eggs all day. We continued to hide the eggs inside and outside for at least a week. She still wants to "find eggs!"

I have started putting Ainsley in school ( daycare) one morning a week. I dropped her off last week on my way to work for the first time. It did not go as well as the previous visit where there was no crying. This time there was lots of screaming and "Mommy don't go." It broke my heart. I called about an hour later to check on her and they said she stopped crying a few minutes after I left, thank goodness!

Her Nannie picked her up from school at 12:30- so she was there about five hours. When she saw Nannie the first thing she said was, "Nannie! Mommy left me!" Ouch!

When she got to her Nannies, she was amazingly hyper- talking and running and playing. I think she had a great time at school. She did a really cute arts and crafts project and they did an easter egg hunt there too- of course she loved that. Unfortunately, she learned about hitting in one morning. She said that a boy hit her in the head (grrrrr) and then she went around hitting things in the house. Luckily, that did not last and I did not see any other hitting during the week.

Ainsley has started pointing at everything and saying "what this mean" ( what is this). She also started with Why and Why not 1-2 months ago. It makes for interesting conversations.

Ainsley still loves to read and will do her own reading of a lot of stories. Her favorites are Cinderella, Green Eggs and Ham and Lady and the Tramp. It is so cute to hear her interpretation. I have some recordings and I will see if I can post them.

We celebrated Dan's birthday last week and Ainsley did a great abstract acrylic painting for him.

Dan and I had a date night ( amazing!) on Friday and went to Opal Divine's downtown for happy hour- it was a gorgeous afternoon/evening. Then we had a great dinner at Z Tejas- surf and turf with ancho chile pie

A video of Ainsley reading Cinderella.

Big Step

2010-03-17T13:41:00.004-05:00

Last Friday I took Ainsley to a daycare for the first time. She has always been left before with family and close friends at our house. I was so nervous about it- but had made an internal deadline to do it soon. I was going to do it the previous week, but Ainsley had not been feeling well so I decided it would not be the best time.

Plan - drop her off and hope there was not a really big scene. I had visions of her holding onto my legs and screaming, "Mommy don't go!" Leading to both of us crying...

I took her in and walked her to her area. She immediately went to the toy kitchen they had and started playing. She completely ignored me. I spoke with the teacher and she continued to play. I said goodbye and she pretty much ignored me. I left, still no crying or reaction. When I got to my car, I looked through the window and she was still playing with the kitchen and foods. Amazing! I could not believe she handled it so well. I was so proud of her to adjust so well. At the same time I was thinking it was amazing how grown up she is!

I left her there for the morning- a little over four hours. I thought I would have tons of time to do things but the time went quickly. I went to HEB ( very exciting), planted a bunch of new plants, cleaned up a bit, showered and went back. Time was up.

When I arrived, she was sitting at a table eating lunch with several other kids. She said, "Hi Mommy" and kept eating.

The teacher gave me a list of the morning activities and the craft project Ainsley had done- a little wand with glitter. She also said that Ainsley had exhibited stranger anxiety- her newest thing. She would not let the teacher's touch her initially when she was upset. They said it improved after the first hour and then she did great. She participated in the class activities and everything.

When we left, she kept saying, "Fun, Fun." Hopefully she will continue to enjoy it - I am planning to take her back for a few hours at a time, gradually working up to a full day.

Ainsley's stranger anxiety seemed to develop very recently- in the past 4-6 weeks. It had been only with men, but apparently with women too. I am hoping the daycare and gym visits will help with it. Stranger anxiety seems pretty normal for kids, but I sure hope she gets over it quickly!

2 years old

2010-03-11T11:46:00.009-06:00

Fun in the bath!

Ainsley celebrated her second birthday last month. It is very hard to believe that I have a 2 year old! We have been battling lots of illnesses recently- a bad flu like virus in early February and the stomach flu in late February. Yuck! Between work, Ainsley and illness I have been really busy - hence, the lack of updates and pictures. I will try to do better in the next few months.

Ainsley is an amazing little girl. She is growing up so quickly! She talks really well and picks up on everything you do and say. She loves to read and be read to, she loves to play hide and seek, and she loves to draw. Her favorite books right now are Blueberries for Sal and Cinderella. At her 2 year visit, she was 37 inches tall and weighed 30 pounds. Tall and thin!

We had a birthday party for her that included family and some close friends- we wanted to keep it a little small as it will likely be the last year for a small get together. We had to reschedule her her party due to illness, but still had a good turnout. We did a Finding Nemo theme because he is one of Ainsley's favorite characters.

Our friend Kristen

A family friend made these cookies- they looked awesome and tasted even better!!! Ainsley still asks for Nemo cookies.

Enjoying the pizza with big cousin Samantha

Eyeing the cake! She did not really enjoy us singing Happy Birthday, but she didn't cry and she blew out the candle on her own!

Enjoying the cake.

Our friend Sarah

Unfortunately, we are starting to experience the "terrible twos." Ainsley has started having some tantrums when she does not get her way and "tests" the water in a few different ways every day. I have started using counting to get her to listen/respond and time outs for when she is bad. It works ok but many days are still frustrating and very long with a screaming child.

All the illnesses have affected Ainsley's overall demeanor some too- she has been very quiet and snuggly for the past several weeks. We initially thought it was her recovering from the stomach flu, but then decided it was her 2 year molars. She has one erupted and is still working on the other 3. This means more sleepless nights for her and Mom. She has always slept poorly when she is teething- BUMMER! Right before the last illness and teething- she was sleeping great- 8:30 pm to 7:30 am, the latest she had ever slept. I am hoping to get back to that soon.

Ainsley has started going to a Children's Gym- she has class once a week and there are many "free" times to play too. She loves jumping on the trampolene and is starting to get used to the structure of the class. I hope she will get more and more comfortable with the class, students and teachers. She is really shy with new adults when she is not at home.

She still sleeps in her crib and has not made any attempts to climb out. I am thinking of moving her to a big girl bed- hoping that the softer mattress may be more comfortable and may lead to better sleep at night ( for both of us!). I may try her in our spare bedroom one of these nights to see how it goes.... I will let you know!

Mommy's little helper:

Ainsley loves to help with anything that we are doing. Nannie got us matching aprons for Christmas!

Christmas

2010-02-09T13:23:00.005-06:00

Ainsley and Grandma
Hanging out with Petey.
Hanging out with Remi.

Cooking in the new kitchen

Christmas Eve dinner

Baking cookies with Aunt Sara!

We had a fantastic Christmas season. Ainsley enjoyed visiting family and had fun with Christmas in general. My sister and her husband arrived 5 days before Christmas with their 2 dogs. They stayed with us for just over a week. Ainsley enjoyed reading and playing with them. After a few days, she even became more comfortable with their dogs- they are a bit more rambunctious that Remi so they took some getting used to.

Sara cooked several great meals for us while they were visiting- it was great to come home to after work!

We had to split up Ainsley's presents into multiple days because she got so many of them. it was a bit overwhelming for her to open them. She did get into the presents and tearing paper though- we are creating a present monster!

Ainsley's big gift from Santa was a kitchen- she loved it and played with it quite a bit. Nannie gave her lots of kitchen accessories too.

On Christmas morning, we opened gifts with the family. We even skyped with my Sister in Baltimore.

We had a big breakfast at my in laws house and opened more gifts there. It was a fantastic morning.

My parents arrived Christmas afternoon- despite lots of bad weather near where they live. They came just in time for turkey! We had a really nice dinner and enjoyed being together.

My Mom, Sara and I actually went shopping after Christmas. We went to the Hill Country Galleria- my new favorite place. It was really a nice mall and it was not crowded at all! We had lots of fun shopping and then even had time for a nice lunch out.

Christmas is coming!

2009-12-20T08:02:00.006-06:00

I can't believe December has gone by so quickly! We are very excited about Christmas this year since Ainsley is starting to understand presents and Santa! She helped us decorate the tree and enjoys the lights around the house. She really loves the outdoor lights and the inflatable Christmas decorations our neighbors have. We have had a lot of really cold weather so we have not been outside as much as usual. The last week has been a bit warmer so we have been walking every evening to see the lights and decor. Ainsley loves the "Snowman" across the street- he moves a little in the wind and it looks like he is waving. We can see him from our house and she runs to look at him out the window a lot.

We are hoping to go see the Trail of Lights downtown- but it sounds like they have had a lot of issues with parking. Hopefully it will be better this week so we can go.

Ainsley update:
Ainsley has started saying:
"I need ________." Fill in Milk, cookie, Teddy (Her lovie), etc. It is pretty funny because she says it like she can't live without it.
We took down our babygate on the stairs and Ainsley does great going up and down on her own!
Ainsley has decided she doesn't really want to sit in her highchair anymore- we got her a booster seat and moved her to the table. It is going pretty well so far- no atrocious messes yet.
When she was home with Nannie last week, Nannie said she was cold. Ainsley went upstairs, got the blanket from her bed, and was trying to bring it downstairs to cover her Nannie. What a sweet girl!
She says "sorry" all the time, when she drops something, when she falls down, just all the time.
She says "Thank you "
She likes to say "Awesome"
She knows her shapes ( has for a little over 1 month)
She knows what "two" means and is doing pretty well on counting to ten. She can fill in the blanks!
She started calling me "Mommy" instead of Mama 2 months ago.

We had our work Christmas parties last weekend. Dan's was Friday night, mine was Saturday night. We got a babysitter and went out! Kareen and Cole came over and watched Ainsley for us. It worked out great since Ainsley loved Cole, otherwise known as Boy, and Cole enjoyed Ainsley too. They played ball together, cars, danced and ran around. We are going to try to go out more- that will be our New Year's Resolution.

My sister Sara and her family are arriving today from Mississippi. Sara, Dave, and their two dogs Petey and Buckley will be with us for a little over a week. It should be great fun for everyone, well, everyone except for Brie ( she doesn't like their dogs). I already feel bad for her as her life will be very different for the next week.

I plan to do some shopping with Sara and maybe some girly things like lunch out, etc.

My parents are coming from Arkansas on Christmas Day. We will miss my sister Celene who is on call at her hospital in Baltimore over the holidays. Luckily her fiancee is with her. I plan to web cam with them Christmas morning so we can all open gifts together!

We had family pictures taken Friday afternoon- I can't wait to see them. I am going to use one for our Christmas/New Years card, and maybe order some other family pictures for us and the family!

Great Weekend

2009-11-17T16:49:00.006-06:00

Note- I started writing this weeks ago and never finished or added pictures. I just wanted to post what I had done so far and I finally added pictures ( 12/15).

We had a fantastic weekend (11/13-15). On Friday, Ainsley and I enjoyed the great weather and went for a walk with Remi, then to the park. We met a nice woman and her son, 1 year older than Ainsley. Ainsley and he played really well together and we exchanged info so I hope we can continue to get together. We did some yard work Friday afternoon, getting the plants ready for colder weather, finishing up a greenhouse, etc.

Saturday, we went to Sea World in San Antonio. The drive down was ok, I was hoping Ainsley would nap most of the way, we tried to go at nap time. She didn't want to sleep though and was awake most of the drive. She got about 30 minutes of sleep in the car and slept for about 15 more at the park. She woke up to children squealing. She had an awesome time- and so did we. We got to feed dolphins and some even let us touch them. We watched them swim and frolic around for a long time- Ainsley was enthralled. We saw the sharks, stingrays, and fish. We watched the sea lion show. We saw penguins, alligators, birds, Clydesdale horses and telecasters/water rides. Ainsley was fascinated by the rides. We got to see Shamu and the other killer whales- a great show- I kept thinking, how on earth do they teach them to go upside down and splash with their tails?
The dolphin pool

We went back to the dolphin pool before we left. Ainsley liked them the best- she kept saying dolphins, dolphins. When we were feeding them, Dan said "Hey Buddy" a few times. Every time Ainsley saw a dolphin for the rest of the day- she would say "Hey Buddy." Very cute.

We had dinner at Rudy's- the one in Austin is WAY better, then started the drive home. We stopped at the outlet stores because I wanted to see the kids things at Pottery Barn. They had kitchen sets and lots of furniture for kids- Ainsley started playing with it right away. She cleaned the kitchen, put some stuffed horses to bed, etc. It was really funny to see.

Sunday- we went to Lisa's wedding reception. She had a Hawaiian theme and had a dance group perform. It was great food and awesome entertainment. I have never been to Hawaii, nor has Dan. The dancers were very colorful with clothes and headdresses, etc. Ainsley LOVED the dancing. She was standing in the very front jumping, dancing, and twirling around with them. It was amazingly cute. I kept trying to pull her back a little and she would get upset and inch her way back towards the dancing. I thought she was mostly hidden from the other guests because she was behind a table- but later, everyone commented on how cute she was. I guess they could all see her- but luckily they were all as entertained as Dan and I were. I wish I had a video of it- it was so fun to see. It was the most awesome afternoon!

Watching

Dancing and moving closerA blur of motion. My phone camera is not very good with motion- but this picture is actually pretty funny since she was moving like CRAZY!

Fall Festival

2009-10-26T12:41:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-10-20T09:19:00.007-05:00

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

2009-10-06T09:23:00.008-05:00

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

2009-09-28T15:58:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-23T19:56:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-16T10:11:00.010-05:00

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

2009-07-23T08:50:00.006-05:00

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.

17 months old

2009-07-08T11:59:00.014-05:00

I did not get the chance to post pictures with my last post, so here are a bunch of awesome ones from the last month. I can't believe Ainsley is now 17 months old.

Ainsley playing in the sprinkler with Sarah and Kristen(not in this picture). We had a fun day together! Ainsley loved the sprinkler and got soaked.

We went to San Antonio for Dave's birthday. We got to play with bubbles- Ainsley loved it. She was enthralled watching them blow in the wind and pop.

This is a happy squeal picture ( though it almost looks like she is scared)

What is it with kids and dog kennels anyway???

Ainsley's new car- she LOVES it. We have to push her around all the time. Sara and Dave came up last weekend and we all had a blast. Ainsley convinced them to push her car for a while- Dan and I were glad for the break. Ainsley also loves my old cell phone- I charge it for her and she plays with it and talks on it. I thought it was so funny that she was blabbing away while "driving." I got some video of that too. It was great!

I mentioned that Ainsley loves to clean, this is her detailing her cars.

Fun with the camera. I took these pictures today. I told Ainsley to smile for the camera and she got the cheesiest grins- complete with squinted nose and eyes. I took tons of pictures and have put my favorites on here.

My favorite- look how gorgeous she is!

Silly pose

She was playing peek a boo with me ( my face was behind the camera)

Update

2009-06-30T15:55:00.006-05:00

I don't have anything particularly exciting to blog about, hence I have not blogged. I will just give some basic updates.

Ainsley went in for her 15 month check up. Everything was fine, she was 33 inches tall, >97% in height, 24.5 pounds, 75%. She took her shots like a champ.

Ainsley and I joined a MOMs club a few months ago. Our group meets on Friday mornings and there are usually 3-5 other kids around her age at each meeting. I have really enjoyed getting to know some other moms and Ainsley enjoys the new toys and parks we go to. A few weeks ago, June12th, one of the moms suggested meeting at the Bee Cave Library for a book reading, then a trip to the fountain outside. The library is located in the Bee Cave Galleria- that really new shopping center. I had never been to the Galleria and thought it would be fun, so we went. We arrived early and wandered around. It is a very nice place- lots of great shops, it is well landscaped and set up, I will have to go back with no child in tow...

The Library book reading was fun- it was our first. It was packed with kids. They read a few books, sang some songs, and we were done. After this, we went to the fountains outside. They had an awesome set up- the water shoots up out of the ground in patterns and drains in the center. The kids can stand anywhere around it. I did not put Ainsley in a bathing suit, but brought a towel. I should have brought a bathing suit. She LOVED IT! She was standing in the center touching the water as it shot out and soaking herself. She got sprayed right in the face several times and besides being a little surprised, she did not care. She was drenched from head to toe. It was really cute watching her. After this, we went to lunch with the other moms and kids.

I was pretty happy about our day- I thought it was a neat new adventure that was really fun for Ainsley. Well, of course there is a negative side to this.

Sunday June 14th we went to San Antonio for a celebration party for my sister Celene- she is now officially a board certified radiologist!

Ainsley got really ill that evening- she had a really high fever and runny nose. She woke up multiple times during the night.

Monday I had to work, my parents were staying with Ainsley. Her temperature remained high despite tylenol and motrin. She was not eating or drinking anything and just wanted to be held. I went home for lunch and she came to me and then didn't move- she was like a really hot, wet noodle. I took her to the doctor during lunch and they thought she had Hand/Foot/Mouth because of her fever and blisters on her throat. She was really sick for 3 days, then luckily started to slowly improve.

Dan took a certification exam last week- he had to study for it for most of the month. He passed of course and is now LEED certified!

Ainsley is talking up a storm now- we don't always understand, but she talks all the time.

New words:

dirty
turtle
shoes
uh huh
I love you ( her way is I U but she always says it after I tell her I love you.)
Ball
Bubbles
PooPoo ( and she tells me when she goes)
Ela ( her friend)
Hi
Hey
Boo

We got Ainsley a push buggy car- she sits in it and it has a handle for us to push like a stroller. She LOVES it. She sits in it all the time and I have to push her all over the house. She says brrrr like a motor. We go on walks outside in this too ( when the weather cooperates). She is learning to push it herself and she piles her stuffed animals in it.

Ainsley loves to play hide and seek and she is getting really good at it. She hides pretty well- usually where I have hidden before, but now there are several places she remembers. She also looks for us and we all giggle when we find each other. She likes to be like me- she put on my sunglasses and had a small purse on her arm and walked to the door. She was sooooo happy when I put some lip gloss on her lips after she watched me put some on. Of course, she smeared hers all over her face.

She loves to help her nannie clean and she is very neat. Any piece of anything on the floor is an "uh, oh" and she picks it up.

Beach Vacation!

2009-05-21T20:22:00.016-05:00

We went on our first family vacation last week! We went to South Padre Island with our friends Joe, Julie, Kristen, and Sarah. We had an awesome time and did not want to come home and back to the real world. I guess that is the perfect vacation, right? one you don't want to come back from?

Here is a recap.

We all rode down together in our friends SUV. Yes, 4 adults and 3 toddlers in one car. Good idea or not.... Overall, it went great. The girls were really awesome about the long drive ( total trip time was about 8 hours each way). We took fairly frequent stops, but not as many as we thought we might have to take. We stopped at a Dairy Queen and treated everyone to some ice cream, the girls all loved the ice cream, their first DQ experience. See Julie's blog for ice cream pictures.

We rented an awesome beach house- complete with a heated pool, billiard table, a flat screen tv in every room, 3 porches, and lots of beach toys and accessories. It was great! We wanted fun stuff to do at the house because we knew we would be there in the evenings.

Amazingly the girls were on pretty much the same sleep schedule. They all got up about the same time, napped the same time and went to bed the same time! All the adults were very ready for the 7:30 bedtime to come around so we could have a little vacation. Vacation sure is hard work with 3 little ones. We decided we really needed two full time nannies with us too- maybe some day.

Our beach transportation. We were about 1 block from the beach.

Julie, Kristen and Sarah

The girls playing washers. Joe brought them for us to play, but we were unable to have two people play and keep track of all three girls ( they kept running into the water) so we had to give up. The girls enjoyed the washers.

The beach was awesome! Ainsley loved it instantly. She loved everything about it- the sand, the water, the birds, the waves, the shells, everything! She had no fear with the water either. It was pretty windy while we were there and the water was pretty rough. When we first went to the water, she walked right in and would have kept on walking if we had not stopped her. She enjoyed the waves hitting her( we were supporting her) and she would let it sweep her legs out from under her and "surf" a little with each wave. We stood in the water a lot and jumped over waves, we played in the surf- sitting in the sand and digging holes and letting the waves hit us, and we played in the dry sand trying to build sandcastles. Yes, we had sand everywhere!

Our sandcastles did not get very big as every time we got some structure to it one of the little ones would come by and mash it. Dan was dismayed, he tried several times to build the ultimate sandcastle.

One day we went to a local sea turtle rescue center- the girls all enjoyed seeing the turtles up close.

The pool at our beach house

Easter

2009-04-12T21:12:00.010-05:00

Easter was so much fun for all of us this year. Ainsley got to wear a dress that my MIL made and looked very cute. Yesterday, our neighborhood sponsored an egg hunt - there were a ton of kids there. Luckily, they separated out the kids by age groups so Ainsley wasn't trampled by the older kids. She figured out what she was supposed to do very quickly- we helped her with the first egg and put it in her bag, then she got all the others on her own. She enjoyed seeing the other kids too- that was almost as much fun. Ainsley was very excited when she realized the eggs had stuff inside and she started shaking them, then opening them.

Trying to decide where to go next.

On a mission.

Ainsley had so much fun hunting the easter eggs that we hid them around the house on Easter Sunday and let her hunt them again. They were empty this time- to Ainsley's disappointment, but she still had a lot of fun.

This is our friend Ela. She and Ainsley have been getting together once a week to play. Ela was very happy to see Ainsley at the egg hunt and kept giving her hugs and kisses.

Sweet baby girls!

San Antonio Visit

2009-03-31T10:18:00.010-05:00

Well, for some reason the blog is not letting me move my pictures around. Therefore, you will see our trip from end to beginning.

We had a long day on Saturday, but it was so much fun. We went to San Antonio Friday afternoon to visit with my Mom and Sisters. Saturday we went to the zoo. After the zoo, we went to Celene's house and had pina coladas and pizza. We enjoyed the evening on the porch and watched lots of birds. Ainsley was worn out from the zoo and was napping.
We saw zebras, a giraffe ( see behind us), an elephant, lions, bears, hyenas, ostrich, kangaroos ( Ainsley loved them), birds, monkeys, rhinos and hippos. The rhinos were getting sprayed with water- they really seemed to enjoy it. Most of the other animals were sunning themselves. We were at the zoo for about 4 hours and Ainsley stayed up right until the end when she fell asleep in my arms. We did not see the entire zoo- it was simply too big. Ainsley loved the animals- she was pointing at them and mmming, smiling and clapping. It was so cute.

The hippos were the highlight of the day. The SA Zoo built a new area to house their hippos with an underwater viewing area for the visitors. We went in and saw lots of fish but nothing else in the tanks in front of us. There were not many people in there initially we went right up to the glass. While we were standing there, the two hippos came into view and walked right by us! They were amazing! They were sniffing the sides of the tank and seemed to be looking right at us. It was so neat to see them swimming/walking/bouncing in the water, just inches from us. Ainsley thought it was awesome and she kept touching the glass and clapping.

The funny part was that both hippos took a big poop while walking in front of us. The second hippo was right behind the first and ate some of hippo number one's poop- drawing a big EEWWW from the crowd and making us laugh. Then he stuck his nose up out of the water, perhaps regretting his position right behind hippo number 1.

They also had a butterfly habitat that you could go in. Ainsley loves butterflies and says bu - fly when she sees them. Too bad she didn't know there was one on her head.

1 year pictures

2009-03-13T19:47:00.005-05:00

Ainsley and I went to have her 1 year pictures done a few weeks ago. We had some issues with our internet, so I was unable to post them until now. She looks so grown up!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

2009-02-22T12:02:00.012-06:00

We had a fun family trip to the zoo last week! Dan took Friday off and we had a fun filled day together that included a trip to the Austin zoo! It was a gorgeous day- sunny and about 70 degrees. We had an amazing time and Ainsley enjoyed every minute of the trip. She loved looking at the animals and was quick to point them out and say her version of "what's that" and "look". It was such a nice sunny day that all the big cats were out sunning themselves. Much like our domestic cats- they like the sun, especially on their tummies.These are some pot bellied pigs that were rooting near the fence. Ainsley got really close to the fence because she was really curious by their appearance and sounds- all the sniffing and snorting. One let out a really loud snort and made Ainsley jump- it was really cute.She was able to pet some goats and help me feed them.

Ainsley saw me feeding the goats some pellets that had fallen to the ground ( we did not buy them at the front gate- we forgot) so she picked up some hay and offered it to them.

There was even a little train that takes you around the area- Ainsley's first train ride.

Ainsley went to her 1 year check up last week too. She was 31 inches tall- >97%. 23.5 pounds - 50-75% and got a good bill of health.

The Party

2009-02-09T21:10:00.008-06:00

The party was a huge success! Here is a picture of the finished cake- it was fantastic. I could not have been happier with the decorations or the taste- it was truly awesome!

There were so many amazing pictures, I decided to do the little video of them again. Ainsley had a wonderful time playing with the other children. Ainsley got lots of fun gifts and can be seen playing with them in the pictures. She loved the cake and ate almost an entire piece ( a big slice too).

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