21 months

Oh my Ashley Grace! What a sweet sweet girl you are. You are so kind and caring. You are full of hugs and kisses. You te so affectionate and I love that you give hugs to everybody. Your version of a hug (for a friend or cousin) is usually to stand next to them or behind them and tilt your head to the side to rest on their shoulder or their back. It is really quite sweet. You also like to give kisses, on the arm. Mommy gets real hugs though, arms open wide and usually you are running right into the hug. Mommy kisses are on the lips, I love them! You talk LOTS. Your vocabularly continues to amaze me. I loe who you learn a new word and say it on your own instead of just when prompted or repeating someone else. You have learned to recognize lots of animals....bears, tigers(one of your favorites), monkeys "moneys", fish, cow, turkey, deer, duck, horse "neigh neigh", pig, sheep, goat, dog, cat, frog, alligator, and surprisingly...camel. You know lots of their noises too.

You are in 18 to 24 month clothes. Your summer clothes still fit great, I hope what we have for winter is mostly 24 month because I think you will certainly be ready for that size when it is time to change seasons.
One of your FAVORITE things to do is play with the iPad. We got the iPad in March. By June you were a PRO. Able to figure out which buttons do what and which games are your favorite. One of your favorite things for about the last 3 weeks has been watching the videos we have recorded. It started with an owl that daddy had rescued and we recorded a video of the owl. Then you realized there were lots of other videos on their too. Including ones with cousin Claira and Eli. So now, every time you want to play, you ask for your "nano" ( which I think actually means "bus" because there are 2 bus games that you loved in the beginning). After we turn the "nano" on you say "Claira Claira Claira Claira Claira " until I turn on a video. It doesn't have to be one of Claira necessarily, but you want to see all of the options and pick which one to watch. Some of them are pretty funny and we laugh EVERYTIME we watch those, or you at least have a great big smile on your face.
You LOVE your cheese. If you want a snack, 90% of the time you want cheese. You love your fruits for sure...and your carbs. Toast "toat"and tortillas "tita" are also pretty good for snacks. You don't usually care too much for meat...if you have a cheeseburger, you lock the ketchup off the bread and then pull the cheese off of the meat. 
You are becoming so observant...when we drive by fast food places, like ChickFilA or TAco Shop, you point and say "eat" while signing and "putting" food in your mouth. Or if I go through the drive thru, (which is typical for my morning dr. Pepper....don't judge me.  :).    You always say "bite" after we stop at the first window. Then I explain we have to pay for the food first with our "momey" and then we can get ur food at the next window....then you are ready for your "bite."
I love the conversations that we have. Very much so one sided, but I get you! Most of the time, I can figure out what you are saying and repeat it and you say "ya" 
You still do a good amount of signs with your words....milk, more, please, outside (which is just one hand in the air and you say "tie tie." most people think you are saying "hi" but when that hand is up....I know that means outside. You also sign bath (one hand waving in the air up and down) and you say "ba" and play (which is similar to bath, but you say "pay" and you only use this one when we are at church and you want to go to the nursery. You also sign baby (patting one hand n your chest while saying "baby." you shake both hands in the air for "all done" and you sign "thank you." 
One of your favorite people is Tate. You ask about him a lot. Almost daily. It almost sounds like "teet." you also talk about "barber" (carver) he is pretty fun as well.
Recently I have noticed you have been able to put families together. You know that "teet" lives with " duudah" (Hudson) and "dattie" (Cassie) and "mamie" (Jamie). And you are always sure to mention that "nenaaa"(Athena) also lives with them.   :)
For the most part you get up one time each night. Sometimes it is consistently at 4 or 5 for a few days and then it switches to 3 or 3:30. But, it is usually only once. 
Recently you have started having an opinion about what you want to wear. If I pull out a shirt and you don't want it, you le me know. One day I asked what shirt you wanted and you said "puppy." so, we wore our blue shirt with the puppy :) you love to put your "oooos" (shoes) on. In the car you especially take them off and on frequently. Or if it's time to go somewhere, you sit down and "put" them on. 
I am loving each stage with you. There are so many new things constantly, I want to remember them all, because you are growing up and changing so quickly! 
Love you Ash!

Miss Maria

Maria started watching Ashley in June of 2011. Ash was about 7 months old. Ashley is now 21 months old. She has done so many new things while n Maria's care...crawling, walking, signing, talking, playing. She LOVES going to her house. She goes there on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Each Sunday we talk about our plan for the nex day and who we will go play with. She always is excited to hear she is going to Miss Maria's. She gets to play EVERY day with Avery whom she calls "beevee" and she plays with Dakota "da do" and Brandon "bo bo." I realized  recently  that  she is actually calling Maria "Bo Bo" instead of Brandon. We have been working on that.  This summer she has had lots of fun with the boys being home and playing with her each day. During the school year she was able to play with Brandon n the afternoons after he finished Kindergarten in the morning. And Dakota was not home for a short while before I iced her up. So, the summer was great. I never worried about her being there and missing me. I knew she loved it. Each morning she always goes right in and starts playing with the toys and is happy to see Avery, Maria, and the boys. Most days she will give me a hug and a kiss good bye, but some days just a wave and a "buh bye" from across the room is all she has time for. When I pick her up each time, she always cries immediately when she sees me. It is no reflection of her day or her mood, it is just simply that she did miss me while was gone. She does this even when income to pick her up at Gigi's house too.
Today (August 21), Maria told me she has taken a job at CCA and can no longer watch  Ashley, I am disappointed. I am sad because this means we have to look for someone new. We have to decide who is best to care for our little girl each day and we have to decide who we trust. I am also sad because of the friendship we have created Maria's family and the fun that Ashley has had each day with her and the boys. I am sad too because she will to have her friend Avery to play with each day. I know she is so young and it will not effect her a great deal, but that makes me sad too, that she won't remember these friends and how much fun she has and how much she loves playing there.

Maria has been a HUGE blessing to our family, when we had to leave our first sitter Judy. That change was difficult and I know this one will be too, but the Lord has the perfect plan in place for us. We just have to wait and see what's in store.

15 months

You are such an active little one! You are always getting into things to find something new to play with. You love when the refrigerator door opens and you pull open the drawer where the cheese is kept and like to get a snack. In the process, you also pull out all of the other items too. You like to sit in chairs and on the couch. When you sit in the rocker in your room you always like to hold your baby. You love little kids. The neighbors at Gigi's like to give you high fives and you love to watch and wave at all of the classes that walk by when you are at Gigi's school.
You have a vocabulary of 3 words, momma, dada, and yes. Maybe we could add a fourth word, "out." That one is not quite consistent, but you say it some. You sign lots of words too, more, please, thank you, bye bye (which is waving or blowing kisses), bird, hot, baby, no, and of course your favorite...milk! You hold your hands up in the air to say "where did it go" and you point to your ear(kind of) to say "do you hear that?" You shake your finger back and forth as if to say "no no" but you are really saying around and around. You rub your hands together when I say wash your hands. You also love to give hugs and kisses. You walk up to us and hug our leg or rest your head on our arm as if to give a hug. It is precious.You know where your hair is and the other day you got it right when I asked where your mouth is. We are still working on eyes and nose. It is fun when I say a word out of context to what we are doing, but you do the sign because you recognize it.

At the doctor you weighed 22lbs 8.5 oz, which puts you in the 44th percentile for weight, you were 31 inches tall, 66th percentile and your head circumference was in the 99th percentile! You are doing great for your age, we hope to see you add a few more words to your list over the next few months. You are outgrowing more and more of your 12 month clothes. Some still fit, but we are wearing some 18 months as well. You are walking great and I love it when you take off running, it's quite cute. We did notice that you are taking after Gigi (and momma) in that you have a rash on your back, arms, and legs. The doctor thinks it is eczema, so we are trying a new soap to see if that helps.
You still love to be outside. Thankfully the weather has been good and so we have spent some time outside playing and going to the park too. You are doing great at feeding yourself. Recently you have started using a spoon/fork all by yourself. Usually you don't get too much food on it before it goes to your mouth, but you are figuring out the process. Most of the time you hold the spoon in one hand and then pick up food and put it in your mouth with the other. You like to "write" as well. When you find a pen you always need paper to go with it. You are also using your left hand a lot when you do these things, makes me wonder if you might be left handed.
Your sleeping pattern has changed and you seem to still be waking up a lot. I would say at least 2-3 times a night, around midnight, 3 and again around 5 seems to be consistent lately.
You are beginning to develop quite an opinion, and if you are not ready to get in the car seat or change your diaper or eat your food or whatever it may be, you are letting me know. I fear we may be dealing with some temper tantrums earlier than I expected (and earlier than I am ready for) :)  We went to the grocery store the other day and you cried the ENTIRE time we were there. Made me wonder how the other lady who was there with the 3 littles ones, pregnant with a fourth, did it. But, she reassured me she's been there too!  :)
I love it when you laugh. Your laugh is so contagious. You find the simplest things funny and it makes me happy to hear you laugh and see a big smile on your face.

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

For Valentine's Day this year, I was not organized enough to make cute cards to give out like I did last year. I wish I would have, but maybe I will get to it next year! Nate brought me flowers at work and he bought some flowers for his little Valentine too. She thought they were really pretty.

And they smelled good too!

In addition to the flowers, Ashley also got a box of animal crackers! She loved them!

To catch you up...Post-surgery check up with the ENT Dr.

1.27.12
We went back to Dr. Regehr to have a post surgery check up. Ashley had been feeling good and so I expected this to be a simple and routine appointment. It is routine to what for awhile in the waiting room, but for this appointment (the first one I went to without Nate) we waited for 50 minutes! I was starting to think they forgot about us. I should have gone to the counter after 30 minutes, but a 30 minute wait is typical. Ashley did good for the first 30 minutes, she played with other kids. She "colored," she got in and out of the kids chairs, she walked around the waiting room, she played in the water fountain, she washed her hands in the bathroom, she had a snack, she had milk, she had another snack. :)  And on and on. Finally they called our name and we waited for about 5-10 minutes for the doctor to come in. That was easy! :) Doctor looked at her ears and thought they looked great, the tubes were still there and he anticipates/hopes they will stay in for a year to a year and a half. He said we didn't have to worry about getting the water in her ear anymore (which is good because it was hard to wash her hair and worry about water getting in her ears). I don't recall that he said much about her breathing...it's still loud! :)    He said to continue with her acid reflux medicine. He wants to see us back in 6 months. Next up, we did a re-check of her hearing. We waited for another 15 minutes or so to be called back for the test. I'm not really sure what to think of the testing process. This is done with a small portable machine, with a small earbud headphone type piece that goes in Ashley's ear with a wire which connects to the machine. Somehow noise is transmitted and I think the machine reads if the ear drum responds to the noise? Basically, Ashley just sits there and has to be still and quiet. This is the same test we did in December which she failed on every level. The test goes through 4 levels and she should pass each level. When we went into the room, the technician mentioned that Ashley was breathing loudly, I told her this was normal and asked if it would be a problem. She said "we'll see, it might." She started with the left ear and began blowing bubbles to keep Ashley quiet and entertained. The earpiece fell out a few times and what it did read, she said she didn't pass. We switched to the right ear and I could see the machine for this one. Ashley kept wiggling though and the earpiece kept falling out. I decided to nurse her to keep her still. That worked much better, I could see the screen show that she didn't pass the first level, passed the second, "noisy" on the third, and then the piece would fall out and the fourth level would never finish. We did this 3-4 times and pretty much the same result each time. We decided to try the left ear again since she was being pretty still. We did the left ear and she passed all 4 levels! I was happy to see that. The techinician said she would let the doctor know the results and if he felt the need, he would let us know he would like to do a more extensive hearing test. If not, we would just retest in 6 months.
The technician asked if Ashley passed her hearing test at birth. I recall that they did have trouble with the tests at birth and did have to come back after an extra day to retest, I am pretty sure it was the right ear they were having trouble with too. But, I believe that she did eventually pass it.
I hope there is nothing more to it and the test was just not the best way to get results, but we will see after 6 months how she does.

to catch you up...we went to a ROYAL party

1.21.12
Princess Callista Jane and Sir Carver Levi celebrated birthdays in January. Callista turned 3 and Carver turned 1! Chase and Annie put together a ROYAL party celebrated their two littles. It was very creative and very fun! The invitation suggested that Royal attire was preferred, so the girls took that seriously and we got all dressed up! Here is the sweet birthday princess (and her frog)...

and the birthday boy!

Here are the other ROYAL princesses that came...

Annie, Cassie, Christin, Celeste, Traci, Princess Callista, and Sir Carver

Yes, Cassie and I wore our wedding dresses! When else would we get to where them again? Callista was very excited to see all of us so dressed up! And Aunt CJ curled her hair and gave her a tiara and she loved it!
The theme of the party was princess and the frog, so there were lots of girly princess things including a castle for the kids to go into and there were also lots of frog things as well. Cassie made the blow toys that Callista was playing with in the first picture and then Christin put together the "pin the lips on the frog game" Callista took it literally...

if only we would have had some red lipstick for her!

that's better!

Ashley dressed up for the party too!

Awma got this dress for Ashley while she was in Mexico last year. It was a pretty cute dress. I say was because it was a little tight, not sure she will get to wear it again!  :)
Daddy came to the party and he looked very handsome...

I can see a lot of resemblance in this picture!

Annie made a princess cake for Callista and frog cupcakes for Carver, they turned out very cute!

Ashley had fun coloring and playing with her cousins.

I think Ashley's favorite part was her candy necklace. Gigi gave it to her and she stood in one place for a good 10 minutes chewing on it. Not sure that she ate more than a few pieces, but she thought it was great!

By the end of the party, you could tell Callista was getting tired. She went from a princess to, bridezilla?  :)

 

 

Happy Birthday Callista and Carver!

to catch you up...Ashley is 14 months old!

1.20.12
My Ashley girl is so big! It is crazy to me how much you are understanding what we say to you!
I told you to throw something in the trash the other day and you walked right over and threw it away! I was quite surprised. In the mornings I ask if you want a diaper change and twice you have gone straight over to the changing table and laid down for the diaper change! You respond in excitement when I ask if you want to go play in the basement. There is a bird in the basement and you always like to go down and check on him. In the end table downstairs there are some DVD cases in the two drawers and every.single.time we are down there you always open the drawers and play with the cases or add things to the drawers. You like to sign "milk," "more," "please." You sometimes can sign "thank you."  You will blow kisses at people, you don't really "blow" the kiss though, you just kiss your hand. You wave bye bye all the time when we leave or someone else does.
At bed time when you are nursing you like to take a break and talk about "da da" and play peek-a-boo. It makes mommy laugh when you do that and then you laugh too. You are still waking up at least twice sometimes three times a night. I think it is getting a little better though. I can tell your crying is not so desperate for someone to come in, but just more of whining, just letting us know you are awake.
Your favorite foods right now are bread, grapes, spaghetti (or pasta), oranges, yogurt, and your absolute favorite is CHEESE. For snacks you love goldfish and cheez-it crackers. You are starting to like chicken more than you used to.
You are still in 12 month clothes, but some of those shirts are becoming belly shirts, so we are starting to move into 18 month tops, the pants are a bit long still for 18 month. Your hair is still growing, we have finally been able to put your hair in a pony tail or in pig tails and it.is.adorable!

You know where your belly button is (you have known this one for a couple of months I think) and where your hair is. If we ask where your eyes or nose or mouth is, you usually point to your hair/head. You can "meow" like a kitty cat. And you can "moo" like a cow. The meow is not really recognizable out of context and the cow sounds like "mmmmm." You can pick out a cow from the magnets on the fridge too.
You love bath time, Gigi gave you a tea set for Christmas and that has been a fun new toy to play with it. It seems like from that you have also realized what a cup is and when you have one, you always pretend to drink out of it.
You love to read books and when you pick one out, you bring it over to me and then hold your hands up so you can sit in my lap and we can read it together. I love that!
You love to dance! Anytime the music comes on, you immediately wave your arms or move your legs and dance! You have quite the moves too. You also like the ringtone on mommy's phone. When we get a phone call you like to start dancing to that. You also have an elephant toy in the basement that plays music when you push a button and you typically turn that on at least once while we play downstairs.
I love you Ashley girl, I am so thankful to have you in my life and to watch you grow and learn new things everyday.