to catch you up...Happy New Year!

New Year's Day we did make it to church and Ashley wore her pretty Christmas dress. We had pizza for lunch with Papa Bear and Gigi.

We spent the afternoon of New Year's Day cleaning house...I put Ashley to work and she was in charge of the floors.

She did a great job, and then decided she had had enough!

She needed to tell me something....

"Let's go outside and play"

And so, she pushed me out the door....

So, we put on our coat and went outside.

then we decided to....

 PLAY IN THE LEAVES!!!!!

Eventually daddy came home and he played with us too...

to catch you up...Ashley's second Christmas

The morning of Christmas Eve, we went to Gigi and Papa's house for breakfast and presents with all of Ashley's cousins. We had a yummy breakfast and then opened presents. Ashley skipped her morning nap because she knew this present thing would be pretty fun.

Ash and her Papa Bear

little did she know...there was a puppy in there! Not for her though...for Aunt Annie

This was one of Ashley's favorite presents...a snow sled. She sat in there for the longest.

eventually someone gave her a ride and pulled her all around the house.

Ashley did take her afternoon nap and it was a good thing because we had a full evening planned at Mimi's with all of my cousin's and aunt and uncles and siblings too. We went to Mimi's and celebrated Coop's birthday with a Chili Supper. We only exchanged gifts with the little kids and it was a mad house. It seemed like it was a race to open all of the presents. As soon as they opened one, they were ready for the next. Ashley opened a few of her presents, but I think Nate and I opened quite a few when she was off playing. I was "Santa" this year so I was in charge of handing out the presents. There was a lot of pressure because they all kept saying "I need another one." CJ came and helped me out and then I think I eventually abandoned her. :)   

 Ashley had a runny nose all day on Christmas Eve, so I wasn't sure how she would be feeling on Christmas Day. She woke up with a runny nose still and fell asleep for a nap shortly before it was time to go to church. We decided to let her sleep. She took a good nap and then we headed back to Gigi and Papa's for Christmas lunch and playtime with Hudson and Tate. (Callista and Carver went out of town to see Annie's family). Ashley had fun playing even though you could tell she really wasn't feeling great.
I've only done 2 years, but I am going to attempt to take a picture of Ashley and I each year in front of our Christmas tree. Here is the picture from this year...

 And last year's picture...

awww

to catch you up...Ashley's ENT check up

12.13.11
Ashley had a check up with her ENT doctor. We have battled multiple ear infections since about September. She's been on at least 3 rounds of antibiotics in the last 3.5 months! At Ashley's one year check up, Dr. Newlin recommended we go back and visit with our ENT for two reasons, one to have her laryngomalacia checked and see if she is making any/good progress, and two to have her ears checked and get his opinion on whether or not tubes were needed.
At the appointment with Dr. Regehr he did the scope with the camera in her nose and she HATED it! She screamed the whole time, Nate was holding her and it made it worse to watch rather than hold her. Dr. said her larynx still was very small and she most likely will not grow out of this for a few more years! He also said she still had fluid in her ears. We had mentioned to him that she was doing really well developmentally and seemed to be right on track, but that she still wasn't really babbling much. He sent us over to have a hearing test done and she didn't pass! I asked the doctor if she could hear some, but that it may just sound muffled, he said she did not pass on any of the decibel levels! So, he recommended doing tubes in her ears as well as removing her adenoids. He noticed when he did the scope that her adenoids were swollen. He thought it would be beneficial to remove those at the same time as well. He thought that doing this might help a bit with her noise too. Because of her laryngomalacia the surgery was scheduled at a hospital rather than a surgery center. But, the doctor anticipated that she would go home a few hours after surgery. He just takes an extra precaution with all patients with her condition. So, we set up the surgery for Jan 6 at Via Christi St. Francis. We are excited to see if the tubes will make a difference in her hearing and if she starts to babble more. The doctor thought that they only reason she didn't pass the hearing test was the fluid. He didn't expect there to be another issue.
He also recommended that we start back up on the acid reflux medicine. I had taken Ashley off of it myself (like I know anything) :)  back in the summer because I thought she was doing better. But, he apparently saw some redness/irritation when he did the scope I guess and thought it would be best to start it back up. So, we will follow doctors orders.   :)

to catch you up...Ashley's second Thanksgiving

Ashley was only 5 days old for Thanksgiving last year. I can't believe she has already turned one and is so big now. For Thanksgiving this year we spent time with Nate's side of the family. Uncle Luke and Aunt Allison were in town. Ashley LOVED being with them. They took over babysitting a couple of mornings while they were home and mom had to work. Ashley loved Luke, she would point which direction she wanted to go and he would walk her all around the house. He also would swing her back and forth in his arms and she thought that was pretty fun too.
Thanksgiving day we went to Papa Rog and Awma's house and spent most of the day hanging out. We had a delicious lunch with family and a few friends. Mike, Ariya, and Sophie joined us for lunch. Ashley and Sophie had fun playing together. Ashley went down for a nap while Nate, me, Luke, Allison, and John all went to go search the woods for the deer that John had shot earlier that morning. We didn't have any luck because a very rude guy yelled at us and told us to get off of his land. He also had a dog with him to chase us off. After Ashley woke up from her nap, the group went on a walk and then ate MORE food. It was fun to spend time with Nate's siblings, only one of them lives here now, so we don't see the others nearly enough. After Thanksgiving Luke and Allison left and went to spend some time in Florida before they headed for the Dominica for the next year. We don't have plans to see Uncle Luke for a whole year!!! It makes me so sad for Ashley not to get to know such a fun aunt and uncle. We hope to see Allison in May!

to catch you up...we went to Illuminations

11.28.11

We went and visited Illuminations at Botanica Gardens with our friends Mike and Ariya and their daughter Sophie. We didn't realize how cold it was going to be and weren't quite prepared. I didn't bring gloves for Ashley (or myself)! But, thankfully I had a fleece blanket in the car, so that kept Ashley pretty warm. She loved riding in the stroller and was all smiles. She kept pulling her hands out of the blanket and clapping and smiling. Not sure how many of the lights she actually saw, but she had fun! The exhibit was pretty cool. I enjoyed seeing all of the lights especially the ones that are timed to music. The new kids exhibit at Botanica looks like it is pretty fun. It was dark the entire time we were there, so I think that is something we might add to our Spring/Summer to do list.

to catch you up...Ashley turned one!

I was so caught up in making sure I got a video of Ashley eating her birthday breakfast, I never took an actual picture of it! :(   We celebrated with her birthday pancakes and scrambled eggs (made by dad). He even made the pancakes into the shape of an "A" and a number "1". After breakfast we went to church. After church, Ashley "chose" Wendy's for her birthday lunch, where she was treated to a Frosty!Yummy!

At 12 months old, you are walking! You started walking about a week or so before your birthday. At the most, you can only take a few steps, but you are certainly trying! You are full of fun, you are signing "milk" more and more, and still do "all done" when you are finished eating. You still have 8 teeth, but there is one molar that is so close to coming through, another that is swollen, and there's also one more tooth on the top right that is making its way down as well. You are busy working on those. You are wearing 12 month clothes, although there are an occasional 3-6 month outfit that will fit. Awma put you in a sleeper and it fit pretty good, and one of your birthday shirts was a 3-6 month size. I was so surprised when they actually looked okay on. There are some shirts that I have had a hard time getting over your head! You still wake up a few times each night, you nurse for only 5-10 min. and are right back to sleep. I realize it is just habit for you, but I'm not willing to push the issue right now. At your 12 month check up, you weighed 20lbs 6oz, and were 29 inches. Your head circumference was in the 99th percentile for your age! Hence the reason I have had trouble getting shirts on you!You love to eat! You eat all day long. Your favorite is toast! You get excited as soon as you see a loaf of bread. You are not so much interested in vegetables any more, you are spoiled with your fruit and carbs. :)