Ashley Grace

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Monday, December 27, 2010

To celebrate Christmas we went to Mimi's house on Christmas Eve. This was with my mom's side of the family. We had a yummy Italian dinner (Daryl's choice for his 55th birthday), had lots of entertainment from the little ones, and enjoyed each other's company. I would say this was one of our more chaotic gift opening. We had Garret- 4 (almost 5), Hudson- 2 1/2, Callista almost 2, Isaac-1, and Ashley 5 weeks. Garret was ecstatic about every single gift he received! Hudson was totally uninterested, especially once he opened his Gator Golf, Callista didn't pay too much attention, just ran around and played with any toys laying around. Isaac's current obsession is balls, so there were occasional balls being thrown across the room to keep him entertained. Ashley did her fair share of adding to the noise with her crying. She did settle down after a bit. The scary thing is, next year we will have 2 extra ones, that will be three close to one year olds added to the group! I can't wait!

The 2 G's and their new boots!

Callista sporting Ashley's head band

For Christmas morning we opened presents at home, Ashley got her first Bible from Santa. Mommy got a video camera to record all of the fun and new things Ashley will be doing this year and daddy got a new digital camera to take pictures of Ashley and his birds :)

Papa and Awma and the other aunts and uncles are celebrating Christmas in Mexico this year with Luke and Allison, so we had gifts from them stored under our tree to open Christmas morning. Ashley got books, a swimsuit, and some toys from them. And cousin Claira sent some books as well.

After we finished with our Christmas, we went to my mom's to celebrate with my siblings and parents. This proved to be more entertainment for us. We decided not to exchange gifts for the adults this year, but just to by for the 5 little ones. Out of the 5, only 2 had the capability of actually opening gifts, so the adults were still opening majority of the gifts anyway.

Callista and her new baby

Hudson's favorite gift

Do you want to play pool with me?

Daddy and mommy went to visit Tate in the NICU and that left Papa, Gigi, and Mimi to watch Ashley for a couple of hours. I am told she was only a little fussy. :) Tate on the other hand was doing great. He weighed over 5 pounds and the doctor told them he might be able to be home before New Year's- that's only one week away! We hope he can keep getting stronger and drink all of his bottles so that everyone can spend more time with him!
We spent the rest of the day at Papa and Gigi's and had a delicious Christmas dinner that Gigi made and played board games
.
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Friday, December 24, 2010

First Road Trip

We went on our first road trip as a family last Thursday. We went to Topeka to deliver some things to one of Daddy's buildings for work. Ashley had a great time.

Here we are heading out of town, looking out the window.

She lasted about 20 minutes and then slept the rest of the way.

When we got there we had lunch at the Copper Oven-Nate's new favorite restaurant. We have yet to try the one in Wichita and see if they have the same foods.
Then we went back to the building where daddy had some work to do and we Ashley ate lunch and then got a tour of the place, again she slept through that.
Next we went to the Tag Office to register a company vehicle, why are those places so nasty? We waited for about 40 minutes and then they called our number and Ashley woke up ready to eat. So we waited in the car for another 40 minutes for daddy to finish registering the vehicle (why are those places so slow?).
Then we headed back to Wichita where again Ashley slept the whole way home! She did a great job!

Monday, December 20, 2010

1 month old

Today you are one month old. The month went way too quickly. We've loved every minute of it, even the ones when you won't stop crying or the ones where you spit up all over us. You have been a good baby and really pretty easy. You like sleeping in our bed (and mom likes it too). During the night, you wake up about every two and a half to three hours to eat. About 3 nights ago, you slept for 5 hours straight during the night, that was awesome, but certainly a fluke. You have had some 4 hour stretches here and there though. Mom doesn't mind, it's just extra time to get to hold you! You do like to be held, your favorite way is to be upright against someone's shoulder. I think that's because you have a lot of gas and that feels best on your tummy. :) When we do hold you like that, you do a great job at holding your head up, you are really working hard at that. You love to have your hands up by your face and you've been like that since birth. Every time we swaddled you, you always wiggled your hands free. When you sleep you like to hold your hands up by your face too. You like to listen to daddy's voice, you always open your eyes really wide and watch him when he is holding you. We love your big beautiful blue eyes. We are constantly guessing what color they will be. You are a noisy breather/eater. It's nice at times because we can easily tell if you are awake or asleep without looking just based on the way you are breathing. You are now in size 1 diapers, and out of the newborn size. You can even fit into some 3 month sleepers (but you still have room to grow). 2 weeks ago you weighed 8lbs 11oz, my guess is that by now you are around 10lbs! We are so blessed to have you in our family, and are excited to celebrate your first christmas this week!