a rainy day...

Ashlyn LOVED watching the rain Monday evening. She stared out the window for at least 20 minutes looking and listening. There are so many times when I wonder what she is thinking. She has this inquisitive, "I'm trying to figure something out" look. Those of you who know her know exactly what look I am talking about. She kind of furrows her brow and wrinkles her forehead. So cute. Of course, I love every single face this child makes. They all melt my heart.

in the morning...

Our normal morning routine lately...Christopher and I TRY to get up around 6am. Our goal is to be ready for work by the time Ash gets up at 7. Today, it was more like 6:30. But that's ok. It really does not take us that long to get ready, but it is sooooooooooo much nicer to have a little extra time in the morning without being rushed. Ashlyn usually wakes up around 6:45. She LOVES to play in her crib and talk to herself...and we LOVE to watch and listen to her on the video monitor. This morning, she was just sitting up staring into the video monitor. It was so cute; almost like she knew we were watching her! She eats her breakfast at 7am (ok, who am I kidding, she DRINKS her breakfast...a bottle of course, remember, we aren't really into food these days). Then she plays with her daddy for a while before he leaves for work. Around 7:30 she comes into the office with me so I can start checking emails...Now that she has started to move, I have to watch her a little more closely. She loves playing with everything she can get her hands on...even my yucky work boxes!

No food for me, please.

Ashlyn still does not eat solids. 4 bottles a day, thank you ma'am, and she is good to go.

But if we're all honest, formula seems to be working just fine. I mean, check out that belly. It hangs over her diaper in the front and on the sides. The girl is certainly not wasting away on us.




Tonight we tried squash...really, Ashlyn? Is it that bad?



Sweet, sweet face. Even covered in yellow.



I think it actually tastes better when you lick it off the highchair as opposed to the spoon.



Smiling here because she knows her bottle is coming soon. Torture over.

ashlyn's father's day surprise for daddy!

Ashlyn was so excited to make this little arts & crafts project for her daddy (ok, I did help a little bit)! We really do love you, Christopher! You are the best!





And happy day to my dad too! He had been the most wonderful father and "granddad"!

happy father's day!!! (from ashlyn...)

dear daddy,

today is your special day. i just wanted you to know that i think YOU are the best daddy in the whole world. i love when you hold me and read to me and cuddle with me. i have so much fun being silly with you. one of my favorite games we play is when you let me sit in the middle of your bed and you crawl around on the floor...and pop up and surprise me in different locations! i never know where to look next. you always make me feel like i am the most beautiful girl, and i LOVE BEING YOUR SPECIAL PRINCESS.

i am sorry i cried a couple of days ago when you kissed me before you left for work. i hope i did not hurt your feelings. it's just that your scratchy beard kind of hurts my soft cheeks.

i have a little surprise for you. aunt ashley helped me dress up in some of your clothes and she took these fun pictures. happy father's day!

love, ashlyn

8 months old!

Ashlyn turns 8 months old tomorrow. This time last year, I was just hitting the 20th week (half way there!) of my pregnancy! Now we have a little person who lives in our house and smiles and giggles and wiggles her way around (still sliding on her belly). A lot can change in a year. I wanted to post a few pictures of her and her latest obsession. Ashlyn's favorite toy these days is a set of drum sticks that came in this bucket of musical toys. Seriously, they are the most boring "toys" in the set. But she loves them. I mean, really loves them. Just wave the two sticks in front of her face and you would think you just offered her a million dollars. On a complete side note, I know the bow is a stretch...she BARELY has enough hair to clip it in. But I have been dying to put a real bow in her hair since she was born...and it stayed in long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures!

Great-Grandpa!

While we were on vacation last week, my mom and dad took Ashlyn to New Jersey to meet her great-grandpa! He will turn 91 this year!

Vacation! (we did miss you, Ashlyn!!)

Christopher and I just got home from a wonderful week with our dearest friends, Ashley & Alex. The four of us went on a cruise, and left our sweet baby girls at home with their grandmoms (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my mom for loving Ashlyn while we were gone). We had a blast...it really was great being able to relax and not have to change a single diaper for an entire week! BUT, I really missed Ashlyn. Ashley really missed Ava. Do you think it is weird that I wanted to hold and touch every single baby we saw on the ship? Literally. I would follow strollers around. I even touched one baby on his cheek (ok, that might have been a little too much and I do express my sincerest apologies to the mom who probably thought I was a lunatic who wanted to kidnap her baby). But I missed soft baby cheeks!!!!!!! I missed chunky leg rolls. As soon as we turned into the driveway yesterday, I literally jumped out of the car and RAN inside my house (I could not even wait for Christopher to park the car). And then, there she was...all smiles...and those same sweet, soft cheeks...just as I like I had thought about every day we were gone.

Day One - Set Sail!

Missing Ashlyn already. That is a given. BUT we were so excited to start our week of fun!

Day 2 - Bahamas

We rented a Hobie Cat to sail around in the Bahamas. Let me clarify...the boys did the sailing...Ashley and I just relaxed and enjoyed the ocean breeze. We saw 2 enormous stingrays that seemed to just swim around our boat...definitely a highlight of the day!

Day Three - At Sea

Although I am sure that no one will be surprised, Christopher and Alex participated in lots of activities during our "at sea" days. Which is exactly why I LOVE traveling with friends. I can sit and read and he can run around playing ping pong, basketball, surfing, ect...I am so proud of my husband...he won 1st place in the ping-ping tournament and the basketball free throw tournament! Way to go honey! As you will see below, Ashley even got in on the action with the bean bag toss!

Day Four - St. Thomas

I like to call this day..."The Day of Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams" Ok, maybe that is slightly dramatic. Let's just say the day did not turn out exactly as we expected. We ventured off the ship with high hopes and expectations...but ended up re-boarding about 30 minutes later. We (ok, the guys) wanted to rent mopeds to ride around and explore the island...but we did not have our drivers licenses or credit card when we got off the ship (what were we thinking??) Then we thought about getting a cab to take us to a beach but we could not decide where to go. Then we thought about trying to find someone to take us out on a boat ride so we could go snorkeling...but there was no one to be found. In the end, we just went back to the ship, ate our sorrows away, and ended up enjoying a relaxing day by the pool since most everyone else was on the island, undoubtably doing all the things we only dreamed about. Best part of the day = this great pic we took from our balcony!

Day Five - St. Marteen

I will call this "The Day We Almost Died" or maybe better yet "The Day We Were Rescued". At this point, I am sure you are wondering what happened. Ok, see the picture below? That is what happened. We rented this "Hobie Cat" thinking that since we had taken one out a few days earlier, we were now experts. Ohmygosh...we were SOOOOOOO wrong. First of all, this bad boy had 2 sails and we really did not know how to operate them. Our first clue should have been when we almost CRASHED into a boat that was anchored out in the ocean. Our second clue should have been when we felt like we were about to tip over because the waves were so big. And the third clue...coming DANGEROUSLY close to ROCKS! BIG ROCKS! With waves smashing into them!!!!!!!! I hate that I don't have more pictures to document our near death experience...only memories. Needless to say, when we saw the little red motor boat coming from shore to rescue us, we were all EXTREMELY RELIEVED and only slightly embarrassed. haha!

After we were safely back on land, they asked us if we wanted to take some sailing lessons on an actual boat (Wait a minute, I wonder what made them think we needed lessons???) We agreed thinking, "This will be sooo fun!" However, about 30 minutes into our "sail" I thought I was going to be sick. I have to say, seasickness is the worst feeling ever. I am trying to decide which is worse, feeling seasick or pregnancy sickness. Acutally, I think they are about the same. My husband was not feeling too great either. I think maybe now he understands a little bit more about how I felt during those first few weeks being pregnant with Ashlyn. It was pretty fun though, minus the nausea.

Day Six - At Sea

What did we do all day? Sit, sleep, read...pretty boring stuff...but we needed to recooperate from Day Five. That was literally enough adventure for the entire week.

Day Seven - At Sea (almost back home...)

Again, more reading, relaxing, sleeping...at this point, I think we were all ready to get back home to see our babies. Ashlyn and Ava, we missed you sweet girls!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great week! Lots of fun memories. But I have to say, the best part about the entire week was seeing Ashlyn's eyes light up when we got home yesterday. That always is the best part, huh?

A quick peek back...

I love my sweet baby girl. I love her smile, her laugh...I love the way she smells, the way she "talks" in her crib when she wakes up in the morning. She has the softest, sweetest, most amazing cheeks that I just want to kiss all of the time. I love looking back at all of the pictures we have of her...amazed at how much she has changed in the past 7 months. She started "scooting" tonight. Not really crawling; more like a tummy slide using her arms and legs. But it is so adorably cute...and she can move from one side of the room to another!

I found some pictures earlier when I was looking through some files on our computer. Is it way too late to post some of her "newborn" pictures? I don't think so. I meant to start this blog when she was born...but let's be honest. During those first few weeks, I was just trying to string together a couple of hours of sleep at a time. Did I really think that I would be posting pictures and documenting her life each day? Ok, I did think that. But I was REALLY TIRED. So tired that I don't think I even remember how tired I was. That being said, here are a few pictures from the first days of her life...

Here I am...5:00am on October 19, 2009. And there is Ashlyn in my belly getting ready to make her first appearance in the world! I remember that nervous/excited feeling as we were driving to the hospital. Knowing our life was about to change in a really big way.

Our first "family" photograph...love this one...so happy and tired and excited and amazed...

So tiny...we welcomed Ashlyn into the world at 12:40pm on Monday, October 19, 2009. She weighed 6lbs and 9 oz.

Happy daddy home from the hospital with his baby girl...

She is just 5 days old here...we are on our way to her first official doctors appointment. She weighed 5lbs and 15oz at this appointment. That is soooooooo small! Oh, they grow so fast... And I mean, look at those cheeks. Don't you just want to kiss and squeeze them?

It goes by really fast. Ashlyn is such a little miracle. Thinking back to the first ultrasound when she looked just like a little peanut...and now she is this little person who smiles at me and kicks her legs in excitement when I pick her up after work. LOVE this little girl.