Cousins

My little nephew is almost 6 weeks old - it's so hard to believe how fast the time flies. He is getting so big, so cute and is such a good little boy. Robbie has gotten to visit Grandma while she was watching Ashtyn a couple times, and they got some cute pictures of these cute cousins lovin' on each other...

I really hope Ashtyn and Eli stay close with their cousins as they grow up - I was so fortunate in getting to grow up with my cousins, Mari and Allie, and have some of the best memories with them, memories I will never forget - and now they are still best friends! So I hope the same for these little guys - I hope they get to experience all the fun and joy that family offers! It's going to be SO amazing to watch them grow up...

28 Week Check Up

On Friday last week I had my 28 week check up and everything checked out "ok". The baby seemed to be doing good, moving around like a crazy man, but heart beat was good and all my vitals checked out good. I had the glucose screening, which is oh so much fun, which I actually ended up failing - my blood sugar was a little high - I guess all the Tootsie rolls I had prior to my appointment did not test well, so I had to go in for more testing to make sure I didn't have Gestational Diabetes. So for 4 hours I had to sit at the hospital getting blood drawn every hour, it was long, exhausting, made me sick to my stomach but I made it through and my results came back normal. It was not fun to experience that, but I am thankful it was not more serious. It's making me rethink my diet at the moment that's for sure! Other then that little scare things have been progressing quite normal - Eli moves ALL the time, and sometimes it is very painful, those long legs seem to be always shoved underneath my rib cage. I am definitely starting to enter the uncomfortable stage of sleeping and just feel tired all the time. I am getting to the point of just being ready, but I still have awhile yet to go, so hopefully I can enjoy the last 3 months. Ashtyn has learned how to say "Eli", which just melts my heart every time and loves to feed my stomach, she is constantly putting food on my belly for the baby - I think she is going to make an amazing big sister. The nursery is coming together, all the furniture has arrived and is staged in the room, so now I just have to start the decorating...pretty much my favorite part! The next month is a busy time for our family, so hopefully that will help move this pregnancy along, starting to get anxious to meet this little guy!

Fallin' For You

This morning was one of those moments a mother never wants to forget. While driving over to Grandmas house to drop Ashtyn off for the day, Ashtyn clapped her hands and said "Mom" really loud from the backseat. I first thought something was wrong or she saw something outside that caught her interest - so I turned around and said "What?" and she pointed to the radio - I wasn't even really paying attention to what was on at the moment - so I turned up the volume and the song playing was "Fallin' For You" by Colbie Caillat. As soon as I did that Ashtyn said "Yeah!" and started moving her head to the beat! It was the cutest thing ever and the first time she really ever showed interest in the radio, with me anyways. We sang and nodded our heads together all the way to Grandmas' house! These little moments just melt my heart and just reinforce how grown up she is getting - Her "official" first favorite song is "Fallin' For You" - I would agree, it definitely has a good beat - we will have to get it on her IPOD - just kidding!

Ashtyn - 22/23 months

What has Ashtyn been up to lately? She is a busy little girl that's for sure, and is always into something. Her favorite games to play lately have been grocery store or having tea parties with all her stuffed animals. She is starting to become a little dare devil lately, which scares me because she will jump on the ottoman and then suddenly fly on to the couch, and then sometimes she will just fall backward assuming someone is there to catch her! I am sure her dad has influenced some of that behavior - but she definitely enjoys herself when she is jumping around like a little monkey! She LOVES stickers, which I am constantly finding in my dryer since she tends to stick them all over her clothes or my clothes and I don't realize it! I recently took her to Hobby Lobby where she just went crazy when she saw all the stickers - typical girl, I even go crazy in that store, but needless to say we bought a whole bunch of stickers, which she now just cherishes! She loves to still help me in the kitchen, and now pulls a chair into the kitchen so she can stand on it and says "Watch, Help?" It's so cute - so we typically make box cakes and twice baked potatoes together - she is actually very good at putting the ingredients in the bowl and then she always says "Stir" - my favorite is when we make twice bake potatoes and I ask her what we are making and she will say "Tatoes" !

Her independence continues to shine threw everyday - She is starting to have her opinion of what she wants to wear and sometimes will refuse to wear something she doesn't like. Lately, she has been refusing to put clothes on all together and just wants to stay in her pajamas - which I don't blame her - I love my pajamas too, but you can't go to church in your pajamas. So sometimes I pick the fight and make her change into clothes, but for the most part she lives in her pajamas these days.

She continues to master all her colors - which she knows very well, although she still calls brown "black" - oh well, but is really good with all the other ones and I love to hear her say "blue"! And she has now added the number "two" while counting, so she now says "one, two, six..." Lately, I have been taking her to work things where I have to measure walls and such, so now she has to carry around a tape measure, a pen and a pad of paper and take her own measurements - she is my little architect in the making! Her birthday is right around the corner, so we have to start planning her birthday this month and practice blowing out 2 candles so we are prepared for the BIG day - my little baby is almost 2, its so hard to believe!

Spring FEVER!

Spring showed her pretty little face for a couple days last week and our family enjoyed it very much. Ashtyn seems to get bored quickly playing inside all the time, so with the nice weather she finally got to play outside - her favorite place EVER! We got out all her summer toys and set up camp on the front patio. She had lunch in her tent, played with her sand toys in the leftover snow and played with her chalk! It was so nice to spend some much need time outdoors - Matt loved that he could finally wash the cars and clean out the garage - Although, it ended up snowing on Sunday! At least we got to enjoy the warmth while it was here for awhile, but we are definitely ready to see the winter go and spring time arrive...

First Sleepover...

On Thursday night Ashtyn had her first sleep over - Auntie Em came over that night to stay since there was no school on Friday, so we decided we would make the sleepover a little more exciting then usual. We blew up the air mattress, got lots of blankets and set up camp in the family room for Ashtyn and Emily to sleep on. Ashtyn enjoyed the air mattress the most by just jumping on it and falling down, but then finally settled down to watch Nemo. Needless to say she watched Nemo all snuggled up with Emily, but as soon as the movie was over she shouted "Mom" - and I knew that was the end of the "sleepover". Ashtyn ended up spending the night in her crib while Emily slept by herself - but I think at least we introduced the idea and she had fun with watching a movie for now. Hopefully as she gets older she will actually stay downstairs, but for now I guess she is still too young - wonder if she will like her "big girl" bed then?

24 Week Checkup

I had my 24 week check up this week and everything looked good - half way there! I definitely am showing these days and putting the pounds on, but I guess that's all expected. I have been feeling good for the most part, just very tired, more tired then when I was pregnant with Ashtyn, but I guess that could mostly be because I am chasing a 2 year old around... The worst have been the leg cramps which bother me all night long, but other then that not much to complain about. I am now craving chocolate all the time which is something I really don't care much for, but my favorite is to have bananas with ice cream and chocolate syrup every night for my little dessert! We have finally agreed on a name, I knew what I wanted since the day we found out we were having a boy, but Matt was slow to come around, but we have FINALLY both decided on Eli - the middle name is still up for negotiation at this point... The past month I have started gathering things for the nursery - fell in love with a Pottery Barn theme "Monkey see, Monkey do" - so monkeys it is. The walls for his bedroom were already painted orange so the bedding will look great with it as they are orange, blue and brown, and I didn't want to do the typical blue - so nursery plans are underway and now its time to order the furniture - of course after I convince Matt of all my choices. Hopefully by next month the nursery will be taking shape... Ashtyn is finally a little more interested, she will now rub my belly in the morning and say "baby" so I think we are all getting excited to finally meet this little boy!