It's About Time

This week was fairly uneventful for Ashlyn. We did go to her final swim lesson this week. She seriously made some progress in only 4 weeks. The first week, when I put her on her stomach she did not do much. The last lesson, she was kicking her legs and moving her arms. I am going to continue lessons as soon as I figure out what our schedule will be for the fall. I am sad they are over because I know that we both enjoyed them immensely!

A big moment for me this week was that Ashlyn finally said "Mama"!!!! She said it for the first time yesterday. She has been saying it a lot today. I don't think she has put together the idea that I am "Mama", but she is saying it. My little girl is growing up so fast! She also has gotten better this week at figuring out what "no" means. The other day she was trying to grab something and I told her "Ashlyn no" and she stopped. We repeated the cycle several times, but she is getting it.

Yesterday, it was very hot outside so I got out a bucket and we played in the water. She loved it. She loves anything with water. She has a play date on Wednesday with her friend Haiden. We are going to a splash park. I have never been before and can't wait to see what it is like. I think she will love it. I will try to take some pictures of the fun. Today, we went up to Denver to go to the Parade of Homes. We saw some of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen. I had Ashlyn in the carrier that she loves. She just looked around and smiled the entire time. Everyone kept commenting on how darn cute she was!

In the summer she does not like clothes at all

She was having so much fun

Ashlyn loves anything with water

Wearing her pigtails. It is my new favorite way to do her hair. It is quite difficult to get her to sit still. They are always very uneven, but they are always adorable!

What a funny face

Eating her favorite macaroni and cheese

You can't really see it in the picture, but it is very messy stuff

Her favorite part of the bath. Watching the water go in. She is my little skinny girl. You would not be able to tell how much she can eat!

Loving the bath

All wrapped up and warm

Bath Time and More

I apologize for not updating better. We have been keeping fairly busy and enjoying Ashlyn's first summer. We are having a great time! This Friday, I took Ashlyn to the zoo again. We went with a friend of mine. We saw all sorts of neat animals. The gorillas were her favorite this time. They came up to the window and Ashlyn thought she was touching them. It was pretty cute!

On Saturday, we went to Joey's company picnic. It was at an indoor entertainment place. They have go carts, mini golf, an arcade, laser tag, etc. They have a really neat area for little kids. There is lots to play with. Ashlyn is still a little young to fully enjoy it, but there was lots for her to look at and crawl on. They had a neat cave that is a huge sandbox. She played with the sand a little. I want to take her back when she is a little older and will really enjoy it.

Saturday night, Ashlyn spent the night with her grandparents. They came down from Buena Vista and were staying in Woodland Park. She also spent all most all day Sunday with them. She had a great time and they said she was very good. She did not cry once. I was so proud of my good girl. We missed her like crazy, but also tried to enjoy our adult time. It was nice!

The last few weeks I have been trying to give Ashlyn as much finger food as possible. She just likes it so much more than jarred baby food. She is such a good eater and I have not found one thing she does not like. She really likes ham, turkey, cheese, peas, and peaches. Her absolute favorite is macaroni and cheese. I buy the organic kind and make it with yogurt and she goes absolutely crazy for it!

She continues to crawl and is getting very fast. She is all over the place. She immediately gravitates towards things she can't have. I spend all day keeping my close eye on her and trying to corral her back into the family room. I can't imagine what walking is going to be like!

I posted a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks. They are all mixed up and out of order. I apologize.

Sitting by Humpty Dumpty

Riding in the tractor

She loves the bath!

Riding in the cool car

Posing with Daddy

More bath time fun

Brushing her teeth. I bought her a "big" girl toothbrush and she loves that thing. I think it feels good on her teeth. It's really cute.

At the zoo. She would not keep her sunglasses on long enough for me to take a good picture.

In the sand cave.

Standing up, her absolute favorite thing to do

Swinging at the park before her Dad's softball game

She loves swinging

Going down the slide for the first time. She LOVED it!

She loves her bath toys

What a cute face!

It's Coming

I have not been keeping up with the blog lately. I try to post every week and missed last week. I promise to post this week. We had a very long weekend and I am just too exhausted to do it tonight. I do plan on posting tomorrow with lots of cute new pictures!

8 Months Already ?????

The title pretty much says it all. How can my baby already be 8 months old?? It seems just like yesterday that I was pregnant and felt her kicks all day long. It has truly been an amazing 8 months. Ashlyn has really changed over this month. The biggest change is how mobile she has become. It literally happened overnight. As I have said many times before, I did not think she would crawl. Now she is crawling everywhere. Last Sunday was the first time she pulled herself up. Since then, she has been doing it 24/7. It is the funniest thing. She will pull herself up on anything she can. She is a little daredevil. I don't think she has any fear. We really have to keep a constant eye on her right now. Despite all of the baby proofing I have done, she still manages to somehow hurt herself on the coffee table once a day. I went and bought even more baby proofing stuff today. It is amazing how many dangers are in a house.

Ashlyn still loves to eat. Her favorite is still the Gerber Puffs. She could eat them all day if I let her. I have been giving her more food she can feed herself. She loves bread and turkey. It is so much fun to give her new foods and see how she reacts to them. So far the only thing she has not liked is blueberries. She drinks out of her sippy cup very well. She drinks formula about half of the time now.

Ashlyn sleeps better and better every week. She continues to go to bed at seven or so and wake up around seven. Last night she was up at 4:45 which kind of threw me for a loop. She takes one or two naps a day. In general, she is a good sleeper.

Right now her favorite activity is exploring her environment. She loves to crawl and see what she can find. She literally has every toy under the sun. However, she would prefer to play with a plastic container or spoon. Her favorite things are the things she finds laying around that are not toys at all. She is literally into EVERYTHING! I think she is going to be walking soon. She loves it when I hold her hands and she gets to walk around. We practice a lot so we will see when she takes her first steps.

Her personality comes out more and more each day. Generally she is a very happy and content little girl. She loves to look at new faces and smile. She does have a temper. If she has something and you take it away she sometimes will throw a little "tantrum". They don't last long at all, but I can still see that little temper of hers.

As I say all of the time, Joey and I are so blessed and thank God every day for the little girl He has given us.

Riding on the swing at the Renaissance Festival
We had a great time
Ashlyn liked it the best I think

So I mentioned that she loves pulling herself up. She even does it on the walls. At first I did not think she could do it, but as usual she proved me wrong.

Sleeping with Daddy. Still one of her favorite spots

Swimming and the Fourth

My little sparkler. Too bad she wouldn't keep them on

Her 4th of July outfit

It's a great picture of Ashlyn (too bad I had my eyes closed)

Ashlyn and Haiden playing

Playing some more

Ashyln's first two swimming lessons have gone great! We are really enjoying them. I really like her teacher and think she is great with kids. We get to do water versions of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "The Hokey Pokey", and "The Wheels on the Bus". Ashlyn also gets to practice floating on her stomach and back. She is the only girl in her class. She is also the youngest. There was a boy there today that just turned one. He is very cute. I swear they could not take their eyes of each other the entire lesson. It was cute. Today the teacher had a bad burn on her leg. Since she could not get in the water, she said that we could come to another class this week. I think I am going to bring Ashlyn on Friday so she can get in an additional lesson for free.



We had a great Fourth of July. Joey and I have been dying to have a small get together for the Fourth ever since we bought this house. We have the perfect view of the Sky Sox fireworks. Ashlyn got all dressed up in her patriotic clothing. She looked adorable. Everyone came over around 5:00. We had a great turnout and the food was good. Ashlyn's friend Haiden came over with her parents. They were excited to see one another. Ashlyn went home with her Grandma around 7:00. It was her bedtime and she had enough excitement for one day. There is no way she would have made it to the fireworks since they did not go off until 10:30.



On Saturday we headed up to Buena Vista. We dropped Ashlyn off at her Grandparents. They were very excited to get to have her all day and all night. Joey and I spent the night at my Dad's cabin while Ashlyn stayed with her Grandparents. We picked her up the next morning. They said she was very good and they had lots of fun with her. I am sure she got very spoiled :)