May be the last post of the year??

I figured I'd take a few minutes to write since it may be the last post for 2011. We are leaving for our great travel north in 3 days. Wish us luck! Ashley has been on a few long car rides, but this will be the longest. It will also be the first one we take since she has been on the move. She doesn't quite like being "contained" anymore now that she can crawl, "walk" while holding your hand, and climb.

Our first stop will be to NY. We are going to my mom's for a few days to celebrate with Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Kristyn. Grandpa is also coming from PA to stay nearby so he can see Ashley for her first Christmas. We will also be visiting with mommy's aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as some friends. Then we will go to Matt's parents for a couple days, then all of us will head to Philadelphia to stay while we visit both sides of the family. Oh, and I have a wedding that I'm in in the midst of all that...Phew, I'm tired already!!!

I am very excited about it being Ashley's first Christmas. I am excited to watch her reactions to things, and to see things through her eyes.

Couple quick updates. I am down to just one feeding as of today. Originally my goal was to be completely done by the time we went up for the holidays, but I spread things out too much. Plus, my friend Christi had said "you may want to keep the nighttime feeding a little longer". When she said that I was like "no, I'm ready to be done"...but now that Ashley has been weening off, and I know that my time is coming to an end, I'm not wanting to end the last one quite yet. The night time feeding is the one feeding where we still have a sweet bonding time, and often Ashley will fall asleep in my arms. Today I just watched her, and held her in my arms. She just looked so happy, secure and at peace. I realized how much I will truly miss that time, and how special it really is. It's funny, before I had her I was not too keen on the whole breastfeeding idea, and now here I am sad that it's coming to an end...Lol.

Ashley is just doing great. She is climbing on and up everything. She holds onto the furniture and walks around, she holds your hands and walks all around the house, and she has even mastered climbing up the stairs (always with an adult right behind her). Such a big girl!!! I am just so proud of her.

Last week I brought her to visit my old LPC supervisor, Dr. Burton and his wife Irene. Dr. Burton is one of the most intelligent people I know, and he's an excellent therapist. He and Irene were so impressed with how smart Ashley was. From birth everyone has said how alert and attentive she is. Dr. Burton could just see her processing new things as we played with her. He also thought she was so happy and well adjusted. It was nice to hear coming from him :)

Well, I guess that is it for now. Stay tuned.

If I don't get a chance to write before the end of the year, I just have to say that 2011 has been the best year of my life. I am so happy with my wonderful husband and daughter!!! I love them both so much, and I have treasured all of our great times together.

Getting some practice

Ashley has had some practice opening gifts. She'll be a pro by Christmas. Ha ha. Like most babies, she was fascinated with the wrapping paper and boxes :)

Ashley has lots of people who love her so much and thought of her this year. Some requested that she open the gifts early so that she could get some use out of them for the holiday season, which is why we opened early.

Matt and I also exchanged gifts, and Ashley opened one or two special presents from us early. Since it's Ashley's first Christmas, I wanted to do our own little celebration together with our family before going to celebrate with the rest of the family members. I bought her a special Christmas book that I hope we can read each year as part of our own Christmas tradition. Here are some pics.

More to share

I just posted an update yesterday, and I already have more. As I mentioned, Ashely has been pulling up on things for a little while, and is really mastering it now. Well this morning Matt went to go get Ashley out of bed and yells "quick, turn on the monitor (we have video so we can watch her). I click on the picture, and there is Ashley standing up in her crib with a big smile of accomplishment on her face. Since this morning, she is now pulling up, and walking around the whole crib. We are so proud of her!

Of course, I am also a little nervous. We had taken out her bumpers (as the pediatrician recommends to do until they are 10-12 months to prevent suffocation) when she was only a few weeks old. We kept them out (had breathable bumpers for a while, then nothing once she started pulling them off) this whole time. Well she knows how to get up but not down, so she fell and bumped her head pretty hard so we put them back in today. I am so excited to have them back in since it looks beautiful, I just hope that they will be safe.

Having a child is definitely a humbling experience. It shows us how much we really DON'T have control over things. You feel kind of powerless. I can't keep Ashley in a bubble (nor do I want to over-shelter her), I just wish I could keep her safe from getting hurt, both physically and emotionally. Part of me is so excited and so proud of her, and admires her bravery and determination. Then there is the other part that is scared while she is so unsteady and unaware of dangers. But, just need to remind myself that God is in control.

I am writing this now while I'm watching Ashley on the monitor, "learning as she goes". It made me think of how it must be from God's perspective. God is supposed to be omnipresent--always with us, watching over us. It must be hard at times for God. He loves us so much--supposedly more than we love our own children which is hard to fathom a love even greater. Seeing us making mistakes and walking into potentially dangerous situations must be hard to sit back and watch, even more so than it is for me to cringe and watch Ashley on the monitor. Although then again, God knows the bigger picture and has all things, good and bad, work for the greater good. So maybe it's not as rough, who knows. Ok, enough rambling :)

Also Ashley has started pointing to things and tries to say the word. When she is sitting in her high chair, she loves to point up at the light. When I say "that's a light", she gets this huge grin on her face. She is also learning more about cause and effect. We turn the light switch on and off. We also have a remote that turns the Christmas lights on and off. It's really used for the Christmas tree, but this year I have it set up for the lights on the mantle since it's tucked away and plugged in where Ashley can't get to it. She realizes that she is controlling it, and loves turning them on and off over and over.

Today she already figured out how to climb and stand up in the pack and play, and since just posting yesterday Ashley has gotten even faster at climbing up. Matt had the refrigerator open while he was making himself breakfast, and he said that within 5 seconds she had climbed up on the shelves. She is one smart little girl.

I hope when she reads this someday she will know how very proud of her we are!

Couple quick updates

Just a couple quick updates....

First, Ashley is pulling herself up pretty good these days. When she first started, it took a lot of work (and some frustration) before getting herself up. Now she does it pretty effortlessly. She is also able to climb up on almost anything--tables, chairs, dresser drawers, even smooth walls. Nothing is off limits with her :)

She is also just starting to learn how to transfer from one thing to the next. For instance, she was holding onto the locked baby gate at the foot of the stairs, and transferred to the wall/other babygate. She can also transfer from holding onto something, to taking your hands to walk.

Ashley also balanced herself standing up without anything for a second or two. It's a start.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, it's my favorite time of year again! I absolutely love Christmas. For me, it's not about the presents--first, there's the real meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birth. Then I love love love the lights, the music, the "magic" and excitement, Santa, the Christmas traditions and fun time with family. I am so excited to share all of this with Ashley this year.

We have already started our celebrations. When grandmom and grandpop were here, we went to visit Santa for the first time. I was actually surprised by Ashley's reaction. She is not a shy girl, and she usually will go to anyone happily. But she wasn't so sure about Santa. She didn't cry, but she looked like she was about to. Then she started to warm up to him, and became curious with him and his beard. She never seemed too thrilled though.

Grandmom and grandpop helped watch Ashley while I decorated. We saved the Christmas tree decorating just for our family though. Matt, Ashley and I played Christmas music and decorated the tree. Ashley loved the lights and the ornaments. We had to put the tree in the dining room this year. Ashley is in full force exploration mode, crawling and climbing up so I didn't want to put the temptation there. I can still see it from the couch, and we put lights on the mantle.

Along with santa's visit and decorating the tree, we also went with one of Matt's coworkers and her daughter to the Spartanburg tree lighting event. They have a big tree that they light up, vendors, shows and displays in different store windows. It was cold on the night we went, but lots of fun.

Ashley's First Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Grandmom and grandpop drove down to be with us. We started off watching the Thanksgiving parade, which is a tradition of mine. Then Grandmom, daddy and I all cooked while grandpop played with Ashley. She had lots of fun climbing up, practicing walking with her toy and holding his hand, and hanging from the gate watching us cook.

We had a really nice meal. We tried a couple different variations this year, some we'll keep and some we'll discard. Daddy made a sweet potato crunch that will be a new yearly tradition! With Ashley's naps changing, her schedule was a little off. She napped during most of the Thanksgiving dinner, but luckily she woke up and joined us for the last 1/3 of it. She enjoyed trying most of the new foods.

After dinner mommy and daddy played and bonded with Ashley (she missed us while we were cooking), and grandpop and grandmom took care of clean up. After relaxing for a bit, we went over to the Wagners to have dessert with Peggy, Wayne, Matt, Christi, Eli, Katie and Sara. We had a nice time visiting for a little while before it was time for Ashley's bedtime.

It was a nice day, and just a great time to reflect on all of our wonderful blessings. This year's biggest blessing sat at our dinner table--our newest family member, Ashley. God blessed Matt and I with her, and to him I will be forever grateful.

Oh boy!!

So today Ashley figured out how to pull herself up on things all by herself! We're in trouble now :)

For a little while, she could pull up from sitting position if she used our legs to push off against. But tonight she went from a crawling position to pulling herself completely up--first on her toy, then on the coffee table in the bonus room.

What a big girl!

Also, today Ashley and I had a fun time at the park. It was a gorgeous day, 75 degrees, so we had to put on short sleeves and go take advantage of the nice weather. She had a blast on the swings.

P.s...when Ashley looks back on this and wonders what's up with daddy's mustache, NO that is not the style "back then". November is "Movember", where men grow mustaches for prostate cancer awareness. Daddy just chose the goofiest mustache there is. Although by the time she is old enough to read this, she'll know her daddy well and won't think anything of it :)

The latest

Not a whole lot to update on, but wanted to write about the latest happenings....

With Christmas being a month away, we will be traveling up north to visit with family and friends, and I am also in my friend Cortney's wedding a few days later, so my goal is to be done with breastfeeding by then. So a couple of days ago I cut out a feeding. Ashley is down to one time first thing in the morning, and then before bed. Midday she is drinking breast milk from a sippy cup. No more bottles. My plan is to let my body adjust to this for the next week or so, then cut out the morning feeding (replace with milk in sippy cup). I think we are both ready. When Ashley was younger, it was a wonderful bonding time. We still have our tender moments, but for the most part Ashley is wanting to play and is distracted, and I am just feeling ready myself. But I am so glad we had this time, and I am sure one day I will miss it.

Also now that Ashley is getting older her naps are changing. Up until recently, Ashley would wake up and eat around 7 (give or take a half hour), then she'd go back down for another couple of hours until about 9. She'd then be up for about 3 hours and then back down, then a very short nap 3 hours later, then going to bed between 8/8:30. I have to say, it was wonderful (especially being able to "sleep in" with a baby. It was also nice because Matt would have 2-3 hours with her after coming home from work before she had to go to bed. We are lucky it has lasted as long as it did. Now Ashley is wanting to be up more, and sadly I have to do away with the morning nap. She stays up and plays in crib for about an hour (she is very happy and content in her crib), then naps for about a half hour, if that. I am thinking I'm going to just cut it out and keep her up, then just do two--one late morning, then one mid afternoon and then earlier bedtime around 7/7:30.

Another thing that is changing is diaper changes/getting dressed. That is one thing I miss. It sounds strange but that used to be one of my favorite bonding times. We'd play and laugh and have so much fun. Now this time is probably the most exhausting part of my day because Ashley wants to play, crawl and explore and is trying to turn and crawl away the whole time, and gets upset when she can't. I try to have her hold things or help which sometimes helps her to lay still for a few minutes. But she is a girl on the move!! :)

Ashley started grinding her teeth lately, which apparently can be a sign that her back molars are coming in. I guess the grinding side to side is a way to try to alleviate some of the pain and pressure. She also has moments where she's fussy, which is not like Ashley at all. Overall she's still the happy and sweet little girl though. She's also been waking up whimpering/crying throughout the night (but quickly puts herself back to sleep), which also makes me suspect it. I hope it's a quick and relatively painless process for her.

Other than that not much has changed. Ashley is still having a blast exploring her world.

I recently was working on our Christmas cards, and I chose one that allowed multiple pictures so I picked some from the entire year. It's amazing to see how much she's grown and changed, and to see the person she's blossomed into. BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE.

Here are some recent pics--A couple are candid shots I took while Ashley was watching her show--the second one was when she noticed I was taking pics. The other two are some great shots that daddy took of us.

Halloween pics and visit from Ashley's Great Grandpop

I just realized I never posted any pics of Ashley from Halloween!!! Here's a few...

Also a few pics from Great Grandpop Mike's visit with his friend Lenore.

Lil' Miss Independent

So Ashley is really becoming independent. When it comes to eating, she loves feeding herself. It's even getting to the point where she doesn't want other food that she cannot feed herself. I've had to feed her something at the same that she's feeding herself something else. Lol. I'm proud of her! She's been enjoying new things like eggs, french toast, different veggies, pastas, meats, etc. Basically she likes to sample everything we're having, with the exception of the foods that they shouldn't eat until later. Also, on the rare occasion that she has bottles (like when I'm out or at work), she is now drinking it out of her sippy cup (she has been drinking water out of it for a while though).

She is majorly into exploring things. She has started climbing up on the fireplace, although she hasn't quite figured out how to get down yet. The other day she was hanging halfway off, kicking her legs. It was funny. I am of course always nearby to make sure she is safe. She also was learning to climb up the stairs tonight with daddy's assistance.

She started pulling up on her bathtub, I think she is ready for the regular bathtub now!

Ashley has been talking a lot lately. She really mimics a lot of things we say, it's so cute. One day I was coming downstairs for the morning, and the heat wasn't on yet so I said "brr". She copied me. She also tries to call our dog Maddie, and sometimes it really sounds like she's saying Maddie. My favorite is that she is saying mama a lot!!! I just love it!

She also likes to turn the pages when we're reading. Another cute thing she does now is gives "eskimo kisses" where we rub noses together.

She's been doing lots of fun things. She LOVES being on the floor crawling and exploring. She still plays with toys, but she's more interested in scoping out every inch of the house. She's had play dates with friends. On daddy's 1/2 days when he watches Ashley while I'm at work, he recently took her for a hike, then another time to the park. We always do lots of fun things too. Today we went to the bookstore to the play area, and then they had story time.

Ashley is lots of fun, and again we are so proud of her.

Here are some recent pics of Ashley, including her Christmas pics that we took the other day. I know it's early, but we had a coupon that expired in Nov, and I wanted to beat the holiday rush. Ashley was so cute!