Some other 7 month milestones

-Learning more cause-and-effect

-fascinated by the garage door opening

-really noticing the environment around her--gets very distracted when eating

-recognizes who mommy and daddy are: if you ask her where daddy is, she will turn to look at him

-can kind of wave

-takes steps while holding mommy or daddy's hands

-scoots around in circle

-really loves her baby Einstein videos, smiles and laughs at her favorite parts

-REALLY grabbing for things, especially mommy's face

-biting everything, including us. Does not seem phased by us firmly telling her no when she bites us...we're going to be in trouble when she's older!

-Also, she really hasn't used her paci (pacifier) much in at least a month, but she'd occasionally use it and would use it more for teething and chewing on it. Well, after our vacation, I had cleaned her wubinub paci's and had both of them on the drying rack for 2-3 days. I realized she hadn't wanted or needed them for a few days, so figured we'd stop giving it to her completely now so we don't have to ween her when older.

-one cute thing she does: now that she has 3 teeth, she's been sticking her tongue out on the opposite side of her 3rd tooth through the gap. It's sooo cute!

First Real Vacation

So last week we took Ashley on her first "real" vacation. Granted, we've traveled different places with her and she's been to the beach already, but this was the first time we stayed in a condo or "vacation resort" kinda deal. Daddy, Ashley, Maddie the dog, and I went on a Shohen family vacation with grandpop, grandmom, Uncle Andrew, Aunt Lauren, and a couple of their friends. We went to mommy and daddy's favorite beach--Destin, Florida. We even stayed in the same condo that we stayed in the last time we went, with lots of fun and special memories.

We had a nice time--we spent a lot of time on the beach and at the pool. Poor Ashely got sick for the first time right before leaving, and still had her cold and runny nose for most of the trip. She was a good sport though, and still seemed to enjoy herself despite it.

Some other fun highlights of the trip were renting a boat for the day, and going snorkeling, swimming, and to this cool spot where the water is only a couple feet high and they have a water trampoline, water slides, and food vendors all right there in the water. It was cool.

We also had most dinners together as a family which was fun--we enjoyed a lot of seafood...yum! We also had a couple of movie nights together, went miniature golfing, played cards, went to the outlets, etc. Daddy and I even got to go enjoy a date night on our last night there while grandmom and grandpop had fun with Ashley and took her swimming in the pool.

We also got a chance to visit with Ashley's Great Uncle Don and Aunt Jackie. It was nice to see them again and they were excited to meet Ashley.

Ashley did great with the car ride--in fact I think this was the best trip yet, both ways even! All in all, the trip was great. I was thinking of how lucky Ashley is--she has two parents who love each other very much, who love her very much, and she's only seven months old and she's already had a lot of great experiences and opportunities. I'm so glad for that!!!

2011

So I just had to post a blog about all the crazy weather-related things that have happened in 2011, so Ashley can hear the stories when she is older. First, we live in South Carolina where it snows once or twice a year, sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn't. We usually only get a couple inches at most (which I love). Well, just a few days after Ashely was born, we had the "big snowstorm of the decade"--approx 7-8 inches, which is a ton for down here. Everything shut down. It worked out really nice for us because Matt was able to stay home with us longer after Ashley was born.

Since then, we've also had a couple of incidents where it hailed golf-ball sized hail in the middle of summer. It would start off as a very hot day. Then the storm would come in out of nowhere. It was pretty crazy.

Now we've got Hurricane Irene coming through. Not sure if we'll get hit or not.

Well, just a few minutes ago I was sitting on the couch while Ashley was napping, when I feel the couch vibrating. And then I realize everything is vibrating. It wasn't major--nothing fell off the walls or anything, but everything definitely shook. Apparently there was an earthquake that just went along the whole East Coast. Crazy stuff, and Ashley slept right through it!

Latest on Ashley

Well, we've had some good and bad experiences lately. About a week ago, we were visiting (Aunt) Kristyn again. We went to help her buy her very first brand new car. She had done a ton of researching, but wanted help with crunching numbers and interests rates so she wouldn't get hassled by the dealers. It was fun going with her, she was like a kid at Christmas--sooooo excited and nervous all at once. We also were looking around the area(s) as a possible place to move to at some point.

Anyway, while we were there we had a scary experience. Ashley was sleeping in the same room as us in her pack and play. Well, we were all sound asleep. Sometime after midnight she woke up hysterically crying. I know Ashley's different cries, and this was different from the typical ones--something was wrong. She sounded scared and was inconsolable. Nothing we said or did calmed her down. Finally I nursed her and she settled down and went back to sleep. She seemed perfectly fine the next day.

I spoke to the pediatrician and she said that she may have had a nightmare, and it could have been a result of traveling, being off her regular schedule and going to bed later than normal. So I figured that was the end of it. However, we had another one two nights ago. This time she was back in her own room and on her regular schedule. We tried talking to her, getting her to focus, singing to her, rocking/walking with her...nothing helped. Poor girl. It scary and upsetting seeing her so upset. I hope they don't become a reccuring thing. Apparently there's not much you can do to prevent them or to help them.

On a good note, Ashley got another tooth. I noticed it broke through today. Another bottom. If you were facing her, it's on the right side of two middles. (This could also play into the crying in middle of night, although she's been fine during the day). Can't believe my baby has 3 teeth now!

She also has her first cold, or again possibly more teething stuff--she had a low grade fever, runny nose and congested. It's cute how she has fun with the new discoveries of what her body does. She was even entertained by her runny nose, she kept trying to sniff in and out, and kept trying to lick her runny boogies. Lol.

She is just so fun. She has such joy and fun with life. She loves discovering new things. She loves to grab EVERYTHING, including my face and hair! She wants to put everything in her mouth.

She also is learning more about cause and effect--she can push things down, or push buttons to make things pop up. She gets what she's doing.

She is talking more...when babbling, she still says mama, baba, and I've heard dada a few times. The biggest thing is that she recognizes/knows who mommy and daddy are. I said where's daddy?, and she turned and looked at daddy. And another time when I was out, Matt said that Ashley's face lit up when he said it was mommy.

Will update more soon!

August 4, 2011--7 months old, wow!