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!

10 Months Old!!!

My baby is 10 months old!!! Where is the time going? It's going so fast!!! I can't believe my "baby" is already 10 months!!! She's no longer a little baby, she's turning into a sweet little girl! She's already wearing 12 month clothing since she's so tall, she's feeding herself a lot, on the move and exploring. It won't be long before she's turning one...crazy....