Growing and Growing...

After following different blogs, I've wondered how some people seem to disappear for weeks or even months on end. It took me a while but I've discovered the answer. It's not necessarily work, callings, or other responsibilities,.........it's kids!

Now that Ashlyn is literally running around and into everything she can get her hands on, I barely have time to sit down to the computer & catch up. And when I do have the time, I'm too exhausted to do anything about it. Now I see why having kids earlier in life is better, I'm already getting too old to just be starting this!

Yes, this is mostly all about Ashlyn and journaling again so don't feel guilty skipping through.

I look at my beautiful baby girl in amazement. Yesterday I had a moment that I want to remember for a lifetime....... I was standing folding laundry at our bed. Ashlyn was standing in the doorway and was heading off to go play again. I told her "bye" and she waved then blew me a kiss, then squealed with a big smile and walked down the hallway. I had a flash forward moment and pictured that in no time she's going to be a teenager heading out into the world for a bigger adventure, not just down the hallway to the toys. I just wanted to wrap up that precious moment and keep it in a memory box forever. I'm sure there will come a time when she's not so willing to blow me a kiss or get excited when I walk into the room.

We had a good visit from Grandma and Grandpa Pulsipher. Ashlyn's really started to like books lately. I loved this picture of her and Derek's dad. Hmmm...maybe I should have photoshoped out the wet chocolate milk spot on her clothes.

One of the best games she's found to play is putting the plastic bowls and plates on her head and face. They are transparent and she thinks that's just the coolest thing ever. Needless to say, a major wash-down is required after every meal.

Another fun game is turning the TV off.....and on.....and off.....and on..................and off....

No, we're not dumb enough to put it right at her level - the kid has no sense of fear so she'll stand on anything possible to reach what she wants. Today she took her ride-on toy over to the patio doors and stood straight up on it. Before I could make it over from the kitchen sink, the train rolled forward and Ash tumbled face first onto the hard floor. Guess that's one way to learn.

We'd all got a cold just after Easter weekend. Derek for a day, me for a while, and it just seemed to keep hanging on for Ashlyn for weeks. The weekend before her 15 month appointment things got worse. She had a high fever most of the weekend, was up through the nights, threw up a couple times, and had no appetite. It happened to be in the height of the whole Swine Flu scare so we were a bit nervous. We did our best to make her comfortable and her appointment was on Monday morning. Of course she seemed better by the time we saw Dr. Carroll. He thought it was probably a sinus infection and wrote a prescription for antibiotics but wanted us to wait a couple more days to see if she would fight it off on her own. Since she was going to be miserable anyway, we went ahead with her regular vaccinations. The next day she was so lethargic, barely moved or talked. Oh, I hated it. This is how she looked during her awake hours which were few and far between...

Whatever it was seemed to work it's way through her little system 'cause by Wednesday morning she was a whole new kid. Derek and I were so relieved to have our smiling baby girl back.

She started eating a bit more.....

then really regained her appetite....who needs the baby spoons, bring on the big stuff!

Then her personality really started to shine through & she was ready to pose for pictures again...

It's so fun to see her growing and talking more. While her Grandma and Grandpa were here, she started saying "Oh, oh, oh...." with meaning when she was trying to do something. That quickly turned into "Uh-oh" which was really cute for the first couple days, but after hearing this for days on end the cuteness factor has really wore off. Not everything that happens or falls (which I'm suddenly aware of just how often this occurs) needs an "uh-oh" eight times over....

All of a sudden she's signing "Eat, please" and answering "ya" or shaking her head "no". I'm kinda glad she hasn't yet caught on to the word "no". (I've just jinxed it, haven't I?)

For being a chunky monkey for such a long time, Ashlyn's suddenly tall and thin. At her 15 mo well-baby she was: 31 3/4 inches (85%) and 22 lbs even (35%). She'd grown an inch and gained less than a pound from her 12 month check-up.

For Derek's birthday I was trying to surprise him by picking up some of his favorite foods from different restaurants, having the house all decorated, and baking a tower of cupcakes. He ended up having a conference phone call later in the morning so I didn't get him out of the house till the afternoon and then only had a couple hours to put things together. We ended up just having a whole night in. I know how much he loves to go out, but we decided to give each other tickets to see "Wicked" later in the summer so this is how the evening went:

We had homemade chicken cordon bleu and a plateful of 33 chocolate cupcakes (he turned 33 this year). No, we did not eat all the cupcakes, they're in the freezer.

On the phone with Mom and Dad. A faulty "HAPPA BIRTHDAY" sign.

And a surprise in-home spa where he got a pedicure and facial. Cheesy, but it was fun. Ashlyn kept trying to soak her feet in the tub and wanted to use the massager too.
Overall, not a bad few weeks. Ahhhh, what a life!