3.26.11 Ashlyn is three months old!

We started this week off with a family BBQ at my moms house. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see my sister. I feel like since I have gone back to work I hardly ever see anyone any more. Ash loved being outside and rocking with Nana...she got so comfy she let it all hang out. It cracked me up how far out her little Budda belly was sticking.

Mom bought a new water table for the kids, her justification being now there will be three kids who can enjoy it for years to come. She cracks me up. Jakob of course loved it. It was still a little cool out, but Mom promised he wouldn't get super wet. She forgot Tio was coming over....they ended up having to strip the boy down just to go in because he looked like a little drowned rat. He had so much fun though, and it certainly wasn't cold enough for him to be sick or anything. He didn't seem to care at all if he did feel cold!

I need to get a video of Jakob pretending to be the baby, but here's a picture. It's almost as funny as a video would be.

Another smiley Ash pic. She smiles so much these days, and squels with delight. I love it!

She turned three months old this week. I can't believe how fast time is going. I managed to snap this pic on Jeff's phone and I adore it. My stupid battery in my camera died though, so I only got this one and two others on her actual 3 month bday.

Yesterday I took her to Sears to get her official photos done. I forgot how much work it is to get good pics of a baby in a studio. We spent what seemed like forever just trying to get pics of her not crying! I think the ones of her turned out really great. I also did mommy and me pics and they sucked hardcore. I was so upset. I don't understand why its so hard to get a good picture of me with her...everyone else seems to get good pics with her all the time, but there are very few of the two of us. I asked my sister to come do a photo shoot later with us, so hopefully we will get some good ones then.


In milestone news, she rolled over twice this week, both of which seemed accidental and surprised her. Awesome. Even more awesome is that 4 of the last 5 nights, she has dropped her 3 am bottle and slept through the night. We are super excited!

Poor sweet Jakob....

I particularly love that he doesn't cry, but yet when I ask him if he is okay, he says, "nooooo." He just stands it back up and keeps on playing.

3.19.11 Green Everywhere!

This week was Spring Break, and boy was I excited. Even though my only plans were to find Jakob a new daycare and finish the annual yard work, it was nice to be off work again so soon. I found a new daycare for Jakob, but its not the greatest. I am hoping we can make it work through the end of the school year and switch him next year somewhere else when I have more time to research. This week was also St. Patrick's day, so of course that meant a photo shoot with Ash.



We did manage to finally get our yardwork done. We must have bagged at least 20 bags of leaves. I also mulched several of the beds around our trees. I was totally grossed out when i found several of these mushroom cities livving around the tree inour backyard. Gross gross GROSS!
Jakob has beeen playign alot of basketball lately. He is hilarious. Every shot he makes elicits either a awwww or yeah, depending on whether he made it or not. I decided to record it and got 21 seconds of film gold. I am so sending this to Americas Funniest Videos. I am going to upload it on here also in case you missed it on Facebook.

I lvoe this new outfit Nana bought for Ash...cute huh?

...and a big smile to end on!

Ashlyn watching her mobile!

Yes Jess, I have posted two smiling pics in past posts...but here's a cute video with a smile, a laugh, and a coo!!

3.12.11 Cookies and Other Things

Last Sunday we went to Jeff''s parents house for our monthly family dinner. I decided to let Jakob help me cook some treats. I should have got cupcakes which was what I planned on getting, but I was swayed by the brownie/cookie bars! It was a bit too complicated, but of course he loved it.


Debbie bought Ashlyn a new swing. We have been through two and both broke, so this time she got the warranty. Ashlyn loves it, so do we of course!

Our school system had an art contest to celebrate its tenth year anniversary. This was the best entry from our school, done by a fourth grader ironically named Vanessa! I think she has a good shot of winning...which would be awesome.

I love cafemom, I know I have talked about it before. Sometimes there are threads where they want you to post certain pictures. Sometimes I have them, but sometimes I think, oh my...i have not taken that picture. This week was your baby's pouty lip...so here it is for the first time on film.

Man she is cute. She is starting to laugh and smile more frequently. She smiles and laughs at her mobile, when I get home from work, and now when I kiss her with the frogs Auntie Danielle sent for Valentine's Day. Jakob even participates in the fun...we have been playing with these frogs a lot the last couple days.

For Jessica....

Ok, I can't remember which pictures I thought looked like fake pancake ones, so here's the only one I could find....lol.

And here's my turtle picture from the zoo. =)


And by the way, you should totally find bra to sleep in, it helps for a while anyways. =)

3.5.11 Back to work, RIP Sullivan

This was an uneventful week, especially in terms of pictures (I took 9 this week!). I went back to work, and for the most part it is a good thing. I do love my job, so it's nice to have that challenge returned to my life. It's also a nice break from the all day crying. I miss Ash terribly though, and after working a 9 hr day, coming home to take care of two kids is exhausting. By the time I get them both in bed I am to exhausted even to watch tv. It took me three sittings to finish the oscars, and two to watch the bachelor! Ash turned 10 weeks this week, which meant it was time for another bunny picture to compare her growth. I tried two different times with two different outfits to take this picture, but she was not happy about it either time. So I decided to use the honest picture this month!

On Monday, since Jeff was home, I decided to cut my bathtime in half and do them both at once (something I could not do without help-at least not at this age). Jakob thought it was fun, he likes to help me bathe his sister.



On a sad note, a friend I made in my Due January group this time around, lost her baby boy Sullivan to SIDS this week. My heart has been breaking everyday imagining what she is going through. His mother and father decided to donate his organs, and they have already been told his heart valves were used to save another baby. Sullivan will never be forgotten and I will continue to pray for Meredith during this time of grieving.

2.26.11 Last week of maternity leave!

First of all, I don't know what I was thinking not including a pic of Elizabeth in my pics last week...I only got two pics of her, but here's one of her changing shoes with Jakob since Jessica requested to see one! Of course now posting it makes me miss her and wish she was still here!

Here's a pic of Ash sleeping away on her two months birthday. I cannot believe it has already been two months!

We did a lot of yard work this week, and one thing we did was get rid of the thorny bush by the shed. Jeff is still digging up the massive stump, and we need to paint the shed or something, but I am glad the bush is gone.

I decided to make the corner safe since Jakob keeps going back there. If I would have known how much work this would be, I would have just put up a fence! I dug up bricks and broken concrete for hours. I was so sore, but I think it turned out really great in the end. Its now fairly flat and safe. I covered it with mulch so Jakob could use it as a parking spot for his car!

We finally made it to the zoo on my last day of maternity leave. Jeff took Jakob into the bird landing while I stayed with Ashlyn. For the first time, Jakob wanted the bird on his arm. It was so cute! Right up until he kissed it on the head. Gross. He also kissed a goat...also gross. He's just such a loving kid. He always makes his toys kiss too!

Ashlyn's first zoo trip, in fropnt of the lions.

We bought Jakob an enormous stuffed rattlesnake and he loves it! I have never seen him want anything to do with a stuffed animal until this snake. He wore it around his neck all the way home, and even slept with it. Too cute.