Anybody else have one of these?

I had one of these stools growing up! I think it is so neat Ashlyn now has one. Her great-Mimi and Papa gave it to her for Christmas. It came in the mail last week and she has been enjoying chewing on the puzzle pieces. EVERYTHING goes in her mouth these days. I keep thinking a tooth will pop out any minute, but I have yet to see one. Her sitting is coming along too!

Sleeping in the princess crib

Well, we made the move! Ashlyn has spent the past 3 nights sleeping in her crib in her room...UNSWADDLED! I thought this child was going to have to be swaddled for her kindergarten naps!!! But alas, she weaned herself from the swaddle when she was ready, just like everything said she would. She still sleeps in a sleep sack that has a piece across the tummy that is tighter, but I think that will come off soon too. I think she would have been fine in her crib months ago, but her mommy and daddy weren't quite ready! We really liked having her sleeping in our room (in her co-sleeper) just to keep an eye on her. Although her room is literally 20 feet away from ours there is something very reassuring about having your baby close by at night.

Night night sweet angel...Mommy and Daddy are right down the hallway and YES, we sleep with the video monitor between us so we can both peek on her during the night. Baby steps...:)

Valentine's Day/9 month photo shoot

Ashlyn had her pictures taken on the McKinney Avenue Trolley last night. A good friend of mine from work, Melanie, and her boyfriend Gus arranged a fun photo shoot! The weather was perfect so we hopped on the trolley and got some great pictures of Ashlyn! She was absolutely wonderful and even stuck it out through dinner, although it was a little past her bedtime. Here is a preview of the pictures. This was taken on Melanie's iPhone and the flash caught her off guard. I think the real pictures are going to turn out great!!!

Emma Reese Ivie

Emma Reese Ivie was born Friday, January 28th around 9:00 am! After a short stay in the NICU (she was forgetting to breath at first) she is home with her big sister, Ryan! Ryan, Ashlyn and Emma are going to have so much fun growing up together. They will each be about 9 months apart in age! Welcome Emma!

Me & Jessi the morning of her c-section

Jessi and the "painter" heading to the OR

Chris introducing Emma Reese!

Emma Reese Ivie

Gimme the keys...I can drive!

Exercising in my exersaucer!

Thanks for the exersaucer Crew, Kellan & Jules! I am having a blast!

A new bath toy

Ashlyn is still learning how to sit on her own. She can balance for a few seconds, but then topples over (usually because she is trying to eat her toes). Bath time isn't much fun until you can sit up. This bath ring is really cool because it helps her sit so she can play in the bath (and frees up my hands to play and clean!)

Big girl eating in her high chair

It is still a little big for her so she is sitting on a towel to boost her up so the tray isn't under her chin. Oh well, room to grow!

Nenna with her Grandchildren

I didn't have this picture to put on our Christmas Tour post, but it is too cute not to post...Nenna with her grandchildren.

Crew, Jules, Nenna, Ashlyn and Kellan

Mini Me

We came across some of Chance's baby pictures while we were in Abilene from Christmas. Does she look like her daddy or what?!?!?

First ear infection

Well, we made it 8 months without one...it was bound to happen. I guess I really should say we made it 4 weeks without one (4 weeks since we started school)! Ashlyn has her first ear infection. I think we caught it early and it doesn't seem to really bother her yet. We started antibiotics today, so hopefully we will be good to go in a few days! I am wondering if we will see a tooth poke through soon!

Dinner with Grandma Sally

We had dinner with Grandma Sally. We tried Ashlyn out in a high chair for the first time (in a restaurant). She is still a little small for it, but she seemed to like it! She just likes being a part of the action!

Big girl eating her dinner in a highchair!

Ashlyn and her Great Grandma Sally

Mimi, Great Grandma Sally and Ashlyn

Mimi (58), Grandma Sally (84), Kristi (32) & Ashlyn (8 months)

8 months old!

Measurements:

Weight 14 lbs 6 ounces

Not sure about length

Wearing:

Size 2 diapers

6 months clothes

still can't keep shoes on...she has tiny feet!

Eats:

2 solid meals a day (brunch and dinner)

cereal, yogurt and fruit in the morning and cereal yogurt and veggies for dinner

nurses first thing in the morning and before bed

takes 2-3 6 ounce bottles a day

she also drinks water from a sippy cup!

Still takes medicine for her hemangioma 3 times a day and we are keeping her on the prevacid for her reflux until we wean the other medicine.

Sleeps:

usually goes to bed at 8 and I wake her up to eat and take medicine at 6 and then she goes back to sleep until 9ish. She takes short cat naps while she is at school (20-30 minutes a couple times a day) and then falls asleep on our way home from school!

Loves:

putting EVERYTHING in her mouth! watching her dogs. smiling and laughing. rubbing noses and growling with her daddy. bath time. watching her reading dvd's. car rides. things that make noise. morning snuggles with her mommy. her big green monkey (?) from Ryan. being tickled. peek-a-boo. vegetables. going to school, playing with her friends. her feet!

Does not love:

sleeping unswaddled (still trying to wean that). being away from the action! getting strapped in to her carseat. being hungry. fruits. (it is really hard to think of things that she doesn't like)

She is a VERY happy baby. Even this month when she has been sick...pretty much the whole month :(. Startled with the sniffles, turned into a cough and then an ear infection. Still coughing and congested...going on 3 weeks now. Hoping we are getting to the end of it!

Happy 8 months old Ashlyn Mae! We love you :)

Some other pictures from this month. Most of them are from our phones so I apologize for the poor quality. She really doesn't sleep nearly as much as it seems from these pictures!

Getting warm with daddy after a bath

Warming up after a bath

cat napping in the swing

Tuckered out from school

Napping with the green monkey

(unswaddled ;)

Almost sitting up by herself

(can sit for a couple seconds without help)

Drinks from a sippy cup (usually tries to hold it by herself)

Sick day with Daddy

Snuggling with her green monkey

Deep sleep

Getting ready for school with daddy

On her way to school one morning

Chews on everything!

Still loves her pacifier when she is tired

Close up of her hemangioma

It looks GREAT!

Christmas Tour of 2010

I apologize in advance...this is going to be a LONG post!

We started celebrating Christmas in the middle of December and finished New Year's weekend! It was a lot of traveling (3 weekends in a row) which required a lot of packing, unpacking, loading, unloading, laundry, shopping, wrapping, to do lists, don't forget this lists, write a thank you note for that list...but it was wonderful! We really enjoyed our first Christmas with Ashlyn. She wasn't really into opening the gifts, but loved the paper and playing after they were opened! I know next year will be a different story.

We started our celebrating in Arlington with Gma, Gpa and Aunt Sarah the weekend before Christmas. We went to Arlington on Friday and were lucky enough to find a painter that would do some work over the weekend while we were gone. So add that to the to do list...prep the house for painters. Which entailed boxing up everything in the den and kitchen (not the cupboard stuff), moving all the furniture, covering what couldn't be moved...oh yeah...and moving the Christmas tree! The painting was supposed to be finished Sunday, but that is never the case so we extended our stay in Arlington until Tuesday! Friday evening we ordered pizza and relaxed. Saturday we ran some errands while Aunt Sarah worked. When she got off we opened Christmas presents and had an awesome Christmas dinner. Sunday morning Dave and Pat stopped by for breakfast. Then it was clean up time to get ready for the open house! They had an open house from 2-6 with lots of good food and friends! Sunday evening we crashed. I scoured the internet trying to piece together a Christmas card last minute, but was unsuccessful hence the reason you didn't see any mail from us this year :( Oh well...maybe we will send Valentine's cards! Monday morning I rode the train to work with Jessi! It was my first train trip and we had fun. I was a little nervous about missing the train back home, but made it with time to spare! Ashlyn spent the day playing with Gma and Aunt Sarah when she got home from work. Tuesday we packed up and Chance and Ashlyn dropped me off at work, the dogs at daycare and then took Ashlyn to school. Needless to say Tuesday night we were pooped! Oh...but wait...they are still painting :) Yep...finally finished on Thursday just in time for us to pack up and head west to Abilene!

Snuggling up with Gpa

Dinner with Gpa

A bite for Sarah too!

Eating dinner with Aunt Sarah

A piggy bank from Aunt Sarah

Sarah loves Harry Potter

Putting money in her piggy bank

Opening gifts with Gma

Wearing their matching Cowboy's hats and cheering the boys on!

Thanks Buff :)

Merry Christmas!

From Mazzy and Pip too!

Thursday evening (the 23rd) we opened gifts and stockings with just our little family. We thought about bringing them to Abilene and opening them on Christmas eve, but we wanted to start a tradition of opening our presents to each other as a family. Well, since the house had just been finished being painted and the fumes were still so strong we holed up in our bedroom (as we had been the previous 2 nights) and opened gifts in there. We put some Christmas tunes on the laptop and opened a nice bottle of wine. It was quite the celebration!

Celebrating Christmas in our bedroom!

Opening gifts and stockings with Daddy

A Sid Dickens block for my collection

(Chance searched online forever to find this one...very special)

Yea! A Vitamix! I have been eyeing this

for a long time. Can't wait to start using it.

We rolled into Abilene Friday night to celebrate Christmas with Neena and Papa, Kristin, Scott, Crew, Kellan and Jules. We opened present as soon as we walked in the door! The boys had been waiting so patiently and couldn't make it any longer! Saturday morning we went over to the Avery house to see all the loot Santa left! They must have been very good boys this year! Saturday evening we had another great Christmas dinner and just relaxed! Sunday we ate leftovers and packed up for the trip home (Chance is getting very good at loading up the Tahoe).

Papa and Ashlyn

Jackpot: A Cabella's gift card and a bottle of scotch

Crew being silly

Matching Easter dresses for Jules and Ashlyn

They are beautiful!

Kellan and his new pj's

Kristin opening gifts

Kristin and Jules

The Christmas madness!

Crew and the magic ball

Even the dogs got presents

Nenna and Ashlyn

Nenna and Jules

The scotch birthday tradition

Scott and his Singamajig

Jules trying on her Vans from Uncle Bubba!

Opening gifts with Papa

The girls on Christmas morning in their jammies

I like your hair

and your cheek

I like your ear too...

I REALLY like your ear!

take the picture...quick!

oopsy daisy

finishing Christmas dinner

big girl playing in the highchair

Papa looking thrilled to have Daisy in her Snuggie

Uncle Jimmy, Ashlyn and Mom

Mom and Ashlyn

Scott and Ashlyn

In her pretty Christmas outfit

We spent the week trying to get the house back in shape after the painting and getting ready for our next trip. Oh yeah...and we were all getting sick! Friday evening we packed up and headed to Emory for New Year's Eve and to celebrate Christmas with Mimi, PaJ, Robert, Teresa, Brennan and Dillan. We had a pretty low key New Year's Eve with good food, a few drinks and some laughs. We were in bed by 11, but Chance woke me up at midnight for a kiss and a happy new year! Saturday morning we just relaxed and got ready for our Christmas celebration that evening. Chance and PaJ went out to hunt dove, but I don't think they had much luck. Everyone came over that afternoon and we opened gifts and had our final Christmas dinner! Sunday morning Mimi, PaJ, Teresa and I bundled up and braved the temperatures to try our luck at Canton. We filled our flask with Baileys to spike our favorite Canton coffee! We picked up a couple of bargains, had some good food and headed home to check on Chance and Ashlyn who were both under the weather! They were snoozing so I crawled in bed and joined them! After our nap, we packed up and headed home to finish our Christmas tour of 2010! Back to work on Monday!

Aunt Teresa and Ashlyn (eating paper)

opening gifts...

Tummy time at Mimi's

not feeling well

Blue eyes!

Merry Christmas 2010

Love, The Wimberlys