Sunday, September 27, 2009

What's Cooking?

But I'm allergic to pepper!
Time for some Ashley soup!

An old pic of Austin. Sorry Tommy we didn't have that big pot when you were a baby.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

All is well

I'm feeling like the blog has been neglected so I'm forcing myself to post. All is well, absolutely great actually. I just haven't felt like posting and haven't had any good fodder I guess. How about a family update?

Tommy - Got accustomed to 3rd grade very easily. Of course he has no trouble with school in any subjects so I need never worry about him academically. He's loving hockey and is excited to get into some games. Next Sunday is his first one. He also got trained to be an altar server at mass and he is very anxious for that. His weekend debut is November 14th. So long away. Maybe he'll be chosen for a school mass.

Austin - I worry more about him but he's done very well. Bless his teacher's heart she's just wonderful with him. The funniest thing with Austin she's trying to get him to use more than 2 crayons on a coloring page. He came home on the 2nd day of school with a beautifully colored picture of a man on a farm with only green and orange. Green face, orange hair, orange barn, at least the tree was green (including the trunk). I guess he gets so focused on coloring in the lines he forgets to change colors. Or maybe he is just ahem...lazy. ;) He's very conscientious about his work and is adamant about getting his homework done right away but the coloring, not so much. He's started having his therapies again and except for always having his hands in his mouth (nervous twitch I guess) he's doing ok physically. His OT has mentioned trying gum to compensate. Acceptable habit for not so acceptable habit. Hopefully it'll work.

Ashley is doing well. She had a rough week last week sick with something viral. She had 3 days of fever and just wasn't her happy self. I'm so glad to have my happy girl back. She had her 6 month check up and is 26" long and weighs 16lb8oz which is exactly double her birth weight. We got her pictures taken today. I can't wait to see how they turn out. She is now crawling everywhere and will stand up to our step in the living room. She is just growing up so fast.

Joe's good, he spent last week in Maine so that sucked being single Mommy last week.

I'm good, so happy that my TV shows are back on. I'm such a tater. My fall hockey season started up and I'm loving it. Fall softball is also happening. Fun times. My class is great, love them all and the days just fly by. And my beloved Detroit Tigers are still in 1st place hanging by a thread. Oh I hope they can hold on! Only about a week left of the regular season. My Dad is in Cleveland watching them live tonight. Lucky him!

So all is well here, hope all is well for you too.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Ashley is 6 month's old

And my did that time fly by! She just seems to be growing up so fast and we are still thrilled at just having her around.

Lately she has been hitting milestones like crazy. I am loving watching her grow and figure out how to do new things. She has been at daycare for 2 weeks and is doing great. Jill found her first tooth and last week she started sitting up on her own there. Little stinker, always showing off for others. You can watch her mastering her new skill by going to the Little Bloomers blog, which is her daycare. And can I just reiterate how LUCKY I am that she is in the same building as me. 6 months ago, childcare was a big concern of mine but not anymore! And she is so spoiled!

She got her 2nd tooth yesterday but at least Joe discovered that! With her now getting teeth I have the worry of getting bit but thankfully that hasn't happened yet. A nipple amputation does not sound appealing. Both the boys were weaned before they had any teeth, 6 & 8 months respectively. I'm still hoping to make it a year with Ashley but if biting occurs or other circumstances come up I might change my mind. So far nursing and working is going okay.

Around our house she can get anywhere she wants to and very quickly at that. Our sunken living room does keep her contained but I know it won't be long and she'll be conquering that. She's got a love for paper and any cables she can get to. Why do babies get bored with toys so quickly but love to tear a magazine to shreds forever?

I had all intentions of posting some pictures or video tonight but the Princess went to bed early. So here's a sleepy one.

She ate some real sweet potatoes this afternoon and loved them. She's becoming a little food pig and seems to enjoy veggies more than fruit. I imagine soon it'll be on to finger food. She had her first popsicle at Disney and liked it, but was more enchanted with the wrapper. Silly girl.

Another big feat is she is now taking a bath up in the big tub. She was making too much of a splashy mess in her little tub in the sink. She loves her bath.

She truly is the most pleasant baby. She's starting to find her voice and so we've been banished to the cry room at church. She doesn't cry, but she blabs so loud. It'll probably be another 3 years now before we make it a whole mass without the cry room. Joe and I will have the weekly fight over starting in the cry room or out with everyone. ;) Oh fun.

About the only thing I can complain about with her is that my previously fabulous sleeper has decided to not sleep through the night anymore for the last couple months. I'm hoping once the teething is over that it will happen again. For now, I just try to enjoy my night times with her and try to get to bed at a decent hour. We're living and living well I should add.

And how about this outfit pic? The pretty purple sleeper I picked out to bring her home from the hospital in is totally dwarfed by the sleeper she wears now. She still has room to grow in the green one but it won't be long and she'll be dwarfing that outfit. *sniff sniff* 6 month check up is Friday, along with pictures before that. My baby is just so sweet. Gotta capture all these moments.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Disney

Our 2009 Disney trip won't be one we will soon forget. My Mom and Justin were able to come with us. Justin did great on his first trip flying and Mom did well too after not having flown for 20 or so years. Myself, I'd call a fair weather flyer. I don't necessarily enjoy it, but it's definitely the way to go when you're a long way from home. The ride home was a bit rough but we made it. Ashley was wonderful on both flights only getting ticked once we landed home after midnight and she woke up a crank. She was a really good girl at Disney and just kind of went with the flow, she loved swimming, and is always happy in her stroller. She did get wound up on the bus a couple times and didn't sleep too well in her Pack-N-Play. She ended up in bed with Tommy and I most of the trip but was overall a very good baby. Good thing to because we like to go!

Ashley was a hit. She got all kinds of looks and is quite a conversation piece. She's taken to sticking her tongue out at people while smiling. It cracks me up! She is growing up so fast! She got her first tooth last week and is getting very close to being able to get up and sit on her own. She also did great at her first week of daycare. Such a happy girl. It was so great being at our favorite vacation spot with our sweet little girl! I know Joe loved having a whole week off of work to be with the family. I personally am lucky I get so much time off.

Here are some vacation pics. We had over 200 taken so I tried to whittle it down a bit. Great time!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Severed Communication

Even on our honeymoon Joe had a laptop and I remember checking email midweek which I thought was ridiculous on a vacation. He wasn't quite in the cell phone biz yet (we got our first cellular phone with my current number in August of 98) but he did wear a pager and had to be accessible at all times. I think Joe would curl up in the fetal position and go bugs if he lost "power" and was in the communication dark for a week. I however, fully embraced my chance at truly "being away."

For one week after my phone was lost, I pretty much lived as I would have in 1996. I didn't read any blogs, no twitter or texting, I talked to my Dad in MI once and no one else, the TV was pretty much on resort tv or Sportscenter. I did hear that Ted Kennedy had passed away but only because it was on the USA Today headlines all week when I'd walk by the newspaper stand every morning on our way to the bus. It was the family and I, and no worries. I will say I am thankful that Disney still has ample pay phones around as I might not have been able to find the family if I hadn't been able to make that collect call to him, sending him dashing back to the Baby Care Center that Ashley and I were utilizing while the rest of the crew figured out where to go next. Being out of touch was initially scary, but only for that one minute of "how do I get a hold of him?" I thought about asking some poor soul if I could use their phone but went the pay phone route. I had no money or credit card, but thankfully remembered how to make a collect call.

Technology is wonderful! I love being able to text message and send email much more so than talking on the phone. I've met wonderful ladies on the Internet and formed some lasting friendships and feel a connection with people I may never have a chance to meet in real life. I love how I can find out what something is in no time by a simple google search. I love having any music I want with an Itunes purchase giving immediate results. I love the security of having a phone with me in bad weather or on long trips.

I love how the internet has connected those of us far away, but hate how it has kept us secluded from those who are right here among us. I am on this computer way too much. I'm always enthralled in some drama on BBC. I check the MLB box scores and standings frequently. I am a nut for news, especially for current events both political and social, home and abroad. I love the speed of receiving information. Email is constant now that I have the IPhone. The blogs can keep me busy for hours (though I'm currently still behind from vacation). Joe and I have been known to text or IM each other in the house instead of walking up or down the stairs to talk. Disturbing right?

There is something very liberating about being detached from the phone & computer. I remember when we bought the cell phone, it was intended for emergency use only. Now, if someone calls my house and doesn't get me, they simply dial my cell. And it's never for anything urgent, just a "hey what's up" usually. It's made us an impatient people. We can't simply wait for that call back later, gotta connect now! I love my IPhone but it has definitely stolen away my valuable time. I think it might not be a bad idea to every once in a while for everyone to turn off the phone, close the computer, and just disconnect themselves from the techno convos and reconnect personally. I know my house would be much cleaner and more organized if I was on the computer a little less. But that doesn't mean I want it to go away completely. And more likely than not, I'll be back to my wicked and wile Internet obsessive ways before too long. So the question remains, did anyone really even miss me during my "outage?" Wait don't answer that. ;)