Ashley's Oddities

So we have a one year old living in the house. And it sure is wild fun. She's still not walking but will take a few steps and then crawl. It won't be long now and she'll be running all over the place. She also talking all kind of jibberish. I love it when she looks all seriously and talks. I have a feeling she's going to have a lot to say once she finally figures this talking thing out.

Some peculiar things I've realized and in no particular order are as follows.

She is apparently allergic to eggs. She had scrambled eggs yesterday and promptly broke out in a rash. That was exciting.

She has bad breath in the morning. I don't think they make mouthwash for children her age.

She doesn't like cow's milk. The weaning has gone fairly well except for the not so minor fact that she had pretty much refused to drink anything once we started putting milk in her sippy cups. She would down water and juice before but once we tried milk she went on sippy strike. Thankfully I guess she got thirsty enough and today is finally taking a few sips of milk here and there and will wrinkle her nose. Hopefully she isn't allergic to that either.

She has small feet. We went shopping for sandals today and she fits a 3-6 month sandal or a 3 infant. She wears 12 - 18 month clothes.

She gives open mouth kisses. You can say give me a kiss and she will open her mouth and try and eat your lips. It is sweet albeit a bit sticky sometimes.

She's afraid of dogs. Especially big giant dogs but also of the little loud yippers.

She hates taking a bath but will tolerate a shower just fine.

She is a little sneak. She is rarely quiet and when she is quiet you know she's up to no good! Austin will often leave the darn gate open to the stairs and usually when she's quiet I'll find her upstairs tooling around. Thankfully she's made it every time and hasn't tried to come down. I don't know how successful she'd be. Yikes! You can also usually find her quietly making a toilet paper mess in the bathroom when that door gets left open. I need to put a little cowbell around her neck I think.

Joe and I just love our little monster. She and the boys sure make life interesting. And she for sure makes life go by so quickly.

And don't you just love that she has an IPod in her hand?

Tales of a jailbird

Well in follow up to the Stress These Days post it's hard to believe but my brother has already been out of prison for a month. And for the most part things are going well. He almost has a job and hopefully will be able to get his own place soon. Bless my Dad he has let him stay with him even though he was extremely leery. If Jeff botches this one I think it will be his last chance.

Tommy and Austin badgered us with questions for days before his arrival. Tommy was scared to basically "meet" his Uncle Jeff. I was scared to see him too. It had been over 5 years. We ended up meeting at Dad's and he's slimmer and his hair is thinning but it was still Jeff. We had a nice misty hug then all went to dinner. It was a wonderful reunion with my Dad, Scott, and my kids. On the drive home I commented that after our evening it was like he had never been gone. We laughed so hard that night. It was amazing how easy it was to reconnect. We dropped him off and the first words out of Tommy's mouth were "I LOVE UNCLE JEFF!!!" He is quite the character even if he does have the devil's curly red hair.

I've loved the prison stories and yes many of them are sad but most are funny. You can find any person with a record online and so he's shown us some of his bunkies and my those are some scary looking dudes. I hope he never forgets the prison craziness and remembers how weird it was eating with real utensils once he got out, you only get sporks in prison.

He, Scott, Joe & I have had some I guess you can call them "healthy" talks since he's been out. Besides our free therapy sessions he is also talking to a "real" therapist once a week who is helping keep his head on straight. He knows what he needs to do, it's now just having the will power to do the right thing. He's struggled with that before we'll see if this time he's truly grown up. I love him and have enjoyed having him home. It's been a great month and I hope we have many, many more great visits. He's already had so much life lived in this past month; Ashley's birthday, Tommy's hockey, etc. I hope this simple life is enough for him. And I just keep telling the doubters I'm enjoying my time with him now and hope it lasts and his history does not repeat itself.

The fiery four-eyed freaks...aka Scott, Dawn, Jeff O!

Reunion night - I promise we're not as scary as we look.

Bay County Blizzard 2001 Mite AA Champs!

The boys won the LCAHL playoffs! What a game! They won 7-6 and it was so close all the way to the end. They just couldn't pull away from the Port Huron Flags. But our boys were the ones on top when the final buzzer sounded.

About 20 of our family and friends drove down to join us in Detroit. It was very neat watching Tommy play on the Red Wings ice. It was a great end to a great season. I was already in bed but I guess Tommy got up that night and Joe was still up and he was crying because the season was over. Of course we have spring hockey and he actually is gone to practice tonight. But the team will be a little different (we're adding players as they make the bump up to the Squirt level). So he had to shed a few tears.

Ashley's Birthday Party

I got a ton of flack for buying Ashley her custom made cupcake onesie and matching tutu but oh did she look cute. The poor girl had a pretty rough cold last week and was rather clingy most of the time at her party. Little grouch. I didn't get any pictures of her sitting pretty because every time I'd put her down she'd scream. Oh well. It was still a great celebration and I found out she prefers chocolate over white cake. What child doesn't though? We had a very nice gathering with just a few family and friends. She was totally spoiled though. She practically has a whole spring/summer wardrobe. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy 1st Birthday Ashley

Oh baby what a year! You are Loved so much!

The Great Divide

Tommy & Joe have always been U of M fans. Me, I'm actually not that into it. In fact you never know I could have a Michigan T-shirt on under that Spartan sweatshirt. My Mom lived in East Lansing for a couple years when I was growing up so I have to say my early on loyalties were to MSU but then Austin was down at U of M hospital when he was a baby and I kind of grew a soft spot in my heart for U of M.

I really just need to be like Austin and like whoever is winning. That means I'm a Wolverine fan during football season, and a Spartan fan during basketball and hockey season.

One thing is certain, isn't Ashley adorable in her little cheerleader outfit?

P.S. - In case you're wondering MSU won the game today clinching a share of the big ten title. Hopefully they can make it far in the tournament again this year.