Giving Thanks

I hope everyone has a safe, filling, and family filled Thanksgiving! I am excited about our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3.... and getting to spend the holiday at both our families homes eating delicious food.

This year I am thankful for:

• My Mother, who is beyond amazing, and an inspiration for the mom I want to be
  
• My Daughter, who teaches me to be patient and what unconditional love feels like
  
• My husband, who has put up with my hormonal behavior the last 10 months and tells me everyday that I am beautiful!
  
• My family, who calls just to chat and say hello, I love that!
• My dog, who is so cute when she tilts her head and whines
• For an amazing house, that is warm and comforting on cold winter nights
• And for a life blessed with amazing friends, for whom I be lost without!

2 Months

Ashlyn turned 2 months old on Sunday. It seems like forever ago that she was born, but at the same time I can't believe she's already 2 months old. She was wide awake, and a happy baby for her 2 month birthday. She also finally pooped. Been holding it in for a good 4 days, so i'm sure it came as a huge sense of relief to her (and mommy, who was getting worried).

Getting cuter and sweeter everyday, if that is possible!!!!

Go Bucks!

We had friends over to watch the big Ohio State vs. Michigan game Saturday. As expected, Ohio State beat up on Michigan. Ashlyn slept through most of it, which I'm sure was much appreciated by our male guests. Daddy and Ashlyn took a nice long nap after the game....football sure is tiring. She stayed awake for a little while to watch some of the Texas Tech and UC game with mommy.

Finally kind of got a smiling picture, although she looks pretty funny. I need to capture it on video and share.

Daggers

Something that I don't like to do........Trim Ashlyn's finger nails. I am terrified of using the baby clippers, I think i'm going to cut her tiny precious fingers. So instead I always use the little nail file. She pretty much has to be in a total sleep coma, such as in the picture, to get the task done.

Sleeping Patterns

We still haven't gotten on any sort of napping schedule during the day. She pretty much is hit or miss as to when she sleeps. She does tend to have at least one period when she sleeps at least a 2 hour stretch. Makes it nice for me to get stuff done. She still puts her arms over her head, it is really cute!!!

As for night time, she's good at going down. We don't go to bed till midnight, that's usually around her last feeding then she drifts right to sleep. It was great cause she went several days in a row of going down at midnight and not waking up till around 6. I got spoiled by it, cause getting up between 3:00 and 4:30 the past two nights felt like torture. I want the 6 hour sleep span back! I'm sure it will come and go before eventually becoming the norm, but cross your fingers for more of those 6 hour stretches!!!

8 weeks and good friends!

My good friend from college, Anika, was in Dayton for a day last week and got the chance to come down and visit Ashlyn and I. It was SO great to see her, and watch her interact with Ashlyn. She was making fishy faces and had Ashlyn smiling more than I've ever seen. I've since tried and my fishy face just isn't the same. I loved getting a few hours to chat and catch up!

On a side note, Ashlyn is 8 weeks and getting bigger and more interactive everyday. Our little Honey Bunny gets cuter by the minute. Ok, I'm sure i'm biased!!!!! But she truely is a sweet baby.

Announcements

We sent the announcements out last week. Everyone has given us great feedback on them. I was really happy with how they turned out. They were printed by photoaffections.com. Happy to show off our beautiful baby girl!!

Photo op

I have been trying really hard to get a cute picture of Ashlyn smiling. They all turn out really weird and she looks funny. It is my mission to keep taking, and deleting, pics until I find a cute smile picture to post.

Been busy! Am putting together our 10 year reunion, taking place the Friday after Thanksgiving. I also made it back to my first Junior League meeting for this year last night. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all i'm supposed to be doing prior to January, but hopefully it will all pan out.

Rich and Creamy

I am referring to my hair. With the colder weather, and paler skin upon us......I richened up my hair for winter. Went a bit darker overall, and did more of a carmel highlight. Matt didn't want me to lose the light streaks, and I wanted dark, so feel it was a good compromise. I also cut a couple inches off to get a healthy start to the dry air, and give Ashlyn less to rip out of my head.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

The world around us

As we notice the world around us, mommy pulls out more and more fun stuff for Ashlyn to enjoy. She will be content under the play mat for a good 15 minutes or so. I think she is looking more at the ceiling than the animals, but she seems to like it.

Ashlyn also LOVES tummy time. She is a girl that likes to be on her belly. Unfortunately it also makes her want to go to sleep. Life is rough!

Hand me downs

We were very lucky to gets lots of girls clothes from my neice Madison, and her cousin. Not only did it save us lots of money, but Madison was a very trendy little girl:) We love all the outfits we get to show off. The seasons don't completely match up, so we are taking advantage of the summery outfits and abnormally warm November temperatures. Here is Ashlyn looking oh so fashionable in her lemon outfit!

Victory!!

Matt, Ashlyn and I sat and watched history last night. Barack Obama was announced president. The first African American (or half) to run the country. I am so excited to see what he brings to the united states. It truly is time for a change and I think he is the person to slowly start that process. I got the chills watching him walk out with his family, it was an exciting thing to witness.

Halloween

Ashlyn looked adorable in her "My 1st Halloween" onesie....even though she doesn't look happy. We did end up putting her into a butterfly bunting costume. It was absolutely huge on her. We basically snapped the picture and took her out, I felt guilty. Maybe in a few months we'll put it back on and take some cute pictures.

Mommy and daddy had a lot of fun out on the town in Cincinnati. We got to meet up with all of our friends for our annual Halloween Boo Bash. The costumes turned out awesome, even though we did get some boos from all the ohio state fans. Oh well, it was fun! Lots more pics posted on the share site, lifewithashlyn.shutterfly.com