Project Playroom

.....Has begun. I am going to start painting the first wall today. Hoping the blue tape stays tight so that I don't have to do a bunch of touch up work under the lines. Here are some pictures of the room as is. I'll post what it looks like as I move along. The image in my head looks really cute, so i'm hoping to be able to pull this together. Looking forward to having a place and a space to organize all her books and toys.

Ashlyn was oh so entertained in her jumperoo while I put the tape grid on the wall the last few days. It is cute to hear her laugh and scream out in excitement. Hope she'll feel the same way about her new playroom:)

5 Months

Our little girl is getting so big! I can't believe how quickly the last 5 months have gone. Ashlyn is becoming more entertaining and active by the moment. I fear she'll be mobile and on the go in no time. Can't wait for all the fun things the next month will bring.

Faces and Feet

Ashlyn has become obsessed with our faces. She loves to reach out and grab my nose, or try to put her fingers in my mouth. I'll be holding her facing out and she'll look back at me and reach up to touch my face. It's sweet. We have to beware of the dreaded finger nails though, if they aren't short she gets us good!

She has also started to bite her lips, it makes for a very funny face!

Ashlyn's new favorite toy over the past two weeks have become her feet. She grabs them, and loves to hold them. Anytime we come to get her out of the crib she has her feet straight up and is holding them. Makes diaper changes a bit more of a challenge.

Bragging Rights

Have to brag and show off my beautiful little girl! We pulled out one of Madison's hand me down dresses last week on a spring like day. She looked so cute in the bright colors, and the hat was adorable! After catching this cute smile, I had to share. She makes me smile everyday!!!

Such a Joy!

Minus the minor headaches that teething is bringing, Ashlyn has been such a joy over the past few weeks. We love to do anything we can to make her giggle. She is still talking up a storm, makes this cute face when she bites her lips, always looks like she is doing baby sit ups, bats at all her toys and tries to pull herself up on them, blows raspberries, and is overall a very happy little girl. She has also starting digging her feet into the ground and scootching herself across the floor. She'll do it on her belly and move like an inchworm, or on her back and move across the floor. Here she is after she moved herself all the way under the middle of the table.

Sleeping is still giving us fits. I'm blaming it on teething, and hope that's the case. She is waking up like 4 times a night, it's exhausting. Most of the time she'll just take the paci, talk a minute, then go back to sleep. It's making mommy very very tired though. I got spoiled by the weeks of 7-9 hours each night. So getting only 3 or 4 is killing me. Luckily she is adorable, so I can't get mad at her:)

We had a great weekend. Went to see Taken (very good) and out to dinner for Valentine's Day. Then last night we went to see The Uninvited. It was good also, but not as scary as I was hoping. We also got the new tenants moved into our condo (finally), and went to dinner with Uncle John and Larry. Was hoping to start painting, or maping out the playroom wall, but didn't get to it. A project for this week I guess.

Hope everyone had a relaxing and romantic Valentine's Day as well. Here is Ashlyn hanging out on daddy in her heart PJ's.

Better Sleep and Loud Noises

After that first sleepless night, Ashlyn has done much better in an open crib. Mon. and Tues. she woke up around 3, but went right back to sleep once I put the paci in, then woke up around 5 to eat. Last night was even more normal, she woke up the first time around 5. We aren't back to the full 7-9 hours we normally get, but it's slowly getting better. I think she is starting to teethe, so that is also probably effecting her sleep patterns. Both Matt and I got our first teeth between 4-5 months, so she's right on target for the little suckers to start popping through.

We had a "first" last night. We took Ashlyn to the UD/Xavier Basketball game at UD arena with Matt's parents. Matt was so excited to take her to her first game. I didn't have anything red or blue to put her in, so she wore UD booties with a pink outfit! She was SO good. She sat quietly on our laps and looked around at everything the whole 2 hours. Several people commented on how good she was. She jumped and got wide eyed a few times when the fans went nuts, but otherwise she was an angel and seemed to enjoy the loud/chaotic/exciting game. Hopefully we'll get to do it again before the season ends.

Great Weekend ends with a long night!

We had a busy, but eventful weekend. My parents came down on Friday and we shopped around Ikea. I am trying to put together ideas for Ashlyn's playroom. (More on that in another post) They stopped by the house for a little bit afterwards to sit and play with Ashlyn. Once Matt got home, the 3 of us went to Outback for dinner.

Saturday we got up and Matt and I both got a workout in at the gym, then we packed up and headed to Dayton. We have new tenants moving into our condo next weekend, so we had to do a major cleaning and some last minute fixes. Then we rushed back to my parents to shower and get ready for dinner with our friends. We met up with Caleb/Anna and their daughter Ella who is 7 months. And Natalie/Dave and their daughter Payton who is 3 weeks. It was so great to finally meet both of their little ones. We had a lot of fun and hope to do it again soon! (Pardon the picture of me, I was trying to get Ashlyn's face in it, so I ended up looking retarded)

Matt went out with all his guy friends later that night, so Ashlyn and I stayed at my parents house. Sunday morning, Ashlyn hung out with Kiki while I made some Valentine's cookies.
Then it was back over to the condo for more cleaning! A few hours later, it was done. WHEW! We picked up Ashlyn and then headed over to Matt's parents to go to dinner. Another yummy meal at Outback and then we finally headed back home. Needless to say, we were all very tired after a long and eventful weekend.

Since Ashlyn is now moving around a lot, we decided it was time to take the snuggle nest out of her crib. Got her dressed in a warm sleep sack, and took out the bed and blanket. We figured it would be an adjustment for her, and it was. She woke up about every 2-3 hours and was all over the crib. I brought her into bed with me this morning and we both slept soundly from 8:30-11. It was a long night, but i'm hoping she adjusts quickly and tonight is not so crazy.

She......

ROLLED OVER!!! I was sitting on the floor with Ashlyn next to the play mat. She put her legs up and kinda rolled onto her side twice. I yelled to Matt to come watch cause she had never done that before. He went back to work and I got up to get a glass of milk, walked back over, and she was on her tummy! Seriously.... seriously..... I walk away for 15 seconds and she decides to roll over. I was so bummed that I missed it, but freaking out with excitement. I am in no hurry for her to start being more mobile or crawling, but it was still very very exciting!

Got out the video camera, but of course she wouldn't do it again:( Here I am congratulating her on a job well done. Can't you see the excitement all over her face..... "Geez mom, it was nothing!"

He saw His Shadow!

Puxatony Phil saw his shadow yesterday, looks like we are in for 6 more weeks of winter. All in all, that isn't too long. We are due for another 3 inches of snow again today. Not much in the scheme of things, but i'm ready for some green grass and sunshine. I miss going for walks outside, like the first month after Ashlyn was born.

Ashlyn is a ball of joy these days. I love how babies are so happy in the morning. She lays in bed with me and just talks and smiles. She still hasn't rolled over, but she is getting really into all her toys. She tries to pull herself up from the hanging toys on the playmat. It's all good till she lets go and bangs her head onto the ground:( She also loves listening to me sing.....not sure why....but it thouroughly entertains her.

I've decided Ashlyn looks really good in light pink. Pulls out the rose color of her cheeks.

Super Bowl Sunday

As expected on Super Bowl Sunday, we had a kitchen full of yummy and fattening food. We had a group of friends over to watch the game. No one was really a fan of either the Steelers or Cardinals, but what else are you going to do on Super Bowl Sunday. We had 3-Way chili dogs, Milano's subs, football shaped brownies, and so much more. It was tasty, and I ate way too much. We were all praying that the Cardinals would hold on to the lead, but those darn Steelers pulled it out in the end.

Ashlyn was an angel just hanging out with everyone and watching the game. She does really really well anytime we have people over....Lucky for us, otherwise they might not keep coming back. Overall it was a pretty relaxing weekend. Took a picture of Ashlyn bundled up by the snow Friday. The sun is out and it's melting fast. White death didn't last too long:)