10 Months

As of today, Ashlyn is 10 months old. We are so close to the first year being over, I don't think i'm ready. 9 months was probably one of my favorites so far. Some of my favorite highlights:

• She is so fun, and has the best personality
• She goes nuts with excitement for bath time
• Dies laughing when we chase and catch her
• Loves to ride on our shoulders
• Loves looking at pictures of herself and is full of smiles.
• Besides speed crawling and getting into everything, she is now pulling herself up and starting to cruise along the furniture. She likes to practice her steps holding our hands. Walking is inevitably in the future. Eek!
• Babbles full conversations and sits and says, "ummm" while looking around the room
• Waves hello and goodbye to everyone
• Is eating all the same food as mommy and daddy
• Climbing in my lap to cuddle or read a book

The seperation anxiety has certainly set in when mommy leaves, but we don't have too much of the stranger anxiety at this point. She smiles and likes everyone she meets. She did amazing with her first babysitter, Betsy, this week. We are so lucky to have such a happy, easy going baby girl.

Some of her not so great moments include. Biting cause she thinks it's funny, ripping mommy's hair out of her head, waking up off and on through the night for no reason, taking face plants when losing her balance.

Excited to see what the 10th month will bring. I imagine it will be a lot more happiness and love!

A rashy bug

Ashlyn caught some sort of bug last week. She was not her usual self, whimpering, clingy, tired, and running a low temperature on Thursday morning. I called the dr. and they told me to bring her in that afternoon to check her ears. All was normal, so they figured it was just a little bug running through her system.

Fast forward to Saturday when I noticed a small red rash on her neck, back, arms and legs. I thought she might have been allergic to something she ate that day. Come to find out that she had common symptoms for the Roseola virus. It was a very mild case, luckily we didn't have the really high fever. One day of snuggly sick girl, followed by 2 days of a rash, and now all back to normal.

She was soooo tired on Friday afternoon.....fell asleep trying to call her friends.

He's waited soo long....

to hear these words. Ashlyn finally started saying Dada this week. We've only heard it a few times, but at least we know she is capable of doing it. I was starting to think she had a "D" speech impediment. Hoping she starts saying it more and more in the upcoming weeks. Maybe I need to leave Ashlyn for weekends with Daddy more often, it obviously impacted her.

Here is our new favorite picture of Ashlyn. Matt liked it so much he put it on his desk at work. I could just eat those dimples up, ugh they are soooo cute!

Girls Weekend in Nashville

My best girlfriends were all roommates together at Clemson (The Ridge 207). Although I did not live with them, they have considered me an honorary roommate for years. Every year they get together at a different location for a weekend. They were beyond generous this year to invite me on their annual 207 reunion weekend. This years location was Nashville. It was Stephanie, Anika, Erin and Carla hosted. We were missing Peachy and Jessica.

It was such a great weekend. We got a great taste of the culture, nightlife, and heat of Nashville....plus got the pleasure of meeting a lot of Carla's friends.

Friday night we had a yummy dinner then headed downtown to the Honky Tonks for drinks and dancing. It is an hour time difference there. I did well until about 1:00, then the yawns set in. It was a lot of fun though, talk about a melting pot of people.

Saturday we slept in a little, sat around and talked, then got ready for our next big adventure. We took a pole dancing class. I know what you're probably thinking, "A What". Although we had a private class, this is an aerobics class, and a great workout. You learn how to move your body, and get an awesome upper body workout on the pole. I had a feeling I might be a natural on the pole, and I was. Picked it up like i've been a stripper for years:) It was so much fun, and we had a lot of laughs. I have several big bruises on my legs and hips to show for it.

After the class we got ourselves cleaned up and headed out to Arrington Vineyards to have a picnic dinner, do a wine tasting, watch the sunset, and drink wine. It was gorgeous, and we had several hours of quality conversations and girl talk. A gorgeous setting, relaxing atmosphere, all shared with good friends.

We finished the weekend by visiting Carla's church and eating delicious Mexican food for lunch. That was my first weekend away from Ashlyn, and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with anyone else. I miss my Clemson family, and all of my dearest friends!

Little Miss Curious

We have ventured into the world of steps. Luckily the wide, carpeted steps at my parents house are the perfect place to learn. Took a few tries to get the knee up, but she's getting the hang of it.

CURIOUS

SNOOPY

INVESTIGATIVE

INQUISITIVE

Ashlyn is curious about everything. It makes life interesting, but keeps me on my toes. She loves love loves watching the dogs, chewing and reaching for everything on the table, getting into anything left on the floor, pulling the dirt out from around the tree, ect. Her new favorite word is um. She sits and looks around the room saying, ummm, ummm! I think she's contemplating the next thing to get into. Maybe she'll be a detective!

Gyros, Boats, and Rain

We had a great 4th of July weekend. It was packed with fun, and some rain!

• Friday our friends had a house warming party in Cincinnati. They had gyros for dinner, soooo good, and it was fun hanging out somewhere new! Ashlyn came with us and luckily fell asleep in her car seat, let us stay a little longer than normal.

• Saturday we headed out to Caesar's Creek to do some boating with my family before the rain came in. Wondered how Ashlyn would do in her life vest. She sat completely still and starred straight ahead the whole 1 1/2 hours. It started spitting rain, so we had to cut the boating short. Luckily I got in a tube ride with my cousin Brad first. Thought I was going to flip off a few times,but laughed my butt off, it was soooo fun! We stayed around through dinner, then came back home to watch the fireworks from our deck. A relaxing and wet 4th!

• Sunday we went up to Dayton for a visit with Dad and Bevin, then headed back to Caesar's Creek for another boat ride with Matt's parents. Thankfully, it was much warmer and sunnier. Ashlyn did pretty well again, only got cranky when the boat wasn't moving. Grandma always seems to be able to make her smile though! Hopefully she'll grow into the vest soon so it won't be such an uncomfortable ride for her.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July as well.

Funny Obsessions

Ashlyn has some weird, and funny, obsessions. One is HERSELF! She smiles everytime she sees a picture of herself. Hope that doesn't mean she is going to be conceited. We have this one picture hanging on the wall of Me, Ashlyn, Stephanie and Addie. She waves at it from across the room and talks to it. When I take her over to it, she touches the picture,talks, and laughs. Not sure if she misses Addie, or just loves herself.

Her other obessions is the Wheel of Fortune! Ashlyn really does not pay attention to the Television if we have it on, except at 7:00 every night. Wheel of Fortune will stop her in her tracks. She'll stop, sit, and stare at the TV. I think it's a combination of the bright colors, ding noise, and spinning wheel. Or maybe she just takes after daddy and likes puzzles.