Swift as a Bunny

Went with a few of my girlfriends to see Taylor Swift on Sunday night. When i asked Matt to go a few months ago, he told me rather to find some girlfriends and make a girls night out of it. Being pregnant made it a much more mellow evening than my initial plan, but it was still like reliving my highschool days. We thought we'd be the oldest ones there, but there were three 50-some year old ladies rocking it out hard core in front of us. Rather amusing really! Taylor puts on one heck of a show. Worth the money for usre. Kellie Pickler opened for her and she was even better than I was hoping. She is so so cute, and a really talented singer.

Ashlyn participated in her first Easter Egg hunt last weekend. Our neighborhood put on a hunt for all the kids. Ashlyn is quite a bit younger than many of the other kids, but it worked out. She fully understood the concept of picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. Seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the older kids running around, but overall is was a success. And of course I had to find her a cute little basket for the festivities.

18 Months and A Wedding

My little girl is now 18 months. Hard to believe in a short 6 months there is going to be another one joining the family. Ashlyn got a nasty bug last weekend. Fever, the poops, and all that fun stuff. She's better now, but got her 18 month vaccines which didn't sit well on her weak immune system. We've had lots of cuddle time and tears over the last week. She sounds like she has laryngitis, weird to hear a child with no voice.

The Dr. said she is still 70th percentile for height and now falls in the 40th percentile for weight. Guess all that running around thinned her out. She is advanced in her speech, and repeating pretty much every word heard. She's also continuing to show interest in potty training and has gone on the potty 5 times. The girl is a smart cookie and we are so proud of every new thing she does.

Here are a few photos from her 18 month spring photo session with Christine:

I just got back from Meg and Kevin's wedding in Pinehurst, NC. Few brides give you creative freedom to put together all the aspects of their wedding, so this was a fun and unique honor for me. The whole weekend of events came together perfectly and every event was beyond Amazing. Meg and Kevin loved all of their events, and I couldn't be happier with all the work I put into making their wedding weekend a success. They were a fun/laid back/beautiful couple. I miss them already! Check out all the photos at the link below. http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsey.england/MegAndKevinSWedding?feat=directlink#

Shamrocks, Shine, and Shockers

I am proud of ME:
Thought it would be fun to sign up for The Shamrock Shuffle 5K run with my neighbor (she's always wanted to do one). I figured at 13 weeks pregnant I should have enough energy back to do it. Well the night before I was feeling horrible, had massive heartburn, exhuasted, and the weather was nasty. Thought for sure i'd be a morning drop out. Well i woke up and felt fully fine to do the race. Figured it would be tough since i really have worked out or run in about 2+ months.

There were 904 people who ran the race, half doing the 5K and the rest did 10K. I am very proud to say I finished the race in 27 1/2 minutes, coming in 199th place. It was a cold, rainy, ugly day.....but we did it and I was so proud of myself for going and doing it under 30 minutes. Woo Hoo! When's my next one?!?!?!


I am proud of MY HOME:
After months of looking, we finally agreed on a granite color and picked a company to go with. Have the say the company would be a redo for us, but overall we are really happy we took the plunge and invested in granite. Makes the kitchen feels so much warmer. We still have a lot of work to do. There will be a tile backsplash and touch up work, but it already looks awesome. The white appliances are the next to go, but that's for another year. The color is Sapphire Blue. It is Black and blue, with tan specks. Here are some before and after pics:











I am proud of ASHLYN:
My little girl went poop in the big girl potty. After her bath Monday night she was squatting and not getting out. I asked if she needed to poop and wanted to sit on the potty. She said yes so, wet and all, I set her on the potty. Low and behold, she started pushing and pooped.

Next morning I was telling her how proud I was of her for pooping in the potty. She runs to the steps, points upstairs and says poop/potty. I asked if she wanted to go and she said yes. Took her up and put her on where she proceeded to pee and poop. Holy cow!!! My mouth is still open with shock and amazement.

I will spare you the picture of her first poop, but trust me I took one. I'm a proud Momma! Ha!

Zing Zang Zoom

Took Ashlyn to her first circus last night with the neighbors. Wasn't sure how it was going to go since she doesn't sit well for long periods, and it started at 7 pm. Surprisingly, she did really well. She was fascinated anytime there were animals, the elephants were her favorite. Otherwise, she either starred behind us at the kids twirly lights, or bounced from lap to lap checking it all out. Circus wasn't quite as Spectacular as I remember it as a child, but guess that goes for lots of things in life. It was still a fun first!

Can you tell her top eye teeth are coming in. Ha!

We are still fitting a cold. Hasn't slowed her down at all, and sleep has been good. Mostly just a dry and cracked crusty snot face for mommy to wipe constantly. As you can tell, by her playing peek a boo with me in her car this morning, she's still happy and getting into trouble.

Speedy Wrap Up

Lap top is back in action! They had to wipe my hard drive, so I lost everything on here but luckily have it all backed up on my other computer. Still means i have lots of new pictures to upload and things to get back to normal. Computers....ugh!

So what has been happening with the Bayers over the last 2 months? Here is our busy life in a nutshell:

• We finally got over Ashlyn's back to back colds. She seemed to have a cough and cold from Thanksgiving until mid january. Ended it with an ear infection and then a nice 24 hour vomit/poo bug. FUN!!!!
  
• Hoping the fluid lingering in Ashlyn's ears from the colds is gone by her 18 month appointment or we'll be discussing tubes. Boo!!!
  
• Took a trip to NYC to help out Brandon with the kids while liz traveled for work. Was a lot of fun but right when my morning sickness started so I missed my bed and my hubby a whole lot.



• Ashlyn loves listening to music and dancing.

• Ashlyn has had an explosion of words. She tries to say much of what we do. She knows all her animal sounds, and even strings together small sentences like "Hi Baby Boy". It's so cute! Our favorite is when she screams out pancakes. She sure does love some breakfast pancakes.
• We are also still climbing on everything, and even thinking about taking on the challenge of the crib (thankfully hasn't quite figured that one out yet).



• We are starting to become very curious at potty training. She says poo after she poops and has gone to the door of the bathroom and says potty. We'll sit on the potty, but have yet to have anything come out. I'm not pushing it cause she's so young, just going with the flow of her actions for now.
  
• As for mommy, feeling better but not out home free. I'll go days feeling ok then be hit with a horrible day. This time has been much easier than with Ashlyn though, so I really can't complain.
  
• Survived all 30+ inches of snow we got over the month of February, but am so ready for some sunshine and spring weather.



• Are working on our latest kitchen project....granite counter tops. Hopefully will post pictures of the finished product in another week or two.
  
• Joined a woman's bible study and hoping to maybe meet some more people in my community.

Guess that is a quick wrap up of our lives. Ashlyn is a walking tornado, making a path of destruction everywhere she goes and getting into everything. Keeps me very busy and a bit exhausted but I still can't get enough of her!!!!!