Looking Back and Moving On

Can you hear me screaming with excitement, "Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!!!!", I found my camera. I have emptied out the diaper bag, and gone through the thing a million times since Christmas. Imagine my surprise last night when I reach in the back pocket looking for all my missing pacifiers and my fingers touch a hard, leather case. Oh My Gosh!!!! I am one Happy Happy Momma right now, and i teared with joy to have all my precious Christmas photos memories back. So we backtrack to enjoy all the christmas smiles and family gatherings.

Opening Stockings

My beautiful family at Christmas Eve dinner

Ashlyn in her Gorgeous winter dress coat

Sledding with her uncles and cousins

Austin's Baptism with Wayne (who married us and baptized Ashlyn)

Godparents: Aunt Sarah and Uncle Larry

To see all of the Christmas pictures here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsey.england/Christmas2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCNiRyIja2bCROA#

After looking back, crazy to think how much we have moved on to new things in a month. We have moved into a big girl bed, which is nice because it stops her coming into our bed when she wakes up in the middle of the night......BUT it has made bedtime routine a bit harder. She wants us to lay with her, or has 10 million excuses to not go to sleep yet. Luckily she doesn't get out of the bed, and it's already gotten better. I know it is a phase that will eventually pass, at least i'm hoping.

Unfortunatly one of Ashlyn's new favorite words is "No", which mommy and daddy do not like at all. She has also started chasing and tormenting the poor dog (in a friendly 2 year old manner). Not sure if it is the stir craziness of being trapped inside so much, or just the almost 2 1/2 year old maturing and becoming more defiant. Either way, it's not always fun, but the big hugs and super sweet "i'm sorry mommy" after time outs make it seem not as painful. I'm trying my best to keep her entertained, and focused on being a nice/polite/sweet little girl. But i've certainly lost my cool a few times in the last few weeks, and made a New Year's resolution to try to be more patient with her. I'll let you know how that goes in a month or so:)

A love/torment relationship with Bailey

It's all smiles at the end of the tunnel

Building forts for entertainment

Very proud of her Pink big girl bed

Being a proud Big Sister and wanting to give Austin a bottle

Little A just being CUTE and happy!

Little Man is 4 Months

Austin hit his 4 month mark last week. I had to bust out the old camera to document the moment. Our camera has still not unearthed itself, and daddy is stalling on letting mommy get a new one:(

Our well check up went great. As expected, he is still a big boy weighing in at 16 lbs 3 oz. That put him in the 76% percentile, which is better than 95th from his 2 month appointment. He is running 40% for height, although the nurse said he wouldn't stretch out so it's probably more like 50%. Dr. Wallace said he is advanced in most of his physical milestones, he's rolling over from back to tummy, very strong, stands well, laughing, grabbing. All the norm for 4 months, thankfully, just a big strong boy. He also noted that Austin has the same eye issue, Pseudostrabismus, that Ashlyn had. It is the slight appearance of a lazy eye on one side, but in reality it's just that the fold of skin on that side is larger and you see less white. It is much less noticeable than Ashlyn's....I had not even noticed it....way to go observant mom:) He laughed after his 1st shot, then we had some good yells for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Ugh, I hate shots.

He has so much personality these days, loves playing with toys and holding crinkle paper, giggles the hardest at daddy, and fuss's less and less all the time. We started rice cereal this week, way earlier than i did with Ash, but he's been sleeping less and acting hungrier so they told me to start now. He already went back to sleeping 8 hours last night.....guess he was hungry! Rolling into month 5, and loving every minute of our little guy.

Been having lots of playdates to get out of the house with Ashlyn. She's very interactive with other kids, plays well, and isn't shy at all. She'll walk right in a room and just start playing and say hi to everyone, I love that she's social and not afraid to break away from me. I was a super shy kid, and with her being home with me all day you just never know. Have two preschool open houses this week, then we'll just wait to see what happens come early February. At least I feel confident she'll have no trouble socializing and going to school next year!

We've been trying out lots of new "dairy free" desserts, becuase it's killing mommy to not bake all my goodies. Thankfully Ghiradelli chocolate chips are soy based instead of milk, so I can keep the choc chip cookies coming!

Happy 2011

Wow, who knew that i'd be thrown into preschool planning like a pack of wolves. Guess I wasn't quite prepared for the craziness of getting into 3 year old preschool. Ashlyn will be the youngest in the class, turing 3 just days before the cut off in September. Would have totally missed the application process had my sister in law not made me aware it's all happening now. Trying not to get too crazy about it, just want to find somewhere clean/fun/and close to home. Most of them are done on lottery systems though, so i'll let you know in a few weeks if our number gets drawn! (Biting nails)

Here are a few phots from our Christmas photo shoot. It was SO great to have my grandma in town for the holidays. She is almost 90, and said she wasn't going to come from Missouri anymore cause it was too hard to travel. Luckily dad talked her into it and she got to see Ashlyn for the 1st time in two years, and meet Austin. I love the holidays as it is the ONLY time each year my whole family is together.

Christmas was great, we got WAY too many gifts, got spoiled by all the family time, and enjoyed lots of good food. Austin's baptism was also a special day, and our family filled the church the celebrate with us.

We rang in the new year with my siblings and best friend who all came down to crash at our place. Had a bar full of appetizers, tasty desserts, board games, champagne, and lots of fun. Couldn't have asked for a better way to ring in 2011! (no pics, as I realized that night my camera was MIA)

Bummed!!!

While Christmas was Great, and filled with lots of quality family time. I lost my camera last Sunday.....3 of the most important days of the year were on there. Christmas Eve (Ashlyn looked GORGEOUS in her Christmas outfit).....Christmas Day.....and Austin's Baptism on Sunday. Needless to say, i'm sad, very sad, and can't quite seem to get over the sadness of losing those few short days of memories on film (many tears have been shed). In my sadness, i'm too depressed to blog about the holiday just yet. Hoping to get some photos from friends and family to fill in the gaps and post soon! Happy New Year!!!

On a side note, I luckily downloaded Thursday's Santa visit and my friends the night before Christmas Eve. So here is Ashlyn, slightly freaking out, telling Santa she would like, "A pony please, and stickers."

And here are my good high school girlfriends, Erin, Katie (daughter Annabelle), and Bevin who stopped in for a fun visit before Christmas.