Foreshadowing

In my last blog post I made a comment about how Ashlyn is becoming quite the photographer. No lie, she is obsessed with taking pictures. She pretends, she uses my cell phone, she find the real camera. When I turned on the camera last week, this is what I found....I could not stop laughing!

She then started posing herself with her doll and asking me to take pictures!

Some more of her fine photography work!

Am thinking I need to get this girl her own camera for her birthday!

Getting Behind

As it so easily happens in life, things speed up, and we fall behind. I would probably be more on target with the blog, but summer evenings keep us up and out later, and my laptop issues drive me insane. What should take me 15 minutes to accomplish, can take an hour or more, so I just opt to avoid the frustration. Hoping to get on the desktop more to update, just means holing myself up in the back office now and then.

We are out and about as much as possible these days. Everyone went through another round of colds, crazy for June, and Austin got another cold from traveling in July....but we all healthy again. To avoid melting in the insane heat of July this year, we have spent the majority of our time at the pool.

In lieu of a super long post, i'll update with lots of fun and adorable pictures from the last 2 months. *Will save our CA trip for it's own post in a few days.

Updates by month:

9 1/2 months- Austin is making a constant destruction path, getting into everything he shouldn't. He's pulling up, falling down, eating table food, laughing lots, and popping out teeth left and right (his gums are bruised from a ruptured cyst from teething.....ouch). Makes for some sleepless nights for us, but hopefully we'll be in t he next phase soon.

10+ months- Austin is back to sleeping awesome, mommy is getting used to him going 7:45-7. He has 8 teeth, is babbling up a storm and trying hard to talk (says ewww, eww whenever he sees the dog) not sure if he is trying to say dog, or a bark noise. Also does, buh, for ball. Has gone from pulling up to cruising and reaching across to change from one thing to another. Will be walking in no time. Shows an attitude at times, makes a grumpy face and bangs his hand hard on the table....it's hard not to laugh. He is also playing peek a boo, will cover his face with his towel or a book then pull it away and giggle. His demeanor is still just awesome, smiley and easy breezy!

*Mommy loves it the best that he bops and dances every time music comes on, so stinking cute!

Getting into Everything

Enjoying Table Foods

Loves banging, and standing and push behind toys

Reaching and trying to take balanced steps

Fascinated with vacuums

Loves playing with (or pulling off) all the fridge toys

Playing peek a boo with Ashlyn

Think he is taking lessons on playing with a ball from the dog

So proud he climbed inside the chair legs by himself

Ashlyn is constantly cracking us up with her witty comments, misunderstanding of sarcasm, imaginative play, and making up songs. Making us smile with her super tan face and adorable dimples! She's starting to get a little more annoyed with "baby Austin" since he can invade her space and toys.....but overall it is a lot of love. She can finally sit through a good chunk of a movie, which is nice if we ever need some downtime or a breather. She has also gotten very daring at the pool. Swims totally on her own with her vest on, will go completely under, and jumps in off the side running full speed with no one to catch her. Fun to see how far she's come in just 2 months. Mostly she wants to be outside playing with the older neighbors, at the pool, doing gymnastics with Miss Chelsea, helping mommy cook/bake, giving bread to the fish at the pond, coloring, or eating flavor ice (naked) on the deck.

*Proud Mama note- Starting to color pictures more in the lines than scattered. Can draw a smiley face and circles really well! She can spell her name, and we are working on writing it. She's got the A and H down, the rest is mostly scribbles:) Can now count to 30.

Swimming at the neighborhood pool

Posing with daddy after a pancake breakfast

Settled and ready to watch Toy Story

Looking cute and sporty during a fluke cold day in June

Helping mommy make dinner

Loving the rides at Kings Island

First time having blue "smurf" ice cream

Showing Austin how to use his push toy

Nursing her baby doll before rocking her to sleep

Quite the "daddies little girl"!

A budding photographer

8 Months & a Playground

It may have taken 2 months to put up, but mommy is one VERY happy lady. We have the biggest, baddest, coolest playset on the block. Thanks to Costco, our backyard is now equiped with a pretty awesome play yard. We have yet to get the bar with swings up yet, but the playhouse and slide are enough to keep ashlyn occupied probably all summer. I know there will be awesome memories, and lots of imaginative play done here in the future. So thank you Matt, and the many family members and friends who put in time and effort to make my christmas wish come true.

My little monkey hit the 8 month mark. I'm seriously afraid to blink because I know he's going to turn 1 the second I look away. The poor guy has been trying hard to crawl for awhile, but I've been deterring the process by swooping him up before he can take off. Guess as a mom of 2 I know what mobility brings, and I am greatly enjoying him just "hanging out". He has however figured it out. It's amusing to watch actually, sort of a worm/belly flop. He pushes up on both arms, propels his body forward, then flops down. He'll pull himself across the whole room this way. Occasionally he does get up on hands and knees and move forward a few steps but then flops down and resorts to the other/faster method. I love it!!!

We are starting to have some anxiety over the last few weeks. He'll stick his lower lip out and pout when i leave the room. We've also started having lots of tears when being laid down to go to bed. He cries it out for about 10 minutes, and calls out mama, but quickly gives up and goes to sleep. Does not seemed too bothered or phased by strangers yet, but i'm sure that is due to happen soon.

Only hiccup was breaking out with hives all over his body on the last day of being on amoxicillian. They think it was an allergic reaction to the medicine, but are not completely sure. Ugh!!! Overall though, things are great and he is still just as easy and chill as ever. We do 2 naps, play, read books, eat our fruits and veggies, and are ready for bed by 7:30. Mommies little monkey (Monkey 2 as I often call him) is kissable/squeezable and as adorable as ever!

And He's OFF....

Bunnies, Baby Teeth, Brides and a Birthday!

Our internet is driving me bonkers. Takes FOREVER to download anything, so I apologize for the lack of posting lately!

Had a great Easter. Started our celebrations the weekend before with a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Luckily they let the little kids have their own section or Ashlyn wouldn't have gotten any eggs. She would pick one up, smile, shake it, look around, really taking in the whole experience.

As the rest of April has gone (record rain), we had a rainy Easter day. We started off the day at Ducky's house for a fun hunt. Dad, Jill and Nono seemed to have fun watching Ashlyn find eggs and little toys around the house. Then we went over to Mimi and Papa's house for a fun hunt and dinner. Feels like it'd been forever since we had everyone together for dinner, was nice to chat/eat/and celebrate the holiday.

After what feels like 2 months of teething, little man's bottom 2 teeth popped through. Teething seemed to bother him more than Ashlyn. Pain, grabbing at his mouth, and even little blisters on his gums. So glad they have finally come out! Certainly am not looking forward to the next set.

Started off the wedding season with a wedding first for me. We did an Indian ceremony in the morning, a luncheon, and then turned the room over for a christian ceremony and reception that night. It was a really neat cultural experience, loved everything about it! And the long awaited Royal Wedding lived up to expectations. I didn't wake up at 4am to watch it live, but did record it. Kate looked gorgeous, very Grace Kelly. I would have liked to see a more dramatic train and longer veil, but overall thought she was stunning. Pippa certainly left her mark on the world too, poised and beautiful in a slim and sleek white gown.

Ashlyn had her own princess party, putting on her dresses and dancing around the room while I sang the wedding march. I tried to get her to watch some of the wedding video with me, but she was pretty uninterested. Don't think she's going to take after "momma" and my love for weddings.

Last but not least, another birthday has come and gone! I am officially 31 years young. We had a birthday celebration with matt's family on Easter day. For some reason my birthday is one of the days i miss my mom the most. She always made sure our birthdays were really special, so i miss her presence on that day. Day started with singing and birthday card from Ashlyn, My mother in law came down and took the kids to the Children's museum, then we went to lunch, I killed a few hours at a playdate with my girlfriend Amanda that evening , and then Matt brought home Ruby Tuesday turkey burgers and a candy cake (darn daily allergy). He spoiled me with a gift card for a massage, gave me a foot massage, and bought me a dress from Nordstrom (very impressive"). Followed by a day full of phone calls, text messages, and facebooks birthday wishes. Needless to say, I felt loved, spoiled, and happy all day long.

Then to top it off, I got a great night out with all of our great friends to enjoy an adult dinner, some wine, and good conversation. It was a really GREAT week!

7 months

Whoever said "enjoy these moments cause they go by quickly" really knew what they were talking about. I feel like when Ashlyn was a baby and hit all her milestones I had so much time to take it all in, share the excitement, and enjoy the moment. With Austin, he'll do something that suprises someone, and i'm like "oh yeah, he's been doing that for weeks". Not that it isn't exciting, and I definitly want to share it with the world, time just seems to be in warp speed these days.

These next few months are my favorite. I love it when they can sit and entertain themselves, show SO much personality, try to talk back to you and think you are the FUNNIEST person alive. Life is more routine, fun, easy, and enjoyable. I could squeeze and kiss my little monkey to pieces.

My little boy is anything but little! He is going to eat us out of the house. All you have to do is get out a baby food jar, or spoon and he loses his mind with excitement. Over the last month he's started sitting up, and babbling Dadadada. It is the cutest and sweetest thing in the world watching him say "dada" and seeing the proud look on Matt's face. Priceless!

Everyone who is around Austin says the same thing, wow he is such a content and happy little guy. How did we get blessed with perfection twice. Lucky us!!!!

Austin's 1st trip to the Zoo

Mastering his sippy cup skills

Brighter Skies

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die. ~Thomas Campbell

The sky got a little brighter last week when Matt's grandma, Evelyn Bayer, went to be with the Lord. She was such a dynamic lady, and it was a honor that I got to spend a little time with her over the last 6 years. At her funeral, they spoke of her candy jar that was always out and full of M&M's for guests and family to enjoy. Just like her home and her heart! She raised 5 amazing kids, who went on to raise their own wonderful famalies. I am blessed that both of my children got to spend a little time with their great grandma. They may not remember those visits, but hopefully her humor, and spirit will be pieces of them forever. God Bless you Grandma Bayer.

Ashlyn did not seem scared of confused by seeing her body at the funeral, since I wasn't sure how a 2 year old would take seeing a dead body. She kept saying, "great grandma died out, she's an angel now."

The funeral did however leave me with some very raw emotions. I was able to keep it together, but have been feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness since. I'm sure it doesn't help that we are just a week out from the anniversary of mom's passing. I keep reliving the day in my head, both the beauty and total sadness of the day she left us. It was extremely emotional when her spirit left her body. She told all of us she didn't want us to remember that moment, and I don't focus on it, but it's tough. I miss her terribly! I miss her calming presence, our daily talks, her words of advice, I MISS MY MOM!

The only positive is that Grandma Bayer has some pretty awesome company up in heaven.