Snow

Ashlyn's first snowfall! She even tasted a little snow and seemed to like it :) I'm not sure if we're ready for winter/snow yet but I guess we don't have a choice!

Halloween!

It was Ashlyn's first official holiday, Halloween! It was so much fun dressing her up, she was such a cute Tigger!

She does look more like me with her dark hair covered up.... right??.... maybe :)

... at work with Grandma Deb

Her costume was making her really warm so we were trying to cool off! 

Here's Ashlyn with Grandpa Frank

... with Great Aunt Lois, Great Uncle Daryl and cousin Frankenstein (Jared).

... with Great Aunt Mary

... with Great Grandma Lappe

After visiting everyone in New Ulm, we went to Bryan & Christy's house in North Mankato to help hand out candy and have Joe & Christy's aunt Mary take pictures of Ashlyn and her cousin Connor in their costumes. I haven't seen to pictures yet but I will post them when I get a copy! 

Little Pumpkin

Ashlyn got this adorable pumpkin outfit from her great aunt Mary. It's so cute! Ashlyn blended right in with the pumpkins in front of our house. She is going to be Tigger for Halloween tonight so I will post more pictures tomorrow :) 

Blowing Bubbles

Dressed up for ECFE

We have ECFE on Thursday's and our class decided to dress up.  They were all so cute! I thought it was funny that none of the kids were looking at the camera!

Rice Cereal

We've officially started rice cereal! Ashlyn seemed to be eyeing our food lately and they say that is a sign that she is ready for solids so we tried it out on Saturday and she like it! She was smiling and didn't end up with too much on her bib. So now we're doing cereal once a day, so far so good :)

First try went really well, she seemed to enjoy it :)

A few days later... she really wanted to hold the spoon so I gave it to her and she had a good time playing with it, she even got it into her mouth all by herself!

Yard Work

Grandma Deb came over on Monday to help move some of my plants in the yard and she brought me more pompous grass. It was a beautiful day out so Ashlyn hung out in her swing all bundled up and watched us work. She was so good :)

 

Smiles!

She has been smiling more and more. It makes me melt every time... I just love it! So here are some recent smiling shots, what a little ham!

Reflections

Ashlyn loves her activity mat and also enjoys looking at herself in the mirror. She even has little conversations with herself... it's so fun to listen to her. She is getting stronger every day. Grandma Ruth saw her roll from her stomach to her back the other day but we haven't seen her do it since... she gets so close sometimes! I have also found her facing the opposite direction in her crib when she gets up in the morning... at first I thought I must have put her down that way but after two nights I knew she was moving on her own. Pretty impressive considering we still swaddle her at night! She's still sleeping like a champ (knock on wood!) asleep by 9:30 - 10:00pm and is up for about 15 minutes to eat around 6:00am but then she usually goes back for another 2-3 hours. It's so nice! The only bad part is that she doesn't get to see daddy a whole lot, but that will change in a few weeks thankfully!

Ashlyn says, "wow, look at that cute baby!"

Bumbo

We've been trying out our Bumbo chair the past few days and as you can see... she is not a big fan yet. 

Quick Visits

Since Joe has been busy with harvest we don't get to see him as much as we'd like. Luckily we've been able to see him a few times a day when he is in the yard unloading corn. He always looks forward to these quick visits since Ashlyn is usually sleeping when he gets up in the morning and is tucked into bed by the time he comes home. He's definitely looking forward to spending more time with her once harvest is done in a few weeks :)

 

ECFE

We had our first ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) class in St. Peter on Tuesday and it was fun. There were 5 other babies (0-12 months) there and Ashlyn was the youngest. We sang songs, played with toys, felt new textures with a small sticky ball of masking tape and looked at brightly colored fall leaves. Once she can crawl there are lots of soft tubes and tunnels she can play with and there are a ton of mirrors along the floor. So much to look forward to! 

Peekaboo

I had been playing peekaboo with Ashlyn for a little while now and she always smiled at me when we were playing. Well Friday night I thought I'd play peekaboo with her during bath time and she loved it! It was the first time I've heard her giggle while she was awake! It was so much fun :) She will only giggle like this in the tub so Saturday night I brought the camera with and got a clip of her giggling again... too cute!!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

3 Months Old!

I can't believe Ashlyn is 3 months old already. Somedays it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital! Every morning I can't wait for her to wake us so I can pick her up and snuggle with her. She is always so happy in the morning and smiles and coo's a lot. When she wakes up early, sometimes I'll bring her into our room and have some family time. She really likes it and always makes us laugh with her smiles, facial expressions.... and her gas! Who knew such a sweet little girl could make such loud noises!! It always cracks us up!

She has grown so much!! I took her in to get her height and weight checked and she was 15lbs 15oz and 26 inches long! It was just a nurses visit so I didn't get the percentile she was in but I'm going to check with the Dr at her 4 month appointment.

Look how much I've grown!

(3 months, 2 months, 1 month and 2 days old)

Beautiful Fall Days

Today was such a beautiful fall day... we just had to take advantage of it. Grandma Ruth came over and took some pictures of Ashlyn in the leaves. I wouldn't say she enjoyed it but at least she didn't cry! Grandma got her to smile and talk a lot once they were back in the house so it ended up being a good afternoon after all :)

 

Ashlyn and Grandma Ruth

Kristi's Baby Shower

Babies, babies and more babies ! We went to my cousin Kristi's baby shower on Monday night and there were 6 babies and 3 ladies expecting! The youngest was the little girl in the far right, back row - 4 days old!! I seriously think there is a baby boom going on, I swear everywhere I go there is a pregnant lady or a baby! I love it! 

Here we all are, another baby boy and his mom had to go home early so they are missing from our group shot.

Visiting Grandma Deb

After we got done visiting Jeffery we went to meet Grandma Deb for lunch and then went out to her work to stretch out and play for a little. It was a lot of fun!

Cousin Jeffrey

We went to visit Jenny and our new cousin Jeffrey Scott last Friday. He looks just like his daddy!! What a peanut! He makes Ashlyn look like a giant and they're only 11 weeks apart.

They grow so fast.... too fast if you ask me :)

Bottle Struggles

Just when I thought we were back on track with the bottle, Ashlyn decides to go on another strike. I have no clue what makes her to do it but it sure is frustrating. Here she was yesterday having a "good" day taking the bottle with no problems... proof that it can be done!

First Combine Ride

Dad started harvesting beans last night so we thought we would ride around with him for a little bit. She enjoyed watching the reel go around and around. 

Ashlyn's view....

All that hard work sure makes a little girl tired...

Crazy Hair

We never know what to expect her hair to look like from day to day. It can be curly, wavy, strait, or fuzzy. On this particular day it's just plain crazy. We'll call it her Alfalfa look :)

Chewing on Mr. Starfish, one of her favorite toys.