Busy Weekend!

We had a busy weekend at the Loula house! Friday Joe and I went to the comedian Steven Lynch in the cities and Grandma Deb came over to watch Ashlyn. Then Saturday we had Brent & Desirae's wedding and Grandma & Grandpa Loula watched Ashlyn overnight. It was nice to have two date nights... we don't get out that often just the two of us and Ashlyn LOVES being babysat by her grandparents so it's a win-win situation! Then we wrapped up the weekend by having supper at the Bode's to celebrate Bryan's birthday :)

Us before we went to the cities

Grandma Deb

Helping Grandma Deb make a cake!

Snack time at Grandma & Grandpa Loula's

Raiding the tupperware drawer

Hanging out with auntie Christy and cousin Connor.

8 Months Old!

Ashlyn is 8 months old today! Hard to believe she is 3/4 of a year old. She's has such a fun personality and makes us laugh every day. She wakes us up talking every morning and usually "talks" for the first hour. It's almost like she has to make up for being quiet all night! It's cute :)  She has been enjoying her new car seat and we went to the grocery store this morning and she had fun sitting in the cart. She even helped hold some of the groceries for me. Our latest nick name for her is Little Miss Wrecking Ball. We have to be careful where we put her since she will grab everything within reach and shake it, chew on it, then knock other things over with it and finally she'll toss it. Her favorite is dropping things on the floor and watching where they go and of course she wants you to pick it up for her so she can do it all over again!! It's such a fun game... for her, not us!

As usual, the week has gone by so fast. Tuesday we had MOPS, Thursday was ECFE and Friday we went shopping in the cities with auntie Lyndsey to help her get ready for the baby who will be here in a few short weeks!! I think she's going to have a girl ;)  I moved Ashlyn into her convertible car seat and she seemed to like it. There is lot more room to kick around :)  Grandma Deb came over to watch Ashlyn on Friday night while Joe and I went to a fundraiser for MOPS in Mankato. It was a good time and we had a good turn out!

 

Playing with a new "big girl" toy. Growing up is so much fun!

Bath time... always a good time!

Playing with toys in the water tray at ECFE.

Eating a Biter Biscuit... she loves to feed herself, but it can get messy!!

A little bit of everything

I'm recovering from Desirae's bachelorette party last night, it was a blast! I haven't been out till 3am in a long time and after today I remember why... I need my sleep! Ashlyn didn't cut me any slack either, she normally naps for about 3 hours (2 naps) during the day but today she had two short half hour naps so I didn't get to nap much myself. Needless to say, I'll be going to bed when she does tonight! ;)

I took Ashlyn to the doctor on Monday to check for an ear infection because she seemed to be pulling at her ears lately and she wasn't sleeping very good, but both ears were clear and she didn't have any other symptoms so that was good news! She also weighed 21 lbs!! We only have one more pound to go before she has to move out of her infant car seat. I'm not looking forward to it because it is so easy to just pick up the whole car seat and go. If she's sleeping I don't have to wake her up to get her out either. But she is really heavy to carry around and she really likes to sit up and see what is going on if we're grocery shopping so she will enjoy sitting right in the cart an having more to look at than the light fixtures :)  I think I'll be switching seats in the next week. We went to visit cousin Landon, he's such a cutie and getting big! Ashlyn wanted to grab his eyeballs but we didn't let that happen. It's always fun to have play dates and we look forward to many more! We also went for a walk on when it was so nice out... I officially have spring fever!

Getting ready for a stroller ride

Practicing standing in her room

Making one of her many noises

Reading "The Grouchy Ladybug"

Enjoying the sunshine in the living room

Watching cars go by

Eating at the mall

So happy!

Sauerkraut & Dumplings

Grandma Deb came over today and helped us make sauerkraut and dumplings. It stinks up the whole house but it's so worth it! Ashlyn even tried a dumpling and liked it! We're going to wait to try the sauerkraut, that could be traumatic!!

Ashlyn and her stash of dumplings & kraut.

New Do!

Well a new hair cut was long over due for me. I love it!!

Blowing Raspberries

Ashlyn's started making this sound last night. Apparently it's called blowing raspberries. It's very cute and involves a lot of spit and drool :)

Finger Painting!

Finger painting for a Valentine's project.

Out and About

Joe has his lasik pre-op appointment in Edina this morning and Ashlyn and I went with since he couldn't drive after they do all their tests. Ashlyn and I had fun waiting in the reception area. She stood on the chair looking out the window and watched people walk around the pond in the middle of the office complex. She even smiled at the UPS guy who dropped off a package. What a little ham. We ended our day having supper at the Pizza Ranch in LeSueur, dads favorite place to eat! Ashlyn tried mashed potatoes for the first time... they were ok, but not nearly as good as her puffs :)

Hanging out with dad before he got called back.

7 months old!

Another month has come and gone and Ashlyn is now 7 months old! She is so much fun, there is always something new with her every day. Here are a few of the things she has been up to.

• sits alone like a champ
• grabs at everything
• loves to feed herself
• sleeping good, 8pm to 7am (gets up for one feeding that lasts only 10 min)
• loves, loves, loves her jumperoo
• likes to be held upside down
• jabbers a lot, says da da da da
• great observer, she does this cute 'leaning her head' to look. too cute!
• loves other babies
• can't get enough of her reflection in the mirror
• will stand leaning on coffee table etc.
• likes to pull her feet up to nibble on them
• likes to bend down to nibble on her feet
• thinks it's funny when you sneeze
• wearing 12-18 month clothes

Still growing like a weed

sorry it's sideways, I can't turn it :(

Daddy's Girl

No doubt about it, she's a little Joe for sure!

Joe .................................... Ashlyn

Professional Pictures

I took Ashlyn in for her 6 month pictures a few weeks ago and they turned out pretty good! She was such a good girl for the photographer. I even got creative and finally made a new header for the blog :)

Mexico

Joe and I enjoyed a nice vacation in Mexico last week. We stayed at the all inclusive Adventura Spa Palace resort in Playa Del Carmen and it was wonderful!! Joe earned the trip through a seed purchase. It was interesting to be at a resort with 1,400 other farmers. We saw a lot of laid shirts and John Deere hats :). We met some other young farm couples from Ohio, Iowa and Illinois and had dinner with a few of them a couple nights. Our resort had some really good restaurants and we tried 3 out of the 5 and our favorite was the oriental restaurant Mo Mo No Hana – funny name but great food! We basically laid out by the beach every day and drank all kinds of drinks. I got a massage at the spa on our first full day there and then another one the day before we left.... it was amazing! We even made it to the disco one night and danced! We took a cab to downtown Playa and shopped. Or should I say that I shopped while Joe sat on the benches waiting for me :) The weather was a beautiful 85 degrees and sunshine everyday until the day we left when it rained. We were ready to come home by then but the rain made it even easier to leave the warm weather behind and get home to Ashlyn. We missed her so much! I had never been away from her overnight before this so it was a big change. It helped knowing that she was in good hands with both grandmas for days that we were gone. Grandma Ruth had her Wednesday night through Saturday and Grandma Deb had her Saturday night until we got home at 3am on Wednesday morning. Did I mention we had a 4 hour delay on the way home?? We sat for 3 hours in the plain on the runway in Dallas, TX waiting to get de-iced. Overall we had a great trip!

Mexico

our room

yes, that is a big hot tub in the room!

the view of the ocean from our outdoor hallway

hanging out in the ocean, the water was nice!

Joe bringing us more drinks!

view from our chairs

kayaking in the ocean

our last night out

Gauge and Ashlyn at Grandma & Grandpa Loula's

enjoying some time with Grandpa Tim