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.

Tummy Time Clip

Here is a clip of Ashlyn during tummy time... she also has the hiccups, which she still gets EVERY day!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

girls night out in Mankato

Here's a picture of us at Girls Night Out in Mankato on September 18th with our friend Angie Dorn. It was a lot of fun and Ashlyn ended up sleeping thru most of it! Ashlyn and I are looking forward to going to Girls Night Out in St. Peter this Thursday with Grandma Ruth, it will be so much fun with our little shopper in training :)

green or red??

Seems like a popular question to ask farmers is what color do you farm with? Our answer is a little bit of everything! She supports John Deere with her cute pink outfit and Case IH with her hat borrowed from dad.

Ashlyn helping daddy get ready for harvest!

teddy bear

I love this jacket, she looks like a little teddy bear :) Ashlyn is really starting to show us her personality by smiling and talking a lot. It's so fun! Here are some fun pictures of her last Wednesday when we were getting ready for a walk.

 

new cousin!

My cousins Scott & Jenny Kral had a baby boy Wednesday, September 24th! His name is Jeffrey Scott Kral, 7lbs 5oz.

 I can't wait for Christmas when there will be 5 (maybe 6, if Kristi goes early) at the Kral famliy Christmas! We now have 3 girls and 2 boys... too fun!! My sister Lyndsey is expecting #2 in April too... what a year for the Kral's, 7 babies in 12 months!

it's viral...

Ashlyn had her follow up appointment yesterday with Dr. Knudson and everything looked good. She is getting over her cold and is almost symptom free. That's the good news, bad news is... I'm sick now :(  Apparently there is a viral thing going around and it seems like everyone I talk to has had it or knows someone who has had it... bummer. I really hate being sick, hopefully it will go away quickly!!

Also, Ashlyn weighed in at 14lbs 8oz!! I can't believe how fast she is growing... I just love her rolls :)))

ER visit

Ashlyn woke up Sunday with a really stuffy nose and she was having a really hard time breathing. She slept a lot during the day and I called the nurse in the afternoon and she said to watch her and if she doesn't get better I should call back. She seemed to be okay in the early evening but she really started to get stuffed up again around 10:00pm and threw up after she ate so I called the hospital and talked to an RN who thought I should bring her in because she is under 3 months old and respiratory problems can quickly progress if it's not treated quickly.

So we went to the ER around 11:00pm and it took almost 45 minutes to get called back to the examination room. She threw up all over me just as I was laying her down to get weighed so I was covered in vomit for the rest of our visit... it smelled really bad but no one seemed to care thankfully :)  The Dr. checked her out and she didn't have a fever and everything else looked okay but he wanted to have a chest xray done to make sure she didn't have pneumonia. So we went into the xray room and they had to squeeze her into this contraption with her arms strait up over her head to take chest xrays... she didn't like it one bit!!! Then they had to put her back in there because the first xray didn't turn out like they wanted... poor little thing, she cried for the whole thing :(((

The xrays came back and her lungs were clear so she doesn't have pneumonia and the Dr. cleared her to go home and get lots of rest and fluids. He also wants us to follow up with our pediatrician tomorrow and make sure she's not getting any worse. Poor little thing is just so stuffed up, I feel so bad for her. Hopefully she'll get over it in the next few days.

Here is a picture from the wedding dance and a few more that I took this morning. She was feeling pretty good when she got up this morning so that was good!

backyard fun

We spent some time in the backyard yesterday with our dog Gauge. It was so nice out but the bugs were a little bad so I had to put the netting over her swing... I wish they made one for my lawn chair :) 

First Smile :)

Yesterday was Ashlyn's first "real" smile!!!! She did it all day!  I'm so excited... I've been waiting for this for a few weeks, I knew it was coming and it's wonderful! It's so nice to feel like we're interacting with one another :) She has smiled randomly since she was 6 weeks but this is her 'social smile', big difference!

 I tried to get a good picture of her in the act but by the time I got my camera out it was late and I think she was getting tired... so this is what I got, not the greatest picture but it's still cute...

Bottles are back!

For those of you who didn't know... Ashlyn was on a bottle strike. Apparently it is common for breastfeed babies to strike around 2 months old... and believe me, she did! After we bought almost every bottle on the market, we discovered that she likes MAM bottles the best! Thankfully she seems to be back on track, woo hoo!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

After a long and wet day of work on Sunday, daddy needed a nap and Ashlyn thought she'd join him!

Curly Sue

Her hair is getting so long! She really has the curls going on the sides and back. I can't wait until I can put some pony tails in :)

 

 

I caught a smile on camera!!