6 month check up

Well this is a little late, Dr Knudson is hard to get into sometimes! Ashlyn has been battling a cold (stuffy nose, cough) for the last couple weeks but it's nothing serious. Hopefully it will clear up in the next week or so. She is still growing like a weed! She is still not rolling, although we've seen her do it in the past, she just doesn't seem to have any interest in it. Dr Knudson said that it is pretty common for content, happy babies to not roll. They are happy on their tummy's and their happy on their back - so why roll?? I can't complain, I'm in no hurry for her to be scooting around and getting into things. As long as she's happy, the Dr's happy then I'm happy!

6 month stats:

• 27 1/4" tall (90%)
• 19lbs 10 oz (99%)

Gauge is home!

After three nights at the vet, shots, x-rays, IV's and a hefty bill... Gauge is home! We still don't know what he got into that made him so sick but he feeling much better. He has to be a special diet and he has to take a few pills every day for about a week then hopefully everything will be back to normal. Whew, he sure had us worried!

Hanging out on his bed with Bobwhite the Quail

Girlfriends!

Ashlyn has two more girlfriends! On January 13th our friends Grant & Jessica Poehler's and Travis & Sarah Otto's each had a baby girl... on the same day, in the same hospital and just hours apart! How crazy is that?? Danica Ann Poehler and Payten Jean Otto! Ashlyn and I were pretty excited about adding two more to Team Pink! Congratulations to both families!!

(I know this is a little late but we have been having some internet/computer problems and then with our dog being sick this post just didn't get published as quickly as I would have liked. Better late then never right??)

Slowly Improving!

Gauge is slowly improving. He is still staying at the vet and they said that he is close to being able to come home. He is holding down food and water but is still having some issues with his other end.... hopefully that will get better today and he can come home tomorrow morning! It sure has been different without him here. He's our guard dog and the house just doesn't feel as safe without him on the lookout :) He stays in our entry way where he has his food, water and huge bed. We even have the electric baseboard heaters on for him in the winter.... on HI - he's so spoiled! Did I mention he has about a dozen stuffed animals that he plays and sleeps with... kind of funny for our big 110lb guard dog, he's really just a big lover.

Poor Dog

Our poor dog Gauge (5yr old, yellow lab) has been really sick for the past two days. He basically has the flu really bad and can't keep anything down. This morning he was looking really sad and we could tell he was losing weight so I took him into the vet and they did some xrays but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. They decided to keep him there hooked up to an IV to get fluids back in him today and possible overnight. Hopefully he will feel better and be able to keep down his food/water.

Gauge is just the sweetest dog and it's so hard to see him sick. Here are a few pictures of him :)

6 months old

Six months!? Amazing how fast the time goes. Turning 6 months old has been very exciting. Within a few weeks Ashlyn has cut two teeth, starting sitting alone, and her newest thing is grabbing. She grabs at anything I'm holding and will open and close her fists meaning "give it to me"... soo cute! We've gotten so many compliments on what a happy and content baby she is. Just today while I was getting my oil changed I had two people ask me if she was always this good... we had to wait an hour and she just played with her toy in her car seat and stood on my lap and smiled at the other people waiting in the lounge. Granted, she does have her moments but for the most part she is a happy and content little girl (knock on wood!!).

Joe and I just love seeing her personality grow. Being parents has been more rewarding than we could have imagined. Joe is completely right when he says she's addicting. We can't seem to get enough hugs, kisses, nibbles and giggles. It can't hurt that we think she's just the cutest baby ever and that her smile can melt your heart :)

(click on picture to make it bigger)

0-6 months old

Misc Pictures

Here a just a few pictures from the past week.

Playing with her new lullaby "CD" player.

Wearing her cute piggy slippers from Great Aunt Nancy.

Showing off her new sitting skills at cousin Connor's house and checking out her two new teeth :)

Enjoying bath time.

Cousin Landon James is here!

Kristi and Dylan had their baby!!! We finally got to meet our cousin Landon James Kapolczynski last night in New Ulm. He was born January 6th, 7lbs 15oz and 21" long. I don't have any pictures of him, but he's a keeper! I got to hold him for a little bit and he's just such a little peanut. Hard to believe Ashlyn was ever that tiny. Kristi looked great and Dylan is a proud papa. Hopefully we will get to visit them at home and get some pictures to share.

Landon is the Kral family baby #6 in one year, now we're just waiting to meet baby Beranek in April :)

Sitting Alone

The past few days have been exciting. Ashlyn has been working on sitting by herself for a while and today she sat by herself for a few minutes. She still can't be left alone because she tips over when she reaches for something at her side... but this is definitely a good start!

Another Tooth!

I felt Ashlyn's 2nd lower front tooth today! She is growing up so fast! She loves her zwieback toast and arrowroot cookies. She just loves feeding herself. I also found out today that she will eat her solid food better if I feed her with my finger... apparently she has something against spoons. Lets hope she grows out of that! She gobbled down almost half of a real banana this morning and we finished off a serving of carrots this afternoon :)

Yummy!

First Tooth!

Yesterday while Ashlyn was nibbling on my finger I finally felt her first tooth!! It is her front lower right. This is so exciting!

We let her try her first Zwieback toast on Monday night and she really liked it!

Christmas Day

Christmas day we had our first family Christmas at our house. We had fun watching Ashlyn open her presents. She enjoyed chewing on the paper the most :)

Then we went up to Joe's Grandma Fashingbauer's in St. Paul. It's always fun to get together with his mom's side of the family. Lots of people and good food. I can't wait to see all the pictures Mary took, here are just a few from that day.

My favorite from that day....

Christmas Eve

I'm finally getting around to posting some Christmas pictures... it was such a crazy week and by the time it was all over I just wanted to rest. Then I got sick but I'm feeling much better today!

Our Christmas started off at Joe's sister Christy and her husband Bryan's house in North Mankato for the Loula family Christmas with Joe's parents, it was fun as usual. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from that get together.

Then we went to rural Courtland for the Kral Christmas Eve celebration. Santa came and handed out presents to all the little kids. It's a tradition we've done since I was a little kid and it's so fun to watch how excited they get when Santa gets there.

Santa with all the little kids.

Almond Bark Pretzels

Ashlyn proudly posing in front of a few of the pretzels she help me make. It was a lot of work but they turned out really good!

I want some...

Little Miss Sunshine

She had a case of the giggles tonight when I was taking pictures of her in front of our tree. What a happy little girl!

Bedtime

I just thought I'd post this cute picture of Ashlyn fresh out of the bathtub. There is not a whole lot new with us... just getting ready for our many Christmas get togethers next week. I think we only have couple more gifts to buy and will hopefully do that tomorrow after ECFE. Oh yeah, our tree fell over the other day :( We have a fake tree and the plastic stand that it was in cracked --- TIMBER!!! It fell quite gracefully (I actually saw it happen) and thankfully nothing broke. Joe went to town to pick up a new stand and Ashlyn and I redecorated it... we'll be posting pictures soon.

Practicing sitting alone

5 months old

Ashlyn is 5 months old! She is growing and changing so fast. She's still working on sitting by herself and she loves to stand and have you assist her. It's a great workout for the arms! We started veggies this week. She finished her first container of sweet potatoes and seemed to enjoy them just a little tonight... she only gagged once! We put up the Christmas tree finally and she was entertained with all the lights and shinny ornaments. I'll have to get some pictures of her in front of it to post :)

At 5 months she is weighing in at 18lbs 11oz and is 26 1/4" tall.

I thought she would have grown more than 1/4" in the past month but considering the way the measure the height I'm not surprised... the first measurement was 26" and the nurse must have sensed my disappointment since that would have meant she didn't grow at all this past month. So she remeasured her and was like "wow, how did you grow a 1/4" little girl?". Not that it's a big deal, I just want to fill in her baby book for her and make sure she's thriving :)

Here is her progression in her car seat. I can hardly remember her being that small!

Ho Ho Ho

We went to visit Santa at the mall and it looks like he just told her she gets everything on her wish list since she was such a good girl this year!

No Teeth but Taking the Bottle!!

We still don't have any teeth yet but Ashlyn had been in a great mood and she's back to sleeping good too. To bed at about 8pm, up to eat around midnight, then sleeps until 7am. It's so nice, basically just like she used to sleep. The other exciting news is that she has been taking her bottle! This is HUGE... it's so nice knowing that I can leave her with someone and not be in a hurry to get back because I'm worried she's freaking out and hungry. No fun for the person watching her or her. We have won the battle!

Ashlyn is always doing something to make us smile. She has become quite the talker and enjoys telling stories. Bubble blowing is still a favorite and now she has mastered thumb/finger sucking. Her hands and sleeves are usually wet but it doesn't seem to bother her! She's also really close to sitting up by herself. As exciting as it is to see her do these thing I can't help but think that she is growing up too fast! I'm trying to savor every day and enjoy all things baby. Before we know it she'll be a toddler!

Having fun in her Jumperoo.

Thanksgiving

We went to Joe's sister Christy and her husband Bryan's new house in North Mankato for Thanksgiving. It was sooo nice to not have to travel very far and it's always great to see the Fashingbauer gang. They remind me a lot of my mom's side (the Kral's).... it's always a good time and there are a ton of people there :) I wish Bernie's three girls lived closer so they could babysit for us! They were fighting over the babies all afternoon so needless to say, the babies were in good hands.

Ashlyn and Connor decided to dress up as little Minnesota Gophers. They were cute as always!

Connor & Ashlyn

Ashlyn & Grandma Ruth

Lip Smacker

She does this funny thing with her tongue and lips, it's pretty funny to watch. (Video quality is not the greatest and she was in her swing.)

Teething??

I'm convinced Ashlyn is teething. She has been so crabby the past couple days and hasn't been sleeping very good for the past week. Last night and today were almost unbearable. I was just googling teething and came across these signs that baby is teething and here are the ones that fit Ashlyn:

• Drooling
• Coughing
• Biting
• Pain
• Irritability - (irritable doesn't even describe it.... )
• Refusal to feed - (very strange for her, she LOVES to eat!)
• Wakefulness - (what a nice word to describe waking up every 2-3hr at night and not napping during the day!)

From what I've read, this can last a day or go on for weeks. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I don't know how many more days like today I can handle, I feel so helpless when she's screaming in pain and nothing seems to help. One good thing is that she went to bed at 7:30pm but I have a feeling I'm going to be up with her a lot tonight. Wish me luck!

Ready for Hunting Season

Since it is hunting season we had to put on our cute pink camo outfit. Grandma Ruth put a cute bow in her hair this weekend while she was babysitting and it was adorable! I can't believe I didn't do it a long time ago, her hair has been long enough since birth! We're definitely going to be accessorizing her gorgeous hair from now on :)

Matching bow's :)

4 Month Check Up

We met with Dr. Knudson this morning for our four month check up. Ashlyn is doing great! He said she is a happy, healthy baby. Poor little thing had more shots. It's hard to watch her in so much pain, she's pretty inconsolable for a while. This time I let her eat before we left the Dr's office and that seemed to help calm her down. I'm sure she will sleep most of the day and try to forget the traumatic events of the morning :) She is also starting to wear her size 9 month clothing... and to think that before she was born I thought that she wouldn't be wearing those until March!

As I guessed in the previous post, she is over 17 lbs!

Here are her stats: 26" tall (97%) ~ 17lbs 12oz (99%)

4 Months Old!

Can you believe our little peanut is four months old already?! I swear the days just fly by! We go in for her four month check up on Tuesday. I am curious to see how much she weighs. She has become quite a load to tote around in her car seat. I'm guessing she's over 17lbs.... I think it's mostly in her cheeks ;)

Some of the fun things she's doing: 

• Talking.... she's really finding her voice. From low tones to high pitch squeals.  When she's in the right mood she can talk your ear off. I think she gets that from mommy ;)
• Rolling from front to back, she's been attempting the much harder back to front, but no luck on that one yet.
• Giggling... she's starting to enjoy tickling and blowing "fart" noises on her belly and cheeks. (Sorry, I couldn't think of a better word to describe the noise!)
• Eating rice cereal. She's been watching us eat and seemed like she wanted to try it so we did. She's been doing great. 
• Chewing... mainly on her fingers but my fingers are her second favorite. Along with the chewing comes drooling, sometimes it's a little and sometimes it's a lot! I think that she may have some teeth coming, we'll have to wait and see!

Here you can see her change month by month. I swear she just keeps getting more adorable as the days go by! 

2 days old

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months!