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

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!