Merry Christmas!

This was Ashlyn’s 3rd Christmas and I think it’s safe to say that it was the best one yet.  She didn’t fully get what Santa is all about, but if you asked her about Santa she would respond with “Santa is bringing me presents!”.  And Santa did indeed bring presents, as did the parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  But before we get into that, it was great to start out the Christmas weekend with a family tradition that’s been going on close to 25 years. 

We got dressed up on Christmas Eve for the children’s service and Joe T. Garcia’s.  Ashlyn even got decked out in a new dress courtesy of Auntie Sisa.  Ashlyn was very squirmy during the service and I spent most of the time trying to keep her from kicking the nice lady in front of us.  There were a few moments that interested her, but she was still a little too young to pay much attention to what was going on.

Christmas itself was broken up into four parts.

Christmas #1:  Mommy and Daddy

This was the first year that Ashlyn wanted to open her own presents and we had a great time watching her do it.  She worked up so much energy during the festivities that she had to take a nap with mommy halfway through.

Christmas #2:  PePa, Aunt Lynda, Auntie Sisa, and Uncle Jeff

After we finished the Christmas with our little family, it was time for Christmas #2.  This meant more presents, one which was a soccer ball from PePa.  We’ve been kicking the soccer ball around the house ever since.  So far we haven’t had any damaged household items, but the cats are a little more leery to be on the floor when Ashlyn is awake.

Christmas #3:  Nena, PaPa, Auntie Sisa, and Uncle Jeff

We went straight from #2 to #3.  This was a good thing because Ashlyn was going on 60 minutes without opening a present and we were afraid she would go through withdrawal.  Another frenzy of gift opening ensued, and since then our house has been filled with sounds of “Me want cookie!” from Cookie Monster.

Christmas #4:  Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Bruce, Aunt Tracey, Uncle Brian, Aunt Jasmine, Cousin Amy, Cousin Heidi

Ashlyn fell asleep for about 20 minutes on the ride home from Christmas #3, and that was about it.  We tried to put her down when we got back to the house, but she wouldn’t have any of it.  She fussed for a few minutes and then played in her crib until we took her out and headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas #4.

As always, Heidi was the magic pill that bypassed Ashlyn’s standard bashful stage.  She played non-stop the entire night until we got home.

Putting Ashlyn to bed was a long process because she was still excited from the day.  Once we finally got her down, Ashlyn slept like a log.  This was a good thing because mom and dad were beat as well.  But it was a good day, and thanks everyone for making it a special Christmas for us.  It may have been busy, but it showed us how fortunate we are to have such an awesome family for Ashlyn to grow up in.  I have a lot more pictures, and more stories, but the blog will only hold so much. 

So until next year, Merry Christmas!

From pouty to play…

Before I go into some stories from this weekend, I’m happy to report that Ashlyn’s 2 year doctor’s visit went very well.  Her Doctor said she’s doing great, and Ashlyn only cried for a few seconds after the flu shot.  She’s right over the 50% range in height and weight.  She’s healthy and happy, and that’s the most important thing.

Now, on to this weekend.  Gymnastics on Saturday was a lot of fun.  Nina and Sisa were in attendance, which was lucky because it was Ashlyn’s best day at gymnastics yet.  She was the kid used as an example to show the rest of the class what to do, and she did awesome.  There was zero fussing and she followed directions to the tee.

Sunday did not start out as well.  PePa came over, and Ashlyn went straight into Super Shy Mode™.  Normally she opens up pretty quick, but not this time.  We assume it was from lack of sleep (she got another daycare cold).

Eventually she got out of it and we were able to go to a nice breakfast.  She even tried to get into the Christmas spirit.  The second picture below has nothing at all to do with the first.  I just like it because she was spending time reading to the dog and it was cute.

Uncle Bruce came over on Sunday with Amy and Heidi.  Ashlyn as always went straight for Heidi and they spent most of the evening entertaining each other.  Ashlyn had a great time being carried around by her cousins.

She even took a moment to show Heidi how much she loves her.  Awww.

Only one week until Christmas, are you ready?

Lakes, fireworks, and birthdays…

This was an eventful weekend for our little toddler.  On Saturday we took Ashlyn to Nena and Pa Pa’s new lake house on Lake Granbury.  Despite the cold, Ashlyn was fascinated by the water, I’m guessing because it was the most she had seen until then.  We took her down to the dock, showed her the water, ducks, and a few cranes, and she kept wanting to go back and see more.  She paused for a few minutes to play with the leaves, but then it was back down to the water.

We stopped in downtown Granbury on the way home to see some Christmas lights.  As Ashlyn was running around looking at the lights, she tripped on a cord and fell to the ground.  She didn’t cry, instead she got back up and started grabbing various light structures.  It was at this point that I realized I was not going to get the Parent of the Year award.  I had let her go under a fence, which should have been my first clue, and into an area filled with cords (my second clue).  Needless to say, we left that area and we managed to do it with no serious injuries.

Ashlyn got to see another first on the way back home, thanks to some incredible timing.  As we were driving back, we saw something flash off to our right.  It did it again, and we realized that there was a fireworks show.  We pulled over and we got a front row seat for a great fireworks show.  Nina, Pa Pa, Ashlyn, and I sat and watched the show until the finale was over.  Ashlyn really liked the fireworks.  She cried when I took her outside, thanks to the noise, but calmed right back down once we were in the car.

On Sunday we joined the Wolfe’s to celebrate cousin Heide and Uncle Bruce’s birthdays.  Ashlyn just went for the chips and salsa.

We had a lot of fun at the restaurant, and Ashlyn did really well.  She mostly spent her time spilling mommy’s sprite and re-arranging the sugar packets in the little sugar packet container.

The way home from the restaurant was not so fun.  Grandpa took Ashlyn out to his car and put her in the front seat while the rest of of packed everything up after the dinner.  Ashlyn was NOT happy about leaving the car and cried for all but the last minute of the ride home.  At one point, mommy got her calmed down and asked what was wrong.  Here’s how the conversation went:

• Mommy:  “What’s wrong?”
• Ashlyn:  “I want my Grandpa!”
• Mommy:  “Grandpa went home Ashlyn.”
• Ashlyn:  “…wwwwaaaAAAAAAAAA!”

In the end, she calmed down and was able to play until bedtime.  So yeah, it was a good weekend.

Stuck indoors…

This weekend brought lovely weather. By “lovely” I mean to say that it was cold and raining the entire weekend.  This meant that we stayed indoors the entire time, and that led to this:

A whirlwind of destruction ensued in the house as an energetic toddler took every toy she could get her hands on and spread it all over the floor in what I can only describe as “exhausting”.  PePa came over on Sunday morning, which served as a nice break.  His visit even included some semi-quiet reading time.  After he left, these books ended up in the pile you saw above.

We tried several games to keep her occupied.  We practiced some head balancing, which Ashlyn learned from Auntie Sisa over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We also tried stuffing Baby in a backpack.

We even tried yoga.

In the end, the result was the chaos you saw at the beginning of this post.  Hopefully next weekend will be nicer and we can get outside.  I don’t know how much more our house can take.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holiday season has officially begun with the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time visiting friends and family, and Ashlyn enjoyed eating all the food. Unfortunately, she had a mild stomach bug so didn't get to enjoy everything as much as she'd like, but it just meant more food for Dad. Interestingly, she hasn't had any interest in the dessert leftovers, preferring to stick to turkey and sweet potatoes.

Even though she wasn’t feeling well, she still had a good time once shy mode was deactivated.

The funniest moment over the holiday weekend occurred when Ashlyn walked right up to Grandpa Wolfe and said “Gig ‘em!” with her thumb out.  Grandpa proceeded to teach her the longhorn symbol, but if you look closely at her right hand you’ll still see the thumb.  That’s our girl!

As tradition demands, we also spent this weekend putting up Christmas decorations.  Ashlyn even joined in putting up Christmas ornaments on the tree.  She needed some help reaching the high spots though.

These next pictures have nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but I still think it’s funny how Ashlyn is afraid to get on a beam more than 3 inches off the ground but isn’t afraid of recklessly leaping through air.  We were folding laundry, and Ashlyn felt it would be a good opportunity to practice flying from the ottoman to the couch.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for all the wonderful food and company!

Gig ‘em!

You may have noticed Ashlyn wearing A&M clothing from time to time.  This is easily explained by both her parents being Aggies, but I don’t want anyone to think that we’ll be pressuring her when she gets older.  She can choose whatever school she wants, as long as it’s close enough to visit unannounced.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t smile when Ashlyn does this (accompanied by an enthusiastic “Gig ‘em!”):

It only took us two years to get her to do that.  It’s taken her much less time to mimic other things, whether it’s shopping, eating pickles with mom, or playing with techie gadgets on the floor with dad.  This year I’m going to let Ashlyn watch us do taxes in the hopes that she’ll fill out the forms for us next year.

The Lego skills are also coming along.  So far she only enjoys making towers, but she makes them a lot now and she’s very proud of her achievements.  We are too.

And finally, although Pepa’s birthday was last week, we still got together this weekend to celebrate.  As always, Ashlyn refused to blow out any candles.  She was quiet most of the night, but finally got out of her shy mode at the very end.

Only a few days left until turkey day!  See you there!