"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one."
-Leo J. Burke
The quote on this post is a bit unfair. As far as babies go, James is a great one when it comes to sleep. He’s waking up 3 times a night on average, but only when he wants to eat and he goes right back to sleep afterwards. I used this quote because the past few nights have resulted in little sleep overall thanks to a sick Ashlyn and a hungry James. Such is the life of a parent.
But enough about lack of sleep, let’s talk about more interesting things like the celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Our neighborhood celebrates this day with a “parade”. The parade consisted of a red VW bug playing Aggie marching music (whoop!) with a line of kids on bikes and parents with strollers following behind. We went high class with the wagon and decked it out with an American flag, a 4th of July bear, and an appropriately themed child. Ashlyn had fun, and Heather got a lot of credit from the other mothers for being out and about so soon after the birth of James.
Even though James did nothing but sleep during the parade, it still wore him out enough to need a nap once we got back home. Ashlyn laid down next to him and rubbed is back. She’s a good sister.
As promised last week, here are some pictures of Ashlyn putting “Baby Ashlyn” in various seats around the house. She calls the doll “Baby Ashlyn” because it has her crazy.. I mean curly, hair.
While the 4th of July could be considered America’s birthday, there are a bunch of other birthdays to talk about this week. The first one, not from importance but from when I took the pictures, was Dynamo the Dinosaur's birthday at the museum. Ashlyn and I took a father/daughter trip for some cake, water, and a birthday hat which she refused to take off until we got home.
While we were there we had a moment of sharing that I felt was worth discussing. Ashlyn was given a piece of cake and we sat at a table outside so she could gobble it down. I asked her for a piece of the cake, and she initially said “no Daddy”. We had a brief but earnest discussion on the merits of sharing, complete with a promise to share the cake with the trash can if she wasn’t willing to share it with me. Ashlyn, always the quick student, took the hint. Below you will see my finger in the picture with a crumb of cake. That is what she gave me, and the look on her face says she knew what she was doing. She won that battle, so I let her eat the rest of the cake.
On Saturday we got together with the Wolfe clan to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday. As always we had a great time, and Ashlyn was run ragged once again by Heidi. Happy birthday Grandpa!
And today (Monday, depending on when you read this) it’s Nina's birthday! Happy birthday Nina! We’ll get together for her and Pa-Pa’s birthday soon, as his is coming up as well.
