"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to."
-Bill Vaughn quotes
As New Year’s rolls around you tend to reflect on the past year. We saw Ashlyn change from a toddler to a kid, we met James for the first time and watched him grow from a newborn to a smiling infant. We got to see Aunt Lisa’s family grow with the birth of Baby Ben. We got to see Texas A&M win the Heisman award and dominate in their first year of the SEC. All of these were life changing events, and we’re grateful that we were able to be there for them. As for New Year’s night itself, we made it to see the ball drop at 11pm but no further. Luckily, James gave us the opportunity to be up at midnight and I found myself holding a baby boy as the clock struck. Not a bad way to start the New Year.
I’ve talked about this before, and I hope I can continue to talk about this for years. Ashlyn and James still have a lot of fun together. James laughs at pretty much everything Ashlyn does, and Ashlyn has a good time running around doing things to make James grin. As soon as James hears her voice, he’ll twist and turn to find Ashlyn and grins when he spots her.
Wherever we go people comment on Ashlyn and her hair, even to the point of telling us that she should get into modeling. Sure, that sounds like a great idea, except half the time you point a camera towards Ashlyn she goes into grumpy mode. That didn’t stop her from posing for pictures in one of mom’s shirts tied up to become a dress.
But there’s light at the end of the grumpy tunnel. Ashlyn has always been shy, but we’re starting to see that turn around. She walked the beam on her own again this weekend and laughed at the end of it. When we went to dinner with friends this weekend she actually talked to people and played with the other kids. She even said she can talk to Uncle Jeff now, but the jury is still out on whether that will actually happen.
And finally, Ashlyn has officially named the dolls she received over Christmas break. We asked her to sit with her dolls and show them to PePa and us. From left to right, her dolls are “Baby Ashlyn” (this is an older doll, but was included at Ashlyn’s request), PS.ORG, and Cinderella. Yes, you read the second name right, it’s PS.ORG, said as “P S DOT ORG”. We believe she got this from watching Sesame street, at the end there’s a commercial advertising the PBS.ORG website. Crazy child.
Happy New Year everyone!