Saturday, June 23, 2012

18 1/2 months

We have been having some QT with Daddy this week, who only worked 2 days out of 7 this week, yippee!  It was so nice to have him home even though the weather didn’t cooperate.  We haven’t been in the pool at all this week because of cloudiness and rain!  Figures, huh?  We actually had a date night last night where we went out to dinner.  It is nice to finally have a babysitter instead of just asking family when they come down.  Most importantly, Ashlan and Caesar love her.  Apparently he sat next to her or on her the whole time we were gone.  :)

Last Friday, Ashlan and I had some friends over.  We were going to try to swim but it was rainy.  So instead we made keychains for Father’s Day.  One of the moms went to a craft store for all of us and got things to put on the keychains that our husbands would be interested in.  Dan's said “Steelers Dad”, and had footballs and black and gold on it.  There is a picture below of it.  Ashlan “helped” write on the card too, even though it was just scribble. 

Last Saturday when Dan was working, Ashlan and I went to the zoo with some friends.  We walked around for an hour or two before we went to the zoo’s water park.  We were only there for about a half hour because even though the temperature was 86 degrees outside, the water was cold.  The kids were all freezing, running back to us with their teeth chattering, and touching us with freezing hands.  They had a great time though.  We ended up leaving there and having lunch, then hung out for a bit more at the zoo’s play park and walked around again.  I really thought she was going to fall asleep while we were there but there must have been too much excitement going on.  She didn’t fall asleep until we got in the car, maybe around 1:30 pm or so, but then kept sleeping for awhile after I transferred her into her crib.  All in all, we had a great day there…Ashlan was super well-behaved (especially for being tired!) and we all had a lot of fun.  It wasn’t even crowded at all, and it was perfect weather, 86 and cloudy.  We’ll definitely be doing that again soon when Dan’s working on a weekend. 

So it turns out that her ear infection never fully went away.  We got back and she started to get stuffy and had a runny nose again on Tuesday.  We took her to the Pediatrician on Wednesday because of that, and also got her ears rechecked.  Apparently, the antibiotic was not strong enough to kick it out of her system.  So, we decided to ask for the once-a-day antibiotic because of Ashlan’s love of taking medicine (heavy sarcasm if you didn’t know she loathes it, and we hate the fight to give it to her).  We knew it wouldn’t be covered by insurance, because only the two times a day one is, but we figured we’d make it easier on ourselves.  Well, after flavoring, the medicine was $70!  Guess we’re paying for the convenience but man, that’s a lot of money for one antibiotic!  Oh well, she seems to be taking it better, especially if we offer cookies (chocolate chip flavored graham crackers) for afterwards.  She calls them “cooks”.  LOL!

Ashlan has been identifying things a lot more lately.  She is now doing eyebrows, hair, feet, toes, etc, among the other body parts that she was identifying at a year old.  She also knows (and I am super proud of this one) that cows go “moo”, ducks go “quack quack”, dogs go “ruff ruff”, and that trains go “choo choo”.  Not bad for being 18 months old.  :)

Not too many pictures these last two weeks.  I think I made up for it in our PA visit though, haha.


Coloring with two hands, lol.  Guess she can't make up her mind which hand she likes better.

At the zoo's water park.

Look at her happy face!

Watching her having fun is such bliss...she would go climb on something 
and then look towards me and smile so big when she caught my eye.  :)


Coming back to touch me with her freezing hands!

Some of my friends kids and Ashlan.

Sunning herself on the turtle.

She's been walking around like this lately...sucking on two binkys.

The keychain "we" made for Daddy for Father's Day.  :)



Thursday, June 14, 2012

PA visit

We just got back a few days ago from visiting family in PA and we had a great time.  We were all sick though, so that was a bummer, but we’re slowly starting to get better.  The flights up were awful, just awful!  The first one wasn’t so bad because she slept for the majority of it but the second one…oh boy!  We didn’t know it, but Ashlan had an ear infection and she was miserable on the flight, making us miserable as well (and all the other passengers, lol).  Poor girl!  She seemed to be much better after antibiotics which she was prescribed after an ‘emergency’ visit to MedCare (like Urgent Care), where we all saw the doctor up in Pittsburgh.  For Dan and me, we just had to let it run its course.  It’s taking Dan a bit longer to get over though.  He’s still coughing at night like crazy.  We’re wondering if it’s because he has no spleen or if it’s just a fluke.  The flights back home were great!  Despite being delayed for a half hour on the first one and getting to our next gate about the time it started boarding (gates were across the airport from each other, mind you), everything went smoothly.  We had a great time even though it was short.  And congrats to Aunt Katie, who graduated from high school on Friday!

There are a ton of pictures!!!  These are just some of the ones I took.  :)



Ashlan putting a toy down Papa's shirt.  He hid a toy from her there one time and she just started 
putting all her toys down his shirt, haha!


With Gram & Dziadz, my grandma and grandpa.

A dress that Nana bought for Ashlan.  Isn't it adorable?

"OH NO!!"  My little drama queen.  :)

Playing with Dziadz.

Four generations.

"Yay"!  Having a good time!

Sharing with Gram.

My little sweetheart.  <3

Pointing at Papa grilling.  She didn't want him to leave the house and would throw the biggest fit!


Daddy chasing Ashlan.

Mommy showing Nana and Papa's pond to Ashlan.




Getting some cuddles.  :)


"Playing" piano with Papa.  

Picking strawberries in Grammy and Grandpa's backyard!

Yum!

Ashlan was liking this activity!  :)  The strawberries were very good!

Playing outside.

The little performer.

I love this pic!

The graduate with Ashlan.  :)

Ashlan was good at slam dunking.  

Ashlan and Grammy at Aunt Katie's graduation party.

Going to see Daddy and Irv playing cornhole.

Getting in the middle of a game!  :)

Aunt Katie, Grammy, Ashlan, Grandpa, Mommy & Daddy.

Our little family.

Daddy making sure Ashlan keeps out of trouble.  :)

Wanting to be picked up by me.  <3

Love this pic!

Ashlan trying to share with her cousin, Rose.

She wanted to share this too.  How sweet!



Ashlan started to crawl instead of walk to get down to Rose's level.  :)

Papa, Nana, Ashlan, Mommy & Daddy.  

Rose was eating and Ashlan was interested...

So she stole some chicken from Rose's tray!!  LOL!  She rarely eats chicken too, she prefers salmon or shrimp.  Too funny!

Monkeying around...

Reading a book together.  <3

She stole a potholder from the kitchen.

Kisses from Nana.

Someone got a cookie...  :)