Catching up...

Here's Ashley with her girlfriend Maddy. Maddy stopped by for an impromptu visit. The girls had fun, Ashley liked watching Maddy play and move about.

Here's a messy face picture of Ashley. I made hot dish with noodles, cheese, tomatoes and hamburger and it was a real hit! Thank goodness we have Ruby, she's a real trooper when it comes to cleaning up the floor!

Here's one of Ashley's favorite past time hobbies. She loves to be in the laundry basket or boxes etc. This picture was taken just two days after her 13 month b-day. I've tried to take a monthly picture of her...not sure why I missed 4/11 but she didn't change two much in those 2 days missed. :o)

As you can see, her teeth are coming in nicely. She's got 8 teeth total now. In this picture I was attempting to take a picture of her showing off her bracelet. I made her a sterling silver name bracelet with aquamarine swarovski crystal beads. She actually holds her arm out so that I can put it on her.

Thank goodness, it's finally starting to get a little warmer. I am sure you are all feeling the same way, but we have a major case of spring fever. Ashley loves to play outside. Here she is in her new stroller that we picked up at a garage sale for $5! Another reason for the spring fever- we want to go to more garage sales!

Here Ashley is swinging on our neighbors swing. Ashley has a swing but at the time, hers was covered in sap, bird poop and dirt and we were working on limited time before dinner so we couldn't clean hers up.

Here's a picture from last Saturday. Ashley's girlfriend Maddy called to see if Ashley wanted to go to her first smelt fry and Ashley couldn't resist. :o) I've decided that those kind of events are definitely more work than they are worth. These days, Ashley is constantly on the go and doesn't like to sit still. She's not walking on her own yet but very close and she loves to practice. I left the smelt fry starving, full of baked beans and feeling like I had just wrestled an alligator for 3 hours straight. Exhausting!

Last Sunday Ashley went to visit her friends Violet and Henry. Ashley and Violet are only 10 weeks apart. It's fun to watch them interact.

Ashley Jane, Violet Sophia and Henry James.

Here's a recap of recent events in our lives. On April 23, the ice finally went off the lake! 4/23!!! Good grief! Ashley continues to say new sounds. Ka is her latest and she says that when she sees her Thumper and Friends book. Matt has enjoyed these few nice days and has taken Ashley on bike rides in her little tow along cart and to the park to swing and slide all while I am stuck on the bus home. I'm glad he gets to do that, but I am very jealous too. I wish I worked closer to home. Oh, and I am now a bus rider. There is a new bus route from Forest Lake into Minneapolis and I started riding in the beginning of April. I love it! As of 4/24 we are no longer sending bottles to daycare. She drinks her milk from sippy cups at daycare. She still gets a morning and evening bottle at home, but we will work to wean her off of those soon too. Today 5/2, Ashley had surgery to have tubes placed in her ears. Yes, originally I was against the idea, but she has suffered from so many ear infections and she has had fluid in her ears since birth. Imagine the feeling of having water in your ears for months- not fun. So we had to be in Woodbury by 6:15, so we had to leave home at 5:30am. Ashley didn't fall back to sleep either! The surgery went well. We only had one mishap and that was while we were on the drive home. While Ashley was in the recovery room, they gave us apple juice to feed her. She was starving and gobbled down the juice very quickly. Well, about half way home she coughed and then gagged and then threw up all of the juice. I now have apple juice all over her car seat, she is completely soaked, so is her blankey, her toy and the blanket we had on her lap to keep her warm. It all over my car mats, my seat. YUCK, what a sticky mess! Thank goodness for leather seats. At the moment she is now napping and I am thinking of doing the same.