Another post so soon....

Yes, another post so soon. Why you ask? Because we have exciting news....Ashley's WALKING! I've included video at the end of this post but before we get to the grand finale, here is a couple of recent pictures.

Here's Ashley investigating the special balloon & teddy bear delivery that she received from her mommy's work. How thoughtful!

Here's a cute picture of AJ after her bath.

See how long and curly her hair is getting!

And...she WALKS! Oh what an exciting evening. Both Matt and I were here and playing with her when I set her down and off she went. Then we had her walk between us over and over again. She'd come at us with a big smile on her face.

To celebrate Ashley's accomplishment, Daddy decides to share the dip n dots the Schwan's man had just delivered.

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.

AJ's Party, Rocket and Cardboard Mansion

Now that Ashley's 1, Matt decided it was time to teach her how to drive the 4-wheeler. She really enjoyed being outside and spending time with her daddy. She has learned a few sign language signs and while riding on the 4-wheeler, she would sign "more" when Matt stopped.

Here are a couple of pictures from Ashley's 1st birthday party. Her party was a success. She loved her cake and signed "more" when we took it away.


Cake faced Ashley.
We let her eat away at it for a few minutes at which point Matt said... "Babe, how much of this do we want her to eat?"

Here is what her cake looked like after we took it away. See, I wasn't kidding. She really likes cake.

Here is Ashley with her girlfriends Elsa, Gracie, and Maddy. Unfortunately Violet was home sick.

Here is Ashley on Easter (and my birthday). Her whole outfit (except the shoes) were hand me downs. Her friends have good taste, don't they?

It's finally starting to get a little warmer out. Last Sunday, we took Ashley up the street to the little park. She didn't much care for the swing when she was sitting in it alone, but she really liked it when either Matt or I held her in it.

While emptying out a diaper box, I put Ashley in it to keep her out of trouble for a few minutes. Low and behold, she loved sitting in it. So, I started pushing her around the house in it. Matt watched us for a while and then said- I should make that into a car. Well, he took it one step further, he made Ashley her very own rocket. Notice- it even has chrome wings. She absolutely loves riding in it.

Here is a video of Ashley riding in her rocket.

Here is a video of Ashley with her new dolly. I was trying to capture her standing all by herself, but as you will see, she got too close to the camera to show that she was standing all by her self.



Here is a video of Ashley crawling for her dolly.

Ashley playing at her activity table.

Her smile is even cuter now with 8 teeth!

Here is a video of Ashley getting tickled by her daddy.

Lastly, a picture of Ashley's new cardboard mansion. Yes, Matt has taken this to a new level too. The inside even has rounded archways. Some other events, Ashley took 4 steps on her own to get between Matt and I on 4/1/08. Since then the most she has taken is 6 steps. It won't be long until she is walking. I have also deciphered a few of her new babbled words. Key key = kitty kitty. Key= blankey. Roo roo= Ruby. (And, she will even slap her leg while calling roo roo). In the last week, she has also added to her sign language skills. She now says, "more please". It's very cute!