Busy, Busy, Busy

So, my craziness at work continues, and that means I don't have a whole lot of time on the computer...plus I spend less time with Ainsley, so I don't have much to talk about. Here are a couple of pictures of her from today.

She wore a new pair of shoes for the first time, I'm afraid her little white sandals are just too small now :(

She also got a bump on her head at day care today. They said she was reaching down to pick something up and just lost her balance. New shoes might be the culprit. You can see the red mark in the picture below.

Tomorrow we're off to see the ENT. Wish us luck. I'll try and write again soon.

Did you miss us?

Here we are, back again. Last week was insane at work so there was really no chance I was getting on the computer after getting home between 7 and 8. Sorry if you missed us.

Ainsley has started climbing on things, particularly the ottoman. Here are a few pictures of that.

After having a very long, very dreadful week at work, we spent the weekend with friends. Friday night we invited Jeff, Amy, Corey, Jill and their two daughters over to play Guitar Hero on the Wii. It was nice to relax and hang out with friends after being chained to my desk all week. Ainsley held baby Lucy.

She loves the baby dolls, but this baby moved and she wasn't really down with that. Ainsley also played with Charlotte, I can't say they played great. Neither of them is really in to the whole sharing thing, and they both seem to want whatever the other has. So there were some minor tiffs, but I'm sure they'll do lots of playing together as they get older.

Saturday we got up early and headed to Clif's parent's house. Clif and I went to see a movie and then had a wedding to go to later that night. We saw the new Batman movie which was so good. I really liked it. Clif LOVED it. I'm sure he would of walked right back in the theater to see it again if we had time.

Ainsley spent the evening with Nanny and Poppa while we attended the wedding. It was a very nice wedding and Ainsley loved hanging out with her grandparents.

So now it's Sunday...another busy weekend bites the dust. I really don't feel like I should be going back to work tomorrow. Luckily my partner is back in the office so I will have some of the load lifted. Weekends are always too short.

I wanted to share this cute little video with you too. Ainsley has taken a bigger interest in Gatsby these days. She's really loving him, and not just hitting him. I'm sure Gatsby is glad to see those days on their way out! On the way home today she got a little upset when she couldn't reach him to pet him. And then this afternoon she wanted to put his leash on him. So she kind of took him for a walk around the living room.

That's all for now, I'm hitting the sack early tonight. I'll update more this week.

Quick Update

Just wanted to give you all a quick update because next week is going to be crazy at work, which means late nights for me, and probably not a whole lot of blogging.



We spent this weekend at home and didn't do much except clean, rearrange the living room a bit and play with Ainsley. She is still loving that baby doll.



I am hoping that she's not getting sick, again. She had a really bad day yesterday, just fussy and crying all day. And she slept terribly the last two nights. Especially after sleeping throught the night TWICE last week, and just sleeping really well in her bed all week.



The pediatric group she sees thinks she should go to an ENT, but I have had no time to figure out our next step. I know if I go see one they suggested, he will probably recommend surgery for tubes...I just don't know if I'm down with that. I'm all for it if it's what she really needs, but I don't know.



Friends of my in laws run an allergy lab and they gave us a recommendation for an ENT they work with in Richmond. I just need to make sure he takes our insurance and has an open appointment. Anyway, I need to have time during the day, during the week, in order to call. Lately I've been so busy at work I forget to eat or go to the bathroom...and it's about to get a whole lot worse. So I will try next week to make a phone call.



Well, I've been studying and cleaning all day, so I'm going to go hang out with Ainsley. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Ainsley and Her Bahba

That's baby in Ainsley speak. So Ainsley is becoming fairly obsessed with baby dolls. I'm not sure if obsessed is the right word, but she really loves baby dolls. It started at day care. They have this little baby doll with plastic head, hands and feet, and a cloth body. The baby doll has no clothes. But Ainsley loves this baby doll. A couple of months ago if Ainsley started crying when I went to leave, her teacher would say "Ainsley, where's your baby?" and Ainsley would look around and go find her baby. Now every single morning when she walks in the door she immediately looks for the baby and starts saying "Bahba? Bahba?" When she finds the baby she brings her, the blanket and the bottle to me. I must swaddle the baby and give her the bottle before I leave. Then Ainsley reaches out and says "Bahba!" Like, "ok mom, now giver her to me." Then Ainsley takes the baby and burps her. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. She holds her up to her shoulder and says "Pa, Pa, Pa." I can only imagine that she's saying pat, pat, pat. Her teacher tells me that all day she plays with the baby doll. She feeds her, she sleeps with her, she rocks her, she even sings/hums to her.

So of course, I think, I have to get this child a baby doll. Well, I have refrained, I figure it will be a good gift for Christmas. I'm trying to get in good non-spoiling habits early. But, a friend of mine from work came in a few weeks ago with a bunch of toys that her kids have out grown, and low and behold she had a naked Cabbage Patch doll! So I scooped it up and brought it home to Ainsley. She loves that baby, and now she sleeps with her. And sometimes when I put her to bed she reaches out and grabs the little doll's hand. I just want to cry it's so freaking cute. I would like to find some clothes for the baby, but I haven't yet. I might go to Toys R Us this weekend and look for that and one of those little bottles where the liquid disappears. I tried giving her a real bottle, one of her own old ones, but she just sucks on it.

So, here are some pictures of my baby with her baby. Enjoy.

Pictures Finally!!

Yeah, I have my camera back. I know you all have been waiting patiently for pictures of Ainsley, so I won't type much but I'll post lots of pictures. First, here are some from a couple of weeks ago. They were on my camera before I left it at a friend's house.

Here are some pictures of Ainsley eating a Popsicle...she loves them.

And here is Ainsley in her new playroom that we have set up.

Ainsley loves to dance to Dave and Tim jammin on the big screen!

Ainsley eating lasagna and watermelon.

Finally this weekend. This weekend was our good friend Sean's wedding. Ainsley stayed with Nanny and Poppa. I think all three of them had a blast. Friday night Ainsley got to go to Poppa's work party where she got to hang with some other babies and kids. Of course my in laws are biased, but they just went on and on how she was the best, cutest baby there. Clif and I attended the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday night. Clif was a groomsman in the wedding.

After very little sleep, Ainsley woke up bright and early Saturday morning. Mommy and Daddy were not ready to get up, so she had a ball just banging on the headboard and giving us kisses for about 45 minutes.

Saturday afternoon we left for the wedding and Ainsley went shopping with Nanny and Poppa. She got two new pairs of shoes to replace the two that she is quickly growing out of. Ainsley also got a Baby Beluga stuffed animal from the book store. And according to my father in law, she drove some old woman crazy. Normally, everyone thinks Ainsley is the cutest thing and doesn't mind when she's making such a ruckus. However, Saturday evening she was in the bookstore running up and down the isle yelling "Buh Bye, Buh Bye" and some old woman walks up to my father in law and starts mocking Ainsley and screaming about how inappropriate it is. For those of you that know my father in law, you can imagine how he reacted. For those of you that don't know him...let's just say, this was a very bad idea. He had some words for the woman, who apparently wouldn't shut up about it the whole time they were in line. Luckily, Ainsley had everyone else in the store on her side.

Here are some pictures of her from the weekend:

In her little red Adirondack chair.

Before we left for the wedding.

All tuckered out on the way home.

Still No Pictures

Sorry guys, haven't gotten the camera back yet, but should have it back tomorrow so then I'll be able to take and post pictures.

I figured since I can't show you Ainsley, I'll just give you a little update on what she's been up to.

I will start with what all of us already pretty much know...that Ainsley is ROTTEN!!! I've decided to start putting her in time out. She does things, that she knows we don't want her to do, just to get a reaction. So now, my reaction is "No, Ainsley." And when, not if, but when she does it again, she has to sit for one minute. This really means I have to stand over her for one minute. I'm not really sure that she gets the connection, but we've gotta start somewhere. So, the reason I decided this needed to start is because Monday night two things happened.

First, we had the dog food sitting in the living room and Ainsley came to get me in the kitchen so I would watch her put her hand in the water. She doesn't want to do it unless someone is there to tell her not to.

Second, I sat on the floor with Ainsley and Gatsby and Ainsley slapped Gatsby in the face. So, like I always do, I take her hand and pet him gently and say "Soft, easy, soft easy." So she pets him soft and easy for a moment, then she looks me right in the eye, finds a fistful of hair and pulls hard and fast. So again, I say "Soft and easy" while gently rubbing her hand on his fur. Again, she pets him nicely for a moment, moving down towards the tail and then YANK on the tail. Gatsby jumped and growled at her. I can't very well be mad at him.

So as sweet as she can be, she can also be rotten, rotten, rotten.

Otherwise, Ainsley seems to pick up a new little trick every other day. Now she holds her finger up to her lips and says "Shhhh." But it's more like the tip of her finger is in her mouth and it sounds a little more like "Thhhh." Also, last night I was sitting in the office with the door open while Clif and Ainsley were in the play room across the hall. I was working on the computer and all the sudden I realized she was talking to me. I look across the hall and she is staring at me and speaking with the inflection of a question in her voice. I stand up and say "What?" and start walking towards her. She throws her head back laughing, then RUNS to me. Yes, runs. I couldn't believe it. When did she start running?

Well, that's about all. Tomorrow I should be back up with pictures. Until then, take care.

Sorry, no pictures...

Clif and I left our camera at a friend's house last night, so sorry, no pictures. We had a nice weekend at home yesterday and today. Yesterday we went to a 2nd birthday party, a house warming party and a surprise 30th birthday party. We were quite the party animals!

Today we went shopping for a new dress for me. We are going to Murphy's wedding next weekend and I needed something to wear. I tried on dresses while Clif and Ainsley walked around the store and Ainsley made lots of new friends. She's so funny. She waves to everyone and says "Hi dare!" Then she gives them her irresistible, toothy grin. You can't help but smile and neither can any of the strangers.

This weekend we have also been focusing on getting Ainsley to sleep without nursing her. It's actually gone better than expected. I'm still going to nurse morning and night for a few more weeks...I don't want to cut it all out at once. But I think I can officially say we are no longer nursing during the day...we'll see. And some other good news, last night we got home around 11PM and it took awhile, but I got Ainsley down in her bed a little before midnight. She slept there until 6AM this morning!!!! I couldn't believe it. We'll see how she does tonight.

Speaking of, I need to get her to bed. We'll get our camera back soon and then I'll post new pictures. You'll just have to read my colorful words until then.