Talking with Auntie Keek

Ainsley loves phones...she loves anything that resembles a phone that she can place between her shoulder and ear and pretend to talk in to. However, anytime we actually try to get her to talk on the phone, she just looks at us, silently, like we have lost our minds. Well, the other night Caitlyn called and she just gabbed away on the phone with her. Here is some video of that.

Life has been hectic. Clif and I have both been working long hours and trying to play catch up on the weekends. So we haven't been doing anything too exciting. Last weekend we went to a friend's 30th birthday party on Saturday night, and then to our cousin Sammy's first birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

This weekend was pretty relaxing. I had to work on Saturday morning, but otherwise we have just been hanging out and we actually started Christmas shopping yesterday. Clif and I are big procrastinators for Christmas. I hear about people who do their shopping in like August, and that is so not me. I'm more of a late November, December shopper. First of all, I never have any money. Second, I never know what to buy people. Third, I have no room in my house to keep the stuff in December, let alone for half the year. So, I really need it to feel like Christmas before I start shopping. Not that it feels at all like Christmas right now, but I pretty much always have fun shopping for Ainsley and that's all we've really done so far.

Speaking of Ainsley, she is just growing up so fast. Last week she transitioned from the infant room to toddler room at day care. It makes me a little sad, but it is a bit cheaper and she's with kids her own age now. She's been the oldest and the only one walking in the infant room for months. So it will be nice for her to catch back up with her friends that moved on before her.

She has such a personality, and she knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. NOW! I believe we will have our hands full as she grows up. So because of this very strong personality, she sometimes wants to do things that we don't want her to do for whatever reason. So, we have begun trying the whole timeout thing. I'm not necessarily against spanking...verdict is still out on that one...but I just think she's too young for that. Plus, one thing that she often gets put in time out for is hitting, and I find it insane to think that you can teach a kid not to hit by hitting her.

This is normally how it goes:
Me: Ainsley, no hitting.
Ainsley: (hits again)
Me: Last chance, if you hit me again you will go in time out.
Ainsley: No. (then hits again)
Me: Fine. Timeout.

I sit her in the time out spot and she wails while I count to 10. Then I pick her up, hug her and tell her what she did wrong. I know, you probably think I'm crazy, because she can't understand me, but one day she will, so I'm starting early.

At this point she will get down, and go sit in time out where she proceeds to count...
Me: No Ainsley, you don't have to sit there anymore.
Ainsley: (holding a little finger in the air) Duh...duh...duh...

It's very hard not to laugh...she really is a one woman comedy act.

Halloween Pics

We took Ainsley trick-or-treating this year and she freaking LOVED it!! The plan was to just try and make it around our cul-de-sac, but Ainsley was so excited that we ended up going to all the houses on our cul-de-sac, a few on the main road and all the houses in the next cul-de-sac. She really had a great time. Those little monkey feet were just a movin' as fast as they could go. It was so cute. I tried to get her to say trick-or-treat, but no luck really. She did, however, say "Daa Do" (thank you) and "Buh Bye" over and over again. Oh and she also closed every one's front doors for them. I think I've mentioned her love of bags/purses/suitcases...whatever. So the little candy bag was just perfect, she loved carrying that thing around and putting all of her little candies in side.

After trick-or-treating, we went to a Halloween party at a friend's house. I think Ainsley was the last kid standing. She zonked out as soon as we pulled out of their neighborhood.

Then Saturday we had an engagement party that was Halloween themed. My mom stayed with Ainsley and Clif and I went as Fred and Wilma Flinstone. We were a big hit :)

I found out yesterday that Ainsley has been hitting babies, teachers, whoever at daycare. We are definitely having this problem at home too. I do think that once she moves into the toddler class it may get better. Those kids hit back! We are trying time outs at home, but she is a bit young to really get it.

Well, I stayed up way too late watching the election results last night. I really don't like politics or politicians, but I always seem to get sucked in on election night. CNN has the coolest map in the world. I was totally obsessed with it. Very interesting to see what will come. Whether you are happy with the results or not, you have to be somewhat amazed that this country...only about 50 years past separate water fountains, segregated schools and Rosa Parks...elected a black president. I didn't really think we were there yet - not saying I'm for or against, just nice to see that maybe we are rising above some darker spots in our past.

Well, hope everyone has a good week. Talk to you soon.

Sorry I've been so slack...

Yes, I have totally been slacking in the blog department. I'm very sorry. I have a million excuses and you've probably heard them all, so I will just skip the excuse portion! So to start, wanted to show you this really cute video of Ainsley eating a banana and calling to Gatsby...



She is just so funny. She is constantly making that new "shocked" face.

So we have been pretty boring lately. Let me catch you up quickly. I'll leave out the work week, because well, we work during the week and nothing else really happens. So the weekend after we went to the zoo, we participated in our community yard sale (we made 50 bucks, not great, but not bad). Then that night, we had a small fire-pit party at our house. We had about 10 people here and we drank beer and roasted marshmellows for s'mores. It was a lot of fun, and it gave me a good excuse to get my house really clean. Here are a couple of pictures from a very late night for the little bug.

This is my absolute favorite...

Then last weekend I left Ainsley overnight to attend my friend Tara's bachelorette party. It was a lot of fun, and good to get away for a night. I missed Ainsley and Clif like crazy, but even when I go out, I always know I have someone waiting for me at home that needs to be taken care of. So it's not very often that I really let loose.

Last night, Ainsley's daycare had a Halloween party. Ainsley got to wear her monkey costume and play with all the kiddies. You should see her walk around that daycare like she owns the place! She is such a little person...definitely not a baby anymore.

So, I have to give tell you a few stories and give you a few updates on our little bug. First, we had her 15 month appointment about a week ago and she weighs 25 pounds. That drops her down to the 75th percentile. I was worried that I hadn't been feeding her enough, the doctor assured me that she is growing just fine. However, she is 32 1/2 inches tall!!!!!! No wonder she won't fit in those 12 month clothes anymore. That puts her in the 92nd percentile for height.

Second, she has, pretty consistently, been SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Yes I said it! It only took 15 months! Life is so all about perspective. I am signed up for a few blogs and list serves dedicated to mommies, and one of them I get daily feeds in my inbox. Well, not a day goes by that some mother is on there complaining about her 3 month old, or 6 month old, or 9 month old not sleeping through the night. I just think "Honey, talk to me when she's 15 months old!" So looks like we have almost tackled another obstacle. It's not every night, but I would say in the last 7 to 9 days she has slept through the night 5. That is a BIG, HUGE, improvement.

So now a funny story. So last Saturday Ainsley woke up, after sleeping through the night, around 6:45 AM. Well, I really wasn't ready to get up, so I brought her to bed with me and we both fell back asleep. Clif got up at some time, then I got up around 8:30 and just left her in the bed with pillows around her. Well, I'm sitting on the couch and low and behold Ainsley walks right down the hall. So much for pillows keeping her in place. It really was the funniest thing, I wish you all could of seen it. She just walked out and looked at me and said "Hi" like it was the most normal thing in the world. She's just such a little kid these days.

Alright, gotta run. I will post some fun Halloween pics this weekend.

Out of Touch

Hi all. So just wanted to apologize for being so out of touch lately...like usual, just really busy. Plus, we haven't done anything too exciting with Ainsley, so I don't have very many fun pics. We've just been busy working, studying and playing catch up on the weekends. It pretty much sucks that you live your whole week just waiting and wishing for the weekend. Then you have to cram everything fun and meaningful into two days.

I will post an update with pictures soon. Hope everyone is doing well.

Visit to the Zoo

Last weekend Clif, Ainsley and I went to the zoo in Washington DC. Clif's family joined us. Ainsley had a good time. She wasn't thrilled...she's just not all that in to animals at the moment...but she didn't hate it either. Some things she found fun, other things she couldn't of cared less about. Also adding no nap in to the mix is never really a good thing. She did fine, but she was tired and whiny at times. Here are some pictures from the day.






What Ainsley does love, is food. She has found a new food to love, bananas. I shouldn't really be surprised, bananas were one of her favorite baby foods. However, since moving to solids she really hasn't cared for them much. Last Saturday she had 2 full bananas...you probably know what that means. Poor little bug was so stopped up the next morning. I really shouldn't of let her eat that much. So now we limit ourselves to half a banana in the morning and maybe another half at night.


On Sunday Clif and I went to the Redskins game. We used to have season tickets, but last year it just got to be too much with the travelling and leaving Ainsley all day and then heading back to work on Monday. We decided to save ourselves some money and just watch the games on TV. From the seats we had, we can see much better at home anyway.

 However, Clif got tickets from work and they were awesome seats. Check out this view.

Unfortunately the Redskins played like crap and lost to the Rams (WHAT!!!!), but it was fun to be so close to the action. It's a whole other game at that level.

During the game I started feeling not so great. I ended up coming down with some sort of stomach virus. It was horrible. We got back to Kip and Denise's house and I just started getting sick...I'll spare you the gory details and leave it at that. We didn't get home until after 10 that night since I couldn't bear to get back in the car for a bit and had to take a short snooze. Once we got home Clif was tired and I was so miserable that we just put Ainsley in bed with us. She was so cute. Clif would say "Mommy doesn't feel well, give her a kiss." She would just pucker up, give me a great big hug and plant one on my cheek or forehead. She just squeezed my neck with those little hands and arms, it was almost like she wanted to take care of me. She really is just the cutest little bug ever.

Almost Friday...

I like Thursdays, only one day until Friday. What a relief when the week is over.

So Ainsley has become very interested in purses and bags of all sorts. No matter how big it is she wants to try and put it on her shoulder and go out the door. It really is just amazing what these little ones pick up from us.

Same with the way she talks to Gatsby. She's always telling him "No" when he barks or calling him to come see her. Here's a video that should give you some idea.

Last weekend we went to visit Carolyn and Mike in their new house in Raleigh. We had a lot of fun and we got to see one of my college roommates, Jill, and her kids. Ainsley had so much fun chasing them around, and Kirstyn and Zachary were great with her.

Unfortunately, the visits are never long enough. We only got to spend one evening with Jill and the kids and then Sunday, after watching the Redskins beat the Eagles (WHOOOOOO HOOOOOO), we headed home.

This weekend we are going to see Nanny and Poppa and take our very first trip to the Zoo. I'm so excited to go, I'm not sure how Ainsley will be. I mean, I'm sure she'll be fine, but she's really not all that in to animals. Maybe seeing them up close will get her excited about them.

I'll take lots of pictures and tell you all about it next week. Have a great weekend everyone!

I Hate Mondays

Hi all,

So once again, I have slacked on the blogger front. Sorry, I am just having some trouble juggling everything I have going on. I will post some pictures this week and for the time being I may only be updating once a week. Eventually when Clif and I win the lottery, we will quit our jobs, hire someone to clean our house and just play with Ainsley all day and update the blog hourly :) Until that happens, you'll have to settle for a weekly update.

I just don't know how people do it. Everyone I know seems to have their lives so put together and organized. That is so not me! My life is chaos always. Honestly, if I didn't work, and didn't take a class and just had to clean my house and take care of Ainsley...I would still have trouble. That child is a little tornado ripping through everything. Ask my sister, Carolyn, 48 hours at her house this weekend and it looked pretty much like my house looks every day. So if anyone wants to visit and wants a clean house, you'd better give me like 2 days notice. Unexpected guests will have to look at my very dusty living room and trip over noisy toys.

We visited Carolyn and Mike in Raleigh this weekend. They just moved in to a brand new house. It's a very nice house and we had fun being there. The drive is really not that bad. Just under 3 hours and pretty much all interstate. Ainsley was so great...except for sleeping, but really I've just about given up on that front. It's not like she's this great sleeper at home and then we go on a trip and I can't get her down. The problem is that when we are out of town we are so busy doing things or visiting that it's very difficult to spend 45 minutes to an hour putting her down. Also, it's hard to make any plans when you don't know when she's going to need to sleep. When we're at home, I am at liberty to spend all the time needed to get her to sleep. Just not the case when we are travelling.

Well, I will post pictures and stories of the weekend later this week. Right now I have to get back to work, just needed a short break. If I am ever able to go part time, Monday's are the first to go...they are just so depressing. Your alarm goes off at 6 AM and all there is to look forward to is a long, hard, busy week ahead. Monday's are definitely the hardest day to wake up. Thursdays and Fridays are much easier.

Well, everyone have a good Monday and a good week.