Ashley's Latest - 18 Months

Ashley will be 18 months next week!  I feel like we were just celebrating her first birthday.  She is growing up so much and turning out to be such a great little girl. 

She has her 18 month doctors appointment in a couple weeks but here are a few of her "other" stats:

Weight - (from the bathroom scale) - 22 lbs which she has been at for a few months (Bennett was almost 27 lbs at this age)

Clothes - size 18 or 24 month

Shoes - size 4 (Bennett was wearing a tight sized 6 at this age!)

Diapers - size 3 (Bennett was wearing size 4 and 5 at this age!)

Teeth - I'm pretty sure she has 16 teeth - 8 on the top and 8 on the bottom

• Ashley is a girly girl all the way.  She loves clothes and shoes and dressing up with hats and necklaces.  But, at the same time, she loves playing with Bennett's tractors, trucks and balls.  She loves looking at books, dancing to her cartoon theme songs, and playing with Bennett. 
• Ashley is a wonderful sleeper!  She takes a nap in the afternoon from 12:00 to 2:00.  She goes to be within minutes at 8:00 and wakes up at 8:00 in the morning.  She is still sleeping in her crib and because she sleeps sooo good in there, I probably won't be switching her to a twin bed until she's closer to 2.  But, I do have her bed and bedding already for her when she's ready.  My mom had an extra set of twin mattress's which she needed to get rid of since she didn't have room or a need for them.  And, I got her some really really nice little girl bedding, sheets and curtains with butterflies for $25 at a garage sale.  (By 18 months I had Bennett switched to a twin bed already because I was pregnant and I kicked him out of the crib)
• Ashley has started to try and walk down the stairs.  This is troubling because she has taken a few tumbles doing this.  One time she log rolled down about 10 steps all the way to the bottom - little stinker - scared her and me!  I keep trying to reinforce to her that she still needs to go down on her butt or belly.  This is one of the things that she has apparently picked up from watching Bennett. 
• Ashley is doing SO good at talking!  She can say so many words which is great.  This is quite a change from when Bennett was her age and all I had him saying was animal sounds.  This is great because she is able to tell me what she wants so many times during the day.  Example - she'll bring me her cup and say Water or if I ask her a question she knows to answer with Yes or No.
• Since Bennett was little, I would sing the ABC's while brushing teeth and changing diapers - it's a good distraction plus it reinforces the ABC's.  Anyways, when I was singing this to Ashley while changing her diaper the other day she kind of started singing with me!  She mumbled the A B C and then when I got to P, she said P with me and then the same with T!  I was majorly impressed with my big girl.
• She is a master at the "Ashley go get your____ or Ashley bring me the _____ or Ashley go put this ______."  It's so great that she's able to do small things on her own now which helps me out.  She likes throwing things in the garbage so this is many times her little job.
• We got rid of the high chair and welcomed the potty chair.  A couple of month ago already we gave up on the high chair.  It took up too much room plus, she would always try to climb out of it.  She sits at the table in a booster chair with us now making her look and feel like a big girl.  And, we got the potty chair out a few weeks ago.  She can say Poop and Potty and always likes to go in the bathroom when Bennett is going and shows a small interest.  Also, a few times in the past few weeks I've caught her pooping and say "Ashley what are you doing" and her response is "poo poo".  I've gotten her to potty a couple of times and poop once.  I'm sure we are months and months away from her being trained but I guess it couldn't hurt starting slowly already. 

In this picture she is looking at her newly painted toenails.

Ashley and her favorite friend!

Bennett's Latest

It's been awhile since I updated I've let you know what the kids are up to.  Today I'll start with Bennett...

• He is very very in to anything and everything that has to do with church these days.  He sings songs (Hallelujah over and over again), directs choirs (any show that has songs on TV), collects the offering (wants us to put pieces of paper in bowls), he "lights" "candles" and then bows, he'll put his hand on our head and mumble works which we think must be when he gets blessed when he goes up to communion with us.  ...and the list could go on. 
• He is able to get dressed by himself which is wonderful!  He has to be in the right mood to actually get the job done in a timely fashion but still, it's great that I can give him this task and know that he can do it. 
• On this same note, he is able to go to the bathroom by himself with the only assistance to wipe his butt after a poop.  This is great that #1 - I don't have to keep reminding him to actually go to the bathroom and #2 - I don't have to run in there to help him EVERY time.  He is doing great with this and I honestly can't remember the last time he had wet underwear.
• He is starting to recognize when he does something wrong and will say "I sorry" without being prompted.  On the down side, there are many many times when Ashley's tears will come which brings on the "I sorry".
• He is loving his new sandbox and would spend all day outside playing if I'd let him.  Our only problem is that with the busy traffic in our front yard, we don't trust him to be playing in the backyard by himself yet.  I trust him enough to know that he won't go on the road but still.  He hates having to come in but I can't spend all afternoon outside with him. 

As you all know from kids of your own who are in this toddler age, they say the craziest things!  Here are just a couple that made us laugh over the past week.
(On a cooler evening while driving in the car with me)
B: pop pop pop (while poking at his arm)
R: what are you doing?
B: popping the bumps!
(goose bumps)

(Calling from the bathroom to come wipe his butt.)
B: my poop looks like a hotdog daddy!

(Bennett has alittle bit of a cold.  He was sitting in the chair and jumped down really fast and starts rubbing his face on the floor.  He looked like a dog sniffing something on the floor.)
R: what are you doing?
B: (looking up at me with snot on his cheek) wiping my nose
R: nooo you don't wipe your nose on the floor - go get a Kleenex!
B: no you can vacuum it up!

Hit the ball - not the tee.

Good hit!

Ashley's New Wardrobe

I was able to go garage saling last weekend and Ashley got lots of great new clothes!  I spent about $25 on all of the following clothes for her.

 18 or 24 month clothes = 4 short sleeve shirts, 1 swimsuit, 1 very cute pair of shoes, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of summer pjs and 2 winter pjs

size 2T = 4 pairs of pants, 9 long sleeve shirts, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of winter pjs, 1 pair of tights 

size 3T = 3 winter pjs, 1 pair of pants, 1 short sleeve shirt, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 dresses

(I know she won't be wearing these for awhile but it was too cute to pass up - I especially love the dresses)

I also spent $15 on summer clothes for her a few months ago which I bought from one of my friends.  Girls clothes are soooo much easier to find than boys - especially toddler boys - I only found one tshirt for Bennett so far.  Girls clothes are alot more fun too!



Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day.  To all of you mom's that read my blog; whether an aunt, cousin or friend, thank you for helping to make me a better mom!  I Love You All! 

I don't know about you but this is totally how I feel these days...
A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: " My full name has six letters. The first one is M. I pick up things. What am I?" When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the students answered the question with the word Mother.

Almost Stitches

Bennett had alittle accident today.  Long story short, he was running up the steps trying to get away from me at nap time.  He was probably about 4 steps up and I caught him, turned around, and somehow, I slipped, lost my footing, (stepped on a toy is Mike's theory), who knows... anyways, I went down which cause Bennett to go down.  Unfortunately, when he went down, he really went down - he hit his chin right on the door frame to the laundry room right at the bottom on the stairs.  He had about a half inch gash on his chin.  Immediately when looking at it, I figured I'd have to take him in.  It wasn't bleeding very much but it was open. 

The doctor too decided that me putting just a normal bandaid on it wouldn't have done the trick.  But, he also didn't think that it quite needed stitches, plus he said that is so much more traumatic for a kid.  So, he put skin glue on it to seal it up.  He said the glue will be on for about a week before it slowly just kind of falls off my itself. 

Bennett has been VERY good at this.  He only cried for about 2 minutes right after it happened, put on a very brave face at the clinic, and hasn't touched or picked at his chin the entire day!  I'm so extremely proud of him for all of this.  To tell you the truth, with as active as Bennett is, I'm surprised that we made it three years without already having stitches or broken bones! - and this time, it wasn't even really his fault! - sorry Bennett :-/ 

(And, for anybody that cares, I kinda twisted my ankle and it hurts just alittle and, I got alittle queasy at the clinic but sucked it up for Bennett haha)

Easter - Part 2

When Mike and I got our tax return money, we decided we were going to buy the kids a playground for our backyard.  I then decided that this would be a gift from the Easter Bunny so that I wouldn't have to go spend an extra $30 on 'stuff' for their Easter baskets.  On Saturday our Easter Bunny - Mike and David, got to work and spent the entire day putting this together.  (Thanks Mike and David for your hard work, putting it together correctly, not breaking anything, not getting hurt, dealing with the rainy, wet, cold weather and, getting in done in my time frame!)

There is still a canopy that Mike still needs to put on the top and we are planning to add a sandbox underneath the bridge/tunnel part. 

I had a video of when Bennett headed outside to see what the Easter Bunny left but I can't get it to load correctly.  He ran outside and went right towards the normal toys he usually plays with and didn't see the swing set until Mike and I kinda coaxed him over there about 20 seconds later.  He was very surprised! 

 

Unfortunately since last weekend, we've only had two nicer days to play outside.  Bennett really likes it.  But, he still really likes his other toys too so he's not on it as much as I guessed that he would be right away.  But that's ok.  And Ashley likes the slide - she goes down by herself on her belly.  The only problem is that she can't reach to climb up it by herself yet.

Easter - Part 1

Happy Easter! Hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter!

I was only able to get one kind of ok picture of Bennett and Ashley this morning in their Easter clothes. And I really wanted more of Ashley too in her cute dress but she wasn't cooperating that well - guess we'll try next Sunday again.