First Haircut

Last week I took Ashley to get her first real haircut.  My mom has cut her bangs a few times in the past but she's never really had her baby hair cut.  She has long hair but it is thin and the back was getting so straggly looking.  Ashley sat so still the entire time and even let her curl the ends after she was done cutting.  She probably got an inch cut off of the back and then got the ends trimmed off of the rest.  You always hear how a haircut will help to thicken up baby hair so I'm hoping it helps alittle.  But even if it doesn't, at least she looks alittle cutier now and it doesn't look as messy.

 Before

 During

After.  She looked so serious and not very happy the whole time.  (She does not like strangers!)

Look Who's Walking Now

Ashley has been officially walking for about 3-4 weeks now (right around 13 months).  But, this past week she's really taken off and is walking around like she's been doing it forever.  It still catches me off guard when I walk to a different room and she follows me walking right behind.  Or, I'll turn around and there she is standing.  She's pretty quick already which is great (but isn't... - mom's, you know what I'm talking about).  She is so proud of herself! 

Valentines Gift

I got one of the best presents from Mike this year for Valentines day.  He gave me (with help from his mom who works at a flower nursery), this potted plant with 5 different flower bulbs in.  Once the flowers and leaves die off, I'll be able to plant these outside this fall.  When he gave this to me, the the stems where barely poking through the dirt.  Within about 5 days I had a daffodil blooming already!  The last of the flowers are blooming right now - talk about a long-lasting flower gift!  And wow it is sooo fragrant too - my house has smelled great for the past few weeks!!!  There are five different bulbs - daffodil, tulip, and hyacinth (the pink and purple ones).  The other two I had to look up online and I think I've found that one is called a grape hyacinth (the blue bell shaped things) and the other one (tall whiteish flower) I still can't figure out what it is - but I like it because it smells wonderful!
Thank You Mike!

 picture taken on Feb 19th

 picture taken Feb 26th

  picture taken Feb 28th

Soooo Tired...

I'm not quite sure what's going on with Ashley lately but this has happened 4 times in the past two weeks at lunch time.  When you're tired, I guess you're just reallllly tired.  And just two minutes before I took this picture, she was eating, smiling and 'talking' to us. 

Ashley 13-14 Months

I didn't get a 13 Month post done about Ashley so I'm combinging this in to her 14 Month fun things.

• She's becoming a bit of a drama queen and has big fits when she doesn't get her way.  Plus, she already knows how to get her way and get Bennett in trouble. 
• She's Walking!!!  A couple of weeks ago she started with a few steps from furniture to furniture and by today already she is completely walking from room to room.  It's so fun to watch!  Bennett tells me about once a day "Mama, Ashley's walking!"
• She is finally back to sleeping the full night!  I'm so relieved this phase is over - she had been waking up for the past 6+ months once a night for a bottle. 
• And speaking of bottle, she hasn't had any for over a month already.  It was very easy to get her off the bottles.
• She has learned to go down steps now too.  She gets on her belly and slides down.  So far, no spills.
• She's starting to pick up a few more words:  Mama, Dada, Grandma (Mama), OhOh, Hi, and a version of Sancho (our cat's name).
• Her 11th tooth (top) is just starting to poke through.
• Her favorite food is cookies and pizza.  For the most part she's a pretty good eater.  There are many many meals that she is eating more than Bennett.

Bennett Update

Here are a few of Bennett's latest:

• He is signed up for 3 year old Preschool!  Zion had an open house earlier this week so I took him to meet his teacher and see the school alittle bit.  We've been there a few times before so when we walked in, he immediately went towards my mom's room.  It sure will be different for her next year having her grandson there!  When we got to his classroom he walked right in, started playing, and didn't want to leave when I was ready to go.  He will have a full class of 12 kids which is the limit to the number they will take for that grade.  I think he will do really good next year.  Since he's been home with me for the past two years, this socialization with other kids is going to be great for him!  And we're hoping that this will help him get alittle more structured - sitting still, walking instead of running, listening, picking up toys etc.  It's so hard to imagine how my little boy can be old enough for this already.  3 year old preschool is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8:30-11:00. 
• Mike has an Ipod and for the past 6+ months, he has let Bennett putz around on it.  This has actually been great for Bennett because of the educational games Mike has on there.  It's helped him learn his alphabet, numbers and colors alittle better.  Right now Mike has him hooked on a matching game which he's pretty good at too.  We've let him play a few kids computer games on the computer too but he's now figured out how to get out of that game and open up other programs which worries me.  It looks like Bennett's turning in to a mini Mike and loving the techi stuff! 
• Bennett and Ashley have a love/hate relationship right now.  Most of the time it's a love but, she gets in his way quite a bit which he is not a fan of.  If Bennett is sitting in a chair, Ashley will try to climb up and sit in that chair.  If Bennett is playing with something, Ashley will also and get in his way or mess it up.  etc.  This has caused lots of pushing, throwing things at her etc.  He's never really hit her which I guess is a plus.  And, she is a bit of a drama queen and will start crying very loudly if she doesn't get her way or if she does get pushed out of the way....which makes Bennett more upset too.  But, they love each other to death and it is great to watch them when they actually are playing together. 
• We were driving in the car and I heard "Momma, are we there yet?"  Not sure where he picked that up
• Somebody must have told him that kisses are yucky cause when I give him a kiss he now says "Ewww" and wipes it off.  My guess is that one of his uncles told him that? (and when I find out which one of you it was...grrrr.)
• The "whys" have started...boy have they ever started.  Here are two recent conversations.

Bennett:  Daddy what are you doing?
Mike:  I'm making eggs.
Bennett:  Why are you making eggs?
Mike:  Because I'm hungry.
Bennett:  Why are you hungry?
Mike:  Because I haven't had breakfast yet.
Bennett:  Why you not have breakfast yet?
Mike:  Bennett why don't you go downstairs and play.
Bennett:  Why should Bennett go downstairs and play?
Mike:  Just go downstairs!!!

Bennett:  Kristen, what are you doing?
Kristen:  Well I'm making a slushie for you.
Bennett: Why are you making a slushie for me?
Kristen:  Because you'll like it.
Bennett:  Why will I like it?
Kristen:  Because it's good.
Bennett: Why is it good? 
Kristen:  Well, I don't know it just is.
Bennett: Why don't you know? 
Kristen:  Bennett, how about you go play with your uncles...

This happens several times a day.  I've always heard of people saying that this is a stage that kids go through but...

•  Bennett's vocabulary has picked up dramatically since summer.  He is saying words and sentences all day long.  Most of it is clear to me (not sure if others could understand it all though).  He still has some gibberish though and even after having him repeat it over and over, I sometimes can't understand him.  He also leaves off the first letter to the word in lots of words - Milk is Ilk, Water is Ater, Yogurt is Ogurt etc.  But like I said, in the past 6 months his vocabulary has improved leaps and bounds!  And, this is part of the reason also that we decided to give preschool a try already next fall instead of just waiting for the 4 year old preschool.  Hopefully being around other kids, it will just kind of rub off. 

Mom's New Floor

My mom has a new kitchen and living room floor!  It looks so nice and she's really happy with it - it really updated her rooms.  She bought the flooring from Home Depot.  David, Josh and Jon ripped up the old kitchen floor and the carpeting.  They installed the kitchen floor and Home Depot installed the carpeting.  Pictures don't quiet do it justice but, here are a couple for those of you who are anxious to see it!