It was a Merry Christmas!

I have been such a blogging slacker! There have been many things to post about, but I just haven't found the time to sit down and write. So bare with me, it's going to be a long one :)

The Well Baby Visit

Ainslee went for her one year "well baby" visit two weeks after she turned one. Daddy wanted to go to the doctor with (we had a lot of questions about Ainslee's eating) and that was the soonest he would be able to go. The stats:

Weight- 18lbs 12 oz

Height- 29.5"

Needless to say, she won't be a "forward facer" (in her carseat) for a few more months :( She doesn't know what she's missing, but Mommy thinks it will be a lot more fun! The doctor said she is on the small side, but is still growing nicely. She assured us that she is probably eating all she needs to, but we will encourage her to try new things ALL the time. She is still refusing the sippy cup when it's time for milk (will ONLY drink it out of a bottle), but will take it just fine in between meals with just water in it. It makes no since, but the child seriously has a mind of her OWN.

Santa

Jason and I took Ainslee to visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop one night after he got off of work. Ainslee seemed interested, but looking back I think it was because of all the other little kids running around. Jason was holding her and as he approached Santa, she began to get a death grip on the back of his arm, tightening as he got closer and closer. She sat in his lap and didn't cry, but has a look of absolute fear in her eyes in the picture we got. If I can figure out our scanner, I will post it.

Christmas in Austin

Auntie Lo and Uncle Trevor spent Christmas in Houston this year, so we decided to do Christmas with them the weekend before. We met Grammy and Pop at their apartment and Lauren made a wonderful chili dinner for all of us. We exchanged presents and had a great time watching Ainslee discover the joys of unwrapping gifts. She really started to get the hang of it. I think her birthday was good practice. We spent the night with them, which probably ruined Ainslee's chance of having a cousin in the near future. She had an "episode." She has done this once before and we can't figure out what it is all about. She went to bed just fine, but woke up SCREAMING an hour later. She seemed like she was still asleep but would shriek every few minutes...this lasted until 1 am. Luckily her aunt and uncle really love her, so I think she is forgiven :)

Opening a present from her aunt & uncle

Pop & Grammy love her

She loves Baaab, the auodad

After a rough night, she woke up with serious bed head

Christmas in Kerrville

Christmas Eve we packed everything and the kitchen sink and headed to Kerrville to spend the week with Jason's family. His grandmother, brother, aunt, uncle, and cousins all came into town as well. We had a great, relaxing time hanging out together and visiting. Ainslee had a blast with her Grandma and Grandpa. They took her outside to feed the chickens and pet the horses a million times. She LOVES the chickens! She also loved showing off all her tricks and having them chase her around the house. Ainslee must have been a good girl this year because Santa came and left some fun presents under the tree for her! I think her favorite thing this Christmas was pulling everything out of her new stocking Grandma made her. She pulled each thing out one at a time :)

Checking out what Santa left

I think she likes it!

Bottle break with GG

Opening a present with Grandma

Checking out the goods in her stocking

This was her serious stocking digging face :)

Grandpa made sure to keep her warm before heading outside to see horses!


We made a couple of visits to Grammy and Pop's house also, and got to see both sets of Ainslee's Great Grandparent's (on Mommy's side) and her Great Aunt Cathy and Uncle Rob.

She loves her new tea set from Grammy & Pop

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Ainslee's first birthday on Saturday with family and friends! Auntie Lo and Uncle Trevor came down on Friday night to spend the whole weekend with us! Thank goodness they did, because we had them babysit on Friday night so we could go to our Sunday School Christmas party and they were a HUGE help with preparing for the party on Saturday. Mommy made the cake, Daddy made appetizers, Auntie Lo made cupcakes, and Uncle Trevor was on baby duty :) We had to wake Ainslee up from her nap because she tried to sleep through her own party. When I brought her into the living room there were already quite a few people and balloons everywhere, she appeared awe struck! We had a lot of fun visiting and eating. Ainslee was not too sure what to think when we all sung happy birthday to her, and she was not very interested in her cupcake, but she did like the icing. She loved opening her presents, but I think she loved being around all her wonderful friends and family most!

The cake


She was so excited about all the balloons!

She thoroughly enjoyed being the center of attention

Planning their escape

Not sure why everyone was singing and looking at her

Yummy icing!

Some very cute kids!

Birthday Dinner

We took Ainslee to McAlister's Deli for a birthday dinner last night. She LOVES their fruit cup and teddy grahams, we are working on the grilled cheese (she threw most of it on the floor).

Daddy using our order number to show how old she is


Love that bumper sticker!


"How big is Ainslee?" She is showing "so big!"


Glad this is the last "chair" picture - she WON'T sit still!


When we got home she got to stay up late and play with one of her birthday presents

One Year Old!

My sweet Ainslee,

To my amazement, you are a year old today. Everyone told me that you would grow up so fast, but I really didn't expect that your first year would feel like a blink of an eye. As I was rocking you before bed last night, part of me wanted to keep holding you all night, thinking that if I did you would just stay a little baby. When your Daddy and I went in to get you this morning you were as happy as could be. We told you happy birthday and you got a giant grin on your face, like you knew it was your special day!

In just one year you have completely changed my life. I never imagined it possible to love you so much. You bring so much joy to our lives. Because of you, I have an even greater understanding of how God must love us, His children. Your Daddy and I are so blessed to be chosen as your parents. We love to watch you grow and learn new things everyday. Your curiosity and interest in people fascinate me, I can't wait to hear what you think about the world around you.

At a year old, you have lots of new tricks. You like to play peek-a-boo by hiding behind something and then popping your head out with a huge grin on your face. You love to clap and dance to music that you like by waving both hands in the air. You can wave hello and goodbye, but you say "hi" when doing both (we are working on saying bye). You are very good at throwing a ball. When we throw (roll) it back to you, you lift your arms out like you are trying to catch it! Wen you are in your highchair we ask you, "How big is Ainslee?" You will lift your arms over your head and we say, "so big" - Daddy and I think this is the cutest trick!

Ainslee, your daddy and I love you so much. We are both looking forward to watching you grow up and see you use all the talents God has given you. But always remember, no matter how big or how old you are, you will always be my baby girl.

Love,
Mommy

Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week spent with lots of friends and family. Jason had the whole week off from school, which made for a nice long break! The Sunday before Thanksgiving our friends from North Carolina came down for a visit. Their little girl, Addison, is 4 1/2 months younger than Ainslee. We picked them up from the airport and the girls were in matching dresses, I promise we hadn't planned it! We all went to church and out to lunch with everyone from our Sunday school class. We came home and ALL took a nap. The next day we decided to pack up and head to the River Walk. We had beautiful weather and there weren't too many people downtown, great combination :) Tuesday was not the best day. Miss Addison woke up a little fussy and very sleepy. She continued to seem worse and when we discovered she had a 102 temp. we called our pediatrician (Ainslee had to visit their pediatrician when we went to NC in June, so it was only fitting). The boys dropped Laura and I and the babies at the Dr. and headed to the pub down the road. While we were there, Ainslee starting feeling really warm and was acting very lethargic. Well, once we got in the exam room the nurse took both of their temps, and Ainslee's was even higher than Addison's! After both being examined, we headed to HEB to fill "matching" prescriptions of antibiotics. Wednesday, the fevers had subsided so since it was our last day together, we decided to go on a little road trip to Fredricksburg. We had a fun time shopping, eating, and playing. On our way home we stopped in Luckenbach for a quick break. We had such a fun time watching the babies play together during the week. They were quite interactive, much more so then in June. We had a wonderful time with the Simpson's and are already looking forward to a Summer vacation with them!

"Hey look, we have on the same dress!"




They had lots of fun in the tub together


The River Walk


Both waiting to see the Doctor


Josh's shirt says "chillin with my peeps," how appropriate :) They were watching Praise Baby, and you can tell they are not feeling very well.

Riding a mechanical horse in downtown Fredricksburg


The Gang


The three of us headed to Kerrville just in time for Thanksgiving lunch. We ate at my parent's house with Jason's parents and brother, my sister and brother-in-law, and my grandparents. It was so nice to have our families all together! We stayed through the weekend and just relaxed and watched a LOT of football :)

Playing in the leaves at the park, she loved it!

So happy!

First Steps!

We had yet another big milestone last night! Ainslee has been standing and taking one or two steps here and there, but last night at our friend and Sunday school teacher's house, Ainslee took MANY steps. Their 4 year old son was Ainslee's source of motivation (already chasing after boys). She walked several times, and at one point took 12 steps! I don't consider myself an emotional person, but Mommy shed a few tears. We were so proud of her and so glad our friends from North Carolina, Josh and Laura, were also there to witness.

First Word!

Besides Mama and Dada, Ainslee can now say "hi." Grammy and I were in Babies 'R Us with Ainslee last weekend, and a little baby waved and said hi to us. To our amazement, Ainslee yelled "hi" right back to her! We thought it was funny and just a coincidence, but she has continued to say it all week. She waves her fingers and yells hi (in a somewhat Southern sounding accent) to people in stores, on TV, animals, and cars that drive by.

Some of her other new tricks include: pretending to drink from a real cup and then smacking her lips like she actually drank something, walking with just one hand on her push toy, lifting up your shirt and finding your belly button (she thinks she is hilarious when she does this), and making a wahwahwahwah noise when you pat her mouth (picture the non-p.c. Indian noise). Oh yeah, and driving....

Officially a Mom

* Warning: This post is a little graphic in nature

I have heard it said that you aren't completely a parent until you experience vomit. Well, I am officially part of the REAL Mom club. Ainslee had her first throw up last night and it went All. Over. Mom! We are not talking spit up, we've had some bad spit ups, this was huge, nasty vomit :) I bathed her while Daddy did clean up duty. Thankfully, she seems to be fine now. I'm sure you will appreciate this as a pictureless post.

A little A.G.G. in Aggieland

Ainslee got to go to her very 1st Aggie football game! Her "Aunt" Katy gave us tickets on the 14th row, 50 yard line, alumni side! Good seats for a first game. She did great and seemed to be in awe of all the sights and sounds. Daddy had to take his principal certification exam on Saturday, so Auntie Lo and Grammy went with us.

Aggies will always be #1!


She got to sit with some friends


And play "dentist" with Auntie Lo



She loved watching the bands


That's a wave, not a "sick 'em"!


This might be reason enough for A&M to have cheerleaders

Potty Training 101

You would think that between this:


And this:


We could have at least one of these two toilet trianed. Wouldn't that make life a little easier? :)

11 Months Old!

Ainslee turned 11 months old yesterday, and I can't help but feel a bit terrified that my baby is quickly becoming less and less of a baby! She is becoming more and more mobile (not walking yet) and has discovered a love for climbing. Daddy is extremely excited about her climbing skills. The other day she pushed her activity table over to an end table next to the love seat. Within seconds she had climbed up onto the activity table, crawled onto the end table, and then up onto the couch-impressive (and dangerous-don't worry, I was supervising)!

Ainslee is saying/making more and more words/sounds. Mama and Dada are thrown out quite often, although mama is used primarily when she a. wants out of bed, b. wants out of her carseat, c. is mad (see a pattern?). Pop's new nickname for her is "Enya" because this is what she says ALL the time. Maybe that's how the singer got her name? I know she recognizes a lot more words than she can say. If I say "where's the kitty/fan/airplane/ball?" she will look for it and point to it. Pointing is her new favorite skill, and she has just recently perfected the one finger point. When she isn't pointing, Ainslee tries to share whatever it is she has in her hand. She shares books, toys, cheerios, and today I saw her try to give her ball to Charley Cat :)

Jason keeps saying that Ainslee is just getting more and more fun as she gets older and I would have to agree. I LOVE when she crawls over to me and wants to give "kisses" or cuddle, and I know her daddy loves when she tries to wrestle or climb all over him. He has started giving her horsey rides (with Mommy holding on) and Ainslee loves it!

Halloween Weekend

We celebrated Ainslee's first Halloween in Kerrville. We carved our pumpkin, passed out candy to trick-or-treaters, and thoroughly enjoyed Ainslee's kitty cat costume. Saturday we went to the park with both sets of grandparents for a fun picnic. We fed the ducks and played on the playground. Ainslee LOVED crawling in the grass and would have crawled straight into the river if we had let her...we didn't :) We all had a great time relaxing in the wonderful fall weather!

Daddy carved the pumpkin

Cutest little kitty!

Notice the pumpkin has the same number of teeth as Ainslee

She found another kitty

Too funny!

The whole fam

Feeding ducks

Eating sticks