What happened in January!

One night, Kurt came home from work and we decided to go out to dinner as a family to Arctic Circle. It was fun because we don't do this often. And as of now even less often because Ashlyn is starting the terrible 2's and doesn't even like to be in a highchair. I try not to take her to restaurants. We did have fun that night though.

Ashlyn in the highchair!

My awesome Honey!

Of course Ashlyn tore up the napkin she was holding!

It was nice because Ayla had some nice kids to play with on the playground. I love it when the kids are nice that is not always the case. There have been times before ,when mean kids are on the playground and they are not nice to Ayla. It makes me sad because Ayla loves to make friends. They are really missing out!

Ashlyn wanted to get out and walk around the playground!

Cute girl!

My other cute girl having fun!

The next thing we did in January was...

go to dinner for my Dad's birthday! 

We went to Golden Corral!

Uncle Ernie with my Dad!

My brother, Robert, his wife, Carolyn, her son, Cody, Rob Davis  (a family friend) and my nephew, Lane Brain!

Ashy and my sister, Marion!

Her husband was there too. The picture I got of him was blurry.

My Mom with my happy girl, Ayla!

She was so happy to have cotton candy!

And of course, my Honey!

Happy messy faced girl! So cute!

We had a good time at dinner for my Dad! I love to spend time with family!

When it Rains it Pours!

Life was great during the first part of February but it started to change very quickly. It has been a hard road and here is to hoping that it is over for a while. 

It all started on February 15th.

My Dad was working that day, driving his truck and he got hot in the cab, so he slid off his coat. It covered his seat belt but he never unbuckled. He was pulled over by a cop for not wearing his seat belt. He got a ticket. Any who, on the following Monday my Dad almost lost his job over this. It was very stressful for my family. We were worried that he would have a very hard time finding work and that there might be a chance of my parents loosing their house. We went all day with this stress and his work finally called at 5 pm, to tell us he still had a job. That was such a relief. I am so glad that he was able to keep his job because of the next events that happened.

Tuesday morning, I get a phone call from my mother informing me that my sweet Aunt, Shirley went into the hospital on Sunday and they found out she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That they were going to put a feeding tube in her. She went in because she could keep anything down and found this out.

Here is a picture of my Aunt, Shirley. She is the 3rd from the left. This was taken at a family reunion we had for her when she was in town. This is actually on my blog. She has been on my blog a few times. 

Here is one of me with her at the reunion.

Anyway, my Aunt Shirley has been living in Denver and Las Cruses, New Mexico. At this time she was in Las Cruses. We knew we didn't have much time, so my Mom, my sister, Marion and I with my baby, Ashlyn decided to take a trip to see her for one last time. We got it all arranged for the following week. 

That Tuesday, when we heard the news about Shirley, I had my Mom come and spend the day with me. I didn't want to be alone because I was so sad.

On Wednesday morning, my sweet Mother-in-law called me from a plane because she was excited to share the news that she was on the plane, on her way to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I told her thank you for calling me and sharing her excitement. That it was nice to hear something good. I shared her excitement. She said she was so excited and couldn't wait to get over there and start buying things for her grandchildren.

Later that evening my sister Marion's heart was pumping unevenly. It scared me because I called her right when it was happening. She had the paramedics there with her and she was going to be going to the hospital. I got off the phone with her and cried. I was done with all the bad things that happened that week and ready to just have a break. My friend, Ann had a feeling to call me that moment and I just cried to her on the phone. My sister was okay. She is now seeing a cardiologist. 

A week later we headed on our trip down to say good-bye to my Aunt. It was a 2 day drive. We were all so tired and glad to get there. The night we arrived (March 1st), tragedy struck. I got a very devastating phone call from my husband's brother-in-law, Chris.

He informed me that my dear friend and second Mother had passed away in Hawaii of a heart attack.

I felt hopeless, I was 2 states away from my husband and I couldn't be there for him during this hard time. I am glad he had Ayla with him so he wouldn't be alone.

The next day we went and saw my Aunt Shirley for 2 hours at the hospital. We were supposed to spend the day there with her but after what happened, I felt that I needed to get home to my husband. It was a sweet 2 hours with her. I wish we could have spent longer with her but at the same time she was very tired and it was probably good that we didn't stay there all day to wear her out. She had a lot of visitors coming to see her. It was so nice to be with her and feed her ice chips, tell her I love her, talk about memories, give her hugs, kiss her forehead and say good bye. One of the best 200 dollars I have ever spent.

It was nice to get back to my husband and hold him.

Here is a sweet picture of my Mother-in-law with all her grandkids (except Ashlyn) at the Zoo. She always bought a Zoo pass. That is how I have been able to go to the zoo so much.

We had a very private burial for her. It was just too much for us at the time. It was just her husband, us kids and the grandkids. We did a memorial for her later for everyone else.

I had the honor of helping to get her dressed and get dressed in her temple clothes. This has meant the world to me. To be able to honor her in some way.

These were her flowers. We chose yellow roses because roses are her favorite flower and yellow is her favorite color. They were beautiful!

I also got the honor to help carry and place the casket.

We had a nice little service.

Here is Ayla with a rose from the casket. I have 3 of these roses, now dried.

2 days after we buried my Mother-in-law, my Aunt Shirley passed. Another sad day.

I spend the next two weeks helping my sister-in-law, Suzanne with getting things for our Mother's memorial.

We visited her grave quite often.

Here is Ashlyn and Ayla.

We put some St. Patrick's Day decorations on her grave one of the times.

Here is Ayla with the St. Patrick's Day decorations.

We also put some things on there for Easter.

We had the memorial the Saturday before Easter.

Here is the sign in table. Suzanne came up with the wonderful idea of a message in a bottle for our Mother. So people could write her something if they would like. I love the size of bottle we found and I love her high school picture we had blown up.

Suzanne collected a lot of things that belonged to our Mother to display. Also so things she made. She hand embroidered the pillow cases. She gave them to all of us this past Christmas. I am so glad she did. We all have something hand made by our Mother.

I did the center pieces for the tables. I kept it simple. I of course chose yellow, being her favorite color. I chose different pictures of her to put in the frames. This one is of her as a baby.

I did 2 different types of vases. I just love this picture of her with our Father.

Suzanne's husband and her put at slide show together for everyone to watch. 

We then had a service for her and we ended it with an....

Easter Egg hunt!

Ayla scoring an egg!

We had a great turn out and the kids of course loved the Egg Hunt! Suzanne came up with the idea to do the hunt to honor our Mother. Carol Anne loved doing Easter Egg hunts!

It has been really hard for me with these two deaths and it is going to take a really long time to be okay. This is one of the main reasons I have not blogged in a long time. My Mother-in-law has been one of my best cheerleaders with my blog. Every time I would do a post, I would feel so tired from doing  the post and wonder if it was worth it. She then would call me the next day to tell me how much she enjoyed my newest post. This would always keep me going of course. I know other people read my blog but I cherish those phone calls. I miss talking to her. I would talk to her once or twice a week. I miss her so much. I feel such a void in my life with her gone. 

I really miss and love you, Carol Anne.

Now for a lighter note.

I want to share some pictures from our trip to Las Cruses.

Ashlyn in our first hotel!

Time for bed! Aunt Marion tickleling her feet!

So cute!

She thought she was going to drive the second day!

She did so great going down and back. I am so proud of her!

We tried to go swimming that night when we got there. Doesn't she look cute in her new swim suite? I love it! What I mean by tried to swim is, the water in the pool was way too cold so we didn't swim.

Here is a picture of me and my sister, Marion with our Aunt Pam.

Here is one of us with our cousin Steph! It was so great to see her. It had been years!

Hopefully now, I can get caught up on my blog. It might be a while before I read blogs. I just want to get everything on here because it is my journal. And when I do, I will start to ready other's blogs. I do miss your blogs.

Watch Ashlyn grow! 6 Months until now!

Normally, I would do a post for each month that Ashlyn turned another month but I have been so busy with everything else. I have put it off until today because I have some really exciting news at the end of this post! 

I am first going to start off with Ashlyn at 6 months because, regularly, I would show the previous month and the things she learned that month. The last post I did was when she turned 6 months and so I had the things she learned during her 5th month. 

You get to see Ashlyn grow right before your eyes!!!

6 months

This was taken the day Ashlyn turned 6 months!

She weighed 18 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches long!

What she learned and did that month were...

*She started to make noise with her arm by covering her mouth! It was so cute! I am glad I got a video of it because she doesn't do it anymore!*

Ayla dressed her up in her Build A Bear's Tinkerbell costume! Ashlyn loves to play with her big sister, Ayla!

She started to learn how to sit up on her own! She learned it the previous month but mastered it in her 6th month!

 Ayla loves being a big sister!

I love this picture of Ashlyn in this veil! 

This was taken the day I took the pictures of Ayla wearing the play wedding dress! 

 I kept pillows around Ashlyn to protect her while she was learning to sit up!

 This was one when she was sitting on her own! I love this picture!

Ayla just started hugging her!

She started to move forward in her walker!

 She went on a walk with Daddy and her sister, Ayla!

 We love this picture! 

(Even though it looks kind of mean.) Looks like Ayla was starting to learn how to tease. Not good! Kurt and I have this picture on both of our phones as the wallpaper.

 Ayla giving her kitty ears!

She actually started to like tummy time more! Like, the drool in the picture? Yeah, she was teething and cut her first tooth on the 20th of September during her 6 month!

More tummy time!

*She started to make a popping noise with her mouth! I got video of it the same day as the picture above!*

7 months

 This was taken the day she turned 7 months! 

She weighed 18 lbs and was 27 inches long. We were at Disneyland! You can see her first tooth in this picture! It is on the bottom!

 So she got to go to Disneyland for her first time! I love how she was looking at Mickey in this picture!

And I didn't realize it was a pattern until last month!!! LOL!!!

*She cut her second tooth on the 11th of October during her 7 month!*

She got to go on another walk with Daddy and her big sister, Ayla!

She stared moving all over the floor and fast. It amazed me because she wasn't crawling yet but she could move across the floor within seconds! She mainly rolled across the floor.

*She started getting up on all fours and starting moving backwards before the end of her 7 month !*

 Ayla put the fireman hat on her!

Ayla got a booster seat!

And so Ashlyn got Ayla's old car seat!

I had to get a picture of this because we were at a restaurant and she was wearing the exact same outfit that Ayla wore at a restaurant at 7 months!

 She really got good at navigating the walker!

She started to become fascinated with the dishwasher!

She had her first Halloween!

8 months

This was taken the day after Ashlyn turned 8 months!

She weighed 19 lbs and was 28 1/2 inches long!

We learned that day that she loved balls! 

I love how she is giggling with Ayla in the picture above!

Other things that she learned and did during her 8 month are...

*She still really liked to eat sweet potatoes but then then she got sick and would not eat any solids what so ever. I talked to the doctor's office and they said she was fine as well as she was still nursing. So I didn't worry about it.*

*She started to voice what she wanted, of course in her own language!*

 Ayla dressed Ashlyn up in her pirate hat and let her hold the pirate sword!

That night, Kurt got a video of Ashlyn trying to put the pirate hat on all on her own. Since then, Ashlyn loves to try and put clothes and other things on!

 She really became good with motor skills during the previous months before she was 8 months! She amazes me!

 She CRAWLED for her first time on November 8th, during her 8th month! She then mastered it in a couple of days. So proud!!!

*Then she started to crawl to me saying, "Momma." That still is the only word she knows! It is for sure her first word!

*She started clapping on November 9th! She started to use it to express herself while having a fit! LOL!!  Yes, the fits have begun!*

She started to pull herself up with furniture on November 25th!

Ashlyn learned what a touch screen was! Kurt put his ipad on a drawing app and let Ashlyn go to town. She painted the picture above by herself! Of course she didn't know what she was doing and she changed the colors by accident. She did, however, learn that when you slide your finger a cross the screen something happens.  Ever since then, she has been drawn to electronic devices. She always wants to play with them. She tires to slide her finger across my phone's lcd screen that isn't a touch screen. It makes me laugh when she tries to do it to my laptop! She even tried to do it on my camera's  lcd screen. She is a funny girl!

She had her first Thanksgiving!

She had her first Festival of Trees!

9 months

This was taken the day she turned 9 months!

She weighed 19 lbs and was 29 1/2 inches long!

She wore 12 month clothing!

Some of the things she learned or did that month were...

*She stood for 2 seconds on her own on the 6th of December!*

*She started to walk holding onto furniture on the 10th of December!*

*Cut her front right tooth by the 10th of December!*

*Started to give things to people on the 10th of December!*

 She went for her first time with the riding the train and seeing Santa tradition!

The only problem was that the train was not going that night. :(

But she did get to finally ride it with Ayla on another day!

She got sick again and still would not eat solids! Yikes!

During the week she was sick I set up camp in the living room with the girls. Ayla insisted on sleeping in her princess tent.

 One of the nights we were camping out. They were goofing off at 2 am!

 I thought they were going to wake up Kurt for a second time that night!

 It took a while to calm them down!

 I kept pulling Ashlyn out of the tent but she kept crawling back in!

 They were giggling very loud!

I have to admit that it was so cute to see Ashlyn act like a kid!

I ended up taking Ashlyn to the doctors to try and get her better. Her doctor then told me to try to give her finger foods. So we started to give her Gerber Puffs. You know the ones that melt in your mouth? She also told me to give her soups because the vegetables in them are soft and she can pick them up with her fingers. So far we have not tried the soups because Ashlyn chokes so easily just on the puffs. It is getting better and I think I am going to try it soon.

Ashlyn started to dish it right back to Ayla when Ayla isn't being nice. I am trying to teach the girls to get along when this happens but it is challenging.  One time, Ashlyn smacked Ayla right in the face! I have my work cut out for me!

She went to the Zoolights for her first time!

And fell asleep! LOL!! I was glad she did!

It was her first Christmas!

I took the picture above so I could put it in..

 Her, Baby's First Christmas Stocking!

I also got her her Baby's First Christmas ornament!

*She started dancing when she hears music and loves to do it! She just bounces up and down to the beat!*

*She cut her other front tooth before the end of her 9th month but I am sad to say it went back in and so she had to cut it all over again!*

 She played with bubbles for her first time!

I thought it was cool that Ayla got the bubbles to pile up!

10 months and counting!

This was taken the day she turned 10 months!

She now weighs 21 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches long!

She now wears 18 month clothing! I can't believe how big she is!

 She loves her Ballapalooza toy she got for Christmas!

I think one of the things she loves about it is that it plays music and she loves to dance! Not to mention the balls that go to it!

 She plays with it every day!

Ayla loves to play with it too!

She follows Ayla down the hall and to her room. Ayla then shuts the door before Ashlyn gets there. Ashlyn will then start to cry. Poor little Sweetheart!

*She mastered walking around the furniture!*

She cut her left front tooth again at the beginning of the month! She cut her 5th tooth on the 13th of January! You can kind of see some sweet potatoes on her right eyebrow. We were trying to get her to eat solids again. Kurt did pretty well. He actually force fed her with a syringe so she would taste the sweet potatoes. She then took a few bites after that! Great idea, Honey!

*She's got a sense of humor! She has come to know if something makes people laugh and she will keep doing it. She loves to try and eat my nose because it makes me laugh! *

*She will say, "Mom" when she cries or gets hurt! It is so cute! It is still the only word she says. She does talk in her own language. She will even answer me in it!*

 She has learned to throw balls! 

You can't tell but the yellow-green ball is actually in the air in the picture above.

Once again, the yellow-green ball is in the air!

She has learned to throw other things too!

 She started to stand on her own and has been doing it a lot!

Loves to get into drawers and cupboards!

 See what I mean? Standing on her own!

 Like I said, loves to get into things!

 Still tries to put clothing on!

These pictures were taken yesterday, along with all the pictures to the end of this post.

 This one cracks me up!

 Such a cutie!

 Getting into things again!

Ayla wanted to get in on the picture!

 Ashlyn actually started to stand up on her own without using anything to help her! She has been doing this the past few days!

Now for the biggest thing she has done yet...

She took 8 steps yesterday!

UP!

DOWN!

UP again!

 DOWN again!

My sweet little Baby is learning to walk!!!!! I am so proud of her! That is why I had to get this post done today!

She took a couple of steps on the 15th of January. She took her first step about a week before that. She also at one point tired to run to Ayla from the couch that same day she took her first step. She did not get very far but she was super excited about it!

Ayla wanted me to take a picture of her walking! LOL!!!

I am happy to say that, the past few days, I have been able to get Ashlyn to eat oatmeal! So now she eats the puffs and cereal! I am going to try and start the soups soon because she is getting good at swallowing and not chocking! She is finally eating solids again. Yay!!!!

 Here she is after I fed her some oatmeal yesterday! She decided she wanted to wear the wash cloth! LOL!!

Such a cute girl!

Well there you have it!

Ashlyn from 6 months up until today!

I am so amazed that she is walking at 10 months! I am sure she will be getting it down in the next few days! 

Mommy is so proud of you Ashlyn! Mommy loves you so much!

Ashlyn is such a great addition to our little family!

I am so glad I kept track of all these milestones on a word document and that I took pictures as well! I'm even more happy that I finally got this post done!!!

I hope you enjoyed! 

I know I did writing it and reliving her milestones!