Right around the corner...

Ainsley turns one next week. I can't believe she's almost one. This year flew by. She is still mostly crawling but she can walk. If you stand her up in the middle of the living room, she'll either just continue standing there or she'll walk to the nearest piece of furniture. Yesterday, for the first time, she willingly walked from one place to another. She did the same thing twice today. It's only a matter of time.

She had tooth #3 cut right after we got back from Mexico, but it's not coming out quickly enough. She's been pretty crabby and fussy lately. She's also being doing this weird (albeit fabulous) thing where for about a week and a half she slept from 7pm to 9am the next morning. I think I actually slept from 10pm to 6am two times without waking up at all. It's literally been since the early weeks of my pregnancy with Avery that I've been able to go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. Just when Avery started to sleep longer and more soundly, I was already up peeing all night because Ainsley was on the way. Sigh. SIGH.

Anyway, I am being a cheapo and instead of taking Ainsley to the 'professional' photographer, I took her first birthday picture myself. I hope she doesn't hate me for not taking her to get her photos taken. I'm sure she'll wonder why...

Just a matter of time!

My brave little toaster

So first off, it was like 145 degrees today. No easing into summer here. While I sat and sweated off 16 pounds, I wondered if there was a point to putting more than a diaper/pull up on my kids since they were already hotter than Hell. I decided against it. All of these half-nude pictures will be sweet when they're older, right?

Then it occured to me that I've taken no video of Ainsley crawling and she's already pulling up and cruising around. She is definitely going to think I loved Avery more when she's an adult and we force her to watch the hours of boring video clips of Avery doing minute and mundane things like picking her nose for the first time and eating a roly-poly.

So while Ainsley was all toasty warm and almost naked, I thought I'd take a few shots to show how fearless this kid is. I told a few friends that I think I was meant to have girls because boys are so rough, and I don't think I'd handle them well.

It turns out girls can be pretty rough too -- or at least that's the first thing that popped into my mind today when Ainsley lunged for Avery's arm and tried to extract a pound of flesh as revenge for ripping a book out of her hands. She's a fiesty one, that Ainsley. Let's just hope Avery doesn't lose a chunk of her ear in one of their daily wrestling matches.

So first, she climbed up onto the little push car, and proceeded to roll it all the way across the floor like she'd done it a hundred times before. This, the girl who still loses her balance while just sitting right in the middle of the floor and slams her head onto the tile. She was so proud too... Avery about keeled over because she had to share the little car she outgrew over a year ago.


Then, I took out the little tunnel that Avery loves so much, and at first Ainsley wanted nothing to do with it. Then she watched Avery crawl through and laugh and scream like a banshee, so she decided she'd give it a whirl. I don't remember Avery warming up so quickly to the idea of crawling through this thing.


Oh, and check out the choppers!

Nine Months Old

I cannot believe that Ainsley May is nine months old. This time just goes too quickly. She's about 20 seconds from crawling, and sort of scoots everywhere, but once she's up on hands and knees, she's not sure what to do and when she tries to go forward, she falls onto her chest. It will happen anyday. She's almost pulling up, though, so I don't think the lapse in time between those two milestones will be very long.

She's also clapping, waving, and saying "woof" to the dogs. I am about 90% convinced she says "ball" and today I asked her to say "Dada" and she looked at him and said it. Her babble has taken a turn for the more unintelligible and she's making all kinds of sounds -- much more complicated than gaa and goo.

I jokingly told a few people that she said her first word the other day -- "Honolulu." Maybe she's trying to drop some vacation destination hints?

She's not sleeping through the night, but will usually go from about 7pm to 1am and then she'll wake about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours until she's up for the day any time between 5 and 6 am. She's further proof that the old cliche "sleeps like a baby" has serious negative implications in our household. This is why Ainsley and Avery will have no more siblings. No sleep = crazy mommy.

Here's a picture I took yesterday. I just love those lips!!!

Drive by blogging

Just coming back to reality after a weekend away in Santa Barbara. We went to the most gorgeous wedding ever, and of course I have no pictures because I was on a mission to have fun and big bulky cameras and beer don't mix well. I did take a picture of the mission that we could see directly across the street, however. It was so beautiful how they had it lit up at night.


My home business is coming along nicely. I'm still working on the website. I'll post it as soon as it's built.

I also thought I'd add a few pics just for no other reason than to try to be better at blogging. I apologize to my fellow bloggers whose blogs I used to read and reply on often. I am not ditching you, I'm just finding it tough to get the time. I told Jed yesterday that I need to get a job so I can sit and do nothing on the internet all day!

I'll start with the state of our yard. We're redoing the entire thing. Here is how it looked last summer.


Here's how it looks now. The girls enjoyed watching the destruction. We're in negotiations for what happens next right now. We're not quite sure what we're doing, but the plans are geting (somewhat) finalized.




Ainsley started to eat solids recently, so it takes more time for me to feed her. She is THRILLED with the process, as you can clearly see.


Here are just some random pictures...

Adventures in Baby Sitting

So, Ainsley can sit up unassisted now. In fact, she does quite well when she's really interested in a toy or watching Avery imitate a baboon. Unfortunately, Avery imitates a whiny two-year-old much more often, so Ainsley has to resort to entertaining herself.

After doing about 5 of these roll and giggle maneuvers, if I need for her to be contained for a moment, the shopping basket usually does the trick. Oh, and, YES, that's a booger sucker she's chewing on. Call CPS if you must.



Sometimes I think she looks like me. Then she starts to cry and throw a fit and I think she looks more like Jed.

"Squirmy Squirmerson"

What a quaint little nickname, yes?

That's what we call Ainsley. The child NEVER sits still. No wonder she's so thin and eats all of the time. If you try to sit her on your lap, it lasts for a few minutes and then she's off like a prom dress. She can make her way to the floor from my lap in about 3 seconds, and you don't even realize she's gone until she's almost to the floor.

I sit her on the carpet somewhere with a blanket and a pillow to land on in case she topples over, and before I know it, she's 5 feet away chewing on a ______________ (insert some dangerous object that could impale or suffocate her). Baby-proofing with Avery was easy. I have a feeling things are going to be a little trickier this time around.

Tummy Time And Fake Coughing

Ainsley is already starting to do the 'fake cough.' She's also really into laying on her tummy, but I keep just missing getting her on video where she's REALLY trying to move. She does it a little bit here, but not like I'd like to capture.