Is it Spring yet?

It is virtually impossible to get a picture of Emaline these days. The minute she sees the camera she shouts, "NO camera" as if I am the obtrusive Paparazzi and she the young starlet. So all I've got to show are a few pictures from our first zoo visit this year (taken a few weeks ago) and one from a day at open gym on one of the swings.

The zoo trip was great as she is much more interactive this year with the animals. We got really lucky that they were feeding the elephants a treat while we were there and asked if anyone wanted to help. You can see in one of the pictures that Emaline has just chucked an apple at them. She was really good with her aim (with only a little help from Aunt Sarah) and got to throw three apples to the elephants. Almost every day now I hear something from her along the lines of, "Elephant apples Mommy."

We are very anxious to get outdoors again and take every opportunity when it is nice enough to go to a park or just play in the yard. We have already made our first trip to Silver Dollar City this year and as soon as I have some pictures from that trip I will make a post to detail the day (it was a big hit).

One final note, we recently learned that Emaline's new cousin Judah Degefu Estes is in the process to come home to us from Ethiopia. He will be one year old in June and is the most beautiful little boy. I am so excited for Emaline to have a playmate and she can't get enough of looking at his picture and talking about him. We hope to meet him late this Summer.

Hope everyone is well; Happy Spring!

Our Baby is Two

What an amazing journey the last two years have been. I can honestly say that while I am weepy over losing "my baby" that I love and enjoy Emaline more every day. What an amazing little girl we have. She is precocious and willful, but sweet and sincere. She is smart, funny, loving and independent. Watching her become her own person is a joy that is unmatched by any other experience we have ever had. I am lucky enough to have front row seats to the Emaline show most days and I must say that I haven't tired of seeing it yet. Emme, we are truly humbled by who you are becoming and the amazing gifts you give us every day. Thank you for being our "baby" no matter how old you are getting.

Happy New Year!

Ok, you caught us, we are on a 6 month blog lag. I will try to just give a general update for the Ashley clan. Emaline is doing really well. Her language and communication in general are advancing every day, and it is a joy to spend time with her. She is also beginning to say her ABC's, count from 1-10, and identify colors. I have started to tour preschools, but have decided to wait until the fall before we enroll her. She has transitioned to calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" and has a bit of British accent when doing it (very funny). She is cutting the first of her two-year molars, but otherwise has been healthy lately.

Halloween brought us a Super Girl! Thanksgiving and Christmas were each a lot of fun this year, as was New Year's Eve. (No, she does not need glasses, but she does enjoy the new frames Santa brought her!) She really enjoyed spending time with family and friends during all of the special events this season.

Grandma Ginny was kind enough to lend out Jimmy's cowboy boots that he wore as a child. One could say these boots were made for walking, but in reality Jimmy wore these so much when he was a kid that the have no tread left! Indeed, these boots were made for slidding and falling down.

We will work hard to update more often as the funny things she does and says are piling up, but I can't remember them when I sit down to post!

Summer Fun

As always it has been way too long since I have made time to post. The summer is going very well at the Ashley house. We have spent quite a bit of time at the lake, making a visit to Silver Dollar City on one of the trips. Emme enjoyed the trip and rode several rides; they were met with pretty stoic stares and even a few tears, but she was willing to try them.

Emaline really enjoys playing in water, be it her baby pool or the lake she is generally entertained and happy. We have spent time in the back yard playing in the pool, even having our cousins Holly and Melody and their four children over to play for an afternoon. Emaline was more interested in watching the older kids run around than actually engaging with them, but it is good for her to spend time with family regardless.

We have also made several trips to the Dickerson Park Zoo. We took our Ashley cousins along a couple of weeks ago and hope they enjoyed it too. Emaline really loves her cousin Autumn and frequently wanted to be held by her. I really enjoy visiting with Ricky and Autumn talking about books, movies, etc. and hope to spend some more time with them this summer (maybe they can help keep me hip).

Jimmy and I took a little trip last weekend for our anniversary. We got to visit a beautiful property on the Current River and enjoy some great time outdoors. Thanks again to Genesis and Chris for taking care of Emaline so much lately!

It seems we have plans every weekend for the next month, which is the norm in the summer. We are looking forward to seeing our nephew Jacob later this month and spending some time with him at the lake.

The pictures I included have been taken in the last few weeks. Obviously a couple are at the lake and in her pool. The one with the vacuum made me laugh because it has a back story. I said to Emaline one afternoon, "This place is a mess, you need to clean up." She promptly picked up her vacuum and gave me that big grin! The last one is of us on the hopping frog ride at SDC.

Well, Emme is waking from her nap so I'll sign off. Hope everyone else is having a great summer, enjoy the pics!

Quick Update

Since it has been so long I thought I would share some Emme fun facts. She is now 14 months old, approx. 23 1/2 lbs., and VERY busy. Emaline loves nothing more than being outside playing with her "car" that sings or just walking around picking up rocks, sticks, etc. She understands most of the things we ask of her now which is a lot of fun. Can't wait for her to talk back a bit more. I included a picture of Emaline from Easter morning (not a great one as she was a bit cranky all day) and a picture from our recent day trip to Columbia. Jimmy participated in the "Professor for a Day" at Mizzou as he has done in previous years. Emme and I tagged along to do a little shopping, eat at Shakespeare's Pizza, and have a first campus visit for the future tiger. She was very impressed with the campus and is keeping it on her short list:)

Nothing major going on around here, just enjoying having Daddy around to play and help with chores:) Emaline is still participating in a planned activity away from home on the three weekdays that I watch her, however, storytime is on hiatus until June. I am also considering dropping open gymnastics for the summer in favor of baby yoga or swimming. Since the school age kids will be descending on the gymnasium soon it will be less appealing to Emaline and me.

Hope everyone is doing well and we'll talk to you all soon!

Attitude

Emaline has begun the tragic slide from babyhood into toddlerville. While I really enjoy most of my time with her I do not take kindly to the fledgling attitude she is working on. She is generally a very happy, sweet girl so that is probably why I am appalled by her new bad behaviors. We have started using time out for really bad behaviors (such as hitting, growling at mommy when mad, and having fits for attention).
On the other hand she is growing and learning too. She really enjoys the classes and activities we do, but is becoming more bored at home. So I am looking for music CD's, games, and books that she can engage in more fully. When the weather is nice we have spent a lot of time outdoors lately. I have gotten a little gardening done while she plays on the patio. She is still scared of grass so that keeps her a little more confined where I don't have to worry as much about where she is and what she is up to (since she stays on the patio).
I have included some recent pictures so everyone can see how big she is getting. The one in the basket was taken by Jimmy today. When he was home for lunch Emme got out a basket that was in the laundry room and proceeded to climb right in, too funny!
Hope everyone is doing well, Happy Spring!

Emaline turns One

Well the big day came and went and I have finally stopped sulking about it. It still seems unreal that my baby is one year old. It is amazing to watch her turn into a little person, but I still miss the little baby who let me cuddle her all day. Needless to say she isn't slowing down, so I better get on board!

We had a fantastic party with our families here to help us celebrate. I have included pictures of the party, but the best ones are at the bottom. When most everyone had gone home Emme decided to let her hair down and get a little wild, it was so funny!

Emaline had her one year check up with Dr. Mai and is still tracking in the 75th percentile for her age. She weighs 22 pounds now and is almost 30 inches tall. Her growth has slowed down (as it should), and she is so active now that she is starting to slim down a bit. Her health is still very good with no major issues, but we did have to adjust her diet and give her a supplement as she is iron deficient.

Emme has finally gotten over her cold/ear infection that carried on for a month. However, the teeth will not give her a break. She currently has ten teeth with the eleventh cutting through right now.

I am doing my best to come up with activities to keep her active mind and body happy. We have become Friends of the Zoo so that we can visit the animals on a regular basis. I take Emaline to open gymnastics on Friday mornings for her to interact with other kids and get some energy out. Finally, I am adding a Tuesday morning Storytime at the Library Center that is just for one-year-olds. Hopefully we will make some new friends there too. When it is nice outside we like to go to the Nature Center or to Rutledge-Wilson farm.

We are in the heart of tax season right now and I have lost my good humor (as I always do about this time). Jim is weathering the long hours and extra stress pretty well, but is looking for the light at the end of the tunnel too. One thing that has helped us tremendously this year is that my sister Sarah makes time to spend with me and Emaline every weekend, my Mom takes care of Emaline every Thursday night, and everyone else offers up help at every turn. We couldn't do it without you all!

Hope everyone else is well and looking forward to more sunny days!