First Steps!

I picked Ashley up at daycare yesterday and her teacher had some very exciting news! She took three steps during the day and a couple more when I picked her up!! Yeah Ashley!!! She wouldn't take anymore when we got home, but I did have her playing in her crib while I packed her bag for Portland this weekend and she stood by herself for a long time playing with her toys and again in the bathtub. As you know we've been trying to teach her no standing in the bathtub, but it was hard to tell her to sit down when she was standing all by herself like a big girl. You got to give in sometimes right? No standing next time! Three teeth also just came in the last few days. She now has two on the bottom and 4 on top.

ONE Year!

Ashley turned 1 November 5th. I can't believe my baby is a toddler now! I keep getting emails from babycenter.com and one week it refers to her as a baby and the next a toddler. I was so sad on her birthday. It was my first night taking call and on my way home I got called in for an ER case. By the time I got home she was in bed, but Dad gave her some ice cream, sang "Happy Birthday" and taped it so I could watch it when I came home. It was really sweet. I got to celebrate with her early though, so hopefully it won't leave too big of a scar. So, our Toddler is crawling up the stairs, loves talking on her phone, is down to one nap a day, does not like whole milk but will drink some because she's a good girl, loves lentils, gives lots of kisses, waves and blows kisses goodbye, sleeps on her tummy, is now in disposables because daycare won't do cloth anymore (it's amazing how small she looks in her clothes now without that big diaper!), makes a fish face when she hears something in the distance and doesn't know what it is, gasps when she's almost fallen down or hurt herself (she's very cautious), will walk holding onto just one of our hands, likes to grab Brody's tail and ears but is very good about being gentle with him and pets his back (of course she gets lot of kisses from him and he's always around her when we're home), she also likes to lay on his bed. She'll sign more, milk, all done, up, and loves to play pat a cake. She's ticklish around her neck and tummy and she's started to get curls! Grandma Timm loves to tell stories of Brian's curls and since I have curly hair we knew Ashley was destined to get some. Those cute curls don't excuse some of her behavior she's had lately, though. She's been testing her mommy, especially when she wants to stand up in the tub. I tell her no and sit her back down, but she looks at me with a smile and does it again. It's hard not to laugh, but I know it's our job to teach her what she can and can't do and laughing does not get the message across. The other night she stood up in the tub a handful of times even though she's slipped and bumped her head before, so I pulled her out and told her she was done. Of course she didn't like it, but that was her choice. She's definitely at the stage of seeing what she can get away with. Luckily this is one of the few times she doesn't listen, usually she is very good about stopping what she's doing when we tell her no. I cross my fingers that this will be the majority of cases even though I know I may be kidding myself! Her One Year stats... height: 30inches (60%), weight: 20lb 1oz (24%), head circ: 45 1/2cm (55%).

She loves her books



You'll notice that in the rest of the pictures my camera case appears. It's the only way I can keep her attention to get pictures. You'll also notice that it also makes it tough to see her face because she's so interested in the case.

She likes to sit on the stairs like this and tell us about her day. I think she likes that she's up higher and can see better


You got to love how big her diaper makes her bottom look. The price she paid to do something good for the environment. Again the camera case, she loves that thing!

PEPS Birthday Party

Since all the kids birthdays in our PEPS group are within 3 weeks of each other we decided to make one big celebration last Saturday. And because it was the day after Halloween we dressed them all up in their costumes. They were so cute! After about an hour we brought out a table for all the kids to stand around and eat their cupcakes. Ashley knew just what to do since she had been through this whole cake eating thing before. The funny thing was that all the kids left the table after 5 minutes or so, except for Ashley. She knew to stick around and get the left overs. It just reminds me so much of stories my Dad tells of his family dinners with 6 kids. By the end of the meal it would be him and his dad left because because inevitably arguments would brew and feelings would get hurt then one by one they would storm off leaving my Dad and Grandpa a peaceful meal all to themselves. I guess it runs in the family.





I love this picture of Jordan the Home wrecker and Oliver the Bad Boy

She's caught eyeing Oliver's cupcake. "Are you going to eat that?"

Ashley with the left overs all to herself

Ashley Bear

Happy Halloween!

It was cold and rainy in Seattle on Halloween, so we took Ashley to Northgate Mall. There were a ton of kids in some very adorable costumes, but I have to say Ashley's was still my favorite. Grandma Timm made her costume this year and it turned out absolutely adorable.

I laugh every time I watch this video. It looks just like a baby panda learning to walk.

The Big One!

Ok, so we celebrated early. Her birthday isn't until Nov 5th, but both grandparents were going to be in town last weekend so we decided to set last Saturday as her 1st Party date. My mom got very excited about the planning and decorating, so she was in charge of getting the party supplies. The theme was The Big One and the decorations we adorable, they definitely spiffed up the place to look like we were having a serious party. The whole day went really smoothly, she got her naps in before the party, so she was happy and very excited to see everyone. She was giving kisses and loves her new gifts, thank you so much to everyone, she got spoiled! She didn't go crazy with her cake, I guess we should have expected that since she's so dainty with everything else, but she did get into if after a while and found that the frosting was especially delicious. Kylee came over to help her open her gifts and all in all it was a very successful birthday party

Birthday outfit

Birthday Princess

"This is good stuff, did you have some!?"

Ashley was taking too long to open her presents, so Kylee jumped in to help.

"ooh, so soft!"

Uncle Ed gave her this UW outfit. It's perfect, we didn't have any UW gear for her yet

Ashley and Grandma Timm playing with her new bucket

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch and petting zoo in Edmonds with my parents. Ashley had never been around farm animals so I was excited to see how she would react. She was mesmerized by the animals and would have watched them all day if we would have let her. She got in with the bunnies and hens and watched the pigs play. There were two day old piglets that were so cute to see!

She did pretty good with the Billie goats until one nibble on papa's hand.

These pigs were hilarious. There was one that was especially fun to watch, he kept bucking the others to try and get them to play with him.



Hey, how 'bout this one!"

Grandpa had this one in mind

Somebody had a good day