Party Celebrations

We went to St. Louis to visit the fam and celebrate a few things.  My cousin Lyndsey had her wedding shower which was very nice and she got a ton of wonderful things.  We made Ben and Hadleigh practice their hand holding for the big day of walking down the aisle and they took that as running in circles around the house.  Hope they can actually walk down the aisle on the big day, but so far it looks promising.

Then we celebrated Ash's first birthday (even though that's still a few days off) and my niece's birthday.  All the cousins had tons of fun playing together and Ash is getting really close to walking.  She loved her cake and icing and even made a confused face about the ice cream, but I think she liked it.  Overall she is still a sweetheart and very happy baby, but growing up way too fast.

Party Favors

Eating ice cream!

Not sure about frosting....

Trying to shove money down her shirt - we'll need to readdress this at some point....

I'm one!

Beautiful cake

Ben had a blast with his cousins and can't get enough of his cousin Danny.  We went to his practice and Danny even gave him a puck from his practice which Ben plays with all the time.  He even got actual hockey gloves from Danny and a cool blues hat and stick from Papa.  Now if only we could teach him to skate!

Ashley is 11 Months Old

Getting her to sit still long enough to take pictures is getting tougher by the day, but I was still able to capture a few good ones.  And of course her brother wanted to get in on the action since he loves getting his picture taken.  Fortunately they both cooperated.

Ashley is getting really close to walking.  She's able to pull herself up and stand on her own, but once she starts to take a step or get excited she falls over pretty quick.  I'm sure it's only a matter of a couple weeks and she will be on the move.  She's not really saying any words yet, but babbles quite a bit.  She's also a really good eater.  We've always had a hard time getting her to drink her bottles and now she supplements it by eating tons of food.  All she wants is whatever we are eating or more specifically whatever Ben is eating.  Ashley loves music and 'dancing'.  Whether she's sitting or standing she will start o move to the beat and generally gets her whole body into it.  We've also found that she has learned to play the recorder.  She literally will put it in her mouth and make noise with it.  Ashley is able to crawl up stairs which we found her doing one day.  She is also starting to hold stuffed animals to her head or put her head down on things to snuggle which I have to admit is adorable.  Here's a perfect picture of her in action.

The two of them seem to get along pretty well most of the time.  In fact, this weekend they were chasing each other around.  I'm sure in a few months they will be pretty good play partners which will be nice.  She adores him, but is also a troublemaker/instigator.  Ash is always following him around and trying to play with whatever he is playing with.  Most of the time he is good about sharing which helps.

Wonderscope & Superbowl

 

My parents paid a visit this weekend to help with the kiddos since Brian just had back surgery and we took them to Wonderscope on Saturday.  Turned out to be a good time for indoor play with the rain and I also had a groupon so that made it cheap too!  I have never been there, but I learned that it is a smaller version of the Magic House (in St. Louis). Ben had fun playing doctor and he even had a pretty good patient to take care of who thought it was hilarious.

who is that in the window?!

And of course the shopping room was a lot of fun since Ben loves to go to the grocery store.  Ashley even got into the mix and was trying to 'taste' all the food in the room.  I hope they wash those things daily!

Then on Sunday we had our annual super bowl party and although several people weren't able to make it from being sick we still had a blast.  The kids loved Ben's new inflatable jumper and even found several new uses for it. If you turn it over it's a fort!

If you turn it on it's side it's a gerbil wheel!

the boys

Overall it was a great weekend and I wouldn't have made it through without my parents helping around the house.  The kids loved having them around and even Ashley favored Deebo!  I'm pretty sure that makes her the first grandkid to prefer her over papa.

Ice 'Scaping'

We took Ben ice skating (or ice skaping as he calls it) last weekend and he had a lot of fun.  At first he was really hesistant to stand up on the skates and I had to carry him, but once we got to the ice I was able to put him down and skate around with him.  Overall he did pretty good and he kept trying to stand on his own while skating.  He was able to stand while holding the boards which may be more than his dad, but that's a different story.

Playing at the park with Jack and Kate

Unhappy New Year

The year seemed to start off okay and Ben welcomed it painting some pretty pictures on his new easel.

Shortly after enjoying the new start, Ashley came down with a virus of sorts which normally isn't a big deal, but she was more irritable than normal.  After a slight fever we took her to the doctor and they said she was fine as long as she kept eating (no ear infection which we originally thought).  I stayed home with her that next day and realized she wasn't as mobile as normal and favoring her right side instead of left.  We took her back to the dr who sent us for blood work and xrays.  All those came back fine and the fever subsided so we thought we were in the clear until a few days later when she woke up with the fever and was inconsolable.  Again we went back to the doctor for more blood work and since it was a Saturday we didn't get the results until that night at which time we were directed to go to the emergency room.  A few hours later she was in surgery for a septic hip which is a bacterial infection in the hip joint.  They cleaned it all out and stitched her up.  While in the hospital she was a trooper though and kept waving at the nurses - I think in effort to get them to leave her alone, but I didn't said that of course.

After a short stay in the hospital she has returned to herself with cruising around furniture and getting into everything.  It's really amazing how quickly she has recovered and back to her normal, happy self.  She celebrated her 10 month in the hospital so I haven't quite captured the true photos from that yet, but will post soon.  Since I didn't post her 9 month yet here are those pics.

I'm how old?

My new chair!

Since we've been home it's been nice although getting Ash to sleep through the night again has been a struggle.  I guess after 5 nights in a row of being woken up every 1-3 hours she thinks that should continue now at home.  Other than that things have mainly returned to normal until Brian has back surgery in a couple weeks and we start the hospital/medications again.  All I can hope for is that after January the rest of 2012 gets better.  It has to, right?!

Here's some random pics post hospital.

Lounging around the house in big boy underwear (still working on this piece)

Standing again on her ballerina toes!

Merry Christmas!

Another year and another Christmas has passed by way to quickly.  Ben had a blast with his cousins and now is really adamant about wanting to play hockey or anything else his cousin Danny does.  Santa was really good to him and of course Ashley as well.  We started the festivities by making cookies with Deebo.  Let's just say the cookies were made with a lot of love despite the outcome.

Then we went to Momo's house for Christmas eve and he got to play with all his cousins and my cousins kids as well.  He loved playing with Hadleigh (my cousin's little girl) and they chased each other in their own little game for way too long.  Ashley enjoyed seeing everyone as well and wasn't scared to go to others when they wanted to hold her although she does crawl around until she finds me.  She is definitely a mommy's girl.

 

Christmas day was fun and although there weren't a ton of presents it was hard to get Ben to open more than just a couple.  He did like all he got, but most of all enjoyed his new truck that holds his hot wheels, a jumpy house for inside and a play garage for all his cars.  Ashley got some good gifts as well although she always tries to play with anything Ben is playing with.  She has a new purse with fake lipstick!  A little young, but she likes it nonetheless.

Then today we went over to Brian's parents house to celebrate and both kids loved hanging out there.  Ashley crawls everywhere to find Grandma just about as much as she crawls to find me.  It's nice to have a replacement around so I'm not the focus sometimes.  Ben had fun playing with their cars and watching their speedy choo-choo go around their tree.