Ashlyn is 2!!!

Where does time go? I swear we were just trying to make it to 36 weeks before having you... We were just bringing you home... a tiny 6 lb baby... 4 weeks early... we were just watching you take your first steps... and now we are watching you conquer the world one toddler triumph at a time... How are you already 2? I was ready for terrible 2's... (well at least I was trying to make myself ready)... what I wasn't ready for was your hilarious sense of humor... your extensive vocabulary... your caring and inquisitive nature... You are totally 2... and I love it!
At barely 2 you weigh 21 lbs...
At barely 2 you are 33 inches tall...
At barely 2 you love to say "I do MYSELF"
At barely 2 you love to "shake the booty" as you say
At barely 2 you love to sing songs like "ABC's" "Baa Baa Black Sheep" "Tinkerbells" and "I love you"
At barely 2 you say excuse me to everyone you walk past in the store...
At barely 2 you have a big girl Tinkerbell bed you sleep in... sometimes...
At barely 2 you don't like to eat much and when you do it's typically "fru sacks" and "yogi"
At barely 2 you love My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake...
At barely 2 you have stolen our hearts all over again...

Thank you for letting us be your parents... for teaching us about life... allowing us to experience it with you... and for reminding us sometimes it's ok to just laugh at yourself!

Mommy and Daddy

Ashlyn-isms at 23 months!

This kid is just killing me!!! She is such a little talker... She is talking in sentences... like multiple ones... strung together... she is saying multi-syllabic words... And its the cutest thing ever! Here are a few things transcribed as best as I can without access to a phonemic inventory font (sorry talkin shop)

"hippopahduhyou"
"GuacamoYEAH!"
"Mommy I chiyee pops!" (Translated Mommy I'm a chilly pop! which we always say)
"Uh Oh Sahdaddy OH!" (Uh oh Spaghetti O?)
"Shears!" (as she "clinks" her food to ours!)
"I hungry... I want hotdog... on Mickey plate"
even more recently when she's hungry she just starts singing the Mickey song "Hot dog, hotdiggity dog!"

My mom told Ashlyn "I'm going to get your butt!" Ashlyn responded "I get myself!" and proceeded to spank her butt and laugh! So cute!

Yesterday on the way to church Ash says "Mommy, No School!" Me: "No sweetie no school today!" Ash: "OK, NO church too!" Me: "Sorry pumpkin no can do!"

Her singing is ADORABLE!
After teaching her the FSU fight song she was singing to herself S-A-T-A-E WOOOO!!
Row Row Row Your Boat goes like this
"row row row boat... down steam, mer, mer, mer, mer, mer, mer, deam!"
ABC's
"A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K, lah lah lah lah PEE!!! H, I, J, K, lah, lah, lah, lah PEE!!!"

I have got to get this stuff on tape!!!

Ashlyn at 21 months

Wow I can't believe my little one is already almost 2! She is doing so much now it's hard to catch up since I haven't been writing as much lately! What is Ashlyn like at 21 months... SO DIFFERENT!
Daycare really has been amazing for her. First of all she is no longer crying at drop off in the morning. When you ask her if she likes day care she says "UH HUH!!!" She even has a little boyfriend there. If you ask her if she likes the other kids in her class she says yes but if you ask her about this little boy Kostas she gets all shy and blushes! It's so funny!!! She also eats so much more! She had ravioli tonight WITH the sauce. She always eats at school too even if its something she's never had (with the exception of eggs she HATES them!)
Ashlyn's favorites at 21 months:
Food: Hamburgers (especially McDonalds)she gets them plain with just a lil bit of ketchup, Apples (but she really likes to eat them like a big girl and not cut up), Hot dogs, pizza, and fruit snacks. She could also LIVE on chocolate milk.
Color: Usually yellow... she LOVES to point out yellow things. She knows all of her colors now and really enjoys playing games with colors.
Toys: Beanie Baby Bears... She has 6 in different colors and totes them around everywhere we will let her. She desperately wants a green and yellow but they are nowhere to be found so for now its red, boo, puhpuh, pink, bow, oh-uh (in Ashlyn speak). She also loves cars.
Characters/movies: She's hooked on Minnie Mouse again... Curious George, and of course Barney. Occassionally she asks for "Cake" which is strawberry shortcake.

Developmentally we discovered she knows her numbers to 10. She loves the number 2 and will stop there if you let her but recently counted to 10 with prompting. She is talking like CRAZY! Whole sentences and sometimes several. Sometimes it comes out so clear we are shocked and other times we have NO idea what she is going on about. She has been surprising us also with the shapes she knows. I was wearing a sweater with a heart and she came up and pointed to it and said "Heart!" It was precious!

We have had some fun adventures lately like apple picking! She learned after a few reminders to only eat apples off trees and I think she ate about 5. She loved to just throw it down and grab another one! They were so delicious and fresh I couldn't blame her! We can't wait for the rest of the fun fall will bring with festivals and pumpkin patches! Erik's GiGi will be up this weekend and Poppy will be up the weekend of my 30th birthday. Then Gram Gram should be up in November! So excited to see everyone!

Happy Birthday Kuh Kuh!

Today is my Auntie Kuh Kuh's birthday! I love you Auntie! Thank you for all you do for me and my parents! You were there on my first day of life waiting eagerly before the sun rose for me to arrive...
You were there for my first bath... my first Christmas...

My first birthday... so many important moments! I love when you babysit and we have so much fun! I love going shopping with you! We find so many cute things... You might spoil me just a little!!! I love you Auntie Kuh Kuh! Happy Birthday!

Fashionista

Ash picked out this awesome hat at one of our favorite stores (Janie and Jack). How adorable is it??? Her Auntie Katie just couldn't resist buying it for her! She wore it all around the mall. When she got home she insisted on wearing it while trying on mommy's new shoes! It doesn't get any sweeter than that? I just had to share with you! She even wore it to the zoo the next day! Everyone kept commenting on how adorable our little "fashionista" was!




Layout made with Zoo Quickpages by Just So Scrappy Too

First day of School

Ashlyn started "school" this week. We have been easing her into it with 2 hours yesterday and 4 today. Tomorrow will be her first full day. It has been hard of course for both her and us. We know this will be good for her but it is difficult making the transition. I hope tomorrow goes better with less crying but since naptime will be included I doubt that will be the case! Tomorrow is also sprinkler day so they all get to wear their bathing suits and play out in the sprinkler. We'll see how she does with that! We also just went on vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. Although we had a few mishaps (hands shut in a drawer, sunscreen in the eyes, rain) it was still a fun trip and we did lots of playing at the hotel pool. The coolest thing we did was go to the Deer Park and feed deer. They walked right up to us and ate out of our hands! They were so gentle with Ashlyn. She really loves Bambi right now so this was super cool to do! Here are some pictures of our recent adventures!

Feeding the deer at the Wisconsin Dells Deer Park


First day of school

Showing off her crown she made on the second day of school

Fun Girls Day!

Today Ashlyn and Mommy had an outing to her first movie! It was so much fun! Ashlyn was entralled watching her favorite monkey on the big screen! Her faces were better than any movie Ive ever seen! She would laugh and put her hand over her mouth. It was the sweetest thing ever! I spent the whole movie watching her even once she passed out in my arms about an hour into the movie. Its days like this that make all the screaming and tantruming of toddlerhood totally worth it! I love watching her experience and learn new things! I really wanted to take pictures during the movie of her faces but managed to restrain myself. I was also tempted to take a picture after the movie of her sleeping (yep I stayed and watched the movie so she could get a good nap) so sweetly but thought people might think I was a little crazy if I asked! So here is a little page from our adventure. We will definitely have to do more of these movies before I go back to work! This afternoon we went outside to play and got out the bubbles. Ashlyn no longer wants to chase and pop the bubbles but wants to try to blow them on her own. She hasn't quite figured it out yet, but she did figure out that they do not taste good when you put the wand in your mouth!!!

Mommy Wow! Im a big girl now!

Ashlyn is getting so big! Every day she amazes us! Grandma is in town babysitting so we can work for a few weeks. Ashlyn has had so much fun with "gram gram" Her favorite color is blue and she likes to point it out everywhere. During the fireworks when everyone else was ooohing and aahhing Ashlyn was shouting "blue" "big!" It was so sweet though. At one point I said "mommy and daddy love fireworks" to reassure her they were ok and she turned to me very seriously and said "me too!" Ashlyn's love for Barney has taken a backseat to her love for Disney animals. "Dog dog" (101 Dalmations), "Key cat" (Aristocats) and "bamee" (bambi). She likes to switch back and forth between the movies. She knows how to eject them so we have to watch carefully. She has already scratched dog dogs up so much it doesn't work. Tonight we lost Aristocats and searched everywhere... it ended up she had put the dvd in the vcr! I don't know what we'd have done if we hadn't found it though she loves to watch her movies and her auntie kuh kuh and gram gram even bought her the stuffed animals for all 3. She carries them around and cuddles with them while she watches. She is diversifying in her food preferences. She loves watermelon (she loves any and all fruit actually), sandwiches and subs, pizza and cheeseburgers! She discovered a new food the other day... as long as she has honey to "dip dip" she is a fan of these too!!! Check it out

Chicken Nuggets!!!

We also have a HUGE new step for us. Not only is Ashlyn sleeping by herself but she is sleeping in a big girl bed! This is all gram gram's doing. She deserves lots of credit. I guess Ash was ready and gram gram helped us cut the cord. Daddy is very glad to be able to sleep in his bed at night again!
She wakes up soooo happy!

Ashlyn really loves to color and draw all the time and with anything she can get her hands on. She really loves to use pens... Check out that grasp though! Im pretty proud of her lol! This was a super cool picture she drew too! She was concentrating so hard!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We tried pig tails for the first time. She didn't leave them in all day but it was about the cutest thing ever!!!

God thats a beautiful baby! Look at her drinking her juice like a big girl!

Watching the parade in northbrook... It was sooo hot!!!

The age of technology

I have recently joined the world of digital scrapbooking! So cute! Here are a few of the pages I've made this week! All of these were made with Creative Memories Storybook Software.

Top 10 Reasons Ashlyn has the best daddy!

10. He is a natural! I had to go to school to learn all the things about child development that he does without thinking!

9. He doesn't mind watching Barney Zoo over and over and over

8. He doesn't mind sharing his ice cream

7. He is never too tired to climb all over the playground equipment stooped down to hold a little hand.

6. He makes the silliest noises and faces that are sure to brighten up even the worst of moods.

5. He will lay on the couch totally uncomfortable for hours so that the baby can get a good nap.

4. He sacrificed his own career (and sometimes sanity) to stay home and make sure his sweet baby was well cared for.

3. He never complained about the above sacrifice even though he took heat from many people that we should instead be celebrating mothers day for him.

2. He loves the mommy so much and does anything in the world he can to make her happy!

1. And the number one reason he is the best daddy in the world... He has been practicing his whole life for this moment....

Price per ball $3

Total to win Barney $18

Look on Ashlyn's face when daddy gives her her favorite thing in the whole world....

PRICELESS!!!

Erik we can't imagine a single moment without you. What you provide for our family is absolutely priceless! You love us both at our best and at our worst (and you've definitely seen some worst lately (o: ) I hope you have a wonderful fathers day! You deserve nothing but the best!!!! LOVE YOU!!!

"Big"

Our word of the day lately is "big." I am beyond amazed that Ashlyn knows how to acurately use this word. She loves to point out everything "big" she sees throughout our adventures! Her favorite was the big ice cream yesterday! It seems fitting with our life these days that big would be her word... She is quickly becoming such a big girl! She has been testing the limits lately to see how far away from us we will let her get. She likes to tell us bye bye and then take off on her own... In the pictures below you can see the evidence!

Bye bye mommy! I'm off to water the flowers of the world!

She wanted to keep going deeper and deeper into the pool.

Enjoying some freedom on this covered bridge on the riverwalk in naperville

She really took off across this field.... Daddy had to make a mad dash after her

But the sweetest thing in the world is when she comes back! When she reaches for our hand for help down the stairs my heart just melts. I guess I've taken a few pictures of this kid because today while we were out she sat on the curb and in not so many words asked me to take her picture! She did it three times because she wanted pictures with the pretty flowers! How sweet is that???

My first Happy Meal

Ashlyn was so hungry on the way home so we stopped at McDonalds. She thoroughly enjoyed her first cheeseburger and told me "eat it good"

17 months and counting!

Wow time flies! I can't believe its been 2 months since I've updated! Usually I'm much better about it but its been a busy 2 months! Let me tell you about Ashlyn at 17 months!
Favorites:
Toys: Little People! She has lots of new little people animals and playsets and she loves them! She is starting to really love her baby doll. she requests to take it to bed with her now! She still loves books and wants to read them all day! She likes balls and plays in her ball pit more now. She loves to be outside so her cozy coupe is one of her favorites. Everytime we come home she wants to get in it and play before coming inside!

Food: Berries (Blueberries and Blackberries), Grilled Cheese sandwiches, sub sandwiches that she loves to eat like a big girl!

New words: "sssss"= horse, "gen"= again, "uck"= stuck or yuck, "guyguh"= tiger, "uhguhguh"= alligator, "gam gam"= Grandma Branem, "guhpa"= grandpa Branem, "pahpah"= grandpa Poyer or Pacifier, "gih I" = get it.

Her temper is getting alot worse. When she gets frustrated she will claw her nails into whatever skin she can find on whichever parent made her mad and just squeeze and shake. Unfortunately whenever she gets mad she also looks to Ruby and gets her. We are trying to teach her how to deal with her anger a little better and unfortunately time-outs have begun in the Poyer household!
Grandma Branem came and visited for 2 weeks. It was alot of fun! Here are some mothers day pictures we took!

There's a reason 15 mo. is a big developmental age...

all of a sudden Ashlyn is climbing, talking, developing fears, getting skinned knees and a bruised forehead... she is no longer a baby!

A snapshot of Ashlyn at 15 mo.

She loves:
-Barney ("bahbuh" but usually just a sign")... with a passion... she asks for him non-stop... the only thing that makes us not go crazy is that at the end of every episode she comes running and gives us the BIGGEST hugs in the world during the I Love You Song... and then she asks for more Barney...
-Fruit... especially apples "bahbuh", bananas "bah", blueberries, & strawberries
-Balls "baw baw"
- the Itsy Bitsy Spider
-animals she loves to label them, make animal noises, etc
- These silly Elmo search books that were a dollar at Target.. she can find the dog everytime within seconds.
-Pasta "pahtuh" and Milk "mmmmm"
-being outside... its the first thing she wants to do in the morning and a sure way to make her happy throughout the day
-chocolate "kahkit" and she discovered where I hid the m&ms... she goes and begs for "kahkit"
-water "wah uh" but usually only out of the water bottle or a straw... lately she wants to put her hand in your glass of water at dinner... yummy
-looking at pictures on facebook... all night long....

Things she doesn't like:
-wearing clothes... she's in a diaper "diedie" all day long and usually she wishes she didn't have to wear that either...
-baths though she is getting much better and now hardly fights it at all... the trick is that she wants to be in the tub like a big girl... ducky tub is all gone now!
-juice I think this is left over from being sick but she's getting better at drinking it
-melon I dont blame her though

Some other words she says now...
"bid baw"- big ball
"kuh kuh"- cup
"fwowuh"- flower
"tait uh"- thank you
"bup"- up
"kakuh"- cracker
"dow"- down
"nigh nigh"- night night
"doggy"- obvious...
"key kaa"- kitty cat

The stomach flu

We all managed to come down with some kind of stomach flu/virus. Ashlyn got it a few days before us but hers has lasted alot longer. She was such a champ though. The good news is we got through our fear of baths during this, which is a good thing since we had to take LOTS!

Ashlyn loves Barney!

Barney pretty much runs our house these days. Here is Ashlyn singing along to Barney and asking for more when it's done... Sorry she doesn't have clothes on... I pick my battles these days!

We have entered into a new territory... Proceeding with caution!

We have definitely entered a new phase... We are in the testing for a reaction phase. We are no longer climbing to see if we can but climbing to see if we can get away with it. Some of Ashlyn's favorite ways to test the limits include, nose picking (fun right? And always in public!), climbing on things, hitting her dogs or mommy, throwing things especially food she doesn't want, and a variety of other daredevilish activities! The flipside to this development though is that we have also entered a new level of love... She gives real genuine full body hugs with arms wrapped around your neck and says "mmmm" while she does it! She loves to hug her dogs and "give them her head" to kiss like the picture above. She has also developed her own "true" loves of Barney and Elmo and nothing can top them in her little world! Her laughter is contagious and her smiles are given often! She has also become quite the jokester. She loves to get a laugh out of us and anyone else who may be around. The picture 2 down is her making silly smashed up faces with her lid at Boston Market. She loves to pretend to "roar" like a bear and we are supposed to pretend to be scared. This cracks her up to no end. We can do it back and forth for entire car rides, a whole shopping trip to Target, etc... She hates to be in her stroller and insists on pushing it instead. Very independent our little one. She loves to eat but definitely has food preferences now. What she loves one day will be a huge fit when served the next day. Some of her favs are blueberries, strawberries, bananas, grape pieces, ok she LOVES fruit, she also loves peas, olives, and tomatoes. She is not much of a carb eater except Mac n cheese (/mac mac/ as she calls it). She is also very much in love with these little organic chocolate chip cookies we get a Jewel. Fortunately she cherishes them so much she carries one around for about an hour before she eats it so its not like she's gobbling them down all day! She loves string cheese but what toddler doesn't? She is using more words and naming people. /kuh kuh/ is her auntie Katie, /papi/ is her Poppy Poyer. /do/ for doak and something like /oo oo/ for Ruby. Mom and Dada of course as well. One of my favorite words is /pup/ for up. Its so cute! /dowdow/ is down. Milk is like /ma/ but since mom has a very clear final consonant there's no confusion. She loves to look at her photo albums and learn everyone's names. She loves to make animal noises anytime she sees an animal. She loves her cookie and cracker and signs "more" for EVERYTHING!
Anyhow enjoy the pics!

Enjoying a warm day... wishing for spring

Entertaining everyone at Boston Market

Dressed up like a bird at the Brookfield Zoo in the Children's Zoo

Visiting the monkeys with mommy

I have 6 teeth now!