All About Ashlyn--7 months!

Ashlyn is 7 months old now! wow. Here are some tidbits and things about our life with Ash these days... A word about her hair: (since it seems to be the #1 conversation point with everyone, given that I am so white.)

I made my first attempt at fixing her hair.... as in, really fixing it. The black girl way. I am now coming to see why it is so nice to have their hair up most of the time. Over the past month, unfortunately, Ash's hair has been getting long enough that it's starting to get tangled, and it looks really gross when it is, not to mention the longer I wait to comb it out the harder it is to do it! Unfortunately even with loads of detangler and her baby-fine hair, it is still some work to be done. Boy would it be nice to just have some pigtails in that lasted a few days! So, I attempted a couple of weeks ago. It did not go well. I need to practice. Just this took over an hour. Although I blame most of that on the fact that she didn't exactly sit still. Ever. Her hair is barely long enough to put into some little ponytails, and by the end of the day most of it had fallen out. I am just trying to find something to disguise her huge bald spot in the back a little better! I have not given up! Before you know it I will be a pro! (let's hope! Or I will be shelling out the $$ to have someone else do it!)

Ashlyn can pretty much sit up by herself! Although just when I think she is doing great, she will conk over and scream bloody murder. Last week Collin was sitting right there with her, and in 2 seconds she grabbed her toy basket and pulled it up, fell backwards, and dumped the whole basket of toys all over herself. She was not happy. But it was funny. Picture above: I was blowing bubbles for her. As you can see, Lucy was more interested than Ashlyn was.

To do: Get a high chair! I am SICK of clearing off my table 3 times a day to feed her. Plus, she figured out that if she pushes with her feet, she can scoot backwards in this thing! Holy danger! So, we will hopefully soon be replacing this method with something better.

Here is a shot of those cute little teeth for those of you wondering! Her second one popped in about a week and a half after the first. Like I've said before, not my fondest memories of motherhood, dealing with teething! My happy girl is nowhere to be found those 3 days before the tooth pops!

Ever since those 2 little teeth have come through, this is Ashlyn's favorite face to make. So funny. She is way more intrigued with keeping her mouth shut now. It's nice in terms of less drool... and it looks so funny to me! I think she looks like she contemplating whether to smile at you or not..... or something even deeper than that. She even smiles with her mouth closed now sometimes. So funny.

There's a big smile! She is still such a happy girl. Unless she's really tired or hungry, she is generally easily amused. Although she is busy, busy. Always, ALWAYS grabbing at whatever. Hair, earrings, sides of the changing table, books, Lucy... you name it. She is definitely not content to just sit around. ever.

She also seems perfectly content to sleep on her back. In fact, when I go in to get her up from sleeping, she is never in a different position, at all. She makes laying on her back look like it is so comfortable. I wonder if she is ever going to even try to move around? All you parents of older babies out there are probably thinking I'm crazy by saying that, but I'm just saying.....

And this is her #1 favorite way to sleep. Please don't think I'm trying to suffocate her! Ever since she was tiny we would snuggle a blanket up to her face to get her to calm down to sleep, and I guess it has stuck. I don't ever put it on her face, but 9 out of 10 times when I go in there to check on her, this is what I find! Needless to say I check on her alot! It makes me a little nervous! But mostly it is just funny. I mean, look how comfortable she looks.

She loves story time! I have started checking out some books from the library to read to her, just because I am so sick of all the board books we have! And we have a good amount! I thought this picture was so funny. I tried like 5 times to get an action shot of Collin reading to her, and EVERY time right when I was about to take the picture, she would look up at me! And look at that stern face! ha ha!

So cute. Her favorite books are ones with really bright, simple picures. We have a few Sesame Street ones, and every time she will just sit and stare. It's so cute.

A few likes:

-Story time

-Eating..... mostly bottles but getting the hang of solids

-riding in the Snugli or backpack

-riding in the cart at the store! This is new, and she is so fascinated! Although she holds on for dear life!

-Lucy!

-The jumper. I really need to post some awesome videos of that.

-Bathtime.

A few dislikes:

-Peas.

-Holding her own bottle.

-Getting her arms pulled through sleeves. (I know, still.)

-Getting strapped into the carseat (counts as arms getting pulled through?)

-The daycare at Idaho Athletic Club, dang it!

I haven't weighed her or measured her, but I'm assuming she hasn't grown a ton since last month, probably about 20.5 lbs and 28 inches? I admit I will sometimes tell the random strangers that ask how old she is that she is 9 months old! Just to save the "wow, she's a big girl!" comment that never fails. Seriously? why, people? Not that I care, it has just gotten a little old.

Well anyway, seriously I can't believe how fast (and at times slow, gotta keep it real folks) the last 7 months have gone. My favorite part of the day is going in to get Ashlyn out of her crib, and the time I get to spend with her. I feel like it's a constant battle to try to find balance between all the things in my life, but Ashlyn is definitely the part that brings me the most joy. I love her so much!