[Home Tour] Under Contract

Now that our home selling process is coming to a close with 3 weeks remaining until we say goodbye, I thought I'd take you on a tour.  Admittedly, these photos are from October hence the leaves on the trees and nothing packed up and stacked in a maze of boxes.  It's a shame Ashlynn doesn't walk as I'm sure she'd be having a blast.

(foyer)

(great room entry - dining area)

(great room)

(kitchen)

(close up of details)

(EIK portion)

(powder room)

(master suite)

(guest bath)

(guest room)

(little room)

(basement)

Was your first home a "starter home", a fixer upper, or your family home?  

I have a feeling I'll be quiet sentimental during the settlement process.  After the bathroom reno, kitchen upgrades, master makeover, and of course the nursery design, we've truly made this home our home. It's where we brought home Penny, started our life as a married couple, and brought home our first child.  Memories are endless...

Silver lining (one of many) I get to design another nursery!  Inspiration post to come hopefully sometime soon!

[Wednesday's Weekly Check-In] Week 32

Weight: 18+

Health:
Healthy!  Still suffering from some chapped cheeks and patchy skin.  And has picked up a strange habit of holding her breath and then trying to force it out her nose.  Can't really describe it. Weirdo.

(wink)

Sleep:
Aside from being a tad thrown off after Thanksgiving day travel, she's on a pretty good schedule.  Bed at 7, dream feed at 10:30, wake around 2-3am (going to wean this feeding soon), and up between 6-7am.  She naps about twice a day.  Sometimes 3, but usually an hour in the morning, maybe 30 min around lunch and then 90 minutes in the afternoon.




Clothes:
6-12

Social:
Thanksgiving was the big social scene for us this week.  We went to Bopo (my dad) and Yaya's in the Poconos.  Yaya's kids and their families came up from South Carolina, so Ashlynn got to meet her 4 cousins.  Dinner was yummy and A did great being off schedule and napping in my arms when needed.  She wasn't too happy about leaving at bedtime, but we figured that would have been better than keeping her past it.

We also went out on Black Friday, but not for shopping (see milestones).


Diet:
Added string beans (LOVES them) and just stuck with apples, pears, carrots, peas, and butternut squash for the week.  Picked up a mango to try next.

Baby Gear Love:
We couldn't help ourselves, so we gave A a Christmas present early.  And lucky for us, she loves Mirabelle the Bunny, or Mira as we call her around here.

Crying:
Been really happy this week. Cried for 30minutes straight after leaving Bopo's on Thanksgiving (it was at bedtime).  Only meltdown I can remember.

Mommy/Parents: 
Officially under contract!  Holding our breath as we still have to get through the inspection and hope the deal doesn't fall apart like the last.  I also have about half our house boxed up.... ::tear::

Milestones:
The "mamas" just keep on coming.  She even has said it like she's meant it a few times.  Once when I went to get her after a nap, she looked right at me and said Mama and smiled and did that a few other times too.  I'm not sure I believe it, but it melts my heart.

Typically, Black Friday is my day to decorate for the holidays - not shop!  Since we are moving and not decorating this year, we went to the park on Friday since the weather was beautiful.  A was a little unsure of the swings at first, but then loved it.

Rolling machine.  I can't put her on her tummy without her immediately rolling back and forth, over and over.  She does look like she's trying hard to scoot when something is out of her reach, so I've been trying to teach her to get her knees under her.  Not sure why I'm so eager for her to get mobile, especially when we are moving to Nana and PopPops unbabyproofed house!  She's also able to stand against objects if I set her there.  She's learning to use her arms a bit for balance, but it doesn't last long.  I don't think pulling up will be too far off either!

First Thanksgiving, First Christmas PJs (after Thanksgiving, natch), and First Snow!

whew!

[Wednesday's Weekly Check-In] Week 31

(this post was drafted last Wednesday before my computer bit it, but we are back in action now - enjoy!)

Weight: 18+


Health:
Mostly good.  Saturday night about an hour after I put her to bed, I heard the scariest sound on the monitor, like a gurgle or choking.  I ran in picked her up and she projectile vomited.  I got her in the bathroom (easy to clean tile floor) and she had 4 more spells. She wasn't crying and didn't have a fever, so I just kept her with us and was fine the rest of the night.  Thank goodness!   I felt so bad for her and was so freaked by that noise!

Sleep:
Getting on a pretty good pattern.  Goes down at 7pm, either she wakes or I just dream feed her at 11pm, wakes again around 3-4 and then up around 6-6:30am for the day.  Naps are another story, but it's been hard to be consistent with the house hunting.

Clothes:
6-12.

Social:
Getting lots of time with Nana, nana is our realtor!  We also visited Daddy at work and got to see his coworkers.

Diet:
Added pears and carrots this week.  Tried pumpkin last night, but I think it was a little too thick.  She usually is okay with texture, but I think it got stuck on the back of her tongue and she gagged it up.  So I swapped over to peas.  She also is not a fan of banana.

Crying:
Mainly when overtired.

Milestones:
When she cries she's been known to go "Maaaa Maaaa", well Tuesday night while getting ready for bed she was straight up babbling "Mamamamamama"  I know she isn't calling me Mama, but it's a start, and she's using more consonants (W, L, M, B)

Stay tuned...

I dropped my laptop off at Apple this weekend, hopefully have it back by the end of the week. Luckily, Ashlynn's been having lots of firsts to keep me on my toes and packing our house has taken my "free time".

Have a great week!



Follow me on InstaGram to keep up! (ehayes1183)

Making a List and Checking it Twice

...because Santa Claus is coming to town!

Sadly, he may not get to visit Ashlynn's first home, but he'll make his way to Nana and PopPop's! He's been on the hunt for some toys to make Ashlynn's First Christmas special.

1 - Mirabelle the Bunny (a bunny for our bunny)

2 - Melissa and Doug Pound a Peg

3 - Melissa and Doug Peg Puzzles

4 - Plan Toys Oval Xylophone

5 - Saltwaters

6 - Alex Jr. Stack A Cake

7 - Green Toys Blocks (made from recycled milk jugs!)

Crap

So first blogger decided no more photos, now Apple decided it was the appropriate time for my laptop to spark and crash. What am I going to do about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?!

Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get fixed, and hopefully my hard drive is salvageable, I don't want to lose Ashlynn's photos that I haven't backed up yet :(.


In advance, have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Whoops

Appears I'm out of photo storage, womp womp.... I'll hopefully be back later when I figure something out!

Like Love

I've been meaning to write these down to journal for myself and A.  Here are some of Ashlynn's 'likes'... some are newer, some are still going strong!


- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (specifically, eyes, ears, lips, and nose!) - always gets a smile
- Raspberries on her neck
- Is now ticklish
- When I pretend to chomp on her toes
- Her curiosity cube
- Crinkle books
- Tags.  On her bib, her playmat, her softbooks, etc.
- Sophie
- Ellie
- Putting her Aden + Anais blankie over her face when napping.
- Peek-a-boo
- Blowing at her hair like a wind machine
- Sitting (hates being reclined or on her tummy)
- Penny!!  Goes after her with two hands and cracks up when she gets licked.
- Orange food -Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Butternut Squash.
- Applesauce
- FaceTime with Mimi and Bopo
- Trying to chew on her board books during storytime
- ABCs
- Airplane
- Grabbing lips and cheeks, not hers, mine.
- Shiny objects, specifically trying to grab my engagement ring.
- Looking in the mirror (such a girl)
- Getting her nails clipped. Okay, might not like it, but lays patient and still for me. This girl will def enjoy getting pampered when she's older!
- Standing.
- Mommy (obviously ;) )
- Mornings and Daddy Time

 Can't wait to see how this list changes!!

[InstaWorld] Life Lately

Happy Friday!

(I promise, next week I'll finally publish all these other posts I've been meaning to get to!)

[Wednesday's Weekly Check-In] Week 30

Weight:
18 or so pounds


Health:
Fantastic.  I thought she was starting a cough, but it ended as soon as it started.  The eczema patches are coming back, definitely affected by the dry heat in the house.  As are her rosy chapped cheeks.

Sleep:
I think it was exactly a week ago, she went down for bed, and woke after 30 min, I went back up gave the pacifier and blankie and walked out still crying.  So picked her up.  Got her back to sleep and about 15 min same thing.  And again.  Finally, we just let her cry.  She wasn't hungry, cold, hot, wet, just tired.  I know I'm not doing her favors by running to her as soon as she peeps, so yes, finally we went with a little CIO.  Since she gets even more worked up when I check in, we just went cold turkey.  It was hell.  Thirty minutes.

She didn't wake until 4am, so I fed her and she went back down.  The next night she went right to sleep and again slept until about 4am.  Now she's going down, some times she rustles or cries out once or twice and goes right back to sleep.  Then she wakes around 1 or so, so she eats.  She occasionally wakes again around 4 and we let her cry again.  Usually only about 10 minutes before she goes back down and sleeps until 6.  I know consistency is key, so I try so hard to not run in.  I did last night because it was just breaking my heart and going on longer than normal and wasn't as intermittent as she usually gets when I know she's falling back asleep.



So yeah, I'm a big meanie.  I usually sit up watching the monitor the entire time making sure she's not getting too crazy worked up. But, sleep is better.  I actually go to bed around 10-1030 instead of 9:30 and (knock on wood) I haven't woken up at 5am recently either.


Clothes:
6-12.  Just ordered some more leggings from Baby Gap and few more onesies from Old Navy with the 35% promo (works on adult stuff too - GETSTARTED)


Social:
Lots of time spent house hunting.  Wanted to join Gymboree for the month, but being we spend almost every other day checking out homes, doesn't seem worth it for this month.  Next month for sure!

Diet:
Added butternut squash, oatmeal, and bananas to our menu.  Love the squash and sweet potatoes.  Still hates avocado.  And prefers her peas with some applesauce mixed - who wouldn't??

(seriously, her arms.  out.of.control.)

Baby Gear Love:
Back to loving the Jumperoo, or as Julia referred to it "the Circle of Neglect". Works for me when I need to do things, like finish up a list of houses to see to send to our realtor or write up this post (hehe).

Also, haven't mention Bumpkins bibs.  I haven't tried anything else at meal time, but why would I not use something washable?  Perfect.  I also got her the Fisher Price SmartPhone so now her phone is more technologically advanced then her father's Blackberry ;)  and the Curiosity Cube, which she loves.  She can sit on her own and stay entertained, it's great.


Crying:
Child hates her car seat.  Loves playing house hunter, hates driving to and from.  I think it might be time to put the convertible in, but it's nice to have her in the carrier for when she does fall asleep.  Maybe if we finish house hunting soon, I'll wait until we are done.

Refer to "Sleep" for the rest of the tears.


Milestones:
A few new foods, finally starting chewing on her toes when doing 'Happy Baby', and took a transitional "big girl" bath.  Still in the baby tub (in the big tub) but sitting instead reclined on the sling.