"Pink"

Just look at my little girl. She did a good job putting her make up on huh?

I got the girls ready and left them to play while I finished getting myself ready before we went to chick fil a for lunch. I could hear Hadley playing in her room with a toy, but Ashlyn was quite. I started to look for her and had to call her name. She was in her room sitting in a chair in front of her mirror with a pink marker. My mouth just flew open, and this was her only word of defense "pink". I just said, "yes", "pink". She followed me to my room so I could take her picture. I had to remember this. She loves to watch me put my make up on so I guess she just wanted her own makeup on.

Family Time

In the meantime while my grandma was in the hospital my mom, dad, and sister from Mobile, Al came up to be with my grandma. They stayed with us and boy was it a nice visit. You can see that we finally got a picture with the grandparents with their grandgirls!! Ashlyn has never been one to cooperate for pictures, except for Aunt Tonia's camera. She always cheeses for that camera. Here is Tonia taking a picture of herself with Ashlyn. It's such a cute picture!

A Scary Day

It was a Wednesday morning when I was coloring with markers with Ashlyn and Hadley was taking a nap. All was quite in the house when my mom called. I knew something was up because I had talked to her the day before. She wanted to let me know that my grandma (her mom) had had a stroke and was in the hospital. She didn't know how bad it was or anything. My heart sank and I just started crying. Ashlyn looked at me so funny so I told her that we needed to pray for Nenny. So right there in the kitchen floor we went on our knees in prayer for our sweet grandma who needed our prayers. God is so good! He heard our prayers and my grandma who could not even speak that scary day gained about 90% of everything back in just 2 short days. You can see in these pictures how happy she is to see her great grandchildren. Life is so precious and can so easily be taken away before we know it. It has really made me slow down and spend as much quality time with my family as I can.

Happy Baby

Hadley is crawling all over the place. Listen to her happy noices!!!

Ashlyn's Beads

Nathan's Grandma died a few months ago and part of the whole process was going through her things. It was terribly sad but Ashlyn brought some humor to everyone. Nanny had a closet full of beads she had collected throughout the years. Some of them were back in style so her grandaughter and I got a lot of them. Ashlyn loved trying them on and claimed some for her own. Here she is trying some of them on.

The Bath

So, I decided to give the girls a bath together for the first time. I figured it would be much easier for me. I would only have to bend over the bath tub and do everything that goes with that one time. I also assumed the girls would enjoy it too. Well, I was wrong. It was ok at first, Hadley really liked it. They were playing with toys and Hadley's foot touched Ashlyn and it was all over from that. Ashlyn started crying and would not stop and it scared Hadley so she started crying and wanting to get out of the bath tub. I just hurried up and bathed Hadley and got her out of there because she was very over whelmed with all of Ashlyn's crying. I wish I would have got some video footage of it. It would have been funny to watch. Here in this picture is before the crying started, but look at Ashlyn, she is really paying attention to where Hadley's feet are.

Two Monkeys and a Dog

These

are Ashlyn's loveies. When she was a baby she had a paci and then when she turned about 8 months old I started weaning her off of it by giving her a stuffed animal to sleep with in place of the paci. The first animal was a small plaid green frog. She did good with it for a while and then one day she picked up her orange monkey from her little rocking chair in her nursery. I bought it for her when she was still in my belly, even before I knew she was going to be a girl. This monkey replaced the little frog and soon became her best friend. She does everything with her monkey. She burps it, plays ring around the rosy, makes it pray, and everything else. The other two are her Build a Bear animals. The dog is Snuggles and the other monkey is Suie after the sound a razorback makes. These animals go to bed with her and spend the day in the living room with her. But the orange monkey, named monkey is the favorite.

Just Bragging

I have to brag on my little girl. Ashlyn has been a little slow to start talking. She said momma, dadda, hi, bye, bath, duck, etc.. at the right ages, but I was concerned with learning new things and recognition of colors and such. I started working with her a few months back with a different color each week. I was beginning to think I was doing it for nothing because she didn't show any interest at all. One day about a month ago she blew me away. She started naming colors and matching them with the correct items. It didn't stop there though. She named several shapes, and counted from 1-10. I guess she just held all of her new knowledge inside until she wanted to show it off.

The best thing of all is after any book we read Ashlyn folds her hands, bows her head, and says "pray". Nathan and I started reading her a preschool Bible story at bedtime each night and then we pray with her. She claps her hands after every prayer. It is so cute. The other day we were in the mall and she found a book to look at. After she looked it over she folded her hands and wanted me to pray. Of course I did, how can you not with those sweet little eyes looking at you anticipating what we'll thank God for next. Sometimes I don't feel like praying when she wants me to, but it is a great reminder that even though we may not feel like it we still need to.

Picture Day

We got our pictures made professionaly! I think they turned out great. Here are a few of the pictures wegot. Hadley is 4 months and is Ashlyn is 25 months in these pictures.

Time to crawl

Hadley is starting to learn how to crawl. It is so cute. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. It won't be long until she is all over the house. I can't wait until she can follow Ashlyn around and they can start playing together. I think Ashlyn will realize that she is not just a baby doll but a little kid just like her.

Fun in the Pool

Ashlyn and Hadley played in the pool at Boppa and Mamma's house. Hadley sat in her bumbo while Ashlyn jumped in and out of the pool getting grass all in it. Hadley enjoyed watching Ashlyn and she really liked trying to get the grass in her mouth.

July 4th

We had a good Fourth of July. We bought a few fireworks to do at the house. Ashlyn did good to stay away from them and just watch. She knows what "hot" means, so we just kept telling her they were hot. Nathan grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and boy were they good!

Fun at the Lake

We took the girls to the lake for the first time this year. Ashlyn loved it. We got her a life jacket and she did real good with it on. She went out to where she couldn't touch a few times with Nathan right there with her. She didn't know what to think about it, I think it scared her a little. Hadley just layed back and relaxed. I think she liked it too.

Haircut

Ashlyn got her first real hair cut. When she was 6 months old I had to cut a little bit of it because she had a terrrible comb over. We want it to thicken up so we decided the time was right. We sat her down in on the ottoman in front of the t.v. after her bath and she held real still for Nathan while he cut it. He has a much steadier hand than I do so it was his job to do. He did a great job!

Hungry Girl

Hadley has started to eat baby cereal and baby food, but what she would really like is our food! She tries to pull my drinks to her mouth like she really knows what she is doing. Here she is wanting some of Nathan's spaghetti and the other picture she is wanting some candy I made. What a funny girl!

The Zoo

We took the girls to the zoo in June. We really didn't know how Ashlyn would act this year, but we went anyways. She has never been the child to ride in her stroller and this day was no different. But it was like a turning point for her.
















We let her walk with us and she stayed with us the entire time. We were so proud of her. My favorite part is always the gold fish. They are so pretty and there are so many of them. We bought some fish food and let Ashlyn feed them. She loved it! She is getting to be a big girl and not so much a toddler anymore.
Hadley stayed in the stroller the whole time but when I fed her and changed her. I am so thankful that she is a laid back baby. God knew that I couldn't handle two independent children.

Vacation

We went on vacation in May to visit my parents, sister, and brother in law. I called my sister and told her we were coming and kept it a secret from my parents. What a good surprise! The first day we went to the park to let Ashlyn play. She had a great time playing. She is so funny, she always picks one slide to go down. Everyone was trying to get her to go down all of the other ones.

We had to go to the beach, of course. The water was a little cool, but it was a nice day. Ashlyn had a blast playing in the sand. Hadley didn't know what to make of everything. Grammy and I took turns holding her under the tent so she didn't get burned.

We took Ashlyn to the Eastern Shore Shopping Center to play in the water fountain. The year before she loved it and was really brave. This time she wasn't as brave. Grandaddy tried to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of. Aunt Tonia is giving Hadley some lovin'!

The last night we were there we went to Dauphin Island to watch the sun set. It was a really windy evening. We kept Hadley bundled up and Ashlyn and I had a great time together. We ran and skipped down the beach. Nathan and Jack walked as far as they could before we left.

We had a wonderful time visiting our family and taking Ashlyn to different places. Can't wait to do it again!

Ashlyn turns 2!

Ashlyn turned 2 on May 1st. I can't believe that her 2nd year went by faster than her 1st. We had her birthday party at the park and invited family and some friends from church. It turned out pretty good. Parties can be so stressful, trying to make sure everyone is happy and comfortable. It's hard to just focus on the real reason of the party, "The birthday girl"! On her birthday she woke up to a new kitchen just for her and then we took her to a place called "Little Bitty City", it's a little place just for toddlers, we ate at Chick fil A and then she got to play on the playground there. It was a day just for her!

Hadley Reese

Here are some of my favorites of Hadley since she has been born.

My Second Miracle!

February 1st, 2008

God gave me a second perfect little baby girl! I was so nervous about what my life would be like with two children. I was afraid my love for Ashlyn would have to be divided, but I soon found out that my heart grew to love two sweet baby girls. I had a sudden connection with Hadley after she was born, like I didn't want anyone other me and Nathan to hold her. Nathan had to remind me to let other people hold her. Hadley has been a good baby right from the beginning (eating good, sleeping a lot at night, and being very content!) The Lord has truly blessed me!

Growing too fast

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Ashlyn from 2 months - 19 months.

She is so much fun and I love her so much! She is a very independent baby even though when we are home she doesn't want me out of her sight. Ashlyn did everything early, sat up at 5 months and walked at 9 months. It's true that they grow too fast. Slow down Ashlyn, slow down.