SUMMER !!!!

Summer has arrived and it has arrived in style. 
It kicked the tornadoes out of town and came roaring in with 90 degree weather ... amazing !!! I mean I already have a sunburn. And I took a 3 mile walk tonight at 9pm and I was hot. It was great.
And we got Ashlynn out in her new pool ! 

She loves swimming and playing in the water. 

We also planted some flowers in planters ... I've never been a flower person so I hope I can keep these babies alive. They are beautiful. 

Ashlynn has also been playing in the Sandbox some more :) 
I adore summer ... especially now that Ashlynn is old enough to enjoy the joys of playing outside !!

Eighteen Months of Lynney Bug !

Our First Picture July 11, 2009

Ashlynn Olivia Hellrung

November 7 2009

4:04 am

8 lbs 7 oz

19 1/2 inches

Newborn

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

Six Months

Seven Months

Eight Months

Nine Months

Ten Months

Eleven Months

Twelve Months

Thirteen Months

Fourteen Months

Fifteen Months

Sixteen Months

Seventeen Months

Eighteen Months

I love you Ashlynn Olivia! 

You are so beautiful and watching you grow is such a gift. 

Big Girl Bed !

I bought Ashlynn a Toddler Bed a few days ago at Once Upon a Child. 
It is a resale shop around the St. Louis area for baby, toddler, child, and maternity stuff. They have clothes, toys, and even beds :) 
So, When I was there Friday I sent my hubby this picture of this wooden toddler bed that they were selling for $35. 

He told me to go ahead and buy it. We hadn't been planning on getting her a toddler bed for awhile, but it was a pretty good deal that we couldn't pass on.  So, we scooped it up. My brother went with my Sunday to pick it up and bring it home. 
It has a few scuffs but my Father In Law is going to show us how to sand and stain it ... which I have never done before, so that will be an experience ! 
It had been my intention to break it down and put it away in the closet for six months until Ashlynn turns two, but she was trying to climb onto the frame and figure out what it was, so I pulled her mattress out from her crib and set it up in her toddler bed and she climbed up and down and all around it until daddy came from work. 
Because she seemed so excited about it, last night we decided to see how it would go if we put her in it for bed. She has always been a baby that does not like to be in her crib or sleeping at all, so we read her a book and kissed her goodnight and tucked her. After we left the room she got out of bed and came over to the door to yell at us for a minute, realized we weren't coming to get her, and then headed back to bed. 
So last night she wasn't too horrible. 
Her nap today was a little rougher. I think because the room was brighter so she could see all of the fun things that she could play with if she climbed out of bed. I had to put her back to bed three times and the third time i laid down next to her until she fell asleep ... 
So ... 
We will see ! 
My hubby is at work now and we talked about the naptime experience but haven't made the decision yet. Her crib is still set up right next to her new bed, so I'll let you know what we end up doing with the new bed. It may still be heading into the closet for a few months. 
 Either way it is adorable when she is sleeping in her big girl bed :) 

Daddy and Baby

I realize that Ashlynn is not really a "Baby" anymore, but to me she will always be my baby. 

It's hard to remember that on days like this one though.

Here is her Daddy teaching her to play some ball. 

She looks ready to knock one out of the park ... or at least my dad's front yard ! 

(And she's carrying the random paper because that is what she does. She finds something random that catches her fancy and you can't get it away from her for hours sometimes.)

Linking up here for Saturday Snapshot ...

Waiting to Try

So, as you know my husband and I went on a vacation this past week. 
We were gone for a week and each day I missed my little bug more and more than the day before. 
It was amazing to come home and see her. She looked like she'd grown four inches and was saying about 37 more words, including the phrase "What is it?" Which may be the most adorable thing I've every seen. She is picking everything up right now, looking at me, and saying "What is it?" 
It makes my heart smile. 
And it's things like this that make it hard to wait to have another one :) 
But we are. 
Because we want one of these babies: 

Before we have one of these babies: 

Yea. We want a little boy :) 
We've even picked out names for the next, and last, one. 
* Sigh *
How adorable will it be to have Ashlynn holding her little sibling ? 
Too adorable <3
But for now it's on hold. 
For 17 months to be exact. Josh and I have decided to start trying September of 2012.  
We hope to buy a house in Spring/Early Summer 2013 and we want to have a baby shortly thereafter. 
Yea ... we're a little crazy :) But at least Ashlynn should be potty trained by then ! She will be 3 1/2. 
But until then I'm going to enjoy all of the time I get with my little bug and the little moments that make me want to make her a big sister. 
So ! Does anyone have two little ones around 3 1/2 years apart? How do you like it? And of course how do you make it 17 months when you have baby fever ?! I have a feeling I will need help with that ! 

15 Month Check Up

Today I took our little Bug to the doctor for her 15 month check up. 

We also thought she might have an ear infection but it seems that she just has a cold. I'm very grateful for this. She's never had an ear infection and I'm praying we keep things that way.

So anyway ... 

Her checkup went fine. We have to cut her down to one nap a day and keep her up until 8 to try and get her to stop waking up in the middle of the night and talking to herself for hours on end. She'd in the 25th percentile for weight, 15% for height, and 80% for her head. She's doing pretty good, she's just a little girl with a big noggin. 

At her checkup she got 3 shots. 

I had a new nurse, who I'd never met before today, giving her the shots and she had me hold Ashlynn on my lap, which the other nurse has never had me do. I was suppose to hold her legs still with my legs and her hands with my hands. 

Right. 

Because Ashlynn isn't strong enough to move her legs away from mine when your coming at her with a needle.

It was a nightmare. 

Ashlynn was flailing everywhere screaming her head off while kicking her legs away from the needle. The nurse stabbed ME with one of the needles while she tried to stick another one in Ashlynn's leg. 

Yea. 

Me. 

In the Leg. 

With a Vaccine. 

So.

Ashlynn then decided while the nurse was still giving her the shot to try to roll over, so she was bleeding like crazy.

 I ended up having another long talk with the Doctor and I'm  never letting that nurse anywhere near me or my baby bug again . . . if she is still employed.