Lessons in Finance

When I was pregnant with Ainsley I made her this decorative piggy bank which has since sat on her shelf with little notice... until recently. She's been going through a "pig phase" where she loves to point out pigs in her books and toys and make a snorting noise. Well, she recently discovered this pig on her shelf and I took the opportunity to teach her a lesson in saving. :)


We went on a scavenger hunt around the house collecting all the spare change we could find, dumped it out on her floor and then she had a blast putting it all in her piggy bank for safe keeping. We have repeated the activity several times and she is getting better and better about getting all the coins to fit in the money slot. Here she is giving her piggy some loves.


She is also getting better at spotting loose change! The only down side to this little game is that now anytime she sees coins, she snorts like a pig. :)

Parenthood

Whenever I stop to think about it, I am completely amazed that George and I are actually parents. And surviving. And it is moments like these that I can't help but laugh a little at what our life has become. Here are some examples....

This Saturday Ainsley slept till 7:45am which meant George and I got to "sleep in" too. We were both so happy with this 45 extra minutes of sleep when most of the rest of the world would consider this early for a weekend.

Any night we eat dinner past 5:45pm it is considered late. Early bird special, here we come!

Stepping over 1,000 toys, dolls, mini shoes, plastic animals, and fake food to go anywhere in our house is considered normal and on some days is sadly considered clean.

A waffle left on the counter (or ok... on the arm of Ainsley's mini chair) since the morning is still considered an edible appropriate afternoon snack.

Dora and other horribly annoying cartoons have come to mean at least 30 minutes of peace.

And the funniest thing about it is George and I cherish every minute and can't imagine or remember life any other way. Isn't it odd what kids do to people! Who knows what #2 is going to do!! :)

Valentine's Day

This year for Valentine's Day I was so happy to just be back at home that I didn't want to do anything except relax. We ordered in, got chocolate covered strawberries, and I was a happy camper!! That said, Ainsley did make valentines for her dadda. Look at her concentrating and working so hard to make it perfect.


Then adding feathers to just the right places...


Tada! Whenever Ainsley gets finished with a piece of artwork she says 'yay!' and holds the picture out for all to admire.


Finished products... lucky Daddy!

Mackenzie's Wedding

As previously mentioned I spent this past week in Dallas celebrating my best friend's wedding! She is my last college roommate to get married so we all had lots of fun living up her last days of singleness... or at least as much 'living it up' as one can do while 8 months pregnant. :) We left the picture taking to the professionals during the main events but here are a few from behind the scenes. Above and below are the gorgeous bride at one of her last dress fittings.


Getting ready the big day...


And here are a few pics from the shower we threw a week earlier... below are my old college roomies and best friends, Kelli, Rachael (36 weeks pregnant), Mackenzie the bride, and me (32 weeks pregnant).


My "twin"... Kelli and I both showed up wearing very similar gray sweater dresses with black leggings. Ha! I guess living several states away can't keep us from thinking the same.


The shower decor... we had a "set the table" theme asking people to shower Mackenzie and Brian with gifts to help complete the couple's kitchen. Then we tied it all together with finger foods representing breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. And even though we planned it all from afar it miraculously came together.




Funny sidenote: George and Ainsley joined me in Dallas on Friday for the rehearsal dinner and wedding which left Ainsley with a fair amount of time cooped up in the hotel with Rachael's son Trip and sister Anna. In an attempt to keep her entertained, George took her on several "trips" to visit the ice machine in the hotel, which both excited and terrified her. Well, the ice machine left quite the impression and since then almost every time she wakes up from her nap she asks for "ice, ice". And today, when we went to Sonic to quench my limeade craving all she wanted was ice. She literally wouldn't touch the french fries or tator tots I got her as a treat... she just happily munched on her cup of ice. Silly girl!!

Too, too

This past week I was in Dallas doing bride's maid duties for my dear friend Mackenzie's wedding. Last week when I was packing up, Ainsley climbed in my suitcase and I got this adorable picture. Then when I was saying goodbye, she kept going "too, too, too" like she wanted me to take her with me. It broke and melted my heart but I knew that she was in good hands between George, our nanny, Tiffany, and school. Still, this was the longest I've been away from her and it I was VERY excited to see both her and George when they arrived for the wedding last Friday. More to come about all the festivities soon... I just couldn't resist not posting this picture and sweet story.

18½ Month Snapshot

18 month stats from her doctor's appointment a few weeks ago.

Weight: 22 pounds, 5 ounces (20th percentile)
Height: 31.5 inches* (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 inches

Two, two, two... We count with Ainsley all the time and she has recently picked up on it although she only counts with the number two. It is hilarious. She will be playing with her toys, separating items one by one while saying "two, two, two" to each one.


Yes & No... The day that Ainsley turned 17 months old, she learned the word 'no' and said it over and over and over to every question you asked her. She didn't do it defiantly but rather just excited about her new word. And it was really cute because she drew out the 'ooohhh' at the end. Still, we worked on her saying 'yes' as well as 'no' and now she responds to most questions with either reply. This new trick of hers can come in quite handy (eg. when she says she doesn't want a snack before I go to all the trouble of making her one). But her responses aren't foolproof yet and I have already gotten myself in trouble a few times by trusting what she says she wants or doesn't want completely.

Zebra... For Christmas George's stepmom, Amy/Yaya, gave Ainsley a stuffed zebra. Ainsley has lots of stuffed animals but for some reason this one made a connection and has now become one of her prized snuggle/comfort items. It is right up there with her loveys and she now sleeps with it every night and at naps. She also shares her milk and snacks with 'bra' as she calls it. It is sweet to see her pretend. Here she is below not ready to part with Zebra after her nap.


Big-girl crib and bed... In preparation of Ainsley's lil brother, we moved the full-sized bed that was in the baby's room into Ainsley's room and got her a big girl bed frame. We're not going to transition her to the big bed yet so she also gotten a new big girl crib so that the baby can have her crib, which is nicer. She took both transitions with excitement and ease... I'll post more on this later.

Ainzey... Ainsley has started calling herself 'Ainzey' and pointing proudly at her chest. Sometimes (especially in the car) she gets stuck on auto-repeat and does it over and over. But I don't mind because it is so sweet to hear and to see how happy it makes her to know her name.


Mama... I forgot to mention that over Christmas she finally started to say mama, which comes out more like 'baba' sometimes. Even though she would run to me when I said, 'where's mama' I have been waiting quite a while for her to call me mama herself especially since she has been saying dada for months! Still, the wait made it all that much more sweet.

Dora... We intentionally waited a while before introducing Ainsley to TV but with pregnancy exhaustion this fall we began letting her watch one episode of Dora the Explorer a day. At that point she would only kinda watch while she played with her toys. But now... she is seriously in love with Dora, Boots, Backpack, Map and all the other characters and will call them by name. Now as soon as we turn it on, she is glued and often responds to the question prompts. We still try to limit it to one a day... but on rough days (either hers or mine) I'm guilty of letting her watch a second one. Below is her standard Dora-watching position... in her mini chair, with her Dora doll, talking to the TV. :)


Sweet-hearted... I know that we are biased because Ainsley is our daughter but both George and I think she has, for the most part, become such a sweet, kind-hearted little girl. She is so friendly to other people (even strangers, which at times can be a little un-nerving) , loves to give her friends and teachers hugs, and is sure to tell everyone bye and thank you when we leave restaurants or stores. Of course she has plenty of grumpy, whiney moments but quite often the word other people use to describe her is 'sweet' and I couldn't agree more! :)


*Her height must have been measured wrong at her last appointment because otherwise she shrank about .75 inches in 3 months. And I can assure you by the jeans that keep getting shorter and shorter, she is NOT shrinking. :)

Snowday

On Friday, Austin declared an almost city-wide snow day... over only a few inches of snow and some ice, which I know is making the rest of my family in Missouri and Massachusetts, who are currently caught under several feet of snow, laugh out loud... but hey, this is Texas! :) Anyway, my doctor's appointments were canceled, Ainsley's school was canceled, and George only worked a half day so we had fun with the extra family time. Or at least we did most of the time.


When I saw that it had actually snowed, I was thrilled to take Ainsley out to play in it since she loved the snow so much when we were in Missouri for Christmas. But I guess it is different with snow on your own turf because she was NOT a fan this time around! At some points she seemed interested and curious, but most of the time she was just mad that the snow was covering her stuff. In the picture below she is especially upset about the snow covering her lil playscape.



But don't worry, I didn't torture her for long even though it took me forever to get both of us all bundled up, her with lots of layers and me just trying to find something that would cover my whole belly. We ended up only staying outside for 5ish minutes or so. Sigh. But what can you do?

Sometimes...

...I can't believe this lil girl is ours!! We are so blessed!