Christmas with the Hoernke's

Ashlyn was checking out cousin Tyler. She told me he is pretty cool! Grandpa Dave and Grandma Karen with their Grandchildren...

The whole gang!

Christmas with the Hesgard's

Ashlyn can't wait until she can attend her very 1st "Colby Cheeze Dayz"

The Hoernke brothers...

Ashlyn was all smiles with Grandma Deb on Saturday night!

Grandma Dukie with all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Christmas in Phillips

We spent a few days up north at Grandpa Mick and Grandma Jeannie's house in Phillips. Ashlyn of course enjoyed playing with her cousin Mya and her aunt Stacy.

My 1st Christmas!

Ashlyn enjoyed her first Christmas (well I'm pretty sure she did - she attended 5 different Christmas celebrations over the long weekend)!! She received numerous nice gifts from everyone and we enjoyed seeing all of our relatives again.

Yummy Rice Cereal!

For the last three nights I've been mixing a little cereal in Ashlyn's bottle for her last feeding before bed at night and I think it's been helping her sleep better through the night! Tonight we tried to spoon-feed her some cereal. She wasn't so sure what to do at first, but she actually got the hang of it pretty well and ate more of it than I thought she would. She is growing up WAY too fast!!

4 Month Well-Baby Checkup

Ashlyn had her 4 month check-up on Thursday, which meant more shots for my little girl :( She did well though and didn't seem too affected by them. The Dr. said she looked great! She was 15 lbs 1 oz (75th percentile) and 25 3/4" (90th percentile) long; so she is still growing the same as she has been, which is good. She has really started enjoying her Jumperoo lately. She sits in there and plays longer and longer each day.

Arizona Adventures...

A little revealing for such a young girl!! We went to eat lunch in an old Arizona desert town and the bathroom stalls were all painted like this.

Grandma and Grandpa with Ashlyn in the back yard at their house. We went to visit my grandparents in Sun City, AZ at their winter home and had lunch with them. The girls then visited while the men did a little home repair work. They were happy we could come to visit.

Tortilla Flat, AZ

Arizona Sun!

Ashlyn is ready for the Arizona sun with her sunglasses and summer outfit! We made it to Arizona safe and sound. Ashlyn did awesome on our trip out to Phoenix. She slept during the car ride to the Cities. We made it through security at the airport with no problems, got up to the gate and preboarded right away. Ashlyn fell asleep as everyone else boarded the plane, then woke up and just hung out and played in daddy's lap for the first half of the flight and then fell asleep and didn't wake up until we landed. The people sitting behind us saw her as we were leaving the plane and didn't even know a baby was sitting ahead of them. She didn't make a peep! Hopefully our return flight will be the same!!

4 Months Old!

Ashlyn is 4 months old today! Despite still having her cold she has been pretty smiley tonight and seems to be feeling alright. We leave for Arizona tomorrow to visit my parents. So I'll have to post to let you know how our first time on an airplane goes...hopefully well!!

1st Thanksgiving!

Well, Ashlyn had an excuse for taking a nap on Thanksgiving Day, but her Daddy must have just eaten too much Turkey! Ashlyn unfortunately got a pretty bad cold over the long Thanksgiving weekend and wasn't feeling the best. She is starting to get less congested and is eating more again now so hopefully she is getting better and will be able to sleep better as well. We had a nice time back in Colby at Darrin and Stacy's as they were nice enough to let us "invade" their house for the weekend! We also braved the crowds Friday afternoon in Wausau and met up with my sister Stacy for a visit and some shopping. It was nice we could meet and she could see Ashlyn again!

Opening Deer Hunting

They tell me that Damien needs a new gun because his misses the deer. I say it is definately just operator error! But Ashlyn had a good weekend. We went shopping in the Dells with Grandma Karen, Aunt Stacy, and Aunt Jen. Ashlyn traveled great during the 2 hour trip and was pretty much all smiles the entire day. She's a natural shopper! We're in trouble :)

3 Month Pictures

We got Ashlyn's 3 month pictures taken and I took a picture of the pictures we got (I know pretty cheesy!). They turned out good and Ashlyn cooperated really well, but she just didn't want to smile for them. She was quite serious for the most part. We only got a couple little expressions from her!

Tuesday night....

Well Tuesday night was a big night in our household...Ashlyn slept through the night for the first time!!! She went to bed around 8 pm and slept until 6 am the next morning. YEAH :) She has been sleeping really good for the last few weeks actually. She will generally go to bed around 8:00 every night, wake up at 3 or 4 am to eat, and then go right back to bed for at least 3 more hours. She puts herself to to sleep at night and even in the middle of the night. I will lay her in her crib and she will be wide awake. But I go to bed and don't hear her once, so she falls asleep on her own...what a good little girl!

Playtime video

I finally got a video to download. Ashlyn is a vocal little girl when she plays! She will get more excited than this at times...it's hilarious :) We say she sounds like a pterodactyl!

Looking so cute...

A picture of the cutie without Shotzy sitting basically on her head.

Quite a pair...

I was trying to get a cute shot of the "little lady" sitting on the couch with her cute jeans on and Shotzy decided she needed her big butt in the picture!

The two taking a nap together... Shotzy thought Ashlyn lying on the floor meant she needed to give her kisses!

Winter is coming...

We had to try on Ashlyn's new hat and mittens tonight to see if they fit since it was SNOWING here today. Yuk!

Daddy and Ashlyn were playing after work today. Well, she generally just likes to try to put her toys or hands in her mouth! She is realizing how her arms work recently and has found her hands. She will hang on to rattles now and she grabs at her toys over her bouncy seat, but at times I can tell she wants to grab different things but just can't quite figure out how to make it all work. It's cute!

Ashlyn had a good week at daycare. I think she is starting to get used to it there as she is starting to nap a bit better than she did last week. Some days she doesn't sleep much there during the day though and so when we bring her home at night she will sleep from like 5-7 pm when we want her to be awake and play since we haven't seen her all day!

Ashlyn's 1st Halloween!

Ashlyn enjoyed her first Halloween even as I dressed her up in 2 different costumes :) But she was so cute I just had too! Shotzy even got to join in on the fun. She wasn't too sure about her costume but didn't bother it too much.

1st day of Daycare

Ashlyn had her first day at daycare on Monday. She didn't mind getting woke up at 6:30 am and even enjoyed some playtime in her boucy chair before we left. She seems to be doing fine at daycare and has been doing various activities there each day. We are starting to get adjusted to a little different routine in the morning (well me anyway!) and are getting into the swing of things!

12 Weeks Old...

Here are some pictures from this week. Ashlyn will be 12 weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. This week was my last week home with her as I go back to work on Monday and Ashlyn will start daycare. So we kept busy this week and enjoyed our time together!

Sisters

Trip to Appleton

Mom, Ashlyn, and Grandma Jeannie took a trip to Appleton to visit Auntie Kayla and cousin Mya this week. Ashlyn did really well traveling. She slept the entire trip from Eau Claire to Loyal and then from Loyal to Appleton and back too. She did great! We had a nice time and enjoyed our visit.

2 Month Check Up

Ashlyn had her 2 months well-baby check-up this past Monday. The pediatrician said that she looked good and everything seemed to be fine! She was 12 pounds exactly and 24 inches long. This puts her in the 95th percentile for her length and 75th for her weight. We also got to experience her first set of shots....she got 3 of them :( She of course screamed but then calmed down shortly thereafter and actually fell asleep. Once she woke up from her nap she was pretty fussy for the rest of the afternoon and night. I did give her some tylonol which seemed to help and she actually slept from 10 pm until 4 am that night!! I couldn't believe it! Too bad she hasn't slept that long of a stretch since... Otherwise she is doing great!

Bundle of Joy

We went for a walk yesterday for the first time this week since it has cooled down outside. So we needed to bundle up a bit more than usual!

8 Weeks Old