Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend will always bring back special memories.  Two years ago during the long Memorial Day weekend of 2010, we got the okay to go ahead with the egg retrieval for our IVF cycle.  We went into the doctor's office that Sunday morning to have the procedure done.  I relaxed in bed for the next few days and waited for the call to tell us we could go ahead with the embryo transfer later that week.  I can't believe it's already been two years since we went through all of it, but I'm so very glad we did and have our precious little girl to remind us that the pain and stress of the entire process was well worth it.

This year, our Memorial Day weekend started off bad, but ended up being pretty relaxing.   We slept in and took lots of naps!  We had a few graduation parties to go to, but nothing else planned which meant lots of family time.

Friday afternoon, I ran down to the basement to switch a load of laundry and after turning the light on for the hallway, I quickly discovered water coming out from under the hall closet door and running down the hallway.  My heart sank, and I ran to call Joel to tell him he needed to come home.  The hall closet was half way covered with water, and the drains in the laundry room and back room had water up to the very edge, but it hadn't come all the way up yet.  I had all of Ainsley's clothes she's outgrown in the hall closet, as well as her car seat, bouncer, etc.  Luckily, everything was in totes or wrapped in garbage bags, so I only had to throw a few things away. 

Jim brought a pump over from Bluffs while Joel and I tried to get everything out of the closet and some of the water soaked up.  At first, we thought that the sewage ejection pump stopped working, but after pulling the lid off of it, they discovered that a big piece of rust fell off of the lid, which caused everything to back up.  So, we're going to be in the market for a new sewage ejection pump.  It's always something with this house, I swear!

Saturday we had Nathan's (Joel's cousin) high school graduation party to attend.  It was very hot (in the upper 90's), so I tried to keep Ainsley in the house.  Of course, she wanted to get into everything and climb the stairs so it didn't take me long to decide I was ready to get out of there!  We went outside for awhile, but she kept wanting to go to the pool, so needless to say, we didn't stay long.

Jim, Rita, Trista, Ainsley and Joel at Nathan's Graduation party

Before we left, we had to go check out the corn that Joel planted earlier this spring, with a little help from Ainsley and Mommy that day.  It's already as tall as Ainsley and it's not even June 1st!

Knee high by June 1st...

We had Ashton's 8th grade graduation party this afternoon, and I was much more relaxed.  Ainsley ran around the building, playing with the other kids and I didn't have to worry about her getting into everything.  I even let her run around naked for awhile after lunch while we waited for cake since she got her lunch all over her dress and herself.  I know, I know....I really can't believe I let her run around naked without having a cute outfit on, but I guess I'm getting more laid-back in my parenting.

Eating lunch...LOVE her baby blues!

Playing tractors with Drake

Ashton and Ainsley

After lunch and cake, we walked her over to the park so she could play.  She had fun running around and going down the slide!

Sunscreen time!

Weeeee!!!  That was fun!

Ainsley is doing much better now with her swallowing and hasn't thrown up for almost a month now.  I don't know if it's the new sippy cups, thickening her fluids, or a combination of both, but I'm happy! 

She has been babbling more often, and she's saying new words almost every day.  We're getting Mommy and Daddy out of her more often now, but it's still mainly Trista and Joel.  She's such a stinker! 

Is that shirt too small, or is her belly just too big????

Love her little toes!

She loves looking at her big "first words" book and can point to various things.  She knows where the train, ball, banana, baby, boat, kitty, and puppy are.  She calls all books "row, row, row", as in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  She'll walk around the house whining "row, row, row" and will usually grab whatever book she can find to bring to you so you can read it to her. 

Another thing she's been whining about quite a bit lately is wanting to watch Little Einsteins.  She'll walk around the house whining while "patting" her legs and stomach.  Once she finds the remote, she'll bring it to you and start whining for Little Einsteins.  We've tried not letting her watch it as much, but she thinks it needs to be on constantly.  Joel and I are both beyond sick of watching it! 

I finally talked Joel into putting a safety lock on my bathroom drawers.  My makeup, which is in one of the drawers, is one of Ainsley's favorite toys and it's really getting old walking around the house finding a tube of mascara, foundation, eyeliner, lip gloss, hair ties, etc. laying all over.  Ainsley isn't very happy that she can't get in the drawer now, but it's for the best!

She dumped a box of cereal on the floor the other night....

She's taken an interest in her tractors, little farmers, and animals lately.  She'll get a tractor out of her toy basket and push it around the floor while making a "vroom" sound.  She's also discovered her baby dolls and will put them in her doll stroller and push them around.  I picked up a few spring hats a while back from the Dollar Tree for "dress up" and got them out of her closet earlier this week.  She loves walking around the house in them. 

Playing pat-a-cake with her baby

Ainsley and Mommy in our hats

Alvin and Larry are still working on the house, and should finish up this week.  The siding is all on, and the new columns have been installed on the front porch.  They have the roof the finish, and some odds and ends.  Ainsley's enjoyed watching them out the front door.  If you ask her if Alvin and Larry go "bang, bang, bang", she'll smile and knock her hand on anything hard making a banging sound.  If they start hammering while Ainsley's in the house with me and she hears them, she'll  have to walk over and hit her hand on something to make the banging sounds.  It's pretty cute!

Another relatively new thing she's started doing is climbing up the basement stairs.  She's been able to climb up them pretty good for the last couple of weeks (provided, I'm right behind her the entire time she's climbing up them because it still scares me).  I haven't even let her get remotely close to going down them yet, because that scares the daylight out of me!  Even when there is only one or two stairs somewhere, Ainsley won't sit on her butt to go down them (like I think she should).  Instead, she has to step down them, which means she falls every time.  I've tried showing her how to sit on her butt and scoot down stairs, but she doesn't get it.

She thinks it's easier to climb in over the door instead of opening it!

It's suppose to cool off later in the week, so I'm hoping to go outside more with Ainsley and go for a few walks and to the park.  I'm also hoping our house is finished this week, so I can feel like we have our normal life back (and be able to park my car in the garage again, which will be a huge bonus!)