No longer a baby

My "biggest" baby has changed so much in the last month.  It's awesome to watch her grow and change, although I would love to keep her as a baby forever.  Her vocabulary has expanded so much over the last few weeks and she's started putting multiple words and short sentences together.  Thanks to Uncle Tanner, she now knows:  stop, back off, and mine.  "I'm tired" is one of her newest things to say, and she thinks everyone is tired when she is.  She'll come up to me and say:  "Baby tired, Mommy tired, Daddy tired, girl tired".  When referring to herself, or if you ask her what her name is, she still responds with "girl".  Sigh.

She calls her sippy cup her bottle now.  If Lily is taking her bottle, Ainsley thinks she needs to find her "bottle" too.  She loves to help with Lily.  She'll get a diaper out of the drawer for me, pat her back to help me burp her, or get her pacifier when Lily starts crying.  I can only see her growing up even more quickly over the next few months as she becomes the big sister instead of the only child.

Ainsley no longer fights me like she did while I was pregnant.  She'll let me change her diaper now, and thinks it's really fun to change her diaper in "baby's" room instead of her own.  She also likes to try to put her own clothes on, and has to take her own jacket and shoes off when coming inside.

Ainsley and Drake watching Mickey

She loves helping me with laundry, and will shake out each piece of clothing before handing it off to me to fold.  Ainsley's also a big help in the kitchen.  She likes emptying the silverware from the dishwasher (except for the knives, of course) and loves when I let her "bake".  Her little Norwex mop Mom got her for her birthday gets used quite a bit.  Ainsley thinks she needs to help me sweep every time she sees me with a broom or the vacuum. 

Stacking blocks

Cuddling with Daddy is one of her favorite things to do at night.  She'll get in our bed and cuddle right up to Joel to fall asleep.  She loves to give hugs and she'll really squeeze you when she does.  They are the best hugs!

She loves her boots!

She stayed the night at Mom's one night, and Mom said she fell asleep on the couch.  After Ainsley fell asleep, the dog climbed up and had to lay down behind her.

Ainsley is little Miss-Monkey-See-Monkey-Do.  We can pretty much get her to do anything by doing it first.  Sometimes, she'll do what we're doing when we're not paying attention.  Joel was standing in my office door one afternoon and Ainsley walked over and had to stand just like Daddy.  Joel and I cracked up when we realized what she was doing!

She's figured out how to open doors.  We've had to put safety knobs on a few doors already. 

I took Lily into Lisa's a week or so ago to pick up Ainsley one afternoon and Ainsley was so excited to show off her little sister.  As soon as I walked in, her face lit up and she got the biggest smile on her face.  I set Lily's car seat down, and Ainsley didn't take her hand off of it.  She had to look at everyone to make sure they were all seeing her little sister.  It was the cutest thing!

My newest obsession....lace tights!!!

One of Ainsley's newest favorite things to eat is cereal.  She doesn't do the best with eating it by herself, but loves when Joel or I eat it and she can have it with us.  Any type of fruit, brownies, ice cream, cake, fruit snacks, cheese, bread, and cottage cheese are still some of her favorite foods.

I was able to take both girls outside one day this week.  Ainsley loved getting outside, and Lily slept comfortably in her bouncer on the porch.  I think Ainsley went down her slide at least 30 times that afternoon.