Alaina's shower, Avery visits, and cereal

If Ainsley could talk, I'm sure she'd tell me how exhausted she is.  The past two nights, she has fallen asleep before 9 without taking a bottle, and nothing would wake her up.  She usually takes 4-6 ounces right before bed and is in bed by 9-9:30.  The past two nights, she's taking 1/2 an ounce and crashes.  We thought for sure she'd be up in a couple hours after we laid her down to eat, but we were wrong.  She slept until 5 both mornings.  Now, that is one tired baby!

I know that I'm partial, but I love listening to my baby talk.  Here's another video of her jabbering.

Ainsley went to Lisa's on Friday and we were suppose to head down to Mom's so she could watch Ainsley that night.  I was going to decorate for Alaina's baby shower, and then head to bunco.  Between work and some last minute shower errands, I didn't make it to Mom's, bunco, or to help decorate.  Instead, we got up early Saturday morning and headed to Girard to set up for the baby shower. 


All ready to go to Alaina's baby shower

The shower turned out great, and Alaina got a lot of nice things.  Little Miss Hadlee is going to be one well-dressed little girl!  I think it's funny when Mommy's-to-be open gifts and sometimes don't know what they are/what they're used for.  Alaina only had a couple of these...and they were from her Mom.  Of course, Alaina thought her Mom was crazy, but once we got a demonstration of how/what the things were, they made sense.  Hopefully they found somewhere to put all the gifts!



  

The Mommy-to-be!



Aunt Royce got her to sleep, even if it didn't last long!

Keatyn was quite the little babysitter!

Bow bouquet centerpieces for the shower

Thomas and Jamie had Avery Saturday night and came up to visit.  It's amazing how much more Avery can do than Ainsley.  Granted, Avery has almost 2 months on Ainsley, but she is already sitting up, playing with toys, and eating (well, kind of) baby food.  Avery is very active and is constantly kicking her legs, and Ainsley just lays and barely moves.  I'm thinking that has something to do with Ainsley's weight!  We sat Avery in front of Ainsley and Avery got very excited.  It was so cute.  Then, Ainsley started to whimper like she was going to start crying, and it was almost like Avery was in slow motion.  You could see her face turn from a smile, to-what is that baby doing?, to a little frown, and then finally a puckered up face and another little girl who was crying.  It was the funniest thing, I only wish we would have caught it on video.


Poor Ainsley, she has no chance with those two!



Can you tell Ainsley is use to Mommy taking pictures?   Avery loved it!



Avery didn't know what to think of Ainsley crying

Yesterday we worked on Abby's bridal shower and wedding invitations.  I can't believe we're already in June and her wedding is a short 3 1/2 months away.  We did find bridesmaid dresses this week (as long as we can get them in) and I found Ainsley's flower girl dress.  Now, we just need to get the decorations, and she's all set! 

Ainsley hung out with Daddy most of the day while we worked on invitations and ran in to get groceries (which was a major necessity).  Abby wasn't too happy with what (or in our case, didn't have) in our pantry.  Moldy Weight Watchers lemon cakes aren't up to her standards, I guess.

When I got home, we gave Ainsley cereal for the first time.  She actually did pretty good.  She's had cereal in her bottle since she was a few weeks old, so it wasn't completely new, but the spoon-part was.  I made a few tablespoons of cereal, and she ate 1/4 or so of it.  Well, there was quite a bit on her at the end too, so maybe it didn't all get in her!  She wanted to talk while eating it, and that didn't work out so well.  I think it hit both of us last night while giving her cereal that she's going to be changing a lot in the next few months.  It's sad how quickly they grow up.  Here's a video of her trying to eat the cereal.

I liked the cereal!

Here's my happy baby girl one morning waking up!

The night before....

Just starting to wake up

She's gotta get her stretches in.



Now she's happy!



Oh, wait, maybe I'll go back to sleep

One new thing she's started doing in the last few days is grunting when she wants your attention.  She'll let out a little grunt until you look over at her and acknowledge her.  Joel says that's her Aunt Jennifer coming out. 

I'm trying to get in as much snuggle time as I can with her.   I leave for Dallas on Wednesday, and it will be my first time away from her overnight.  I know she'll be fine, but it's going to be sooooo hard!

4 months...a few days late

Wednesday, Ainsley was four months old.  That meant more shots, which weren't fun for either of us.  She did better this time than she did the first time.  She took an extra nap for me, and didn't seem too cranky.  My chubby baby weighed in at 15 pounds 14 ounces (95th percentile) and was 25 1/4 inches long (85th percentile).  Her head measured 40, which was at the 25th percentile.  Turns out, she doesn't have as big of a head as what I thought!  She has come a long way from when she was born.  She was barely on the charts then, and now only 5% of babies her age weigh more than her.  Really?!?!  In my opinion, that's awesome!


Ainsley-4 months



She still falls over when we try to sit her up leaning on something, but she'll get it eventually.

We went to the Braley fish fry on Sunday and then visited with Dad for a little while.  Aunt Di is letting us borrow an old exersaucer, so it's at Dad's so Ainsley has something to do when she's down there.  Dad got it out Sunday afternoon and put Ainsley in it.  Ainsley didn't know what to think of it, but she didn't hate it.  It was a little dusty and we'll have to get it cleaned before we let her play in it again!

This weekend marked a year from our egg retrieval.  I can't believe it's already been a year since I was getting daily shots, worrying non stop if it would actually work this time, and thinking I would never be a Mommy.  It's amazing how one year can completely change your life.  I'm so glad we did what we did and have a beautiful baby girl to love on every day.  The video below shows our little chatterbox talking to Daddy.

Work has been keeping me very busy again, but I did take part of the weekend off to get some things done.  Monday, I was able to get some flowers planted and our outdoor furniture put on the porch.

Ainsley went to Lisa's again today.  She did great.  There were quite a few more kids there today than last week, and Ainsley was entertained all day long.  I walked in, and a couple of the girls had her laying on the floor talking to her.  Ainsley's very nosey, so all the commotion was right up her alley!



She finally gave me a little smile!

The "Firsts" have started!

We had a couple "firsts" this week, and in the next few weeks I have a feeling they're only going to continue.  Wednesday was Ainsley's first day at daycare.  I found someone that lives outside of Bluffs to watch her a few days a week.  She has a few regular kids and some that come a day or two a week.  I'm not going to lie, it was very hard for me to leave her!  Luckily, by the time I got home, I had things waiting for me to work on to keep my mind off of Ainsley.  I picked her up a little early that afternoon because we were in the line of severe weather.  When I picked her up, Lisa (the sitter) said she did really good.  She was sitting in the swing when I got there, and I think having other kids around gave her something to look at all day.  One little boy took a special interest in Ainsley (I would say he's 3 or so) and Lisa said he would go over to check on her all day. 

We had been home for 15 minutes or so when the tornado siren went off.  There had been a couple tornadoes that touched down in Missouri earlier that day, so I grabbed Ainsley and her diaper bag and headed to the basement.  Luckily, Joel had just got home also and was able to grab the flashlights and the scanner.  Yes, we have a scanner.  No, we're not old enough yet to have a scanner to sit around and listen to, but it really does come in handy!  We had been in the basement for 5-10 minutes when the power went out.  Ainsley was taking her bottle, so it didn't seem to bother her very much.  We came back upstairs about half an hour later and the power finally came back on.  Ainsley was a bear that night, and I'm sure it was because all the commotion at Lisa's wore her out! 



We did try her new sunglasses on her Wednesday night and I think she liked them!

Thursday, we finally got over to Nolan and Jodi's to meet Oliver.  I can't believe we waited so long, but we've both been pretty busy and couldn't find the time to get over.  He is so little!  I think he's around 8 pounds now, but I couldn't get over how little he was.  I can't remember Ainsley being that small, even though she was quite a bit smaller than Oliver.  He's a very alert little baby with big, dark eyes and lots of dark hair.  I have to admit, that I was scared to hold him!  It's amazing how different it is when it's your own baby.  I was never scared or intimidated by Ainsley.  We had to get Oliver and Ainsley's picture taken together.  Check out the size difference!  I'm sure in a few months you won't even be able to tell a difference.

Last night was the first time Ainsley slept in her crib.  She's been sleeping in her Nap Nanny beside our bed.  It seems like she's pretty uncomfortable in the mornings in the Nap Nanny, and when we lay her in our bed, she'll stretch out and fall right asleep.  The Nap Nanny was nice at first because she slept in a reclined position and it helped with her acid reflux.  I think the reflux is getting better, and she seems to do pretty good sleeping on her back.  Joel got the baby monitors hooked up last night and after her bed time bottle, I laid her down in her crib, turned on her mobile, and walked out of her room.  I didn't stay out very long though!  I was back in a few minutes later to watch her.  She laid there and watched her mobile until it stopped and then decided to look all around.  She would kick her arms and legs and checked everything out.  She never did fuss, and finally fell asleep half an hour or so after I laid her down.  I think I was up 5 or 6 times throughout the night to check on her.  It's so different having her in a different room and not right beside me.  Each time I would get up, she was fine and sleeping away.  She got up this morning around 4 and took a bottle and I immediately put her back down in her crib, even though she wasn't asleep.  I think she finally fell asleep around 5, and Joel said when he got up at 6, she was wide awake looking all around.  He walked over to her crib and he said she looked up at him and just smiled, as if to say:  "Look at me, Daddy!"  By the time Joel brushed his teeth and went back in to look at her, she had fallen back asleep.  She woke up around 7:15 for the day, and was as happy as a clam when I went in to get her this morning.


Mommy-I like sleeping in my crib!

All of these "firsts" are making me sad, but I know they have to happen.  She'll be 4 months old next week and we go to get her shots and checkup on Wednesday.  I think we'll start cereal next week and Joel is going to put her highchair together this weekend.  These next few months are going to be full of changes, whether we're ready for them to happen or not.


Helping Mommy with laundry



27.

Well, another birthday down.  Only three more years til the big 3-0.  Yikes!  I was able to relax for most of the day, and then we headed to Springfield to do a little shopping and to meet Lou and Alaina for supper.  We stopped by Babies R Us and Ainsley "talked" the whole way around the store.  We would stop to look at something, not paying any attention to Ainsley who was in her carseat in the cart, and she would be sitting there just cooing and talking up a storm!   I tried talking Joel into a jogging stroller, and he told me I was crazy and we didn't need another stroller.  I have a feeling in the next few months, he'll come home to a new jogging stroller in the garage. 

Birthday flowers from Joel

Ainsley taking a good nap for Mommy's birthday!

We got to the restaurant a little early so we could change and feed Ainsley, and I quickly discovered that we didn't have any formula in the diaper bag!  I knew exactly where the formula was-right on the kitchen counter, where I left it after filling it up to put it in the diaper bag.  Of course, Joel made me feel like the world's worst Mom.  Luckily, we weren't at our table yet, so we left and ran back to Babies R Us to get some formula.  I'm sure Joel won't let me forget about forgetting the formula for a long time.

Ainsley and I have been going for a walk about every day for the last week or so.  She loves the stoller and all the exciting things to see outside!  She stays awake as long as she can, and then finally crashes about 10 minutes before we get home.   

She loves her stroller rides!

Her neck muscles are getting stronger every day.  We sat her in the bumbo seat yesterday afternoon and it was the first time she didn't scream while sitting in it!  Check out this video to see what Ainsley and Uncle Thom have in common.

Ainsley has a new favorite place to sleep, and that's beside Mommy in our bed in the mornings.  She's been getting up around 4:30-5:30 each morning.  Joel gets up and gives her a bottle and then lays her in bed beside me before he leaves for work.  As soon as she lays down in our bed, she "star-fishes" and has both arms and legs stretched out.  She will sleep like that for another 2-3 hours without hearing a peep from her.  (I know Jennifer's going to have something to say about this, but all I have to say is-it's not the same!)


She finally woke up around 9 the other morning!

Below are some pictures of us before heading to the Approach to eat.


Freeman family 5-22-11



Daddy's little girl



Here are a few new videos.  This one is Ainsley in her new bouncer, this one is Ainsley trying to talk with the hiccups, and this one is of Daddy making fun of her.  Poor girl isn't going to have a chance with Joel as her Daddy! When I upload videos to youtube, they are still uploading very grainy.  They don't look like that when I view them on our computer or the camcorder.  If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong when I upload them, please let me know!

How did my daughter get so chubby???  Today I had one of those moments, where I looked at Ainsley and thought: "How did she get so big?"  I've had a couple of those moments over the last few months.  Her thighs are huge, and she has little dimples in her elbows!  Her cheeks are the best to kiss and Joel says she has my "cankles".  It's amazing how quickly she's changed. 

She has started to laugh more often.  If I lean down to talk to her, she'll let out a little laugh, granted it's only every so often and you can barely tell it's a laugh, but it is and that's all that counts!  Of course, I haven't caught one on camera yet.  She's such a little stinker.  Any time I pull the camcorder out, she'll stop whatever it was she was doing.  She sees the camcorder, and immediately stares it down.  She started doing that last week, and she hasn't let up yet. 

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed to St. Louis for Jamie's graduation.  Ainsley was pretty good during the ceremony (it was almost 2 hours long), but she did decide that was also the time to do her business for the day.  I had taken her out to change her diaper, and of course, that's when the graduates started getting their diplomas.  So, we missed Jamie walking across the stage.  Graduation was held in a big banquet room at the Millenium.  There were huge crystal light fixtures, and Ainsley loved to look at them.  She didn't even cry when the crazy people started playing the bag pipes!



Mommy and Ainsley after graduation




Uncle Tanner and Ainsley at Jamie's graduation party.  Joel hates it when I put her in horizontal stripes! 


Rita and Jim watched Ainsley Sunday afternoon for us while I cleaned.  Joel was going to mow, but it started raining as soon as he dropped off Ainsley.  The house is so quiet without Ainsley, and Joel was lost without her!  He kept saying how he was going to go back down to get her, but he never did.  I do think he called, though, to make sure she was okay!  I found someone to watch Ainsley for me 1-2 days a week.  Her first day will be Wednesday, and I'm already dreading it.  I don't know how I'm going to do it, but at least I'll be able to get some things done. 

Ainsley got some new toys on Monday.  Callie, Audri, and Madilynn brought up some of Madilynn's old things for Ainsley to use.  Ainsley loved to watch Madilynn walk around and would just smile at her.



Madilynn and Ainsley-BFF's!!!




She loves her "new" bouncer!



I had a Weight Watcher's meeting Tuesday morning, and took Ainsley with me.  Everyone loves her there!  I'm now down 13 pounds in 6 weeks.  Hopefully the scale will keep going in the right direction and I'll be back to my pre-invitro weight in a few months.  We headed to Bluffs after the meeting to have lunch with Joel. 



Of course, they both wouldn't look at the camera at the same time!



Someone had a little too much to eat and had to unbutton their jeans!

I took her out yesterday for her first walk in her stroller.  I haven't been able to take her out before now because I've been busy with work, it has rained, or has been too windy.  It felt nice to get outside and she absolutely loved her stroller ride.  I would stop every few minutes to look at her, and she would be looking all around.  She finally fell asleep about five minutes before we got home.  Hopefully there will be many more stroller rides in the following months!  Although, after yesterday, I think I need a jogging stroller.  Her stroller was pretty rough on the road, and the jogging strollers have a smoother ride (or so I'm told).  Joel isn't going to like hearing this!

I got the rest of Ainsley's 3 month pictures today.  I can't wait to get them printed off.  If there's a certain one that you would like, let me know before Saturday and I'll get it ordered for you.  Below are a couple of my favorites!

3 month pictures sneak peek

Here's a sneak peek of Ainsley's 3 month pictures!  I can't believe none of them have her pacifier in her mouth....she wasn't very cooperative that afternoon!



Thanks for the tutu, Ashlee!!!



Mother's Day Weekend

I wish I could write about how I got the perfect gift for my first Mother's Day, but if anyone knows my husband, you'll know that he isn't the best at gift-giving!  I did have a pretty good day, and my Mother's Day gift was getting to sleep in until 8 (even if I did get up at 3 with Ainsley).  They're busy in the fields, so Joel left around 8:30, which meant I was able to spend the whole day with Ainsley by myself.  Dad came up Sunday afternoon to take me out to eat, so at least I didn't have to cook!  

Mother's Day eating with Gpa Bill

On Saturday, Ainsley and I went to Alton to meet Mom, Grandma Bowman, Grandma Mary, Aunt Royce, Aunt Bessie, Erin and Kara for lunch.  I had a really good salad at Josephine's, and even turned down dessert (which is one of the reasons I lost 3.2 pounds last week)! 

Ready for Mother's Day lunch with the girls



Being good at lunch!

Mom and I ran to the Grapevine after lunch, and found Ainsley a couple cute outfits!  I can't wait to get her in them. 

On my way home, I stopped at Callie's to visit.  It was so nice to take time to relax and visit for a few hours.  Madie had her moments where she was jealous of Ainsley, but they both were good and in a few more months, they'll be able to play with each other! 

As far as my Mother's Day weekend, I just have to say thank goodness for Mom and Dad, or else Ainsley wouldn't have gotten Mommy anything for Mother's Day!  However, it was nice to be able to sleep in a little Sunday morning, but it would have been even nicer if I would have got breakfast in bed!  To even think about Joel serving me breakfast in bed is just down-right comical! 

Ainsley was 14 weeks yesterday.  In the mornings, she has to grunt and really stretch out.  If you laugh at her while she's stretching, she continues to do it.  Here's a video of her in the morning doing her grunts/stretches (this was after her diaper was changed and her big grunts/stretches are out of the way).  She's been laughing more often, and still likes to put her hands/fists in her mouth.  Her latest trick is to get a couple fingers in her mouth and gag herself.  I'm just waiting for the day when she throws up from gagging herself.  Another trick she's started to do, is to rub her eyes when she's tired.  It is the most adorable thing ever!  Here's a video of her talking to herself and rubbing her eyes (it's toward the end).  Here's another video of Ainsley talking to the mirror and here's another of her talking to me.


Ainsley 14 Weeks



Ainsley with her duck!

We have a busy weekend coming up...bunco Friday night and Jamie's graduation is Saturday morning.  I leave for Dallas in a few weeks, and I wish time would just slow down.  It seems like we're constantly busy and there isn't any time to relax.  What I would do to have an afternoon where I could lay in the sunroom and watch tv with a sleeping baby on my lap.....

3 months

Can you believe it's already been three months since Ainsley came into this world?  We sure can't!  She is our little bundle of joy that we love to look at, play with, and talk to.  It seems like she is changing daily and gets more of a personality.  

Ainsley 3 months



She still has big blue eyes.



Love that smile!

She loves to stretch and she's been doing better about laying on her back to sleep.  When she does fall asleep laying on her back, this is how she usually ends up.  It's so cute! 

She's still sleeping good at night and we hope it only continues to improve.  It's hard to imagine how refreshed I used to feel (before Ainsley) when I got a good night's sleep.  I wouldn't trade Ainsley for the world, but I'm sure I'll never get that kind of sleep again.

Her swing has a mirror attached to the mobile so that she can see  herself when sitting in it.  She loves to look up at herself and talk and smile.  It's so cute! 

I've been so busy the last few weeks, that I decided to get away from everything and head down to the lake with Jennifer and Drake for the weekend.  It was nice to get away and not worry about anything.  


Aunt Jen had a diaper-changing assembly line going on!



I have no clue how he got in there, but he was occupied for 5 minutes so it really didn't matter!



Aunt Jen and Ainsley

Ainsley was so good all weekend.  We got down there late Friday night and shopped all day Saturday.  We got home around 7 Sunday night, and Ainsley even did good in the car!  Drake, on the other hand, was a different story! He told everyone how naughty he had been all weekend!  That boy is too smart for his own good, and of course, Joel says he's already smarter than his Mom!


Getting ready to leave



This pretty much sums up the weekend...one kid crying while the other one is being good!

They've made it back in the fields, so Ainsley hasn't seen too much of her Daddy this week.  Hopefully they'll be able to stay in them for the next few weeks and things will slow down again.