1st Birthday Party

Ainsley had her first birthday party on Sunday, and it went great!  I was worried that she wouldn't want anything to do with the party when we got her there, but she was a perfect angel.  She was shy at first and didn't want anyone but me or Joel.  I had Joel drive her around before the party so she would sleep, but she only slept for 30-45 minutes and we were worried she was still tired.  Once we started opening presents, she perked right up and helped tear some of the paper off and played with the toys while opening them.

She loved the laptop that Uncle Thom and Aunt Jamie got her

What's in the bag??

She liked chewing on her tutu.

Happy girl

We opened her pink chair from Aunt Doris and Shane first, thinking she may sit in it while we opened presents, but she wanted on the floor where she could crawl around.

She ended up getting all kinds of cool toys, books, and cute clothes.  She isn't the least bit spoiled.....well, okay, maybe she is! 

After we opened presents, it was time for Ainsley to dig into some cake.  And, sister didn't disappoint us!  She dug right in, and had icing everywhere.  My little girl sure does love the sweet stuff!

Mmmm...this is pretty good!

Ok...this cake is REALLY good!

The end result.

Once she was cleaned up, she was beyond ready for a nap.  Joel took her home while we stayed and cleaned up.  She didn't fall asleep until that night during supper.  She just couldn't keep her eyes open while eating her macaroni and cheese!

Ainsley is such a lucky little girl, who has a lot of people who love her.  Thanks to everyone who could make it to help us celebrate our little girl's first year!

A boo=Love you (in Ainsley talk)

I finally got Ainsley saying "Love you" on video.  It's near the end of the video, but she did finally say it.  Of course, she kept saying it over and over again once I turned the video camera off.  Watch the video here.

I've had Ainsley home with me for the last few days and she's quite the independent baby!  She will not stay in my office if I have the door open.  She heads right out the door and either goes into her room to play, into the living room, or she'll make it all the way into the kitchen and play with her farm toy on the refrigerator.  She likes playing by in her room by herself.  She'll pull all her stuffed animals out of the cradle, or her absolute favorite is pulling all the books off her bookshelf and then sitting on the floor flipping through the books.

She can do pretty good when asked what certain animals say/do.  You have to prompt her on some, but she is pretty good at doing others by herself.  She knows what a horse, cow, and monkey says.  She also knows that a bunny goes "hop, hop, hop".  You can check her out in this video.

It was in the 60's last Monday, so after I picked Ainsley up from Lisa's, I put her in her car and took her for a short walk.  She would cry when I would stop.  We walked for 20 minutes or so and she loved it (while we were moving). 

I'm sure I'm not the only parent out there that feels a sense of accomplishment when you get your sleeping child out of the car seat, into the house, and laid back down without waking them up.  We don't even bother taking her coat or boots off of her if we can accomplish this task!  Here's a picture of her the other day after Mommy managed to get her in without waking her.

Ainsley was busy cleaning out a shelf in the pantry the other day and found Mommy's candy stash!

Look what came in the mail today....Ainsley's crib protectors!  No more chewing up the crib.  She didn't seem to mind them.

Keeping busy

As our little girl's big birthday quickly approaches, it's getting harder to call her our "baby".  She's turning into a toddler and there isn't much "baby" left to her.  She's getting closer to walking every day, and can make her way from one side of the couch to the other (while holding on, of course).

 
We had a physical therapy appointment last week, and the therapist was very happy with Ainsley's progress over the last month.  She couldn't believe how well she was doing.  She said that Ainsley is getting very close to walking and the only thing holding her back at this point is the confidence in herself.  Ainsley needs to have more confidence and trust herself to actually take the first step, and once she does that, she's going to be running around the house!

We also had an appointment at Hanger last week for the last followup appointment for her helmet.  They did one last scan on her head to see how much it changed on its own.  There was a little improvement over the last two months.  When we saw the before and after pictures, we could really see the difference the helmet made.  I think most of the time, the helmet helps babies out more, but with all the trouble we had with Ainsley's helmet, we're happy with the progress that was made.  I wish things could have worked out to where she could have wore the regular helmet, and it probably would have helped more, but it doesn't seem like we can do anything normal with our little princess!

Ainsley's last head scan!

Ainsley is into absolutely EVERYTHING.  Joel came home yesterday to a kitchen and dining room scattered with bowls, trays, silverware, and anything else Ainsley could find in the cabinets while I was fixing lunch.  One of her favorite things to get into is the pantry.  She'll open up the doors and clean out the bottom two or three shelves and then play with the food on the floor. 

We had a busy weekend, and Ainsley was able to spend some time away from us.  She stayed at Jim and Rita's Friday night, and of course, she was good for Grandma and slept all through the night.  Saturday night, she stayed with Erin, Terry, and the kids for a few hours and got lots of attention.  Dad and Tanner came up last night.  Tanner was a good uncle and let Ainsley play with his hair while Dad gave her a bottle. 

We put Ainsley in her crib yesterday afternoon, and she was suppose to be taking a nap.  She fussed for a little while and then started playing with her crib toy and we could hear her jabbering to herself.  We left her in there and hoped she would fall asleep on her own.  After five minutes or so of playing and jabbering, we heard a loud thud and then she started screaming and crying.  I ran in and grabbed her.  She was screaming and crying out because she was hurting, but I had no clue what had happened or what she hurt.  Of course, Joel just said that she scared herself when she fell, but I knew it was a "hurt" cry.  When I turned her around, she had blood coming out of her mouth!  We don't know exactly what happened, but we did discover little teeth marks on her crib railing and the wood was splintered up where she had been gnawing on the wood.  I don't think she got a splinter in her mouth from her crib, but who knows!  I ordered the crib rail pads last night so she doesn't chew up her crib!

Her other front tooth is starting to pop through.

She's loving all kinds of table food now.  Baby food is pretty much out of the picture now and macaroni and cheese has taken center stage.  She loves that stuff!  Pancakes, peaches, mandarin oranges, bananas, green beans, peas, and of course, yogurt bites are also on the food list.  One of the best things that I would recommend to any Mom for babies at this stage are the bibs with the sleeves that you can wipe down.  My cousin told me about them when I was pregnant and I just happened to be at Ikea the next week and picked some up.  I'm glad I did.  They really are a life saver!  Thanks, Amanda!

Ainsley has never really cared for a pacifier, but she found one in the bottom of her toy basket in my office a few weeks ago.  She likes to play and chew on it.  The other night she was actually sucking on it for a little bit and then would throw it and go get it and repeat the process.

We're gearing up for the big birthday party this weekend.  I hope everyone can make it!

Ainsley's first pig tails

I was able to get Ainsley's hair in pig tails tonight! 

 

I have to say that she is pretty stinkin' cute in them, and didn't give me too much trouble getting them in.  Joel asked if I was going to get up early in the morning to put her hair in pig tails before he takes her to Lisa's....my response:  "No, but you can.  You're going to have to learn sometime!"  I bet in a few months, he'll be a pro at pig tails.

This week, I'm in love with:

The way Ainsley makes the "vrooooommmmmm" sound when pushing anything across the floor, especially her cars and tractors.

The way something so simple as a ball can keep my child entertained.  I love watching her throw it, crawl to go get it, throw it again, crawl to go get it, and repeat. 

The way Ainsley takes her baby dolls and hugs them, while saying "awwweeee".

The way Ainsley jabbers and makes the funniest noises.  "Dlrlrlrlr" is one of her favorites!

Ainsley's morning bed head.

The way her eyes light up when you mention going bye-bye.

Her chubby little hands with dimples as knuckles.

I could sit and watch her play all day long.  She is really exploring things and is very interested in what we do. 

Playing in her "toy corner"

Mashed potatoes are so much fun!

I finally broke down last night and let Ainsley dig into some mashed potatoes all by herself.  Yes, I'm an anal Mom and don't like for my princess to get dirty, so we try to make meals pretty clean and I do most of the work.  I also know that she'll never learn how to feed herself if she doesn't practice.  So, I gave her a bowl of mashed potatoes and a spoon last night.  She didn't care about the spoon, and went right for the mashed potatoes.  She had more fun playing with them than actually eating them.  Here's a video of Ainsley getting her hands dirty!

She still loves Mickey Mouse and the "Hot Dog Song" from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She can watch that song over and over and not get bored with it.  She's started waving bye-bye to Mickey at the end of the song.  You can see her dancing and waving to Mickey in this video.

Enjoying the nice weather

Last week it was in the 60's a few days and the next few days should be in the 50's!  The weather has been beautiful, and Ainsley was even able to swing outside one day last week. 

Ainsley has started a bad habit the last few weeks of grinding her teeth together.  She usually does it first thing in the morning, or when falling asleep at night.  She'll also do it during the day, and once she starts doing it, she doesn't want to stop.  I can hardly stand to sit near  her when she does it.  It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me!

She is becoming more independent each day.  She's figured out how to get something from one place to another!

Her favorite toy is her kitchen.  She will play with it for 15-20 minutes at a time, and not care about anything else while she's doing it!  Doors and drawers have also caught her attention and she has to open and close a door or drawer if she sees one.  She's already smashed her fingers numerous times in drawers.  She's also gone into the bathroom and shut herself in there by herself.  That didn't make her very happy! 

What, Mom???  I'm just playing!

She loved playing with the hangers when Mommy cleaned out the closet.

If the laptop is anywhere in sight, Ainsley is right beside it wanting to get her little hands on it.  She still doesn't understand "No" and will just stand there and cry until she catches sight of a toy.

We had a first the other night.  Ainsley was standing up beside me hugging me with her head in my shoulder.  The next thing I know, she's biting my shoulder!  I pulled away pretty quick, but it still left a red mark for a few hours. 

In the last few days, she's starting holding her own bottle.  I will lay her on the floor with her head propped up on a pillow, and she'll hold her bottle and has even fallen asleep after taking one!  We've always had to hold her bottle for her, so she can play with my hair (or hers) while she takes it.  She's been able to hold her bottle (a 4 ounce one) with one hand and play with her own hair with her other hand while she takes it.

Pat-a-cake!

Ainsley and I visited with Callie and Madilynn on Saturday.  Madilynn was excited to see the "baby" (Ainsley).  It was adorable in the car.  Ainsley and Madilynn both leaned up so they could see each other in their carseats and just stared at each other on the way to Alton.  When we got back to the house, Madilynn was still okay with Ainsley there and would give her kisses.

Madilynn didn't like it so much when Ainsley started playing with her toys.  Callie would tell her she needed to share and Madie would pucker up her lips and say sssshhhhhhure (share) while nodding her head.  It was so cute, even if she didn't really understand what she was trying to say!  Ainsley didn't really mind not sharing, and liked playing with all the new toys.  Madilynn's life is going to have a drastic change when her little sister arrives in a little over a month. 

Madi wasn't very happy when Ainsley touched her Elmo!

We got home from Callie's Saturday afternoon and a few hours later, Nolan, Jodi, and Oliver stopped by to visit.  We hadn't seen them in months and Oliver sure has changed!  We stood Ainsley and Oliver beside each other and they're about the same height.  Ainsley immediately reached toward Oliver and grabbed onto his shirt and started hugging him.  She wouldn't let go and got mad when I pulled her away.  Oliver didn't seem to mind....too much!

Ainsley and Oliver

She REALLY wanted to give him a hug!

Oliver's had enough!  Get that girl away!

I'm thinking that Ainsley has another tooth coming in, because she's been cranky the last few days.  I'm hoping it comes through quickly so we can have a good week!

Where's Ainsley????