Outings

Towards the end of January, we had a few fun outings. On the 22nd, we went to a pizza night that the high school jazz band was performing at. Joseph works with some of the boys in the band at church so we came to support them. Some friends joined us with their little boy so Ashton had a play mate. It was held in a sports arena so the kiddos could run around while the parents could eat and have an adult conversation. At first, Ashton was spooked by the loud noise of the music but after a few songs, she got over it and loved it.

The next night, Joseph and I had a date night in Houston. It makes for a long night for a babysitter but Ashton loves her babysitter. We went out to eat at a Spanish restaurant. Joe enjoyed walking down memory lane and eating some of his favorite foods from Spain. After that, we went to the Harlem Globetrotters. It was a really fun show. I was nervous when they did cool stunts but it was still a lot of fun. By the end of the night, we were ready to go back home and get some sleep.

Here are some fun pictures of Ashton lately.

She had to bring her strawberry with to the park.

Why I love living in Texas. 75 degrees in January.

Playing in the dyer.

Wetting her hair just like I do when I have to brush her's.

A Few of My Favorite Things

For those who are interested in Ashton's life from back home, here are a few of her favorite things. Sorry for the lack of pictures. If Ashton sees my phone, she wants it. So I hide it for most of the day. This leads to a lack of pictures.

1. Going to the park. Since the weather warmed up again to the 60's, we've enjoyed some wonderful afternoons at our local park. There, she loves going down slides, sitting in the swing for 0.32 seconds, "stirring" the gravel with a stick, and climbing up and down stairs.

This is her pushing her face against a little window in the playground tunnel. Probably not the cleanest surface to lick but oh well. This might explain her constant runny nose these days.

2. Talking. Ashton's vocabulary keeps expanding, which I love. Each day, it gets a little easier to understand what she wants. Her word list now includes: Dog, Duck, Done, More, No, Baby, Mama, Dada, Papa, Nana (means Grandma and banana), Shoe, Sit, Go, Bye, Hi, Up, Ick, and Daniel. "Daniel" means she wants to watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on Netflix. I don't like that she now has a word to watch a show. My preference is for her not to watch any TV during the day. Some days, she gets lucky and she gets one episode.

3. Reading. She loves her books. Ashton especially likes the book her great-grandma got her about cats. It is just a book with a lot of pictures of random cats. She also likes pointing at everything in her books and asking what they are.

4. Picking up trash at the park. She then promptly says, "Ick" and hands it to me. At least that is an improvement from when she would just try to eat it.

5. Dumping everything out of its container, namely her snacks. That's fun. It also explains the current condition of our house. I'm tired of cleaning up everything only for her to dump it back out a few minutes later.

6. Copying me in anything. When Ashton sees me do something, she wants to do it "just like mommy." She likes to wipe the floor with a towel, sweep the floor, put dishes away, set the table, type on the computer, draw and color on papers, put groceries on the check out belt, brush her hair, and put on make-up.

7. I can't forget to put her juice on this list. Ashton doesn't nurse anymore but she still has a big desire to suck on her straw cups. I'm glad we never pushed the pacifier with her because I think it would have been a very hard habit to break now. But she loves to drink out of her straw cups. On a typical day, Ashton will drink 45-60 ounces a day. We put about an ounce of apple juice mixed with 8 ounces of water. It tastes terrible but she loves it. The only trick is limiting it at night or else she will wake up with a full diaper in the wee hours of the morning. I asked the doctor about this at her last appointment to rule out Type I Diabetes. He said it was okay and she is just a super hydrated kid that pees a lot. Thank goodness we use cloth diapers because she goes through a ton of diapers every day.

8. Art projects with me. My sister in law gave Ashton and I an art book for toddlers for Christmas. We've done a few things from the book. I love that Ashton is getting to the age to do some of these projects. They don't last too long but it helps give us something to do. We made some fun goop out of corn starch and water. She liked it.

 9. Dressing herself. She has my fashion sense.

 That's some of Ashton's favorite things. Those back home will get a chance to see this in person in just a few short weeks! She is full of fun and energy so be prepared!

Video Dump

I forget to look on Joseph's phone for pictures and videos. I looked today and found these priceless moments. We love our baby girl! Enjoy! (I apologize for the fact that you have to turn your head to see some of them).

Our Month So Far

2015 has been busy already for the Wilcox household. We started out the year with Terry and Anah visiting from Austin with their boys. They made us the last stop before moving to Utah. We had a lot of fun going swimming, playing at the park, and opening more presents. Ashton really enjoyed having cousins to play with again and will miss that.

We finally finished our entertainment center. We like it a lot. We kept looking for one with doors at furniture stores. But with people having huge TVs now, they don't make many with doors. So we built one as having doors was very important to me.

Ashton had her 15-month check up with the doctor. She is healthy and happy. She weighed 23 pounds and is 32 inches long. When I was her age, I weighed the same but was two inches shorter. Ashton continues to be pretty tall. Her first set of molars are almost in. I'm excited that she now has more teeth in her mouth than are left to come in. We're over half way with stupid teething!

It melts my heart that Ashton loves reading so much. This is her reading to herself at the library. She loves visiting the library every week.

Then on the 9th, Joseph and Ashton flew to Utah for his sister's wedding. Initially the plan was for him to go by himself but as time passed, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Ashton flies for free. Joseph nicely offered to take her and I quickly took him up on it. Their flight left at 6:30 so we were up at 3:30am. Ashton actually woke up first. How nice of her! Stupid teeth/cold/sleep problems/whatever else can possibly cause a toddler to not want to sleep!

Snow for the first time.

Some cousins at the wedding

Loved eating Joseph's cheesecake

Playing with Whitey the cat

Airplane entertainment

I looked forward to five days with a house to myself but by 4pm on Friday, I was missing my baby girl (and Joseph of course) more than I thought. The longest I've been away from Ashton is about seven hours when I went to Houston for a day. This trip definitely helped me prepare for future trips we're planning (aka Spain!) where I'll be away from Ashton.

I planned a baby shower the Saturday that Joseph and Ashton were out of town. It was fun to decorate and it gave me the excuse to actually clean the house as opposed to picking up only the visible crumbs. I also dusted. I think that's the first time since we moved into our house that I have done that. The theme was Noah's Ark "two by two" as my friend is having twins.

The rest of the weekend was spent sleeping, working on crafts, and organizing some things around the house.

I went to pick them up from the airport and got a gate pass. That way, I could go through security and meet them at the gate. Ashton ran right to me and never let go. She laid her head on my shoulder and was so quiet and still. It was pretty cute and a nice feeling to know I was missed.

The rest of the month will continue to be busy. Stay tuned for more exciting events!