Vacation 2014: Alabama

When I found out my graduation was in December, we decided to make the trek out to Mississippi for it. While we were at it, we thought we'd stop in Alabama to see Joseph's grandparents. He hasn't seen them since he was about 15. He even has an 11 year old cousin that he'd never met. That astounded me! The whole trip sounded like a great plan before Ashton decided to hate the car. But we made it!

We left Friday morning around 8am and got into Joseph's grandma's house at 7pm. Between the massive amount of toys and activities I made for Ashton and the DVD player we borrowed, we made it with only a few meltdowns. Our first stop was after an hour and a half into the trip and I thought, "This will take forever." But after that, she seemed to do a little bit better.

We drove into town at night so we didn't really know what we were passing by as we drove around. Saturday morning, we took Ashton to a park and got to see some more of the town. Brewton is an old town and has really cool plantation-looking homes. I would love to tour some of them just for the history behind them.

Saturday, Joseph's uncles came for lunch and brought their dog. Ashton loved playing with the dog. We went to a few more parks, went on walks, enjoyed some college football, and explored the big house.

Sunday, Joseph's aunt, uncle, and cousins came for lunch. After that visit, we drove to see his other grandmother in Castleberry. Ashton and I met Grandma Wilcox and also Joseph's uncles and cousins. One of the cousins has a little girl who is a few months younger than Ashton so it was fun to see them together.

Here are the pictures of this segment of our vacation.

Playing in the loft at Great-Grandma Tew's house

Reading books with great-aunt Eva

At a local park

Great-Grandma Wilcox

Thanksgiving 2014

This year for Thanksgiving, we had Joseph's brothers come visit. Our house was pretty full with four little kids and six adults. We got to meet our niece for the first time, which was fun. Ashton is no longer the youngest girl in the family. Everyone arrived Wednesday so we could get an early start to cooking on Thursday. I cooked a turkey for the first time and was pretty happy with the results. We played at the park in the morning and ate lots of food that day.

I was really excited about the braided bread that I made.

Friday, we followed tradition by going to the beach. We love that we live so close even when it's cold out. The boys had fun playing in the waves despite the cold water. All the cousins enjoyed some quality sand castle time. It was fun to go together. I forgot how much Ashton loves the beach and wish I would have taken her more often during the summer.

Saturday we went swimming at the rec center in town and played outside a bunch. With three of the four kids on nap schedules, it was hectic trying to find a time where everyone could go together. But we made it work. Ashton learned some new tricks from her cousin, Oliver. She now stands by the front door when she wants to go outside. And she goes right to her highchair when she's hungry. It's helpful.

All in all, we had a great Thanksgiving with family.

Be Careful What You Pray For

Last night, Joseph and I discussed our upcoming road trip. I was very overwhelmed and stressed as I pondered how we would survive a nine hour road trip with Ashton. Just to give you an idea of how much she hates the car, she cries on the way to Wal-mart. That ride takes about 8 minutes. So we're in trouble! After Joseph went to bed, I laid awake thinking about the whole situation. There was no way I was cancelling the trip as we had many plans to see family plus walk at my graduation. So I turned to the scriptures, talks from General Conference and a lot of prayer. My main prayer was to have the patience and strength to survive the day of driving.

Well, be careful what you pray for. I think God had a good laugh about my prayer and then gave me "today." I offered to babysit for a family in the ward as the mom had a doctor appointment in Houston. They live across the street. We went over there around lunch time and we were doing great. It was three girls, including Ashton, all under four. But we were smooth sailing. Naps went well. Life was good. Then 3pm rolled around and school got out for the older girls in the family. Normally, the girls just walk home since we live about two blocks from the school. However, this school is very strict about walking home when it's raining. Because there had been maybe three sprinkles of rain fall, the school decided that kids could not walk home. The school called me a little after three asking if I could come and get them. I explained that I did not have a vehicle big enough to fit all the kids. I asked if they could walk home and I would meet them at the corner. The school said, "Okay, I'll see if there are other kids walking and have them walk with them." Great, wonderful. So I stayed home with the kids and played some more. About 25 minutes later, the girls still aren't home so I get a little nervous and call the school again. "Oh, we thought you were coming to get them. They're still here!" was their response. I felt terrible as I know how scary it can feel being stuck at school and not knowing who is coming.

So picture this: Me walking down the street, holding Ashton, and encouraging a two and three year old to walk. I stop at my house thinking I would grab our stroller for one kid and our push car for the two-year-old. Well the oldest child wants to ride Ashton's tricycle. So now imagine this: Me pushing a stroller and a push car side by side and encouraging a three year old to ride a very small tricycle down the street. We were quite the scene. One lady stopped and asked if I needed help. I thought back to the story at conference where the lady gets on the bus with seven kids and the driver asks, "Are these all your's or are you going on a picnic?" No, the kids were not all mine and we were on no picnic! After a few meltdowns, we made it to the school, got the girls, and made the trek back.

When I got home, I felt like I had lost the fight. I felt very discouraged. And then I thought back to my prayers and how Heavenly Father had given me the patience and strength to get through the dilemma. I didn't lose my cool and I didn't toss in the towel. I feel it was God's way of letting me know that He still listens to my prayers, maybe a little too carefully. I feel better prepared to handle a road trip but we'll see what happens.

Sick November

Wondering what we've been up to this month?

Being sick. That's it. Joseph's parents came to visit and Ashton kindly shared her stomach flu germs with the entire house. She was feeling fine but everyone else was sick. We didn't do much except eat crackers and sip Sprite.

Once we recovered from that weekend, Ashton decided to get a new tooth or two. Teething for Ashton is a big deal. She definitely is not the kid who just wakes up one morning with another tooth and it doesn't phase them. The whole world must know when Ashton is getting a tooth. I look forward to when she has them all!

Once the tooth broke through, I thought we were good to go. I had my happy Ashton back. But not for long. She came down with a bad cold/cough a few days later. She didn't sleep at all at night unless she was upright. After a very long weekend, I took her in to the doctor Monday morning. They said she had an ear infection and pneumonia so prescribed antibiotics and breathing treatments. We started the medicine right away. Of course the antibiotics gave her a yeast infection AGAIN! That's fun. After three days of all the medicines, she still wasn't doing well. She could not sleep for more than an hour or two without screaming. I called the doctor again and they instructed me to have more tests done. So we did a chest x-ray, drew blood, and checked for the flu. The results came back and turns out her pneumonia is viral instead of bacterial so we just need to let it run its course. FUN!

I think we're on the upswing of things as she slept in her crib all night last night for the first time in a week. She only woke up once for about 45 minutes. That's a big improvement. We host Thanksgiving next week so I'm hoping all the sickness is behind us.

Here are some pictures of how we spent the days being sick.

Cleaning out the car was overdue so Ashton helped.

We were so tired to being cooped up in the house. It wasn't too cold out so I figured we could play a little at the park. I love her expression in this picture.

In the bathtub, with clothes on. She loves climbing in there to play.

I let her do whatever in our bathroom as long as I could lay in bed a little longer. And we stayed in our pajamas a lot!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken amidst all the illness at our house this month. We planned to go to the beach but then the freezing weather came. So we took some at our house. We plan to go to the beach after the holidays and when the weather goes back to normal.

Here are some pictures of the family.

Ashton tried her best to be happy but it was hard with her being so sick. But at least we got a few good ones.

The Language of Ashton

Recently, Ashton began saying a few words. From her vocabulary, you can tell what we say the most around her. Here are some examples:

- "No." This often comes when I say, "night-night." This is almost always followed by crying and walking out of her bedroom. I use this word a lot during the day. For example, Ashton just discovered that toilet paper rolls unroll. I used "No" several times.

- "Shoe" She hates wearing shoes and socks. She'll wear them outside if we're playing but the minute we go inside, she sits down and repeatedly says, "shoe." It sounds more like "shi" but close enough.

- "That" This sounds more like "Dat." Any time she is pointing at something she wants, she often says, "Dat."

- "Sit" Ashton despises sitting in her stroller, the shopping cart, her car seat, etc. So I say "sit" A LOT! Now she does too. The only thing is, when she says it, she doesn't sit.

- "Dog" Since returning from Wisconsin, Ashton can spot a dog a mile away. Okay, not really but pretty close. The other day, a neighbor walked their dog by our house. Ashton and I were playing outside and once Ashton saw the dog, she kept following it down the street. She was determined to follow it home.

- "Amen" This sounds more like "meh" but she only says it after we say Amen when we say prayers. It's pretty cute.

She still continues to yell, "Da Da Da" when she is happy and content. When she's mad, it is always "Ma Ma Ma."

She loves talking to herself. When she is playing by herself, she will often be narrating her playtime. It's fun to listen and try to think of the stories she's telling herself. It's fun to see her learning and understanding more and more.

Halloween Texas Style

The longer we live in Texas, we realize more and more that we were not raised as Texans. I'm pretty sure everyone on our street knows that now since we put our carved pumpkin out too early. And by too early, I mean before October 30th.

Having grown up in the cold states of Alaska and Wisconsin, putting pumpkins out a week or two before Halloween was fine. Not in Texas. After about 36 hours of being outside, our poor little pumpkin was just that... poor and little. It decayed rather quickly. Now we know, after talking to fellow moms at play group, to wait until the night before or even the day of Halloween to put our pumpkins out. How sad!

The other element of Halloween for Joseph and I growing up was to bundle up in costumes. Often, our costumes were required to fit over snow boots, snow pants, a big, puffy jacket, mittens, etc. So when I made Ashton's costume, I wasn't the least bit concerned about using a long-sleeve shirt and a winter hat. It didn't dawn on me that it would be about 70 degrees when we went trick or treating. She wore it for a while and then got too warm so lost the hat. I'll do better next year at planning cooler costumes.

Ashton enjoyed trying to eat her Halloween candy through the wrapper. We enjoyed sitting with friends at the church's trunk or treat night. We got rid of all of our candy, which is great! I didn't really want it sitting around our house.