House Updates

Over the past month we've worked on several home projects/updates.

We built two additional garden beds. The sister missionaries came over to help unload the dirt to fill them. It took several hours as we had a lot of dirt. Ashton was a big helper and Tanner and I hung out inside. Then we had a yummy lunch to thank them. Now, we can plant more blackberries as well as have a larger bed for squash and cantaloupe that like to spread out.

We bought a new dishwasher. Our's is the original one that came with the house when it was built in 2004. It started to make really loud noises every cycle. The dishes were still clean but the noise was terrible. We replaced it with a nice black one. I like it and it is very quiet. My parents helped us install it, which was great.

Then we purchased an awning for the back porch. We wanted to build a covered patio initially but then the contractor told us the concrete slab was not deep enough to handle the covered roof part. Digging up the concrete and pouring a deeper slab just about doubled the quote so it was not worth it to us. Instead, we purchased and installed an awning that retracts out when we want it. My dad helped Joseph put it up as I definitely could not have done it with two kids to watch after.

Same type but our's is green. And we don't have a nice pool next to it. Bummer.

We also bought bushes to match our other bushes in the front of our house. It bothered me that the front of our home was uneven. Bushes were only on one side and I didn't know what type of bush it was. My mom did some investigating for me and then we found the bushes at the store. Hooray! Now we need to wait a few years for them to get as big as the other side.

My parents brought a toddler bed that my uncle made for my niece many years ago. I loved it and begged my parents to bring it for Ashton's new bed. We put it together and Ashton loves it. She still sleeps in her crib for now but enjoys playing around on it.

Now we can add more house projects to our list since we got so much done this month! It helps having parents in town. If only we could have them all year long.

Tanner is 2 months!

Weight: 13.5 pounds

Height: 23.5 inches
A pound more than Ashton and an inch taller than she was. 80-90 percentile on everything. Another tall kid in our future I think.

Clothing Size: 0-3 month and size 1 diapers still. Ashton was this way too. She seemed to wear diapers past the weight limit on them. 3-6 month clothing will probably come out in the next week or two...

Daily Schedule: Tanner is somewhat on a predictable schedule. He wakes up between 7 and 8. Then he cat naps all morning as we're out and about. He'll nap in my baby carrier when I walk at the gym thankfully every morning. Then we get home around lunch time and he almost always takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon to catch up. Then he'll take a little cat nap around 5. After that nap, he's up until bedtime around 7:30. Then he wakes up once, sometimes twice a night to eat for five minutes and then back to sleep right away. I'm pretty fortunate so far in the sleep department.

Special Outings: Baby blessing, zoo, and crocodile encounter

Firsts: First social smile and I caught it on camera! First Leap Day, First trip to Chick-Fil-A, first time rolling over from stomach to back, first time meeting my parents

Sibling love: Tanner will almost always smile and laugh when Ashton is near him laughing too. I think the newness of Tanner is fading with Ashton. But every now and then, Ashton gets excited about playing with Tanner. She loves to sit next to him if I'm taking pictures.


Monthly Pictures:

Did not like Molly! This is from his blessing. Another post to come on that.

I love sleeping babies.

First smile

And now he never stops smiling.

Does pretty well in the seat

Gardening with Mom and Dad

2 months already! Yikes!

What the next month should bring: First Easter

2.5 years old

Ashton is now 2.5 years old (I guess technically tomorrow is her half birthday). I thought I would just do yearly posts once each kid turned two but so much has changed in six months. Our girl continues to be full of energy and personality. Often, I think her body is too small to handle all she has in her. She keeps up on our toes and there is rarely a dull moment with this girl. We love her, independence and all. Here are some fun things about Ashton.

- She wants to go to a costume party all the time. This stems from Daniel Tiger and Halloween. Often, her costume is putting on a tutu and a tiger ear headband.

- Ashton is becoming a little "mommy" by telling us to stop doing whatever we're doing, trying to feed Tanner a plastic bottle, etc.

- Told me the other day that she plans to ride a motorcycle to the beach

- Thinks the clouds in the sky are elephants

- Also, she says thunder is bears growling in the sky.

- Excited to start preschool in the fall. When we went to the open house, she thought she would go back the next day. It will be a long summer until she gets to go.

- Very talkative. She is ALWAYS talking. Right now, we're working on using an inside voice. It's not going too well.

- Ashton will say, "It's a little freezy outside." Mind you, it's 70 degrees out.

- Draws circles and lines. She does get frustrated if you ask her to draw a house and she can't do it. Ashton reminds me of myself. I think she will be a high achiever in school but will be stressed when things don't go according to her plan.

- Does everything on her own that she can possibly do- buckle her car seat, put on shoes, get dressed, twist the top of her sippy cup on, etc. Independence runs deep in this child.

- Gets scared while watching a Halloween show like Curious George Halloween or the Little Einsteins Halloween one.

- You must read EVERY page in a book. Title page, author page, copyright page, etc. included. She knows if you skip a page.

- "Last night." Anything that she did prior to that moment happened "last night." She fell one day and immediately told someone that she fell last night.


- Is in love with her schedule clock. She asks it nicely to go to the color she wants at that moment.

Here is her typical schedule. I found myself looking back at her schedule for Tanner lately so I figured I would write it down in case I want it in future years.

6:15-7am Wake up. We are a morning family. I'm grateful for this as it will make the school years slightly easier when we have to wake up and get ready for school. Tanner seems to follow suit so far by getting up about 7am so that makes it easier.
7-8am Eat breakfast and watch a show. Say goodbye to Daddy.
Morning: We go to the recreation center together and she plays in the daycare while I walk with Tanner in the gym.
Then we go to playgroup, library time, grocery shopping, etc.
12-1 Lunch and watch a show
1-4 Naptime! She typically naps 2-3 hours. After all the months of fighting with naps, she finally sleeps!
4-5 Wake up, snack, wait for Daddy to come home
Evening: Play with Dad. She loves jumping on the bed with him. They have a bunch of little games that only they play together. It's really cute and I love the few minutes I have to make dinner or give more attention to Tanner.
7:45 Bath-time
8:30 In bed. She is typically asleep by 8:45 or 9. She still sleeps in her crib. We are in no rush to transition her. I am fairly confident she will no longer nap once she moves to a big bed. And she loves her crib so if it's not broken, don't mess with it!

She's a delight to raise as our daughter. As I said, we definitely have to be creative with her as far as consequences and limits. As most toddlers do, she likes to see exactly how far she can push her limits without getting into trouble. We love her and look forward to most of the years ahead of us. I don't look forward to her teenage years. I can tell those will be hard.

She climbed in here and then couldn't get back out. I was busy feeding Tanner so natural consequence was she had to stay in here until I finished. She was unhappy to say the least.

Every trip to HEB includes her looking for candy in the dispensers. Every now and then, she gets lucky.

Gardening with Daddy

Bad picture but they're both looking.

A trip to the lawn mower store (aka Home Depot)

How I found Tanner one day when we were ready to go to church.

Her schedule clock.

Home Depot Workshop

Last Saturday, Ashton and I went to Home Depot to look at dishwashers. We needed a new one and I wanted to see them in person before picking one. The appliance man was busy so another employee told us to try out the free workshop for kids that was taking place that day. I've known about these for a while but the age range starts at 5. I figured we'd take Ashton when she was older. I went down there and Ashton loved it. We built a small wagon. Ashton loves tools and doing things just like Joseph does at home. Anytime a tool is out, Ashton must have a turn to try it. This was a great time for her and I am sure we will be back every month now.

Camp Fire

A few weeks ago, our ward had a campout and then a lunch BBQ the following day as their activity. We are far from taking Ashton camping but Joseph and her went out for the campfire. Joseph talked the campfire up a lot. Ashton was very excited to roast hot dogs and make s'mores. They had a blast and she came home all dirty (my favorite sign that she had fun) and with marshmallow all over her face. Maybe one day, we'll actually go camping in a tent... Maybe.

The Toilet Saga

A few nights after Tanner was born, the toilet in our master bath kept running. It kept me up one night, which is never a good thing when you have a newborn in the house. The next morning, I told Joseph to fix it quickly as I did not want to lose more sleep from a toilet.

He listened and investigated the toilet situation. It needed a new flapper.

Trip #1 to Home Depot: Joseph and Ashton came home with a new flapper and he set out to fix it. Well, the flapper wasn't the broken piece.

Trip #2 to Home Depot to buy the piece that is actually broken. To fix that piece, you need a big wrench that we don't have.

Trip #3 to Home Depot to buy a wrench. Wrench was bought and he set out to fix it again. He tightened the bolt too tight and cracked the tank.

Trip #4 to Home Depot was to purchase a special adhesive/glue to seal the crack. After doing some research online, he decided the crack was too large/on both sides so glue wouldn't work. Decided to buy a new tank at the store.

Trip #5 to Home Depot: Looking for a tank. They don't have one. So he returns home and purchases one online to be shipped to our house.

Tank arrives and he takes it out of the box. One look at it and he thinks it's too big for our toilet. So the tank won't work and will need to be returned to the store.

Trip #6 to Home Depot: The plan was to buy a different tank or an entire new toilet. He comes home empty handed. I was not pleased. Apparently, he decided that maybe the tank he ordered will fit so tries it.

Trip #7: Tries the tank and it definitely does not fit. One more trip to Home Depot to see if they have a different type of glue that will work. Nope!

Trip #8: Ordered a toilet and had to drive an hour to pick it up since our Home Depot doesn't carry it. Ashton and Joseph had a great drive and bonding time going together. I took a nap at home. This whole process took over three weeks. Three weeks without a toilet in our master bath.

Moral of the story: Don't ask your husband to fix a toilet.

Tanner at One Month

I enjoyed doing the monthly posts with Ashton so I figured I'd continue them with Tanner. Plus this way, I'll have information to update his baby book when I have spare time (in ten years).

Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz at birth. Dropped to 7 lbs 14 oz when we left the hospital. At 2 weeks, he weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. At one month, he weighs about 9 1/2 pounds.

Height: 20 inches at birth, 21 inches at 2 weeks, 21.5 at one month

Clothing Size: I just moved him to 0-3 month the other day because I didn't have enough pants in newborn and I'm not about to buy some. The clothes are pretty big on him but at least we'll get more use out of them.

Daily Schedule: I never recall Ashton being on a schedule/routine. Tanner pretty much created a fairly predictable schedule. He wakes up around 7am. He almost always takes a long afternoon nap from 1 to 4, which works out great as it is during Ashton's nap too. He goes to bed about 7/8 and wakes up twice at night (around 12/1 and 4:30). He's great about eating every 3 hours or so during the day, which I appreciate.

Total diapers we change daily: Too many in my opinion. Good thing we haven't started cloth diapers yet or I'd be doing laundry every day.

Total outfits we go through daily: He doesn't have too many blowouts actually. This is quite a change from Ashton at this age. Sometimes he wears the same outfit from the day before it's not dirty and I don't feel like changing him just for the sake of changing him. Sorry kid.


Special Outings: Lots of places... play group, lunch at Joseph's work, church, library time

Firsts: First bath, first Dr. Ashton examination complete with flashlight in his eyes, first princess sticker, first bottle, first cold courtesy of his big sister, first trip to the beach

Sibling love: Ashton did pretty good when we first brought Tanner home but he slept a lot. The last week has been a little harder for her as he's waking up and becoming more alert. I think this also has to do with Joseph going to back to work more (he still stays home a few half days a week) and the fact that Tanner needs a little more help to fall asleep. If I have Tanner with me when she wakes up from her nap, she demands that I use two hands to pick her up out of her crib. One hand will not suffice anymore. Ashton is very sweet to him at times. She reads a bedtime story to him every time he takes a nap at home and then sings to him in the car when he's crying.

Overall, Tanner is a very alert baby. I hear that from everyone who sees him. He loves to look around and take everything in. I recall people saying that Ashton was very alert too at a young age.


Monthly Pictures:

How tummy time goes typically.

I love sleeping babies.

 

Monthly Video: I tried to get an interesting video but let's be honest, not much happens with a one month old. So you'll have to wait for a video next month.

What the next month should bring: My parents come visit, more fun outings with the family