Wisconsin

Short summary of our trip: Ashton loved it. It was cold.

Long summary of our trip:

Ashton did great on the flights up to Wisconsin. Best flights ever! She took about two minutes to warm up to Grandma and Grandpa. She loves them so much and would become very sad when they left for work most mornings.

Ashton quickly learned that to delay bedtime, all she had to do was ask Papa to read to her.

While we were there, my grandma (Ashton's great-grandma) fell and ended up in the hospital and rehab. We were happy to be there to help out and visit often. Ashton loved Great-Grandma so much.

We went to the local art museum on their toddler day. Ashton enjoyed painting and doing crafts. I think it was a little too much activity for her as she just wandered around for a lot of it.

The crown she made

Painting at the museum. She refused to wear the art smock they had.

Blurry but she was excited to wear her crown.

I got a short term YMCA membership so I could drop Ashton off at their drop-in daycare and work out. We do the same thing back home and I love that time. Ashton warmed up pretty quickly to the staff and enjoyed going. I did laugh every time I picked her up as she was always playing with a toy that we have at home. That girl knows what she loves.

Ashton continued to build her friendship with Molly, the Dog. She learned how to feed Molly any of her own snacks. She especially liked following Molly around and trying to give her hugs.

They would sit together and look for squirrels.

Looking at the deer in the backyard.

My sister came to visit both weekends, which was very nice of her! Ashton quickly attached herself to Trescha. I'm pretty sure Ashton loves her more than me. Trescha had a lot of energy for Ashton and Ashton just took it all.

Playing with "makeup"

Ashton was thoroughly spoiled throughout the trip. Because we couldn't play outside like we do at home, she got to watch a lot of "Daniel." She loved that. We only played in the snow once but any time we walked outside, Ashton would start yelling, "Snow, Snow!" She liked eating it too. And any time she let out a whimper indicating she was bored, she had every person jump up to entertain her. I'm happy she will have happy memories of Wisconsin as she gets older. 

Sorry it is upside down...

We went out to eat a lot. This was always hit or miss with Ashton. One night, she could be a perfect angel and the next day at lunch, be a complete nightmare. I think I convinced my cousin to never have kids as Ashton was a terror when we met up with her.

At one place, my sister decided to ask Ashton, "where is your head?"? Her hands were full of food. Her hair was so crusty and gross. Thanks Trescha!

Our flights back were okay. I think I was out of patience and energy to entertain a hyper, strong-willed 17 month old. Plus Ashton got a cold the last few days in Wisconsin so she was sick and tired. Our flight from Chicago to Houston boarded on time but then we left 1.5 hours after boarding. So by the time we were taking off, Ashton and I had played with all her toys. It was a long 2.5 hour flight. She didn't go to sleep until we got home around 10pm. But at least we were home with Dad.

We won't be back until late summer and I can't believe Ashton will be almost two by then! Yikes!

Snow Time

Once again, we traveled to Wisconsin. Initially, I planned the trip to be shortly after my dad's surgery in case extra help was needed.  I temporarily forgot how cold it gets in Wisconsin in February. The surgery went fine so no help was necessary. Instead, we enjoyed the great indoors of Wausau.

But for a few moments today, I took Ashton outside. She liked it. It was cold. The weather app said 7 degrees. The sun was shining so it felt a little better. But it was still cold.

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!

Christmas 2014

We had a wonderful little Christmas in Lake Jackson this year. It is always hard to be away from our families during the holidays but it is also nice to have our own family traditions.

We started some traditions over the past few years of being together but this was the first year we actually could do them all. With the Alabama/Mississippi/Florida trip in December, it set a lot of planning back so I barely got up Christmas decor. To make up for it, we're leaving it up for several more weeks. Actually, that's just my excuse to not have to take down the Christmas lights.

Christmas Eve, we did a simple dinner with bread and salad. We did this to remember the simplicity that surrounded the birth of Jesus Christ. It was nice not to worry about making a larger, more time-consuming meal. We also opened new Christmas pajamas. It was a fun night with Ashton as she loved unwrapping presents.

Christmas morning started with Ashton waking up at 7am. We're always hopeful she'll sleep in one of these days. Well, Christmas Day was not that day. Oh well. Maybe next year. Ashton enjoyed opening presents but got pretty bored towards the end. She just wanted to play with her toys instead of open more of them. Here are some things she got:

One of her stocking gifts was full-strength apple juice. Typically, we dilute her juice with a LOT of water. She loved her juice!

My anniversary/Christmas/we've waited long enough gift! Joseph surprised me big time with it.

Her main focus was getting every piece of wrapping paper off.

Very excited to have her own baby doll. She puts it in her small stroller and pushes it around.

Her fancy New Balance running shoes from my brother.

I finally finished this pillow lounger. Ashton wasn't too impressed but I love it.

A talking picnic basket. She liked it until we got sick of pushing the buttons for it.

She also got the start of her college savings account. We're pretty boring parents as we thought that was an awesome gift. Overall, she loved her presents.

After presents and yummy cinnamon rolls, we went to the neighborhood park to burn off some energy. That evening, we had some friends over for dinner and playtime with Ashton and her (boy)friend, Will.