HALLOWEEN

It's a little late to be blogging about Halloween, but I'm behind on blogging anyway so why not keep a tradition going? :)

This year we had a great Halloween! We started off the Halloween season visiting the pumpkin patch. Ashlyn loved seeing all the pumpkins and Bret loved showing her around. A couple weeks later Bret, Ashlyn, and I carved pumpkins, went trunk-or-treating at our ward party, trick-or-treating at Midwestern, and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
Ashlyn made quite a steal with all the candy she got! I should probably mention she shares it quite well too. At first she couldn't figure out why the candy was going into her bucket instead of her hands, but she quickly learned she'd get a lot more if she kept it in the bucket.

Our Cute Little Lady Bug

TRICK-or-TREAT

She's so excited Can't you tell?!

TRUNK-or-TREAT

This is Ashlyn's classic face when taking pictures. She hates pictures!

When we do get an "on purpose" smile it usually looks like this.

Fun Night of Carving Pumpkins

Really, do I have to wear these Mom?

The Pumpkin Patch

They Grow Too Fast!

It's January 29th, which means in a few more days Ashlyn will be 10 months old. I can't believe it.



Babies are so smart and are so interested in learning new things. I knew babies developed quickly, but now that I have my own child it's amazing to see how much they really do learn in such a short amount of time.

In the past 10 months Ashlyn has gone from doing nothing, to scooting with their head, to crawling, to walking (see video below). She's finally talking a little bit saying "buh bye" and "hi." She'll say "ba" for her bottle sometimes. We're still working on her saying mama and dada in the right context. But it's amazing to me what these little babies can learn to do in such a short amount of time. She loves figuring things out. She gives nice slobbery kisses and loves soft things. If she finds somethings soft, she cuddles and smothers it to death. Right now she's not much into reading. We try to read to her and she throws the book on the floor. It's kind of funny. Maybe we should read to her more so she gets used to it. Isn't it amazing that they already know what they want and don't want this young?

Ashlyn is also in a copying phase now days. She likes to copy the actions and sounds we make. She's also learning that for every action there is a reaction. Let's just say she enjoys her toys that turn on and off a lot more now than she used to.

As far as her personality she's so sweet but so opinionated. She also loves to be around people and isn't afraid of strangers. She cares less if Bret and I are around. She's just fine playing and being on her own. She is so independent and determined. If she has her sight set on something you better believe she's going to figure out how to get it. I hope we can steer her determination in a positive way.



Ashlyn Walking

It's Just Ashlyn

Ashlyn is 7 months now and is growing up so fast! She is developing quite the personality, and I can't describe it other than "It's Just Ashlyn."

She's learned how to crawl and is now all over the place. But it's not with her hands and feet. It's with her head and feet. We call it her "carpet burn crawl." For some reason she's decided she can get around faster doing it that way. The amazing thing is she knows exactly how far she needs to go before running into the item she's after (like the computer in the first video). She does know how to crawl normally, which is in the second video, but her crawling specialty is with her head and feet.

Carpet Burn:


Crawiling

4 Months

Here are some pictures of Ashlyn at 4 months.

3 1/2 MONTHS

(I wrote this last month and just never posted it, so it's a little late but I'm posting it now.)

Ashlyn is 3 1/2 months old and has grown up so much! She's a lot more interactive. I'm loving it!

She's alert, smiles, rolls over, grabs things, sleeps through the night, and she's growing out of all her clothes. She’s mesmerized by lights, especially the computer and television. We make sure to mix in a few books here and there so she doesn’t get too addicted to the TV. It's bittersweet that she's growing up.

Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

Over the span of Ashlyn's 3 months alive we've been to Utah twice. She's been on an airplane more than I had by age 22. Lucky her!! She's been sick twice as well, once with the flu that lasted only a day and now she has a cold. She's been a good sport through it all, but apparently I need to a better job of keeping the germs away.

Ashlyn loves her bath. She will spend as long as she can splashing in the water. She looks like a jelly fish as she splashes around and her long hair wades back and forth in the waterJ She also enjoys swimming. We haven't been much, but when we do go it calms her right down and she likes being in the water.

Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

These pictures are from the last 3 1/2 months. It amazes me how much she's changed.Overall she's a great baby and extremely easy to please when she is upset. Bret and I are really lucky!!

Welcome Home Ashlyn

It's been over a month since Ashlyn was born, and it's finally time to update the blog before too much more time goes by. These pictures are of Ashlyn coming home. She arrived home Sunday, April 4, 2010.

One of Ashlyn's final days in the hospital

Her first car seat experience

The final steps to Ashlyn's arrival

Ashlyn's first surprise (a welcome home poster) from a cute neighbor boy. Ashyn and Zane sitting in a tree..(:

Since Ashlyn was our Easter gift we couldn't help but put her into our Easter Basket

We're so blessed to have her in our life!

This is going to be a long post, so if you're interested in the pictures...they will be at the bottom. The text is mostly for me so I remember what happened.

Ashlyn Kaye Groneman finally joined our family April 1, 2010. It's no joke - she was born on her due date. Just about everyone who knows me well knows I love April Fool's day, but this year Ashlyn played the joke on me. It took 4 days for her to arrive. But it was worth it and we're so blessed to have received this miracle in our lives.

Labor:
Monday, March 29th I had my doctors appointment. He had me get an ultrasound and the baby was measuring big at 8 lbs. 7 oz. He told me there was a spot open at the hospital, and I could get induced that night if I wanted.

I was hesitant because I wanted things to happen naturally - even if I did go a week over. But the doctor said everything was developed and the baby would only keep getting bigger. This scared Bret and I so we decided induction would be the best way to go. This was completely unexpected and there was so much to do before I went in. I had to finalize things at work, so I went in until 3 to finish things up. Then I came home and Bret and I got things ready to go. At 7 :00 pm we were called in to the hospital. We were so excited to be on our way to have our little girl. I got to the hospital and they started the induction process around 10 pm. A few hours later I started feeling contractions every 2-3 minutes, but I wasn't progressing at all. The nurse and doctor explained that the baby was contracting, but it was like she was banging into a rock. So, around 1:30 pm on Tuesday I was sent home. I had no idea you could be sent home from an induction. Needless to say Bret and I were pretty dissapointed and exhausted from that night.The doctor made an appointment for us to come back Wednesday night between 7 pm and 5am Thursday morning. But I was called in earlier than I thought at 4:30 pm Wednesday. I headed to the hospital for round 2. They started me around 6 pm, and a few hours later I was contracting every 2-3 minutes again. They were big contractions, and I was finally progressing very slowly. Around 4:30 am they gave me an epidural and started giving me the pitocin. I am so grateful for the epidural invention. I don't know if I would've surived without it. My contractions were so much better!

Around 7 :30 am the doctor came in and broke my water, and By that afternnoon I was feeling pain in my back so the anesthesiologist gave me more medicine, and it helped a little, but not entirely. I was finally dialated to a 7 according to the nurse, and then I started feeling really sick and threw up. This apparently made the baby's heartbeat go crazy so the nurse had to stop the pitocin for a few hours to get the baby's heartbeat back to normal. Luckily it worked and we were both okay. The nurse said that episode I had finally dialated me to an 8. I was very happy to hear that since I had been there 24 hours already. Soon after the nurse told me that, the doctor came in and said I was only dialated to 5, maybe 6. This made no sense, and I was once again dissapointed I hadn't progressed much - in fact I degressed. (I soon learned nurses are more optimistc and try to keep the patient calm, while the doctors are more straight forward.) Around 5 pm I started on the potossin again and the contractions started heavily again, but thanks to the epidural I only felt back pain. When the doctor came back in to check on me around 8:30 pm I was still only dialated to 5, maybe 6 so he suggested doing a c-section, and we could have our baby within the next 45 minutes. He explained because of all the contractions my muscles were getting weaker and weaker, and the baby was getting beat up. He said the main concern is for us to get the baby out healthy and to keep me healthy. I was already running a fever so we decided to do it. We were ready for our little girl to come, and I couldn't handle the pain anymore.

Within the next half hour the Anesthesiologist came in and numbed me from my chest down. I don't remember much after that. All I know is soon I was wheeled into the operating room where they were going to deliver ou baby. Like I said I don't remember much, I just remember that about 5 minutes after they started my surgery a miracle occured and we had a little girl. So amazing!

After all was said and done, we found out it was a good thing we had the c-section because the baby wasn't decending. She was stuck on my sacrum (the butt bone) and not decending. I most likely would've had to have a c-section anyway. (No wonder my back was hurting so bad (: )

Like I said the joke was on me since it took 4 days - until April 1st - for this baby to come. But, it was all worth it!! We're lucky to have such a healthy, cute little girl.

Choosing a Name
Throughout my pregnancy we were always asked, "what are you going to name her" and we honestly didn't know. We had some ideas, but we knew once we saw her we'd know what to name her. This didn't really happen, but we were able to narrow it down to a couple names. The final 2 in the running were "Camryn" and "Ashlyn." We were totally set on Camryn but to make a long story short the pediatrician basically changed our minds and we went with the name we had all along - Ashlyn. I didn't think so at first, but that name definitely fits her now. :)

Ashlyn Kaye Groneman
What a blessing in our lives! She is the cutest little thing and we love being with her. She's super girly and cuddly. She's always crossing her little legs and holding her hands up to her face. I think that's how she sat in my stomach. Also, I rarely felt her move in stomach, and now I know why...she is perfectly content sitting without moving. I know all of this will change soon, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts. We love dressing her up and playing around with her hair. It's so long we could make a very little pony tail. She's absolutely perfect! Below are some pictures of her at the hospital and when we're coming home.


At the Hospital



Bret Scrubbed Up

Our Little Angel