Ashley's first trip to the zoo!

I was getting stir-crazy since I have been home bound a couple weeks before my due date, I was SO ready for a trip to Portland and Lacy has been dying to go to the zoo and simply...go to Mammie and Papa's house! So, since my mom was in town over the 4th, I decided to head that direction Sunday after church. Having help to get packed was nice:) Another great reason, was my mom had Monday and then got Tuesday off as well. Ashley did pretty well on the way TO Portland. The trip home was an absolute NIGHTMARE. Which included a last minute ATM run on the way out of town where it did not give me my money and CHARGED me for it! (it's been fixed) But, it was all worth it and the zoo trip and time with my parents was great. Ashley of course did not see much of the zoo, but was so good for our fun day. Then, Lacy enjoyed all the fun that comes with staying at Mammie and Papa's house! Now a week later, I'll be honest. The girls' bag is still not completely unpacked. Haha!

Mommy loved the little shoes. Not so much the VERY purple face. People did stare. If they didn't ask, I didn't offer!

Getting to know her Mammie

Wouldn't you know, Lacy who used to be TERRIFIED of dogs, LOVED the nippy goats(who I am pushing away from my coat it kept chewing on!)

Lacy informed me, that the goats were her friends and she was not shy to give the goats big hugs. With all the hugging her navy shirt was almost white with goat hair when she left!

Lacy's favorite place at Mammie's and Papa's...the sandbox. I could not believe the destruction one 2 yr old coming inside from sandbox play could do to a house! But, the fun was worth the clean up. Well, maybe I am not the one to say that since I did not have to do the cleaning! Thanks mom for being so good about the mess we bring!

Mammie and Papa have all sorts of berries in their garden...yum!

The little purple one enjoyed being outside without being blasted by wind!

HILARIOUS. Lacy found a camera and quickly started using her sissy as a model. You should have seen her walking around and backing up taking 'pictures' of her sissy. Telling everyone to say 'CHEESE' and 'Oh, that's a good one.' Eddy and I are probably going to get her a kid's digital camera for her birthday:)

Ashley is 1 month and....

SMILING!

Yes, our sweet baby is already one month old. This adorable smile was for her big sister:) She is smiling all the time and it's so exciting to see. I am hoping eddy can help me get a better photo of Ashley smiling as it is really hard to keep her smiling with a massive black item in her face distracting her:)

An update...today is our last day on the violet treatment for thrush! We went into the doctor on Wednesday and I left the violet fade over night and the doctor could not even find anything to scrape for the microscope! Thank you Lord! Ashley also weighed in at 9lbs 6oz. Putting her in the 50%. She has been doing great at night, averaging 7-8hrs, plus another 3 when mommy wakes her up for the day. Day sleep has not been the greatest, but not bad either. We'll see what happens to the nights as her day sleep improves. Despite the thrush, Ashley has never seemed to have a problem nursing, but mommy will be happy that as of tomorrow it will be a lot less messy!

We have been very busy with lots of fun and I hope to post more photos soon.

Independence Day

My mom came to our house Thursday night and so for the 4th of July parade we had extra help. Eddy always goes early to stake a shady spot not too far from our house. So, he left early and then I had my mom to help get us all ready and packed for the HOT parade. So, shade was a must with a newborn! That morning, my friend Destiny stopped by with a gift for Lacy. If you could have seen her face! Yes, it's the red, white, and blue tu-tu. Lacy scored tons of extra treats and even a stuffed animal for standing out and waving being all cute in her tu-tu. Thanks Destiny! We didn't get any photos from the cul-d-q and Lacy's love for sparklers, but had a nice time as well. Enjoy the photos(also on flickr)

We love Maria:)

Maria has the most GENEROUS, loving heart. Lacy loves her and whenever she is around, I am literally chopped liver:) I am so thankful for all they have lent us and for all the times they have watched Lacy(and even last minute!) Ashley will soon be loving her and her great family too.

Today in the pool..

Oh, how I love my girls! We spent another afternoon outside in the back. Lacy playing in the pool, Ashley sleeping and eating. I could not get enough of Lacy smiles and splashes today! Hope they make you smile too.

Grammy and 'Anna' Charissa meet Ashley!

Grammy and 'Anna'(Aunt) Charissa were able to come for about 5 days from Montana and it was such a special time. Too bad most of the time Ashley was all purple and unable to wear much of her cute outfits! Except one day when I checked to see if the thrush was better and she was able to wear a cute outfit from our friends Pete and Tina-thanks guys for the adorable tiny dress! Both Grammy and myself were in tears when grammy read just 'one more book' to Lacy before they headed home. Wonderful time, just hard to say good-bye! Print photo are on our flickr site, CLICK HERE

"Hi 'Anna Charissa'"

We went out for a picnic lunch and at the Gorge White House and after picked flowers and strawberries. Well, mommy watched in the shade while everyone else ran around. Ashley slept through the entire outing:) Lacy LOVED it as usual.













We had a great time in the backyard while our family was here. We got a new fire pit(Thanks Grammy!), Grammy bought Lacy a bigger slide, and of course lots of pool time!

You have to take a photo of big sis, if you take one of little sis:) That photo is below.

Look at those cute little feet:)

The reason we got behind....

NO, I am not feeding my newborn kool-aid! (My friend Mandy actually had someone ask her that when her son Max also was wearing a purple mouth!) Ashley is sporting the purple mouth because BOTH mommy and Ashley were dealing with a nasty case of thrush. Thrush is a yeast-based infection that was WAY painful for mommy and a little uncomfortable for Ashley. We started on prescription meds and the routine was so time consuming that I literally did not have a spare minute. I had to use an anti-fungal cream 4 times a day and SHOWER before each feed. OK, so most moms with a newborn are lucky to brush their teeth, let alone take FOUR showers every day! Ashley also needed her meds 4 times a day, but was not supposed to eat a 1/2hr after getting the meds...that was not easy!

'Seriously mom? Have you SEEN how silly I look?'

Well, the meds were not working and I was exhausted with the routine, so we went purple. And by that I mean we started using Gentian Violet. It is much easier to use, BUT, as you can see, it turns Ashley's mouth purple and also stains everything! Thankfully, I was healed after a few days and am thrilled to have pain-free nursing in the second week!(still doing fine!) But, Ashley still has a little left and hopefully in the next few days it will finally clear up.

Lacy had to get in the picture:) Wow, look how much the purple stands out!

My sweet little model

I can't tell you how many EXPLOSIONS Ashley has had. Pretty much every time she has a dirty diaper..it's a MASSIVE blowout. I will spare you the details, but it's so bad I need Eddy or even Lacy's assistance!!! These are Ashley's first and completely impromptu bath after one of her many blow-outs.

Ashley's first social outing- neighbor buddy Chaz's 3rd birthday party

Lacy's new friend. A neighborhood cat, who must be STARVED for attention to have a not-so-gentle Lacy love on it. But the cat enjoys Lacy just as much I think:)

Ashley checking out the toys while vibrating away in the bouncer

sweet, sleepy baby

more bath time and big sis Lacy was right there to watch and take part