Ashlyn @ 2 Months

Two Month Stats:

Height: 24.5" (>97%)

Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz (87%)

Head circ.: 40 cm (81%)

Accomplishments: has started sleeping through the night (at 8 wks)!

bats at toys on her toy gym

grasps toys and other objects

coos and "talks"

follows objects with her eyes

turns head towards noises

makes eye contact

Places visited this month: St Louis zoo, Aunt Tami's and Grandma Harriett's in Illinois, Aunt Chelle Chelle's

Eating Patterns: nurses every 3 hours for about 20 minutes total. Last feeding is between 7:30 and 9 pm.

Sleeping Patterns: Goes to bed around 9 pm and sleeps until 6 am. Eats and then goes back to sleep until 9 am. Her nap patterns still aren't constant but she takes two longer naps and then some shorter ones throughout the day.

See Any Resemblance?

Carter - 5 weeks
Ashlyn - 6 weeks

Carter - 4 weeks

Ashlyn - 4 weeks




Carter - 4 weeks

Ashlyn - 1 week

**I'll be looking for more to compare :o)

Ashlyn's first trip to the zoo

The last week of my maternity leave saw beautiful weather in the lower 80's. This was a much welcomed break from the 90-100* weather we had throughout most of the summer. Since the weather was so nice and it was going to be one of the last chances we would have to get out, I decided to take the kids to the zoo.

We met friends Alissha, Brady, and Luke, Tara and Campbell, and Aunt Chelle Chelle there.

Brady and Carter were the tour guides

Carter was happy that Aunt Chelle Chelle took the day off from work to join us!

Ashlyn Grace - 6 weeks old

She slept the entire time

We saw most of the outside exhibits but my favorite part was seeing the two baby elephants swimming! Adorable!

We left at noon and headed to a restaurant to meet my friend, Tracey. She hadn't met Ashlyn yet and she had a sweet pink and black afghan to give her! (Unfortunately I didn't think of taking a picture!)

It was a great day and a great way to end my time off!

Ashlyn @ 1 Month

1 month old

My how one month flies by! It seems like Little Miss Ashlyn has been with us all along! She is a sweet little girl who loves to cuddle and be held. She prefers to fall asleep while in your arms or lying on your chest. We are trying to break her of that before it is too late!!

She nurses 6-7 times a day. If she stays awake for the entire feeding (and that's a big "if"), she can finish in 20 minutes.

She has slept through the night one time (10:30 pm-5 am) but that was technically 3 days after she turned a month old so we will save that for next month's update. :o) She normally will go to bed around 8:30 pm. I will wake her for one last feeding around 10:30 pm. She will wake up for a feeding around 3:00 am and then sleep until 8 or 9 am. She sleeps pretty much throughout the day with only a few hours of awake time. Of course she is wide awake and fussy around 5:30 pm when I need to start dinner! Daddy is usually getting home around that time so that's when he gets the hand-off!

She has had some tummy issues lately where she will just kick and scream until we lay her on her tummy or rub it. Hopefully it isn't something that I'm eating that is giving her problems.

Ashlyn has rolled over from her tummy to her back 5 or so times. She likes to lay on her tummy with one of her arms under her chin so once she gets her legs kicking it doesn't take much for her to roll.

She has very strong legs and already likes to "stand". She has scooted around on the blanket some, too, pushing with her little legs.

She started smiling on the day she turned 4 weeks old.

She still looks a lot like her big brother!

1 week old

4 weeks old

Best Buds

Doctor Appointments

One nice thing about having the kids' birthdays so close together is that we will be able to combine their yearly doctor appointments. Ashlyn had to see the doctor the Monday after being released from the hospital (6 days old) to make sure she was nursing well and gaining weight. She left the hospital weighing 8 lbs (down 10 oz from birth) but was back up to 8 lbs 7 oz (82%). They were happy with this but wanted her biliruben retested because she still looked yellow (they had already tested her 3 times in the hospital and she passed each time). I had to go back to my doctor that afternoon to get my incision checked out (I overdid it over the weekend and had woke up covered in blood - oops!) so we took Ashlyn at the same time to get her test done. We both turned out just fine.

Both kids had to go back to the doctor on the 26th for Ashlyn's 2 week appointment and Carter's 3 year appointment. We were going to be there just in time for Ashlyn's feeding so I took a bottle with us. Good thing because she started fussing right before the doctor came in! Brad fed her her first bottle while Carter got checked out. She did a great job taking it. Carter did a great job getting his hearing and vision checked and didn't even flinch when he had to get a make-up shot!! They were pleased with Ashlyn's weight gain, although I was concerned since she sleeps ALL the time and doesn't always finish her feedings.

Carter's measurements at 3 years are: 39.75" (89%) and 34 lbs (74%).

Ashlyn's measurements for 2 weeks are: 22" (95%), 8 lbs 13 oz (65%), and head circ. of 37.5 cm (82%)

How did I get such big kids?!?

waiting for the doctor