First Ferry Ride

Ashley took her first ferry ride this weekend. She's on her way to traveling on every mode of transportation before her first birthday. So far she's been on a ferry, plane, train, car,and of course a stroller. She's not going on Grandpa's motorcycle or in Papa's corvette, so I think that just leaves a hot air balloon which probably won't happen before she turns one and a bike which may happen this summer. So, her first ferry ride was from Edmonds to Kingston, about 1/2 hour ride. We were supposed to go camping with some friends, but that got canceled because the campground flooded from all the snow melting. So, we decided to take up our neighbor's offer to go to their cabin on Hood Canal. Luckily we had warm weather on Saturday and we were able to take Ashley to the beach and later to the swimming pool. Brian learned how to skim board on Saturday and Ashley learned what sand was. She didn't cry or eat the sand when we sat her down in it, but she was very unsure of the situation. She did great, but when she grabbed for the sand she would pull back and hesitate. After about 10 minutes she dove right in, but she had to make sure it was all good before she did. It was very relaxing at the cabin, but as soon as we got home it got crazy. We rushed to unpack the car, shower and make it over to our friends for a BBQ at 2pm. Then later that night Brian's mom came over to stay the night and have dinner with us. She is town for Brian's cousin's wedding next weekend. Yesterday she went to PEPS with us and the rest of the day we went shopping and just hung out. Ashley had a great time with Grandma Timm and loved sitting in her new shopping cart cover that Grandma made for her.
Ashley drove us onto the ferry and parked the car perfectly, well not really but she did have fun pretending.

We had a beautiful sunset Saturday night.

Ashley's first time in the sand

First Year Done!

Brian took his last final today. YEAH!!!! I'm so proud of him for getting through this year and doing so well. It was a tough year balancing class, homework, studying, family, friends, work, volunteering, and working in a little bit of sleep... he hardly had any time to himself and he never complained and never stressed out. He always checked in to make sure I was doing ok, and made sure he had his time with Ashley. I couldn't have asked for anything more. We're going to go out to celebrate tomorrow night with dinner and a movie or drinks after. Danielle (Ashley's Godmother) is going to watch her while we have our date night. I can't wait, I haven't seen my husband in two weeks with all the studying he's been doing.
I had to add this picture I took the night he was done with finals. He crashed! Poor guy didn't get any sleep for two weeks and couldn't even make it past 7pm.

First Train Ride

They gave me an extra seat on the train and it was so nice for her to sleep and play in. I even changed her in the seat because the bathroom was so gross.
Ashley got tired of her toys on the 3 1/2 hour train ride, so I was pulling everything out of my bag for her to play with. I had gotten some water in these plastic cups and she thought they were the neatest thing she'd every seen. She kept herself busy for about 1/2 hour banging them together and making noise.

With Brian's permission (I felt terrible, it was his first Father's Day) Ashley and I headed down to Portland on the train for the weekend. Brian was going to be studying all weekend, so it gave him uninterrupted time for that plus we were do for Grandma and Grandpa's monthly visit with Ashley. We left Seattle on Saturday morning at 7:30am and came back Monday at 4pm. The ride there was great. They gave me two seats so I could put her car seat next to me and she slept for the first hour. The rest of the time she was content playing in her seat with all her toys or standing in my lap. The dining car was great too because she could stand in the booth and talk to everyone walking by. She was a kick! The way back was a little more challenging because she didn't sleep and never got her afternoon nap. She was a little fussy, but it could have been a lot worse. She was still entertained by her toys, she would just get tired of them a lot faster. She crashed as we were coming into Seattle only to get woken up by all the commotion when we arrived. She went to bed about 5:30pm to make up for it. She was a tired girl! While we were in Portland we saw my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Al, had dinner with Dan, went for a long walk at a wildlife refuge near Sherwood, played on the swings, BBQ'd, got up early for the balloon festival and just hung out. It was a great trip as always and we miss them already.
This is the tent Grammy got for Ashley. We'll use it on the beach when we go camping next month.

Here we are at the Tigard Ballon Festival at 6am. We just rolled out of bed, threw our clothes, put on a hat and headed out the door. My Dad and I had done this a few years ago, but my mom had never been. It's really cool to see these huge balloons get blown up and take off. It was worth getting up that early.
They have a race in the balloons where each one has to hit targets and the first one done wins. I've always thought it would be a great gift idea to take someone on a balloon ride.
Ashley loved the swings. She hangs there kicking her arms and legs while she's swinging. You can tell she wants to tell us how much fun she's having, but she can't gather her excitement to say anything.
Grandpa loved playing with Ashley this weekend, they spent a lot of time together and it melted my heart to see it. I love to witness how happy she makes her Grammy and Grandpa.

Father's Day!

Brian was studying for his last finals this weekend, so we celebrated Father's Day a little early on the Wednesday before by taking him out to dinner at Rosita's Mexican Restaurant on Greenlake. It was the first time we had put Ashley in a high-chair (don't ask me why we didn't do it sooner because she sits up so well), but she loved it and we were actually able to eat! Imagine that! Ashley and I also made Brian a plate with her hand print in the middle with I love you around it. I put her name and age around the edge along with memories that they've had together. One of the most precious things Brian does with Ashley is check on her before he goes to bed, it doesn't matter what time, and gives her three kisses one on her forehead, one on her cheek and one on her chest. I never knew he did this until a few weeks ago when I went to bed before him and later heard noise on the monitor. I clicked on the video part and saw him. I got tears in my eyes seeing how much he loves his daughter.

This is the plate we made for Papa, it turned out great. I hid it under my dresser and called him Sunday morning to wish him a Happy Father's Day and had him go find it. I wanted to do something special since we weren't there to celebrate on actual day.
These are our friends from PEPS Amy and her daughter Sophia and Shannon and her daughter Elizabeth. Sophia on the left has the same birthday as Ashley and Amy has the same birthday as me. Crazy huh?

7 Months

Ashley turned 7 months on the 5th. Yes, I'm a little late but life has been busy. Ashley has been busy too. She's started to babble DaDaYaYaBa and all sorts of variations to communicate what she's thinking. This is one loud child, I wish you all could hear her. Our nanny started last week while I returned to work three days a week, so she's been getting to know her. Tiona (our nanny) is wonderful and Ashley has warmed up to her quickly. When I come home and hold her she smiles at Tiona and tries to find her when she's not in her sight. She has no tears in the morning, there were just a few from me on my first day. I was choked up and holding back tears the whole bus ride in. It's so hard to leave her, but it's also good to be back to work. It was like I had never left. They still had my name tag and passwords and scanning came back quickly, which was a huge relief. I love talking to patients about Ashley and comparing stories with the OB patients I see. My entire locker is filled with pictures of her.

She's Loves Applesauce!

Pay attention to the Mmmmm noise she makes. She's developed her own high pitched version and it cracks us up. I think it's safe to say that she enjoys eating solids now!

Professional Pictures

I picked up Ashley's 6 month pictures we had taken at JCPenney's and they did a great job. The best part was it didn't cost an arm and a leg when I decided to buy almost every one they took!

Grandma Timm made this Raggedy Ann doll for Ashley