single white female

SWF seeks SWM between the ages of 6-18 months. I am a non-smoker, with my mama's eyes, daddy's smile/cheeks/lips, and a passion for life. I have an athletic, lean build, with the exception of my chunky monkey thighs, a great complexion, and a potential head full of hair. I enjoy trips to the grocery store, adding daily to my shoe collection, my grandparents, mama's milk, and being as generally adorable as possible.
Respondants must love (ahem, tolerate) baby einstein, leopard print, big bows, the color pink, and a camera in your face at all times. Though not required, a penchant for long naps, cold teething rings and dry diapers is preferred. Potty trained respondants need not reply.
Applicants can call my father at 1-800-DON'T-EVEN-THINK-ABOUT-IT. But since a complete lack of verbal skills is optimal, this shouldn't be a problem.

Hi, I'm a Mac

and my mom is a PC. Dan is trying to convert her to the dark side.

Abuelo's tomorrow night

Here's another klifnotes shout-out. We will be at Abuelos Friday night, the 29th from 6-10 for party on the patio. What could be better than classic rock, good weather, friends, and Abuelo's nachos? Nothing, I tell you.

man, I love this girl

What a blessed mama I am. Just look at those cheeks!

my little rabbit

Tuesday night we had carrots for the first time. I say we, because it was my first night to taste baby food carrots second hand after my daughter sneezed them into my mouth. Being a parent is so humbling.
Grace is not a huge fan of carrots, but she is hanging in there (read: her mom won't give up and I am trying with all of my might to get carrots down her throat.) She seems to like the spoon, and if they are warm she takes them much better than if they are room temperature. (Already a bit high maintenance?) Dan tries to distract her and make her smile and since she smiles with her mouth wide open, it is the perfect time to sneak the spoon into her mouth.
We also tried bananas this morning; she seemed to like those better than carrots, but she still makes this really dramatic gagging face.



Don't let the smile fool you; she spit them out right after this.


She is so expressive and fun to be around. I have always loved her, but I am enjoying her on a whole new level lately. I love you pumpkin. Slow down, okay?

six month photos

Somehow Alisa topped herself again. We had such a blast on Monday night in the Tech horticulture gardens taking Grace's 6 month pics. She was so good, laughed and smiled at the camera the whole 45 minutes, and reminded us yet again how blessed we are to be parents of this little pumpkin.
















You are amazing Alisa. Thanks for capturing such a fun time in our lives.

six months, say what??!!??

Despite my efforts to keep her from doing so, Grace hit 6 months on Monday.
A few updates:
She had her shots yesterday and did beautifully. A small meltdown, but overall, just beautiful. She weighs 17.6 lbs. (75th%) and is 27 inches long (95th%). I am lovin' her long legs (they are losing a bit of the chunk), except that we have trouble fitting her into 6 month clothes because of the length.
She loves her feet and thinks they belong in her mouth at all times. The other day she slept thru her entire nap with her feet up in the air grabbing onto her heels. Good times.
She likes to grab both sides of my face and try to gum my nose. I guess it's a teething thing. I'm going to call them kisses and live in "my-child-is-so-advanced-and-practically-a-genius-what?-your-kid-does-that-too-I'll-pretend-I-didn't-hear-that" happy fantasy land.
She rolls over both ways, sits up on her own with very little wobbling, babbles da-da all the live-long day, and lives in a pretty constant state of happy. except...
I call Grace our zero to ten baby. She is one of the most laid-back, non-fussy, happy babies ever. But the last two months, we have noticed a pattern where when she gets upset/frustrated/scared she flat out loses it. I mean, off the richter scale loses it. Fine, happy, smiling to screaming her head off. There is no in between. It usually lasts a minute or two, and then all is well again. It's bizarre, but I try to think of her as passionate.
The Dr. said today that she has teeth about to break through. I didn't know teething was such a process and could take so long. It seems she has been going thru this for a good two months. Last night she ran 102 fever (I can only assume from the shots and/or teething) and it scared us half to death. Her tylenol kicked in quickly though, and she was down in the low 100's before bed.
She is still nursing, and I am still a milky mama. We are going to start carrots this week, and I have to admit, I am a little sad. I can't believe I love nursing as much as I do, but we have this rhythm and it's quick and easy and soooo convenient. I am excited about this new phase though, and am looking forward to dropping a feeding or two in the next few months. (I failed to mention in previous posts that we only did rice cereal for about three weeks. She did okay with it, but I did not. I am sure I sound crazy but I woke up one day and thought to myself, "why am I moving on so quickly to this next phase? She doesn't need it. The Dr. said it wouldn't replace a feeding. It's just for practice." So just like that, I decided to enjoy her last month of no solids and just nursing. And I did. Now onto the next phase.)
Enjoy the pics! We love you sweet girl!

why are you standing by that dead tree?

Last mothers day when I was pregnant with Grace, Danny bought a crape myrtle and planted it outside the nursery window. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me and he wanted me to enjoy it when I looked outside and rocked our pumpkin. It bloomed beautifully and I used to love looking at it when I would go in her room. Notice I said "used to." That is because last fall Dan was using some weed killer in the back yard and when the great Lubbock winds blew, the poison got on the tree and killed it. My poor, beautiful, blooming tree died, but I refused to let Danny pull it up. It was too sentimental to me. Well this spring I didn't hold my breath, but I secretly hoped by some miracle that the tree would bud again so I could enjoy it with Grace. All of my secret hoping did no good, but I did notice a bit of green around the bottom of the tree a few weeks ago. Dan cut back some of the branches last week, and alas! We have some greenery. We have been watering and I think there is hope for the tree after all.

Dan and his dad planting the tree last year on mothers day. I wasn't allowed to help.

Here is my bump- almost 12 weeks

and here is my "bump" on the outside, one year later!


What an awesome mother's day. Friday afternoon my mom flew in to see Grace and hang out with us. And today after church we went to Tom and Beth's to eat; the boys grilled us steaks and even though we had to do the dishes, it was a great afternoon. Dan bought me a beautiful locket and two charms from Grace for my pandora. And Beth made a beautiful teapot for me with Grace's little handprint on the side. Precious!
I cried when I opened it thinking about all of the hand made gifts Grace is going to make me every year. I can't wait for macaroni necklaces and crayon drawings! I am one grateful and blessed mommy.

why I loathe forever 21

So I am in this awkward "mommy phase" with my personal style and my new moomy, ahem, mommy figure. While I actually weigh (drum roll please....) three pounds less than before I was pregnant, nothing looks or fits the same. I have a new bone structure in the hip area, and don't even get me started on the mammary situation. And more than just weight shifting and settling in odd places, I have become increasingly self-aware of the style of my clothes. Can you spell mom jeans? I can. Ann Taylor boot cut high waist was her name-o.
Which brings me to the title of this post. I used to L-O-V-E, love to shop. Ashley's my name, new clothes are my game. Not so much anymore. And the brunt of my "shopping for new clothes is a nightmare" disgruntledness has fallen on Forever 21. Don't get me wrong. It is a very hip and trendy store, complete with faceless mannequins and shiny white tile floors. The service stinks, but the prices are fabulous-o. And I even have a few cute (flowy, blousy) things from there. But here are my top five problems with the store:
1. I decided to try on a pair of cute shorts. Problem number one. I could hardly get them over my rear end, but when I finally did (sweating and cursing under my breath, mind you) the button hit approximately 3 centimeters above my c-section scar. You have got to be kidding me.
2. Twice when I have been in, girls have asked me to reach something for them because they thought I worked there. And called me ma'am. Go read a book. Seriously.
3. The way too loud music does nothing but give me a headache and remind me that I am getting old enough to think store music is too loud.
4. A medium fits more like an xsmall, and a large fits more like a small. I have heard they have gotten a bit better about the fit of their clothes, but c'mon. No new mommy wants to put on a large and be busting at the seams.
5. The store name promotes false advertising. I mean really, at some point, we all turn 22.
I am probably among the minority of women who despise the store, but my opinion stands. And let's be honest, it's not just forever 21. It's every other store in the mall that isn't eddie bauer or the dillards women's department or naturalizer (can we just talk for a minute about how becoming a mom all of the sudden made me interested in cardigans and sensible flats? Where are the days of my three and four inch heels? The blisters and band aids and forsaking comfort for the sake of fashion? When did I stop worrying if things matched? It's like some kind of fashion-void alternate universe!)
Anyone else have the same trouble? (emily and traci, my two crazy running-the-day-after-my-baby-was-born mommy friends, I forbade you to comment!)

Sitting up and DaDa

I suppose all I need to do to make Grace master her next milestone is blog about how she hasn't done it yet. Right after I wrote about her taking her sweet time to roll over, she did it. And last week when I posted that she wasn't sitting up on her own yet, she did it. Saturday (April 25th) Grace sat up on her own for a good 20 seconds. All week the times have been getting progressively longer and she is pretty stable now if you sit her on the floor and let her do her thing. Little pumpkin.
And last night, she decided she was going to start talking. I'm not surprised. The munchkin does nothing but listen to me sing and talk and read to her all day. She has been trying to imitate our mouth movements all week and yesterday she started this cute tongue thing where she would stick it out and make fun new sounds that sounded more like babbling than noise. So last night Dan and I were in the basement and she started doing it and making all these cute sounds and all of the sudden said "da-da." I didn't believe it for a second and Dan looked over at me and said, "did she really just say that?" Then miss g did it again! I grabbed the camera and sure enough, after reviewing the tape to make sure it wasn't "mama," the child said it again on tape. So unfair. It was really cute though, because Dan kept trying to make her say mama all night after that. It was a shock, but not the moment I had built up in my mind. I guess I thought her first word would be this magical moment filled with soft music in the background, birds chirping, and fairy dust sprinkled around (or something to that effect.) It was so matter of fact and over in a second. I think I am in denial that I have a child old enough to be sitting up on her own and in the (very) early stages of trying to talk. I have said it a million times, but where does the time go? I have heard that 6-12 months are some of the best times, and I believe it. She is changing everyday I think! I love you sweet girl!
Grace with ma-ma. Say it with me pumpkin, ma-ma!!

She is creeping, but not crawling.
(Great, now she will probably be crawling next week!)

We took this picture for aunt cheri! I love her personality. She is turning into such a ham. Must take after her daddy.


Grace with her da-da!