Watch this little video to see if Ashby Baby #2 is a baby boy or girl!!
We are so excited!! :]
We are so excited!! :]
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Stepping Away from Social Media
The title of this post makes it sound like I'm about to delete my blog/Facebook/Instagram but that is not the case. The past couple of weeks I have just been trying to step away from doing these things all day, every day. I don't even want to take a guess at how much time I have wasted doing these things in the past but I have made a goal to dial it back.
In the past few weeks/months I started to realize how much time I was around my family but not really engaged with my family. I was getting frustrated with Holland and not paying attention to Race because I was too busy on my phone. It was ridiculous. So I deleted Facebook, Bloglovin' and almost all the games off my phone {pretty much everything except for Instagram since I can't access that from the computer--I'm just having to practice self control}.
This has been hard for me but it has also been such a good thing. I am learning to be more patient with Holland and to have more engaging, enjoyable conversations with Race. And even with those apps deleted from my phone I still find time to use social media! In fact, now that I sit down at a computer to read blogs I actually comment since it's much easier to use the keyboard than to type on my phone! It is also so much more relaxing for me to have a specified time to view my social medial. Instead of having it at my fingertips all day I sit down for a few minutes in the evening or during Holland's naps to take some time for myself.
I am far from perfect at this and have even redownloaded and then redeleted the apps from my phone. It's pretty embarrassing how addicted I had become/still am to having these various social media outlets with me all day.
I don't see myself deleting any of these things permanently because I am so grateful for the wonderful friendships I have made and I love being able to keep in contact with friends and family who live far away {which is pretty much everyone since we moved}. I also love to share the joy that Holland brings to our family with others. I love to share the goofy things that she does, the new things she is learning, and the silly faces that she makes.
Social media is such a big part of modern society and I'm sure it will always be a part of my life as well as the lives of my children. I hope that as I learn to use it in good ways that I will be able to teach my children how to use it appropriately as well. It can be such a good tool if we learn to use it properly!
And now, go here to see some kisses for all of you wonderful people who make me never want to completely disappear from the world of social media!
In the past few weeks/months I started to realize how much time I was around my family but not really engaged with my family. I was getting frustrated with Holland and not paying attention to Race because I was too busy on my phone. It was ridiculous. So I deleted Facebook, Bloglovin' and almost all the games off my phone {pretty much everything except for Instagram since I can't access that from the computer--I'm just having to practice self control}.
This has been hard for me but it has also been such a good thing. I am learning to be more patient with Holland and to have more engaging, enjoyable conversations with Race. And even with those apps deleted from my phone I still find time to use social media! In fact, now that I sit down at a computer to read blogs I actually comment since it's much easier to use the keyboard than to type on my phone! It is also so much more relaxing for me to have a specified time to view my social medial. Instead of having it at my fingertips all day I sit down for a few minutes in the evening or during Holland's naps to take some time for myself.
I am far from perfect at this and have even redownloaded and then redeleted the apps from my phone. It's pretty embarrassing how addicted I had become/still am to having these various social media outlets with me all day.
I don't see myself deleting any of these things permanently because I am so grateful for the wonderful friendships I have made and I love being able to keep in contact with friends and family who live far away {which is pretty much everyone since we moved}. I also love to share the joy that Holland brings to our family with others. I love to share the goofy things that she does, the new things she is learning, and the silly faces that she makes.
Social media is such a big part of modern society and I'm sure it will always be a part of my life as well as the lives of my children. I hope that as I learn to use it in good ways that I will be able to teach my children how to use it appropriately as well. It can be such a good tool if we learn to use it properly!
And now, go here to see some kisses for all of you wonderful people who make me never want to completely disappear from the world of social media!
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Holland's First Birthday
I should preface this post by saying that Holland's birthday was almost three months ago {August 15th}! I'm finally getting around to writing about it--better late than never! :]
Holland got to celebrate her first birthday THREE times!! The first time was with Race's family while Holland and I were in Arizona. Holland got to spend it with her Gram and Granddad Ashby and almost all of her Ashby cousins! It was the day before her birthday AND she even got to welcome her brand new baby cousin Nora Ashby who was born that day! She had fun sharing her yummy cupcakes with Granddad!
Her second celebration was in Chandler with my family. During the day my friend Jac came over and spoiled Holland with hoards of adorable clothes and cake pops from Starbucks. Holy heck those things are good! I snuck a couple of bites! Holland loves her Aunt Jac! 
Later that day a bunch of Holland's Olmstead cousins made their way over to the house for a little celebration and birthday singing as well! Holland's oldest cousin Jude even helped her blow out her candle which she thought was pretty funny! She got to eat a yummy ice cream sandwich this time around! It was so nice to be around family for Holland's birthday!
Holland's final birthday celebration was in Idaho with our friends and family up there. I hate that I always forget to take pictures of the guests so I'll write it in here so I don't forget who all was there! Race's sister Tyne and brother-in-law Patrick were there along with Holland's cousin Madison. Then we had our friends Claire and Devin with their baby Ava and our other good friends Callie and Bryce. It was the perfect size crowd for our apartment and they were all just the people we wanted to celebrate Holland's first birthday with. We are so grateful to all of them for being our best friends in Idaho and loving on Holland so much this last year!
We did some quick decorations with pictures of Holland from her first year and then a banner my aunt made and a yummy cake. Holland wore an adorable dress I thrifted before I was even pregnant and we just hung out, sang to her, opened presents, and ate some yummy {not pictured} Texas sheet cake and ice cream.
Holland sat on her Aunt Tyne's lap to open all of her presents. It was adorable.
Tyne is one of her very favorite people and we are so grateful to live near her!
Holland enjoyed digging into her cake and had her friends join in at the end! They all had a good time and got nice and messy!
I don't have pictures of her presents but she received tons of awesome things {clothes, IKEA kitchen toys, a little adorable animal train, puzzles, books, etc.}! She is one lucky girl and we love her so much! Our first year with her was full of sleepless nights and lots of crying {from all of us!} but it is so worth it to watch her grow and learn every day!
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Halloween 2013
Our Halloween was just perfect! The morning started out in cute Halloween jammies and hanging out with cousin Madison. These girls just have too much fun together! Especially when they aren't fighting!
That evening we got the girls dressed up to go trick-or-treating. Holland and Madison were little Pocahontas girls. I made their tutus, Tyne found their cute necklaces at American Eagle and then we grabbed a couple of things from their closets and Hobby Lobby to complete the look. We thought they looked pretty adorable in their costumes! They had TONS of fun trick-or-treating. Knocking on the doors and grabbing handfuls of candy! Holland always wanted to go back for more! We made it to quite a few houses and luckily it wasn't too cold for the girls. It definitely wore Holland out because she slept great that night!
We didn't get any family pictures so this will have to count.
{Also, can you spot my 16.5 week baby bump?!}
Our three trick-or-treaters: Ava, Madison, and Holland {who didn't look in any of the group photos!}
When we got back to the house we let the girls dig into their candy for a few minutes while we watched an episode of The Walking Dead. It is kind of Halloween tradition for Race and I. The second year we were married we watched a bunch of the first season while passing out candy. I got so scared every time someone knocked on our door--I was pretty happy when we ran out of candy. The show still scares me so I mostly tune out but it is definitely a fun tradition!
It was a successful Halloween! I loved dressing Holland up and hey, I can't complain about free candy! Maybe next year we'll actually do some type of family costume...we'll see! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
11 & 12 Months.
So obviously I'm super far behind on posting Holland's monthly updates. But, I still want these things written down somewhere so here goes nothing!!
In Holland's eleventh month she:
-Officially started walking {Junde 26th, 2013}
-Said the words mama, no, and do {for dog}
-Loved to play with my hair.
-Loved carrying things around with her everywhere she went.
-Would put her hands on her forehead all the time with a very dramatic air.
-Started puckering up to give her daddy kisses! {SO ADORABLE!}
-Loved shoes {chewing on them, carrying them around, attempting to put them on}
-Started sleeping a thousand times better than ever before!
-Went on a family trip to Lagoon and was a good trooper being shuffled between Mom and Dad while they went on rides.
-Loved to play with toy cars and attempted to make car sounds while pushing them around.
In Holland's twelfth month she:
-Started putting everything on her head {shoes, headbands, food, etc.}
-Was super wiggly at night
-Went to UT for a family reunion and AZ for Mom's friends' wedding.
-Said mama and now the "g" sound for dog instead of do
-Started giving high fives
-Became a pro at using sippy cups
-Loved to share bites of her food with mom/dad.
-Loved running around stores and trying to get into everything!
-Got really good at stuffing her mouth to overflowing. She was {is} definitely not a slow eater!
-Learned how to spin.
I wish that I had written these posts more in the moment because even though I wrote down these little notes it is hard to remember all the super fun small details about Holland at each age! Hopefully this will help motivate me to stay a little bit more on top of things! But, I'm still glad that I kept notes and have them all here on the blog for me to refer back to. It's so fun to see Holland change and learn new things. I can't believe how much she has changed in the past two months! I'll have to do another post about what she's like now because she is an absolute joy to be around and has learned so much!
In Holland's eleventh month she:
-Officially started walking {Junde 26th, 2013}
-Said the words mama, no, and do {for dog}
-Loved to play with my hair.
-Loved carrying things around with her everywhere she went.
-Would put her hands on her forehead all the time with a very dramatic air.
-Started puckering up to give her daddy kisses! {SO ADORABLE!}
-Loved shoes {chewing on them, carrying them around, attempting to put them on}
-Started sleeping a thousand times better than ever before!
-Went on a family trip to Lagoon and was a good trooper being shuffled between Mom and Dad while they went on rides.
-Loved to play with toy cars and attempted to make car sounds while pushing them around.
In Holland's twelfth month she:
-Started putting everything on her head {shoes, headbands, food, etc.}
-Was super wiggly at night
-Went to UT for a family reunion and AZ for Mom's friends' wedding.
-Said mama and now the "g" sound for dog instead of do
-Started giving high fives
-Became a pro at using sippy cups
-Loved to share bites of her food with mom/dad.
-Loved running around stores and trying to get into everything!
-Got really good at stuffing her mouth to overflowing. She was {is} definitely not a slow eater!
-Learned how to spin.
I wish that I had written these posts more in the moment because even though I wrote down these little notes it is hard to remember all the super fun small details about Holland at each age! Hopefully this will help motivate me to stay a little bit more on top of things! But, I'm still glad that I kept notes and have them all here on the blog for me to refer back to. It's so fun to see Holland change and learn new things. I can't believe how much she has changed in the past two months! I'll have to do another post about what she's like now because she is an absolute joy to be around and has learned so much!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
In Other News.
This is happening. :]
Holland doesn't seem to be too excited about getting a sibling! Haha.
We're all pretty excited to welcome Ashby Baby #2 next April and I'm attempting to teach Holland that there is a baby in my belly. Mostly she just thinks my belly button is super cool stuff.
The official due date is April 13th, 2014 and we can't wait to meet this second baby! I am 15 weeks along today (Sunday) and we just had our first doctor's appointment on Friday. We love our doctor and I am really hoping to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean). We'll see what surprises this labor and delivery brings though since Holland's birth story did not go at all the way I was planning! Hopefully I'm a little more prepared for the unexpected this time around!
I'm excited to talk more about my birthing plans and thoughts about preparing for the unexpected and stuff like that. I've been doing a lot of research on all things birth related {even more than I did with Holland--and I did A LOT with her!} and I'm really excited for this new journey--no matter how it turns out!
I'll do a pregnancy update/comparison to Holland's in another post but I just wanted to finally let the cat out of the bag! We're having a baby!!!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Stuck. {A Mini Post}
I've been so stuck when it comes to blogging. I have about a billion things I want to/should blog about for journaling's sake but I've just been feeling overwhelmed. I've written entire blog posts that I just can't figure out titles for so I never post them. And then I have TONS of posts I want to write about my feelings towards birth and stuff in that department but I have SO much that I want to say and I just haven't found the time or energy to get it all written out in a logical way. Does anyone else just get stuck when it comes to finding titles for their posts or have any of you gotten stuck because you just have too much to say? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has been in this boat--right?
Anyway, I am going to "unstick" myself for five minutes and write a quick post while Holland and Race are out of the house for a few minutes and just do a quick life update. Here's what our past couple of weeks have looked like:
I got to see four of my eleven siblings and my parents and even got to have my two sisters stay with me for a week and then my mom and Gelsey stay with me for another week! {Helena and Gelsey pictured-- my parents, Stuart and Solomon unpictured}
We were all able to head over to Oregon for my Great Grandma Usher's memorial service. It was simple and perfect and Holland slept through the whole thing. We got to hear lots of fun memories of our Grandma and visit with lots of family.
Holland has been teething and got this goofy tooth that's like 1.5 teeth or two teeth just super close together. Race and I are not passing on good genes in the teeth department--our poor children!
We had family pictures taken and the next few pictures are just pictures I snapped while our awesome photographer friend was taking pictures of Race's sister and her family {she had a double duty photo shoot!}. Taking pictures is so much more work with a baby! Haha. But I can't wait to get the pictures back and I know it is so worth it to have the memories to treasure forever. It was also fun for me to practice taking pictures with our nice camera. I don't pull it out nearly enough and while a BUNCH of the pictures turned out blurry I still love them. :]
So that's what's been going on over here. Hopefully I'll stop feeling quite so stuck and get some of the posts that have been floating around in my head for months up on the blog! We'll see!
Anyway, I am going to "unstick" myself for five minutes and write a quick post while Holland and Race are out of the house for a few minutes and just do a quick life update. Here's what our past couple of weeks have looked like:
I got to see four of my eleven siblings and my parents and even got to have my two sisters stay with me for a week and then my mom and Gelsey stay with me for another week! {Helena and Gelsey pictured-- my parents, Stuart and Solomon unpictured}
We were all able to head over to Oregon for my Great Grandma Usher's memorial service. It was simple and perfect and Holland slept through the whole thing. We got to hear lots of fun memories of our Grandma and visit with lots of family.
Holland has been teething and got this goofy tooth that's like 1.5 teeth or two teeth just super close together. Race and I are not passing on good genes in the teeth department--our poor children!
We had family pictures taken and the next few pictures are just pictures I snapped while our awesome photographer friend was taking pictures of Race's sister and her family {she had a double duty photo shoot!}. Taking pictures is so much more work with a baby! Haha. But I can't wait to get the pictures back and I know it is so worth it to have the memories to treasure forever. It was also fun for me to practice taking pictures with our nice camera. I don't pull it out nearly enough and while a BUNCH of the pictures turned out blurry I still love them. :]
So that's what's been going on over here. Hopefully I'll stop feeling quite so stuck and get some of the posts that have been floating around in my head for months up on the blog! We'll see!
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