Just a Silly Ashlee Video

Ashlee is pretty good at shaking her head.... It's so cute. Usually all you have to say it "I didn't do it!!" and Ashlee shakes her head. Silly girl!

Ashlee is ONE!!!

February 18, 20012

I cannot believe my baby girl is ONE! I can literally remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. The drive to the hospital, the labor, the stress of her being in distress, her laying on my chest all slimy and snuggling with her that night. Then I look at this picture and don't believe she was ever that small...Ashlee's actual birthday fell on a Saturday which was really nice. We had a small party of family and some friends with Pizza, salad and wings. All items Ashlee didn't really get to eat, but she is one and wont remember until she reads this....
Here is the little lady before she ate. (Looking at this picture I guess she is already looking a little sick...) She has chocolate milk in her cup and she LOVED it! Of course if I was going from formula to Chocolate milk I'd LOVE it too!

Ashlee did ok opening up presents... she would pull the tissue out and play with it. It drove the other kids crazy and she had a lot of help with her gifts!

Ashlee got a lot of clothes and a lot of toys too! She specially loved this little princess car thing. She has only fallen off once, but she sure can push that thing around.

I was at a loss for a cake design, so I just did some balloons. I also made Ashlee her very own little cake so she could have her own to dig into...

And she was not shy about it. She had a lot of encouragement, of course. Our other kids didn't destroy their cakes, but Ashlee showed them how to do it! I don't really know how much cake she actually ate, she mostly just destroyed it and played with it!

This is the face of a very happy girl!

That night as I rocked her in my arms I couldn't help but think of her being so tiny and not squirming around and pushing out of my arms. I had a small tear in the corner of my eye as I thought of how fast the past year had passed by. It seems almost unfair, I have enjoyed it so much... Ashlee has a personality on her that is completely unique. She started out as our timid little girl, such a calm and chill baby and has ended up as out little instigator. She laughs at ANYTHING and that makes more trouble in our house than we need. She is not a patient girl and screams when she wants attention. And to say she is loud would be an understatement. She goes to strangers and just stares, she laughs and loves to be laughed at. Ashlee is so ticklish we love to just tickle her legs, arms and back of her neck. She is by far our best cuddlier, which isn't saying much, but she will lay her head on our shoulder and pats our back when we hold her.

Ashlee has just started to wave, when she wants to. She can say Da, Da and Ma. Ashlee is a pretty aggressive little girl, sometimes she will grab and pull whatever is in her hands. Ashlee is a great crawler and has been pulling herself up on things for a while now. However she has not ventured into the walking arena yet. She can stand by herself when she feel like it, but most of the time she just relaxes her legs and falls to the ground. The girl doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do! JOY!!!

It has been a fantastic year with Ashlee in our lives. She brings a new dimension into the Nelson family that I never knew existed. How blessed we have all been to have this sweet spirit in our home. Ashlee you are such a joy and we love every minute with you in it!!!

Sick House

We have had a pretty fun week or two... The night of Ashlee's Birthday she woke up around three am with a burning hot fever. Even her poor little hands were steaming. This happened for another three nights. I finally decided it had been long enough, plus she was getting a little cough, so Chris took her to the Dr. He gave her a breathing treatment and said he thought it could be RSV. He took a culture or something and said we would get the results back in 4-5 days to find out for sure... Her fever lasted until around Wednesday or Thursday, almost six whole days later. She has been pretty pathetic, sleeping horribly and thinking we needed to be holding her all night long. It was hard to put her to bed when she would just lay there in your arms. She is finally on the mend. But we made a huge accomplishment in the Nelson household. This was Ashlee's first sick appointment EVER. That is amazing for our kids. Ethan had already been to three different specialist by the time he was seven months old... Way to go Ashlee!!!

It would not be a household if someone else didn't get sick and so Ethan decided to get sick too! He wasn't feeling well and whenever he gets a little sick his asthma flares up and he ends up getting really sick. Last night he was coughing so much that he threw up just a little bit.
So needless to say it's been fun in our house the last couple of weeks.

Sneak Peak Cake Eating

Ashlee turned one on Saturday. I will do an official post, but I thought I'd let ya'll see her cake eating part today. She was a Beast! I think she enjoyed herself!!!

The Newest Bike Rider is...

Chris has been home with the kids the last two weeks and this always means a lot of time outside. The kids love when Daddy is home because they get to play out back and ride bikes out front a whole bunch. Lately we have been talking about taking the training wheels off of Ethan's bike. He has had his bike for some time now and he LOVES to ride around and play. Friday I took the day off to spend with the family on Chris' last day off for 12 weeks. We had some fun hanging out and after naps we went out to ride bikes. Chris and I decided that today was the day to take off the training wheels. So while Chris was taking them off we had a short talk with Ethan. We told him that it was OK if he didn't make it today. It was tough to ride a bike by yourself and encouraged him that it was all about trying and trying again. (Looking back I guess it wasn't the best pep talk, I just didn't want him to feel like he failed if he didn't get it.) So Chris got him started and off he went. Chris had to keep running to catch up. Ethan was a PRO!! He never tilted and even stood up to pedal. At one point he looks over at his dad and pedals faster to get away from him. Can you say PROUD PARENT MOMENT? Chris ran by him for like two runs and then Ethan was on his own. He had no problems with the turns or anything. After a little bit he started riding with one hand off... Showing off for us. By the next day he was going off the curb like he use to always do with training wheels. He had plenty of encouragement from me. I say try it and if you don't make it, try again! I told him he could do anything he did before with training wheels. He tried to go through the rocks and fell over. He yelled at me, "see Mom, I told you I couldn't do it!" I laughed and said, "yeah well if you're gonna go that slow you are never gonna get through the rocks. You never went that slow through the rocks before!!" He got up and just kept riding. It's amazing how in a matter of seconds he took to it like a pro. I know he isn't the youngest rider in history, but he sure is awesome to me!

Ethan you totally rocked it on that bike. I hope you enjoyed doing it as much as I loved watching you!!!

Big Day

Today may seem like any other ordinary day, but it's a pretty darn big day in our house!! Today Chris starts his VERY. LAST. Clinical!! This clinical will last 12 weeks and then Chris will be done with school! How excited are we, you might be asking? Well I think I can speak for both of us when I say we are SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! Words can't even begin to express my excitement!

Today Chris will walk into this funky looking building....

This is the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Chris has been looking forward to this clinical ever since he started doing clinicals. During the last year of schooling Chris became very interested in the Neurological side of Physical Therapy. He had a great Professor (or whatever you call them when they are Dr.s) that helped Chris enjoy Neuro and look to it as a possible career selection. She was also very instrumental in getting the clinical set up at Lou Ruvo. We are so grateful for her and her dedication to the school, but especially to Chris. Many of Chris' fellow classmates says Chris is the favorite... I love it!!

This clinical will help Chris determine if this is really the field he wants to specialize in. This is a bit stressful for him and if it be known me too! What if he doesn't like it? What if it's just not what he wants to do? All that hard work would seem wasted, but at least he would know it's not what he wants to do. We have tried being responsible adults and laying out a plan for our family. We have included this step in our plan, maybe a possible job opportunity here, time to get specialized and Chris goes a step further by planning out other aspects of having a specialty in Neurology. What if that all has to be reshaped? This next 12 weeks will be very big and important in our families future plan. The next 12 weeks will fly by and drag by all at the same time. They will drag by because at the end of 12 weeks Chris will graduate and a Doctor of Physical Therapy. And they will fly by because at the end of 12 weeks our family will have a new direction. Daddy will no longer be a student and Mommy will no longer be providing for the family on her own... It's crazy to even think about!!!

So today is a VERY. BIG. DAY!!

Good luck Chris! No matter what happens and what our future holds, you will be awesome at whatever it is! And you have all of us standing behind you to support you!

Today for the very first time in a long time I have thought about the future and it doesn't seem so far away. In fact it almost seems too close!!!