Taking Steps

My sweet baby is now taking steps!  She will go about 4-5 at the most.  I just know she is going to be up walking very soon.  I love to encourage her but it also makes me so sad!  It was a Thursday one year ago that I spent my last day with Cohen and last night at home before Kate arrived!  It seems like just yesterday.  And now here we are and Kate is coming up on her first birthday!!  She is good standing alone, she moves holding on to things very fast, and she can now pick herself up to a standing position without holding onto anything.  I can see that sometimes she feels brave and will just start walking and other times, especially when she's sleepy, she has no interest in trying.  She will sit down and crawl to me usually whining wanting me to pick her up.  When she does stand alone you can tell she knows she's doing something big because she stands up and then smiles so big.   Of course we are there cheering her along the entire time and when we clap that puts the icing on the cake.  I've tried my best to get some pictures of her but its very hard because most of the time I'm the one she's walking to.  I tried to snap a few with my mom here the other day.  I definitely want to get this big moment on camera if possible!  Tomorrow we start the celebration weekend...I've been in denial that it is here already but I'm super excited for Kate's 1st birthday!!

Swimming Lessons

This week Cohen is taking swimming lessons.  Cohen loves to swim, but she loves to swim with a floatie and is very hesitant about doing any new things.   She talks about drowning, which she doesn't really understand but will still ask if she is going to drown in a bathtub with 1 inch water.   She has taken lessons the last 2 summers and each time they always begin with tears.  I was very excited that this year we had no crying!  She had a great time the first day and was very eager to get there on Tuesday.  She even volunteered to go out after Brooke.  Since she, her friend Brooke, and Savannah are the only 3 at this particular time, I thought that would help and I believe it really has.  On that second day though Lindsey started letting her go to swim on her on to the wall and I noticed that she was starting to be hesitant.  Sure enough, yesterday she cried all afternoon asking if she had to go back.  I was getting pretty fed up hearing about it.  She went back today though and she didn't cry but you can tell the hesitation is there.   Tomorrow is our last day so I'm hoping she does ok.  She still will not have anything to do with jumping off the diving board or going down the slide.  Fear is so big in this child!  She loves a floatie.  Hopefully she is learning though and it will all click.  As much as we love to swim I have faith that this summer she will definitely love the water and since she has a floatie most of time she is fine.  Cohen is my "little oven" with almost anything.  She has to preheat to situations :)

Day 2...all ready.  Goggles make it all good!

Kicking with her face in

waiting for her turn...Day 3.  Not so excited even with goggles on.

Made it to the side!

Addison was all smiles for Aunt Ashleigh :)

Brock's Diaper Change Experience

I'm behind on blogging because we have been so busy!  This happens to be one story I want to remember.  This happened on Memorial Day (fitting).  We have built onto our deck and screened in a porch and have been working on getting everything painted which has definitely been a job!  Monday we were so blessed with our wonderful family helping us.  Outside painting it was me, Kelly, Larry, Lydia, my mama, and Suzy.   Inside, Cohen and Brock were playing and I had just put Kate in her swing so she would take a nap.  I'm not sure how long she slept, but I know it wasn't long.  Brock came out on the porch to tell me Kate had a dirty diaper.   We all joked to him that he needed to change it and now would be a great time to learn how.  We did laugh and Lydia even shouted she was kidding with him as he was going back into the house.  I was finishing my paint spot then going to change her.  A few minutes later before I could get inside, Brock comes back out with a frustrated look and says, "Ashleigh I can't get this diaper back on."  It took a minute for me to realize that he had attempted the "change".   I asked him what he did, and he said "I changed her diaper, I thought you guys were serious when you told me to, and now I can't get it back on."  Then I asked where she was and he said on the "pink thing" which is her changing pad.  I took off running because I was afraid she would fall off!  When I got to her room there she sat on her changing table and was clean!  She did start to pee right when I walked in which made a mess but Brock had changed her dirty diaper, threw it away and wiped her clean all by himself...he is 9 and is a boy!  This is something most guys have no desire to do much less a young one!  All he was having trouble with was the new diaper.  It really amazed me because not only did he change her, but he had to get her out of her swing, back to her room, and up on the changing table.  I wish so bad I could have been a fly on the wall...and you know I wish I had a picture or video to share, but this is all I got and its after the fun was over :)  I love it!

Congratulations Devin!

Its official, my nephew Devin has now graduated from high school!  Just like seeing how fast my kids are growing, I can't believe Devin has now finished school.  He was born on my very first day of high school and I still remember that day very clearly!  Devin has always been like a younger brother to me and I'm very proud of him.  We had a family cookout last night to celebrate and even made him put his cap & gown on for a few photos.   Congrats Devin, we love you and we are proud of you...

Precious baby...had to get one of her :)

Back in comfy clothes

While we were all together we decided to take a picture of Cohen, Taylor, Kate, & Gavin.  Cohen & Taylor are 2 months apart and Kate & Gavin are about 9 1/2 months apart.  You can imagine how much of a task this was.  Kate isn't still for anything and she was very interested in Gavin.  Cohen is more than willing to try to hold her though which turns into a forced squeeze making Kate cry.  Needless to say we snapped fast and took what we got!  Precious babies for sure...

Starting our Summer!

Last Wednesday was the last day of school for us this year!  I am pretty excited about summer being here and hopefully doing some fun things with the girls.  It was bittersweet since I won't be going back to teach at the preschool next year.  I love summer though and I am ready to make the most of it!  We ended school with an "end of the year picnic".  We had made t-shirts earlier in the week so all the kids got to eat with their family and show off their shirts.  Cohen decided that Bebe & I weren't near as much fun as sitting with Josie :)

I also wanted to include some pictures that I had taken a few days earlier from school.  It was "Bring your Bike to School Day".  This was a huge hit with all the kids.  It is pretty amazing at how riding their bike in a big circle over and over is so entertaining!  I'm pretty sure Cohen would not have lasted nearly as long here at home on her tricycle, but she loved every minute of it at school.  

End of the Year

Cohen and Rylie sporting their strawberry sunglasses

End of the year picnic

My Sweet Class!

Getting a ride from Keaton

Today was our official start day of summer break.  We got to sleep in just a tad bit longer.  It was such a nice day outside today so we filled up the little kiddie pool and the girls splashed and played.  Brock even joined in for a bit which thrilled Kate to death.  She loves him!  Brock decided to pour water over his head and Kate loved it!  She would just laugh and laugh over and over at him.  I can tell we are going to have many afternoons enjoying the little pool.  

Laughing at Brock

Over the weekend I spent time with my friends (waifs) in Charlotte, which is always a fun time!  We met up Friday night to go to the Billy Currington concert downtown then headed back to the track where we stayed in Tara's new 5th wheel trailer.  We had prime parking too in the driver/owner lot.    We had a blast to say the least!  This past weekend was the All-Star race in Charlotte and it was very nice to be able to see some friends that I haven't seen in a while.  It had been a while since I was at the track.  We had a fun time though, as always!  Thanks girls!!

Concert fun

Tina & I decided to sell a few lug nuts on pit row...this was just one of our many laughs out there ;)

Fun times with Fun girls!

Happy Mother's Day

We had a very fun weekend and I did what I love doing-being a mom to my girls!  Friday was Muffins with Mom at preschool.  Cohen had been looking forward to this for the last week and a half.  We have been making our Mother's Day crafts at school and even though it wouldn't be a total "surprise" for me, she didn't care.  She has been asking every day if it was time to eat muffins together and telling me how she couldn't wait.  At school, I had each child paint a picture of their mom, tell me some special things about her so she would have some "hints" on which picture was her, and we also made flower pots.  I actually took my camera to school but had taken the memory card out so there you go...back up method..iPhone.  I do love having my phone for backup reasons but the pictures are not quite the same.  But I would rather have a blurry picture than nothing at all. This day meant so much to Cohen and to me and I wouldn't have traded anything for it.  Cohen also gave me a pretty purse card that she had made at Sug's house.  She does such a good job writing words.  She just needs help on the spelling.  This is the first year she has been able to write things for me so I just love her cards!  You will notice that I had a good bit of my hair cut off.  Cohen's reaction to this was that she wanted her hair cut, then she told me she liked me better with long hair like her, and now every day since Thursday when I had it cut she has told me how much she likes my hair.  I'm guessing she is getting used to it now.  And I can't bring myself to let her cut hers other than a trim because I just love it long.

Me with all my goodies from Cohen

On Saturday, we ran the 5k for our neighbor and friend Meg.  Meg is fighting colon cancer and we were so excited to be apart of this event.  The morning was perfect weather for running!  After the race we got a picture with our neighbors that were there.  I can't even begin to say how much we love our neighbors and couldn't ask for better people to live close to!   WE LOVE YOU MEG!

Sunday we got to dedicate Kate at church.  Mother's Day is always baby dedication at church and I feel extra blessed this year to have 2 precious girls to celebrate with.  Kate is quite the wiggle worm and in her normal fashion she was ready to get down and explore throughout the entire dedication.  She was fascinated by the instruments on the stage.  Since her Pop gets to do the dedicating she got to be held by him too!  She just loves her Pop!  You will see in the pictures that Kelly & I took turns trying to wrestly our little "alligator".

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The one picture with Kate looking still

 

I finally let her down to stand at the stage and stare at the instruments

My First Mother's Day with Kate

 We spent Sunday afternoon with Kelly's family and Sunday night with my Mama and family.  I have the best Mama ever and I am very lucky to have her!  I know this Mother's Day was tough for my Mama, not only because her mom isn't here anymore but yesterday was also my Daddy's birthday.  He would have been 62.  We miss him so much but also celebrate him and the time we had with him.   Love you Mama!!

Paula, Mama, and Me