Columbus, Ohio

Last weekend we drove to Columbus, Ohio to visit our friends Josh and Jessica. They graduated from the IU MBA program this May and moved away. They were one of our closest friends from Bloomington, and we were sad when they left. They invited us to spend the weekend at their new house. It was a lot of fun. We left early Friday morning and drove four hours to their cute new house. Josh was also a Consumer Marketing major at IU and so took Tom to work with him at Scotts to show him what he was working on. Tom enjoyed seeing and meeting new people and was impressed by the company. Ainsley and I hung out with Jessica, who took us to Easton Shopping Center which was a huge outdoor as well as indoor mall. We met up with Chris Rich, another MBA friend from Bloomington who is also living in the area. We had lunch and watched Chris' kids run through the water fountain.

Jess, Chris, and Me

After Jessica and I went to Easton, we met up with Josh and Tom and went a restaurant called Brazenhead for dinner. Then we walked around downtown Dublin to an icecream shop called Jeni's which specialize in usual icecream flavors. We each got to sample some unusual flavors. I had four small scoops of "Goatcheese and Roasted Red Cherries" (this was my favorite), "Sweet Corn and Blackberry"(also very good), "Salty Carmel" and "Wildberry Lavender"(tasted like I was eating a flower). Tom was more adventrous than me. He tried "Cayenne" and "Thai Pepper" which were very spicy, as well as"Wild Strawberry" and "Dark chocolate"

Eating icecream at Jeni's
Ainsley's favorite part of the weekend was hanging out with Riley. We used to go on walks with Jessica and Riley in Bloomington. Ainsley was a little nervous to pet Riley when we got there on Friday but by the end of the weekend they were best pals.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Columbus Zoo with Josh and Jessica as well as Matt and Crispy Rich and their kids. It is an amazing zoo and we had a blast. Tom and I have not been to a zoo since we were kids and it was Ainsley's first zoo trip as well. It rained on and off while we were there, but we still had a lot of fun!
Reese's first zoo trip together!
Cooper, Ruby, and Ainsley hanging out together on a rickshaw. Ainsley was fascinated by Ruby. I think she wishes she could have Ruby as an older sister.
Tom tried to have Ainsley pet the goats, she didn't like it. Too scary for her.

Checking out some sheep


This was the highlight of the zoo, the baby boy elephant who was born in March. Compared to his mom, he was tiny yet he still weighed about 500 lbs. He ran around and played in the dirt. He was stinking cute....Susie, this is for you cause we know how much you love baby elephants:)

I had never seen this animal, it's an Okapi. They looked like a giraffe but with legs like a zebra.

Giant Gorilla

Tom took Ainsley on her first carosel ride. She was pretty tired and grumpy so she didn't enjoy it quite as much as we had hoped.

Ainsley checking out the leopard

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Ainsley and Ruby with an elephant and rhino

Me, Ains, and the manatees

Ainsley was so tired that she fell asleep in Jessica's arms about 5 seconds after this picture was taken.
Sleeping baby, sleeping kangaroo

After the zoo, Josh and Jessica took us to a world market where you could sample lots of different foods from around the world. They all looked amazing, but Jessica and I decided to try Indian food for dinner. Then we had a Leige style Belgium waffle which were very authentic. They were delicious. Afterwards, we had to say goodbye. It was so fun to see them again, and we appreciate their friendship so much! We miss having them as neighbors but wish them Best of Luck in their new life in Ohio! Thanks for the great weekend!

Yummy Indian food!

On our way home from Columbus, we drove through Dayton and stopped by our old friends Nate and Nicole's. Nate was Tom's roommate at BYU seven years ago. The four of us went on our first date together to the Bombay House on Jan. 31, 2003. We hadn't seen them in over 3 years or met either of their little girls. It was fun to see them, even though it was very brief. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again soon!!!

Walk, Walk, Walk

Smile!

Ainsley and Lambchops #1 and Lambchops #2
The story of why she has 2 lambs: Last year, one of my students gave Ainsley Lambchops #1 at my class baby shower. Well, this past Easter I saw the same stuffed animal at the store and decided to buy a backup (actually 2 backups). I knew Ainsley was very attached to the lamb and people kept telling me if one got lost or too grubby, it would be good to have a backup. So we keep one in the crib at all times and the other one downstairs to play with during the day. Sometimes both make it downstairs though. But she doesn't seemed puzzled why there are sometimes two lambs that look identical. Notice she has unpicked the mouth on both of them. We keep Lambchops #3 in the closet so it doesn't get dirty at all. I only wish I had backups of her doggie. That is the stuffed animal she is mostly attached to, and it has already had to be stiched up twice. I think it is going to fall apart soon and there will be nothing we can do to replace it:(

Well, it is official. Ainsley is finally walking on her own! It took a month since her first few steps, but she is now pulling away from furniture and walking around the apartment instead of crawling. We are excited for her!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ainsley loves the laptop, anytime it is out she gets really excited because she thinks she is going to skype with her grandparents. She loves to touch the keyboard and mousepad. She also loves to look at pictures on Tom's iphone now too.

I realized today that this week is one year from my abdominal surgery to remove my tumor. I had 65% of my liver removed, galbladder taken out, a blood transfusion, 3 tubes in me, and 38 staples. It took about 3 months to get over and a 9 inch scar, but I feel great now. I feel so blessed that everything worked out and that I feel better than I have in a long time. Thanks to everyone who helped me during that difficult time. I was truly blessed!

Smiling

I haven't had anything to post this week. Tom used the car everyday and so Ainsley and I were stuck home. So I decided to post these pictures that were taken by our friend Laura a few weeks ago while she was babysitting Ainsley for us. I really appreciated them because Ainsley is smiling in them! Lately it is so hard to get Ainsley to sit still and actually smile for pictures...as soon as she sees a camera out, she just freezes up and stares at it. So thanks, Laura.

The next stuff is for journaling purposes. I haven't written down what Ainsley has learned to do in the last several months. I'm sorry it is so long, you don't have to read it unless you really want to know:)

Ainsley:14 Months
Words:
-Oh, Yeah
-Ma-hee (Mommy)
-Dada
-Ok
-Uh, oh
-Ka, ka (for anything gross)
-Mmm-ma(Grandma)

Signs-
-Milk
-All done
-More
-Eat
-Banana
-Apple
-Cracker
-Bread
-Cheese
-Bath
-Wash hands
-Baby
-Hat
-Car
-Soap
-Asleep or Nap
-Shoes
-Socks
-Bird
-Please
-Thank you
-Bye bye
Ainsley loves to watch Signing Time. We will watch one every few days and she will sign right along with the movie. But she isn't speaking much and I wonder if it is because we have been using sign language and she can use that to communicate instead of verbally. Hopefully as I speak and use signs though, she will catch up on the words quickly. Any advice from those of you who have used sign language with your tots?

Habits and New Skills:
-Ainsley is learning her body parts and can point out her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly button, and toes. She also is learning to color. She loves to hold pens and crayons and scribble. She also enjoys eating the crayons.
-She still only has two bottom teeth. She is beginning to get one of her inscisors though. She is going to look like a little vampire without her two front teeth:)
-Ainsley's absolute favorite thing to do is to talk to her grandparents on Skype or webcam. Everytime we open Tom's laptop, she gets so excited because she thinks we are going to talk to them. She knows the ringing tone on the computer and will start to scream in excitement for us to answer it so we can talk to her grandparents. Ainsley loves her grandmas! She likes to point out grandma everytime. If grandma leaves the screen view for a few seconds, as soon as she comes back in view, Ainsley will point to her again. It leaves smudges all over the computer screen.

-Ainsley is such a little busy body now. We can't get her to sit still for more than a few seconds. For her first birthday, Grandma Butler gave her a doll stroller. She loves to push it around the apartment. She will put stuffed animals as well as other objects she finds around the house in the stroller. I often have to check the stroller for my keys and cell phone that she has retrieved.
-Ainsley also loves purses. Anything that has a loop will become a pretend purse. She has been known to put her panties, swimsuit, t-shirt, grocery bags, etc. on her arm as if it was a purse. Grandma Butler bought her a little pink purse that is just her size. She will put things in it and carry it around with her stroller.
-Ainsley's favorite stuffed animal is "Doggie," a little stuffed dog that Grandma Butler sent her for Valentines. She sleeps with it every night and carries it around with her all day. It is well loved and has already had to be stitched up twice. Her favorite thing to do with it is stroke the tail. When we lay her down at night, she will twirl the tail in her fingers until she falls asleep. It has already fallen off once and looks like it will fall off again soon. She also loves a stuffed lamb we nicknamed, "Lambchops."
-This past week Ainsley has become a little "Mommy." When she was about 5-7 months old she was completely attached to a pink baby doll. But her little doggie has since replaced it. But this week, the baby doll was out and so I taught her how to wrap the baby in a blanket and then hold it and rock it to sleep. She loves to do it now. She lays the blanket out on the floor and will carefully pull the sides over the baby and get it all wrapped up. Then she will hug it and rock it and kiss it. She will also stroke it's head and lay it down to sleep as well as put it in her stroller and push it around. It's pretty cute.
-Ainsley loves to dance. Anytime music comes on, she will automatically start to bounce and nod her head along with the beat. She will also yell and sing along. She knows all of the actions to "Popcorn Popping" and will do them with me every time we sing it. She also sing along with the "Ah, ah, oh" part of Little Brown Jug (we have modified that song a bit though since it is a drinking song:)
-Ainsley loves to see animals and other babies. Whenever she sees them, she will make a high pitched squeal and point. It sounds like, "Eeee, eeee, eeee..." Each time I go to the mall, we visit a small pet store there that has about 10 glass cages of puppies. She puts her hands on the glass and squeals at every one.
-Ainsley learned how to walk on June 10, 2009. That entire weekend she did really well. She would take several steps going between Tom and I. But as the weeks have gone by, she has actually gotten worse. We struggle to get her to take even a few steps between us. It is not that she can't do it...it is that she seems too scared to even try anymore. She loves to walk holding our hand, and so we try to make her walk everywhere around the house instead of carrying her. But as soon as we let go, she will stand for a few seconds then automatically drop to her bum. It is very frustrating, but we've learned that Ainsley will only do things when she is finally ready. She couldn't be forced to roll or crawl until she was ready and walking will just be the same way.
-Ainsley does like to crawl up the stairs though. She will do it everytime she gets a chance which has gotten pretty tricky because we haven't bought a gate, so if we're not watching she'll head straight for the stairs.
-Ainsley loves to feed herself now. She won't let you feed her anything anymore, she must do it herself. She likes to pick up the bowl, so most of the food ends up on the tray or on her rather than in her mouth. She also likes to pretend to eat using a spoon. I will often put an empty plastic bowl and spoon on her tray while she eats so she can practice the hand/eye coordination without making a mess. Another time, we gave her an empty frosty cup from Wendy's and she pretended to eat it with a spoon for about an hour.
-She is starting to obey or follow directions more often. When she does something that she is not supposed to do (such as open the entertainment center drawers) we will shake our heads and say no....she will start shaking her head too and has this look on her face like she is agreeing with us and saying, "No, Mom you're not supposed to do that-I was just making sure you knew that you weren't supposed to be doing it."
-We are trying to teach Ainsley to fold her arms each time we pray now. At night, we will read her a story, sing her a song, then say a prayer with her before bed. But often when we have her in our laps during a prayer, she will stick her finger and poke us in the eyes because she doesn't understand why we have our eyes closed.
-The tantrums have officially begun. When she doesn't get something she wants, she will throw her head back and scream and whine. She will also hit and try to bite me. It is shocking to see her behave this way because it is so different than other times she has been upset. I have tried to establish a "time out" on the bottom stair when she behaves like this, but she doesn't quite understand and will continue to scream at me because I am forcing her to sit still. So the last two times, I've actually taken her up to bed and put her in her crib with her binky. She will stop crying immediately. But I don't want her to associate her crib as time out because then she will never want to go in it for naps or to sleep....we'll have to see. Any advice from other moms?

Whoever thought a cute face like this could throw such a tantrum?