Ok, I promised more updates. I’m sure you’re really interested in how the ultrasound and perinatologist and midwife visits went today, but you’ll have to wait for those……
The end of July was a bit of a whirlwind. On the 29th Wes left for Orlando for 8 days. This of course was a BIG change for us. He’s never been away from Ashleigh that long, I’ve never been the lone parent for more than 48 hours, and I don’t think Wes and I had been apart that long since before I moved to Maryland 7 years ago. Of course add the pregnancy hormones onto that and well, you have a big basket case. The day before Wes left Ashleigh made some artwork for Wes. She made 3 different prints, two we gave to him when he got home, and the 3rd we hid in his carry on bag. We used the Clementine Art Print making kit that Ashleigh received for her birthday. She loves it. She used it every day Wes was gone. She made prints for Wes, Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, a few more yet to be delivered, and one for me. Here are the photos of the prints she made for Wes, as well as ones that we took the day before he left.
Wes’s flight was at noon on Tuesday, so we had him to the airport at 10:30 AM, which left Ashleigh and me with a full day ahead of us. We came home, relaxed a bit, and of course, Ashleigh made more pictures. We met Hillary, Neil, and the kids at Chick-fil-a for kid’s night. Since she had refused to nap during the day she passed out in the car. The funny part was that she put her book over her face and then fell asleep. So, she napped with A Chair for My Mother on her face. You can laugh at her and enjoy the photos…
The day after Wes left was Wednedsay. Wednesday happened to be National Cheesecake Day (did you know there was one of those? I didn’t). 2008 also happens to be the 30th anniversary year of The Cheesecake Factory. Of course this means that they had a big special. They had all of their cheesecakes for only $1.50! Of course we couldn’t make a trip to the Inner Harbor without something fun, so we went to the Aquarium. We’ve got to use those memberships while we have them! We hung out at the Aquarium until they closed, and then we headed over to Barnes and Noble to look at some books. We had forgotten all about a gift card Ashleigh received for Christmas. It had been in Wes’s wallet, and I had recently put it in my purse. I told Ashleigh I was going to stop to get a drink on our way to the book store. I opened the door to Chipotle and headed in. As soon as I did that, Ashleigh asked if we could have a pickle. Well, a pregnant lady never turns down a pickle, so we closed the door to Chipotle and walked next door to Potbelly. I have to say, I didn’t mind. I much prefer Potbelly’s food, but Chipotle was closer, so that’s where I was going to stop for a drink. We waited in line, and $2.50 later we walked out with a large pickle to share and a large Diet Coke.
We eventually made it to Barnes and Noble where Ashleigh got to pick out three books. I tried to help guide her a bit, but I did let her make the decision on her own because it was her gift card. She picked out It’s Wubbzy, The Little Mermaid, and Welcome To Your World Baby. I tried to talk her out of Wubbzy, but it didn’t work. I figured it was her gift card, so she should get what she wants. Unfortunately I am the one who has to read it to her! 
We then headed over to The Cheesecake Facotry to get our names on the list. Hillary was meeting us for Cheesecake. I expected it to be an hour or so wait, so when I knew she was almost an hour out I went over. Little did I know they were going to tell me it was an hour and half to TWO HOUR wait! Geez. All for $1.50 cheesecake. Ash and I headed up to Pizzeria Uno to grab a quick dinner. It was nearly 8 PM, which meant it would be 9:30 – 10 PM before we sat down to eat! Yikes. We needed dinner before 10. We had a lousy meal with a horrid waiter. Hillary went to see how much longer our wait would be for The Cheesecake Factory, and we were told we were any minute. I quickly paid our bill and headed down stairs. One order of Avacado Eggrolls, two coffees, and three slices of cheesecake later we were all quite satisified and ready to head home. It really was a wonderful day, you can see those photos here–
The next day we went swimming with our friend Erin from church, Ashleigh had a blast. It was a little cooler than any other day had been, so we didn’t stay that long. We had a lovely visit with Erin, finished with some ice cream from Baskin Robbins. We headed home to shower, and while we had planned on going back to Hillary and Neil’s for dinner, I was just way too worn out. We stayed home instead. It was nice to relax at home considering the few days we had had.
Friday found us heading to PA for the weekend to visit my parents. Friday night we headed to MusikFest. Mom and Dad had never “done” Musikfest. I had never made it to the end we started at, and the last time I was there was the summer of 1999. We had some food and walked around. We met up with Ted, and while we were waiting Ashleigh spotted an ice cream stand. That kid has radar, I swear. So, Grandpa had enough tickets left that Ashleigh got some ice cream. She enjoyed eating it while we waited for Uncle Ted to make his way to the giant ice cream cone where we were standing. We hung out for a while, and then Ted made his way back to the pavillion where his friends all were to watch a band. Mom, Dad, Ash, and I did a little more walking. We found a stand that had giant pickles on a stick, and it just so happened we had just enough food coupons left to get one. So, Ashleigh, Mom, and I shared a pickle on a stick as we walked some more and then headed back to the car. Mom teased Ashleigh about eating ice cream and then a pickle. Which one of us is pregnant?
Saturday we hung out during the day and then headed over to the stadium in Allentown for DCI East. We got to see The Dunneman’s, who are friends of the family who always come to the valley that weekend to see their oldest son Mason, who used to march, and now is an instructor with Phantom Regiment. I was worried about how Ashleigh would handle the show, beinc that she doesn’t like loud noises, and she hadn’t been to a show in 2 years. She LOVED it! The Phantom shirt she had was too small (12-18 mos) so Grandma had to take care of that! She got a new shirt, and she was very excited that it was red! She also enjoyed some pink and blue cotton candy as well as some funnel cake. When I took her to the bathroom she realized we were missing a corps. She was very upset to be missing the show. I was very impressed with how well she behaved, how nicely she sat, and how much fun she truly had. She suremade Grandpa proud!
Sunday was up for church, and then back to pack to head home. We made it home in time to get to church Sunday night and had Monday at home to relax and cleanup from the whirlwind week we had. Tuesday was Ashleigh’s first art class at The Painting Workshop. She LOVED her class. It was a blast. We were signed up for the Mommy & Me class. She painted Daddy a beautiful picture frame with a fish on it. It was a wooden Ikea picture fram with a wooden cut out fish that she selected from the variety of shapes they offered her. She had pink, orange, yellow, and red paint to use, and she painted the whole thing. the only help I gave her was holding it while she painted the edges. Once the frame was done she got to make a lovely spin art painting for the inside. She did great. the last part of class is making playdough. They have the kids help make it (no parents allowed) to get the kids used to gooey art stuff. She did great and had a blast. Unfortunately for us we were the only ones to sign up for the class, so that was our first and last class :’( We’re hoping to find a class that works for us in the fall.
Class was from 3:30 – 4:30, and Wes’s plane was due in at 5:15. Perfect! Too perfect….Wes’s plane was delayed almost 2 hours and he didn’t leave Orlando until almost 5. This left Ashleigh and I with not enough time to go home and relax, but way tooooo much time to just go to the airport. So, we headed downtown and visited the Science Center. We got to walk through the dinosaur area before they closed, and then we walked around the harbor and enjoyed some Rita’s. We headed over to the airport and on our way I got a text message from Wes letting me know they had laneded. I was kind of bummed that the flight was shorter than it was supposed to be, because that meant we wouldn’t be able to get to baggage claim to meet him! Well, lucky for us, unlucky for him, it took them 20 minutes to open the gate and let them off the plane. We were able to park, run across to baggage claim and walk down just in time to see his first bag come on to the carousel. I grabbed it and then saw Wes. Ashleigh hadn;t noticed him when I started dragging her around the carousel to where he was. We were able to sneak up on him, and Ashleigh gave him the picture she had made in art class and the Sweedish Fish she had put in her pocket to bring to him. And like a good sport he ate those Sweedish Fish. Blue Denim lint and all. We headed to Dockside, our favorite place to eat, for dinner, and then home to relax.
Wednesday was spent doing laundry and recovering from the week. Thursday night and Friday we got to spend at Hillary and Neil’s. They had an out of town wedding Friday AM, so Wes, Ashleigh, and I spent the night with Owen and Blake. It’s a big adjustment to go from one three year old and a dog to two three year olds, a one year old, and two dogs. It was exhausting, but we had fun. Ashleigh did NOT want to go home Friday evening.
This weekend we hung out and spent some family time. We enjoyed some time at the playground yesterday. I have some cute video on my cell phone. I’ll try to get that up tomorrow. Ashleigh taught Laci a new trick. You’ll get a kick out of it.
Today was spent on the new baby, but that will be a seperate post…
