The Linda Family

Ashleigh has always had a healthy imagination, however this week she has taken it a step further. She will now pretend to be a dog, and she will “bark” for people to pet her and scratch her ears. She has also tried to drink her water with no hands. Oh what a child! I usually pat her on the head and tell her what a good dog she is and go on my way. She loves it.

Today Wes asked her to play in her room for a while as we were both trying to get work done and she was trying to jump and climb all over me, which wasn’t going over well! She played for a long time up there. I was worried about what she could be getting into, but figured it couldn’t be that bad. All of a sudden we heard her crying for Mommy. Wes jumped up and went to her rescue. It wasn’t a “My leg is falling off and I’m about to die” kind of cry, more like a, “I don’t know how this happened but I want it to sto” type of cry. I wasn’t very worried about it, until I heard Wes laughing hysterically. I figured I needed to go check it out. I get upstairs to find Wes sitting on the floor of Ashleigh’s room next to her bed. Her room is covered in sheets and blankets. It seems she decided the cabinet side of her dresser looked better empty and the blankets and sheets looked better all over her room. I noticed that I didn’t see Ashleigh. I look to see Wes struggling with a laundry basket. Ashleigh is under her bed, with the top half of her body under the laundry basket. I picked up the bed and Wes got her free.

When we asked how she got stuck under her bed, her response was, “I was playing hide and seek with my kids!” of course….why else would a 3 year old be hiding under a laundry basket under her bed….it all makes sense now!

Ashleigh woke up this morning and requested a hot dog for breakfast. I’m not sure which one of us is truly pregnant! I tried to talk her into breakfast food, but it wasn’t happening, so off I went to make her a hot dog. After she ate her hot dog, she proceeded to finish my yogurt and ask for more. She had a bowl of yogurt and then decided that she wanted popcorn! After a bowl of popcorn she asked for a slice of the Amish Friendship bread I made last week! Geez. There are days I can barely get the child to eat a sandwich all day, and then days like today where she must be eating for the whole week! What a kid! I was finally able to get some of the videos I’ve taken of Ashleigh off my phone and onto the computer, you’ll find those below. Wes also got our scanner to work, so I do have the ultrasound photos posted as well. Keep in mind that while the machine the Perinatologist has is a higher tech machine than the OB who delivered Ashleigh had, my ultrasound with this little one was a full two weeks before the first ultrasound with Ashleigh, so the baby doesn’t look like a baby at all yet At that point the baby was about the size of a blueberry, as of Wednesday we will be onto the size of a fig. It’s amazing to me how such a tiny little being can cause so many changes in my body! I’m excited for the changes to be more fun changes, more movements, belly growing, and less feeling sick and tired. But, the time will come. Until then I’ll just be happy and thankful that I am carrying a healthy baby. That is the important part.

Enjoy the videos of Ashleigh and the ultrasound photos!

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Yesterday Wes and I met with a financial person at Wachovia. We decided that since our car loan and both business accounts are with them, we should move my 401K and Wes’s RothIRA over as well as our personal accounts. We figured that having everything with Wachovia would make them like us more when we go to get a home loan in a few months

As we sat there waiting for our turn (despite the fact that we had an appointment) Ashleigh announced that she wanted a piggy bank. She mentioned wanting a piggy bank around her birthday, but around her birthday anything she saw she asked for, for her birthday of course. It’s been months, and she hasn’t said another word, so I forgot about the conversation completely. Wes told her that if she behaved while we were at the bank we would go look for one after we were done. She did remarkably well considering we had a 4:30 appointment, were taken back to the office around 5, and left the bank at 6:30. We were all hungry, so we grabbed some dinner and then went to Target.

When we pulled into Target we had the best laugh of the day. We parked next to a Kia sedan. Nothing major, not falling apart from the looks of it, just an average joe type car. Well….Two women, presumably mother and daughter, walk up with an elementary school aged child and a toddler. Grandma gets in the car and grabs the gallon of iced tea from the floor and starts chugging it. Then mom comes around to the driver’s side and climbs through the window. Yup, the woman entered the car through the window. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. We laughed about it for half the shopping trip.

We went to where I assumed the piggy banks would be and Wes found 2 options for Ashleigh on an endcap. One was a pink ladybug, and one was a monkey. She just looked at them both, not satisfied at all. I then found some real pig shaped ones. There was a red one and a purple one with flowers. She still looked at us blankly, and she say, “But pigs are really pink.” Ok, so we got the point. I look to my left and what do I see? Yup, a pink piggy bank, but not just any old pink piggy bank, this one is a princess pink pig piggy bank. It has a tiara and a tutu on. Ashleigh has been asking for pennies for her piggy bank since we got in the car last night. She’s quite upset that the bank is not full already. I guess she doesn’t quite grasp the concept, but we figure encouraging her to save her pennies now is a good thing. She was thrilled when I found a quarter in her room today and called her in to put it in the bank. She wanted to bring the pig downstairs with her this morning. At least she’s excited.

I guess I never did tell you the Ashleigh story behind the baby. When we decided it was time for a new baby I started discussing the thought of a new baby with Ashleigh. She was less than thrilled. That honestly surprised me because she loves her friend’s younger siblings so much. We talked about how Owen has a little brother, Blake, and Mia has a little sister Simone, and they both love their siblings. She then realized that she loved their siblings too. It was then that she decided that she wanted a brother and a sister.

While we never hid the pregnancy from her, we waited a few weeks before we outright told her. Her reaction was very cute. We sat her down and told her that she is going to be a big sister, and that there is a baby growing in Mommy’s belly. Her eyes got very big and she had a huge smile on her face. She then turned and gave me the biggest hug. She really was excited. It was so precious.

Since then she will tell you that she wants a brother and a sister. If you ask her which she wants, her response is always “BOTH!”. It never varies. This made me slightly nervous, since kids seem to have a second sense about such things, and my blood levels were higher than the average for twins for my first two blood draws. I didn’t check where #3 fell, because by the time I had gotten those results we had already been to the doctor and they had searched all over for a second baby. There really is only one.

About 5 – 10 times a day, depending on the day, Ashleigh comes over to me to ask if she can say hi to the baby. She lifts up my shirt and talks to my belly. She usually says something along the lines of, ‘Hi baby! I love you! Oh Mommy! Baby says she loves me too!’ and then she kisses my stomach and goes back to playing. It is the cutest thing.

Ashleigh is also very much into her imaginary friends right now. She has 4 “kids” who are all 4 (this week, this does change). She and her kids have purchased many rattles for the baby, and she tells us all the time how she is going to help take good care of the baby. She is apparently excited for diaper duty. Only time will tell what will actually happen, but I think that she is on the right page. We keep telling her how excited we all are, and she tells me how much she loves being a big sister. There’s no doubt in my mind that she will be a great big sister. Hopefully she’ll find the patience to wait until January! Tonight she told us she wanted the baby to come out now! Yikes….

So, Ashleigh and I finally got to try out her brand new golf clubs! She was so excited to go outside. I talked her into carrying her golf clubs on her back, but that didn’t last long. After being trapped by the entertainment center, the coffee table, laci, and the stairs she was ready for daddy to carry the clubs. Oh well, we’ll have to work on that right?

So outside we went, and away she went. Swinging, missing, swinging hitting. I think she might be more inclined to lefty, but we’ll see how she does over the next few months.

It was a blast, got a few pics and I’ll upload some video later as well. Enjoy the pics.

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