Our Little "Walker"

Girlfriend is on the move...literally. She wants to walk everywhere! She can take several steps by herself, but mostly just wants to hold your hand and cruise around. Chris and I took her to Fashion Island this weekend to enjoy the beautiful weather and spend some time together since Chris has been gone for a couple of weeks.

We took a traditional trip to the pet store for Ashley to scream with delight at every puppy she sees. As we left, she insisted on walking from the pet store all the way to the carousel. So, walk she did...




After her long walk, she took a fun ride on the carousel with Daddy.




Again, she decided that she would rather walk to the car than hitch a ride in the stroller or in Mom or Dad's arms. She walked all the way from Macy's to the Koi Ponds, through the Atrium shops and out to the parking lot. For those of you not familiar to Fashion Island...that is REALLY far.





Once we got back to our car and we buckled her into her carseat, I took off her little shoes to cool off her feet. What did I find? Two big blisters on her big toes. My little girl is learning one of the most important rites of passage to womanhood at a very early age...I guess it's time for Baby Jimmy Choo!

My Apologies, Dear Readers

Originally, I had a grand plan to start a blog about what its like for a working woman to handle the transition to working mom. I thought I would have all of these cute stories to post and I really wanted to make people laugh and provide a little reprieve from daily life for our friends and family... How cute I was, thinking I would have all of this free time to luxuriate over how to dramatize our little stories.

My original intent was never to post an online scrapbook - it was just to share some funny anecdotes about motherhood and cute pictures of Ashley. So please know that if you haven't seen yourself on the blog or are wondering why you haven't seen certain pictures of family or friends, it's just because I was trying to make this into something different.

We are blessed to have so many visitors, both frequent and infrequent ... but sometimes we also just don't have the camera out and ready! All 6 grandparents visit quite frequently and so do Ashley's aunties and uncle. If you don't see pictures of them, its not that they haven't been here, its just that we might not have snapped any photos! I promise to try and be better about that and once a month will try and post pictures to share all of our fun photos of family and friends - regardless of whether or not I have a funny story to share!

And to kick off my monthly promise, here are some fun summer photos of Ashley and family! ...And sorry to our other dear friends and family that aren't represented here! I will try and do a better job at being the "historian!"

The Pumpkin Patch

This weekend, I took Ashley to the Pumpkin Patch. We had a great time - there were pumpkins and tractors and a petting zoo ... but really, its just a bunch of us parents being super annoying while trying to get our kids to smile for pictures. Here is some video for your amusement and please excuse my annoying voice!

The Great Escape

It seems our little darling is already trying to sneak out of the house!

Is That All You Got?!

I took Ashley for a flu shot today. Girlfriend didn't even flinch when they gave her the shot. No tears, no crying, nothing.

Tough as nails.

She Walks! And Other Cool Stuff

On Friday, when I got home from work, Ashley took her first two steps! I wish that I had the video camera out, but I honestly wasn't expecting her to do it! It was so wonderful to be there for that momentous occasion (and not at work, like I was when she crawled for the first time!) She did it for her daddy too - and then hasn't done it since! At least we both got to see her first try!

In other "firsts," Ashley went on her first Duffy boat ride this weekend. The life jacket was tolerated for about 2 minutes and then it was clearly just annoying. She did show some mild amusement when she was allowed to "drive," as referenced in the last photo below...




And lastly, enjoy this video of our little monkey.