Birthdays, Phones, and Milestones.

Wow... it's been awhile. Keaton is going through a phase right now (at least I hope it's a phase...) where he takes over an hour to settle down and take a nap. Lately whenever I finally get him down for one, I am exhausted myself, so instead of blogging or doing other things, I nap, too. This morning I decided that I would have a cup of coffee (Eight O'Clock Hazelnut rocks my world!!) and so far it's making me much more productive than normal. I already have one load of laundry done and two put away, and the dishwasher is done running and ready to be unloaded. I have a ton of cleaning and picking up to do, but I figure that can wait... until when, I'm not sure. I need to hire an assistant. For real.

In other news, I guess it's been almost a week since I wrote last, so I'll try to remember what's happened since then. Sprint happened... a lot. I went to the Sprint store too many times in the last week. In that time, I got to upgrade my phone old phone to a new one (the Samsung Intercept), went back in to try and get the pictures from my old one (with no luck, unfortunately... they wouldn't transfer to the new one so they are gone). Then I went back in a few days later because my new phone was freezing and I decided to exchange it for a new one (the LG Optimus). After that, Keaton and I went back again so Casey could upgrade his phone. I have been there so often, I think I know all of the employees by name. I really hope I don't have to go back anytime soon, because it takes sooooo freaking long every time we go! Glad to have a new phone, though... it's a little addictive and I have to try and control myself in how much I use it to surf the internet or check my e-mail. :)

In other tech-ish news, we decided to get a video monitor for Keaton's room so we could keep an eye on him since he's cruising so much right now. It is nice to be able to see what he's doing without having to guess what each noise is. I watched him for almost 30 minutes this morning as he walked around and around his crib. Some days are better than others, but the last few have been tough. I went to a birthday party Saturday night, and it took Casey almost 45 minutes to get Keaton to settle down and go to sleep, even though he was exhausted. It's like his little legs just want to keep going and he can't make them stop. Lord, please let this be a stage!!

The last 3 weekends in a row have been spent going to first birthday parties... first Keaton's, then our friend Blaine's, and this weekend it was Nolan's turn. All the boys are so close together in age that we had to coordinate when we were having the parties because we didn't want any to overlap. I can't believe Keaton (and all his buddies) are ONE now. We had to miss out on our friend Lucas' party this past weekend because of Nolan's. What a good month to be born, apparently! Our little guys are growing up.

Speaking of that, here are a few more milestones that Mr. K has reached lately:

•  He can say "owl" but only does it when he wants to (it sounds like "ow" so I was confused for awhile and thought he was in pain. Haha!) He can also point to the owl picture for the "O" on his alphabet toy.
• He likes to share... he'll hand us toys when he's playing, and tries to share his food with me while he's eating. He thinks it's pretty hilarious to try and put food in my mouth, and one day spent 3 straight minutes intentionally dropping the food before it got to my mouth because it made us both laugh. He's such a goofball!
• He can throw and kick a little bit now- he loves to try and lift his foot to kick a ball, and gets really excited when he actually makes contact! 
• He points to his belly button now instead of being obsessed with mine. Yay! (See picture above.)

I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting, but I wanted to be sure to update a bit so I don't forget. Once again, I still have a few pictures left on the 30 Day Photo Challenge... which has turned out to be the 45 or 50 Day Challenge at this point... but I WILL finish soon! For now, I'm going to relax a bit while the kid is asleep so I can have energy for our lunch date with my friend Michelle. More later!

-Ash

A Few Things

I've learned a few lessons recently.

1.  If you decide it's a good idea to buy Valentine's Day candy on clearance at Walmart, and you decide you can't wait until you get home to eat it so you open it and it spills all over the car seat, consider that Karma telling you to save your money next time... keep it up and your money will go straight to your dentist anyway!
2. Keeping a child up past their bedtime does NOT mean they will sleep in the next morning. In fact, it means they will most likely get up even earlier than normal.
3. Allowing said child to play a computer game on your laptop may be cute at first, until the child hits a button and your computer goes crazy and now boots up in a totally different way. (I have no idea what Keaton did, but I no longer need a password to start up the laptop, the icons on my desktop are in a different order, and Windows had to reboot just to open a Word document. Uhhh ohhhh...

-Ash

Short entry, long nap.

I'm fairly certain I am about to jinx myself, but Keaton has been napping for over 2 hours right now. I wonder if he's going through another growth spurt, or if this is starting to become a normal occurrence (in which case I could get a lot more done around the house, I think!)... only time will tell. People frequently ask me what his sleep schedule is like, and I found myself saying different things all the time- he is kind of unpredictable. Today he woke up at 4:30 a.m., ate, and slept until 7:30. He fell asleep at 11:45 a.m. and is still going. OH... until now. There's my Keaton alarm! Hopefully he'll be good to go until bedtime tonight. Yay for longer naps!!

Moving On

I got a new cell phone yesterday!! So far I like it a lot, and have probably spent a bit too much time playing around with it so far, but it is pretty awesome. :) The not-so-awesome part is that they weren't able to get the photos from my old phone, so all the pics of Charley, Keaton, etc., are gone. I forgot to remind the guy helping us last night to take them off, but I called them this morning and my old phone was still there, so I went in to see what they could do. The guy tried hard to help me, but for some reason my new phone would not accept photos from the old one, and in order to get them off myself I would have to buy an adapter for the old phone, hook it up to my own computer, and hope for the best. I didn't see a point in buying an adapter for a phone I don't have anymore, to get pictures that wouldn't be very good quality anyway... but the sentimental part of me is pretty bummed right now. I wish there would have been a computer there to borrow, or equipment I could have used, but alas it was not to be. Oh well... I have tons of pictures of both the boys anyway, so I will try not to think about it anymore- what's done is done. Now I have a nice new phone with web access, so if I get any good ones I'll be sure to put them on Flickr or something ASAP! Lesson learned. Hopefully.

That's all for now...

-Ash

1 Year Appointment

30 Day Photo Challenge: A photo of your favorite subject in school:

Is it possible that I can say 'Photography' for the 4th or 5th time during this challenge? Broken record. I'll at least post a different pic this time...


Keaton did well at his 1 year appointment yesterday, in spite of getting 4 shots... he even showed off for the Dr. by crawling over to him and begging to be picked up! He is 29 inches now (1 more inch to go until he's half my height!), and actually 'lost' some weight (which seems weird, but they were judging by his weight in December when I took him in for a sick visit and they weighed him with his clothes on). He's stretched out quite a bit with all this crawling and cruising, so I'm not totally shocked by this, and I won't be worried unless it doesn't change.

Last night my boys took me out for a nice dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants. Keaton showed off yet again by eating an entire dumpling by himself, and allowing Casey to feed him with chopsticks! Weird, but he really liked the 'gyoza' and enjoyed a different feeding method. It was a nice date night with my boys- we even dressed up for the occasion! We were out later than we had intended to be, and Keaton didn't get to bed until almost 8, so I was surprised when he woke up this morning at 5:30 and did not go back to sleep until almost 9:15! He's currently on a 1.5 hour nap, and counting. I'm so glad he's started sleeping longer recently. Now I just have to get my ass in gear and get something accomplished while he's doing it.

In other news, it looks like I might get a new phone today. Casey and I went to the Sprint store and checked out our options. My phone is a piece of... you know what... and I am excited to upgrade and get something decent that has a GPS and internet access! Now I just have to figure out which phone is right for me... they are all so big and bulky that I don't want to feel like I'm carrying around a small laptop. We'll see what happens today, but I'm thankful that Casey has been so helpful in the process. I think he realized that I get myself lost often enough and our GPS is so out of date that this might be the solution.

Well, little man is waking up so time for me to go. More later!

-Ash

Photo Catch-up

Hellooooo, it's me again. Who else would it be? Ha. Anyway, I decided that since I am spending time cleaning up the DVR, I should also catch up on the 30 Day Photo Challenge since I am pretty far behind.

Day twenty-three: a photo of something you want to do someday.

Photographer... of some kind. Day 24 is similar: A photo of what you want to be when you grow up. We'll just use the same pic. Again, I have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but that's my goal!

Day twenty-five: a photo that inspires you:

This photo inspires me for several reasons. It was the first day of our lives together. I love how we look like little kids... and in a way, we were... but it reminds me of how far we've come. We are still together all these years later, and I am inspired by the love we have always had. I like that we are still kids at heart, and hopefully we always will be.

 That's all for today... just felt like writing again. :)

-Ash

Recap

Hard to believe that Keaton's birthday was almost a week ago! I have been so busy with family in town, recuperating, and trying to get back to a normal schedule that I have slacked on the blog. Not sure where to start, but I guess the birthday is as good a place as any.

We had a great time, and great turnout. Way too much food, though. We are still eating pizza every day to try to get rid of it all. Having it at Lou Malnati's turned out to be a good decision- a little pricey- but it was nice not to have to clean up the house or cook for the event. The waitress was great and made sure we had plenty of what we needed. Keaton was teething and was a little on the grumpy side, but luckily he didn't really cry or anything. He really wondered what the heck was going on when everyone sang to him! He wore his adorable shirt that Chelsea sent him for his birthday and got some cool gifts.

(I should mention that Valerie, Leslie, and Mitch helped decorate the owl cupcakes on Thursday night after the Hetricks arrived. it was a fun assembly line and they turned out super cute!)

After the party, we headed back to our place and he took a nice, long nap. When he woke up, we opened more presents and then gave him a smash cake. Someone (probably me) accidentally put his smash cake in the refrigerator, so it wasn't as 'smashable' as we wanted it to be, but it turned out to be a good thing because he just sucked on the cold frosting until it got mooshy. I think you can even make out a little smile in this one:

Sunday we went out for breakfast with the family, and then the Hetricks had to head back to Topeka. We got back to our house and had to get ready for another party with a few neighbors in the afternoon. There were only girls this time, so Keaton enjoyed flirting with all of them and showing them his new toys. We busted the Owl pinata and the girls enjoyed their candy, and the owl cupcakes. He took another awesome nap after the party, and the rest of us relaxed a bit, too. That night Casey and I went out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner (a day early) and my parents stayed home with Keaton. We enjoyed fondue and nice conversation at The Melting Pot. I stuffed myself with delicious food and almost didn't have room for dessert... even my 2nd stomach that is completely dedicated to sweets couldn't make much room. Sad, but true!

Monday I went shopping with my parents while Case was at work, and we got Keaton a nice amount of new clothes at the Carter's and Osh Kosh B'Gosh outlets. Monday evening we watched parts of the KU/KSU game, which ruined my mood since the #1 Jayhawks apparently didn't show up and play, and lost to the Wildcats. I will not comment any further... I avoided Facebook for a few days afterward because I didn't want to read status updates about the game. Needless to say, it didn't really set a great mood for Valentine's day. Oh well, I'm just glad Case and I went out the night before.

My parents left Tuesday morning, and Keaton and I spent most of that day vegging out at home. He was pretty sleepy and cuddled with me a lot... I think he may be going through another growth spurt. I enjoyed spending so much cuddle time with him, though... I will really miss that when he decides it's not fun to do anymore! For now, I'll take as much as I can get. :-D

I guess that's about it. Besides swimming yesterday and walking at the mall with friends this morning, we haven't really done much. We will be working on all the food my Mom made for probably another week or so, so we'll most likely stay inside (even though it's 60 today... but raining). Keaton's got plenty of new toys to keep him occupied.

I've got a ton of pictures to catch up on with the 30 Day Photo Challenge, but I'm going to wait until next time... that's plenty for one entry.

-Ash

What a Difference a Year Makes...

One year ago right now, I was in the Labor & Delivery Unit, pushing harder than I ever have before. And at 9:57 a.m. one year ago, God blessed me with the greatest gift I have ever been given. Keaton Alexander Hetrick was born, and changed our lives forever. He has been the most amazing, exciting, hilarious, curious, beautiful little man a Mom could ever ask for. It has been an incredible year- one that has come with challenges, and a lot of learning. There is so much left to learn about him, and I can't wait. Well maybe I can wait for parts of it...haha (potty training? learning to say 'no'?) but every day is a new adventure to see what he will do... I love to watch him learn!

Here's to one amazing little man... he's going to open a lot of presents today, but I think Casey and I got the best gift of all. :-D

Proud Mama,

Ashley

My Shadow

Day 22: A photo that you associate a good memory with...

 

In Creative Writing class in high school, we were asked to write a story about our shadow. At the time, I associated it with being the opposite of who I was, but I realize over the years that was not what the assignment was about. It was more about who you would be if you didn't hold yourself back. Your shadow is the person you wish you could be, if there were no rules... no 'social norm', even. 

I think about My Shadow now and then after taking that class. She would have done cartwheels up and down the aisle of the plane on the way to Japan when the movie function broke and there was nothing to do for 12 hours. She would sing at the top of her lungs and not care who is listening. She would be more gutsy- honk the horn when someone cuts her off... tell someone they were being rude instead of keeping her mouth shut. She would take charge and not worry as much about what people thought or if it would upset someone. That person is who I wish I could be, but never allow myself to for fear of losing friends, making enemies, or being a bitch. 

My shadow is the girl in the picture, dancing her butt off and not worrying about what other people are thinking. I hope to be like her again some day.

-Ash

Days 20 & 21

Day 20: A photo of something you ate today.

So technically I ate this on Saturday, but I had to 'cheat' a little. This is one of the Koala Bear cookies I found at the Asian Market on Saturday... I used to get these all the time in Japan, and was stoked to see them again! There were quite a few things I found at the market that we used to have in Japan, and I look forward to going back there to grocery shop and stock up soon. They even had some of the coffee we used to get in the vending machines! I miss Japan so much... it was fun to bring back good memories of the place.

Day 21: A photo of somebody you find attractive.





Of course!! Oh, and:

 :)

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Keaton's taking a great nap right now. I attempted one, but then Case called and said he was on his way home, so I decided to stay awake so I can sleep tonight. Hopefully. That's still pretty hit or miss- mostly miss- for me. I am exhausted every night, but don't end up actually falling asleep until 10 or later. Never fails. I'll try a bit harder tonight.


Yesterday was Superbowl Sunday. I can't help but think of where I was last year at this time- getting 'kicked out' of the hospital because my contractions weren't strong enough, and having 5 days of Pre-labor. So much has changed in a year! Anyway, we didn't go anywhere yesterday because the game was so late, so we ended up cooking most of the day. I made tempura and rice, and Casey helped me with some miso soup. Then he took over and made some chili for dinner. It was good- I was a little concerned about the chili because of all the hot things he was putting in it (jalapenos, chipotle peppers, among others) but it turned out just fine. 

Well, little man is waking up now, so time to go. More tomorrow!


-Ash

Homecoming 2000

Day 19: A photo of your favorite thing from school...

This one is tough. Which school? I've been to a lot of them. We'll go back to high school for this one:



Homecoming, Topeka High, 2000. Dean Smith graduated from good ole THS, and my friend Tiffany and I just happened to get a picture with him. (Sidenote, why am I always wearing something strange- antennas, pigtails, etc.- whenever I meet someone remotely famous?) Homecoming was such a blast back then... we had a great time working on the Senior float, and the football game was fun as always. We just had our 10 year reunion last Fall... it blows my mind that time has gone that fast.

Speaking of time flying, have I mentioned that my kid is going to be a year old next week?! Or that I'm freaking out? Yep... it's true. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Tomorrow I'll be sure to tell you all about the Asian supermarket we went to today... it brought back a ton of memories of Japan... I can't wait to go back! (To the supermarket, or Japan for that matter!)

Love,

Ash

Off day

Day 18: A photo of your town.



Unfortunately I don't have any cool pictures of Topeka, or Plainfield, so I will do my 3rd 'town', Naperville. This pic was taken on the riverwalk in downtown Naperville, very close to the hospital where Keaton was born. :)

I'm having a rough day today. Maybe I can chalk it up to a rough week.. I dunno. I guess I just feel kind of off today, and I have for a few days now. I don't know if I'm trying to get sick (I hope not!!!) or if my hormones are changing again or what, but I just don't feel like myself. Maybe this cold, snowy weather is making me a little depressed. It will pass. Just helps to write it out sometimes because I tend to dwell on it, and that's not healthy.

I suppose that's enough for right now- I may write again later. It does not feel like Friday, but I'm SOOOO glad it is!!! Can't wait for Casey to be home and the weekend to officially start!

-Ash

Little Monkey

30 Day Photo Challenge, Day 17: A photo from a trip you'll never forget.



I will never forget when my Mom's coworkers flew me back to Topeka for her retirement party. She had no idea I was in town, and I remember having to sneak around, and even called her from my cell phone while up the street from my house and had to pretend I was at work. I was so nervous as we made our way to the party... then some of the girls from her office brought out a huge box and had me get in, and they wheeled me into the party. The look on my Mom's face when she opened the box was absolutely priceless!! It was one of my favorite times going home. I am so glad I was able to be there for her party and celebrate the fact that she was free from a job that caused her way too much stress for one person to take on. So glad she's retired!!!


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Keaton and I ventured out into the white, cold world today. It was interesting. There are definitely some idiots out on the road... sometimes I think I'm one of them, but I try to be extra extra careful in the snow/ice. I had some colorful language at times (oops!) but we made it to my haircut appointment and back without much trouble. I just hate it when people pull out in front of you and go 2 miles an hour. Especially when it's icy, and when they had plenty of time to pull out previously, but they decide to wait until you are right there... you either have to slam on your brakes or change lanes. Casey and I were talking about that the other night, and I said, "Do they just not see you or something when they pull out in front of you like that?" and he said, "It's hard to see when you've got your head up your ass." So true... so true. LOL...


Keaton and I took 2 naps together today, mainly because 1) he's wearing me out, and 2) he would not sleep in his crib! He's doing fine right now [crosses fingers while knocking on wood] but today he would not lay down and stay there! I spent 45 minutes trying to get him down for his afternoon nap, and finally just gave up and napped with him. I've got to have more will power for this to work. And more energy! But enough of that... I have a feeling he will be walking on his own within a month. Of course I said the same about crawling and was wrong, but he seems pretty determined to move now. Maybe that's because all of his buddies are crawling and cruising now, and he wants to keep up with them during play time. Looks like Case and I will be shopping for more baby proofing material this weekend... Keaton tried to climb up his bookcase today! He stood on his tiptoes and started pulling up with his hands... we may have a little monkey after all! Just when I thought I couldn't worry about anything else, the kid tries climbing. LOL... I'm in for it.


I guess that's about all for now. Tomorrow's Friday!! Woo hoo!!!


-Ash

Who ticked off Mother Nature?

30 Day Photo Challenge, Day 16: A photo from my childhood



That's me! I think it was at age 2...? I always wonder if Keaton will get curly hair like I had. I also think those were meant to be ankle socks instead of knee socks. :)

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We survived "Snowpocalypse 2011". It was, in a word, insane. It sounded like the roof was going to blow off. It looks like we got a total of 19 inches over the 2-day period. It was tough to tell because the snow drifts were all over the place and were all different heights, but I think if I stepped off the back porch, I might not be found for awhile.

Our amazing neighbors helped clear our driveway. It was kind of neat to see everyone come outside and help each other dig out. You could hear the buzz of snow blowers (something we need to invest in for sure now!) and the scraping of shovels up and down the street. It was also nice to finally see neighbors again- we all hermit in our houses during the winter. Can you blame us, though? It's fricking cold here. I miss South Carolina. PS: I just saw on the weather that we are supposed to get snow for 4 days straight starting this weekend. Get me the hell out of here.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the crazy weather had an effect on Keaton, too. He seemed more active than normal, and even woke up at 3 this morning and would not go back to sleep for over an hour. He's so much more active now, in fact, that we had to lower his crib again today because we were worried that he might tumble out if he got too overzealous. It's become much more difficult to get him to go to sleep now that he knows he can move around. He pulls himself up on everything, and cruises around furniture like it's nothing. I am not going to lie; this sudden burst of activity is really wearing me out, both mentally and physically. Mentally because I am not really prepared for it, and physically because he uses me as a human jungle gym. I got pretty overwhelmed at one point today because he was all over the place, and I couldn't keep up. Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to handle the next stage when he starts walking. Some people say it will get easier, because they will become more independent. If that's the case, I think I do look forward to that, but I think I also am mourning the 'loss' of my little baby boy. I just can't believe how much he's changed in the last few weeks. He does so many things each day that I tend to blog more frequently so I don't forget any of them, and I know I already have! My little guy is growing up... I guess that's just what they do.

Well, I should probably get to sleep now since Casey has to go back to work tomorrow, and I'll need all the energy I can get with my little cruiser! Glad we made it through the 'Blizzard of 2011'... I hope that is the first and last one I ever see.

Love,

Ash

Mi Madre

30 Day Photo Challenge, Day 15: A photo of you and a family member:



Mom and I, May 24th, 2003

It seems appropriate that this category happens to fall on this day, because my Mom has been on my mind a lot the last 24 hours. She went in this morning to have cataract surgery, and I am happy to report that the surgery went well and she's back home with Dad now. She has to go back tomorrow to get her eye checked, and I'm not sure how that will happen with the weather the way it is, so hopefully everything will work out fine and she and Dad will travel safely. Of course I worry because I'm so far away, but glad that she called this morning to let me know everything was fine. She sounded chipper, too, so that helps my nerves. I can't imagine what hers were like this morning, having to travel in the nasty weather to have surgery... I would probably be on edge, too.

On that note, I haven't heard from my husband yet, so I'm anxiously awaiting his phone call or text to let me know when he's coming home today. I hope they let him leave early- the storm is supposed to pick up here around 3, so I really hope he makes it out before then. The wind is pretty ridiculous here right now, but it's not snowing very much. We are supposed to have 'thunder snow' today... I always thought that was strange, but then this weather is pretty crazy anyway. Not excited... not excited at all.

Happier note: Keaton likes to play this new game with us... it's his own version of "Marco/Polo" but he says "Hey!". He says it, then we say it, then he says it, and so on. It's pretty funny- he gets really into it now! We had to play it yesterday at Walmart... and in the car... and during his diaper change... lol. He's really a funny little guy. This morning he was also playing with his little piano toy that has a microphone, and he started singing into it again (there is an older video on Flickr). He started bouncing up and down on the bed to the beat of the song, too. He loves music!!

Well, now I play the waiting game.. waiting for Case to come home (or call), waiting for the crazy storm to arrive, waiting for all hell to break loose, or whatever. Hopefully we just get to enjoy time at home with each other, and stay nice, safe, and warm inside the house. More later...

-Ash