Visits to Chuck E Cheese, Zoo and The Children's Museum

April 27, 2009-We are going to try to do some fun activities this week since Mike is on vacation. He has a lot of other things he needs to get done as well, but we want to make it fun. This morning we decided to go run some errands in Greenwood and then go to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. I am trying to find a double stroller that will be compatible with my Chicco Key fit infant seat, but I'm not having much luck. I wish Chicco would hurry up and make a double stroller to fit their infant seat. I heard it would be out in 2010 but I need one now. We spent some of the morning looking at different strollers and picking up some items for the baby. Ashlyn was very excited to go to lunch. All she wanted to do was play. We finally convinced her to come and eat and then we were back at it again. All she really likes doing is putting in the coins. She loves the riding toys but she would be happy just going around putting in coins. She did find a new favorite game this time. There was a telephone game where she can use a real phone and dial on the screen and talk to Chucky. She did this 5 times and finally I told her we needed to play another game. By the time we left, it was way past her nap time. She fell sound asleep on the ride home. She is still asking for her baba, but we just keep telling her the trash man came and took it. She didn't take a really long nap today and I'm sure it's because of the pacifier. We will have to see as the week progresses how things go.

April 29, 2009-Today we decided to take a trip to the zoo. We haven't taken Ashlyn since last year so it will be all new to her. We started with the water animals and ended at the playground. I think her favorite part was the playground, go figure. We did get to see the dolphin show this time and it was neat. Ashlyn loved hearing the dolphins talk and kept making the same noises at the show.

April 30, 2009-We went to the children's museum today. Ashlyn kept saying she wanted to go see the dinosaurs. She liked the ones outside the museum but didn't care for the ones inside that were only bones. :) We ended our day with a carousel ride.

Indiana Downs

We had an early start this morning. Mike, Ashlyn and I went with Brian and Diane to walk in the 5K Courage and Valor race for the fire department. We had a beautiful morning to do this. The afternoon was pretty quiet and then we decided to have a fun trip to the race track (Indiana Downs). This is the first weekend for live racing. Tim, Amy, her sister, Myles, John, Erika and the kids all met us there. We had a fun time. Kaden and Ashlyn loved seeing the horses and playing on the playground. The boys ended up losing every race they bet on but we all had a wonderful time together.

No more pacifier.

Today is the day I have been dreading for about 2 years. We decided that we would take Ashlyn's pacifier away. She only uses it for her naptime and bedtime, but it is a comfort for her. We said a while back that when Mike was on vacation in April we would do this, and today is the first day of his vacation. Here is what we did. Ashlyn loves to watch for the trash man and every Wednesday she hears him coming and watches for him out her window. When he moves down the street, she asks to see him again and again. So, I decided to tell her that the trash man was going to come and take all of her baba's (pacifiers). I have been telling her for a long time that he would be coming soon. We let her have it for her nap today but we told her that this would be the last time to have it. We told her the trash man was going to come and get them tonight and she wouldn't have them anymore. After her nap, we went downtown for the FDIC pumper pull contest and dinner. We were also able to go for another swim in the pool. When we got back in the room, we put her p.j's on and Mike went to get the car. He told her in the car that the trash man came while we were gone and took all her baba's. When I got in the car, she asked me for her baba and I told her the same thing. She never asked for it on the way home. When we arrived home, we did her bedtime routine and put her in bed. She asked me again, "Where baba at?" I told her again that the trash man came and took them all. She just said, "Okay" and layed down to sleep. Mike and I stayed up for a while just in case. She never came out and she slept through the night! The only thing was that she got up really early the next morning because she didn't have it to sooth her back to sleep. WOW!!! Who would have thought it would have gone this well. Mike couldn't believe it either. I told him, I had been praying for this and I know God was comforting her. It couldn't have gone this well without his hand in it.

Visiting the FDIC conference

Mike was on call today, so Ashlyn and I met Diane and Brian after her nap to go to the FDIC conference. Ashlyn got a new firefighter helmet, badge sticker, flashlight and loved seeing all the firetrucks and ambulances. After we left the conference, we met Mark and Lori to eat dinner at a neat place called Creation's Cafe. They had the best gelato (ice cream) ever! I would go back just to get the gelato anytime.

Swimming at the Westin downtown.

FDIC is this week. Brian and Diane are staying in a hotel across from the conference. Mike, Ashlyn and I went and met them downtown to eat and swim. Ashlyn had a ball! She was such a dare devil compared to last year. She wanted to be thrown in and she even treaded water with her floats on while Mike was close by.

My 34 week OB appointment!

Today was my 34 week OB appointment! Carter's heartrate was 142 and I am still on track with my measurements. One more month and we will have a new baby boy!

A new addition to the Deprez family!

Kim and Brian had a little girl, Eva Grace on April 15, 2009. We took dinner to them today and Ashlyn got to play with Lincoln. Ashlyn wanted Lincoln to wrestle with her and they were so funny to watch. Ashlyn will have another little girl to play with here in the future, Yea!

Eva Grace

Ashlyn and Lincoln

Wrestling

Easter.

This morning Ashlyn got up and wanted to see the Easter bunny. I told her we were going out to see if he brought her an Easter basket. She was excited to see a big basket full of goodies. After we opened our baskets we had breakfast and got ready for church. After church, we had another Easter egg hunt at my parents house. By this time, Ashlyn is really getting into the egg hunts. Once we finished the egg hunt, I loaded the car and we headed down to Gram's for lunch. It was a wonderful meal and we got to see a lot of my family. Now we're off to Indy. We left later than I had expeced so we didn't get back to Indy to see all the Kennedy family but we did get to see some of them. Brian and Diane had Easter at their house this year. Ashlyn got to open her Easter basket and one for Carter from Brian and Diane. We ate dinner and then ended up coming home. I was actually contracting a lot today. I think it was just because of all the traveling but just to make sure we went home and I rested. When we got home, I had to get out the Easter baskets for Mike, Ashlyn and Stokley. I think Ashlyn is covered in the candy department until next year. We ended our busy day by doing the last resurrection egg. Ashlyn didn't understand why the last egg was empty. I explained it but she decided she was more interested in her basket of goodies from the Easter bunny instead.

Saturday before Easter.

Today was a busy day full of Easter egg hunts. We woke up early and got ready to go see Beau, Jill and Blaine. Then, we were off to the Winslow Easter egg hunt. It was a bit muddy to say the least but we still went. They had a tone of eggs and lots of prizes. Blaine and Ashlyn both won a prize from the fire department. Durning the hunt Ashlyn fell backwards on her bottom and was wet and muddy. Before we got back into the car, I had to strip her down to her underwear and put her in the carseat. When we got back to Jill's house, she ran a load of laundry to get everything cleaned. We had two kids running around playing in shirts and underwear. It was so cute! :) We stayed and played until around 12 and then we went back to my parents for lunch. Ashlyn fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep until about 1:30 and I had to get her up for another Easter egg hunt. This time my mom and I took Ashlyn to the Moose Lodge Easter egg hunt with my cousin Kayla's kids. They had an enormous amount of eggs and not very many kids to pick them up. Ashlyn ended up with close to 30 eggs! By now, she is a pro at finding easter eggs. We came back home and Ashlyn had to show Papaw all her candy. She was very excited and full of sugar today. By night time, you could tell that she was wired because I never let her have candy. Since Easter is tomorrow, we decorated the eggs I brought with us. I bought Ashlyn an Elmo decorating kit. She didn't really get into it like I thought she would. Maybe next year. We did get some decorated and they looked really cute.

Good Friday.

For Easter this year, I bought Ashlyn the Resurrection Eggs so I could tell her the story of why we celebrate Easter. She loved this activity and I think she learned from it. Yesterday, Mike was off from work so we decided to dye Easter eggs with Ashlyn. She wasn't very patient while we waited for the eggs to darken, so we decided to take a bath to pass some time. When we came back to take them out she was excited to put more back in. We will decorate them at my parents this weekend.

Ashlyn and I left for Petersburg this morning at 6:30 am. I thought she would sleep on the way down but as soon as I woke her up she was excited to leave and didn't sleep. It was actually a nice ride down. Ashlyn did great and we didn't have any traffic. We arrived in Petersburg long enough to say "Hi" and unload the car, then we were off to Illinois. We stopped in Vincennes for a few things and grabbed lunch to take with us. When we arrived at my Grandma's house we went inside and Aunt Cindy and Uncle Terry came over to eat lunch with us. Brandt (my cousin) came to visit and then later my other cousin Brian and his family came to visit also. Everyone was off work for good Friday. It was a rainy day outside but we had a wonderful visit inside. We left for Petersburg and Ashlyn was worn out. She only had a 30 min. nap the entire day but was in great spirits.

Playdate!

Today we had a playdate with some of my friends at our house. Skii and Ivan; Lindsay and Simon; Erika,Kaden and Luke; Amy and Myles. We had a great time just letting the kids play and visiting as moms. Ashlyn was the only girl as usual, but she is use to playing with boys by now.

My 32 week OB appointment!

Today was my 32 week OB appointment! This morning, Ashlyn was laying next to me on the couch and got to feel baby Carter move. She was a bit confused but just smiled and laughed. Carter's heartrate was 140 and I am still on track with my measurements. This past weekend I had really sharp pains on the left side of my back. Mike said it was my sciatica nerve and I should ask Dr. White about stretches to do. She gave me a booklet of stretches to try. We also officially booked my induction for 7 am on Friday, May 22.

Big Surprise!

This morning I took Ashlyn to see the Easter Bunny at the Library. She wasn't a big fan but we were able to get a picture with all three of us. She talks a big game and says she wants to see things but when it comes to doing it, she chickens out and doesn't want any part of it. We checked out some books while we were there and played in the play area before coming home. When we got home, Mike was home and we had a BIG pile of mulch waiting for us to spread. We ate lunch, Ashlyn went down for a nap, and then Mike and I went out to work in the yard. We wanted to get all the mulch into the beds before we had to leave for Ashlyn's surprise. We cut it close, but we got it done. Now off to the surprise. We took Ashlyn to see Sesame Street Live at the Murat downtown. She was so excited and really enjoyed the show. We took her to the Circus a while ago and she loved this so much more.

Mops Easter Egg Hunt

We didn't have an official MOPS meeting today but instead we had an Easter egg hunt. I came early to help Shelly set up the gym. We had close to 400 eggs set out and they were all gone in just minutes. Ashlyn was a bit slow picking up the eggs, not really knowing what to do. She had a great time though.