Summer 2010

This has been quite an eventful summer for the Ashby family. Ava continues to get sweeter and sweeter. We love hearing her soft sweet voice say "Puppy" "Mommy" "Ducky" "Nana" and then she can get really serious and intense and say "No!." When she says "No!" she will put both of her hands out in front of her, hold her breath as she tenses her muscles until she shakes, her face will then get bright red, and then she says "No!" followed by a smile and laugh because we all can't help but laugh. Those of you who have seen this know exactly what we mean. There has been a couple times where she has had all of us laughing so hard that our stomachs and cheeks hurt. She also loves to give kisses and hugs on demand and isn't afraid to cuddle up with a complete stranger at the doctor's office :) We love waking up to her every morning as she is standing in her crib and gives us the biggest smile. She went through a little phase where she would immediately point to her necklace after she woke up in the morning or from a nap in the afternoon. Just like her mommy when she was younger :) She is also learning things really quickly now. We have taught her how to sign a few words in ASL and we love to see her sign "more" "please" and "thank you." Sometimes when she is really hungry or wanting something mom and dad are eating she will come up and sign "please" as she rubs her belly with both hands and then "more" and she'll go back and forth between the two until mom and dad get her what she wants. Ava has also started to walk starting at the beginning of May. It was so fun to see her get her confidence up and go from pushing a little toy around with wheels to getting the courage to start walking all over the home. Ava continues to love to tickle herself or others. She will put her hands up to someone or to her self and scrunch her hands up and open them back and forth as she says "giggle, giggle, giggle." We love to hear it and she always does it while she is smiling. Ava also loves little babies and puppies. Anytime she sees a baby in a carseat she loves to go right up to it and start smiling and giggling. We are happy to see she loves them so much because she is going to be such a great big sister :) We found out she is going to get a little brother or sister in the beginning or middle part of February and we are so excited!! Danielle has been such a trooper these first 11 weeks. There has been some pretty bad days, but she is always so patient with them when they come. We are very grateful though, because by this time with Ava we had been to the hospital two times, because she wasn't able to keep any food or fluids down. We are figuring this pregnancy out day by day though and doing those things that give her the best chance of feeling well throughout the day. Overall, the pregnancy has been much better to Danielle than the first and we are so excited to have another little one in our home in February. We are pretty positive that it is a boy :) We will have him in volleyball camp by the age of 2 working on his vertical so don't worry. We'll leave a bunch of pictures here with some videos as well of our little girl.