Easter Season

For those who know me, you know that I am not a crafty Martha Stewart-like person AT ALL.  However, with Ashtyn getting a little older, I have decided that I wanted to try to be a little more like one of "those moms".  You know the type...every kids dream mom...the one who does really cool stuff with them that they remember when they are older.  So...over the last week I attempted to make some Easter theme cake balls/cake pops & some Easter "bird nests" treats.  They turned out okay for my 1st attempt I think.  I actually had some help from my mom on the birds nests which is pretty good considering how she never did that kind of thing for me when I was little.  It was fun!

Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Tis the Season to be Jolly, Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa, la, la, la, la!
Since Ashtyn turned one on 11/11, this will be her 2nd Christmas, therefore this is her 2nd time to visit Santa Claus.  This year went like I expected. The first few seconds of her being left on Santa's lap resulted in crying & her reaching for her dad.  However, a colorful puppet being animated by Santa's elf and her dad sitting on the floor near the camera turned her little frown upside down & the above picture shows the best attempt at our Santa & Ashtyn picture for this year.  Santa also did not have time to "fluff" her dress properly but that's okay.  This picture has captured a great memory for our family.  We are so ready to have a great Christmas season with our little Ashtyn!

Ashtyn turns ONE!

Our sweet baby girl turned ONE on 11/11/10.  We love her so much & she has definitely changed my life in so many ways, I feel for the better.  We had a big celebration for her on Sunday with family & friends.  Hopefully the other pictures from the party will be in soon for me to share on facebook.
She had her one year doctor's appointment yesterday and weighed 22 lbs, 11 oz  (between 50 & 75 % according to the calculator I could find) and measured 31cm long (between 90 & 95%).
We are excited to see what joy Ashtyn has in store for us this coming year.  We are anxiously awaiting her real first word & also some steps!  She has not yet let go of the furniture when walking.

It's beginning to look a lot like...Halloween!

Halloween is approaching!  I love seeing all the children in costume.  This year will be Ashtyn's 1st Halloween.  What an exciting time.  I can't wait to make the memories and capture them on film.  For some reason though...I just keep thinking about Christmas!  I can't wait for the Christmas lights and the carols.  Oh, how I love Christmas carols!
First things first though...Halloween, Ashtyn's birthday, Thanksgiving...

Changing Seasons

I've seen many blog posts recently about the change in weather.  Well, I had a "moment" a few days ago when I finally packed up Ashtyn's teeny tiny summer short-shorts to donate to the Infant Crisis Center.  It suddenly hit me that never again would Ashtyn fit into such small little shorts.  Even more difficult was realizing that more than likely, never again will I personally have the need to purchase such short-shorts for a "baby" of mine.  Peter & I are fairly certain that Ashtyn will be our only child.  We have debated this many times and we still have not hit our 100% certainty mark but most likely this is the case.  I cried as I packed them away.
I usually am in love with the change of the season to Fall.  The beautiful leaves, the "clean" smelling air, the ability take walks in the evenings and not need to shower afterwards from the humidity...
I love the months that end in "ber" in general.  September (my birthday, the beginning of yet another season...FOOTBALL season! BOOMER SOONER!), October (Halloween parties & fun!), November (Thanksgiving meals with family), & of course December with all the joy that Christmas brings with family, friends, Christmas lights, parades, parties, shopping & giving to others.
However, for some reason, I feel a little sad with this years "change".  It may be that we just have too many life changes right now.  We have sold our home & our living in the rental house which is not ideal, Peter has changed jobs, I have had a new surgeon come work with us at the VA, only to give his notice 7 months later just as we were getting used to him, a new P.A. works with us now also & that in itself is both a relief & stress in a way, & then of course we are in the process of building our new home and that is keeping us so busy & yes, some things have gone wrong in the building process just as people said it would.
A couple of friends of mine have had some serious life-changing events as well & I worry about them.  I worry also that I have so much going on that maybe I'm not being the best friend I could be...
Oh...but the change of the season...what else will it bring?

The pix are from our most recent session for Fall last month in September.

Disney World 2010

Ashtyn had her 1st plane ride & vacation this past week.  Myself, Peter, Ashtyn, & my mom traveled to Orlando, Florida for a trip to Disney World.  This mini-vacation was actually for my 38th birthday, but we just couldn't go w/o Ashtyn.  Yes, we realize that Ashtyn will not remember this trip.  However, she had a FABULOUS time.  She did fairly well on the plane, excluding a few wiggles & squirms from being restless.  We did not have any long, loud crying periods which I was most fearful of.  She flirted with other passengers, slept a LITTLE bit, and for the most part was an excellent baby girl.  Several passengers even went as so far to comment on how "good" she was.  I think Peter and I were exhausted though from trying to entertain her and keep her happy and QUIET.
At Magic Kingdom, Ashtyn enjoyed several rides.  We rode Peter Pan, Snow White, Dumbo (Ashtyn actually slept on this ride--maybe from the cool breeze?  It was humid), Aladdin's magic carpet ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, & even the Haunted Mansion!  She laughed a lot & enjoyed people-watching, especially seeing other little children.  She would clap her hands throughout the day and giggle and that alone made us happy.  She also enjoyed seeing Epcot in the evening with all the lights.  We went to several different "countries" and collected the "charms" for her mask.  She visited "France", "Mexico", "Japan", "China",  "Canada", "Norway" (where we rode a Viking boat ride), & "Morocco" (my personal favorite).

My mom came along to help us out and she was wonderful about being that extra pair of hands for us.  She packed every possible item Ashtyn may need during her short trip.  Everything from tiny nail clippers to medications (pedialyte,etc....just in case). I think she had a great time & we captured a cute picture of them while they were waiting in line for Alladin's carpet ride.  Her presence also made it possible for Peter & I to have a private birthday dinner for me at O'Hana restaurant at Polynesian.
We were only there for 3 evenings so the trip seemed short but it was packed full of fun!  Sadly, we did not have time to enjoy our hotel pool and let Ashtyn wear her cute little swimsuits we had purchased especially for this trip, but that is okay.  We stayed at the Polynesian resort where I must say, really did resemble the hotel I had stayed at before in Maui, Hawaii.  The monorail runs directly outside the hotel so it makes the travel to the resort EASY for families.  The food was AMAZING.  I had the absolute BEST macadamia nut butter & bread at Kona Restaurant.  It was so good, that I may actually try to make an on-line recipe.  Peter even surprised me for my birthday by having a hot/cold stone massage booked for me at the Floridian hotel.  Ahhh.  Birthday relaxation at its finest!
Cheers to the memory of a great family vacation!

Labor Day 2010

We had a busy Labor Day weekend with both sets of grandparents visiting Ashtyn. Mimi (Grandma Barlow) even brought Ashtyn a Minnie Mouse doll to get her used to the whole "Disney" idea since we will be visiting Disney World at the end of the month in part, a celebration of my birthday. It will be our first time to travel by air with Ashtyn!

Today, is the actual holiday of Labor Day and we decided to spend it with one of my best girlfriends, Jennifer McEvoy, and her family. We went to the OKC Zoo and had a fabulous day. The weather was nice and although the zoo was fairly crowded many of the animals were out and about. Ashtyn and Brian (Jenn's son) had a great time on the swings. Sadly, those pictures were taken on her camera so I cannot share them yet. We noticed a big difference going to the zoo with Ashtyn this time. At 9 1/2 months old she can actually enjoy the animals b/c she can "see" them and definitely notices them now. She seemed to enjoy the sea lions and the tiny goats at the Children's zoo area. The carousel however frightened her more this time then at our last visit to the Tulsa zoo a couple of months ago. We opted for the "peacock bench" instead of a moving animal and that seemed to be okay with her.

I hope everyone had a relaxing, happy weekend as well!

New Home Construction begins

We are so excited that our new home construction has began. Here are a couple of pictures from this weekend as our slab has been poured and we were told that framing may start as early as Monday. Now, if I can stop choosing "upgrades" on everything we will be great! We have already chosen a stone upgrade (stone coming from Tulsa that is no where to be found in OKC) and have upgraded some of our tile, lighting, wrought iron, amount of finials, & crown molding. We are even placing crown molding in Ashtyn's room. What little girl's room doesn't need crown molding? Well, maybe not all little girls would want crown, but this little girl is getting some! :0)
Who knows what will happen when we meet with the carpenter. We've been told that pretty designs and cool features for kitchen cabinets come at a pretty price.

Ashtyn's 9 month update

Wow. I just realized that I hadn't blogged a thing since Ashtyn's 6 month and now have little time this morning before work to say much.

Our family has had a busy time with the move to the rental home while our new home is being built in Iron Horse Ranch. We have been in the rental home a few weeks now. Everyone, including the cat, Bailey, has adjusted well. So far, on our new home construction, the lot has been cleared...that is all, but we are excited.

Ashtyn had her 9 month visit with her pediatrician on Friday. He thought she was doing great developmentally-wise. She is pulling up, trying to "cruise" (although she can't really take many steps in a row even though she is hanging on), feeding herself finger foods and babbling "dada" ALL the time. She is really a daddy's girl. She weighed 20.6 lbs, which is about 77% and I want to say it was 28cm (I have it written down somewhere) but regardless, that is the 66%. Her head measurement was 50%.

Ashtyn has been a busy little girl. She has attended several of her young friend's b-day parties including Maggie's 1st b-day and Nate's 4th b-day. She also attended a baby shower for the Palfreyman's little guy that has not yet arrived and is due in November (about the same due date as Ashtyn's last year!)

Let's see...more about Ashtyn:

1. She LOVES our cat Bailey but when she see's her she tries to chase after her. Even though she's a fairly fast crawler, Bailey knows about how fast Ashtyn is and at the last second runs off. Ashtyn also tries to call Bailey to her by making this strange "spitting" noise. It's funny.

2. She still has never rejected any type of food. Ever. She will eat ANYTHING you give her. She has even tried dried cat food once. (Yes, I was watching her when she picked it up, and yes, I let her "try" it but had to take it away when I realized she was not going to spit it out)

3. She is still taking bottles but seems to not want her morning bottle as much. We have started sippy cups of all kinds (the ones with straws also) but she's just starting to get the hang of it.

5. As mentioned before, she prefers her daddy to all others. This makes me a little sad, but I am told I was the same way.

6. So far, still just two bottom middle teeth but her gums are so swollen on top that I expect to see more any day now.

7. She doesn't seem to have a favorite toy any longer. It used to be her "mailbox" or her "toolbox" but now she seems to prefer boxes or block type things such as her shape blocks. Maybe we should get her some large leggos for her birthday.

8. She was bitten last week at day care. It didn't break the skin & I was told she didn't cry at all. I'm just glad to know she was the "bitee" and not the "biter".

Well, that's about all for now.

Pictures are from Maggie's birthday and also from the day of Jennie's baby shower.

:0)

Ashtyn 6 months

Hello everyone! It is time for an Ashtyn update. She had her 6 month check-up last Friday at Dr. Stephens in Edmond. Her stats this time were as follows:

weight-17 lbs, 5 oz (75%)

length- 26 inches (60%)

She's doing great. She is sitting up on her own for a little bit longer period of time each day. She has also began to say "da-da" which she repeats to no end. Peter is absolutely thrilled about this but I assure you, she says it as if she is speaking to me as well. She is putting everything she can get her tiny hands on in her mouth, but no teeth as of yet. She is enjoying "flying" these days and loves to be bounced in the air. This is the easiest way to get her to laugh out loud which is adorable.

On the parents side of things, we have just sold our home in Edmond. The sale does have a "contingency" on it however, in that the lady who is purchasing our home has to sell her home 1st. We'll see in the coming month or so how that goes. We have been busy beginning to pack a few miscellaneous things in the mean-time.

As for me, I am attempting to watch my eating habits a bit more and attend some water aerobics classes as well as some Zumba classes with my friends Abbey and Tracie. If you have never tried Zumba and like to dance, you would probably enjoy it so give it a whirl. I must warn you though...it IS a work-out! :0)

Ashtyn's 6 month pictures were done by Cara of Captured by Cara photography.

To visit the photographer's website, click here.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Ashtyn had a nice time this afternoon in the backyard on her quilt playing with her Easter basket. She loved to look at the colorful eggs. Too bad she cannot sit up on her own yet, but she still had fun. It was a beautiful day and Grandma & Grandpa Barlow were here to wish her a Happy Easter!

Ashtyn's 4th month baby check-up!

Ashtyn had her 4 month Well-baby check up today.

Her stats are:

Height: 24 inches @ 41%

Weight: 13 lbs, 8 oz @ 46%

Head Circumference 40.1cm @ 26%

Peter & I were shocked about the head circumference percentage. We think her head looks "big", but apparently, that is not the case. I'm interested to see the differences (if any) at her 6 month visit.

We also found out that the "bruise" I thought I kept seeing on her right shoulder blade is not a bruise at all, but a birthmark. A "Mongolian spot" Dr. Stephens called it. These particular birthmarks are common in Asians and in Native Americans. Funny...Ashtyn is both!

From Wikipedia: "Mongolian spots are most prevalent among Mongols, and other Asian groups, such as the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Nearly all East Asian infants are born with one or more Mongolian spots. It is also common if only one of the parents is East Asian. They also occur in 90-95% and 85-90% of East African and Native American infants, respectively."

The most common color is blue which is why we thought she had a tiny bruise. Her spot is about the size of a "bb", like from a "bb gun". Honestly, I thought she may have a bruise b/c she is somewhat spoiled & we pick her up so often! Silly me! The doctor did warn us though that some may mistake these birthmarks for bruises and therefore...you guessed it..."child abuse"! So...we will let our friends, family, & day care workers know about this so no one will be alarmed. Even funnier...she may also have a tiny one in her tiny little "crack" so to speak! Shh! Don't tell anyone!

On another note, Ashtyn has now tried the baby food version of rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and green beans...in that order. I say this b/c today Peter and I were informed by her pediatrician that we were to start GREENS (green beans, peas), then ORANGES (carrots, sweet potatoes), then YELLOWS (squash), then later move onto fruits! I don't know...something about how rice cereal is like Frontier City... great unless you've been to other places...like Six Flags (vegetables), then finally Disney Land (fruits)!!! Okay??? So, we'll try the "order" as he prescribed, but Ashtyn doesn't seem to mind. So far, she'll eat anything!

Hug & kiss your little ones today...I won't (& quite frankly CANNOT discuss w/o crying) the reasons why I suggest this.

Peace to you and yours!

Bethany

Ashtyn-2 months

Ashtyn's 2 month doctor appointment was today. Peter went to the appointment with us to help out. Ashtyn weighed in at 10 lbs, 8 oz which is the 42 percentile and measured 22 1/2 inches which is the 58th percentile. All is well there, however, we received a bit of a lecture from Dr. Stephens about how it is time for Ashtyn to sleep all night in her OWN bed. All night to Dr. Stephens means 10 hours (8 p.m. to 6 a.m.). Admittedly, I was shocked! I really thought she would require feedings in the middle of the night..."at least one" I asked? "No!" he said.

Hmm...He told us to let her cry it out for 2 nights...NO MATTER WHAT... even if she vomits in her crib from crying! He said if we open her bedroom door, even once, we are "history". We'll have to start all over again. I mean really? We are going to give it a go starting this weekend, but I am certain that Mommy will be crying by the end of it. Possibly Daddy will cry as well. It will be tough but Dr. Stephens insists, "What starts at an effort to keep the peace end up in irresponsible submission to a deified baby". Okay. We'll try this. I would really hate for Ashtyn to end up like her mother. I ran into my parent's bedroom for YEARS in the middle of the night. So, the spoiling ends this weekend. (I hope). He told us we could wait a few days since she had her vaccinations today and will be fussy and need consoling. Wish us luck. Here's to a happy baby and happy family!

A White 1st Christmas

Christmas Eve 2009 and we are "snowed in". Ashtyn's first Christmas is a white one! A beautiful snowfall today. Some of the largest snowflakes I have ever seen. Normally, I refer to snow as "the white death" but admittedly, snow is nice at Christmas. However, due to the LARGE amount of snow we are unable to travel or leave the house to be with our family. We were supposed to be at Peter's uncle's house this evening and then head north to Tulsa to visit my family for a few days Christmas morning. Instead, we find ourselves snuggling with Ashtyn and playing our new Wii Fit Plus. We should probably be organizing closets, picture albums, etc. while we have the time, but hey...it's Chirstmas! So, we have opted to just relax with our newborn daughter and have fun together. Now...only if I had some hot chocolate! Oh...and a snow shovel. Note in the picture above, Peter is using a rake to try to clear the snow bank by our garage door.

Christmas & Friendship

This Christmas Peter & I are thankful for the safe arrival of our brand new baby girl. We are also thankful for great friends who have been there for us along the way. So many wonderful people kept me entertained while I was on bed rest. I do owe a special thank you though to Abbey Richards & Jenn McEvoy who stopped by on multiple occasions, bringing me lunch, smiles, understanding, & a lot of great advice!

We are blessed to have many great friends and luckily some of them have recently had children that will be Ashtyn's playmates. We look forward to spending time with these wonderful families now & in the future.

The pictures above show Ashtyn with Nate Hopper & with Maggie Richards...enjoy!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Ashtyn meets Santa! We did it! I had been worried that we wouldn't make it for Ashtyn's first Santa picture this year due to her young age and my "first-time mom fears", but we had success today at Penn Square Mall. Since it was a Tuesday afternoon there was absolutely NO LINE and we were in and out in minutes! Thankfully, Peter was able to take off work this afternoon so I still have never taken Ashtyn anywhere in the car or stroller alone. We even spent an hour or so shopping and had lunch in the food court. Ahh...it felt so good to re-enter society today and now...a cute picture with Santa!

Ashtyn's 1st photo shoot

Ashtyn is only 9 days old and today she had her 1st photo shoot. The photographer we used, Beth Jansen, specializes in children's photography and likes for the newborn pictures to feature babies less than 10 days old. Ashtyn did great except for one tiny tinkle on the photographers blanket. Other than that, we put her in what I refer to as a "milk coma" just before the photographer arrived. She also brought a mini heater to make the area where she was photographing cozy warm so Ashtyn would be less likely to wake up. It worked well, she slept the entire two hours the photographer was here.

The "turtle" is actually a Mexican flowerpot that was on my back patio and Beth loved the color. In fact, most of her work is full of vibrant colors and is just beautiful. Check out her website at bethjansenphotography.com.

Here is a preview of Beth's work with more to come!

Ashtyn's Arrival

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of our lovely daughter, Ashtyn Barlow Nguyen! She arrived at 8:12 a.m. by scheduled C-section on 11/11/09, weighing 6 lbs, 6 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches long. Peter and I are so in love with her and were able to video her immediately after her delivery in the operating room at OU Women's & Children's hospital.

During her brief hospital stay she developed jaundice, however she was able to be discharged to home on 11/13/09 with the help of home health nursing care once a day to check her lab values by a blood "heel stick" and a bilirubin light blanket for use during the day and night. She did well although we were exhausted with the every 2-3 hr feeding schedule. The doctor allowed us to discontinue treatment on 11/17/09. It was difficult to feed Ashtyn b/c she was so sleepy she stopped breast feeding on her own, so I would have to spend 20-40 minutes pumping before we could feed her breast milk by a bottle. Calculate that time with the 20 minutes or so it took to wake her up (apparently elevated bilirubin levels make one extremely sleepy) and then also to change her and get her back to sleep and we were up about every hour or so to begin the entire process again. Luckily, my mom has been staying with us to help but she is going back to home to Tulsa this morning.

Her lowest recorded weight with treatment was an even 6 lbs. Yesterday, she weighed 6 lbs, 2 oz so she is still not quite at her birth weight. We are scheduled for her first "new baby" appointment with her pediatrician, Kelly Stephens, M.D. , tomorrow morning.

Ashtyn has not had many visitors yet due to the H1N1 virus scare (the hospital had strict visitation restrictions) and also due to her being "under the lights" for her jaundice. We are hoping to begin having a few visitors this week. We are however, keeping her somewhat isolated from the public due to the H1N1 virus. Peter stood in the cold for 3 hrs the other day in order to receive the vaccination and my parents plan on receiving their vaccination on Wednesday.

It is a busy time, but we are so thankful for every moment we have with her!

Waiting for Ashtyn

Peter & I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our daughter Ashtyn. Since we have had a couple of alarming events during this pregnancy and we are so thankful to be able to say that today she is technically a "full-term" baby at 37 weeks. I have been on bed rest or some modified form of bed rest since 8/19/09 and I am so grateful that she has made it this many weeks. We would like to thank all of our family and friends that have offered us support during this time and have come by to visit me during the weekdays to help relieve me of my stress, loneliness, & boredom.

I have been scheduled for a C-section on 11/11/09, this coming Wednesday. It is hard to believe that we will be meeting our daughter in 4 days! My mom & dad will be driving down from Tulsa early that morning and my mom plans on staying with us to help out for at least the next week 1/2 or so. This will be great since I will have had surgery and have never taken care of a newborn.

On another note, we were told that the hospital currently has strict visitation restrictions due to the H1N1 ("Swine Flu") virus. We are only allowed 2 visitors at a time in our room and I was told that my own husband counts as "1" visitor! We were also told that visitors are not allowed to wait in the waiting rooms on the OB floor at this time as they do not want crowds of people who may be ill spreading germs to each other. And, no visitors younger than 14 are allowed on the OB floor at this time. Luckily, I received the H1N1 vaccine last Wednesday and was told that some antibodies from the vaccine could be given to my daughter through breast milk. This is great since children less than 6 mos old cannot receive the vaccine.

We feel anxious but ready. We have already welcomed her into our hearts and our dreams. Now, we are ready to welcome her into our home and our lives. Our hospital bags are packed and in the car. Her nursery is waiting for her...with lots of pink.