it trickled over and stopped.

i remember sitting at our kitchen table in highschool when it hit me. this awful terrible, felt like a knife jabbing into the side of my head, pain. at first i thought my tooth hurt and then i couldn't chew anymore food. i went upstairs, excused myself, and then called out to my mom. i just remember sitting on the top of the stairs and crying my little eyes out. it was the worst pain. i also remember mom telling me something along the lines of me being overly dramatic...until she pulled out her otoscope (she's an audiologist) and realized that i had an ear infection. at 15, i cried like a baby. but at least i could tell my mom what the problem was.

loralai can't. what she can say is ma ma-qua (that's quack)-and bah bah (that's bye bye).

anyway. so we've been battling a cold for a week. on friday i thought we had gotten our sweet and happy baby back. but then on sunday i wasn't so sure. and then yesterday the normally happy baby woke up unusually cranky from a nap and put up a huge fight in the bathtub where she normally quacks and splashes with her daddy. so we knew something was up. and the dr. confirmed an ear infection this morning.

so my heart breaks for our little chunky monkey who weighed in at 19lbs 8oz. she seemed so happy when she woke this morning that i thought for sure she didn't have an ear infection. how do those rascally infections hide so well? so while i don't talk ga gah like loralai does, sometimes i sure wish i did. maybe then she could have told me what the deal was.
poor little babe.

and i thought you'd like this picture - she's visiting her daddy at work and taking a bath in the tub like a big girl. aaah sweet baby life. does it get any better than this?

deep thoughts

todd just said, "you should be proud of me." me, "why?" todd, "because i have NOT gone to mcdonalds, yet, to get the mcrib." huh? me, "i'm supposed to be proud of that?" todd, "yes."

loralai has a nasty cold. she slept on todd's chest last night b/c she couldn't figure out how to sleep without sucking on her favorite fingers - which shut off all air going in her body. so she slept on the daddy's chest so that the head was above sea level allowing for oxygen to flow - AND, so that she could suck the fingers. things that have helped us stay sane while the child can't sleep well: vicks vaporizer (it emits some powerfully strong eucalyptus scent. it's like walking into a cough drop), humidifier, standing in the bathroom with steam (glorious snot busting steam), saline nose drops, suctioning the nose holes, 1ml of triaminic, tylenol, lots of nursing, more naps that normal and lots of love. poor baby.

todd made dinner tonight. out of a bag. one of those frozen noodle, veggie, chicken things. we were desperate for quick food but not a mcrib - right. firecracker chicken. that's the name of the stuff he gets. i guess he didn't read the warning label. holy mackeral that junk was SO hot that i was sweating around the nose and had to guzzle some milk. no kidding. i guess it's a good thing. i hear spicy food increases the metabolism. maybe it will offset all of the dark chocolate m&ms i just ate.

tyra banks. i rarely watch tv anymore. but today loralai was sleeping and i wasn't doing chores b/c i was whooped. so i turned on the tube and i saw tyra banks with crimped hair. what in the BEEP is that about? hi, tyra, the 80s are no more. stop it. do NOT promote crimped hair.

isaac mizarahi - or however you spell it - i am going to protest all target shopping until they pull down the flowered leggings, the stone washed jeans, the peg legged jeans, the bright neon plastic jewelry and all things 80s. next thing you know, umbros will be back? what is our fashion coming to?

multiples. does anyone remember them? i wore them. they were wrong. very wrong. so were tee-ties.

i've yelled for jesus so many times this week. loralai hasn't eaten well b/c the snot in her nose, trickling down her throat, makes it hard for her to swallow. so she chokes. it's a helpless feeling.

pharmacists are nice and helpful when you have no clue what medicines to combine or not to combine. thank you, pharmacists, for going to school forever and learning about drugs.

yesterday - pre-crazy downpour of rain - we had the irrigation system in our yard fixed. we had some people fix the yard that are originally from a land south of texas. i think all hispanic people are extremely smart. because directly at noon, they laid down under our pear trees and snoozed. for an hour. i took a picture. yep. i'm sneaky like that. but, i'm too lazy to post it. but trust me. they slept. it was actually a good day for an outdoor nap. i just couldn't believe how deeply they could sleep; how unaffected they were by the blustery wind or the squirrels running about or cars going by. i wish i could sleep that deep.

milk. i think it's important to drink organic milk. if you don't do anything else organic for yourself. drink organic milk. you owe it to your body to be hormone and drug free - and you owe it to your children to not pour those additives into their bodies.

avacados are lovely. and so baby friendly. put one in a blender with a banana and you have a smooth, high (good) fat meal for your baby. and it freezes nicely, too.

has anyone noticed how gross primetime tv is getting? there are more sexual inuendos on tv, now, than i can remember. it's disappointing. i miss the cosby's. i saw a repeat of their show, yesterday, when the whole family was singing to the grandparents. i caught it right when rudy was singing, "baaaabyyy! baaabyyy!" oh it was great.

well, that's about all the deep thoughts i have for one day. pray for sleep - pray for snot to subside in our baby's body.

love love, ashley

sandy days

us. silly 'ole turner
self portrait. we forgot to tell loralai to look.
yay for morning walks!

aunt julie and loralai todd and his super happy girl
mmm love.
we like to scrunch our noses. apparently.
wyatt picking grass.
me, mom and loralai.

i highly recommend this sling to moms with babies.
sunrise
mom, me and bryan. and the two little dumptruck pushers.

we went to emerald isle for a few days with my family - well, my 'side' of the family. we found a beach house that suits us all and i think we'll keep doing this over the years. it's so much fun to see my nephews play with my baby - and it was so sweet to get to see my new niece. she's seven whole weeks and full of sweet baby goodness. i don't have a lot to say about our weekend, unless you want the details about how we saw a shooting star, how todd, me and loralai would get up in the mornings and go for beach walks, how turner smothered loralai with kisses, how wyatt never ever ever runs out of energy or funny jokes, how it nearly melts my heart to hear my nephews tell their mom and dad (or anyone they love), spontaneously, that 'i love you. you're my best friend.' and they mean it with every ounce of love in their hearts, how we celebrated mom's birthday at the beach, how loralai took great naps at the beach but found herself with a cold when we got home and now finds sleep hard due to a stuffy nose, how sand apparently tastes really good to babies, and how no matter how many toys i brought for entertainment, i didn't need a single toy because turner and wyatt entertained loralai more than she could have ever imagined. well, them and any water bottle that she could find and chew on. aaah beach family weekends.

season

i thought that the weekend was going to, surely, bring cooler weather. it just had to. i had company coming in town. and this is my favorite friend to go on walks with; so the weather needed to be cooler. and the baby - she needed to nap. but for some reason, the first time ever, she refused to take her afternoon nap. i wanted to cry. but i went with it. and so did maribeth. thank you. and even though it was a disgusting 90something degrees outside, we plopped the baby in her stroller and walked. and while we walked, we solved the world problems - or at least resolved to eliminate all debt and desire for excess "stuff" from our lives - and, the baby slept. it was wonderful. maribeth is wonderful. my college roommate, a best friend, such an easy person to be around - i wish she could spend more time at my house. it was such a good visit - she got to love on loralai and i got to sit back and watch two of my favorite girls play together. precious sweet love.
maribeth came in town because one of our college friends, jenn, is getting married in october. and so a bridal shower was thrown for her - which meant that we all got to have a girls' night and go out to eat together. aaah fondu. deliciousness.
but being the mama that i am, all i could think about was curling up into my comfy bed halfway through dinner. it probably sounds lame. but i think a comfy bed is a delicacy to all mommies.
after company left, todd and i made our way to the park and then to run some errands. and now, finally, (umm a few days later mister weather man) the weather is cooling off. but i'm not complainin' - Fall, come on! i'm ready for your briskness and cool morning walks.

the beautiful, almost married, jenn.




















the beautiful maribeth.

i somehow manage to make scary eyes - but jordan, she just glows.
aunt maribeth and loralai. it was a fun little game of up and down the horsey leg goes. i think it was a workout for mb.




















i'm pretty sure maribeth was holding loralai's hand so that she didn't get curious and try to eat her curly hair.

outside is this little baby's most favorite place to be. something about the leaves moving, the wind blowing, the birds chirping, squirrels running around - all of it - it just makes her little heart so content.