For Anyone Who is Interested or Curious......

The 2 buttons on the right side of my blog page ---------->
are support buttons for 2 babies whose parents keep blogs for them. They are both very, very sick, though one is getting better a little more very day :)
If you are interested in checking out their stories, the links are below. I am sure the families could use the extra thoughts and prayers......

Kayleigh's Blog
http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

Stellan's Blog
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

A Day at the Beach With Mommy

I loaded up the beach cart this morning, intending to get us to the beach before it got too hot. Good intentions and all that jazz......it took me over an hour to get the cart packed and us ready to go.

So after I got us all packed up, we set off for the beach. Ainsley was wearing her new toddler harness AKA "baby leash" so that she could walk like a big girl and I didn't have to be concerned about her pulling out of my hand and running into traffic. Anyone that knows me should know that I am not a huge fan of these things. I really had a very hard time buying it and putting it on her. But once I saw the smile on her face when she was wearing her pink puppy on her back, all of my issues with it seemed to go right out the window. She LOVES that thing. Not that her loving it means I am going to use it all the time. I'll be okay with using it in large crowds where having the stroller is not a good thing. I may even take it to the mall so that if she gets tired of being in the stroller, she can walk. We shall see.

Ainsley walked about halfway to the beach and then she was ready for me to hold her. So I carried all 27ish pounds of her and managed to push out huge monster beach cart that was loaded down with toys, snacks, drinks, sunblock, towels, a blanket. out umbrella, and 2 chairs. I am sure that I looked like I was moving to the beach permanently. I was like a pack animal.

We got to the beach and I started to get us set up to enjoy it. I started out by re-applying our sunblock, just to be on the safe side of things. Then I laid down the blanket and anchored it on either side with our chairs. Then I pretended that I was a javelin thrower and launched the umbrella spike deeply into the sand. Opened the umbrella. Set out all of Ainsley's toys and then turned around ans looked at the water. The dang tide was moving in on us! Guess I should have checked to see if it was high or low before we set out.......Since I had set us down so close to the water, we were in the line of high tide. And it was coming in fast. So, I set about dragging us back about 20 feet or so, well out of reach of the water. While I am doing this, Ainsley is trying to run out to the water and chasing the sea gulls. I am yelling at her (to be heard over the wind) over my shoulder, "Get back here and leave the birds alone. get away from the water. You can't go to the water without Mommy!" Her response was, "Ducks, Mama! Ducks." Did I mention that she thinks all birds are ducks? Yeah........

There were no tide pools today as it was high tide, so Ainsley was content to play in the sand. With every single one of her Little People and Princesses and sand toys. First she out to bury all of her Little People. Then set was happy to fill her bucket with sand from one side of the blanket and carry it to the other side of the blanket, where she dumped it out. By the time we left the beach, there was a giant hole on one side of our blanket and a giant pile of sand on the other. At least it balanced us out some.

At one point, the wind uprooted our umbrella and sent it end over end down the beach, towards this lady that was sunbathing. Her eyes were huge as she prepared herself for the onslaught of the possessed umbrella. Fortunately, I was able to catch it before it damaged her......

We were at the beach for about 2 hours, which is a long time for Ainsley, but she played the whole time. Usually she gets bored after about 30 minutes or so. We had a great time today, the beach was beautiful, the weather was perfect and neither one of us got sun burnt! Which for me is always a good thing, since I am so fair and burn so easily.

Ainsley came home and took a 3 hour nap, which is fine since she was awake this morning at 8:15, meaning she only slept for 9ish hours.........

Arts in the Park and The Opening of the Beaches

This was written on Sunday and I never could get it to save and publish to the blog, so here it is a few days late.

FIRST OFF, AN UPDATE ON AINSLEY AND HER SLEEPING IN HER OWN BED.....SHE MADE IT 6 HOURS LAST NIGHT. THIS WAS THE FIRST NIGHT SHE HAS MADE IT MORE THAN 2 HOURS IN A WEEK AND A HALF!!!!!!

We had a very busy weekend. There were a ton of activities going on this weekend out here at the beaches and we decided to take part in some of them. On Saturday, there was the Arts in the Park here in Atlantic Beach. So we loaded Ainsley up into the stroller and wound our way back through the neighborhood to the park. This park is pretty cool as it is so shady and has several palm trees that are bent and "wind-blown". It is basically a big field with palm trees, there is no playground or anything for the kiddos.

We walked through and looked at all of the booths set up by local artists. Ainsley was very excited to see all of the other babies and toddlers in their strollers. Once we saw all of the booths, we went over to the stage to watch some of the dancing done by one of the dance schools in Neptune Beach. Those kids were great! Ainsley stood by her stroller and played and watched the dancing.

We stayed at the park for about an hour or so and then Ainsley started getting sleepy from all of the excitement, so we headed back home.

Steven and I had to start getting ready for the wedding that we were to attend. Ainsley went down for a nap and we started the process of beautifying ourselves.

Sunday in the early afternoon, we drove over to Jacksonville Beach for the Opening of the Beaches. We were very excited to see the Sand Castle building competition, which was to start at 12. We got to the beach at 12:15 and found a spot for our stuff. Steven set off to look for the sand castles while Ainsley and I played in the tide pools. These tide pools were awesome. They ranged in depth from like an inch or so to about 10 inches. They still had inflow and outflow from the ocean. If you were to look at the beach from above it was like this: soft sand, tide pools, sand bar, ocean. I've never seen anything like it before.

Ainsley thought the tide pools were great. She was crawling through them on her belly. Chasing the older kids who were playing in them. Splashing around like a little wild child. She was having the best time!

All in all, we had a great weekend. We were very tired come Sunday night.

The Funny of the Day

Ainsley is at the age where her little sense of humor is starting to show. She will go to hand you something, and just as you reach for, she will pull it away and just LAUGH like it is the funniest thing. She will just babble away, almost like she is telling a story or a joke, with her hands just flapping through the air, and when she is done, she laughs. It really is adorable.

Well, tonight, after Steven got home, we were in the bedroom with him while he was getting changed out of his work shirt. She was on the bed with me, climbing on me and basically squeezing the life out of me. I told her to be careful, that Mommy was like a cat and only had 9 lives. And I am down to 2 since she hurts me all the time. I told her that if she can go a week without hurting me, all 7 of the missing lives will replenish and I will be back to 9.

Steven got on the bed and laid down next to her. I told her to go beat up Daddy because he is older and that means that he has more lives than Mommy.

Steven said, "Yep, Daddy is an old man."

Ainsley responded with, "Oh No!" And then she laughed like a little hyena.

An Overview of Ainsley's Sleep Training Progress and the Cutest Thing Ever!!!

Ok, so here is a quick run down of the progress, however little it may be, of the sleep training.

Friday night: 7.5 hours in the crib
Saturday night: 5 hours in the crib
Sunday night: 2.5 hours in the crib
Monday night: 2 hours and 15 minutes in the crib
Tuesday night: 1 hour and 55 minutes in the crib
Wednesday night: 1 hour and 40 minutes in the crib

I am not sure what is causing her to wake up, but whatever it is is making her inconsolable, almost to the point of hyperventilation at times. She will not calm down for any reason until I take her out of the room. Then she will fall back to sleep immediately. If I take her back to her room, she wakes up. Could she be having nightmares????

Ainsley has learned a new phrase. She can now say, "I love you." I have video for you to see of her saying it. It is THE cutest thing EVER!!!

Another NIght in the Crib

Ainsley made it 5 hours in her crib last night.

I am so proud of her.

Update on the Sleep Training

Ainsley went to sleep for her nap today in her crib, after 5 minutes. She slept for an hour and 15 minutes.

She has been asleep in her crib tonight for 2 hours and 30 minutes and counting. We shall see how the night goes.......