Four Months

(By Aubree)

I took Ashlyn to the doctor yesterday and she looks great! Especially those healthy cheeks. Here's where she's at:

15.5 lbs - 90%
26 inches long - 95%
head 16 inches - 50%
It also amazes me that my babies are so chubby, but they both are and were considered long and lean according to their BMI's.

Ashlyn started on rice cereal this week and she devoured it. She was so ready for solid food. She would watch me eat from the fork leaving my plate to it entering my mouth as she would smack her lips. She looked like she was chewing food when there was nothing in her mouth.

We got Ashlyn an early Christmas present which was a Bumbo. It's kinda a present for me too, because she really likes to sit up, but can't quite do it on her own yet. So this keeps her happy while I can get things done.

As always, she loves Clara so much and she probably laughs for her the most.

Tonight she was "talking" using her "b's", such as bwa, ba, etc.

You gotta love the deer in the headlight look!

I think babies look so adorable sitting in Bumbos.

H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N

...spells Halloween.

Cinderella, Cinderella

We didn't even coach her to do the flaring of the dress. She did that by herself.

Little Miss Piggy

Two Months

(By Aubree)

So this post is a couple of weeks late, but I really like to have this information written down so I have it to remember and refer back to. Ashlyn is now 2 and 1/2 months old now. I took her to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and here is where she's at:

12.6 lbs (95%)
23.1 inches long (90%)
Head 15.2 inches (50%)
BMI (50%)

I was looking back at when Clara was 2 months and she was over and inch taller than Ashlyn and they weighed about the same at this point. It's kinda weird because I feel like Ashlyn doesn't need to eat quite as often as Clara did at this age. There are also a lot of opposites about them at this age as far as personalities. Clara was pretty good at night. She had a pretty good bedtime but she probably got up about the same amount as Ashlyn does. Clara didn't nap pretty much at all at this age. She would fall asleep in my arms and when I'd lay her down or move or anything she would wake up. Ashlyn has had a really late bedtime ever since she was born. The last couple of nights have been pretty close to 10 or 11, but I'm not holding my breath thinking this will last. She usually won't go to bed until at least 12, sometimes 1 or 2 am. However, she is a great napper! She doesn't really have a set nap routine, but when she's tired she will fall asleep with a little bit of coaxing and sometimes will wake up when I lay her down, but will a lot of times fall right back to sleep by her self. If not, she will usually go right back to sleep if I bounce her.

Clara was really high maintenance as far as she wouldn't be content unless she was nursing or being bounced standing up. Ashlyn will actually sit and be content and she really loves her bouncy seat. She will pump her legs to get the spider toys to move and bounce herself. This has been really nice because it would be impossible to have 2 kids this close together if I had another that had to be held/nursed constantly.

Another thing is that Clara HATED baths. Ashlyn however LOVES baths! She will smile and just relax in the warm water.



I've tried to decide between the two of them, which one would I rather raise as a baby again. Good thing I don't have to decide that, because sleep is really important to me, but it was really draining not having any time to be by myself during the day let alone not be able to get a thing done (not that I have all that much time to get stuff done now). So I think it's sixes.

Ashlyn is really a sweet baby and it's only getting more and more fun as she gets older. She loves Clara and will smile at her when Clara is sitting next to her trying to entertain her. However, Ashlyn will flinch when Clara makes sudden moves because of past experiences of Clara laying on her face, or leaning her elbow on her neck, etc.

It will be so much fun to see my two girls grow up together! I just know they'll be great friends.

Hat Model

(by Jeff)

Aubree has been knitting some hats to sell on Etsy, and she has been using Ashlyn as her hat model.

Sometimes Ashlyn looks happy . . .

Sometimes she looks ambivalent . . .

But most of the time, she looks mad because she hates wearing hats.

Autumn Leaves

(by Jeff)

I've been waiting for enough leaves to fall so that Clara and I could make a big pile of them to play in. This week, the leaves finally started to fall, so I raked up a big pile. I though I would have to show Clara what to do, but she was way ahead of me. Before I could even finish raking, she was already jumping into the pile and throwing the leaves everywhere. It was a lot of fun!

Pumpkins!

(by Jeff)

A few days ago, we decided to go get pumpkins for carving. Normally, we would just go to the store and get pumpkins, but Aubree had heard about a pumpkin patch in Farmington that she wanted to go to. So we gave it a try.

Aubree, Clara, and Ashlyn getting ready to enter the hay maze.

Clara deciding which way to go in the maze.

Off we go!

Pausing for a picture.

After the maze, we headed out to the pumpkin patch to find our perfect pumpkins.

Clara was more interested in the dead vines on the ground than the actual pumpkins.

Ashlyn enjoyed getting out for a walk with mom.

Clara decided it was more fun to ride than walk.

Clara wanted to color her pumpkin, so we got out Aubree's old paint and let her go at it.

Ashlyn's Blessing

(by Jeff)

Last week was Ashlyn's blessing. It was a great day, and we were happy to have so many family and friends come spend it with us.

Ashlyn and Clara

Our family.

Clara and Ashlyn with Grandpa and Grandma Gittins.

Ashlyn with Grandpa and Grandma Larson.

Ashlyn with Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Ashcroft.
(Ashlyn's middle name, Elaine, is Great-Grandma Ashcroft's name)

Hogle Zoo

(by Jeff)

Clara has been really interested in animals lately, so we decided to take her to the zoo a few weeks ago. We had a really fun morning seeing a lot of animals that Clara has only seen in her books.

Clara and her favorite animals--monkeys!

Aubree, Clara, and Ashlyn

Ashlyn spent most of the morning asleep in her car seat.

Clara LOVED the real elephants . . .

But was not a big fan of the elephant statue.

She missed her daddy...

So she decided to dress up like him.

One Month

(by Aubree)

Why is it that the first month of these little ones go by so fast? I guess it doesn't go by any faster than any of the others, it just feels like being one month old seem sooo much older than 1 day old and being 2 months doesn't seem that much older than 1 month and so on. If that makes any sense at all.

Ashlyn is so much fun! She loves to study faces and is already entertained by her big sister when she shoves things in her face to look at or does a silly dance. The last couple of days it feels like we've kind of gotten a good routine down. We've gone to bed before midnight, and Ashlyn is a lot more content after she's fed and burped. She'll just sit by herself for longer periods of time, which is very helpful. It feels like we have a bit more of a feeling of normalcy at this point.

Babies are so hard to take pictures of! Out of probably about 30 pictures, here are pretty much the only usable ones!

First smile captured on film.

Stretch! Kinda looks like a smile though right?

2 weeks

(by Aubree)

Okay, so I'm about a week late on this post, but better late than never. I took Ashlyn to her 2 week check-up last Wednesday and here's where she's at:

21.2 inches - 90%
8 lbs 7 oz - about 60% (1 oz more than what Clara weighed at birth)
head 14 inches - 50%

The last 3 weeks have been kind of a whirl wind! It's really great to have Ashlyn here. It really is fun having 2 kids, but at the same time very challenging. When I had Clara it was really hard for me to adjust to being home all day after working full time for so long. Now I'm pretty much in a routine and it didn't seem to really throw off my schedule too much having a second baby. Although Clara's communication skills are very limited, it's nice this time to have someone I can talk to throughout the day as well.

Ever since Ashlyn was only a couple of days old, Jeff's mom mentioned that she was focusing in on faces really good already. I had noticed that also. When Ashlyn was just over a week old she smiled for the first time! It was while she was looking right in my eyes and she did it a couple times in a row. She's done it a few more times since. She will also watch as people approach or walk away. It's really amazing to me that she can see so well already! She's also very wiggly and strong. She has held her head up really well for the last little bit and when you have her laying down on your lap facing you, she will use her abs to try to sit up so she can look more closely at your face.

Ashlyn has slept 6 hours at a time twice. Other than that it's pretty much 3 hours or less at a time. That's okay though because I USUALLY will get a nap in when Clara's sleeping, which is really nice. So I feel like sleep really isn't too much of an issue yet. That's the great thing about Clara being so young when I had my second baby.

Ashlyn has a birth mark in between her eyes, as you can see, and the doctor said that's a pretty common birth mark that will disappear when she turns about 2. After that it will show up for a few more years when she gets mad or her face turns red. My sister, Amber, had the same thing and she said she passed out one time when she was showing her friends by holding her breath.

We're very thankful for our second little miracle! It's going to be so fun to see Clara and Ashlyn grow up together. I think they're going to be great friends.

Silly Girl!

Remember this girl?


I haven't posted anything about Clara for a while and the other day she was wearing these ears and carrying around this cat all day. I had to capture it and share. She's as cute and silly as ever! Clara has adjusted pretty well to our little new-comer. She loves to give Ashlyn snuggles (a little bit too hard) and kisses (right on the lips, can't convince her that her head is a better place to kiss) all the time. She's shown a few signs of jealousy by stealing her blanket and binki, but she has shown a lot of improvement just in the last couple of days. She will play with her toys on her own until I'm done feeding Ashlyn, or I'll let her watch her latest favorite show, Dora. I love this girl!

Ashlyn Elaine Gittins

(by Aubree)

On Sunday morning, August 8th, I was induced. My doctor broke my water at about 8 and shortly after they started me on pitocin. I received my epidural at about 11. This time it went so much better than with Clara. With Clara my epidural wore off, and it was just a really bad experience. I was comfortable this time except I hate not feeling my legs, it made me feel almost clausterphobic. My mom got there about 11:30. My doctor got there a few minutes before 3 and after pushing with 2 contractions Ashlyn was here at 3:04 pm! I couldn't believe how smoothly it went. Ashlyn weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long.

Ashlyn had a little jaundice but is doing really great. She didn't have to do the lights at all. She is nursing so good. It's nice to not have to stress out about that this time. She is sleeping for longer periods during the day and waking up about every 2 hours at night, but she usually will go right back to sleep. So far she takes a binki pretty good which I'm excited about because Clara never really took to one.

Clara is doing so great with Ashlyn. She loves her and wants to help out by putting blankets on her and loves to give Ashlyn kisses. She will maul her a little too much, but for the most part is pretty gentle.

I'm feeling great! It's been a really great recovery this time.

I forgot to upload the pictures backwards, so they're chronologically backwards because I'm too lazy to start over. :) Enjoy.