best purchase yet: the exersaucer

we took ashton into babies'r'us and had him look at all the exersaucers. we bought the one he showed most interest in. which happened to be the Graco Baby Einstein Discover & Play Activity Center. ashton never loves something from the start. it always takes a few times before he starts to enjoy whatever it is. well, he loved this from the very beginning. he only sits in it for 10mins at a time (30mins total throughout the day). it's enough time for me to take a shower, vacuum, and or make something to eat. i love this thing and so does ashton! (you can never have enough safe places to put your baby, that's for sure!)

apparently, we shouldn't trust the sun.

i also found out ashton likes things that light up (one of the toys lights up on the exersaucer) and he loves toys that make noise. good to know. now if only i could get him to like tummy time as much as he loves being in his exersaucer we would be good to go! (with the exception of his horrible napping routine!). he's still iffy with his swing but i can tell he is trying to like it. lol.

and just because i am on a SOOC (straight out of camera)before & after kick.

all i did was use mcp's color explosion action. i did nothing else to this picture.

ashton's mood today has been perfect. i am starting to think the lactation cookies i baked the other day are the culprit to his (extreme) fussiness yesterday. typically, ashton will produce 3 dirty diapers before noon. he's pretty regular. yesterday before noon he had: zero! in fact he didn't produce a dirty diaper until an hour before bedtime (!!!!). it was green with mucous (breastfed poop is mustard yellow). which usually indicates it was something in my diet.

"hey mom, you have something on your face."

cutest spit bubble ever

*pinch* *pinch* **kiss** *pinch* *pinch*

arrgh those cheeks get me everytime!

still working on the nap issue. i placed ashton in his swing so i could vacuum. he started fussing/whining the instant i put him in there. however, as soon as the vacuum cleaner came on he was out like a light bulb. we tried white noise with ashton when he was a newborn but he had no effect towards it. we (david and i) sleep with an ocean CD running all night. it helps US sleep. it never occurred to me that ashton probably enjoys it too or to give my white noise cds a go again. sure enough, he slept well over an hour in his SWING with the vacuum white noise cd on! i stopped it to see how long he would last without it playing (to be honest i was going crazy listening to it). within 20mins he started fussing again. so i turned the CD back on and went RIGHT back to sleep! looks like white noise does work. the cd has a few 10min samples (dryer, dishwasher, purewhitenoise, etc) on it. i think i am going to order the full length CD (74mins) haha. does anyone use white noise for nap times? is that considered cheating?! lol should i be figuring out a way for him to sleep without being rocked/white noise? help.

i should be in bed..

but i'm nursing ashton so i will share this with you.

this is why i believe anyone who wants awesome pictures should shoot in RAW and own LIGHTROOM (a digital blackroom for digital raw images) and PHOTOSHOP. look at what it can do!

...nuff said...

want to see it larger? clicky!

want to know what i did? clicky!

any questions? just leave me a comment.

today was a rough day.

view larger

fussy fussy fussy. let's hope tomorrow brings a much happier day.

our air conditioner isn't working properly. turns out the coils are leaking pureon. we filed a claim with our homeowner warranty, let's hope they cover it or we are in trouble this summer!

napping issues...

ashton is NOT napping!

does anyone have any recommendations for books or websites for napping? ashton is a great napper when he's in my arms, in the bouncer (as i bounce it with my foot), or lay right next to him in our bed. otherwise, he will not nap on his own/in his own bed. i don't know what to do. i find myself running around like crazy when david gets home. since it's the only time i'm really able to get anything done. it would be nice if ashton would start napping on his own so i am free to get things done around the house.

ashton is growing up way too fast. one day he was this cute little blob that did nothing but eat/poop/sleep. now he is blowing raspberries, laughing, talking, and playing with his toys. just thinking about him getting older makes me sick to my stomach. lol. yesterday afternoon i put him down on his play mat so i could make myself some lunch. this is how i left ashton...

after about 10mins i could hear a, "thump thump" noise. curiosity got the best of me and found ashton like this...

he was kicking the toy bar and hitting his feet on the floor. he thought it was the best thing ever. i just love how unsharp my crappy kit lens is (not). ugh. i am going to sell my85mm (i don't want to) but i need a better zoom lens.

i made some lactation cookies today (oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with brewers yeast and flaxseed meal).

get the recipe here.

i've been wanting to see if they work. they taste pretty good, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to eat a few a day. ha!

i also made fruit salad for the first time (ever). sad isn't it? but oh so good.

bananas, pink lady apples, peaches, grapes, and mandarin oranges with a few splashes of lemon juice.

one year ago today....

he was a pink line on a pregnancy test. what a difference a year makes. i had no idea how wonderful he would be or how much i love being a mom. he is truly the best thing that has ever happened to us. we are so blessed. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

computer **still** not fixed

i'm scared to even attempt to fix the computer right now. i'm too busy trying to get settled into our new house. it's hard! everything has to find a new home and i am very OCD when it comes to organizing things.  for example, i have been in my kitchen alllllll day trying to get it allllll organized and alllllll cleaned, and now its midnight and guess what!?! i still have lots to do in my kitchen lmao. argh. the place is in complete shambles and when i even attempt to think of what needs to get/be done i get a headache and feel extremely tired. we officially moved out of our apartment (gave back our keys) this last week. thanks to my mom and mike for helping us move all of it over to the house. we unloaded it all in the garage. so the garage is a nightmare right now. we still have a (filled to the brim) storage unit to empty out by next weekend (david refused to pay another month). ::sigh:: i wish i was samantha in 'bewitched'. snap my fingers and it all be done. but life doesn't work like that now does it? i can't wait for my mom's visit next month! i hope the house will be finished by then so we are able to enjoy each other a bit more than we were able to this last week. 

since i am unable to edit or upload any new pictures until my computer is fixed, i will share one i uploaded to flickr and never shared here:

taken a few days after we closed on the house at the house (notice the icky carpet)

MCP/Color Inc Canvas Contest

I am entering this photo in the MCP Actions/Color Inc. Win a Gallery Wrap Canvas Photo Contest at http://mcpactions.com/blog. I certify that I took this photo and give both parties permission to use this photograph on their blogs/sites.

ashton's first bath.

the only three pictures i have. so sad. :o(

my mother gave ashton his first bath. i wasn't expecting him to take a bath as well as he did. he hated sponge baths.

damn vista!

i am having major computer issues. i have windows vista and this morning i was unable to log into my account (profile). kept giving me a, "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." message. i am able to log into a guest account but it has parental controls and i am unable to log into any of my programs or files (the only thing it's good for is the internet). somehow my administrative profile has been deleted. the password isn't working. this is major since i have not burned any of ashton's pictures on cd's. thankfully i uploaded most of them onto my flickr acct. the main concern and reason i am SUPER upset right now is if i find out i have lost my files that means i lost the images that i took this week of my mother and ashton (zoo, first bath etc) very special and important photos to me. 

i googled this issue and it seems to be a common issue. there is no KNOWN cause as to what makes vista do this. anyway, i am posting this here to let you know if you have vista you need to create another administrator account that has full access to your files. i did not do this (we only had one administrator account) and now unable to access anything. there is a hidden main administrator account you can get into but i am having difficulty getting into it without an extra administrator account. 

the only thing i can do at this point is be thankful that i have full size images (of my favorites) on flickr and that i edited and uploaded three of ashton's first bath photos late last night. i was going to wait to post an entire set of his first bath pictures since i have some really cute ones with my mother but it appears those are long gone :o(. i am so upset right now. i am about to do several things to my computer to try to save my files. the last being a complete wipe out and new installation of vista (where i lose all my files). again i urge you to make another administrator account (even if you don't use it) so this will never happen to you! i am also kicking myself for not burning images sooner. 

ashton's first easter

was just as awesome i had hoped it would be. the easter bunny brought him two books (about easter of course), a toy, stuffed rabbit (pictured), and some chocolate for mommy to eat (what a sweet and thoughtful bunny) ;o). 

just a boy and his toy

he is going to be soooo much fun in a few months(not that he already isn't). 

we're still moving into our new house. ugh. how do we have so much stuff?! my mom and mike fly in tomorrow. i am excited. david and i need a weekend off. four weeks of doing nothing but working working working has taken a toll on us.