Learning is always good...but this week has had Jacob learning some things that are, how should we say, not likely to send him to the top of his class.
Double fisting.

Shoving cookie cake into his mouth and hoping for more.

Having NO hesitiation to lick chocolate chip cookie crumbs from the table. Similarly, attempting to lick dripped hummus from off of his chest...which in case you weren't sure, is not possible-thus making it hilarious to observe (he laughed too, so we didn't feel cruel).

And most recently, Jacob has been making attempts at drinking milk. Today he discovered the joy of blowing milk in his bubbles- straw not even necessary.


Never a dull moment. Ever <3

Are we ready for some football?

Football has officially begun. Though I swear it's been a top conversation fixture since July, Thursday marked the official beginning to the season. Jacob and Daniel were ready (who is shocked that Jacob managed to have a Cardinals jersey? Yeah....that's what happens when he spends the night at his Didi and Yaya's house!).
Moving on to different things: we can't be prouder of our munchkin's learning at preschool! He brings home great artwork daily that covers number, colors, letters, seasons, etc.- and much to our pleasure, he comes home singing new songs all the time. This past week, he has been emphatically singing 2 songs constantly: one about the days of the week (pronounced weeeeek), and another about numbers that counts to 20. Or if you have Jacob's sense of humor, twenty-teen.

While he is certainly a typical 2 1/2 year old learning his boundaries, testing his independence, and sampling the range of emotions, we are so pleased he is able to have such social and academic stimulation- and are still so at ease with the preschool route. Sure, there are some moments where Mommy isn't desired like before, Daniel and Jacob have special jokes that happen when I'm at work, or Jacob tests if mommy and daddy really will discipline him.

But, what better age to: work on right/wrong behavior, understand the importance of healthy and strong relationships with both individual parents, that mommy and daddy love him including setting and enforcing boundaries that he disagrees with.... Great timing in terms of Jacob's age and a great time in terms of what changes are a-coming with the addition of Thomas! Obviously, we're feeling quite content these days <3

3-day weekend!

So, as previously promised, here's the Thomas belly at 24.5 weeks.



At a dr's appt on Thursday, I had gained more weight than I understand.... This happened around the same mark with Jacob's pregnancy ( actually, a few weeks earlier). So, I guess here marks the beginning of stay-puffed Ashley. Bummer, my sister gets married Oct 2 and I selfishly wanted to not have chipmunk cheeks for photos.



In other news, Jacob, Daniel, and I handled a half week of our new life just fine! Actually, Jacob went to full-days of preschool every day this past week- he actually napped 4 out of 5 days and didn't have a single accident! One day, he awoke crying after nap....but aside from that, he's handled this change-over like a little pro...we're so proud and relieved.



A sad but happy-for-them change in all our lives is that Olivia and her sweet family have all officially moved to Knoxville, TN for her dad to take a call as a Lutheran Pastor. Yay and so sad. We had them play, dance, eat, and be merry one last time for this phase in life and captured some footage.



They really are just too precious, a bit precocious, a ton brilliant, and a lot hilarious.