A First Christmas

It was the first time we admired our very own Christmas tree; the first time we hung our stockings with care. Grandma VH came in and stayed for 4 days, showering us with gifts, yummy food, and assisting Scott with his breadmaking and me with my fondue aspirations.

Colleen visited us Christmas Eve and Scott and Tracy Hochstadt joined us for dinner and Catch Phrase. Grandpa Van Howe, Barb and the kids came by on Christmas for home-made pasta, meatballs, and more. We even drove out to Lisle to see Great Grandma Van Howe, and Saralea, Lisa and Holly Holstrom swung by. It was great to see friends and family, and Ainsley was lavished with adult attention. Scott and I decided that a 3 adults to one baby is the best ratio.

Coming up on 6 months, Ainsley is pushing herself up, standing nearly unaided, jumping like Michael Jordan (assisted of course), and making new and sometimes unattractive noises. We've been visiting with Nana and Papa on Skype, and we can't wait to see the Swanson's and then the VanHowe's of Davenport on New Year's Eve. Love to all -- it truly was a glorious holiday.

Ainsley Frances Recognized as a Child of God

Emmanuel Church in Rockford remains a spiritual home for us; so lucky Jim Roberts (in his year before retirement) blessed sweet Ainsley Thanksgiving weekend. Nana in from Henderson, NV, Barb and Kelso kids, Sundstrom's, GG, Jess, Shawn and Evelyn, Aunt Saralea and Uncle Bruce, Great Grandma VanHowe, Grandma VanHowe, Grandpa Van Howe, Uncle Jim, Auntie Farah, Eloise, Amelie, Lynne and Mike Istad (and grandma), and godmother Amy all the way from Manhattan celebrated. After Ainsley commanded ooohs and aahs at the church, she baptised Scott and Jen with her first poopy blow out -- down her tights, ruining her post-baptism H&M ensemble -- LuckilyMike Istad guided us to the bathroom and guarded the door as Scott and I wiped the baby down (no wipes with us, of course) with paper towels...all had a good chuckle...and none of us worse for the wear in the end-- except perhaps the patrons of the Stockholm Inn who watched a poop soaked baby make her way past their plates of pancakes and eggs....

Magic of the Season

The my latest favorite pictures of Ainsley...

Two Nights, One Lifetime of Experience

So some of you may know that Jen had her first official overnight away from us on Monday. She went to a firm meeting in Philly. It was my first night taking care of Ainsley all by myself. Well, I wasn't completely alone as Jen's dad generously stopped by. He helped me at least go to the bathroom and get some bottles together. Thanks Bill! I knew I would have my hands full and I was right. After an evening of playing, talking, bottles and even some rice cereal, the witching hour came about 9pm when sweet Ainsley realized mommy wasn't around. She cried for about 45 minutes or so until I finally gave her a bottle and she passed out. After bottles at 1:30 and 5am, we began our day at 8:15 reasonable well in tact!
If that wasn't enough, Jen's flight got cancelled Tuesday night and rebooked for the following morning! So we had a second night and this one was all alone. It was definitely better than the first-less crying and more sleeping. In fact, Ainsley slept from 10pm until 5am! Woo hoo! Can we get that every night, baby doll?
Mommy arrived home safe and sound at 8:15 again and we were all reunited. We're thrilled to have mommy home and I think I earned my trip to the golf dome! All is right in our world.

Instant Classic

Hi all-yes we've been a little lax on postings lately. Things have been hectic but good. Ainsley is five months old now and has turned a corner. She is trying her voice out a lot more and thinks nothing of interrupting a conversation by adding "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". She is also close to outgrowing her bouncer which has been her happy place since she got home from the hospital. We continue to enjoy her changes-even if it means bigger challenges!

Here is the instant classic-this is at Grandma's house in Rockford. That is of course Ellie pushing Ainsley around in the little car thing. It was even funnier in person than in the video. I love Ainsley's little feet kicking away under there! Enjoy.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Thankful for family, friends, health, Obama and piles of leaves to mark a baby's first autumn...

Still cute

Here's a recent one of Ainsley in her cute plaid coat that mommy just loves. We've got all kinds of new tricks to report:

• Rolling over. Mostly back to front but we're doing both sides now.
• Feet in mouth. She loves to nibble on those toes.
• Laughing. Mommy remains really funny. Daddy occasionally gets a laugh.
• Back bending. She has quite the ability to bridge herself on her head when she wants to see something behind her
• Grabbing. This morning she and daddy had fun reading the paper. She enjoyed the part where she got to dump every single sale paper on the floor one by one. I'm sure those of you with children know it does not take long some mornings for them to trash the house. I can see why more each day now.

Only a few more days until Nana gets here. We are so excited to show Ainsley all her new tricks.

Bouncing baby

Here's another video from this weekend of Ainsley enjoying her bouncer. As you can tell this is her happy place! (Sorry about the sideways thing-it plays fine on my computer, not sure why it uploaded this way.)

Grandma Weekend!

When Grandma Van Howe is in town, we party! Met at Oak Brook mall and went to lunch; Ainsley nuzzled up to Grandma and fell asleep; came home and played; then grandma took some video of Ainsley's tricks. Enjoy this "Peek-A-Boo" video. (mom remains a cut up)

Election Day Fame!

Check this out-Ainsley got her adorable picture in the paper when she went to the polls for the second time today with Valerie! You can't see her red, white and blue outfit under her bib, but she was a very patriotic baby today! Enjoy!

First Rollover!!!!!!

The Avers and Crimingers knew we were close to a full roll over -- and it happened around the midnight hour of Nov 1st. Ainsley Frances had been rolling to her side and increasingly enjoying tummy time and her powerful back bend this last month -- but she only dared to give us the full maneuver in her sleep. We heard her cry; Jen ran in, and the baby who had been put on her back to sleep was on her tummy, head craned...and quite annoyed. Later on Nov 1st, Scott was talking to Nana and relaying the developmental milestone when she rolled from front to back on her Safari mat... We have a big infant on our hands, people!

Ainsley's First Halloween

Sweet Ainsley had a fun first Halloween. She wasn't scared of any of the kids that came to the door and she was extra cute for the neighbors. She also crashed a Halloween block party later on that night.

Well taken care of

Valerie, Grace and Alex have now been providing loving day care for Ainsley Monday-Thursday for a month now. It is working out great! They take really good care of our sweetie. They go for walks, hang out in the Bjorn, do lots of reading and provide tons of love. Grace loves to give her a bottle-especially in her princess bed!

Super Happy Baby!

We took this one last Sunday and it is easily one of my favorites of all time. We were just hanging on the couch before I left for NJ. I was so happy to capture two big smiles and share them with everyone!

Cousin dance party!

Ainsley had a chance to see her cousin Ellie, Auntie Farah and Uncle Jimmy this weekend. The celebrated by dancing in the kitchen. A good time was had by all.
Little stinker just won't seem to sleep in her crib lately, preferring to wedge between mommy and daddy in our room. This has to change and it will. Of course, she sleeps great when she is with us!

We've found our toes!

Here's a video to confirm that Ainsley has officially found her toes. She loves to grab her feet when she is having her diaper changed. She grabs them every time now-even middle of the night half asleep changes. While it makes changing a bit more challenging, it is so darn cute I can't stand it! Enjoy and I will work on more regular postings in the future-we've been kind of busy lately! :-)

We're back from Iowa!

Wow-has it really been 10 days since our last blog entry? We had a fun weekend in Iowa with Jim, Farah and Ellie! It was Ainsley's first trip across a state line! Very exciting.

Some of Ainsley's new tricks:

• Smiles, smiles, smiles. She just loves to smile for us-early, late, whenever.


• Talking. She and I can hold a pretty long conversation about the current economic crisis.


• Nearly rolling over! She wants it so bad! She can get on her side but she hasn't figured out what to do with that other arm just yet.


• Sleeping! She is good for a 5-6 hour stint at night now! Very exciting.

Here is a picture of sweet Ainsley in her "babies gone batty" onesie with Ellie on Jim and Farah's festive front porch.

You don't eat meat?

Here's our first video clip with the new camera. Sorry about the extreme zooms-I'm still getting the feel for this thing.

If you've seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" as many times as we have, you'll think this is funny too. Ainsley thinks Mommy is the funniest thing out there.

Settling In

Our little sweetie had her first couple days at Valerie's this week. She is doing great. This is her with Grace.

12 weeks and big overnight

* First 5 hour sleeping clip (9/29).

* Significant increase in baby talk.

* More smiles and laughs.

* Increasing recognition of which facial expressions represent which feelings.

* Much more self soothing and comfort hanging out by herself.

* Interest in specific items and ability to target her grabbing.

* Freakish neck, hand, and leg strength given her 9 lbs frame.

* Enjoyment of mirrored reflection.

* Increased fascination with leaves, grass, greenery and nature sounds and color contrasts.

What a difference a minute, day, week can make in a sweet baby's life and development.

I have a cold

Hi, it's Ainsley. Dad took this picture of me this morning. I have a stuffy nose, but no temprature. Mommy called the doctor yesterday and they said as long as I don't have a fever and I'm still eating and wetting diapers that I should be fine. I'm still eating and wetting diapers. The nurse said if my temprature goes up to take me in, but so far I'm fine. Love you all!

To all the moms I've loved before

Thanks to the dear friends, family, and coworkers who have kindly and lovingly guided me through my first "trimester" of motherhood. This is truly the most difficult, joyful, and miraculous experience of my life.

I transition back to work starting 10/1, and although I'm anxious, know I will miss Ainsley, and am prepared to feel a tinge of guilt as I use the toilet or eat a meal without a baby attached to me, I am comforted by the prayers and good wishes of so many moms wiser than myself.

What a gift to have Ainsley being cared for by Valerie (and Alex and Grace by extension). Scott and I bring over a big ol box of baby stuff to the Criminger's this weekend--hopefully they won't be frightened by Ainsley's many essentials (bottles, blocks, bears, blankets) -- BTW, why do so many baby things start with "b" -- boppy, bjorn.....

*Great men get a shout out too -- thanks to Scott and Jerry for helping me get pumped up for work this week and helping me remember to take care of myself.*

Night on the town-The Timeline

Even though I have no pictures to commemorate the event, I have a vague timeline of my evening alone with Ainsley last night. We had fun.
6:40pm-Mommy leaves to go get her hair done. Even though she packed the diaper bag, she asks me to lie to her and tell her that I have about a weeks worth of formula in there. We're going out of the house for about two hours. I tell her what she wants to hear and we go.
6:55pm-Scott and Ainsley arrive at Panera. After ordering, I wait to pick up my Pick Two. Not as many baby gawkers as I would have liked. I get my food and put Ainsley, resting comfortably in her car seat, in the upside down high chair, and sit down to eat.
7:01pm-Ainsley squirms her head back and forth and looks like she is about to start crying. I begin to pick up the pace of my leisurely dinner.
7:11pm-As I take the last spoonful of corn chowder, Ainsley falls asleep. This give me some time to read the paper.
7:38pm-Ainsley wakes up in a good mood. We leave Panera.
7:39pm-On the way to the car, daddy decides that pushing the baby around Whole Foods in a cart would be a good way to "run out the clock". We ride around Whole Foods and talk about different products in the grocery store for a while. She made some funny faces when I let her sniff some of the funky bulk soaps they sell. Again, a little short on gawkers. The best was the employee who asked me how old she was. When I said 11 weeks, she responded with, "oh, almost four months". I think I know why she was stocking shelves and not a cashier.
8:20pm-We arrive home, change a diaper and get a bottle going
8:30pm-After about half the bottle, we stop for a burp. Ainsley SCREAMS for a few minutes. I'm talking bloody murder. Eventually she calms down, burps, and takes more of the bottle.
8:55pm-Ainsley falls asleep and daddy puts her in the swing and turns on the Golf Channel.
9:15pm-Mommy comes home. All is well again.

Mom and baby

Mom and Ainsley visit daddy's office...

Very Talkative Today

Here's a clip that "speaks" for iteself...

Big Enough to Bounce

Today brings two news briefs from the bouncy department:

1. This morning our swiss ball sprung a leak that is beyond repair. Thankfully it wasn't a blowout, but I'll always remember where I was when that super handy ball finally bit the dust. We've spent a lot of time on that thing the last two months. I'll be shopping for a new one before the day is through.
2. Check out this little video of Ainsley in her bouncer! She is barely big enough for it but she seems to like it.

I love to take a bath

We recently found this picture we took of sweet Ainsley taking a bath. Isn't it cute?
While we're on the subject why don't we give a full bath update-she has outgrown the pink netting and is sitting in the tub itself now! She is getting the hang of pounding her fist in the water and splashing everywhere. She rarely cries while we wash her these days. What fun.

Is this loaf of baby fresh?

Here is Jenny checking Ainsley for freshness as if she is a marble rye. Yes, she is fresh.

Oh Please!

Enough with that camera!

Oh am I tired

Miss Ainsley is getting to be a better sleeper these days. On Wednesday, she slept from 10pm to 2:15am-a new record! We are very excited. Last night was also a good night as she woke up a couple times and promptly went down after nursing. Our new night time routine of walk around the neighborhood, take a bath, jammies, nurse and lights out seems to be working!

Millenium Molly, Tommy and Zoe

Ainsley's awesome cousins got to visit Millennium Park on Saturday. The look like they had fun!

We had a great time with the three of them on Sunday riding bikes in front of the house and playing Ice Cream Stand. Ice cream stand, for those not familiar, is a fun game where you turn your bike upside down and crank the petals and it magically makes delicious ice cream. Nana and Papa reminded me that this is how I hurt my finger when I was about 6. I believe there was an emergency room visit involved but they may have just used duct tape to close the wound :-).

The competition was fierce as Zoe used her cuteness to try to take down the market dominator Molly, who is shaping up to be a shrewd little business person (I'm so proud of her!). Tommy just churned out excellent product. He had an excellent technique of spinning both wheels for extra flavor. His "shimmy" shake was also best in town.

Sadly, I do not have pictures to capture the event but trust me it was cute.

Another Italian Dinner

So Sunday afternoon we had a very late lunch/very early dinner at Trattoria Peppino in Melrose Park. It's right by Johnnie's on North Ave. We thought we were in the clear as Ainsley was asleep when we got there, but she woke up hungry and cranky in between the salad and the entree. We played "pass the baby" while we ate our yummy food. Jenny had a pasta dish with steak and I had baked rigatoni with four tasty kinds of cheeses. Jenny liked both dishes and ate lots of mine too!

Peppino's is now on the list of "kid friendly" restaurants-old school service, good prices and a meal at a relaxed pace on their outdoor patio. The lady behind Jen's shoulder in this picture was obsessed with Ainsley! She wants us to come back on Wednesday for their "all you can eat pasta night" so we can all order different pastas and feed each other. Yeah, thanks but no thanks. We're not taking applications for new grandmas right now.

Vowels with a Soprano

So we had an absolutely wonderful visit with Amy this weekend. Amy and Ainsley bonded immediately. Amy held her, talked to her, and even sang to her. She loved it! It was great to have Amy here to give us a quick five minute hand here and there too. Come back anytime Amy!

A Night on the Town

Hi Everyone!

So Monday Jen and I celebrated the six week milestone by enjoying our first nice dinner out of the house at Franchescas in Forest Park. This was complete with wait staff, tablecloths, and even real silverware. (Our sandwich at Jimmy Johns three Saturdays ago doesn't really count.) Our sweet watiress told us that she was four months pregenant! It was really nice to sit and enjoy a meal and talk. Most of it was about Ainsley but that's normal, right? We also had to stop ourselves from staring at her the whole time and talk to each other, but we did it. Towards the end we had to hurry as Ainsley started to stir, but overall as you can tell she had a great time.

I read her the specials but she opted for none of them, choosing to sleep right through it.

After dinner we enjoyed a gentle stroll down Forest Park's lovely Madison Street and stopped at the Brown Cow for a cone. It was so good! I had the chocolate with peanut butter and it was probably the best cone I've ever had. I'm talking about real chunks of peanut butter swireld in to the rich chocolate. Jen's cup of chocolate chip cookie dough paled in comparison (at her own admission).

It's getting better every day!

Our Six Week Old Sweetie!

Another Sunday, another week. This picture mommy took tickled me. Hope it makes you happy too.

Look at those limbs go!

Ainsley continues to get stronger and more active. She's giving us more smiles too!

Month One is Done!

Well Ainsley turned one month yesterday. She continues to delight and amaze us. The occasional smile is our new delight. She is also getting really good at tricking me in to thinking she is asleep. When she looks good and sleepy (limp arms, deeply closed eyes) I gently set her down only to watch her open her eyes and cry for a while longer. Such are the joys! We love every second of it.

Big and small

I can't get enough of this picture of Ainsley and Ellie.

Our little ladybug!

Mommy is in love with these photos and it is easy to see why. Isn't she just a little peanut? The beautiful quilt from Julie Sundstrom measures around 4' x 4'. Ainsley is about 18 inches.

Three Hours Logged

So we think our sweetie might have colic. This after crying pretty much full out from 8:30 until midnight last night. The only breaks she took were to nurse and catch her breath. She finally gave up when I figured out the winning formula-a super snug "hospital" swaddle and and some over the shoulder time.

Listening to her cry was tough after a while, but we knew there wasn't much we could do. Her temp is normal (we bought a rectal thermometer, which thankfully she didn't mind). We burped her until there was no way she had gas. All the other stuff (diaper, outfit, comfortable temperature) was fine, so hey what can you do? Even after she went down I found it hard to sleep. I could still hear her cry in my head and my fingertips were throbbing as I felt so bad for all that sobbing and screaming she did. She seems okay now but it should be a fun weekend.

Under Construction

This blog seemed like a good idea when I started it. I'm sure it still will be but I've had some technical issues as well as some time management issues what with a new baby and all. So I'll get some posts up soon.

Recap of the first week home:

• It went really fast
• I'm really tired
• Grandparents are really smart and helpful when it comes to babies
• We don't exactly know what all her cries mean yet
• We really love our baby

That's it for now. More later.

Grandparents Weekend

Well we had a wonderful weekend with all the grandparents at the house helping us with Ainsley. Not only can an extra pair of hands be helpful, our parent's extensive knowledge of things you didn't know they knew is very useful. Ainsley loved it too. Thanks everyone!

We're home!!!!!

We finally got clearance to come home today. There were many exciting moments as we got closer to the big moment. My favorite was was when they finally took her baby monitoring system off her leg. For an uncerimonius moment it was very exciting. We could actually take her off the sixth floor!
My favorite moment by far was getting her in the car seat. I sort of struggled getting the straps the right lenght but eventually I got it. The thing I will never forget is bracing to pick up something very heavy. And when I picked up Ainsley to put her in the car for the first time, I'll never forget how light it really was. It was like lifting air. Having our baby with us is going to be a lot like lifting the car seat for the first time-seems like a big challenge but it will come so naturally that it will be no effort at all. I can't wait.

Welcome home, dear Ainsley Frances Avers.

Weekend at the "airport"

So today we completed day seven of ten of Ainsley's antibiotics. Jen and I spent the entire day with her essentially locked in a supply closet. We equated it to an airport delay for many reasons:

• We really can't do anything about it-we just have to wait this thing out.
  
• The accommodations are weak at best.
  
• We have three rocking chairs that really aren't that comfortable.
  
• We have whatever snacks we can smuggle in there.
  
• We have very little natural light.
• We keep finding ways to amuse ourselves.
  
• We watched a movie (Uncle Buck) on our Ipod today. That was fun.
  
• We read the weather page of Friday's WSJ for about 45 minutes. We went through the cities and tried to figure out what country they were in. Mind you, this was without the internet.
  

Most importantly, we were with our baby. And she is doing great and we'll be home soon.

Higher Education Aspirations

OK I would say give this one 20 seconds before it gets interesting, but you will see that she has a poker face when it comes to where she wants to go to college. My guess is she got the poker face from Papachino.

This is the baby in question

This was taken Sunday about three hours in to her wonderful life. She was in the NICU for observation after her traumatic birth, but come on we all know she is perfect. They just need to hang on to her for a while. Better to be safe.

Welcome to our blog

Hello and welcome. We are heavily influenced by brilliant people. And Farah is a brilliant person. Her amazing blog has been such a joy to check once in a while-like finding a $20 spot in jeans out of the dryer. Or discovering you DON'T need gas yet because American cars have lots more in the tank once it says "E" (OK maybe it's not like that but isn't that cool?)

So we want to get our own blog going. It should cut down on the emails and give us a chance to post pictures, videos, insightful writing, etc. all in one place. We hope you enjoy and look forward to your comments.

Love,
Scott and Jen

What to do at 4am

[Editors note: This was my first attempt to write for the blog. I thought it was lost forever but Farah helped me find it. Thanks Farah]
OK so it's supposed to be 3am. Maybe even 3:30. We really did set the alarm. Wow the third time we have to get up to provide for our child is tough. But it will be seem like nothing when she gets home.
The good news is that Jenny can count. Really well. She saved our sweetie from another heel prick yesterday and told the nurses that this was actually day five (5) and not three (3). Seems they forgot to count the first two days when her chart was with the NICU. Oops. Score one for us.
Then she counted down the fact that ten days might actually be Tuesday and not Wednesday. And our ultra-conservative pediatrician actually agreed. That's right-she may be home in time for the Home Run Derby. Score two baby.

By the way, welcome to our blog. A future of super cute pictures, videos, and hopefully insightful, funny and inspiring posts awaits. I figure you'll like this more than my "dadmails". Enjoy.