One Week to Go!

I feel like I'm about to lose my mind! A week from today (Saturday) I am going to be Ashley Nicole Snavely. I. Can. Not. Wait. Chad and I are so excited. We're getting all the details finalized and picking up the last pieces of decorations and stuff, and on Wednesday we'll be headed off to Pismo, and when we return...we'll be married!!! Despite having been married already, I'm so excited to finally be spending the rest of my life with the man I love more than anything. Our little family is finally going to be legally complete. The only thing I'm not sure about are my two furry kids. We'll be gone for a week, their litter box is going to be disgusting when we get back. We have an automatic cleaning one, but the motor on it isn't working, so I've had to treat it like a normal litter box and clean it every day. I'm not looking forward to how it's going to be after a week. Anyway, I'm picking up my dress today (YAY!!!) and taking care of some of the simple beauty things (eyebrows for one). At least, that's the plan. I'm exhausted. Dakota was having some major trouble sleeping last night. She went to bed at 8:30pm as usual, but instead of sleeping until 7:00am, she woke up at 1:00am, and again at 3:00am. I think her new teeth are starting to hurt her more than they were. She was just so fussy, and nothing I could do seemed to help, except to hold her and cuddle. I gave her some baby Tylenol, and turned the fan on in her room in case she was too warm, gave her a bottle at 1:00am, but just played with her a little at 3:00am. Chad had a major migraine yesterday (even after going to the chiropractor), and so I turned the baby monitor off in our room, and came to sleep on the couch so he could sleep and not hear her cry, but I could still get up with her if needed. It didn't last long. He came out at around 4:00am because he heard something outside and went to check it out. We've had some recent burglary to our cars, so he checks everything now. He told me just to come back in to bed, there wasn't any difference for him whether the monitor was on or off, he'd hear her either way. So far, she just seems tired today, but I'm watching her very carefully. I just hope she isn't sick and I'm missing the signs. She doesn't have a temperature, but I just can't figure it out.

A First Tooth and More!

This week we were so excited to find that Dakota has cut her first tooth! She'd grabbed my finger, stuck it in her mouth, and chomped down. I was surprised because it actually hurt, did the whole "Ow!" thing, and pulled my finger out. Then it actually registered that there was something other than just hard gums in her mouth. I did the double check and found her tooth! It's on the bottom in the front, and it's sharp. I can't believe that she's got just the tiniest bit of her first tooth coming through already, but then I look back and realize that she's five and a half months old, and it's not that surprising. Dakota is taking teething very well, for which I am extremely grateful, I know that many don't handle it well, and it's no wonder, teething hurts. But she's also learned how to grab her teething ring and bring it to her mouth, so she doesn't mind much anymore. I'm especially excited, she's blonde! It's a dark blonde, but she's definitely a blonde! Her hair has finally grown in enough that we could get a clear look at the color of her hair. She's just a joy to spend my day with, I love being a mom.
Well, we're seventeen days away from the wedding, and things are slowly coming together. I've got a dress fitting next Tuesday, and an appointment to figure out my make-up for the big event. The last couple of days I've been having a hard time getting to sleep, I just can't seem to make my mind shut down. I'm just so excited, I can't wait for everything to happen, at last. My plan is to get Chad's feelings two weeks before the wedding, and post them here, but I don't know how easy that will be, he's always so busy. Either way, I know I'm excited, and I know he's more than excited to finally be getting married and completing our family for good. We'll have tents, trailers, and motorhomes all out on the beach, so if people need places to stay, there will be a few extras. Chad and I have two nights at The Sea Venture Resort reserved, which I think we're both excited about. There is a private spa on the balcony, a delicious breakfast is brought to us every morning, and it just looks beautiful. This weekend Chad and I will have his "step-daughters" here to go dress shopping. I might have to change my wedding colors, but luckily there isn't too much to change. I would like to do white/peach, but I may have to do white/green. Either way, at this point I'm ok, just as long as we get it all coordinated. I'm just ready to have things all set and be able to relax for a few days before the wedding. I'm still waiting to get some RSVP's, which we need to have so we know how many tables/chairs to rent. So until I get all those done, I'll be a little extra stressed, but it'll work out, I'm sure.

First Things First

Hi there! We're not always good about keeping in touch with people about what is going on in our lives, so I (Ashley) decided it was time to start keeping a blog and let our friends and family know what's new.
Lately the biggest thing keeping our attention is, of course, the wedding. We're both extremely excited that it is finally only three weeks away. We're scrambling to get things all figured out and paid for, but they're slowly coming together. I just hope that the weather cooperates and doesn't throw all our hard work and planning in the garbage. If it's anything like it was last week though, it will be gorgeous. The plan is to have a quick ceremony right at sunset, so hopefully we've estimated the time right. It's hard to know, so I did some exploring to find the average sunset time for our wedding day, and I came up with 7:21pm, so I hope 7:00pm will give us a beautiful backdrop. Our photographer, Aaron Rogers, came to talk to us Wednesday about what we're looking for by way of pictures, and he's got some amazing work in his portfolio. I know he'll give us everything we're looking for and more. We'll have to do some pictures before the ceremony, which means I'll be seen in my dress early, but I'm ok with that as long as they turn out the way we want them to. Chad is working so hard to get all the little things together, it's the only thing keeping him sane, I think (It's still not positive that he is sane to start with :) ). I'm busy making sure the decorations and outfits for the bridal party are all figured out. Decorations are easy, they're all planned, they just have to be paid for. Outfits, that's a different story. We were going to have everyone in black pants and a white shirt with black or white cowboy hats, but it's actually cheaper to have the girls in dresses. Our colors are currently up for discussion. I was going to have black/white/peach, but now we're probably going to have to change them to black/white/blues. It's not what I would have chosen (I think it's too common with a beach wedding), but I'll do what I must to keep the cost down. Ultimately the colors don't matter anyway. I still need to go shopping to find a dress for Dakota.
Speaking of Dakota, she is getting so big it amazes me. Today she finally figured out how to roll from her tummy onto her back again. She's twenty-two weeks old and growing way too fast for me. I want her to stay small and cuddly and baby.... I can't believe it's been five months already since she was born. We're finally getting her characteristics figured out. She's got my eyes and mouth, but looks a lot like Chad right now. But last month she was identical to me at five to six months old. She loves teddy bears, the blue and green elephants on her bouncer, and her purple elephant on her carseat. She loves to take a bath, and has five very strict rules about bedtime.
One: It is promptly started at 8:00pm with a bath.
Two: The bath water has to be the same temperature as Mom's baths, very warm but not hot.
Three: After the bath, a diaper and PJ's are put on immediately, no playing or dilly-dallying.
Four: A bottle is given as soon as clothes are on.
Five: After the bottle is empty it's time to be put in bed.
She falls asleep pretty quickly and usually without any fuss. Ever since she was one month old, she's been sleeping through the night. Right now she falls asleep by 8:45pm and wakes up between 7:00am and 9:00am, takes a diaper change and a bottle, and will usually go back to sleep until 11:00am. It's been wonderful. She is such a good and easy baby. I hope the next one is just like her. But first I have to talk Chad into having one more. He'd be happy with just one, but I want at least two. That way Dakota always has a playmate, and I can try for a boy.
Well, I think for now that's got us up to date. I'm going to try to update this once a week, but we'll see if things work out that way before the wedding is done. In the meantime, take care and feel free to give us a call at any time to chat!