Kittys, Tigers and Frogs! Oh MY!

Until Ashton has some siblings of his own (we're not in any rush yet), he's settled for his human size amphibian friend, "Mr. Frog." (Thank you so much Jerry and Bonnie!) I often find him tackling the frog and the other day I caught him gnawing on his eyeball. Maybe he's sharpening his skills so he can try out for Fear Factor when he gets older.





To all of our Michigan family....
I'm so excited because Ashton FINALLY fits into his Tigers tee. (thanks Aunt Patty and family) I wanted to post these pictures especially for you guys so you could see Ashton showing his Detroit pride. =) Hopefully Grandma Karen, Ashton and I can make it out there sometime. =) Ashton wants to meet his other cousins, or second cousins... but who's counting.. family is family!



I recently ventured out of my shell and joined a local "Moms Group." I'm so happy that I did because it's nice to meet other moms and babies for us to socialize with. I also dragged my fellow new mom and friend Raeanna along (shown here with baby Jacob) and forced her to socialize with complete strangers too. We were a bit reluctant, but yet, we survived. We all had a good time and can't wait for more upcoming playdates. Yes, I know it may sound boring that this is what the excitement in my life has come to, park days and playdates, but I LOVE IT!



Jacob also came over this weekend while his mommy had to run some errands. He is such an angel, so it was practically a breeze watching two babies. Practically... haha. Just call me "Jon and Kate plus 2!!"






Ok, we seriously need a pool... (sorry the video quality is so poor, I took it with my cell phone.)






We have the sweetest kitty around. What other animal would let a baby tug and pull on their fur and not even flinch. Poor Roxy.... always being abused by Ashton.





Peek a boo with Daddy.




Okay. Well that's all I have for today. I'm off to Utah next week with Ashton, my mom, and Aunt Carol! I've always loved trips to Utah ever since I was a little kid. I love to spend time with family "doing nothing" and what better place to do that than Utah where I have TONS of family. haha. This will be Ashton's first plane trip.... it should be interesting, but hopefully not too eventful. I figured an hour and 45 minute flight would be a good trial run for longer, future plane rides. Wish me LUCK!!!

Kissy Face

We can't wait for summer... This kid is DEFINITELY a water baby. He doesn't care whether the water it warm or cold, he just wants to splash around in it. Grandpa Fraley better get the boat ready so he can teach this kid how to water ski like the rest of the Fraley men.



Ashton found yet ANOTHER thing to stare at his reflection in. Ahhh vanity.... he must get that from his Daddy. haha



Daddy always gets a big grin outta him.



Have you ever seen a prettier color blue? =)


With his honorary cousins Alexis and Elijah.


This is Ashton's "say cheese" face. Elijah is soooo excited to have another boy around. He didn't want to let Ashton go. Poor kid is surrounded by girls all the time being the only boy out of 5 grandkids.





We noticed that he started making this new smacking noise with his mouth tonight. I guess this is his way of giving us kisses.

p.s. did anyone else hear him say "mama" at the end?!? That's right.. MAMA!!

A Hubby Survey...

I've been noticing that a lot of my friends/family blogs (I stole this one from you Amber =) have these fun surveys on them and I decided I wanted to be just like everyone else and fill one out too! So here it goes...


So this one is supposed to be all about Chuck...


What is his name? Chuck

How long have you been married? 6 years this past December

How long did you date? we dated for 9 months, got engaged, and were engaged for another 9 months.

How old is he? If you'd ask him, he'd say 25... but he'll actually be 30 this year, whether he likes it or not!

How old are you? a very young 27

Who eats more sweets? I'd say it's a tie, because we often share a pint of Ben and Jerrys ice cream together.

Who said I love you first? He did, but I said it right back.

Who is taller? He is. I think he's about 5'9" or 5'10", depends on what shoes he's wearing. And I'm 5'4".

Who can sing better? Ewww, neither of us... but we like to fake it around Ashton.

Who is smarter? ME!!! and he'll tell you that too! (come on, how tough can it REALLY be to be a doctor?!?)

Who does the laundry? I do.

Who does the dishes? Mostly me now that I stay home. But he helps out a lot too.

Who pays the bills? I do, but he does the taxes. (haha same answer for me Amber)

His guilty pleasure? He loves to watch reality cooking, bike building and flipping houses type shows. And that show about the dwarf family, "Little People, Big World." I think he's jealous because they have all of those fun tractor tools they get to play around with.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you're facing it, he does.

Who mows the lawn? Lately his Dad because Chuck has been working so much. (thank you!...for the palm trees too!!!!) But Chuck tries to do it when he has time, which is rare.

Besides you, who is his best friend? I'm very possessive, I only allow him to hang out with me!! haha just teasing.

Who cooks dinner? We both do. He's the better cook, but he's taught me a lot over the years and I'm pretty darn good now! But I definitely make the better enchiladas.

Who drives? If we're together, he drives... unless we need to get there quickly, then I will. =)

Who is more stubborn? Me definitely. He never gets angry. Annoyed at something maybe, but never angry.

Who kissed who first? I believe it was mutual, but I'll give him the credit.

Who asked who out first? I invited him on a group "hang out" first (we worked together when we met.) But he asked ME out on our first solo date.

What was your first date? Um, I think we went to the Elephant Bar

Who proposed? He did.

Who has more siblings? I do. 5 vs. 3.

Who wears the pants? Definitely me! I get whatever I want, but mostly because he's treated me so good over the years that I pretty much expect it now. haha. But that's the way it should be right? =)

What is your favorite thing about him? The way he tells me he loves me at least 15 times each day.






P.S. Another funny clip to share.

What did our parents use to INSTANTLY calm us down before we had the tiny electronics we do today...

Happy MARCH!

Well, I can't believe it's March already. Time is REALLY flying by this year, but I welcome it!! We have so many new and exciting things coming up this year, and I can't wait for each one.

Chuck recently accepted a job offer (3 days ago) to join a group of doctors in Temecula. Yes, that means we're moving!! When exactly.... couldn't tell ya. But most likely some time before July when he starts his new job. It all depends on how quickly we sell our house, so keep your fingers crossed. (Do you know anyone who wants to buy it? haha) Although we are very sad to be leaving such a close proximity to our friends and family, we couldn't be more excited about this new venture, and the new life experiences ahead of us. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Temecula is about an hour from where we live now, half way between San Diego and Los Angeles.

I was uploading my pictures off of my camera tonight and I totally forgot about a few videos I had taken throughout the month. So, I will share them with you now...




This one was taken at my nephew Jacob's 8th birthday party. He had a sports themed party so Ashton wanted to get involved with all of the excitement. Uncle Keith showed Ashton some hot moves on the basketball court. (for those of you who don't know my side of the family, he is the "Keith" in "Ashton Keith," so he and Ashton LOVE to spend time together.)






I recently lowered Ashton's crib mattress which caused everything to be a bit lower... including the dust ruffle thingy on the bottom. Ashton loved this because now he has a new dungeon style hiding place. He was scooting around the room and next thing I knew, he was hiding from me, and he loved it!!




Who needs a girl when you have a kid who loves to be in front of the mirror this much!!





While I was working on a few things in the office the other night Chuck and Ashton were playing together in the family room. I could hear all kinds of giggling and I went out to see what all the noise was about and this is what I found.....


Hope you liked these clips of our little man. HAPPY MARCH to everyone! (Whatever that means.. haha)

"Who stole my COOKIE!"

Just a quick video I took the other night that I wanted to post.

The three of us were hanging out and watching TV while Ashton was enjoying his favorite Gerber teething cookies, when I noticed he was looking around his chair for his missing snack.

It gave us a good laugh so I thought I'd share it with all of you. =)


p.s. sorry the TV is so loud in the background... we were watching "Jon & Kate plus 8!"

recap of 2007

2007 was definitely a big year for us. As new parents we experienced a lot of new things. Here's a recap of the places we've been this past year... (and parts of January '08)





Chuck and I went to Palm Springs in May for "one last hoorah" before Ashton arrived. I'll spare you of any pictures of my full belly in a bathing suit. haha






At around 3am on July 1st we visited this really nice hospital by our house in Whittier. It's actually the same hospital where Chuck works so we got to see a few familiar faces. It was the coolest thing because when you leave, they send you home with a new baby!






Then we took Ashton for his first beach trip during the last weekend of July. We loved being in the sun and surf, even though we had to keep him completely covered the entire time.





I joined Jeanette and her kids on their annual summer road trip to Cedar City, Utah with her good friend Shannon and her family. Shannon has a beautiful cabin up in the mountains and was nice enough to let Ashton and I tag along.






We took a trip to "Downtown Disney" on halloween so Ashton would have a place to show off his cute costume. (made by Auntie Jeanette) It's kinda hard to read the front of his costume, but he was a "tootsie roll" if you couldn't tell.







In September we rode the train down to San Diego to visit our good friends, the Cordes family. Kendall was nice enough to lend Ashton some of her warm hats and blankets. I'll have to hide these pictures when he's older so he doesn't yell at me for dressing him in pink!







My family all got together in November while Darrin and Andrea were in town and made our annual family trip to Knotts Berry Farm.
Ashton's favorite ride was the "ghost train," being that was the only ride he was able to go on. But he also loved hanging out in the backpack with Dad all day.






We took another road trip to see our friends in San Diego in November. There's definitely no place like California. Check out that beautiful view.






We also made a trip to Yosemite in November and met up with Grandpa Briggs and Dana who just happened to be passing through the very same day! We had a great time spending the day with them. We were on our way to Sacramento for a business trip for Chuck and we decided to take a detour to one of his favorite places to go as a kid. It was beautiful and we can't wait to go back.






Another California miracle... Going to the beach in January. Ashton was able to enjoy the sand beneath his toes this time, and he loved it!




The weekend of January 18th we took a trip up to Big Bear for the "Annual Residents' Retreat" for Chuck's work. We had a great time playing in the snow and Ashton even got to do a little sledding with Dad.
My favorite part was dressing him up in this extremely puffy baby snow suit. It reminded me so much of my favorite Christmas movie, "A Christmas Story" where the mom dresses the little brother in that ridiculous outfit that doesn't allow him to put his arms down. That was my goal for this outfit and I think I succeeded. haha




After all of our travels, our favorite thing to do is to relax in our hot tub...


It was such an exciting year for us and we can't wait for what 2008 has to offer. BRING IT ON!

HERE WE GO...

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while since I am always so amused by what my sister, and all of her friends, have to say on theirs, so here we go...


We just got these pictures back! I can't believe he's almost 8 months old. Chuck says he's not sure if he likes these pictures because he's standing up like a "big boy." To him, his little baby boy is growing up too fast! Aren't the baby Vans too cute? Uncle Keith wasn't so excited about them, since he works for Converse and all. But he said "he'd allow it." Haha.








I know we're well into February already, but since this is my first post, I thought I'd include a few pictures from this past holiday season for those of you that are "out of towners."
Ashton sitting on Santa's lap at the mall in Cerritos.

His Christmas photo.




We opened Christmas presents at Grandma and Grandpa Fraleys' house on Christmas Eve. Like most babies, he really enjoyed the paper, and eating the boxes that the toys came in.

...tasting his first present.



...tasting the paper.




playing with his new baseball toy from Uncle Andrew





getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve



I hope everyone had a great holiday season. =)