- I love the way she grabs my face with both hands on my cheeks when she really wants my attention. The other night she wanted to watch Finding Nemo, and I was watching the Jazz game, and she kept grabbing my face and making sure that I was looking directly at her instead of at the TV, and she would say "Nemo . . . Nemo . . . Nemo". I couldn't resist; we watched Nemo for the 4th night in a row.
- I love how she is so loving with everything around her. She loves to give hugs and kisses to show her affection. It doesn't even have to be a living thing, it can be inanimate objects like flowers, books, bananas, blankets, anything.
- I love how smart she is. She can already count to 10 on her own, and she can identify almost all of the letters in the alphabet.
- I love the face she makes when she is sad. She has a frown that makes me melt. She doesn't have to cry, all she does is frown and say 'hug'.
- I love how she has last minute requests which we need to follow before she is happily going to bed. "banky" (blanky), "prayer", "hug", "kiss", "love you".
- I love her laugh and her smile.
- I love her cute little running form.
- I love her dancing (and she is even starting to sing a litte).
- I love her energy.
- I love how she wants her independence and wants to do things her own way.
Two years ago today we got the call that she had been born. I wish I had written more at the time, but this is what I found from my journal -
March 29: The baby was born and our lives were changed forever. We were still calling it ‘it’ because we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. Andrea and Tyler invited us to visit them at the LDS Hospital the following day (Thursday). The news of the birth brought some of the best feelings we had ever had (along with the announcement telling us that we had been chosen). I was hoping that we were going to have a girl. The time that I had been spending with the girls track team really made me want a daughter of my own.
March 30: Stefanie picked me up from the boy’s day of the Super Meet (track) at Davis High a little early and we impatiently drove down to the Hospital - where Stef had spent the day working. It took some control on Stefanie’s part to not find out any details about the baby. When we arrived at the door to Andrea’s room, we stopped for about a minute to really prepare ourselves. Going into the room and seeing the pink blankets and the pink signs, we knew that we were parents to a sweet little girl. It felt like a dream. We were able to spend a few minutes holding her, and she was the most adorable, innocent, beautiful, perfect thing in the world. I remember holding her and not being able to take my eyes off of her. I know that we were talking to Andrea and Tyler and their family, but the only thing that I could focus on was the baby’s cute little face and hands and breathing and everything else about her. We left the hospital feeling so wonderful, but still a little nervous about placement the next day. We were definitely anxious to bring her home. We had decided to call her Ashlyn Michelle. I actually wanted her middle name to be Elizabeth, but I am glad that we went with Michelle–it is both Stefanie’s and Andrea’s middle name as well.
At the hospital - March 30, 2006. One day old.
1st Ride in the car seat on the way home from the agency - March 31, 2006. Two days old.
