Futures All Star Game and Celebrity Softball Game

 The All Star baseball game and festivities have been going on in Phoenix for the past few days.  Eric and I managed to get to the Futures All Star game, which is the game for the minor league players.  It was a lot of fun.

That same day happened to be the Celebrity softball game so we stuck around to watch that.  Some of my favorite people were playing in it including Luis Gonzalez, Larry Fitzgerald and Jordin Sparks.  There was also James Denton from Desperate Housewives, Jennie Finch (who had just given birth two weeks before!  crazy), Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy, and lots of others.   You might be able to pick up my on my obsession with Larry Fitzgerald based on the pictures:

Larry Fitzgerald sitting on the sidelines (right in the middle of the picture, in the red hat looking down)
 

A shot of Larry on the jumbotron

Jordin Sparks on the jumbotron

Jordin and Larry playing catch

Eric and I at the game

Fourth of July Fun

The fourth of July in Phoenix means a nice long weekend spent in the pool.  Or on your couch in an air conditioned house...personally, I think you'd be crazy to even attempt to go outside much less stand around in the heat with tens of thousands of your new BBFs waiting for fireworks to go off.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good fireworks show.  In fact, the fourth of July isn't a true celebration without fireworks.  But the nice country club down the street from my parents house doesn't do fireworks anymore so we were forced to improvise.  So my brother went out and bought the newly legal fireworks that are available in every grocery store parking lot in Phoenix.

And what a fabulous day it was.  We went to my parents house to celebrate with my family and Eric's family.  Ashley had a special outfit for the day, of course (thanks ATL Pedersen's!).  I'll load a picture as soon as I find a good one.

A lot of time was spent in the pool with tasty snacks and mojitos.  We barbecued some yummy sausages and hamburgers.  And then came our very first fireworks show.

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4 months old

Weight: 14 pounds 9 ounces, 75th percentile
Length: 25.75 inches, 95th percentile

Another month has gone by.  Life seems so short when you're measuring things in months.  It seems like the month passed by in the blink of an eye.  She's such a joy to have around - we love watching her grow and change. 

Ashley has started to figure out that she has control over her hands.  She seems to think that they belong in her mouth.  She usually chooses a finger or two to chew/suck on while watching the world go by.  She's not that interested in chewing on toys yet but I know that day will come soon.  She also likes to bring her hands together in front of her.  I feel like she's just going to interlace her fingers together like she's patiently waiting for something.  She also enjoys watching her fingers move. 

She laughed for the first time ever over Memorial Day weekend.  It was such the cutest thing in the world.  I'll admit - it brought tears to my eyes.  Of course, she didn't laugh again for almost 3 weeks.  We'd do everything we could think of to get her to laugh.  Finally she laughed again.  We can get her to giggle by tickling her or giving her big, exaggerated kisses.   It's still one of the cutest things I've ever heard. 

We celebrated Eric's first father's day this month.  Unfortunately Eric had to work.  Ashley and I made him a very special father's day cake.  (I have no idea why there's a screwdriver on the table).

Ashley rolled over for the first time on her 4 months birthday.  We put her down for a nap and then watched her roll over on our video monitor.  We were so excited that we grabbed her out of her crib and placed her on her play mat so we could record the event.  This is her rolling over for the second time.  I'm sure she was happy that her performance was over so she could go back to her crib for a nap. 

One last story totally makes Eric and I laugh.  So, all babies pass gas, right?  I'm sure it's very relieving for them.  Well, Ashley likes to take her dainty toots one step farther.  She doesn't just toot while drinking her bottle.  She lifts one leg so she can toot.  I swear to god!  She actually lifts her leg, toots and then puts it back down again.  It's hilarious.  I can picture it now, in 10 years she's going to exclaim 'I can't believe you told people that!'.