The Raymond Adventures: Ashlin turns 2 years old!

I can't believe my baby is 2 years old! Ashlin is my only child to have her 2nd birthday without a newborn baby in the house. It's kind of crazy to think that I am entering a new phase of my life. I'm moving away from babies and diapers and into school-aged activites. It's sad and exciting all at the same time. Randall and I are quite content with our four children and feel complete, at least for now.

Poor Ashlin had a bit of a crumby birthday. Her birthday was on Sunday this year, and I woke up very early Sunday morning with Lainee saying her tummy hurt. I thought perhaps she was too hot from having too many blankets on, so I sent her back to bed. A few minutes later she was up again, this time I took her straight to the bathroom, and the vomiting began. As I stood there with her, I realized I didn't feel all that well myself. 30 minutes later Carson was up and throwing up. I followed a few minutes later. It was a miserable morning. Cooper had stomach cramps, but felt ok otherwise. Cooper was my hero that day. Ashlin never got sick (thank goodness!) and Cooper got her out of bed, changed her diaper, helped her get dressed, got her breakfast, and turned on a movie to watch with her--- all without being asked. I was a bit delirious and couldn't even take care of myself, let alone my children. Randall had gone to church- he wasn't sick either. By 2:00 in the afternoon we were all hanging out on the couches instead of in the bathroom- a marked improvement!

I blame it all on food poisoning- from Ashlin's birthday cake no less. She wanted a rainbow cake for her birthday, so I made 7 rainbow layers. It was a made from scratch cake with lots of eggs, and with 7 bowls to lick, we all tasted a lot of raw cake batter--- all of us except Randall and Ashlin. They say your chances of getting salmonella from raw eggs are something like 1 in 20,000 eggs. I guess our luck ran out!

The infamous cake

Needless to say, we celebrated Ashlin's birthday a day late. And even though I finished making Ashlin's cake, I couldn't make myself eat any. It did look beautiful, though! Ashlin is my jabbering toddler. She says more works than most 3 year olds, and speaks quite clearly, forms 5-6 word sentences on a regular basis, and acts much more grown up than a 2 year old most of the time. She loves playing princess with Lainee, and loves to be my helper. She also loves to go with Daddy whenever she can, and she gives THE BEST hugs!