11 months

Higher Mommy, Higher!

UGH! We are one month away from our little mooch turning 1 :( I don't quite know why it makes me so sad to think about him being 1. I have liked all the stages we have been through so far, so it isn't like I am worried about suddenly not liking him being 1years old. I think it has to do with losing my "baby". 1 just doesn't sound like a baby anymore....and there is something precious about your firstborn baby. Thankfully, Asher hasn't started walking yet, which I think will be the biggest change from baby to toddler. He is walking along furniture and can stand by himself for a few seconds, but I am not encouraging him walking AT ALL! I had too many younger siblings so I know that although walking is awesome, it also brings a whole new set of challenges and adventures!

A couple weeks ago Asher weighed in at 17.3pds, so I am guessing he is now around 17 3/4pds give or take a couple ounces :) I have spent a lot of time recently looking back at old videos and photos of Asher's weeks in the NICU and am still in awe of how tiny he really was. 17 pds+ is tiny for his age but it seems amazingly huge from 3pds 12oz!

Mommy, stop interrupting my play date with Ava Claire!

This month we moved from all things YUCKY to all things DANGEROUS! In about a span of a day Asher suddenly noticed electrical outlets, toilets, trash cans, the dog door and the mini-blind cords. Thankfully there hasn't been any injuries and so far he hasn't actually tried to climb out the dog door. As of this moment he just content to push the flap open and watch is slap back and forth. Climbing out will come soon I am sure! We are trying to always remember to tuck the blind cords up, but sometimes they fall down or we forget and Asher absolutely adores chewing on the little plastic ends. If I ever can't hear him in the eat-in area, 9 times out of 10 it is because he is sitting on the floor sucking away on them! Such a funny kid :) (please don't panic they aren't tied together and he is so short that he really couldn't strangle himself at this point)

Practicing going between things

He also has discovered how to open drawers and cabinets! I did run around the day he discovered the outlets and put plugs in them, but for now I am not locking our drawers and cabinets. I want him to be able to explore things and also learn what "you may not" means. He currently isn't bothered by that phrase (as in he ignores me most of the time) but I also don't have to use it a lot. He likes opening and closing things more than taking things out right now. Locks may come as his mess making ability grows :

What do you mean I am using it wrong Mom? Feels great to me!

Another thing Asher loves opening and closing, is books. He has really gotten into reading books with us and he especially likes to help turn the pages! His current favorites are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See?" "The Belly Button book" "DOG" "Dr. Seuss ABC's" and "Goodnight Moon" in the lap edition size. * family - any books in the lap edition, "hard" sided style would be great B-day/Xmas gifts:

Mom, I can see you....stop taking photos!

We have finally started getting serious about Baby signs. Well, I should say we have started seriously using 2 signs..."all done" and "thank you". Since Asher continues to not really care about eating/drinking from a cup too much, please was too hard to try and teach at this point. I decided instead to always make him sign "all done and Thank You" at the end of every meal. He completely understands when I ask him "all done?" but hasn't quite mastered the signs himself. I am really looking forward to him getting it and being able to expand his "vocabulary".

Best Buddies!

This was a big month in terms of sleep. I talked to lots of friends about their sleep experiences and what to do about Asher not sleeping through the night and decided to make some major changes in his schedule. We have dropped his late afternoon power nap, moved his bedtime forward to 6:30/7pm, moved him into his crib and started scheduling his nursing sessions. I wasn't a complete on-demand nurser, but did lean that way. Now I try to have him go 3-5hrs between nursings and also eat 3-4 solid food meals a day. It has been going really well, but man, on days when he doesn't get 2 solid long naps, it is painful! He is still not sleeping through the night, but he is only waking 2x (1am ish and 4:30am ish) and I figured he could use a little grace adjusting to the new way of doing things before I really cracked down on the night feedings. (that and I didn't have the stomach to let him cry for 60min again like he did that one night!) The new bedtime is my favorite thing!

Mom, seriously why are you taking a picture right now? I am just flying my plane...

Just this past Friday, Asher started cutting his 3rd tooth. A top one! I was really frustrated that he seemed to be getting a cold again and was sleeping really poorly, but then I saw the white speck and I was so relieved. I will take a couple days of a runny nose and whininess over truly being sick again or allergic to eggs like we were wondering about. Eggs yolks, pomegranates, broccoli and crackers were the new foods for the month. We also tried peanut butter by accident with Daddy - Daddy did it on purpose but didn't know it was a big no-no, so we are calling it an accident;) He didn't go into anaphylactic shock, but we aren't risking anything and are going to wait a while longer before we really let him try it. He didn't love broccoli in small bits but did like it as a soup that Andrew and I made for ourselves. He also decided that he likes bananas as long as he can eat it just like Andrew and I do. Crackers were the biggest hit of all! I think he is going to take after me, as he seems to love carbs...bread, cheerios and crackers!

Whew, I had thought this month would be a short update, but I was most definitely mistaken. I didn't realize how much "happened" this month for our little guy! And before I finish, instead of a picture of Asher with our Crossfit equipment, we have a link for you all.....Click here

Asher made it on a professional Crossfit site!! If you look closely you will see he is not sitting but is in great squat form. Crossfit Palmdale was just opened by a friend of Andrew's from here on base and we went to support it on opening weekend. Andrew and Asher did the workout and I watched :)

TP party!!!!

Yup, Asher has had his first TP party! I came around the corner the other day to find him in heaven playing with the TP. I think he is ready for high school TP pranks :)

Fits & Giggles

Kitchen Sink

What a better place to play with water than the kitchen sink?

I love this Mom!

Running water, what a cool feeling on the finger tips.

Practicing to be able to someday fit a Big Mac in his mouth!

Hi Mom!

Are you sure about this Mom? Don't have 2nd thoughts now, I am loving it!

Could you back the camera up a little Mom? You are in my play space.

Thanks Mom, that is better!

Asher's new bed

Asher is on to his 4th bed in his little life! His first, if you remember was the quite pricey, high-tech $40,000+ Giraffe isolette.

Though it was top of the line, we were quite glad to move out of that one. Next up was the "normal" hospital bassinet. Definitely not fancy or high tech, but it did come in at the tune of $900+ every 24hrs. - care included :-) We loved it because it meant we could touch him and pick him up whenever we wanted!

Then came the pack & play at home. We were so thrilled after coming home to it empty for almost 7 weeks, to have our sweet boy right next to us every night! And though he loved his pack & pack, he literally ended up right next to us in bed most nights. (Never, say never, until you have your first kid :)

I actually only have 1 pack & play photo and it is blurry, so a co-sleeping picture will have to do.

Now at the ripe old age of 10.5months he has finally moved into a real, full crib. We have had the crib since I was in my first trimester with him, but didn't have space for it in our CO Springs home. Then when we moved to CA, we were missing the screws to it and had to wait a long time for new ones because they were on back order and then I took several more weeks to finally bite the bullet and decide organic or not for the mattress....I went organic, just not the $450 organic one I was thinking about.

All that to say, Asher has been in his crib for about a week and so far so good!

No Hair November

What a good looking hubby I have!
Trying to channel his inner rebel
Still hot, even with no hair! No Hair November is a tradition in many military squadrons. Not sure I love his hair this short, but is a fun, comradory thing to do. I am looking forward to Flat-top February, but not mustache March!

Window to the world

I wonder what he thinks of what he sees out there? From his perspective the backyard probably seems huge and yet in reality it is just a tiny smidgen of the world......
Can you see what is coming? What new fun he might have soon? I am going to have to stay on my toes to make sure he doesn't start copying Boots! I must say it is a pretty sweet escape route to adventure though!

T-i-double gg-er

That is what Asher was for Halloween yesterday! He was so adorable and so were all his little neighborhood friends. We had a strawberry, Bob the builder, a monkey, a dragon, Thomas the Train, princesses and many other cute costumes! The base had trick or treating from 5-8pm yesterday and even had security out on foot patrol to make sure everyone was safe going from neighborhood to neighborhood! We definitely live in Mayberry these days!

Could he be any cuter!?!?!?!
Checking to make sure the candy is ok to give out......
Hiding the tasted piece :)
Is his tail not the cutest thing ever!?!?
Hmm, not sure, thinking about it.......
Nope, made my decision.....I don't really like this piece...kinda plasticy tasting
Asher handing out candy....Little did they know, he was sampling and then putting it back in the bowl :)
Some of Asher's friends.......
Try some Brooklynn, you eat it like this.....

Asher only lasted till about 6:30 before he crashed. It hadn't been a good nap day, because we had spent a lot of the day in town running errands. Thankfully, it was pretty warm out, so after putting Asher to bed, Andrew and I hung out, outside with our neighbors and passed out the candy (and tried not to eat too much of it ourselves :)

We have already figured out what we are going to make Asher next year and we are both so excited! It is going to be great! And no, we are not telling!!!!