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 :)