If only...

If only this was in my backyard!

Although as I posted last week, I am jealous of all the snow my family has been getting, sitting poolside enjoying this outdoor fire with a great girly cocktail wasn't a shabby way to spend Valentine's Day weekend.

No Idea

I have no idea what was going on in Asher's mind or cheeks, but this picture cracks me up every time I look at it!!!

Hanging out poolside at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas

Doesn't Andrew have the prefect GQ look going on! Such a handsome guy! ;)

Beans

Asher LOVES his beans! When he eats beans, he loves to dive right in and enjoy them to the max!

Eating at Tony Roma's in Vegas

What are you looking at?!?

Eating at a awesome hole in the wall Mexican place in San Diego over Christmas break

One of the joys of only having one child for the time being, is that when he makes a (GIANT) mess, it doesn't stress me out because I am not pulled in several directions by other mess-making kiddos. I guess I should start apologizing to number 4 already (if we have that many) for not letting him/her make messes and play with their food, like I did Asher!

Mig-15

This past week Andrew got to "fly" the Mig-15. As an Engineer, he can't do the take off or landings, but most times, the pilots let him fly while they are up in the air cruising around, which of course makes his day.

One of the things that is supposed to make TPS more survivable is the experience of getting to fly lots of different planes. (F-16, T-38, T-6, T-43, KC-135, Learjet, Gliders, F-15E and D models, T- 2, AN-2, to name a few - for those of you who know your plane - which I do not!) Unfortunately, do to several different reasons (maintenance, weather, etc) his class has had a lot of flights cancelled. The class as a whole is about 2 weeks behind in scheduled flights. There is still about 113 days left though(not that we are counting down or anything), so hopefully, they will get to fly everything promised.

Goodbye Pingley's

Our next door neighbors moved away this weekend. We were really sad to see them go, as they had become good friends. In December, they got to come up to Big Bear with us. We had a great time playing in the snow and for the boys, cutting down a huge tree!

Last hugs with their special buddy

Jake at 10, has the sweet tenderness that still exists before becoming a teenager, yet is all boy and loved to play on our rings in the garage. With his blondish-brown hair and smile, it was easy watching him, to picture Asher in a few years.

Buddies

Layla who is 4, had multiple sleepovers at our house, loved playing with Boots and brought a fun, precious girlyness to our house whenever she entered. We named the wooden ladybug that is on Asher's playroom wall, in honor of her.

Just one of Boots' fan club members! ;)

They are our first experience in having neighbors and friends being re-stationed. In our previous moves, we were the ones who always moved. Living on base means that everyone around us is always either newly arriving or getting ready to move. In Layla's words " If the military has to move us, they should move our friends too!" I completely agree with her and I am sure the older Asher gets he will feel that way too. We look forward to visiting them in FL and hopefully being stationed together again someday. Joe, Angie, Jake and Layla, we miss you already!

"Dry" Lake Bed

We got enough rain a few weeks ago to completely flood the dry lake bed. It is so strange to actually see water on the lake bed.

You have to imagine seeing miles and miles of lake bed completely dried up and so flat that in the heat of the summer, at certain times of day, it actually creates a mirage that there is water there.

So to see actual water in the lake bed causes a double take.

Just a few inches of water turned a dusty, not very pretty landscape into something very beautiful.....(insert huge sigh) If only it were like this every day!

Can you tell...

Who was in the kitchen?

And yes, I am the crazy Mom who has no locks on any cabinets in the kitchen...With only 1 child I have all the time in the world to clean up after him right?!?!? Maybe this is why I never get to that pile of laundry?

Happy Adjusted 1st Birthday

Update: This is what happens most days....I have the best intentions and horrible follow-through. I wrote most of this Feb 3, - Asher's due date and yet, am just now finishing it and getting it published! Better late than never is my unofficial life motto :)

Today was my original due date. Asher was born 50 days early and spent 45 days in the NICU. At this point last year, he had only been home with us 4 days and weighed about 6pds, if he had just been fed! (he had come home for one day a week earlier but then had to go back in the next morning because he started "pooping" blood)

I was at the beginning stages of trusting myself as Asher's mom and learning who he was. Though it felt like I lived at the NICU everyday, I was really only there 7-9hrs a day, maybe 10hrs occasionally. That wasn't even 50% of his day, which left a huge amount of time that others cared for him. And even being there that much, I was under constant supervision with all his nurses and because of all the heart monitor's, O2 tubes, and varying leads, I spent those 45 days never moving more than 18in away from the same spot with him. Bringing him home and having him stay home, was thrilling, but also terrifying. He was almost 2months old and it felt like I was just starting out, like I had adopted him, instead of having given birth to him and feeling like he was "mine" from day 1. Part of that probably also relates to not getting to see him for several days after birth and not being able to hold him for 5 days.

I look at him today in amazement. The only thing that sort of gives away his tough start in life is his small size. He is a joy, always moving, babbles non-stop at home, loves people, has 7 teeth and almost no fear of anything. He is starting to get a spicy side to his personality which is also fun...although it means more "formal" discipline is around the corner :( The Lord has carried us through this year. Though I would never ask to go through what we went through again, it has made each day of being his Mommy a little sweeter and each smile from him a more precious gift.

Below are a couple pictures and a video highlighting just how far he really has come! * Listen to the little squeaks Asher makes on the video. He was such a tiny, quiet squeaker!

This was one of Asher's first shirts that he "fit" when he was almost 3 weeks old. It was huge on him! The shirt behind it, is 9month size, which is the size Asher is currently wearing.

Sort hard to see, but the arms were too long and he definitely didn't fill the shirt out!

The blue pants are 9 month size and they are sort of too long for Asher

He wore these pants for probably 2 months! Poor guy, he had such short little legs!

This outfit he wore at 6+weeks old. Again, the blanket sleeper underneath is only 9month size

This was Asher at almost 7 weeks, right before he finally came home for good.

Asher was 6 weeks and 5 days old in this video. He looks so big in this(to me), yet he was really so tiny! My friend's daughter's baby doll was bigger than him! The oxygen and tubes would be around for another 2+months after going home, but looking back it only seems like it was for a few days.

Not Perfect

So, I am publicly admitting I am NOT perfect! Are you all surprised?!?

And I submit the photo below as proof (in case you don't believe that I am not perfect!) Please tell me someone out there who has 1 child or less, lets their laundry pile up like this?!??

What's more shocking is that after having the childhood chore of folding laundry for a family of 7, (that grew to 9 while I was still home) I can fold INSANELY (in my personal opinion) fast. Yet, I still let it pile up higher and higher....ugh, at least the Bible doesn't talk about the sin of not folding laundry, so I don't have that added guilt! ;)

Jealous

This is my brother Joel. He is 14 (just to give you a clue about how tall he is) He is jumping off my parent's front porch! I LOVE snow and in ALL the years I lived in Northern Virginia we NEVER got snow like they have gotten last weekend and this week! Jealous....Oh, so jealous!

Tush

I love Asher's little tush! (What Mom doesn't love her baby's cute tush!??) I know Asher will kill me for these pictures one day, but look how big his cute little tush is getting!!!

Almost 8 weeks old!

13months old!

Golden Gate Bridge at Night

Isn't it so pretty?!?!?

How crazy would it be...

To see a runaway car?

Seen in San Fransisco by Ghiradelli Square

I can just see myself doing a triple take (if the car was going slow enough) if a car went cruising by me without a driver!!! Obviously happened enough to warrant the sign being made!

Something on my nose

Sticky rice is so yummy!

Umm, something doesn't feel right....I wonder what it is?

Greatest public (kid-friendly) bathroom ever!

Why can't more mall bathrooms be like this one?!? Or at least, why can't they have 1 of these in every mall???

Numerous diaper changing stations with mobiles overhead to entertain the baby, wipes in wipe warmers, diaper genies, hand sanitizer and bottle warmers at each station!! A little sitting area with a Winnie the Pooh movie playing and toys and multiple little curtained areas to nurse!

There was only 1 bathroom in this gigantic space, but it had a regular size potty, a small kids potty and both regular and small sized sinks with enough space for a stroller to fit in easily!

If you are ever in Valencia, CA stop at the Valencia Town Center just to experience how fabulous this "bathroom" is!

28 years later...

Andrew's Aunt Diane bought him a Fisher Price popper for his 1st birthday (WAY back when ;) The noise drove his Mom crazy!

Well, what goes around, comes around. Aunt Diane (with a big smile on her face) gave Asher the same thing for his 1st birthday this year!

Thankfully Asher has not started walking yet, so this gift has not been enjoyed in full sound effect yet!

Caught

Uh-oh!

Seriously Dad, I have to put the cookie down!?!?

Umm, am I going to be busted for taking another bite while Mom takes another photo?!?!

You can't take what is already in my mouth! Take the cookie but I am protecting my mouthful!

Riding in the Car

This is how Asher prefers to ride in the car

HI! Can I help you drive?

Umm, Mom you parked a little close to that guy

That smile gets me every time!

Ostriches and Wine

Over Christmas break we took Asher to an Ostrich Farm and ourselves wine tasting..... yes, in the same day! It was random but fun.

A baby's eye view

Ostriches only eat alfalfa pellets

Asher was very unsure of the Ostriches and I don't blame him. We learned a lot about them and are thinking about switching all our red meat eating to ostrich meat. It is super healthy for you and cheaper than the organic buffalo that Asher currently eats (and we wish we could afford to eat ourselves.)

I am glad kids don't grow as fast as Ostriches...They can be 6 ft. tall by 6 months old!

I need to start holding things further away from Asher's reach!

The winery was fun to visit and especially appreciated because it was only 45min away. Asher has little patience for long car rides! The most random thing of the day was getting to meet Spike - a little white terrier that used to belong to the character Curly from the movie City Slickers. I guess "Curly" lived across the way from the Winery and they adopted the dog when Curly died.

How to get down

Hey Mom - you found me!

Why do you always have to take pictures from every angle?!?!?!

Ummm, now about getting down....

I can do this...just step off and down

Changed my mind...are you going to help me or what?!?

One thousand four hundred sixty-two....

PAGES!!!! Yes, I just read that much with a 1yr old in my life!

Dumas is one incredible author! I have read 300 page books I thought were too wordy, yet he made almost all 1,462 pages seem necessary and enjoyable to dive into.

It took me 3 weeks, but still I accomplished it! I am pretty proud of myself as this is the longest book I have ever read. Around 1,100 I was definitely getting tired and wanting to finish it, but overall it makes my top 10 list of favorite books!