As you know, Thursday was Asa's birthday, so we'll start there. :)
Thursday: I sang Asa the birthday song as I walked into his room. It was a sweet way to begin the day. :) I made him pancakes for breakfast (his faaaaavorite), and he ate three of them!
After a little time of playing at the house, we dressed and left for the library. The library by our old house has a really fun children's area (I haven't checked out the one closest to where we live now yet), so we headed over there to play and pick up some books I had placed on reserve. Asa loves to look at the fish tank, doll house, train table, and puzzles at the library. When we were done playing, we picked up our books and drove back home. It was time for lunch and then rest. We have just recently moved Asa's nap back so he is officially taking only one nap per day. And by moving it back (I tried moving it back a little before, but apparently not enough), he's taking a nice looooong 2-3 hour nap. Woo hoo!! After his nap, we went to Toys R Us. Asa received a coupon in the mail for $3 off any purchase of $3 or more. I have to admit, it's kind of funny given the mountain of gifts he was about to receive, but it was fun to take him and let him pick something out. It was a very difficult decision between a new McQueen, a new Mater, a dump truck, and a firetruck. The dump truck won, and we settled ourselves back into the car with Asa's new little truck. :)
We played the rest of the afternoon until Daddy got home, and then we had the birthday dinner and a little family celebration. We had crockpot bbq chicken and mashed potatoes (of course we had to have "taters") with green beans for dinner. Asa gobbled down the potatoes, enjoyed his chicken, and even tried some green beans (they are usually hit or miss with him lately). Then it was PARTY TIME! He was soooooooo incredibly excited when I started bringing presents to the living room. He was literally hopping up and down, squealing, making little excited fists, and scrunching up his face with anticipation. It was ADORABLE. He received such sweet and thoughtful cards and gifts from across the country. Thank you to all our family and friends who celebrated our little guy on his special day! It means a LOT to us, too. ;) His big gift was a kitchen set Matt had built on Wednesday night... from 8 PM to midnight! Ha! Asa loves it though, and between various people's gifts his kitchen is fully outfitted with pots, pans, plates and dishes, food, and utensils. He is having a BLAST with it all. :) He also received some really fun books, clothes, art supplies, a McQueen pillow (so he can finally take a "car" to bed with him), and a bubble mower. SO. MUCH. FUN.
After opening all his gifts and having our grand reveal of the kitchen, we all sat down for a special birthday treat--Asa's first ice cream and chocolate! I found soy ice cream sandwiches to celebrate with. Asa's had 2 candles in it, and Asa blew them out by himself (which some coaxing from Daddy)! He was a little unsure about the temperature of the ice cream sandwich, so he would not pick it up and alternated between eating it right off the plate and eventually using a spoon. :) But he really liked it! He kept smiling and saying, "MMmmmmm!" It was a hit! We made some VERY sweet memories that are locked away in my heart. We are so thankful. (At this moment, I told Asa I was writing about his birthday and he said, "Asa day... open presents! Open presents! Asa Tween (McQueen)!" while bouncing on the couch. :)) I think all 3 of us had a TON of fun.
Friday: On Friday, we had two more special events. In the morning, Asa wore his new truck overalls from Poppy & Nana and we went to Touch a Truck, an event sponsored by our town. They brought several kinds of (mostly city-owned) trucks for children to climb in, touch, have pictures with, etc. Asa sat in a firetruck, a police car (both the back and the front ;) hehe), a huge mowing tractor, a waste water truck, a mulching truck, and we saw a street sweeper, too! He mostly made his "serious" face, but he was genuinely VERY excited. I think the mower was his favorite. :)
We came back home for a quick bite, and then it was off to the doctor for Asa's 2 year check up. We were the first appointment after lunch, so we were seen quickly and were in and out in no time. Asa did have a shot, and it was the first time he's REALLY reacted to a shot. His cry was one of astonishment, confusion, and pain. It was heart-breaking. The very sweet nurse told me to take whatever time I needed to calm him down and not feel rushed out of our room. I turned Asa around (he'd been sitting in my lap), hugggggged him close, and I started singing Jesus Loves Me. As soon as I started singing, he stopped audibly crying and just sniffled. I could feel his little chest heaving against mine, but he was comforted. He is not a big fan of band-aids, but he decided he could leave it on until we got to the car (and in fact, he left it on until Daddy got home). We came home and he had another little snack before naptime. Such a sweet boy. I'm so thankful he's been so healthy and that he continues to not only maintain his growth curve (always reassuring to us after the worry of his first 7-8 months) BUT he continues to inch up within his curve and climb back up out of the depths. ;) He maintains PLUS he gains a little extra beyond his curve every time we go. Praise the Lord for restoring Asa's health! Friday evening I spent preparing for Asa's birthday party the next day. I made cupcakes Friday morning, but I made icing and frosted the cupcakes Friday night. Matt and I also made dog themed sugar cookies (and frosted them) Friday night.
Saturday: I got up early to complete some finishing touches for the party. I really tried to balance having some grand ideas (as this was Asa's first real friend birthday party) with realizing I am 9 months pregnant... so not only is my energy limited but who knows--we could have had to call off/postpone the party if AR had decided it was time. We invited just 2 families from Matt's work, and one of them was able to come. It was so sweet of them to give their Saturday morning to celebrating with us--it meant a lot to us. :) Asa's birthday party was dog themed. I made ribbon-wrapped headbands with felt dog ears for the kids to wear in lieu of party hats (and party hats were available for adults), drew dog faces on goodie bags filled with dog-themed surprises (a twisty straw, a dog that gets bigger in water, a stuffed animal dog, and a dog book), I made cupcake toppers with a dog on one side and a 2 on the other, and we also had the dog sugar cookies (dogs, bones--one with each person's name on it, and pawprints), dog bone shaped graham cookies, grapes, apples, and mini hot *dogs* wrapped in crescent rolls. :) When our friends arrived, Asa was HYPED UP on a sugar cookie we let him have in anticipation of his party. Normally he's pretty shy and takes some time to warm up to people... but he told our friends all about everything he could think of. :) It was really cute to see him like that! The kids played for a little while and the adults visited, then we had our treats and sang Asa happy birthday. He was VERY excited to hear the birthday song again and get to blow out TWO candles again (all by himself). After everyone had some treats, we went to the basement to play. Between a tub of beanie babies, the ball pit, and the new kitchen I think everyone was quite entertained. :) Our friends gave Asa an adorable kid-sized hard hat and a toolbox with his own tools as an incredibly fun and generous gift. Asa always tries to "help" Daddy put things together, and now he'll have his own screwdriver instead of trying to take Matt's! Our neighbors behind us are also having an addition added to the back of their house, and thanks to his birthday gift Asa has a MUCH better concept of "tools" and building when we talk about what the "men" are doing beyond our back yard. :)
After the party, Asa had some lunch, we put him down for a nap, and then we had lunch ourselves. I napped while Asa napped (glorious!! I was *exhausted* after the previous 3 days' activities... and had the swollen foot to prove it ;) ), and when we woke up we had another fun outing! A family from our group at church invited us over for dinner. They have 5 boys, so Asa was in BOY HEAVEN. Cars, trucks, and boy play galore! :) We had a delicious dinner of baked ziti (even Asa asked for seconds!), salad (I love yellow pepper in salad), and rosemary bread. :) After dinner, the boys mostly played outside. That is when Asa discovered a puddle. A puddle that eventually turned into a mud puddle. I am sure you can see where I am going with this. He had THE best time tossing things into the puddle and ended up covered in mud from head to toe (literally... it was in his ears, in his belly button... he was COVERED). And he laughed the most glee filled laugh you have ever heard every. single. time he made the puddle splash. Four of the five boys are older than Asa, and it seemed like they enjoyed watching him make a mess of himself. I KNOW the dads enjoyed watching (and especially listening to) Asa's antics. :) We headed home for a quick scrub in the tub before bedtime. I need to get the pictures Matt took of Asa's mud splashed face off Matt's phone. Even yesterday Asa turned to me and said, "Asa mud splash!" I think he had fun. ;)
Sunday: The fourth Sunday of the month is my turn to work in the nursery (I'm in 0-6 months). Well, this Sunday was my last turn for awhile. ;) One way or another, we WILL have a newborn by the fourth Sunday of July. ;) We had three sweet baby boys, including one who was a month old and the youngest of the family we spent Saturday evening with. I got to cuddle new little babies and be in awe that I'll be holding AR before I know it! We also had a fire drill. I was curious how Asa would handle that, and thought I might catch a glimpse of him across the parking lot (where we evacuate to). He was standing up riding in an evacuation crib (one with wheels) and not scared, just kind of taking it all in. I think they've done this several times so they've caught each week of volunteers up on the latest procedures, etc. So I don't think it was his first time riding along on this kind of adventure. He was fine!.... until he spotted me. He looked at me, and then he started crying for me. I tried to kind of hide behind some people hoping he'd get distracted, but he KNEW he saw me. I eventually went to him and held his hand to help calm him down. I was still holding a baby at the time, too. Holding his hand seemed to help, but you could tell the surprise of going outside AND seeing ME there really confused him. Throughout the rest of that service, I could hear Asa next door alternate between being distracted and crying for me. :( Thankfully, they said he did not cry at all second hour. I asked me to please page me if he did. I knew he was TIRED from our busy weekend, and I didn't want him to be miserable or to set off other children if he kept crying off and on. Our whole drive home, Asa told me about seeing me holding a baby when we went outside. He was not at all upset I was holding a baby, but we talked about how Mommy had to hold the baby outside but the WHOLE rest of the day was Asa's turn for Mommy to hold him. :) I'm glad to know he didn't freak out from the process in general, just from seeing me. :) We had lunch when we got home, put Asa down for a nap (he took a loooooong one :) ), and then enjoyed a yummy grilled dinner thanks to Matt (who also did a bunch of other honey-dos). :)
It was a weekend FULL to the brim with fun times and sweet memory-making. We are so thankful for Asa and the opportunity to celebrate him and be with friends!
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