Frosty the Snowman

 As I mentioned earlier, Matt made Asa his first snowman on Friday night.  It was not a little snowman--it was over twice as tall as Asa!  Earlier snows this winter were more dry and not great for making snowballs or snowmen.  The snow last week was quite different.

Matt said he almost threw his back out trying to hoist the 2nd snowball onto the bottom one. :)  Heavy, wet, snowman-perfect snow!

Trying to give you an idea for size comparison.

Frosty and Asa, pre-accessories

 Frosty with eyes, a "carrot" nose, buttons, scarf, and arms!  Brad & Joy gave Asa a snowman kit for Christmas along with a fun snowman book.  The eyes, nose, and buttons were all from the kids.  They are on dowels and made of wood so we can reuse them.  The kit included small black beads for a mouth as well, but the snowman was sooooo frozen I couldn't get them to stay on his face!  Asa loves scarves, so we added one of my scarves, and I found some sticks to be Frosty's arms.

 Hello up there, Frosty!  Asa was rather intrigued! :)

 Asa adjusting a button. :)  Note Frosty has a hat in this picture, too.  The kit included this hat, it was just too windy to stay on in all the pictures. :)

 I like my snowman!  Thank you, Dada!

Trying on Frosty's hat

We have enjoyed looking out the back doors when we're eating and smiling at our Frosty.  What a fun surprise it was for Matt to think of and make for us!

When did this happen?

Asa brought a craft home from Bible study nursery on Wednesday.  Not just a few scribbles on a coloring sheet (although I do love to see those, too)... a REAL CRAFT!  He and one other child were the only ones registered for the nursery under the age of two (but they're both 1.5 or older).  The nursery is required to have at least 2 workers in a classroom, and 2 workers for 2 kids isn't the MOST cost effective way to run things. ;)  So the nursery elected to try moving Asa and the other child to the 2s & 3s class for Wednesday morning Bible study instead.  There are still fewer than 10 children in the class, so it's not like he'll be run down by big kids. :)  And they added an "under 2" nursery worker to the classroom to keep a watchful eye on the 2 extra little ones.  I'm so thankful they were determined to make a way to still offer us childcare instead of just closing the under 2 class on Wednesday morning--I wouldn't be able to go to Bible study if they did that!  And now Asa does "big kid" activities on Wednesday morning.... like making a craft!

They must have been talking about Noah's ark, because he made a giraffe and it has a verse about Noah on the back of it.  I'm sure he had plenty of help ;), but it is PRECIOUS and it will be a prominent piece of decor on our new fridge when we move!

 The giraffe can stand on its own on the clothespins, but my little helper was preventing that from happening when I snapped the pictures. ;)

Asa had only been in a church nursery once before we moved--my last Sunday in Florida I put him in the nursery just during the sermon so his very first time could be when we had trusted friends he knows (yea, Nate & Melissa!) in the classroom.  The nursery at the church here in Ohio has been incredibly warm and welcoming to all three of us.  It's a huge blessing and answer to prayer!

Scrapbooking Asa's First Year

These are 2 of the layouts I've been working on for Asa's scrapbook.  I'm actually done with all his first Christmases (1 in each of 3 locations :)), so now I need to do the general "cute, funny, & favorite" December pics, and I'll be on to 2010!  Woo hoo!  Then I just have 6 months left to finish this book.  Then I can start on the next one.  Whew!  It IS a lot of work, BUT it's sooooo incredibly easy on the computer.  I do not have to drag tubs and tubs of paper, stickers, pictures, glue, etc. out and  make a giant mess that Asa will just get into.  Everything is not only stored neatly on my computer, but it's all REusable!! :)  Thank you SOOO much to my sweet student and his aunt for giving me the Creative Memories digital scrapbooking software as a baby gift.  It is a complete game changer for me in the hobby of recording memories--and it changed the "game" in a very good way. :)

p.s.  click any of the layout images above to see it larger. :)

The Boss Who Saved Christmas

Along with the general "blah" feeling of not being able to have the same home-related traditions with Christmas this year, we were having a lot of difficulty finding a tree.  And I'm not talking about being really picky here.  After seeing what was out there, we had to drop our "bar" of expectations down to "not spray painted!"

I had seen spray painted trees when my family lived in Colorado, so I noticed it right away.  There was one side-of-the-road stand of trees just down the street from our neighborhood that spray painted on dry years.  I just didn't think we'd move to the "heartland" in Ohio and find spray painted trees!  I was sorely disappointed and discouraged.  Home Depot and Lowe's had been our go-to hot spots for Christmas trees in Florida, this year is MY turn to pick the tree, and I couldn't stand anything I saw.

After Home Depot and Lowe's let us down, we tried a nursery down the road from us.  They were charging $70-80 per tree.  I suspected they would be more since they were a small nursery, but Matt really wanted to check them out.  Even their VERY Charlie Brown-esque trees were in the $50 range.  Not acceptable.

We drove by Walmart one night, because Matt's parents bought their tree down in SC at Walmart this year.  It was pitch black, but even in the darkness we could tell the 10 trees they had to choose from were not going to cut it.  We began serious negotiations about possibly having to resort to the 2 foot artificial tree from my classroom.

Enter:  The Boss Who Saved Christmas.

Matt's boss had seen in my facebook statuses how disappointed I was with trees and told Matt he wanted to make sure I had a happy Christmas. :)  He called Matt with information about a tree farm he knew of and suggested we try it.  We hit the road after lunch today saying we WERE going to buy a tree, whatever the best tree we could find was.  And if the best tree we could find was a Charlie Brown tree, then we'd just make it as beautiful as possible with ribbons and lights and ornaments.  This farm had some precut trees in a barn and then various firs and spruces all over the property.  We checked the barn first and found 2 contenders and then set out for the fields.

Asa was a huge fan of the sled they gave us for toting a tree back to the check out.  He road all over the hills (with some snow still on the ground!) in his typical I-have-the-straightest-most-serious-face-possible-but-inside-I-am-fascinated-and-loving-this fashion.  We found a grove of firs we liked, but as much as we wanted to "cut down your own tree" experience, we compared each of them to the one in the barn and the barn-tree always won.  A sweet family stopped us on their way to take in their haul and the dad, surrounded by his earnestly excited teen-aged and pre-teen kids, told us he had been coming to that farm since he was Asa's age. :)  You could tell they were all REALLY excited that THIS was the day they were going to cut down their tree at the same farm they'd come to for years.  Very cool.

We trudged back to the barn and our tree was still there. :)  The farm has a set and very reasonable price for any tree, all types all sizes, pre-cut or cut-your-own, all one price!  They shook the tree off on a special machine to get off loose needles (and various natural elements like bugs or nests if you cut your own), wrapped it for us, and tied it to our roof.  Matt was cutely excited to have a tree tied to his roof.  Until our move to Ohio, we both had sedans.  We always stuffed our tree into the trunk/folded down back seat.  But not this year!  This year he got to be the cool dad driving his tree home from the tree farm on his car roof. :)

They also had branches for free you could take, but our fireplace is downstairs and we don't spend much time down there.  It will be great for next year though. :)  Yes, I'm already looking forward to going again next year.  A HUGE shout out and thank you to Bret for giving us the tip and giving our Christmas that extra merry kick we were missing. :)

Wordless Wednesday

 

Chalk 101

I know I posted some pics of Asa's first time playing with chalk in my Saturday post, but I have more to show you. :)

I bought the little pail of chalks at the Target dollar spot thinking Asa might enjoy it at some point.  After seeing how *fascinated* he was by the Aquadoodle we gave his cousin Izzy for her birthday, I *really* thought he would enjoy the chalk.  And I was right!

He was absolutely covered in chalk by the time it was all said and done (with chalk dust stretching from his head to his toes--literally), but he had a blast!  At first he just wanted to hold various chalks while Matt and I doodled on the patio.  We drew flowers, trees, wrote his name, drew our family, all sorts of silly things.  Soon enough Asa was making marks, too!  He made little lines here, there, and everywhere.

And he left chalky hand prints on the screened door. :)

We had a LOT of fun and will definitely be chalking again soon. :)

the kind of light, smears of chalk dust are from Asa shuffling around the patio :)

Six on Saturday

I missed yesterday, so here's a quick weekend update. :)

1.  We made it to our 2nd Bible study this week on Wednesday morning, and Asa did GREAT in the nursery again!  I think they had only 3 or 4 babies in his room again this week as well.

2.  I am almost done with a very overdue gift.  I just have 2 steps left.  I am excited that I'm almost done and hope the recipient likes it!  I'll post pics after it's been received on the other end. :)

3.  Asa and I went to the dollar store to scout crafting materials and hit the jackpot.  I'm most excited about a Christmas gift idea and buying cheeeeap board books to modge podge into personalized board books for Asa!!

4.  I pulled out my fall decorations boxes on Friday and it's so fun to have our fall things out.  Asa loves our leaf pumpkin and mini soft scarecrow the best.  It's so funny to think he was completely oblivious to these things a year ago, and now he notices each and every one!

5.  Our high on Friday jumped up to 90, but Saturday's high was 63!!  Welcome back, Fall!  It feels soooo nice outside. We've been enjoying lots of fun times like Asa's first chalk experience!

6.  Today we also took advantage of the glorious weather by visiting (and becoming members of) the Akron Zoo.  It is a very nice zoo (though much smaller than the one we go to in TN), but it's just the right size for a quick spin with our little guy.  The tigers were his favorite.  One was RIGHT in front of the glass panel, and Asa squealed with delight (and signed dog over and over and over again). :)

First attempts at "walking"

A BIG First

Today Asa went for a walk in his BIG boy stroller for the first time!

I was sweeping the entryway and when I opened the front door to toss out the dust I had swept, Asa made a MAD DASH to get outside. I have never seen him crawl so fast! It was nice enough outside for a walk, so I pulled out our big stroller (we usually use his car seat on the Snap and Go), buckled him in, and away we went. He LOVED it! He sang the whole time and even flapped his arms (his "I am excited" motion). See for yourself!

S-L-O-W down, Asa!! You're growing too fast!

(the audio isn't working... those high pitched chipmunk sounds are Asa's singing sped way up... I'll see what I can do. We may need to refilm this with the flip--I used my phone).

Worth the Wait

G-Ma came to visit this weekend. She was planning to come last weekend, but snow predictions in TN kept her wheels spinning, so to speak, for an extra week. Asa has changed and learned so many new things since we were in TN for Christmas. He didn't have any teeth then, and now he has TWO! It was fun to show her all of his latest and newest tricks. :) And even though waiting an extra week to see her was a bummer up front (though keeping her safe was #1), now we have one LESS week between this visit and her next one. :)

Asa showed G-Ma all sorts of fun things, like his new Christmas toys, pulling/pushing up to his knees, getting closer and closer to a real crawl, his new favorite scrunchy nose face and sniff, both of his teeth, and how to eat like a big boy (oh my!). Our doctor asked us to increase his solid foods while we figure out some things that are a little off with his metabolism, so G-Ma arrived just in time to see us increase to offering solids twice a day. It took about a week of coaxing before Asa became willing to eat from a spoon (and eat anything but milk). He didn't like cereal + pumped milk, but bananas were pretty convincing. :) In order to get some cereal in him as well, our pediatrician said we could add apple juice. So he has been having apple juice mixed with rice cereal + banana twice a day since Saturday. The rice cereal and bananas had him stopped up pretty well, so we switched to oatmeal cereal instead. It's less binding, has good fiber for keeping things going, and he can totally handle the less runny consistency now. He has no problems swallowing the solid foods... you just have to convince him to take them!

G-Ma arrived at the end of a week with lots of running around for Asa. To sort out the metabolism issues, we've been trying to have blood drawn for a couple tests. Trying being the operative word. One day, we got to go to the lab three times! We ended up going to a different lab where they were able to get a line their very first try (praise the Lord!). Now we are waiting on a few more results and a couple follow-up tests to narrow down exactly where things are going. We praise God our doctor said Asa's development is perfect and that he's even reaching milestones early. We just need to figure out why all the milk Asa's been eating hasn't been helping him increase his weight a bit more typically. We love our pediatrician, and she has been wonderful. The two weeks of working to sort this out since our last well visit make me so very thankful (all over again) that we switched pediatricians. She has been incredibly available to us with answers to questions, results of tests as they come back, etc. She's even called us back after hours twice when she couldn't call during normal hours on busy Fridays. We will actually be seeing her tomorrow for a follow up as we continue to dig into smoothing out Asa's growth.

Stay tuned for videos and pictures of Asa eating his big boy food and some changes around the house.

And what's a post without a cute picture of Asa?

Filling in the Gaps

So, between my previous two posts we celebrated 3 holidays, saw LOTS of friends and family, and took our longest road trip/vacation yet at as a family (technically Matt was gone from work one day longer for our wedding and honeymoon, but our longest since then).

What did you miss?

1. The end of November Asa took his first road trip to South Carolina to see Matt's family for Thanksgiving. He got to see Poppy, Nana, Auntie Lakey, and Izzy again and meet Uncle Steve, Uncle Tyson, and Anne.

We had delicious Thanksgiving food (including a very yummy and moist turkey) and enjoyed time with family. On Friday Matt's family always goes out in search of post-Thanksgiving shopping deals. We wound our way through Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, Target, and a few other stores. We got Asa a fleece jacket, hat, and mittens at ON and found an adorable ornament for his stocking at Target. Our trip home from SC was Asa's worst road trip yet. We learned that even when you do not anticipate an all-day drive, leave first thing in the morning. Our sweet boy was beside himself and completely OVER being in the car seat later in the day since we took a leisurely start. Thankfully, he did much better at Christmas. :)

2. G-Pa and G-Ma came for a visit in December. G-Pa came down to see us/pick up his new 'stang (which he and Matt drooled gallons of drool over). :)

G-Ma stayed a little longer and even got to decorate our Christmas tree with us! I loved that. :)

3. On the weekend before Christmas, we celebrated our first Christmas with Asa. Dada read about Jesus' birth to us from the Jesus Storybook Bible, and then we opened stockings. Asa got a Sophie the Giraffe teething toy (that has since been renamed Lolo) and his ornament--a cute little yellow bird that says, "Baby's first Christmas." Then we moved to the living room and opened gifts. Asa was a big fan of the bows and tearing paper off packages. He received 2 books and a toy. We took lots of pictures and video of him opening gifts. :) After he went to bed, Matt and I had our traditional gourmet breakfast dinner (my baked French toast worked with rice milk--it usually has cream!) and I even found dairy-free cinnamon rolls for desert. I gave Matt the movie The Count of Monte Cristo for Christmas, so we watched that and then went to bed.

4. On December 23rd we hit the road for Tennessee. It took about 10 hours (same as last time) and even though Asa didn't nap as well as his September trip, he only had one melt down.... when I let him out of his car seat while Daddy took a break at a gas station. Apparently it wasn't a long enough break because Asa had a FIT when I put him back in the car seat... as in screaming for the following hour. I will NOT do that again. He's only getting out of the seat if it's a real, long break (like a meal). Whew! Brad, Joy, C, & C came over for dinner that night. The next day we went to the Christmas Eve service and got to see some friends afterwards at church. Dad grilled steaks for us and Mimi for Christmas Eve dinner. Then on Christmas morning Brad, Joy, and the kids and Mimi came over for stockings and gifts. Matt and I had not been there since the kids really "got" the whole present opening thing . It was funny to see how much the flow has changed! But we worked around them and Asa's naps and had a sweet time. :)

The rest of the day we lounged around, played, napped, and such. We had a delicious Christmas dinner, as well as the traditional breakfast Mom made earlier in the day. I missed the egg souffle, sniff, sniff, but it will taste SOOO good when I CAN have it. :) I had waffles instead with Brad. :) On Saturday we got to play games with Brad and Joy. He dominated.... big time. And on Sunday I met Jessica for breakfast, saw friends at church, met another Jessica :) and Melissa and their babies after lunch, and we met Kerry, Ruthie, and Jessica (and husbands) at Barley's Sunday night. Around lunch time on Monday we set off for Rock Hill. Our time in Tennessee was SOO fun and a blessing; it just passed too quickly!

5. We got to South Carolina on the 28th... and we got to see snow on the way! There was snow on the side of the road through the mountains. So technically, Asa has seen his first snow. :) There was another first the same day... Asa got his FIRST TOOTH! You read that correctly. I know I posted about it earlier, but it was visible just below the surface of his gums in the afternoon on our way to SC. By the time we got to Matt's parents' house, a corner had poked through (thanks to LOTS of chewing), and the next morning the entire top edge had poked through! CRAZY!

(more recent picture of his pearly white)

He was not the greatest sleeper in SC. He woke up every 2 hours (sometimes less, sometimes a little more) all night.... every night. WHEW! I was one tired mama! He knew he was not at home and I think he didn't like the smaller size of the portable crib they had there. I hope to have him sleep in his pack and play some before our next trip to SC and get him used to it. Then we could just have him sleep in IT so it would be familiar. I'll let you know in plenty of time before our next trip to be praying about that. ;) We got to see Matt's sister's family and his aunt who recently moved to SC. Izzy was at the house all day Tuesday and Wednesday, so we got to see her a lot. :) We had lunch with Tyson & Anne and took Asa over to see Tyson's family too. And Asa got to see Matt's mom's best friend and her husband as well. Matt sweetly took me to 2 fabric stores where I found a little bit of fabric and a couple kinds of ribbon I liked. We had a sweet Christmas with them!! I also read the book My Sister's Keeper (it was on the nightstand so I figured, why not?) while we were there.

6. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day arrived while we were in SC. Asa wore his 2010 onesie that Jessica B. made him on New Year's Day. He looked really cute in it. :)

On New Year's Eve, UT was playing in a bowl game so we watched that (and I read and fell asleep on the couch). Unfortunately, UT lost. But I think Matt enjoyed the time just hanging out with his dad. On Jan. 2 we headed back on the road to FL. We fit everything into Matt's car (this was the first big road trip his car has been on since we got married) and made our trek south. We left early (remembering our lesson from Thanksgiving) and took nice, long breaks from the car for breakfast and lunch (this WAS Asa's 3rd big car trip in 11 days). Asa did GREAT! Praise the Lord! We got unpacked and let Asa play and stretch when we got home. Then we settled in for the night, headed to church the next morning, and got to pick up Sammy that night while also hosting our Bible study for our monthly meal together. THAT is a whole story in and of itself. Just wait--you'll want to hear it.

I am SOOOO glad we got to spend so much time with family for Asa's first Christmas--4 whole days with each family plus travel days. We missed Sammy, and she definitely looked a little thinner when we picked her up, but she is back home now and all recovered from her time at the spa. :)

And there you go! We are caught up! What a wonderful whirlwind of family and friends. :) Thank you to everyone who made time for us!