Five on Friday

1.  Our week has been mostly low-key.  Matt's parents came up last Saturday and stayed until Tuesday morning.  It was so good to spend time with them, show them our new house, let them see Asa in his natural environment, etc.  He showed them all his favorite things to play, adjusted their names (Poppy = Poppies and Nana = Nonny currently) :), and was his sweet, adorable self. :)  We also took a yummy trip to Taggarts and each enjoyed a delicious ice cream treat on Monday when Matt took a half day.  Mmmmmmmm.

 Playing with his Easter train ("Eater tane")

 silly smile

 favorite activity:  reading (he snatched the journal where I record something he does/says everyday and pretended to read it)

2.  We found out on Tuesday that I passed the glucose test for gestational diabetes, but we were surprised to find out I'm anemic.  I was so bone-achingly exhausted during Asa's pregnancy but NOT anemic that I figured there was no way I was currently anemic.  I mean I'm tired, but it's nothing I don't just push through.  With Asa I napped all afternoon every day. Seriously.  Looking back some things make sense--I've snacked more with this pregnancy, both to keep nausea at bay and for little boosts of energy (I did not snack in front of my students during Asa's pregnancy).  And I'm super winded just going up the stairs or after a quick-paced conversation and I have to sit down during worship--standing + singing  makes me very light-headed.  The anemia explains those things.  So now I'm adding an iron supplement 2x/day to the prenatal vitamins I take.  Hopefully it will give me the boost Anna Reaghan and I need!

3.  I finished my first dress for Anna Reaghan.  I've had the material for a long time--for sure since before we knew Asa was a boy.  Maybe even before I was pregnant with him.  It was on clearance, adorable, and I just knew it would make a cute dress for SOMEone.  I didn't know that someone would be OUR baby girl!  I am really happy with how it turned out. :)  I'm almost done with a second one (made from a different pattern), and deciding what's next on the crafting docket. :)

4.  We are so thankful a family from our Bible study invited us to have Easter lunch with them.  They do not have family nearby either, so it's a blessing for all of us to have someone to celebrate with.  God has sweetly provided fellowship with Believers each Easter since we've been married--in FL we spent one in Orland with Uncle Randy and Aunt Janie, a couple with the Eubanks family, and Asa & I spent our last Florida Easter with 3 other families at the Frenches' house.  Those are sweet memories, and we look forward to making new ones this Sunday.

5.  Asa is learning new words ALL.THE.TIME (seriously, on a daily basis).  TOO fun.  And we've been able to introduce him to special phrases.  My current favorite, in light of the season, is "Zanna! (Hosanna)  Sus-jee is risen (Jesus is Risen)!"  Hallelujah!

Magnificent Monday

I don't really have enough to say to fill you in on a "million things Monday," so I'll still with the usual "five" format and go from there. :)

1.  Asa is making more and more animal sounds and saying more and more words.  I think he's up over 30 words now, and he says mooo, neigh neigh, meow, meow, pants like a dog, wack wack (quack quack), and baa baa.  When prompted, he also growls for a bear, and we're working on tweet tweet for birds, buck buck for chickens, doodle doo for roosters.  And we can't leave off wooo woooo for trains. ;)

2.  Asa signed "thank you" by himself for the first time last night.  It's awfully close to blowing a kiss, and I think the 2 are somewhat intermingled in his head because he made his kissing MUAH! sound when he signed thank you.  I think our family and friends will gladly accept a blown kiss "thank you" though, don't you?

3.  I think we might be at the beginning stages of cutting eye teeth.  It's not going very smoothly. ;)  We've had some tummy trouble, uneasy sleep, fussiness, acting like his mouth hurts, and low-grade fevers.  I'm sorry he obviously feels so out of sorts and hope he gets some ease soon.

4.  We have Asa's 18 month check up on Wednesday.  We'll get to find out how much he weighs which is always exciting to me now that he's growing appropriately. :)  It's also exciting because I suspect he's crossed into the next weight range for pain reliever dosages, and I'd love to able to help him out a little more with the teething I think we're working through.

5.  We had another doctor's appointment today as well.  We drove across town so we could check in on this...

 our little baby! (head lower on the left, legs higher on the right, little blob above the middle is a hand/arm)

in the typical baby hands-by-face pose (complete with crossed ankles you don't see here).  Head on left again, abdomen on right, arms up by face

That's right, I've grown 2 feet in the last 3 months...and 2 arms 2 legs and 1 heart and 2 eyes. ;) hehe  We are expecting another baby the beginning of July!  My due date is actually the 4th of July!  Fireworks all around in this house one way or another. :)  I don't really expect to deliver on the 4th (I suspect I'll be late again; hopefully not 2 weeks again like Asa, but I'll take pretty much anything that's full term and not induced!), but you never know! :)  We had an initial check up with a doctor here and she said everything looks good, and then today we had an ultrasound.  Our first ultrasound with Asa was at 20 weeks, so it was quite amazing to see a tiny 12 week old baby wriggling all around!  We saw the spine, hands, lots of kicking and moving around.  It's crazy to think the baby is having that much of a party and I don't feel a thing!  We are amazed at God's lavish gift of life and so thankful for the way He is growing our family! :)  We definitely appreciate your prayers for this little one to grow healthy and strong, for our transition to a family of 4 (parenting 2 for Matt and me and being a brother for Asa), and for provision here where we are still trying to make friends and get connected at church.

16 Months!

Asa, you are SIXTEEN months old today!  HOW did THAT happen?!?

• You LOVE to laugh all day long!
• You are wearing mostly 12 and some 12-18 month sized clothes
• You are finishing up your last pack of size 3 diapers and wearing size 4s at night
• You have 8 front teeth and 3 molars! (Yup, yup, he sprouted 2 more molars this week!!)
• You are not a big fan of us brushing your teeth... even with baby toothpaste.  Of course we have the baby who doesn't like toothpaste.
• You LOOOOVE to draw and color with pens, colored pencils, pencils, color wonder markers, your aquadoodle, and chalk
• You love to help me cross things off our grocery list :)
• You LOVE to play "delivery  man" and carry things around and around the house (boxes, toys, your pumpkin, push the stroller etc.)
• You LOVE to go for walks.
• When I ask you if you want to go bye-bye, you say "bye-bye" and make a fast break for the front door!
• When I ask if you want to go upstairs, you walk to the stairs and wait for me to open the gate
• You and Sammy love playing together more and more every day.  You are best.buds.
• You have this hilarious little hiney shake recently when you are dancing.  It cracks me up!
• You still like to "sing" along sometimes.
• You still LOVE pressing buttons of any kind.
• You have started signing "please" and "help me" and "hungry/eat"
• You like to eat: muffins (blueberry & cinnamon), pancakes, waffles, Cheerios, veggie nuggets, peaches, spaghetti noodles, rotini pasta, macaroni, rice (white and brown), spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe, cacciatore sauce, hidden shredded chicken, hidden squash, hidden carrots, hidden green beans, hidden mashed potatoes!  I don't know WHY it took me SO long to remember the mommy trick of hiding veggies in spaghetti sauce, but you eat a LOT of different things now that we use that trick. ;)  You also love crackers and pretzels pieces for snacks.
• We set up my oooold laptop for you to play on.  You are very fond of it. :)
• If we load your fork for you, you are a champ at using it.  You're starting to play around with trying to fork things yourself, too.  You can use a spoon with a little help. :)
• You can identify your tummy (when you're not distracted by something else)
• You LOOOVE to read.
• You're still shy with strangers, but you did NOT cry when I took you to the nursery last Sunday!
• Sometimes you look at us upside down through your legs.  It makes us all laugh. :)
• You have favorites pages/parts of your favorite books.

You are a delight to our hearts, Asa!  And how we pray your are a delight to our Father's heart always!

5 on Friday

1.  Tooth #9 has arrived!  Asa's had 7 "front" teeth + 1 molar for awhile now.  He was missing the front tooth to the right of center on the bottom, but the corner broke through today!  Yea!

2.  I'm so glad the tooth is almost all the way through, because it's made my usually happy, easy going little guy a bit more of a fussy, bewildered bear.  He had a grumpy spell in the nursery during Bible study on Wednesday and when we got home.  That is when I realized he was either getting a tooth or coming down with something.  Praise the Lord it's a tooth!  Hopefully he'll have full relief soon.  I don't know the last time (if ever) I gave him pain meds during the day for a tooth, but I did on Wednesday and then he was good as new.

3.  It's almost the weekend!  We are going to a craft show at a local high school.  I was hoping to go with my mom, but she had to stay in TN instead.  I told Matt he's her stand-in... we'll see how he measures up. ;)

4.  I don't know why it took me so long to remember, but I finally realized Asa's favorite dinner is an EASY one to sneak extra veggies into!  He loves spaghetti, so I've been added carrots, squash, green beans, you name it (fork mashed) into his helpings of sauce.  He is none the wiser, and I feel like he's getting a great variety for a picky young toddler.  Woo hoo!

5.  After the craft show on Saturday, we're going to celebrate a slight upswing in temps (70 degrees) with ice cream from a fun place in a nearby town.  If we are graced with your company up here in Ohio, we'd love to take to you have some!  Come see us!

Milestone Monday

Asa is 14 months old today!  I can hardly believe it!  He has changed so much about us, our life, our family, and our home in such a short amount of time. :)  ALL for the better!



Here's is a snapshot of Asa's milestones and daily life at 14 months old. :)

• waking sometime in the 7 o'clock hour.  Yes, he used to sleep til 8 or 8:30.  BUT, that was before he started sleeping through the night.  Yes, you read that right!  Asa is now, finally, at 14 months old, SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!  Some days (and nights) I thought this would never happen.  It is a glorious development for us all. :)
• He nurses upon waking, then we come downstairs to make a good morning call to G-Ma and play. About about an hour after waking/nursing, we have breakfast.  Asa's favorites are pancakes, pancake puffs, waffles, muffins (blueberry muffins and cinnamon muffins), and sometimes scrambled eggs & toast.
• After he eats breakfast, we get to play some more!  This often involves cars, trains, LOTS of books, a musical toy or two, and now that I took the time to learn how to lock my cell phone's keypad, he LOVES to play with my phone--carrying it everywhere, pretending to talk on it, pressing buttons galore.  We say hi to Sammy over the gate a couple times in here, too.
• Asa usually  naps around 10 or 10:30.  If we have a special event, or on Sundays because of church, he might miss this nap.  He is not yet at the point where he can drop his morning nap completely without it backfiring into only a very short afternoon nap.  So, two naps it is until further notice.
• Asa no longer nurses before his morning nap.  We read 1 or 2 stories, read a Bible story, pray, and then I rock him while I sing 1 song before he goes in his crib.  We like to cuddle with Mr. Owl during this time, too.  He usually talks to himself for 15-30 minutes in bed and usually his morning nap is 1 hour long.  (then you have days like today where chattering to himself a verrrrry long time at night several nights in a row catches up and Mommy has to wake him up at 1 after he went down at 10:30!!).
• After a morning nap, Asa nurses, we make sure we're both dressed, the bed is made, house tidying things like that.  About an hour later we have lunch!  Asa's favorite lunch right now is a veggie nugget.  He loves them so much he does not want to swallow one bite before taking another.  Pieces of veggie nugget have to be carefully doled out in between encouragement to sip water and eat chunks of juicy peach that help clear his mouth out. :)  Veggie nuggets are often accompanied by peaches, green beans, sweet potato, squash, and/or homemade bread.
• After lunch is our chance to get out of the house and run errands!  Sometimes that's Target or Walmart.  Often it's JoAnn's. :)  Once a week it's the grocery store.  Other days we go to the library, a bookstore, or we go off in search of something new in this town we're still learning.  A couple times a week we stay home and play, clean around the house, sit out in our backyard, etc.
• After our errands, we try to save a little time to play before napping.  Asa usually goes down at 3 or 3:30 for his afternoon nap--nursing, a song, and then in bed.  This nap usually lasts an hour and a half, so he wakes between 4:30 and 5. The afternoon nap is when I try to get dinner started, work on craft projects, etc.
• When Asa wakes up in the afternoon, we hopefully have just a little time until Daddy gets home!  Asa is always groggy and needs extra cuddles as he finishes waking from his nap. We often stay in his room, rock, and read several stories as he becomes more awake.   Then he has a snack (he loves crackers and pretzels).  We might put laundry away, we feed Sammy dog, we might walk a letter down to the outgoing mailbox.  We usually try to straighten things up before Daddy gets home (cause, man, can Asa make a mess!). :)
• When Daddy gets home we all have dinner and then often all take Sammy for a walk. Asa LOOOVES this.  We have actually had to cut back on always doing this because Asa expects it.  When Matt is out of town, I have difficult juggling them both, so we don't take a long walk (which frustrates Asa).  And in the bitter winter we know is coming, it will be ill-advised for Asa to tag along.  So we are working on making this a sometimes activity instead of an all the time activity, unfortunately. :(
• Dinner is usually some mix and match of peaches, green beans, homemade bread, sweet potato, squash, veggie nugget, rice + spaghetti sauce (he likes spaghetti noodles, but he doesn't always swallow them easily, even when cut short) and we offer him a taste of what we're having whenever we can (he is still on a no dairy restriction, so that limits some of his tasting of our meals).  He is great about drinking water during all of his meals. :) He loves his baby Camelbak!

• After Sammy's walk, Asa and Matt get some good time playing and being crazy boys together. :)
• When it's time for bed (he's usually IN bed between 7:30 and 8... it has slowly moved back as he talks a REALLLLLY long time in bed and I was wondering if he would fall asleep sooner if we played longer/harder.... it seems to not make much of a difference), we all go up to Asa's room.  Matt entertains Asa with silly Daddy antics while I change his diaper and get his pjs on.  Then we have a silly routine about Asa and Daddy turning off the light while I get comfy and ready for Asa in his chair.  We're working on blowing kisses, so once Asa is settled with me he blows Daddy kisses (which he thinks is hilarious) before Matt leaves.  Asa nurses while we listen to the sweet sounds of Sing Over Me.  When he's done, I sing him 2-3 songs, pray, and put him in bed!  He talks to himself (sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly) for at least 30 minutes, sometimes longer.  But our new development is that he sleeps through the night now.
• He has a light sleeping phase sometime in the 11 o'clock hour when we hear him "squeaking" but he doesn't wake up all the way.  That often happens again around 4, but unless he has a messy diaper at that point (not usually unless he's had sweet potatoes recently), he doesn't wake up all the way then either.
• As he was transitioning to sleeping through the night, there were some times he'd wake up all the way.  We worked our way to me just comforting him and not nursing as it was obvious he wasn't hungry.  I think he is night-weaned!  After 14 months!  Wow!

Now for some fun new "tricks" he's learned!

• Asa is walking!  All the time!  He always tries to walk first when letting go of whatever he's holding onto (he used to immediately drop and crawl unless you "made" him walk).  He's walking over 50% of the time.  What a difference a month makes!  He has amazing balance and will often stop, stand still and look around, and then keep walking.  He does still walk with his hands up in the air for balance which is oh so cute and funny. :)
• Asa is talking.... ALLL the time!  Nonstop!  He is a little chatterbox!  He learns new words every week.  It's amazing!  I think it's part of why he talks so much at bedtime now--he's trying to hard to figure this talking thing out!  He says: Hi, bye-bye, Dada (which means Dad and Dog), Sammy, see (as in "I want to see that") and sometimes see tha (see that), Mama (not usually, but I show up every now and then, the plight of a mommy who's home all the time so he has no reason to talk about me), all done, down (occasionally),  he's tried to say fork, and he speaks gibberish alllll.daaaaay.looooong.  I cannot wait to know what all those little Asa words mean--if only I had a translator!  His latest sound combo he looooves making is oyoyoyloyloyloyloy.  It's really cute. :)
• He has more teeth!  Asa has 7 front teeth (lacking the bottom right--if you're looking at him) AND his first molar (bottom left).  Thankfully, it showed up with relatively little fanfare! :)
• He can use a fork!  Asa cannot get food ON the fork himself, but if you load it for him, he can pick it up off the tray and feed himself.
• He hugs things--people and stuffed animals in particular.
• Loves to wave bye-bye.
• Loves to play "moving man" and shove things all around the room. This includes walking behind his stroller or walking next to it (holding on).
• He still laughs when other people are laughing. :)
• He had his first haircut!
• He loves to be tickled!
• He knows how to get off the couch/his chair/his rocker.
• He knows how to climb up the stairs.
• He LOOOVES our cell phones.
• He LOOOVES Sammy's water bowl.
• He loves the spice rack in the kitchen..
• He loves to drive his cars everywhere--on the edge of the couch or table, all across the floor, with his whole hand or delicately with one finger.
• He loves touch and feel and lift the flap books.
• He has discovered the joy that is emptying a tissue box or unrolling a whole roll of toilet paper. :)
• He rides in a big boy carseat but still rear-facing for his safety.
• He loves to shake things.
• He wears a size 3 diaper and is starting to grow out of his 9 month sized clothes (he's outgrown 2 sizes since we moved here!).
• Our favorite gibberish sounds me makes are oyloyloyloy, joo-judge, and srah
• he is taking a multivitamin to boost his B12, which seems linked to his new sleeping habits (yea!)
• He tried locally grown, farmer's market peaches and liked them!
• He likes feeding himself green beans again (he stopped doing that for awhile)
• He has a belated 1 year check up the middle of September, so we'll let you know his stats then!  No matter what, we knows he's in the 100th percentile for sweet. :)

Five on Friday

1.  Asa is adding more words every week!  This week he walked up to me and said, "Hi, Mama!"  He also said, "bib" for the first time.  And he's added "bye-bye" to his waves. :)

2.  He's walking more, too!  Now he'll let go of whatever he's cruising on of his own volition and walk to something else!

3.  New foods, too!  Rice, spaghetti noodles, and tomato sauce!  Gooooo, Asa! :)

4.  Asa is having his first hair cut this weekend.  It's time to snip those little ear wings, trim those bangs that are forming, and stop the hair from crawling over his collar. :)  Stay tuned for pics!

5.  We are trying some new recipes for dinner this week.  I'll let you know how they turn out. :)

5 on Friday

1.  I made my phone calls!  I'm not a huge fan of phone calls, in general.  I'd been putting off a phone call.  I always worry I'll be bothering the other person or it won't be a good time to talk or I won't make myself clear over the phone.  Anyway, I made my calls so I have one, hopefully final, call in to Asa's Florida pediatrician about all his B12 stuff, and I made a reservation for Sammy for a possible upcoming trip home. :)

2.  Teething is hitting another peak.  This time a molar is working its way up, too!  I didn't think we'd be facing the infamous first year molars yet as Asa only has 6 teeth. :)  And yet, there it is, bottom left, trying ever-so-hard to break through and robbing us of restful sleep and non-clingy days. ;)  Only 3 more to go (for now)!! hehe  Teething sure is a lot of work for something you do NOT remember when you grow up!

3.  Asa loves saying, "Hi!" to any and everything he come across.  It's precious :)

4.  I am trying another pizza dough recipe today, and we're having alfredo chicken pizza with roaster red peppers.  YUM (I hope)!! :)

5.  I am almost ready to put Asa's scripture lamb together.  Stay tuned for pics! :)  I am really excited about how it's turning out so far, especially the fuzzy lamby ears. :)

Wordless Wednesday

There ARE no words for this!

Five on Friday

1.  Yesterday I tried a recipe for homemade wheat bread.  I used half the dough for a loaf of delicious bread Thursday night and half the dough for homemade pizza Friday night.  Both were AMAZING.  There is more bread and pizza dough in our future. :)

2.  Asa took 2 "falling" steps on Thursday night!  The first step was not falling, but the 2nd step was.  He did it twice, walking between Matt & me.  He is also getting quite proficient at walking next to you just holding your index finger.  It won't be long now!

3.  Tooth #6 has arrived!  It popped through this week.  It is on the top to the right of center (when you are looking at him).  I was actually expecting the top, left of center to be next, and I'm sure it won't be far behind!

4.  Asa is all about clapping these days.  I have been listening to a Paul Baloche cd when we've been playing in the living room.  It's a live cd, so you can hear the audience clapping after each song.  Whenever Asa hears the audience clapping, he stops whatever he's playing, grins, and claps.  It's often a very polite-looking golf clap. :) hehe

5.  I made a Bama themed wallet for a friend who is headed out for her first year of college soon.  It was a fun gift to make, I loved the pattern instructions, it was quick to complete, and I can't wait to make more!  Here it is-- I hope she likes it!

5 on Friday

5 New Asa Tricks

1. Ate a veggie nugget!  I had veggie nuggets for lunch today, and he kept pointing and asking for my nuggets instead of his peaches.  He did the same thing before earlier this year and promptly spit the nugget out.  I decided to let him try again, and he ate a whole nugget (in bite sized pieces)!  Woo hoo!  I felt like I was back in the CDL student teaching.. my "younger toddler" was eating veggie nuggets for lunch (a common occurrence for our kids back then). :)  Yea for another food on Asa's approved list. :)
2. Make believe!  Asa had his first moment of make believe! :)  He desperately wanted to hold the fork I was using to feed him his peaches (they're rather slippery to pick up off his tray and he's not into the crushed Cheerios trick), so I got him his own to hold while I fed him.  After a little while, he held the fork up to the side of his head and started talking like he was on the phone!  I did the same with my fork and we chatted back and forth about Dada and how we miss him (he's been away on business but comes back tonight!).
3. Kissy face!  Asa kissed one of his stuffed animals for the first time!  He got the softest little bunny when we were in TN.  He had picked it up to play with, and I made it hop a few times and then kiss him on the nose.  Then he reached out, pulled the rabbit to him, and kissed (open mouth baby kiss) its nose!  I did my "part" again, and then he kissed it again!  So sweet. :)
4. New car seat!  Asa loves his new car seat.  I am so glad he has more room and can spy out the rear windows and rear windshield.  Hopefully his new affection for the car seat will stick around for holiday travels this year! :)
5. Big bites!  Asa seemed intrigued by my whole muffin (as opposed to the bite-sized pieces I put on his tray), so one morning this week I gave him a few little pieces and broke the rest of his muffin in half, giving him 2 large chunks as well.  He loved taking bites out of the big chunks!  What a BIG BOY!

He is learning new things ALL.THE.TIME.  And he's keeping up the bits and pieces of intelligible speaking... we've had another instance of two of "all done," "water," and even a "ffffffff" for "fork!"  Way to go, sweet boy!  I love exploring with you. :)

breakfast this morning

 

Do you know the muffin man?  His name is Asa! :)

Snapshot: 1 year+

Now that we are a few weeks beyond Asa's birthday, our update is he:

• has 5 teeth with #6 & #7 waking us up at night.  I hope they break through soon!
• waves good-bye
• is really trying to talk... a LOT!  He has now said, "Hi!" "G!" (for G-Ma), "all done," "Sam" and "Sammy" for Sammy and other furry creatures :), "night" for night-night, and "wa" for his water bottle.  The first three were unprompted, the last two were repeating after someone else.
• Points at EVERYTHING wanting you to tell him what it is
• loves dogs, especially if you make a stuffed animal dog pant and pretend to lick him.  He CRACKS up!
• LOVES his cousins
• has started bobbing his head sometimes when he is dancing to music
• has tried (plain) spaghetti noodles
• is about to switch to a big boy carseat (though we plan to keep him rear-facing for awhile still)
• usually goes to bed or down for a nap with ease:  nurse, sing a hymn or 2 while he snuggles up against you, put him in his crib, and he rolls over, closes his eyes, and goes to sleep.  Unless he's teething.  But he's still an easy/relatively easy baby to get to sleep.  SO thankful for that since he doesn't *stay* asleep all night ;)
• has met 2 of his 3 great-grandmothers
• has now made the drive from OH to TN
• learns new things ALL.THE.TIME :)

Snapshot: 12 months

A little about Asa at 12 months old:

• the cutest, sweetest baby boy I know (not that I'm biased)
• 4 teeth (5th came through right after his birthday)
• lots of thick, light brown/medium blonde hair
• crawling at warp speed
• cruising (with transfers) with ease
• stands for a couple seconds on his own
• will walk holding onto your fingers
• enjoys peaches, pears, green beans, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, crackers, fruit puffs, water, scrambled eggs, pancake, tolls, and blueberry muffins (and cheese, but it upsets his tummy)
• drinks water from his own little camelbak
• still nursing
• up to 6-7ish hour first stretch at night if nothing is interfering (i.e. teething)
• has adjusted well to Ohio
• loves his Sammy dog
• says Mama, Dada (both sporadically), Sssss and Sa! for Sammy, signs "all done" and "dog" and responds to "more," working on "please"
• wears size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes
• approximately between 18.5 and 19 lbs.
• LOVES books and will flip through them on his own
• has "told" himself a story by pointing at each page and babbling to go along with it :)
• loves wallets, so he got his own wallet for his birthday
• loves cars
• loves playing in the water, including baths, but especially the splash pad and water table
• has stayed in a church nursery 2 times (the 3rd time was right after his birthday and Mama was paged to come get him--he did not like having his diaper changed by someone else!)
• can sit up in the seat of a grocery cart if I don't have him tied on (I'm sure he could have done this a long time ago, but the first time I tried was our last month in Florida)
• loves his walking toy--his face lights up
• loves to carry things (usually balls) around in his mouth
• loves balls
• loves music and dances to it
• loves to see Dada on video chat when we are away (whole body celebration ensues)
• brings us SO much joy, laughter, and smiles

Five on Friday

So I'm taking a short cut, being that it's Friday instead of Tuesday.  And thanks to a certain little teething friend of mine, I've been getting less sleep the past few nights. ;)

1.  As I mentioned, Asa is teething.  The outlines of teeth 3 & 4 on the top (numbers 5 & 6 total) are clearly seen, and I think I see an upper eye tooth starting to descend as well.  Oh boy!  Asa had worked up to some consecutive nights with a 7-7.5 hour stretch to start things off.  It was AMAZING!  I declared generic infant Motrin my new favorite thing (it seemed to ward off the early teething pains).  We have progressed to a  point now where Motrin just isn't cutting it (pun intended).  I AM thankful, however, that with Motrin his wakings are every 3-4 hours instead of every 1.5-2 like his teething nights were with Tylenol (when he wasn't old enough yet for Motrin).  I'll take what I can get!

2.  Matt tried to go in and be the one to console Asa back to sleep the other night.  We have the double whammy against that working though--Mommy's milk + all-mommy-all-the-time for 6 weeks.  He was comforted by Matt, but would not go back to sleep for him.  Matt asked me to come in, and I got the humidifier set back up (we're fighting the downhill slope of croup) in case his throat was bothering him.  When I went into the *adjoining bathroom* to fill the humidifier tank, Asa could see me but pitched a FIT that I wasn't the one holding him.  It was actually pretty sad to see him step up the crying and reach and reach for me.  Matt did great at calming Asa down, and I settled in with him once the humidifier was up and running again.  He was not hungry, but nursing seems to soothe his gums and calm him back to sleep.  What do moms do during teething who aren't nursing?!?

3.  I had to make a "beaver guard."  Asa's crib had a plastic guard along the top of its side rails (the head and foot board are solid and arched out of the reach of Asa's mouth) to protect it from little teeth marks.  Lately that wasn't enough though.  He will rest his top teeth on the top plastic guard, and chew, chew, chew along the backside of the rail with his bottom teeth.  I would go in after a nap to find little flecks of paint on him!!!  NOT okay.  I googled for a solution and found a tutorial for a cloth rail cover I could sew.  PERFECT.  I had left over fabric from his curtains, and with the tutorial in hand I had the perfect excuse to unpack my fabric, notions, and sewing machine.  How I've missed its hum!  I really like how it turned out and will add a picture here of it tomorrow.  No more paint chips on Asa's face!

4.  We tried those gourmet cupcakes the day our house closed.  They were tasty but not earth shattering.  I decided I could try some of my own special combinations for some fun flavors and started with Reese's cups.  I made chocolate cupcakes with mini Reese's cups set into the batter.  The I made peanut butter butter cream frosting.  Oh. My. Goodness.  Matt has informed me he doesn't want a cake for his birthday.... he just wants a big vat of that frosting!  It is sooooo good.  I will post a pic of the cupcakes tomorrow too.  YUM.  And I'll hunt down the recipe for you.  TRY IT!

5.  This weekend marks some busy times for us!  On Saturday we're attending a cook out, on Sunday we're trying a new church here in Ohio (oh, what I would not give just to walk through the doors of CCC on Sunday and see Ken & Kathy, Rob & Kim, Frank & Suzanne, and all our other friends!), next Wednesday is Asa's FIRST BIRTHDAY, then on Friday Poppy & Nana are coming to visit, and the following week is Matt's birthday (it's a big one)!!  I am enjoying getting Asa's gifts together.  I wish we could have a party with his friends, but I am thankful we got to have his unbirthday party.  Just another one of those things that doesn't unfold the way you had imagined, but I am determined to make it fun.... even just the 3 of us.  Not only is it a day to celebrate the first year of Asa's life, but it's a marker for other milestones as well, like a year of exclusively nursing, making Asa's baby food at home (not a single jar has been purchased!), and surviving a much longer stint of night wakings than I thought I was getting into at the beginning of this journey (Ha!  I never imagined he wouldn't be sleeping through the night at a year!  But he's worth every minute of middle of the night cuddles!).  More on all that later though.  There is so much to remember, recount, and be thankful for!

Happy Anniversary!

I wanted to wish my parents a HAPPY 40th ANNVERSARY today!

Not only would I obviously not be here without them, :) but it is such a blessing to us and our marriage to have the example of their love, grace, commitment, and faithfulness before us!

We praise God for you and your 40 years!

10 on Friday

This week included a LOT of unpacking, necessitating the late edition of our weekly update. :)

1. Mom came up on Monday and helped me unpack All.Week.Long. She is the BEST! We got Asa's room situated first, followed by the kitchen (those were the two rooms I had most unpacked before her arrival), then the guest room/basement, living room, and finally our bedroom. Almost EVERY box is unpacked!

2. I still feel like our stuff is just at some random vacation house, but at least I'm surrounded by things that are familiar!

3. As you saw on the video from Monday, Asa L.O.V.E.S. his walking toy! LOVES! The grin of satisfaction on his face when he is walking is *priceless.* Oh my goodness, I just want to eat him up!

4. I am starting to get a mental picture of the lay of the land here.. names of the streets I will use the most and starting to get a feel for how they intersect. Thankfully we really are close to basically everything I "need," and all the shopping is quite close together as well.

5. We succeeded this week in getting me a library card--yea! The library ladies were very kind, and I am hoping Asa & I can start going to "Babies & Books" on Monday mornings this month and meet some other moms and babies at storytime!

6. Matt's car is officially all registered for Ohio.

7. Our house CLOSED! PRAISE THE LORD! It is ONLY Him! I mean, seriously, 3 weeks from the MLS relisting to close?! No repair requests from the buyers?! I have a give HUGE props to our Realtor, Craig Wilburn (PLEASE call him if you are in Gainesville; he is WONDERFUL!!!) and we are just so thankful for the Lord leading us to him, his wisdom, his honesty about the market, and his sensitivity to our situation.

8. Speaking of which, thanks to the housing market we were upside down on our mortgage. Lovely, right? When we realized just *how* upside down, there was a lot of frustration. I admit it is/was frustrating that we pay our bills in full and on time, but other people's foolish borrowing and lending practices precipitated this housing crash. However, how about this for God's provision? We really wanted to try to have a baby a year before we did, but we felt God was telling us to wait. Among MAAAANY other things God has mercifully revealed as pieces of that puzzle about WHY He had us wait, me teaching an "extra" year allowed us to save my income that year, which cushioned our savings in a way that allowed us to afford selling our home in this market. Unexpected, but surely His provision. We Are Thankful!

9. Asa had his first "sick" doctor's appointment today. He'd had a shallow, wet cough for 2-3 days that quickly became a deep, dry, croupy cough last night. :-( I was worried how it might progress over the weekend, so we called a doctor and they kindly worked us in this afternoon. While Asa is not horrible (and thankfully the cough loosened up today, though I expect it to worsen at night again), the doctor said he is not 100% and prescribed some oral steroids to help clear up the croup. I am sorry to see my sweet boy not feeling well and hear the awful, barking cough I know so well myself from my asthma, but I cannot help but praise God we made it 11.5 months before Asa had a "sick" doctor visit! How amazing is that?! (and YEA mommy's milk!!)

10. We heard back from the metabolic geneticist, and one level of his latest round of tests (right before we moved) is still elevated. He said it suggests a B12 deficiency, so I will call him Monday to get the specifics, but in general we'll complete a month of double his B12 intake and then see where things are. He didn't sound alarmed, so I'm glad we know a hopeful "treatment." We'll be praying the increased vitamin load resolves the deficiency, but I'm thankful to have the expert involved and leading the way. :)

stay tuned for a bonus post this weekend! And I promise, I really will take pictures now that the house is coming together!

Happy weekending!

First attempts at "walking"

10+ things for 11 Months

It has been a little while (thanks to moving madness) since I have done a month-birthday update.  Asa turned 11 months old over the weekend, so I thought I'd make a list of our what our sweet boy is up to these days!

• According to the specialist's scale, Asa weighed 17 lbs. 11.9 oz. on Friday, May 21!  If he keeps this rate, he'll be just under 20 lbs. for his birthday.  Conventional wisdom says a baby should triple his weight by his first birthday. When you consider Asa got down to 7 lbs. as a newborn, he'll be awfully close to triple his weight--an amazing feat when he didn't double it until this spring!
• Asa is about 27" long.  His height is taking a little longer to catch up than his weight did, but he still grew 2 inches in about 6 weeks!
• wears size 3 diapers.
• growing out of 6 month clothes, can wear some 9 months.  Sometimes I thought I'd never see the day his size didn't have a 3 in it (he was in 0-3, then 3, and now finishing 3-6 for sooooo long)
• crawls EVERYWHERE and SOOO fast!
• pulls up on EVERYTHING!  He doesn't need a ledge to pull up on anymore either (and hasn't for awhile).  He can crawl to a straight, vertical surface (like a door or wall) and push up to a stand
• cruising anywhere he wants to go:  around the coffee table, along the front of the couch
• transfers while cruising: goes from couch to coffee table, Mom's leg to bookshelf, etc.
• still LOOOOVES peaches, but his 2nd food love is green beans, and he also likes pears, sweet potato, butternut squash, baby oatmeal, scrambled egg yolks, Cheerios, Rice Krispies, baby banana puffs, saltine crackers, an occasional (not very often at all) Ritz cracker, and we tried tiny pieces of cheese, goldfish crackers, and Cheez-Its, but the cheese-based products seemed to coincide with some fussy nights and tummy trouble so *I* can still eat dairy, but Asa is back off of eating dairy directly (I've been back on since 9 months--hooray!)
• has signed "all done" and "more."  We are now working on please and thank you.  I think I want to find a sign for "up" also, so he can ask to be picked up... maybe we can circumvent the constant tugging and crying that can often accompany toddlerhood if he can ask to be picked up instead :)
• loves his musical table
• LOVES cars, especially after spending 2 weeks playing with his cousin, Sam. He even makes them roll back and forth
• likes to pound on things (but not hard) with his hands or clap 2 toys together
• loves the Sesame St. sound toys
• loves his Mr. Owl.  At every nap and bedtime, I make Mr. Owl kiss Asa goodnight, and Asa smiles as soon as he sees me pick up Mr. Owl out of his crib.
• plays peek a boo with Mr. Owl (covers his face with Mr. Owl while he's nursing, then uncovers it and laughs)
• finally drinks from a cup!  He has his very own little Camelbak water bottle he takes sips of water from. :)
• naps about 1.5 in the morning and in the afternoon (9:30-11 and about 2-3:30/4)
• has 4 teeth (top and bottom middle teeth)
• LOOOOOOVES Sammy dog.  Nothing makes him laugh and smile like seeing Sammy run around
• is learning to pat and pet Sammy, instead of grabbing her fur
• apparently has Mommy's body chemistry when it comes to mosquitoes.  One made it in his room one night, unbeknownst to me, and ate him up!  He was covered in huge welts for days. :-(
• Is a sweet, delightful, laughing and grinning, curious but cautious blessing in our lives!!

Drinking from a Cup

When Asa wasn't gaining weight well and it seemed all we did was nurse, nurse, nurse all day long to get him caught up, we somehow fell off the "give a bottle once/week to make sure he'll still take one" bandwagon. Oh yeah, and the "he HAS to be hydrated; give him water," demands at the not-our-favorite lab didn't help any. You see, we tried water from a cup, but you should have heard him gag and spit and act like we were giving him poison. Then, knowing I might be ruining my son for bottles but desperate to the answers only a blood test could provide, I gave him water in a bottle. He eagerly took the bottle only to act disgusted and horribly betrayed when he realized it did not have mommy's milk in it but that awful water stuff again. He has not taken a bottle. Ever since. I knew that was a possibility, but I thought surely he'd come around eventually.

We tried, not as consistently as we could have, to offer a bottle before/after every feeding a couple days. IF I could get it anywhere near Asa's mouth, all he did was chew on it. I tried other nipple sizes to no avail. I even tried a sippy topper on his bottles. He was not having it, so I gave up.

We tried sippy cups--spouted sippy cups, straw sippy cups. More chewing ensued, but no drinking. I filled them with my milk, diluted and undiluted apple juice, peach juice (since loves his peachies), but still no success.

Then a funny thing happened. During our Day at Disney, Asa drank water from my Camelbak water bottle. Aha! So now we knew he COULD and sometimes WOULD not only drink from a type of "cup" but even drink water!

Someone told me he probably just did not normally have thirst that needed to be quenched as he nurses pretty frequently still. That made a lot of sense to me and I backed off worrying that my son would only drink from me. It's not like it would stay that way the rest of his life (can you imagine?!). He was hot and had a long day at Disney. It was reasonable that Asa was thirstier than usual that day and willing to quench it with a non-preferred liquid.

I have offered him my Camelbak off and on since then and recently he's been more regularly taking a sip here and there (the timing coincides with our highs hitting the 90s... welcome to "spring" in Florida). I had the idea to see if there are any "baby" Camelbaks. I knew there wree baby Nalgenes (grip n gulp), and I was willing to try that but hoped to stick with the method Asa knows and accepts.

I was thrilled to find out that Camelbak DOES make a little kiddie version of their great water bottle. Guess who now has his very own, matching Mommy's Camelbak water bottle?! (don't make fun of the matching Mommy part... if you are looking for a feminine kiddie Camelbak, you have several cute options. None of the masculine designs "fit" Asa, so blue was the only default left).

OH MY, it is adorable to see him slurping from his little bottle. Best of All was the look on his face when I first showed him his. I offered it to him and he took a sip or two. Then I held mine and his up next to each other. I don't even know how to put his reaction into words, but it was obvious he "got" that they were the same and he now had one of his very own. He flapped his arms, squealed, bounced in his high chair, and grinned from ear to ear while laughing. I WISH I had managed to capture it on video. It was pure Delight. It even fits perfectly in the little cup holder on his tray.

There you have it. We are a Camelbak family through and through... even Daddy has one! :) Can't you just see us at our next picnic? :)

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).

Ten on Tuesday

1. God has been so gracious and merciful as we have sorted out Asa's growth. 2 weeks ago his tongue tie was corrected and during that week his weight gain returned to "normal" for a baby his age (about 2 oz.). This past week he really kicked the solids up into high gear and blew us all away! He gained TEN ounces in one week!!! Matt, our pediatrician, and I are ECSTATIC! Not only is he gaining how much he "should," but he is also gaining some "catch up" weight making up for lost time. We are thrilled and FILLED with praises!!

after a bath tonight... do you see his tummy sticking out?!?

2. Asa is starting to play around with pushing and pulling up to a stand. He often plays sitting up on his knees when he's at his little lego table or crawling on Daddy or Mommy. Once he sat next to the couch and looked up with a wondering look on his face like he was trying to figure out how to see what was on the seat cushion. And today he was sitting next to the coffee table, reached up with the biggest grin, and got up to his knees. He tried to get a foot under him to stand but couldn't quite figure it out. He pushes up on everything, but that was his first time to try to pull up. UH OH! :)

3. I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for our dear friend Lauren on Sunday. We met her and her family through church and our small group. She has a 2 year old daughter who is oh-so-sweet to Asa (and calls all her baby dolls "Baby Asa"), and a new little one is due in a month! Lauren and her husband are waiting until the baby is born to find out if it is a boy or a girl, so we did a pretty yellow and green color scheme. And since they have all the baby basics already, we did a gift card shower. People who wanted to bring a gift brought gift cards for things like Target, Publix, and even Dunkin Donuts. :) It was so fun! We packed close to 20 people into our living room. And all the food people contributed looked scrumptious. The 2 other hostesses came up with a baby/Lauren version of Balderdash (you try to get your team to guess a word, like "baby," but there is a list of words you cannot say in your clues, like "infant, newborn, mom, dad, pregnant). There were lots of good laughs, and I think Lauren had a good time. :) I loved getting to use our home to be hospitable--that was a huge reason for us in making the leap to buying a house so soon after we married.

the night before, setting serving pieces out

sweet Lauren with her mom and sister

decorations

flower arrangements I put together from Michael's

baby themed sweet tarts

I couldn't resist making some burp cloths
("handle with care" hedgehog and "lucky duck" duck)

4. Matt was an ALL STAR during the shower. I had to feed Asa before it started, so he finished putting together little finger sandwiches for me (Sister Schubert rolls with provolone and prosciutto). Then he was planning on going out to play with Asa but got blocked in the garage. Instead they played in the backyard and took a walk a couple blocks down the street to look at the plants at a nearby nursery. And then when everyone was heading out and we hostesses were cleaning up, Matt fed Asa his dinner (peaches + pears). I am so thankful for him and his servant heart. All I had to do was ask (for whatever I needed) and it was done.

the sandwiches Matt helped with

5. Our temperatures here made it to the 70s today! I guess spring really IS going to come!

6. We will be repeating Asa's basic blood work next Monday and then seeing our doctor again on Tuesday. She should have the results of his blood work back by then (fast turn around!) and we'll weigh him again. If everything checks out okay, we won't have to go back until his 9 month well visit!

7. Asa is teething! Those two top front teeth are giving him a little bit of a hard time. I will be relieved for him when they finally break through and he gets some relief.

8. Asa's G-Ma is coming to visit next week! Woo hoo!!! We can't wait to see her. :)

9. We made a head board for our guest room bed. I covered canvases (super on sale!) with fabric that coordinates with the bed quilt. Then Matt hung them from me as if they are a head board. I love how it make it really look like a bed instead of a mattress and some pillows. And I love the bright, happy colors.

before

after

after

10. Asa is EIGHT months old today!!!