Weekend Rewind: Wedded Bliss

So here's a very belated weekend rewind.  I have a good excuse!  Last weekend we loaded the car and hit the road for South Carolina.  Matt's best friend Tyson was getting married to Anne, and we had the blessing of celebrating with them.

We headed out on Thursday instead of Friday, because Friday would have been cutting it too close to make sure Matt was in town in time for the rehearsal.  It also gave us some extra time with Poppy & Nana.  Asa didn't really nap until 4:00 or so on the drive down, but he never cried!  And he napped about an hour which helped him make it to bedtime.  He showed Nana & Poppy how he can run all around and talk, talk, talk, we fed him dinner, and then we got that sweet, exhausted boy into bed!  We enjoyed visiting with his parents Thursday night and seeing the deck and pergola Matt's dad has added to the backyard.

On Friday morning Matt met with Tyson to blow off some pre-wedding steam... no really, they went to the shooting range. ;)  When they were done blowing things up :), Poppy & Nana took us all to a nearby mall for a belated Valentine's celebration for Asa at Build-a-Bear.  They wanted to take him to make his first Build-a-Bear.  Asa was quite bewildered by all the options, colors, and sounds, but he settled on a lamb stuffed animal.  He was a bit scared of the loud sounds of the stuffing and cleaning machines, but he was SURE that lamb was his and did not let it go even for the lady assisting us to put hearts in it (they let each of us--Jerry, Judi, Matt, Asa, & I all put a heart in). :)  Then Nana & Poppy told Asa to choose some accessories for his lamb.  We ended up with a pair of corduroy pants, shoes, a football, and a leash.  Asa especially likes the shoes and the leash.  He pulls his lamb, "Rocky," (named for where we made it) all around the house and slept with it tightly clutched in his arms when we returned home for nap time.

Friday evening was the rehearsal--Matt went ahead as a groomsmen to received his instructions.  I stayed behind to feed Asa dinner and then Matt came to pick me up on his way to the rehearsal dinner.  It was great to see Tyson & Anne so relaxed and just enjoying the special celebrations of their wedding weekend.  At dinner we sat with several other groomsmen, and it was fun to hear stories about Tyson and get to know them.  Another groomsman's wife was an elementary school teacher and 2 weeks from the due date of her first baby, so we had plenty in common to visit about. :)

The wedding was Saturday morning, so we were up and at em!  Matt picked Tyson up to get ready for photos while the rest of us had a bit of a more leisurely morning eating pancakes (YUM!).  We headed over to the church and I got Asa settled into a childcare room they offered.  We would have loved for Asa to be in the worship service/wedding ceremony, but I doubt anyone would have much appreciated his car and airplane noises becoming the nuptial soundtrack. ;)  It turns out he was the only child in the room, so they two sweet ladies caring for him catered to his every whim and he played cars, trucks, and stickers to his heart's delight while snacking on the food I brought for him just in case.  He was living it up. ;)  I really appreciated having this option, or I would have had to stand out in the welcome hall and miss the actual ceremony I'm sure.  I usually get a bit sentimental during weddings, but I could definitely tell pregnancy hormones were in full force as I teared up at least 4 times. :)  We are just SO happy for Tyson & Anne and rejoice with them--and thankful for the gift of our own marriage.  Unspeakable joy.  I retrieved Asa after the ceremony, and we played while the wedding party finished pictures before driving to the reception.

Asa fell asleep on the way to the reception (yea!), and then we had a whirlwind afternoon of first dances, yummy food, following Asa all around the reception venue, etc.  We got to sit with Matt & Tyson's other good friends, Rick &  Katy, at the reception it was nice to see them and catch up with them again.  We shared some yummy cake (Asa even had a few bites--he's normally not one for very sweet things, but he ate a little bit), Matt gave a heart-felt blessing for the food and a poignant and humorous toast to the bride and groom, then in the blink of an eye we were blowing bubbles for the big send-off!

After saying our own good-byes, we headed back to Matt's parents'.  We were having a family birthday celebration for his sister Saturday night.  It was a CRAZY weekend for her as she was in a car accident on her way home from work Friday night.  We stopped to see her on our way home from the rehearsal dinner that night and were thankful to see her back home, though bruised and with a broken collar bone.  She had so sweetly offered to watch Asa during the ceremony, but of course that became impossible after the accident.   We are glad we got to spend more time with her and her family celebrating her and her birthday after the reception.  Asa was so exhausted from a long day with only a 20 minute nap early on, but he hung in there through dinner.  He lost it while I was getting him ready for bed, but he giggled when I actually put him IN bed; he was so excited to finally rest!  He barely made a peep before falling asleep (he usually talks to himself for a little while), and we enjoyed more cake and visiting with family.

Sunday morning we loaded back up and headed back to Ohio.  Asa napped earlier in the day on the drive back, but again it was just one 1 hour nap--not quite enough for our little guy, although we made it without much crying.  It was such a whirlwind, but I'm so thankful we were able to celebrate with Tyson & Anne.  He and his family have been incredible about welcoming me as if they have known me as long as they've known Matt (since early elementary school).  It's a sweet thing to gain a true friendship with your husband's friends!

In addition to the wedding, we enjoyed a taste of spring.  It's not particularly spring-y (at least, according to my definition of spring) in Ohio, but it was like being transported to Oz to be in the Carolinas!  I napped on the way down and woke up to BLOOMING things EVERYWHERE!  The landscape was barren when I fell asleep, so it was truly an unbelievable transformation to wake up in the real South and springtime. :)  The highs were in the 80s while we were there, and we all basked in the sunshine.  Hurry, hurry to Ohio, sunny spring!

Five on Friday

It's my first 5 on Friday of 2011 and in almost a month!!

1.  We had a wonderful time visiting both our families, first in SC and then in TN, to celebrate Christmas.  Lots of time with family and friends and playtime with cousins and grandparents galore! :)  Asa slept great (always a concern on the road) and really rolled with all the changes of routine and such. :)  We are so thankful we got to see everyone and make more special memories. :)

2.  We came back to GRASS in Ohio!  Woo hooo!!!!  It's gone again, but we got to enjoy seeing it for 3 whole days!  Yippee!

3.  I am behind on unpacking and putting things away because nausea really kicked back in with gusto when we returned home.  I'm starting to get the house back in order from unloading the car though.  We WILL get there!

4.  We have my next appt. next Thursday.  I imagine we'll schedule the big anatomy ultrasound at that appointment!  We hope to know if we're having another boy or a girl next month, as long as the baby cooperates. :)  I really do not have my heart set either way, but I AM praying it's beyond clear either way.  That there is no room for doubt based upon whatever we see on the monitor. :)  Boy name is set, bedding is not.  Girl name is not set, bedding is. ;)  We need to get cracking on the name in the next month or so, so we can introduce you when we find out!

5.  We are celebrating our little family Christmas tomorrow morning.  With Matt's travel right before Christmas, we didn't get to before we left town.  It's kind of strange to me to be celebrating this long after Christmas, but that's okay!  We're excited to get up tomorrow morning and have some special family time and our little family Christmas traditions.  Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon!

Five on Friday

It's been a little while since I posted...

1.  Asa & I spent 3 weeks in TN!  Matt joined us for the last 1/2 week/Thanksgiving.  He asked me if I wanted to go home for a visit while he had some business travel, but that prevented him from coming to get me after 1 week.  And if he came to get me the 2nd weekend, we would have turned around and come right back 3 days later for Thanksgiving (not my idea of fun really ever, but I especially didn't want to subject Asa to that many days of all day car rides so close together).  While I was in TN, Asa had LOTS of fun time with G-Pa & G-Ma, Mimi, and his cousins.  We also got to visit with several friends and I got to attend a baby shower for a friend.  We missed Matt and feel very done being apart (6 weeks for the move, 1 week in July, 2.5 weeks before Christmas, plus another week or so back before the move for business travel with his old company and a few extra days smattered here and there for current company business travel... TOO MUCH), but I'm thankful for extra time with family. :)

2.  We are hoping to get our Christmas tree tomorrow.  We have a plan to gate it off so Asa can't play with it unsupervised, and we're going to hand our non-breakable, Asa-approved ornaments on the bottom 1/3 or so of the tree for when he IS allowed to touch.  In addition, he has his own little tree with a few non-breakable ornaments that his grandparents sent him after seeing how much he loved our birthday count-down tree.

3.  We had our first snow this week!  I'll post a whole blog about it soon, but it was snowing on Wednesday morning when we woke up!  It snowed off and on most of the day without any real accumulation but completely blanketing the golf course we live on.  It was so cold overnight (13 with windchill, I believe) that the dusting that fell overnight covered the roads so truly everything was white!  Then it snowed more yesterday AND this morning!  There's a chance of snow every day until Monday.  We are SOO not in Florida anymore!  Crazy!  Asa thinks the snow is very fun.  We took a very bundled up, short walk in it on Wednesday and he kept holding his hand out trying to catch snow flakes.  I took him out to play in it yesterday, and he loved shuffling his feet through the snow especially when he could get the snow to build up over the toes of his shoes and hide his feet.  He liked to pat and move the snow around with his little mittened hands.  And he didn't even mind when he toppled over and some got on his face!  In fact, he sobbed when we came inside.  He may be a Florida baby, but I'm thinking he's an Ohio toddler now. ;)

4.  I ordered my 50 free Shutterfly cards.  I need to write our Christmas letter and print it so it will all be ready to go as soon as the cards arrive.  Free cards are a nice treat. :)

5.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents, grandmother, my brothers and their families, and my sister-in-law's family.  The turkey was delicious and we even got to have left-over turkey sandwiches (with gravy--yum!).  Asa is still in love with rolls and he even decided he liked rolls dipped in gravy. :)  Attaboy! :)   We hope you had a sweet time with family and thanking the Lord for His provision and faithfulness!

Five on Friday

1.  On Tuesday this week, I met up with my friends Jessica and Melissa while we're all in town. :)  I don't think I'd seen them since last Christmas!

2.  On Wednesday, Asa and I went with Mom to say hi to her Moms in Touch ladies so they could meet Asa. :)  Then Asa and I went to play with Rachel & Caroline.  It was cute to see Caroline and Asa trying to figure each other out (They're the same age.  In fact, Caroline was born on Asa's due date and Asa was born the day before Caroline's!), and it was great to see Rachel again. :)  After a short nap, Mom, Asa, and I went to meet Mom's friends Marla and Rebecca for lunch.  Asa was sweet as can be--he is usually happy as a clam eating crackers and his lunch when we go out to eat. :)

3.  Thursday afternoon we saw Jessica again, but she had Hosanna with her that time. :)  We met up with Stephanie and Jack at Stephanie's house.  I went through my college program with Melissa, Jessica, and Stephanie, and they all had babies last September.  I hadn't met Jack yet, and as I mentioned above I hadn't seen Hosanna since she was a 3 month old last winter!

4.  Today was more low key overall, but we also got to have lunch with Mom's Bible study friends to celebrate Lois' birthday. :)  AND Asa slept until 8 this morning!  It was his first time waking up at his usual time (8ish) since the time change!  He had only one nap yesterday due to playing with Jack and Hosanna, so that might have had something to do with it ;), but maybe just maybe he's getting back on track. :)

5.  Tomorrow is Ruthie's baby shower!  And more girls from my high school/college Bible study will be there, like Kerry, Amy, and Sarah. :)  I am looking forward to celebrating Ruthie, Eric, and their baby girl!

This has been a great week for seeing and catching up with friends!  Praise the Lord for sweet time and the sweet gift of friendship. :)

5 on Friday

1. Mom is here!  Woo hoo!  She drove up on Wednesday, and we get to keep her until Monday.  Hip hip hooray!  She is getting to see Asa walk, feed himself with a fork, eat the new foods he likes, babble all day long, wave bye-bye, tell everything "Hi!", see his new haircut, and be his sweet, sweet self. :)
2. We explored in the big(ger) city today.  We went looking for a scrapbooking store, and it happened to be in the same shopping center as a brand new Hobby Lobby and across from Michael's!  It's a good 30+ minute haul, but it would be worth it to hit all three stores with Asa.... especially if I were armed with coupons! :)
3. We also visited a little fair trade market that sells handmade goods and gifts from around the world.  They said they have a huge stock of Christmas ornaments and nativity sets they start putting out in November.  You can guess what's marked on my calendar now. ;)
4. Matt is in California for the weekend for a cadaver lab where surgeons will be testing out a new instrument he designed.  He had a safe and uneventful trip to get there this morning.  Tomorrow is the lab, and he comes back to us on Sunday. :)  What a whirlwind!
5. I made an appointment for a belated 12 month check up for Asa.  I was trying to gather some more pediatrician recommendations (kind of hard when the mommy friend-making has been slow going), and came up with one that sounds very promising.  Asa goes the middle of September.  We really appreciate prayers that this will be a great fit and that we find doctors for all of us whom we are very comfortable with, especially after leaving some of the BEST behind in Florida. 

Happy weekend to you!

Four Generations

As promised, here is our 2nd four generations picture with Asa!  The first was in September with my mom, her mom, Asa, and me.  Now here is my dad, his mom, Asa, and me. :)  What a blessing family is!

Cousins!

We have had the BEST time playing with cousins!  It is so, so sweet to see Asa's relationship with his cuzzies.  They love each other with a precious intensity.  Asa is squeeeeezed every time he sees them, :) and now that he's old enough to interact more it's so fun to see him respond to them.  Cousin S thinks Asa's babbles are hilarious and cracks up whenever Asa makes a peep.  He'll try to make the same sounds Asa does and/or "interpret" what Asa could be trying to say.  They copy each other a lot, too, especially when Asa "dances." :)

 

"dancing"

When S laughs, that makes Asa laugh, and that just keeps the whole cycle going. :)  Asa isalso fascinated by S's baby brother, our new baby cousin J.  He has been interested in babies for several months now.  Last night before dinner, Asa kept crawling over to the swing to take a peek at J. :)

Asa's other TN cousins love to bring him a huge basket of baby toys and take out every.single.toy to place right in his lap.  As soon as he sits town, he is practically buried in toys they bring to him and lovingly insist he play with (or sometimes put in his mouth "encouraging" him to chew on). :)  It's too cute.  The other night they played "football."  Asa loves to carry things around in his mouth, and this particular night he was carrying a small nerf football.  Soon the cuzzies were down on all fours crawling right along with him and laughing up a storm.

For many months Asa's cousin interactions were very one-sided; he was on the receiving end.  It is precious to see him reciprocating now with smiles, laughs, and chases. :)  We love our cuzzies!!

The Fourth & Family

We drove down (boy that sounds weird when we've been saying "up" for 4+ years!) to TN for Independence Day weekend.  My grandmother, aunt, and cousin were visiting from California and Asa needed to meet them!  Last time Grandma "saw" Asa I was 5 months pregnant!  Since my family had traveled all the way from California, we knew we wanted to try to make it down while they were visiting.

The trip involved putting Sammy in a kennel for the first time in OH.  But that's a story for another day. :)  Today I just want to recap our July 4th celebration. :)

The whole fam came over, all 5 grandkids included, Dad grilled, we had several yummy desserts to choose from, and then we had fun playing BUBBLES outside.  Mom & Dad had a bubble machine that the kids LOVED.

Evidence:
(I purposefully chose pics where the cuzzies faces aren't too obvious, to protect their privacy, just so you know)

After bubbles we took a whole family picture, well, as many of us as were in TN (the original TN fam + the visiting Cali family) :)

the whole crew

It was fun to see the kids chase and pop bubbles amidst squeals and laughter.  Even tiny Jacob came out for a little while to be cuddled while his big brother and cuzzies played.  I'm so thankful we got to have this time together and make these memories!

The Land of... (what is OH known for?)

... buckeyes, I guess.  But I honestly don't know what a buckeye is!  Guess I should Google that.  Or someone can enlighten me, if you're reading this!

Asa and I made it to Ohio yesterday.  It was his first flight, and only the 2nd time I've ever flown "alone" (you know, I had Asa in my lap, but no parents or husband with me).  It was really hard to leave Gainesville.  We'll just leave it at that since I'm alone with Asa right now and don't need to flood our new abode.  He might wash away!  He was soooo good on the airplane!  The flight from GNV to Charlotte was really light, so every passenger had her own row!  All the passengers around me SPLIT when they said we could spread out and they saw I was with a baby. ;)  It was so nice to spread out with Asa and no worry about elbowing someone when he nursed during take off and landing. Speaking of which, the flight attendant was trying to be really nice since I was alone and with a baby.  Our conversation was a bit amusing to me though:

F.A.:  Is this your baby's first time flying?
Me: Yes, it is.
F.A.:  If you have a sippy cup or a bottle, it can really help their ears during take off and landing.
Me:  Oh yes, I am going to nurse and have a cover (pointing behind me, as I had it behind my back.  Asa knows what the cover is for and gets a bit.... vocal.... when he sees it).
F.A.: (apparently all she heard was the "I have a cover part") [looking rather skeptical, but trying to be polite] Oh, you have a cover... Hmmmmm...
Me:  Right, so I can nurse during take off and landing.
F.A.:  Ohhhhh!  [silence]  That's so.... healthy for him. [walks away]

Maybe you had to be there, but it was kind of funny.  We landed maybe even a smidge early in Charlotte.  I found our next gate, called Matt and Mom, and then we took a bathroom break/diaper change and grabbed some breakfast.  The next thing I knew an hour had passed and it was 30 min. before our next flight's scheduled departure.  I packed up, walked back to the gate, and found everyone who had been waiting had already boarded.  I KNEW I wasn't late though, so I told myself not to panic.  The airline employee was helpful and when I got on the plane I saw this flight was definitely NOT light.  In fact, someone was in my seat!  The flight attendant moved him up to the front row with his wife (what he was doing in my seat, I have no idea), and I was next to some college aged guy.  Grrrreat.  Nursing discreetly in a coach airplane seat next to a frat boy.  This ought to be interesting!

Then the REALLY fun part came.  A storm rolled into the airfield, so all departures from CLT were down to ONE runway.  We sat at the gate for over an hour and a half.  At one point the passenger in front of me leaned his seat back. In my head I (judgmentally) thought, "Business men.  Grrrrrr."  I mean, I'm already squishing my 6 ft. frame and baby into the tiny airplane space.  THEN I realized he was NOT a businessman.  He was the husband of the lady traveling with 2 young children (including a baby younger than Asa) across the aisle from him.  Not.Impressed.  Asa kicked away at his seat.... and I didn't feel one bit badly about it! :)

We finally got cleared to take off around the time our flight had been scheduled to LAND in Ohio.  Just over an hour later, we touched down in OH.  Thankfully, the college guy next to me slept most of the flight, so feeding Asa wasn't as awkward as I anticipated.  And Asa napped about 30 min. while we were waiting at the gate, which certainly helped him hang in there after our pre-5:00 AM start to the day.  In the end, college guy asked how old Asa was and commented at how easy going he was and how well he did on the plane (that's my boy!) and was very welcoming and wanting to convince me how wonderful this area is when he found out we're moving here.

It was raining when we landed in OH, but we found Matt and he went to pull the car up as he hadn't seen the umbrellas stashed in my car. :)  Then it was to our new house for the first time to see it (and Sammy dog), feed Asa lunch, and try to get him a REAL nap.

I'll stop there for now.  We're still waiting on our movers.  They should be delivering tomorrow or Thursday.  I'm trying to plan out in my head where I want various furniture pieces to go.  Asa is starting on his next round of teeth.  They started swelling the DAY after our movers came.  I was hoping to unpack without a teething baby, but I am SO thankful for God's mercy that I was not alone, packing our entire house with a TEETHING baby.  God is good.

Stay tuned for more info, and hopefully some pictures soon!

For the Record Books

I just had to record for posterity :) that Asa seems to be making some peace with night time sleep. It's been awhile since he actually *fought* sleep at night--he goes down reasonably well most of the time and almost *always* goes right back to sleep after he eats during the night. The thing is, he's over 10 months old and was still often waking 3 times/night to eat. Until very recently, I didn't really get more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep.... ever. I can recall 2 times I've been sleeping deeply enough to dream.

The first night Asa and I were in TN, he had a longer than usual first stretch of sleep (4-5 hours... he had cut down to about 3 prior to that), then the rest of the night was normal--2.5-3 hour stretches. The second night he barely made it to 3 hours each stretch, it was more like 2.5 hour stretches. Then the boy started eating like a HORSE. I had never seen him pack away so much food at lunch and dinner. And slowly, his sleep started shifting as well.

It's almost 2 weeks later, and the past 2 nights, Asa's first 2 stretches of sleep have been 5-5.5 hours EACH (the 2nd stretch is of utmost importance because I am actually in bed during it, and he has traditionally resisted stretching it even when he stretched out the first sleep)! I am sleeping more than 3 consecutive hours! In fact, last night I slept **5** consecutive hours!!! I am THRILLED! I even had to WAKE Asa up the past two mornings (I would let him sleep, but it totally messes up his naps if he sleeps in late)! Praise the LORD!

At our 9 month check up Asa's doctor asked how he's sleeping. She said normally she would encourage us to help him sleep longer, but that if I was willing to feed him whenever he woke she would encourage us to do that instead--it's an easy way to get extra calories into him. I think he has come a LONG way in catching up in his weight, and now he finally weighs enough and his stomach is big enough to hold enough food (that's a lot of enoughs) that he is sleeping longer. How like our God to give this gift right before I go back to pack up our entire house?

I know he could fall off the bandwagon again at anytime, especially when the next round of teething starts. But it is BEYOND encouraging to know we are getting there. We can get back here again after the next round of teething. I WILL sleep again (there's always that little voice that wonders if you really will. I admit I had wondered to myself if he would still be waking so much by the time we, Lord willing, have another baby and if I truly would ever sleep again!)!

This is such a huge breakthrough for Asa I had to record it here--and in his baby book! Yea, Asa! Yea, sleep! Yea, God!

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!

Whirlwind!

Wow, so much has happened since the last few posts. :)

Our time in Tennessee become a more extended stay than first planned... for two of us at least. Matt mentioned to me on our way out the door to drive back to FL that his first big deadline since Asa's birth was quickly approaching. He asked if I wanted to stay in TN an extra week and a half (until my parents were already planning on coming down for Asa's baptism). I thought he was kidding or felt bad that I was crying when we left (but that's not new). As we drove down the highway and he explained what he was thinking, we decided to pull over and talk about it more. We sat in the Cracker Barrell parking lot off Campbell Station Rd and decided to call my parents and see what they thought. They welcomed us to turn on back around! :)

I had the delight of spending a total of 2 weeks with my parents, brothers, and their families. We got to spend both Tuesdays and Thursdays with Sam, my nephew. He is SOOO much fun, and it was the sweetest thing to see him bond with Asa. He even nick-named him "Asa-ba-basa" all on his own! :) We got to see Matt and Ariana and take Asa to meet Jane, and he got an extra Sunday at CSPC to meet more friends, like Lu, Nate, Ruth, and Lucy. We got to celebrate Mom's birthday, hang out with Mimi (my grandmother), go visit Lois and Bob again, and see Brad, Joy, and their kids more, too. SUCH a treat and blessing to spend so much time with all the fam.

The down-side of the trip was two-fold. First and foremost is that we were apart from Matt for the longest amount of time in our marriage. Yikes! But we talked every day and I sent him pictures and videos of Asa. Those were important because he grew like a weed and learned a LOT of new tricks in TN. That leads to our second down-side... Asa was kind of out of control in the milestone department which led to awful sleeping. I am so thankful I had the help of his grandparents! He was waking up every hour, wouldn't stay asleep in his crib, fussy while he was eating, incredibly distractable while he was eating. Whew! However, he learned to laugh, use and control his legs, roll from back to stomach, and capture the hearts of everyone he meets. ;)

It was a huge, amazing blessing to spend that much time back at home. I never would have imagined I'd get 2 weeks there now that we live in FL. The drive back to FL was interesting, but Asa did SO well again and we made it. :) Mom's car got a flat tire--the same tire position that had just been replaced due to a flat. Thankfully Dad spotted it when we stopped for me to burp Asa. :) Then Dad discovered that the tire place had not returned his full-size, perfect condition spare when they gave him his new tire in TN, they put the FLAT in the spare space and got rid of the perfect spare! So we had a flat tire and a flat "spare." God led us to a wonderful tire store where they bumped us to the front of the line. We were in and out in less than an hour, maybe even less than 30 minutes. Very much a God thing . We took a detour around lunch time because the interstate was almost at a stand-still, so our total road time was about 11 hours. Asa was great until the last hour or so. He was still great then ;), just loud and unhappy. He was OVER the carseat.

Then we were back in FL and prepping to host both our families for Asa's baptism! It was a huge blessing to have family here for such a special day. Thank you to everyone for coming! Asa also got to meet his Auntie Lakey and cousin Izzy for the first time that weekend.

Since then we've made some changes to Asa's schedule as he was still sleeping horribly. God has been faithful in holding us up even in the long, hard nights, but we are seeing HUGE HUGE improvements. Last night, for example, Asa slept from 8-12:15, ate, then slept until 5:15, ate, and then I woke him at 8 this morning so he and I could get ready for Bible study. SUCH a turn around from waking every hour and having to be held, and then crying even though he was being held all night. PRAISE THE LORD! We have predictable naps 3 times a day and a predictable, early evening bed time. Matt and I get to talk to each other and hang out! WOW! And I am getting sleep in chunks longer than 2 hours--WOW! We are really, really thankful for this turn around. :)

I will have another post soon as Asa turned 3 months old last week! But for now you are almost all caught up. :)

It's Asa Time in Tennessee!

Most people in our hometown were celebrating the first football game of the season yesterday with the classic cry of, "It's football time in Tennessee!" WE, however, had a different cheer... "it's Asa time in Tennessee!" Asa had a day of many firsts yesterday, including his first trip to Tennessee.

That first including a couple others: his FIRST road trip, his FIRST time out of Gainesville, out of Florida, into Georgia, and into Tennessee, his FIRST time having his singing frog toy on his carseat (2 thumbs up!), his FIRST time having a full meal from a bottle (he actually did that 3 times yesterday), and his FIRST time meeting Uncle Brad, Auntie Joy, and his cuzzies sister and brother (not to mention his FIRST time seeing Gpa since he was a week old!). It was GREAT!

Asa was amazing in the car. We prayed and prayed it would go smoothly but knew sometimes babies just get tired of the carseat. I fed him at 5:45, then we loaded the car and hit the road. He went back to sleep and I fed him at 9:00 with a bottle I had pumped. Then he had a normal awake time playing with toys in his seat before drifting off for a normal nap. I was blown away! The next time he at (around 11:30 I think), we stopped for lunch and I fed him. Then it was back on the road with him continuing to stay on his schedule and Matt and I both amazed and soooo thankful it was going so smoothly. Poor Matt probably got tired of all the driving he did and of listening to Asa's vacuum cd during each nap :), but he was a champ! For me, sitting in the back following along with Asa's eating, waking, and sleeping cycles really broke up the trip for me and made it pass so quickly. We got to Dad and Mom's around 10 hours after we left (it often takes us 9 hours, so that was not bad at all!) our house. Gma had a big sign that said, "Welcome to TN, Asa! We love you!" hanging from the garage! Gpa was excited to finally hold Asa again. And just a little while later that Asa got to meet an uncle and aunt and cousins for the first time! Auntie Joy held him with the kids watched and played and talked to Asa. Yesterday morning the first thing sister said to Auntie Joy was, "Mommy, can you hardly wait to meet Asa today?!" And Joy said brother was so excited when they pulled up that he was shaking! Such sweet cuzzies. :)

We all had a yummy, dairy-free dinner together. :) Asa was TIRED from his big day and went down to sleep well. Gma got to give him the last bottle I had pumped :), and he slept until about 1. I even got to shower! At 1 he woke with gas, but once I fed him at 2:00, he was able to push it out and slept through til his next feeding at 6:30, and then slept through til I woke him at 9 to eat and get ready for church!

This morning we got to worship at CSPC for the first time in almost 2 years. It was WONDERFUL. I LOVE SOOO many things about our church in Gainesville. It is a place where God meets His people, and we are so thankful for it. But CSPC feels like coming home and it is amazing to be surrounded by literally hundreds of people all worshiping together. A taste of Heaven for sure. :) Asa got to meet lots of Gpa and Gma's friends before the service, and then he met Paige and Mike right before the service in the sanctuary. Then Mimi joined us in the pew so he got to meet one of his 2 great grandmothers! We are going to take a 4 generations picture with Mimi, Gma, Mommy, and Asa this weekend. :) Asa did great during the worship songs, but it was kind of funny to watch him. Worship at CSPC is a bit louder than at CCC... hundreds more people plus the worship band includes drums and lots of guitars, piano, sometimes pipe organ, etc. He would start to drift off (it was nap time), and then his eyes would peep back open during the chorus of the first couple songs as everyone sang louder. :) Worship was wonderful though, and he made it until just before the sermon sound asleep (probably the relative quiet, as opposed to during the songs, woke him). He had about 15 minutes til he would eat again, so Gpa walked him around. Then I fed him in the nursing room--and met someone there. That is a funny story. :) He got to meet Kris on our way to the nursing room. :) He was done just as the service ended and got to meet Tom, Matt's old Bible study leader. THEN he got to meet Alan! Unfortunately, Nate was home sick. :-( But we loved getting to introduce Asa to Alan (who officiated our wedding). We have been waiting for that introduction! Matt got some fun pictures of Asa with Alan (stay tuned) and we laughed over his insistance that Asa should be baptized by HIM at CSPC. We are so thankful Asa is LOVED by so many people!

Church was followed by a delicious lunch of Buddy's Barbecue with the family and Asa's cuzzies playing and reading. :) We are so thankful for this visit and the chance for all 3 of us to soak up time with family. Tonight we are planning to play games with Brad and Joy, and tomorrow we are celebrating Gma's birthday (it's really on Tuesday). Hip Hip Hooray for her special day! :)

That catches you up with us so far. We should have lots of pictures when we get back and more stories to tell. :) And I am sure we will STILL be praising God for the smooth trip up to TN!