exhausted

Sometimes Asher's naps get cut a little short. Often the culprit is some loud noise that wakes him up early. Typically when this happens I encourage him to go back to rest for a little while longer by rocking and singing. More times than not this doesn't work at all. I usually give up if he's wide awake and simply put him down again when he seems tired.

He pulled that trick this morning and woke up after only 20 minutes of sleep. He wanted to come downstairs to play with me instead of going back to bed, so I gave in.

I put him on his activity mat to play and Asher happily grabbed his toys and rattled them around for awhile. After about 10 minutes everything went quiet, so I looked over to him thinking he got bored and needed new stimulation only to find this:

He has never, ever fallen asleep on his own in the middle of the living room before. Poor buddy was so tired!

absence makes the heart grow fonder

Did you miss me?

Things have been pretty exciting around here the past few days, so I've been too busy having fun to post...sorry!

Let's get caught up...

This past Saturday Drew's friends from college, Ryan and Anna, came to visit and meet Asher for the first time!

I have to say, I think they were the first visitors who actually met Asher when he was in a consistent good mood. When he was brand new Asher tended to be more fussy and needy, but now Ash is so fun to play with -- he smiles and flirts with the best of them. So cute!

He smiles during play time, but we're still waiting for Asher to smile while getting his photo taken with other people. He's a little serious in group shots.

In a few weeks we'll be heading out to New Jersey for Drew's brother's wedding, so I'm hoping Asher will still be a little charmer to meet all of his great-aunts and uncles!

favorite thing friday

The other week Asher receive this really unique gift from my old Sunday School teacher. It's a CD full of songs that all contain Asher's name!

We love it!

Asher doesn't really "get" his name yet, but I know he will at some point and will get a kick out of hearing that "Little Asher has a farm..."

The songs are all kids classics and Ash likes listening to the music. For now, he also seems to like it when I sing along and dance with him. Hopefully his love of music will continue long into his childhood {even after he realizes that Mom can't sing worth a darn}.

I've never seen anything like this CD before, but it's a fantastic gift for a little one. Thanks, Miss Becky!

bumbo baby

On Tuesday I was trying to cook dinner, but Asher needed some entertainment, so I decided to try him out in his Bumbo seat.

The novelty of sitting straight up was a huge hit!

That is, it was until his big brain weighed his head down too much and it got hard to hold up. Poor guy!

After this we switched back to his reclining bouncy chair and he played happily while I finished dinner. I love that he's starting to be able to spend short periods of time playing solo so I can get things done. Not having to hold him 24/7 makes our cuddle times that much more special!

take that mr. parrot

Over the past week Asher has really mastered the art of grabbing the toys on his bouncy chair activity bar to make the lights and sound go. It still takes him a few minutes to get warmed up to it each morning, but once he gets going look out!

He gets so excited that his arms and legs start flapping out of control, which just makes the noise and lights go more frequently. It's a slippery slope, just he loves it!

you say jump, i say how high

The same day that you all suggested the Breathable Bumpers for Asher's crib his arm got stuck again.

So Daddy was instantly sent off on a mission to Babies 'R Us to pick up a pack!

I really love them!

I so wish that I had just gotten them to begin with! They block out the room from his view {fewer distractions during nap time}, allow him to breath if his face does press up against them, and keep his arms and legs inside the crib.

Ideal!

Thanks for the suggestion everyone, we love them!

{As an interesting side note -- ever since I installed these bumpers Asher hasn't spun around in his crib at all. Coincidence??}

little asher had a lamb

With some traveling on our horizon I wanted to introduce Asher to a little "friend" he could have of his own. I've heard that having a familiar lovey helps babies and kids transition to sleeping in strange places more easily.

Asher might be too young for this, but I figured there isn't any harm in giving it a try!

He received this little lamb blanket as a gift and it's the perfect size for him.

I don't let him sleep with it, but he does like to cuddle/suck on it while in his bouncy chair or while hanging with a sleepy Daddy.

If you can't really see him around Asher's tight grip, meet Lamb.

Little kids with their lovies are too cute! I love it!

does this onesie make me look fat?

Remember when I asked if anyone else experienced a 3 month growth spurt with their babies? I thought that Asher might be having one since he was eating much more often than normal.

Well, all doubt was erased this morning when I tried to dress him.

Drew and I got this onesie over his head and arms, then found this...situation...when we went to snap it up.

Granted, this onesie was a hand-me-down and may have shrunk a little previously, but still.

Check out the tag.

That's 13 to 18 pounds!!

I weighed Asher last week and he was 12.5 pounds.

After this little event Drew and I decided to weigh him again this morning.

Any guesses...

He's now 13.4 pounds.

Asher gained almost a full pound in 1 week.

Holy cow.

No wonder my arms are tired.

happy birthday owen!

Thanks for all the advice yesterday friends!

I am definitely going to check out the breathable bumpers for Asher's crib. I don't know about all of you, but when I was pregnant I got totally swept up in the cuteness of the baby stuff and didn't always think about the practical aspects.

If I had been thinking along those lines I could have saved a lot of money and just got these to begin with!

Oh well, the cute stuff is fun too!

--------------------------------------------------------

Onto the important topic for today...

I want to wish my nephew, Owen, a {1 day belated} happy birthday!

It's really hard to believe that 6 years and 2 days ago my sister looked like this

Then 6 years and 1 day ago Owen looked like this {does all that hair look familiar to anyone else?!}

Now he's in kindergarten and doing all kinds of big boy things.

He's growing up so fast!

What a sweetie pie, I love him so much! I'm thrilled that Asher will have such a terrific big cousin to look up to and, I'm sure, learn all kinds of naughty things from. :o)

Happy Birthday Owen!

your lucky day {I need help}

Two posts from Emily in one day? Friday is great for so many reasons!

I'm back because I need some help.

If there are any experienced Moms who have gone through this before or if it's happening to you now I'd love to hear your advice {or empathy!}

First, Asher is doing so much better with his naps!

I noticed over the monitor the other night that he was awake, but quiet in his crib for almost half an hour before falling asleep, so I reasoned that he is now able to put himself to sleep if given the chance.

Enter Mommy boot camp: I soothed him for a few minutes at nap time yesterday, then gave him a kiss, laid him down and left the room. Naturally there was crying. I planned to give it 10 minutes, then go back if he was still hysterical. Amazingly he cried for only 5 minutes, then played quietly for 15 minutes, then fell asleep for 45 minutes!

I'm hoping that eventually we can skip past the inital crying, but for now I'll take it.

I'm getting to my questions...

Last week Asher decided to abandon his pacifiers. Totally and completely. He simply refuses to take one if it's offered. Mostly I'm ok with this but now I have no way to soothe him when I can't pick him up {ie - in the car seat, etc}.

Did this happen to anyone else?

How do you soothe your little one when they can't be picked up?

Ok, once you've solved this for me I have another question...

Remember earlier this week when I took the bumpers out of Asher's crib? Well, it took him less than a week to get into trouble without them. I went in to get him this morning and found his arm between the crib slats.

Awesome.

It wasn't really stuck, but he doesn't have the coordination to get it back in. I'm afraid he might twist and really hurt himself sometime. What else can I use? I don't want to put the bumpers back in because of the suffocation hazard he seems determined to try.

Ok, last one...
Has anyone else noticed a growth spurt around 3 months?
For the past few weeks Asher has been very reliably sleeping through the night, just waking up to eat once between 3-5am. Then just this week he started getting up 2x every night absolutely starving. Is he just having a growth spurt? I really hope this passes soon -- I miss my sleep!


This parenting stuff is thrilling, huh? And I thought my old job was challenging!

Thanks for your help and advice!

favorite thing friday

I've never been a big fan of winter.

Snow can be fun for a day or 2 with the sledding and hot chocolate, but for the most part we're like roommates who tolerate each other out of necessity, but aren't friends in general. Even as a child I viewed snow days with a mixture of excitement {no school!} and resignation {great. now I'll be in class in June to make up this day}.

Winter means snow boots, heavy jackets, hats, gloves, and scarves just to leave the house. All of this bugs me.

But you know what comes after a long winter...spring!

And do you know what I associate with spring more than anything else? Easter!

I love Easter! It's is easily one of my favorite holidays.

I love the meaning behind it and the reminder of what Jesus did for all of us.
I love candy.
I love hyacinths and Easter lillies.
I love seeing tiny girls in Easter dresses, hats, little purses, and patent leather shoes. {that used to be me and my sisters!}

Easter means that spring is coming along with the promise of warmer weather and flowers.

What's not to love?

Given this gushing you can imagine how excited I was to recieve some special Easter gifts for Asher in the mail the other day!

My friend Teri at Babies and Mommies, who made Asher's baby keepsake, sent him an adorable Easter basket shaped like a duck! It's super soft and has these great feet that flop about. I tried to put Asher into it, but he's a little too big. We'll have to settle for filling it with goodies!

The next day Asher got an Easter package from my parents. I love that my Mom found a board book of the true Easter story. It is rhyming and has cute illustrations -- Asher already likes to look at the pictures and I know it won't be long before he's chewing on the pages.

He also got a super soft Peter Rabbit stuffed animal. I think the fact that they are almost the same size is a little intimadating, but I know Asher will come around soon. :o)

Spring officially arrives tomorrow and Easter is only a few weeks away -- what do you do to celebrate?

i'll need your W-2s

Our little tax deduction learning how to deduct himself.

Drew taught Asher how to do the taxes yesterday, so next year the job lies with him.

He looks thrilled with the prospect. :o)

something about buying the cow if the milk's free...

Have you all heard this story?

I came across it last week and my first reaction was, "oh my." Followed quickly by "oh, yuck!"

I'm sure it caught my eye because of my close relationship to this particular experience these days. For those of you who aren't as in tuned to all things baby let me fill you in.

A certain chef in New York City recently launched a new offering on his restaurant's menu:

Breastmilk Cheese

I wish I was kidding.

Apparently when his wife had their daughter 11 weeks ago they decided to use her milk for more than baby feedings and turned some into cheese.

What the what??

Now maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought it took quite a bit of milk to make cheese. How much does this lady have?!

Just when I stopped gagging over the implications of the breastmilk cheese {and gelato aspirations that they have} I heard about this story.

The bizarre hits just keep on coming.

This little news gem is about a woman who was charged with assaulting a police officer by squirting her breastmilk in their face.

Um...that's crazy! Can't we all agree to just keep our milk between us and the babies? No other adults need to be involved!

Brings a whole new meaning to Asher's cute little onesie, doesn't it?

cropped his bumpers

Last week Asher's crib got a makeover.

Remember when I mentioned how he tends to spin himself around at night? Well, I finally caught him in the act the other day. As it turns out, he is now able to rock up on his side {which he never does during the day!}, then uses his toes to push off the crib rails and turn.

Clever boy.

This was impressive until the one I time I caught him {on the monitor} rolling up on his side and his face was directly in the bumpers. He rolled back down on his back in the next second, but not quickly enough for my heart to avoid stopping.

Scared me to death!

What if I hadn't been watching?

What if he hadn't been able to roll back down?

I definitely wouldn't have heard his muffled cries and probably would have slept through him suffocating in his crib.

I'm not trying to scare anyone else -- these tricks are just my little guy's specialty!

That experience sealed it for me -- we were getting rid of the crib bumpers. I did a little research and found that very few babies experience injury due to hitting the crib slats, so that doesn't worry me too much.

Plus, the pictures on the bumpers were really distracting him during nap time, so having that gone is helping him rest during the day as well.

Asher is loving his new elephant sheets!

gotta love some baby legs

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can put Asher in baby legs all the time! Right now it's still too cool for him to go without socks, but oh my are they cute.

I've heard that some people make their own...anyone know how? I could probably figure it out, but if you have a pattern to share, that would be great!

3 months old

Asher is 3 months old today -- happy 1/4 year birthday!

I can't believe how quickly he is growing. Asher is really starting to develop more of a personality. We had a fun time going out for walks this week -- I love that we are able to do things together and can't wait for that to happen more and more as he's able to play!

Asher, what are you up to these days?

Asher:
*wears size 3-6 month clothes
*wears size 1 diapers
*weighs 12.5 pounds
*coos and "talks" lots every day
*sucks his hands constantly
*sleeps about 12 hours a night, with 1 wake-up to eat
*still refuses to nap much during the day
*loves to play on his activity mat
*loves bath time
*likes to go on walks in the stroller
*LOVES to be naked!
*eats every 3-4 hours

Your mommy and daddy love you very much little bear. We can't imagine our lives without you!

we love spring

Yesterday Cleveland got its first real taste of spring. It was an unseasonably warm 70 degrees. In fact, it may have been a new record.

We loved it!

Asher and I headed outside immediately after his morning nap and soaked up every minute of it. Normally Asher isn't very patient with being out and about, but yesterday he did great. We went to an outdoor mall and walked around in the stroller for a few hours. Asher was pretty confused by the sunshine and breeze {the poor guy has been indoors his whole life!} but rallied quickly with the help of a sun hat.

After we got home we opened up all the windows in the house and the sliding door in his nursery. Have I mentioned how much I love fresh air?! The house is so stale after a winter of being closed up -- I love airing it out in the spring!

It was so warm in the nursery that I decided to break out a short sleeved onesie for Asher {a first!} and let him go sans pants {another first!}. Let me tell you...this boy loves having bare legs and toes. Later in the day it got cooler and he did not appreciate being put in pants and socks.

We spent a good part of the afternoon laying on the floor together watching the ceiling fan spin. Who knew that could be so interesting?!

It was just one of those lazy, relaxing days. Asher was in a great mood for most of it -- I'm really excited for spring and summer now. Going for walks and playing together in the sun is something that Asher seems to like and will like even more as he's able to play more!

Yay for sunshine and warm breezes. Welcome spring! Feel free to stick around.

the cutest ever

This may be the cutest photo of Asher that I've taken to date.

 
We had a wonderful day together and this big smile came at the conclusion of it.

More on what made our day so great tomorrow.

I love this wiggle worm so much my heart hurts.