reading is fun

One of the many things I am grateful for in my son is his dual love of both running around outside and of reading. I don't know if you know this, but reading is more of a quiet, sitting still kind of activity and - well, sitting still is hard work for little boys.

But Asher does it well.

I found him reading by himself the other day and it warmed my heart.

Then he figured out a way to bring little boy back into the picture and picked up his animal book.

 

ROAR!!!

He loves this story. You look through the eye holes and become the animal that it shows. My favorite part? Asher does the sound of whatever animal is facing him - rather than the audience {me} - so sometimes I have to get to guess who he is.  Love him. :-) 

testing, testing

Been having a few issues with the Blogsy app, so I'm trying a few things to see what happens. Update later on how it's going...

I'll add some cute photos so no one feels like this is a waste of time. :-)

We really missed football yesterday.  A few weeks ago we were rooting for the Steelers {even though they lost - boo} and I took some pics of my boys.

Love, love them on the couch having their game day snacks! What a pair. 

Super Bowl weekend is coming!

polaroid action

I recently found a Polaroid action on the Coffee Shop blog and am loving it! With Picnik shutting down in April {sad face} I've been looking for new ways to do some of my favorite photo editing. This Polaroid action is a great replacement!

Has anyone used Picasa? I've heard that's another easy, free way to make collages, etc.

In the meantime...some Polaroids. :-)

 

{phone dump friday}

Another Friday here again. We had the best week of weather {until today} and spent most afternoons playing at the park.  Asher was in 7th heaven!

This is the first time in quite awhile that we've been able to get to the park, so he did a ton of sliding, climbing, and driving.

It's always good for us to sneak in a little OT homework too!

The first day we were able to go outside it was sunny, but still a little wet from the melted snow. A perfect combination of sunshine and puddles to jump in!

I always try to take Asher's photo with my camera and most of the time he just wanders off. Turns out, though, that he thinks it's hilarious when I flip to the front camera and he can see us both!

I mean, who doesn't love a self-portrait. :-)

Last Sunday Asher got moved up to the 2 year old class at church. This is his first time in an honest-to-goodness Sunday school class. He had a really hard time changing classrooms, but I know he'll get used to it soon. I love that he came home with a bag full of his bible story and activity they did!

Last, but not least, my little snuggle bug. Oh how I love him.

Have a great weekend, friends!

saying who he is

Some of you might remember this post I wrote after Asher was born explaining exactly why Drew and I chose the name for him that we did.  The first "Asher" was one of the sons of Jacob in the Old Testament and went on to lead one of the 12 tribes of Israel.  The name "Asher" means 'happy and blessed' - we just love that meaning and hope deeply for that to be our son. :-)

Then Leah said, “How happy I am! The women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

Genesis  30:13

A few weeks ago I shared about how Asher has started in some occupational and speech therapy to help him get caught up with his peers in a few areas. There are days when I feel like he's staying exactly the same, or even falling further behind, but most days I can see the ways that he is improving.  The biggest area I've noticed changes recently is in his speech.

Yesterday when Drew came home he took A out to 'drive' his car a little. Asher loves to drive his Daddy's car!  When they came in, Drew said "tell mama what you just told me."  Asher looked over at me and said "Happy!"

"Happy happy HAPPY!"

I just about started to cry. He said it so clearly and with such pure joy that it melted my heart. He is happy and now he can tell us all about it. 

And now, thanks to the video feature on my iPhone and the awesomeness of YouTube, he can tell all of you when he's happy too.  {as a side note, notice how clearly he said 'hi' too!}

plane gazing

Yesterday we had the best weather day here!  January typically means 20 degrees with snow or sleet, but on Tuesday it was sunny and near 60. Wow!  Asher and I took full advantage and spent most of the day outside. You never know when it might happen again and we weren't missing one second of the run-around-and-tire-this-boy-out weather. 

This isn't something you typically read in the guide books, but one of the best things about living near DC {in Asher's opinion} is being within close proximity to, not one, but TWO major airports. That means lots of big planes flying around.  The planes are high enough that the noise isn't an issue, but close enough that we can see them easily. Plane spotting is one of A's favorite hobbies. 

With the crystal clear skies yesterday plane spotting was at an all-time high.

 

Oh, joyful day.

Nobody appreciates the little things like Asher. I love seeing the world through his eyes.

 

So many times I'm tempted to hurry him along when he dawdles.  Or insists on stopping to inspect our neighborhood fire hydrant for the 10,000th time. But, as much as possible, I don't. We stop. We look. We appreciate whatever it is and wave good-bye when it's time to move on.

 

I have a new joy in seeing car dealership balloons as we drive by. 

And passenger planes as they approach Dulles. 

Who knows what today will bring!

man at work

Thank you all so much for your encouragment on yesterday's oh-so-glamorous diaper post. 

Last night I took Allie's suggestion and snapped the cloth diaper down one row in the front to make the leg holes tighter {awesome idea, thanks!}. The bad news is that it didn't really help - Asher still woke up with soaked PJs and sheets. The good news is that for some reason he slept through it and woke up at his normal time. Guess that's a victory??  

If things continue to fail, here's the plan for the next few nights...

     • Snap it down, but also add a second hemp liner. Hopefully the second liner won't make it too fluffy to snap.  

     • Disposable with 2 boosters

     • Hemp liner inside a disposable

At least I'm not out of ideas yet! {trying to stay positive here...} 

*************************

In more adorable news...  :-)

Asher got some new tools recently and has been really quick at learning how to use them. 

Need something screwed in or out?

Have a plastic nail that needs to be pried loose?

This is your man.

His rates are pretty reasonable too.  Got animal crackers?

is staying dry asking too much?

For the past few many weeks 5 things have been monopolizing my mind:

     overnight diapers

     wet PJs 

     wet sheets

     cloth diapers

     hemp inserts

And I'm sick of it. Really, really sick of it. 

Sweet Asher has been waking up every morning to wet pajamas and, more often than not, wet sheets. Bless his little heart, but he's a heavy wetter. A very, very heavy wetter. {sigh}

Ready for a story? Come on, let's journey together.  :-)

This all started way back when he was 7 months old and started wetting through his diaper at night.  At that time I was introduced to Pampers Overnight diapers and our problem was solved for a few months. They provided the extra protection Asher needed and he stayed nice and dry. Then one morning he started waking up wet again...

Let me take a second and interject here that by 6 months old Asher no longer woke up at night to eat.  He doesn't have a cup in bed and doesn't drink anything after 6pm.  

Back to the timeline...we moved up a size in the Pampers Overnights and that worked for a little while too. When those started to leak a friend recommended Huggies Overnights so I tried those. And they worked!  For awhile...

Now he's in the biggest size Huggies makes in an Overnight and wet jammies are our new normal. 

In my search for a solution I found a diaper 'booster' at Babies 'R Us. These are basically long pads that you lay inside the disposable diaper. They absorb fluid, but also let fluid flow through into the diaper. Basically it gives extra absorbency. These work...eh, ok.  It definitely helped a bit, but Asher was still damp most mornings. 

So I moved on to cloth diapering. I talked to some friends who cloth diaper and got their opinions on what might work best. The consensus was towards a pocket diaper stuffed with hemp and microfiber inserts, so this is what I got. I spoke with a saleswoman at our local cloth diapering store and she recommended the Tiny Tush pocket diaper and JoeyBunz Premium hemp inserts. That's what we tried!

How unbelievably adorable is Asher with his red fluffy bottom. :-)

The first night was awesome. Asher woke up a little damp, but no worse than how he woke with the disposable + booster. Hemp is supposed to get more absorbent with washing and drying so I assumed things would get better with time. I also decided to add in a second hemp insert for extra protection. 

The first night with 2 inserts was a complete disaster. Best guess of mine was that the super thick stuffing was cause a gap around Asher's chicken legs. His thighs are teeny tiny and {I guess} the pee was leaking straight out of the sides. 

So...we went back to just 1 hemp + 2 microfiber liners. This was the same setup as night #1, but Asher woke up at 3:00 completely soaked. Grrr....

I don't know what to do. I'm frustrated, overwhelmed and sick of pee. 

I've tried to get A to use the potty before bed, but he just isn't ready for potty training yet. He will sit on the potty very briefly, but that's it. I don't see the point in making us both upset by forcing the issue before he's ready. 

I would love, love any ideas you all have.  Please help! 

{phone dump friday}

What a week.  Despite the cold weather we've been keeping very busy around here. Asher has decided that doing one puzzle at a time is for babies. He's a big boy and likes the challenge of 5 puzzles at once.

That's just how he rolls. ha!

Of course, it hasn't been all play and no work. Drew was pretty busy roasting a special batch of his holiday nuts for playoff football last weekend. YUM! He makes the most awesome spiced pecans. Love!

I made a Christmas card book for Asher to flip through. I saw the idea on Pinterest {of course} and decided to put it together quickly one day. It was SO simple. All I did was take our photo cards and punched 2 holes in the side, then I put them on some book rings {$2 at Staples}.

Super simple and really fun for A. He loves looking through it and 'meeting' our friends and family. 

Yesterday I made a big mistake. I put Asher's Goldfish crackers on the same plate as his hot dog. Whoa. What was I thinking?? Asher sort of has a one track mind, so he couldn't {wouldn't?} comprehend using his fork for hot dog, but his fingers for crackers. So he did what any boy would do and ate his crackers with a fork! Oh my goodness, this boy makes me laugh!

My last Christmas gift of 2011 arrived on Sunday! Drew's parents came for a visit and brought with them my gift from my future sister-in-law. She was my Secret Santa and I've been really excited to see what she got for me. So worth the wait - check out my awesome new iPhone case! Love it!

Last, but not least...we've started on a cloth diapering adventure! Asher has been having a lot of trouble with wetting through his disposable diapers at night {even with the diaper 'booster' that I found at Babies 'R Us} so I started researching cloth hoping to find a solution. I think we found one! Last night was our first try, so I'll be back with a full report and more details in a few days. Until then, check out my super cutie and his red fluff butt! Ha!

Told you we've been busy.

Happy weekend all!  :-)

blogging on the iPad

Ever since I got my iPad I've been looking for an app that would let me write blog posts {with photos!}.  Surprisingly, there aren't many options out there. Lucky me found the Blogsy app today!

This is my first try using it, so I'll let you know how much I like it in a day or two. 

So far, so good...

at least Asher thinks so.  :-)

in her shoes

Asher is going through his really hilarious phase where he wants to put on any shoes that are nearby.  It seems like every few minutes I look over and he's hobbling around in my Crocs.

He tried to get into my tall boots this morning and about killed himself falling over.  They go up past his hips, so I'm not sure how he imagined it working out.

This silly boy.  He sure keeps me smiling.  :-)

it's hard to get good help

Wait.  Reverse that.

jumping for joy

Flash back time:  I'm a little behind on this one.

On New Year's Eve my aunt had a lunch party at her house for our extended family.  Many of my aunts and uncles had never met Asher {shameful, I know} so we decided a day trip was in order!

Lucky duck Asher got to play on their trampoline.

We had such huge success in the bouncy play place in Raleigh that I figured a trampoline would be a slam dunk.  I was right - A loved it!

He also loved playing with his big cousin, Owen.  Asher still walks up to Owen's photo here and says "O.  O!"  Drew and I decided that Asher really needs a big brother.  Not sure how we can deliver on that one, but oh well.  ha!