advice on stepping out

So, I need some advice.  What else is new, right?

Asher needs his first pair of shoes!  At the speed with which he is learning new ways to move {sitting up solo and standing in one afternoon - whoa there, son!} I can only assume his first steps will be tomorrow.

Well, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.  Even if he doesn't walk by next week it's starting to get cool here and this boy needs some protection on his tootsies from the elements.

Does anyone have a type of shoe to recommend for pre-walkers / early walkers?  I've heard that Robeez are great for little feet, but they are pretty expensive.  I can easily see us needing 2 different sizes over the next 4-6 months and really want to avoid paying too much, if possible.

Any ideas would be great!

But in the meantime - Asher would like to brag a little.

I caught the little bugger standing in his crib again {I can see this being his new favorite thing to do} and managed to get some photos.  He was so, so proud of himself!

 

See my ghetto crib rail protection system?  Yeah, that's a couple receiving blankets clothes-pinned to the crib.  HA!  It will only take him a nanosecond to destroy the rail, so I couldn't wait for something nicer to come in.  Once I get it you'll be the first to know!

sneaky baby

Remember just the other day when I was lamenting the fact that Asher is strong, but can't yet sit up on his own?

Well, apparently all I needed to do was put him down for a nap when he wasn't tired.  I heard some chatting over the monitor and turned on the video to see what was going on instead of sleeping.

Um, this is what was going on!

Laziness confirmed.  This boy can totally sit up, just doesn't want to!

Then, just to shock me even further Asher did this!!

That's right - he's standing by himself!

I couldn't believe it.  At this point I figured that sleeping was not going to happen so I went up to get him.  You should have seen the GRIN across his face when I walked in and he was standing up.  He was so, so proud of himself!

Next time I'll have to take my camera with me - sorry for not doing that this time.

Oh and in related news - anyone know of a good crib rail saver??  It's only a matter of time before Baby Jaws strikes again and this crib becomes scrap wood.  We tried the Prince Lionheart sticky kind before Asher was born and it left a ton of residue on the wood, so we need another option.

lean into it

Asher gets into the funniest positions sometimes.  The other day he was sitting crossed legged in front of his music table when he decided to reach up and open/close the green door.

Rather than scoot his legs around and get up on his knees in the traditional sense, he just l-e-a-n-e-d up onto his knees while leaving his legs crossed.

 Wow!

Um, first of all, that's not super easy to do.

Secondly, in my humble opinion, if he can flaunt these maneuvers, then he can definitely get himself into a sitting position and is just holding out on me.  C'mon Asher, show me your other moves!

tall in the saddle

A few weeks ago we graduated Asher to his convertible 'big boy' car seat.  He wasn't officially too small for the infant seat {according to the manufacturer}, but I thought he looked really cramped and might enjoy more space to spread out.

Turns out, he does!

Another big fear of mine was that car rides would become a battle because he wouldn't have his trusty {and much loved} turtle toy to keep him occupied.

I shouldn't have worried.  I link-a-doo'd some toys to the headrest and he's perfectly happy with those.  In fact, I think now that he is sitting up higher he can see out the window because more times than not he abandons the toys just to gaze out at the world flying gently cruising by.

One more 'baby' thing we're leaving behind!  Sad, but proud, once again.  :o)

dairy-tacular

I'm back!

I'm back!

I'm back on dairy!!

Asher's pediatric GI said that we should start incorporating dairy back into my diet when Asher turned 9 months old and see how he does.  I didn't waste any time and started {slowly} having dairy again last week.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration at all to say that it's made my year to be back amongst the dairy.

{Asher was born in 2009, so I can say that and not lose my mother of the year award}

I think Ben & Jerry's Phish Food frozen yogurt is the BEST food ever invented.  I could eat it all day long.  In fact, yesterday I did.

And Emily looked upon the empty pint and saw that it was good.  Oh, so good.

So far, Asher's doing great with the addition of dairy.  I know it might take awhile for his system to become irritated enough to start showing blood in his poo again, so I'll be, um, monitoring his diapers for the next few weeks.  If all remains well then we're on track to give A an oral dairy challenge once he turns a year old.

Wish us luck!

In other big news - Asher ate Puffs today!  All on his own!  He chewed them up and everything!  Yay, go Ash!

crawling and cuteness

Drew and I realized the other day that we haven't been taking nearly enough videos of Asher.

Thus, all the film that I'm inflicting on you all.  Sorry.  Well, I'm sure the grandparents and aunts/uncles appreciate it!

Asher is doing so much these days we have to capture it all!!

He is currently doing this adorable crawl / scoot / army crawl move to get around.  It's so deliberate - I love watching him see something, decide that he wants it, and do what is necessary to get over there.  He just started moving like this a few days ago.



I know it won't be long before he gets his belly off the ground and is moving even faster.

Oh my.

Then I was recording him playing with his truck and he morphed into this little cutey telling me stories and playing games.  Love him!



Oh, and for everyone who asked about the farm toy - it came to Asher from my parents.  I believe they found it in the Kohl's toy section. {Correct me if I'm wrong here, Mom}  It really is such a fun toy - I hope you all can find one too!!

what goes up...

On Sunday Drew encouraged me to get out and have some "me" time.  Last week was really crazy at Drew's work and he didn't get to see Asher at all from Tuesday to Friday.  This not only meant that Drew missed Ash, but also that I had baby duty 100% of the time, for 4 days straight.

{major props to the single moms right now - I don't know how you do it!}

This combo equaled Drew missing A and me really needing a break from drool and diapers -  an afternoon off sounded perfect!  It had been approximately 9 months since I bought myself any new clothes, so I headed to the mall to find some fall staples.

I had no clue what the boys would do while I was gone, but figured it would involve some toys, teethers, baby food, and naps.  Oh yeah, and football.  Of course.  What I didn't anticipate was that Drew would make a little video showing Asher's major accomplishment that I would miss!

Wait, before you watch I need to warn you about something.  Those of you with little ones will realize that a baby's first time standing solo isn't all that stable.  Drew thought this was a possibility, but couldn't zoom out far enough if he remained close enough to catch a falling baby.

This, I believe, is the main difference between moms and dads.  If it had been me I would have stayed close and just not had a video.  Drew really wanted to record this moment for me since I was missing it.  I appreciate that - I guess.  ha!

Let me just emphasize that Drew shouldn't be villianized here.  He's a great Dad and would never put Asher in danger.  That said, I did almost have a heart attack the first time I watched this.  I grew all of those little parts from scratch - let's keep them intact!

By the way, how tough is my little guy?!  So chill, so calm.   :o)

{oh, keep your sound on - Drew incorporates some pretty priceless commentary}

he's crying. we're thrilled!

As Asher scoots around he tends to find the most random stuff to grab.  The other day he found a loose hair on the floor {yuck!} and snatched it up.  Once I saw what he had I took it away from him and...

he started crying!

Yay!

Most parents hate to hear their babies cry, so you might wonder what's wrong with me that I was excited by this.  The fact is that this was the first time Asher ever cried when I took something away.  Normally he just looks for the next thing and couldn't care less. 

You're probably still wondering what's wrong with me.

Let me be more specific.  Once babies cry when an object is taken away it proves that they have achieved the concept of object permanence.  Do you know object permanence?  O.P. is a major neurological development that most babies achieve between 8 and 10 months old. 

Simply put, it means that these tiny humans finally understand that when things disappear from their line of sight those things don't cease to exist.

Until object permanence kicks in babies believe that if they can't see it, it doesn't exist.  They won't look for a hidden or dropped toy.  The crying happens because they finally, finally realize that what was taken away still exists somewhere, just not with them.  And that makes them mad!

This is huge!  The fact that Asher has reached this milestone means his brain is on track developmentally.

Thus, the happiness over his crying!

However.

You know what else comes with object permanence?  That's right.  Separation anxiety.

That crying we are not so thrilled about.

Asher is having major separation issues these days.  Last night he woke up for some reason at 11:30 and started crying.  And crying.  And crying.

He never wakes up at night anymore, so this was really strange.  I went in to comfort him and see if there was some obvious problem.  There wasn't.  As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying.  We rocked for awhile and he snuggled into my neck and instantly fell asleep.  Once he was out I laid him down in his crib and his eyes popped open, he gave me the saddest look and burst into tears with his arms reaching up.

BREAK. MY. HEART.

As sad as it made me, I couldn't rock him all night, so I said good-night {over the wails} and headed back to bed.

Of course, I watched him over the monitor and when he didn't settle down after 10 minutes I sent Drew in to see what he could do.  Seeing me tends to make situations like this exponentially worse, so I was trying to stay out of it.

Asher's cries lessened when the door opened, then got way louder when he saw that it was Drew.  Daddy was not going to do last night!  I had to go back over and do our rocking thing again.  It was wonderful to be wanted, but I'm really hoping that tonight goes better - I'm not used to this interrupted sleep anymore!  ha!

Then this morning at church we had to be called out of service to retrieve Asher from the nursery.  He normally does great, but today he realized that the people working there are strangers and he wanted his mommy.  I was happy to oblige.  Poor little guy, he can't help it.

Extra hugs and kisses for Asher!

parched

Asher and I have been working on his drinking from a cup.  By 'working on' I mean that I offer him a cup and he looks at it disdainfully.

I've read that having your baby/toddler drink through a straw is preferable to the spouted sippy cups because the straw sends the liquid past their teeth and {if they are drinking juice} keeps any sugar from immediately coating the pearly whites. I don't plan on giving Ash juice any time soon, but we'd might as well be prepared for the inevitable and teach him to use a straw sooner rather than later.

Don't get me wrong...we have a whole cabinet full of sippy cups and Asher will undoubtedly use them at some point.  However, I found this great cup at Babies 'R Us that has a Camelback-style straw that is spill proof, but still a straw, so we've been trying to drink using that.

A few weeks ago, I filled the cup with water and started to offer it several times throughout the day.  Asher took a great big sip once and got a mouthful of water.  This experience was obviously disappointing because he just let it all dribble out and down his shirt.  Water is not tasty like milk. 

Sorry, friend.

Since then he would chew on the straw, but wasn't willing to suck up any water.

Until yesterday!

I guess rolling around, trying to crawl, and playing with his toys really makes a boy thirsty because once Asher caught sight of his cup he made a beeline for it and never looked back.  He drank and drank. 

So cute!

I've offered his cup a few times since then and he drinks a little each time.  He always "tells" me he's done by letting the water he doesn't want drip all over.  Or he raspberries it back at me.  Nice.

He still can't really coordinate well enough to hold the cup and drink from it, but we'll get there.  I'm not in a rush for any of this, just excited that he seemed to get it!  Plus, it's so hot out this summer I'd love for him to be able to have a drink while we're out and about. 

Way to go, Mr. A!

a little off the top

Yesterday Asher experienced a big milestone.

He went for his first trip to the hair salon.

That's right.  My little guy got a hair cut.  I've given him a trim or 2 at home, but things were getting desperate and I was desperately afraid of butchering his gorgeous locks if I did too much myself.  His comb over had trasitioned from cute to not cute and we had to do something.

Before {cut my hair already!}

So I put us in the very capable hands of Carmen at Cartoon Cuts.  I went to a kids hair cutting place for his trim {even though I'm sure it was a little overpriced more expensive} because I figured they do these first cuts all the time and would know how to deal with someone who has very little hair on the back/sides and tons up top.

After

It was a great choice -- and totally worth the money!  How cute is he now?!

 The faux hawk is back! 

Have a great weekend!

sitting up

Look what A can do!

Over the weekend his grandparents got him a new music table to play with and it's proved to be just the motivation Asher needed to sit up.  Eventually he will be able to stand and work his way around the whole table, but for now we just left 2 legs on so it is propped up a bit.

The table is great because when he leans forward to push the buttons the table catches him.  With his other toys when he leans forward to get them they {and he} just fall over.

The only problem comes when Asher successfully spins the wheel then music and lights start to go and it's all so exciting that he throws his hands up and tends to fall sideways.  

We're working on it.

I'm so proud of him!

{I didn't want to move too far away while he was precariously sitting up, so I had to take these photos with my phone.  Sorry for the crappy quality.}

teeth, rolling, crying...oh my!

We've been having quite a bit of whining excitement around here.  Asher is working towards his seven month birthday on Tuesday and wants me to have a lot to tell.

I mentioned last week that he has started consistently rolling from back to front while playing and in his crib.  In fact, Ash decided that sleeping on his belly is very comfortable and does it all the time now.  The only problem is that since he started doing this he wakes up very confused and aggravated. 

5 or 6 times a night. 

Every night.

I'm talking about screaming {loudly} until someone comes and flips him over.  This from the guy who can't be stopped from rolling back and forth during the day.  Maybe it's the dark, maybe it's the sleepiness, but whatever the cause Asher has been having a hard time sleeping soundly over the past week.

Drew and I also think that his teeth are really bothering him.  He popped through the first 2 without blinking an eye, but the past few days he's been extra cranky and keeps trying to shove everything into the back of this mouth.  I read in Baby 411 that the molars hurt a lot more than other teeth and can take quite awhile to push through the gums.   

Awesome.

Baby 411 also says that babies who seem fine during the day can be bothered a lot more by tooth pain when they are quiet and still at night. It's amazing how distracting playing can be!

I just ordered this little beauty {called the "teethifier", I'm not kidding} that's suppose to be great for soothing back teeth pain.  Let's hope it works!  You can be sure I'll let you know.

I hate giving Asher medicine of any kind without knowing for sure that he needs it, but given all the evidence of teething Drew and I decided to slip him a little Tylenol last night before bed.  He sucked it right down and slept well.  Of course, he also managed to stay on his back all night long and I think that helped big time.  Mr A still woke up crying once, but only for a few minutes.  I didn't even get up -- bad mommy, I know.

Hopefully his sleep will get better soon.  As much as I hate being woken up several times at night {didn't we just move past this?!} I really hate how much it changes his personality.  Poor guy is so tired throughout the day when he sleeps badly at night.  Even with extra long naps he just seems a little out of it. 

Welcome to teething and seven months!

riding in style

Yesterday Asher took his first ride in a grocery cart seat!

Everytime we've gone to the store before this he has either ridden in the Beco carrier or in a stroller.  Having him sit up in the cart is SO much easier. 

He looks so big in his seat!

I don't think we'll do this every time just yet, but it's a great option for quick trips.  Mr. A is still a little small and ended up slouching over towards the end.  Poor guy needed a little help to sit up straight after awhile.  I get tired at the store too, buddy, it's ok.

Ash loved being able to see everything from his new higher perch.  I love that everything is new and exciting for him.  It makes going to the grocery store a lot more fun for me!

Happy Friday everyone!

be careful what you wish for

Asher has always been a back baby.  He heard about the "back is best" campaign and took it very seriously.  This guy was more worried about SIDS than me.

For the first few months of life this was ideal!  He happily slept and played on his back and we all enjoyed it.  While doctors recommend that babies sleep on their backs, they also suggest giving them "tummy time" to help strengthen their neck and back muscles in preparation for rolling over, sitting up, and crawling.  Asher hated this.  He would scream and scream for the whole 10 minutes 3 times a day. 

Eventually he learned how to roll over from his belly to back.  From that day forward it was a battle to get him to spend any time on his belly at all.  He would immediately roll over the second you put him on his belly, the little stinker. 

Because of this I never thought we'd get him to roll the other direction {back to belly}.  I did everything I could to encourage it, including putting all of his toys out of arms reach.  He was totally capable of getting them, if he rolled over...he just didn't want to.

The great stand off of 2010.

Asher just stared at them for a long time, then looked at me, then back at the toys.  Then he sighed and started playing with his toes.  He would not give in!  Stubborn little bugger.

Then, one day, like flipping a switch he started rolling onto his belly!  You might remember, the first time was when we were visiting Drew's grandparents.  After that day he started doing it more and more.

Now he takes every nap on his belly and often spends part of the night there.  This wouldn't be a problem at all, except that when he wakes up on his belly he is disoriented, can't roll over, and screams bloody murder for me to come help him.  What should I do?  I don't want to start running to him every time he cries {especially since I know he can roll onto his back...if he wants to} but I hate to hear him cry!

The good news is that Mr A is doing 100% better at spending time on his belly!  His neck and back are getting really strong.

Now we just have to work on sitting up!  I'm sure this will be the same kind of situation where he refuses and fusses until one day it clicks and all he wants to do is sit.  Wish us luck!

sitting high and feeling fine

Asher is now using his highchair!

I had been feeding him in the Bumbo chair, but noticed he seemed to have a hard time holding his head up well.  It also looked like he was really folded over which didn't seem conducive to comfortable eating.  I thought the Bumbo was a good support for early sitters, but Asher just never seemed to love it for longer than a couple minutes.

We decided to try out the highchair that's been sitting in our basement for the past 6 months and little A loves it!  He looks like such a big boy sitting up like this!  Small tear from mommy, but mostly big smiles.  :o)

Yesterday I made him some carrots for the first time.  He wasn't sure what to think at first.  They look like sweet potatoes, but certainly don't smell or taste the same.  After the first bite, he just closed his mouth and looked away.  No big fits, but a very definitive, thanks, but no.

To ease the transition I gave him a bite of bananas next.  This boy LOVES bananas.  What's not to love...sweet and delicious.  That worked like a charm.  He took the bite of bananas, then opened up and took the carrots without complaint.  I think that's how we'll do it until he's used to the new flavor.

So far, Mr. A has had sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, and 1 round of oatmeal.  After the oatmeal he had some blood in his poo, so I decided to skip all grains for awhile.  I'm just not convinced that his digestive system is up to the challenge of grains yet.

Next will be another fruit --- maybe pears? 

Asher has quickly come around to eating baby food.  He's now eating 2 ice-cube sized portions in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.  Besides that he drinks 4, 8.5 oz bottles a day.

Hungry, growing boy!

{By the way, thanks for all of your advice yesterday!  I made an appointment with my OB/Gyn to ask her advice on Monday.  I really don't want to stop breastfeeding yet, so hopefully we'll be able to come up with a game plan to make this work!}

little swimmer

This weekend Drew, Asher, and I headed down the road to celebrate the graduation of Drew's cousin, Peter.  The thing we love most about living in our new hometown is being close enough to family to celebrate these special occasions!

Drew's Aunt Carol and Uncle Ron were kind enough to invite us to Peter's graduation party, so we grabbed our swimsuits and hit the road.  It was such a hot day we were really looking forward to cooling off in the pool.  Since it was going to be Asher's first time in a pool he and I went shopping on Friday for a hat to keep the sun off.

After a lot of searching we found this great sun hat on super sale at Janie and Jack.  Asher wasn't thrilled with being a model at this point, but that's ok.  He wore it like a champ the next day!

On Saturday afternoon we had a great time eating way too much food and catching up with all of Drew's cousins.  After Asher's nap we got him lathered up with sunblock and put him in his little swimsuit for a dip in the big pool.  This guy loves his bath time, so I assumed he'd like swimming just fine.  I planned to hold him the whole time and just float around a little.

Well, he hated it.

Really, really hated it.

Like cried the whole time kind of hated it.

In his defense, I don't think it was the actual swimming that he despised.  Carol and Ron have 8 children, who almost all have kids of their own by this point, so the pool was really busy and noisy with little kids having tons of fun.  Asher lives with me in our relatively quiet home most of the time, so I think he got really overwhelmed by all of the action. 

This same thing happened at the Little Gym last week.  Asher did well at first, but once the class filled up and started to get noisy with all the other kiddos he freaked out and wouldn't stop crying.  My sensitive little guy.

After I got out of the pool and held him so he couldn't see the other kids he calmed right down.  In fact, he clung to me like a drowning man.  Poor little guy!

Drew and I decided to get out his little pool yesterday to see if we could convince him that swimming is fun.  We got him back in his suit and let him splash around for awhile.  Just like on Saturday, he cried at first, but then settled down to play.  It became much more like bath time and he loved splashing around.

Hopefully we'll be able to head back down soon to try out the "big pool" again when things are a little quieter.  I really want him to embrace swimming before we go to the beach at the end of August!  The house we're renting has a pool and I think Asher could really have some fun floating around!

We'll take it slow and see what happens!