need advice - roly poly

So...it's advice time again!

Asher has this new trick where he wants to roll over on the changing table.

While I'm in the middle of changing his diaper.

We've had more than one porky pig incident, if you know what I mean.

{Remember Porky Pig?  Shirt, no pants?  Well, that's him}

All those months of encouraging him to roll over and now I need advice as to how to stop him from rolling over!

Any ideas?

I try to keep him safe.

But he can be pretty determined.

I guess I should note that he is always safe because I'm standing right there, but at the heart of the matter it IS dangerous to roll around on top of a dresser.

Not to mention how extremely annoying it is to try and wrestle a {literally} butt-naked baby down so I can strap a clean diaper on him.

At this age he doesn't understand "no" - even a firm "no" with a frowning face.  He just laughs.  The little stinker.

Maybe there is no solution right now, but if you have ideas I'm all ears!  Thanks!

just one more!

I have 49 followers - that's awesome, thanks readers!

But...

the odd number sort of {really} bugs me.  Any chance there's 1 more person out there who would consider following this little 'ole blog of mine?  Anyone?  Please!

Making it an even 50 would really make my day!

And quite possibly make my diagnosis of OCD finally a reality.  :o)

{If by any chance there are more than 1 of you out there I could probably handle seeing the number be higher than 50...even if it's an odd one.  HA!}

UPDATE:  Yay! Thanks, Soldier Girl for being #50, you rock!

life's a beach - sand and surf and all the rest

This will be my last vacation post!

{Signal the group sigh of relief - I understand}

It's time to cover the rest of everything: the good, the bad, the baby. 

This was Asher's first experience with sand.  Oh my.  Maybe some babies would do well with it, but for us, 8 months was just a little too young.

Mr. A was very curious and liked to touch the sand...but then he'd cry because it was stuck to his sweaty little hand.  Or he'd want to put his hand in his mouth {because he always puts his hands in his mouth} and I'd have to dive bomb on him before he ate a mouthful of sand.  You don't have to be a mother to imagine the kind of disaster that would be.

I think next summer he'll be able to run around and play with his cousins, and that will be a much better beach experience.  This wasn't bad, just pretty limited.

The pool, however, was a huge hit!  Asher had this little float that he loved!!  The first time we put him in it he just laid his head back against the rest and fell asleep.  I couldn't believe it.  I was taking pictures and told Drew that he looked like he was sleeping.  He was!  Naturally, we pulled him out so he could sleep inside.  Haha, silly baby.

The other times we used the float were just as fun {but less sleepy}.  Asher would float around like the Pharoah on the Nile. 

One fun thing we were able during to do during our week was visit my great-aunt Betty who lives on Long Beach Island full-time.  Her daughter, Carol, and my sister Erin and her husband Ryan, were visiting Aunt Betty so we got to see them too!  A. Betty is in her eighties but more spry than a lot of middle aged people I know! 

She was on the floor playing with Asher and let him ring the bell on her porch {wow, he loved that!}

It was fun to introduce Asher to my grandfather's sister.  How many people get to do that?!

Asher also had a few other first experiences.

Mostly of the gustatory variety.

While {on a normal day} I firmly insist that Asher won't eat anything with added sugar I did get a little swept up in the "baby's first vacation" of it all and may have given him a little something special.

In the form of Rita's Italian ice.

What could I do?  He was being so sweet, sitting on my lap while I ate delicious cherry ice.  I couldn't not give him a little taste!  Of course, he loved it!  Little bugger wouldn't give me a moment's peace after that.  He wanted more and more!  Fortunately I was almost done, so we were able to get away with just a taste or 2.

Here's a random photo of Asher with his Daddy and Aunt Lisa.  I had to put it up because of how BIG Asher looks to me here!

If you couldn't tell, we had an amazing first vacation as a family of 3!  I can't wait to take Asher back each year.  Maybe next year I'll have new pregnancy photos to show - who knows!  :o)

life's a beach - happy birthday!

Part of our beach vacation included a birthday party for Grandpa Gene!

He recently celebrated his 60th birthday {along with Snoopy} and this was the perfect time for us all to celebrate this milestone.  Many of Drew's aunts / uncles / cousins live nearby so they were able to come down for the big party.

There were also sooo many babies there!  Unfortunately, I didn't get too many photos because I was trying to keep an eye on Asher.

We did, however, get some photos of the mass of boys during the few minutes that they were all sitting sit.

How many Wilkinson boys can you spot?

Drew has 4 brothers.

His older brother has 2 sons.

Drew's cousin Ken has 3 sons.

We have Asher.

That's a grand total of 10!

That's a lot of Wilkinson boys in one place!

Grandpa Gene is an avid golfer and had this awesome cake.  It was ridiculously heavy - 2 layers of chocolate cake with a canoli cream filling.  Yum, yum, yum.  Yes, I know it was "dairy intense" but I had to indulge a little.  Asher didn't have a reaction, so I'm hoping when I go back on dairy in a few weeks it will be a smooth transition!

Maybe next year we'll run the grill for you.

By the way, you totally rock the Amish beard.  Hey, you're 60 - do whatever you want.  :o)

Happy birthday Grandpa / Dad!  It was great to get to celebrate you!

life's a beach - cousins

One of our most anticipated things about going down the shore this year is that Asher would get to meet his cousins for the first time!

A only has 3 cousins {all boys} - my sister's son, Owen and Drew's brother's twin sons, Alden and Mercer.  Asher met Owen earlier this summer, but he hadn't gotten together with Alden and Mercer yet.  That all changed last week!

Mercer and Alden are almost 3 and were super excited to meet "baby Asher."  I don't think I ever heard them call him anything but baby Asher - expect the once that Alden said he was coloring a picture for "baby Asher Wilkinson." 

Not to be confused with all the other baby Ashers that were roaming up and down LBI that week.  :o)

A & M were really sweet to Asher.  They were clearly a little perplexed as to what their relationship could entail since Ash couldn't really play with them, but the did show him their digger/bulldozer toys {the generosity behind this gesture would be more apparent if you spent any time at all with them.  The diggers are precious, precious toys}. 

They also enjoyed storytime with Aunt Emily and baby Asher before A went to bed.

Grandma Linda bought all of her grandsons matching shirts and hats, so, of course, we had to dress them up and try to get a photo.  We told the boys to sit close and keep Asher from falling off the step.

Mercer took this charge very seriously.  Thanks for keeping him safe, Mercer!

I probably took 50 photos and this was the best we could do.  Haha...I thought 1 kid was hard to photograph - try 3 at once!

Things really started to fall apart when Alden got distracted by his toes. 

Alden?

Um, Alden, look here.

Alden!  Look here!

Haha...great times.

All in all, the boys seemed to have fun meeting each other.  By next year they should all be able to run around and have fun together.

Let me leave you with some hilarious kid quotes from the week.

When we were reading the story together, Asher grabbed a page and turned it {completely a coincidence that he timed it right for when we actually wanted to turn the page} and Alden said, "Good one, Ash!"

I almost busted out laughing.  What a sweetie!  Thanks for the encouragement buddy!

Then later the twins came in to see Asher getting his bath.  Raegan {A&M's mom} and I were in the kitchen next door when we heard one of the boys exclaim, "Baby Asher has a penis!"

Raegan hightailed it into the bathroom and talked to the boys about their discovery.  She explained to me later that this was a helpful discovery because the boys believed that babies were {more or less} gender neutral, then "grew into" either being boys or girls.  A's "parts" convinced them that he is already a boy and will eventually become a bigger boy like them.

Kids are great.  I love it!

where we've been

It's high time I let you all in on my secret.

Last week Drew and I took Asher to our annual family vacation on the New Jersey shore!

No, not Jersey Shore {I'd never knowingly expose a baby to the antics of Snookie and the gang}...this was the shore on Long Beach Island {also known as the beach, to all you non-New Jersey folks}.

Last year started the tradition of meeting up with Drew's family on the coast for a week of sun, sand, and fun.

And fun it was!  We had perfect weather for enjoying the beach - lots of sun, hardly any bugs.  There was some concern that Hurricane Earl might ruin the end of our trip, but he ended up skirting by with hardly a raindrop.

It's so hard for me to believe that just a year ago I was about 24 weeks pregnant with Asher.

This year was so, so different!  Vacationing with a baby is a whole new ballgame, but I think it went really well overall.  Ash had some tough times, but for the most part he did really well.  More details on the good, the bad, and the relaxing to come. 

The hardest part of traveling with an 8 month old was packing all the stuff he needed for a week away from home!  It was also different being "on duty" while on vacation.  We had lots of help from A's aunts/uncles/grandparents so Drew and I were able to relax and enjoy some time to ourselves.

There are a few specialty posts I want to do with details from our trip, but for now I'll leave you with some great photos from the week!

clue

In celebration of the holiday weekend, Asher wanted me to give you a clue about our secret mission.

It involves a baby wearing this shirt:

Haha...that's quite the clue.  Many more details to follow soon!

:o)

ah, the internet

Did you all forget about me?

I don't blame you if you did!  It's been too long!

I've been on my super secret mission {details to be shared soon, I promise!} and have been sans internet until today.  Actually, even now there's a real fear that the 'net will vanish, so I need to be fast.

A quick look-see at all of your blogs made it obvious that I've missed tons and can't catch up with everything right now.  I can't wait to get back to normal and have some time to catch up on all that's been going on for you!  Look for some comments from Asher and I soon!

{I hope}

In the meantime, happy Friday!!

what's in a name

Since he was born I've had several people ask me about the inspiration behind Asher's name.

What better time to discuss it than on a random Friday!

When I first found out we were pregnant I immediately sent Drew out for a baby name book.  He returned with the Baby Name Bible - 50,000+ names for my casual perusal.  Picking a name ended up being a much, much harder task than I'd originally assumed.    

I don't know about you, but before I was pregnant Drew and I would throw around names that we liked just to test the waters {so to speak} and see how similar our preferences were.  That was a lot of fun!  However, once it became a reality and we had to pick a name for a REAL person it turned into a whole different ball game.

This name would follow him his entire life.  It's what they would call out at graduation, at his wedding, at restaurants when his table was ready.

We needed something really great!

A name that was approachable, but garnered respect. 

A name that was easy to pronounce, but distinctive.

A name that fit an infant as well as a grandfather.

The pressure was really starting to mount.

While the name we ultimately chose had to meet all of these qualifications, for a major bonus point it also had to have a great meaning {although I wasn't about to nix a terrific name just because it meant 'nasty boil' or something}.

While flipping through the Baby Name Bible one day I came across a name that jumped out at me.  It caught my eye and I just started smiling.  I looked at it and didn't want to look away.

That was my son.  I knew in an instant. {lucky for me, Drew agreed}

Asher - origin: Hebrew, meaning: happy and blessed

Wow!  Who wouldn't want that for their child!  To be happy and blessed is all I could ever wish for my Asher.

This name is pretty non-traditional {which I love!} but it's also extremely traditional in one sense since it's from the Old Testament.  The first 'Asher' was a son of Jacob and led one of the 12 tribes of Israel.

When we told Drew's grandparents that we chose a name from the Bible and that he was Asher they didn't believe us and had to look it up {Genesis 30:13, if you're skeptical too}.   Hahaha...

Mr. A's middle name is a family tradition.  Thomas was the name of Drew's grandfather and is also his father's and oldest brother's middle names.  We wanted to honor our family in some way with Asher's name and this just rolled off our tongues.

Asher Thomas

May you always be happy, blessed, and keep your family close to your heart.

We love you.