december showers

...bring January babies!

Drew, Asher, and I traveled out to Cleveland this weekend to celebrate the {awaited} arrival of a very special baby girl - Miss Carter!

Our friends, Carl and Karen are expecting their little girl next month, so we all got together to shower them with blessings and gifts.  You might remember when I announced that they were expecting a few months ago.  It was so fun to see Karen with a gorgeous baby belly this time around!

Carl and Karen have decided to keep their daughter's name a surprise - which is totally what I deserve after making everyone wait to know Asher's name - but it's really hard to wait!  Tell us now!  Carl almost slipped once, but caught himself, darn it!  :o)

It seems like every time we see them I manage to get a photo of them and Asher, but never one of Drew, me, and Asher. 

Don't they make a lovely family?

You think I'm exaggerating?  Let's see...

The happy threesome, circa December 2009 {Asher was 3 days old}

They got together again to celebrate the New Year...

Karen secretly trying to usurp my role in the family at Drew's birthday dinner

Look how everyone has grown!  {July 2010}

It's already all arranged that Asher will marry the anxiously awaited Baby Girl C, so if he gets a little cozy with his future in-laws, all the better.

It was so fun to see them and our other Cleveland friends over the weekend.  We miss you all!

I made some cupcakes and cupcake toppers for the party.  Our friends Michelle and Amy handled all of the other food and decorations - it was awesome!

There was a little dog there and, of course, Asher loved him!  Amy explained how to pet a dog nicely and Asher was all ears.  They didn't spend too much time together, but Asher would do a very excited squeal every time Riley came into view. 

Of course we had to shower Baby C with some special gifts!  For her Daddy {who went to UVA} we got her some Virginia onesies!

Karen was really excited about these {apparently!} Or maybe she's just a really great gift-opener.  HA!

The next time we get to Williamsburg, we'll pick up a William & Mary one to represent Karen's alma mater!

Then a special gift for both of them, but mostly for Baby C.  Since I started making the sweet baby this quilt over the summer I didn't know that she was a girl, so it's full of neutral {but pretty!} colors.  Lots of greens to go with her nursery.

I love making quilts and hope this one will be great for Baby C to cuddle with on chilly Ohio winter days. 

We love you already, sweet girl!  Keep growing and treat your mama to some gentle nudges over these next 6 weeks.  We {especially your boyfriend} can't wait to meet you!

growing up

Lately, I have been thinking about how I can encourage Asher to transition from bottles to a cup.  He's been drinking water from a cup with a straw for several weeks now, but we haven't had as much luck with drinking milk.  Usually he will take a sip or 2, then make a face and push it away.

Then the other night while drinking his bedtime bottle Asher suddenly pushed it away and tried to sit up.  This was pretty strange since he typically drinks every drop and there were still a couple ounces left.  It only took a few seconds for me to realize that he wanted to sit up so we could get right to his story!  Once I started to read he took the bottle back and finished up.

{This boy loves to read these days, by the way.  He'll bring me his books over and over again all day long!  All those toys to choose from and he picks a book - bless his heart - he's my son.}

Well, this might be the perfect solution!  I decided to try giving him his milk in a straw cup last night while reading story after story.  This worked like a charm!  He happily sipped away on my lap while I read all of his favorites.  When he was done drinking we finished up with Goodnight Moon and he went right to bed.

I almost started crying - where did my little baby go?  I'm torn between being really proud of him and sad that he is growing up so quickly.  This is a great thing for him - I know - it's just so much harder on me than it is on him!  I didn't expect that!

He is still nursing in the mornings, so we'll have that for a little while longer.  Plus, not having to wash all the bottle parts any more will be a huge bonus!

On a funnier book note, can you tell that Asher loves dogs?

He picks up this book and turns right to the dog, then yelps and looks over at me!

Mom, it's a dog!  A DOG!

Love it!

{Oh and for anyone who is wondering, we started out using the Nuby straw cup that you see in the first photo, but for some reason it keeps leaking on us.  Hmm...  I looked for a simpler option and found this cup from Munchkin at Wal-Mart for $2.  It's awesome!  Super easy for little hands to hold and, so far, doesn't leak at all.}

wordless wednesday - rockin' the argyle

During one of our pre-baby shopping trips, I bought this hat for Asher at the Baby Gap outlet in Cleveland.  It caught my eye immediately and I loved it! 

It is size 0-6 months so I thought he could wear it all last winter.  Surprise!  Either it's super big or he has a little head because it was huge on him then, but fits great this year!

Asher hates hats and took this one off and threw it out of the stroller twice during our walk.

We'll have to work on that before it gets really cold!

the best santa photo i've ever seen

We haven't gotten the chance to take Asher to see Santa yet this year - although it's on my list.

While I hope he loves the experience and gives us a great big smile I also can't help but {secretly} hope we have an experience similar to this one, if only to get a hilarious photo.

This is perhaps the funniest photo I've ever seen.  That Santa totally deserves a raise! 

Oh, and if you don't read the Amazing Trips regularly, you need to - it's fantastic.

While you're there, you need to read my other favorite post of hers - and perhaps my favorite blog post of all time on any blog.  You have to read it! 

Holy holiday, Batman!  It's Christmas time!

welcome december

December is, and always will be, a special month for me.  I have always loved Christmas and looked forward to all the unique celebrations, music, and decorations that accompany the holiday season.  However, the fact that Asher was born last December has elevated this chilly month to a whole new level.

Last December 1st I was 37 weeks pregnant.

Holy belly!

This year I get to play with this little sweetie.

Happy December everyone - I can't believe it's here again already.

out to lunch

Recently Drew and I have been trying to do more things with Asher out of the house.  For the first few months he was a little baby who ate every 2 hours and slept more than he was awake, but now he's really blossomed into an almost-toddler who loves to go out and have adventures!

The weekend before Thanksgiving Drew and I decided that going out for lunch as a family would be a great new experience for the littlest Wilkinson.  Asher has been to restaurants before, but it's always been because someone was visiting from out of town or some other such special reason.  This was - just because!

On Saturday, we grabbed the stroller and the Floppy Seat and walked down the street to a new little place that serves lunch {but is mostly known for it's frozen custard}.  We might have chosen it for dessert - I guess you'll never know!  Ha!

Asher did so great!  He loved staring looking at the other diners, but was mostly enthralled with the ceiling fans. 

Have you ever used these sticky, disposable placemats?  They are going on my Mommy Must-Haves 2010 list for sure. 

There are 2 sticky lines on the back that keep the placemat on the table.  It lets little ones eat right off the table surface - without actually eating off the {maybe} germy table.  These worked perfectly for Asher.  I could wrap it around the edge of the table and everything.  He tried to pull it off with no luck.  Truly baby-proof, yay!

Mr A ate his lunch while Drew and I had ours.  It was a nice time as a family and we'll definitely be doing it again!  I'm loving every stage that Asher goes through, but this one is particularly great.  He still needs me, isn't being too independent {read: difficult}, but can handle doing some bigger kid stuff.  Love it!

happy thanksgiving!

Sorry to disappear like that, but now we're back!  Drew, Asher, and I went to North Carolina to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday at my parents' house.

We had a wonderful time visiting with my parents and sister, Erin and her husband Ryan {plus, of course, little Phinley!}

Asher said his first word:  DOG.  He said it clear as day several times!  He loved Phin and wanted nothing more than to get down and climb all over him.  I can't wait until Ash is a little bigger so I can trust him to play nicely with the pup and not do something {aka - pull tails and hair} to cause a problem.  I have a feeling they will be really good friends when that time comes!

We ate tons of good food and actually went shopping on Black Friday.  Brave, I know!  Drew, Ryan, and Pop Pop {my dad} watched Asher so the girls could hit the sales.  We found some great stuff for Christmas - pics to come!

Asher looked so cute in his little Thanksgiving outfits.  Look at that little turkey bum!  

One of the most exciting things to happen to me over the holiday was my triumphant return to the movie theater!!  Yay!  The last movie I saw was on my last date with Drew before Asher was born - a long 12 months ago.  We went to see Harry Potter while Grammy and PopPop stayed home to watch the little guy.  Drew even treated me to popcorn.  I'm living the life now.  :o)

It was such a fun few days.  Why does it always seem like vacation is long in come, but quick in going by?

There are so many things happening this month - first birthday, parties, Christmas, baby showers - lots of fun!  Now if I only had some help...

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

the runner up

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about choosing my Christmas card from Shutterfly?  Well, I did it!  I ordered the cards last week and wanted to give you all a sneak preview {kind of}.

The best thing about ordering from Shutterfly is that they have tons of cute cards to choose from!

The worst thing about ordering from Shutterfly is that they have tons of cute cards to choose from.

I couldn't pick!  I thought it over - narrowed it down to 2 - then just clicked and bought.  I'm really happy with the ones I ordered, but love this runner up so much I had to share it too!

Since some of you will be getting the real thing in the mail, I'm not going to show our actual card until after they get into the mail.  So, here's the card that could have been.  {I love it, too!}

We're busy getting ready for Thanksgiving around here, so we might be MIA for a few days.  Hopefully not, but you never know.  Turkey's on!

oh, boy

Based on some of your comments from my last post I'm guessing I haven't officially announced that Asher is standing up yet! 

Asher is standing!  At everything!

He's also cruising along the furniture, but has yet to stand independently or take any solo steps.  I can wait.  In fact, I insist that he slow down right now.

A very exciting thing that happened over the weekend is that Ash learned how to get down from a standing position!  Yay!  This might seem obvious {and something that should go hand-in-hand with standing} but it wasn't easy for Mr. A.  He spent the past few weeks standing, and standing, and standing...until I would come by and help him sit down. 

The biggest time this was a problem was in the crib.  He'd stand up, then not be able to get down!  I was going in many, many times to lay him down.  It's a huge relief to me that he can now sit down on his own.  Way to go bear!

Asher has been acting more and more like a boy recently.  He loves to wrestle {especially with Daddy} and keeps 'growling' at me.  I ask him to go back to making cute baby noises and he just looks at me and does a monster bark.  When I asked Drew if we should be concerned that he pounds his toys together and attacks anyone who is sitting on the floor and he said, 'no Em.  He's a boy.'

Oh.  Ok.

Sometimes I still my sweet baby peeking through.

Most often you just have to look at the big picture to see why.  He already knows when there's some 'getting in trouble' potential - then the charm practically oozes out.

Hope you all are having a great Monday!  Only 2 days of work for Daddy this week - yay!

busy, busy, busy

I feel like I've been neglecting the blog recently.  Maybe it just feels that way because I've been so very busy lately!

The holidays are always an activity filled time of year, but now I have Asher's birthday thrown in the mix as well!  I have some fun ideas for his birthday party - we're keeping it relatively low key with just family and some friends, but nothing too big.  We are having the party at our house, so I need to plan {and buy!} decorations and food.  I already ordered a few cute items from Etsy {love, love that site!!} but there is still tons to do.

This is lots of fun to plan, but with traveling for Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping/wrapping to do it's starting to feel like a lot.

All of this to say, if you don't see me here as much or hear from me on your blog as much - it's because I'm baking, party planning, Christmas shopping, traveling, baby wrangling...

Can you believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away already?  It definitely snuck up on me this year. 

I love Thanksgiving {it's easily one of my favorite holidays} and I hate when it gets blown over by Christmas.  Yesterday I found a tres cute Thanksgiving shirt for Asher on Clearance at Old Navy.  That brings his Thanksgiving outfit grand total to 3.  Ha ha!  Told you I love it!

Modeling to come next week!

sharing is caring

Asher loves to share.

His favorite thing after meals is to feed me his leftover Puffs.

Today we shared an apple.  I took a bite, Asher took a bite lick.

So sweet!

Just the other day Drew and Asher shared a Lady and the Tramp moment over a Teethifier.

What happens in the box, stays in the box.

Except where this blog is concerned.

Love my boys!

when the paparazzi get too bad

Maybe Kate Middleton can take a page from Asher's book.

I leaned around the stroller to check on him and found the little guy all tucked away. 

Sometimes you just need a moment.  Ha ha!