Asher James: Eleven Months

I am seriously about to start shedding a few tears that we only have one more month left until our Asher turns 1 year old! Time has flown by but at the same time seems like forever ago since he was a little newborn that could barely hold his head up. He is now into EVERYTHING and is our daredevil for sure. He is a huge love bug though and we eat that up.

 

Stats: We don't have an official weigh in/doctors appointment until he turns 1 but I'm guessing he is just over 26lbs and around 31 inches long. He is wearing all 18 month clothing at this point and by fall will be in 24 months.

Sleep: Things seem to be getting better with his sleep (minus when we were in England but we slept in 3 different places and were on a different time zone so I'll cut him some slack ). I do still rock him to sleep but he has been sleeping through the night until 7/8am ish and then has his morning bottle. It has been glorious not getting any middle of the night wake up calls.

Social: I think the separation anxiety has come to an end..woohoo! We met so many new people while we were in England and after about 5 mins of being around them he acted like they had been friends forever. His and Chase's relationship is adorable to watch. Asher wants to do everything that Chase does, hence our little daredevil. Chase has really been acting like the big brother lately, watching out for Asher and giving him hugs and kisses willingly, it makes my heart melt.

Diet: I have no idea what is going on with Asher and eating. One day he eats everything in sight and the next he takes a taste of something he has always loved and spits it out with a look of disgust on his face.

 

Skills/Milestones: Sooo many changes have happened this week, I can't keep track. He is no pulling up on everything and anything. His favorite thing to pull up on is the train table, and it is the sweetest thing ever to watch Chase and him play together. Cruising the furniture is something he has mastered. He has managed to climb a few steps but it's not his major goal. Finally, he has decided it is time to roll, in both directions! Most babies do this waaaay earlier on but apparently Asher has his own schedule. He is saying, "what's this" & "what's that" while pointing to things. It blows our mind that he is saying that already. While in England he cut 2 tooth (giving him a total of 4), one of which was on the flight back home).

Favorites: Mummy, Daddy, Chase, play food, train table, paci, books, water table.


The Prendergast's Take England: Week 2 Swad

The second part of our trip was back to my hometown of Swad. James left us to head back home, and as much as I didn't want us to be separated, I wanted the boys to see where I grew up and most importantly spend more time with my Mum and Stepdad.

We were go-go-go while we were down in Devon and London and any type of schedule for the boys went out of the window. For those reasons we decided to just take it easy for the second week and do a few things locally. The weather was still really nice so we got to do a bunch of things outside including; going to the marina and feeding the ducks, spending the day at Markeaton Park (playground and huge wading pool), and did a little shopping. Of course we continued on our food binge!

The best part about being back home was getting to catch up with family and some of my oldest friends. My brother Steven and his girlfriend had a little girl back in March so I was beyond excited to get to meet little Miss Darcey, she is adorable and getting to see her everyday was great. She was mesmerized with the boys and it's hard to imagine that the next time we see her she will be running around all over. I got a night out with my two oldest friends on the planet, Becky and Ashley, thanks to Mum and Paul as they watched the boys. It was so nice catching up over a few (many) glasses of wine. It's amazing that we can go years without seeing each other, or really talking, yet when we are back together it's like we haven't missed a beat. Hopefully they will come pay us a visit in America one day :)

As much as America is home now it is always hard to leave where you grew up and family of course. We really did have the best time though and some amazing memories have been made and the boys have gotten to know and love their grandparents even more than the last time they saw them.

The Prendergast's Take England: Week 1 London

When we decided to go to England, the one request James had was to go to London and so to London we went. We weren't able to spend too much time there this trip, but we absolutely want to do some more exploring there when we head over next time.

Even though I grew up in England I had only gone to London a couple of times and I was young so I don't remember too much, so I was just as excited as James to go and explore the city. We decided to take a bus tour of the entire city and you could get on and off at different attractions and spots. It really is a great way to see what London has to offer and what you would really like to see while there.

The tour was excellent. We didn't get off at too many stops with having the boys and strollers and diaper bags but we really enjoyed it. We did get off at Buckingham Palace, because you can't go to London and not go and see the Queen. She was in residence but we didn't get to say hi to her..lol. The other stop we hopped off of the bus for was the London Eye. There was a ton of attractions along the South Bank (aquarium, the dungeons, river cruises) that we certainly want to do in the future. We purchases tickets for the London Eye and even though the boys were extremely cranky (aka needing naps) the entire ride, seeing the London skyline was awesome. It was something else to see the old architecture mixed with the modern.

We decided to stay mid-way between the center city of London and Heathrow (James flew out the following day) so we took the underground into the city and back to the hotel. Of course this was the highlight of the day for Chase, along with riding an open top double decker bus. Transportation is his thing at the moment.

It just so happened to be James and I 5th wedding anniversary while in London. Never did I think we could get to celebrate an anniversary in my homeland. Hands down best anniversary yet; we got to spend the day with our two favorite little guys, family and fell in love with London.

The Prendergast's Take England: Week 1 Devon

We had been debating over the past year whether we should go to England this year or in 2016 and due to circumstances with family members we decided to pull the trigger and head over there this year. No matter how old you are, it always feels good to go home and although we have only been back in the States for a week it feels like a lifetime. We had such an incredible time seeing different parts of England, showing the boys where I'm from and most importantly spending time with those we love the most.

The boys and I spent two weeks in England and unfortunately James had to head home after the first week due to work. We spent the first week down in Devon with Grandma and Granddad Banfield, and slipped in a couple of days in London. The second week, the boys and I headed up home to Swad.

This was the boys first time flying, obviously Asher had no clue to any of it but Chase was beyond excited to get on the plane and head up to the clouds. I wish I could say our travel there went smoothly but it was anything but that. Our original flight was cancelled but we were put on a flight that same day just in the morning, fine no problem. Except it wasn't, it make a long story short our flight was delayed a total of 12 hours and then when we landed at Heathrow the boys and my luggage was missing. I have to say the boys did amazing. Poor Chase missed take off as he had been up so early that morning that he just couldn't hang and fell asleep while sitting on the plane waiting to leave. Asher fell asleep about an hour into the flight and stayed that way until the last hour. Thankfully Chase was awake for landing and thought it was the coolest thing ever, so much so that as soon as we touched down he yelled, "lets do that again!"

My Mum had rented us a cottage about 10 mins from Grandma and Granddads house for us all in Exmouth, Devon. The weather was excellent while we were there and we got to get out and see all Exmouth has to offer. We spent an afternoon on the beach playing in the rock pools. We had an awesome day at Country Life Park. We took a train tour of Exmouth, which of course Chase was all for. We visited a couple of seaside towns (Dorlish and Teignmouth). Took a trip to the zoo. Lastly we ate a ton of yummy food as it would be a crime to go all that way and not over indulge on chippy, carveries and English sweets.

One story that I have to share (sorry Paul) involves Chase and cows. The place we stayed was a 2 bedroom so James and I had Asher with us and Mum and Paul has Chase in with them. Each morning, when asked how he slept Chase would respond with, "there were cows in my room". We couldn't figure out what he was talking about, there wasn't any cow art work in the room or on his Thomas bedding. We were perplexed and figured he kept having dreams about cows! While discussing this one day somebody suggested maybe it's Granddad (Paul) snoring. We made the sound and asked Chase if that was the noise he was hearing. To which he replied, "yes, that's the cow!" We all lost it for a good 15 minutes. We all knew Paul was a loud snorer but that's a whole new level.

We made so many precious memories the week we spent in Devon. I was so happy that the boys got to meet their great-grandparents and vice versa. It was lovely for us to spend time with my grandparents and finally visit where they have been living for quite some time. Of course having James to ourselves for a full week (meaning, no work) takes the cake!