Asher James: 15 Months

With the holidays, birthday celebrations and sickness this post is a little late but hey that's life this time of year.



Stats: Finally things have slowed down a little here, but still big for his age. 25lbs 8oz (85th %) and 32.5 inches (92nd %) tall. He is mostly wearing 24 month size clothing. We went and got his feet measured over Christmas , as now that he is walking he needs some real shoes, and he is a 5.5w...at 15 months!!!

Sleep: Things are very consistent with sleep. He sleeps a solid 12 hours at night, sometimes a little longer and take a 2 to 3 hour nap after lunch. Now that he has started walking and burning more energy he is sleeping like a rock.

Social: I have been slacking in this department. We stopped going to storytime on Tuesday mornings as the time just didn't work out with dropping of and picking up Chase from preschool. I am currently looking for somewhere else to take him. With the holidays we haven't gotten together with friends much but normally we see his little friend Isabelle once a week and of course he sees Chase's friends also. He does a rough time when we leave him in Sunday school as he and Chase are in different rooms. Hopefully with continuing to keep taking him there he will soon get to be comfortable and have fun.

Diet: His fussy stage is over, thank goodness!! I chalk it up to teething as once his bottom one year molars popped through he started eating everything in sight. He doesn't eat the variety of veggies that Chase eats but he devours broccoli, carrots and peas so that's good enough to me. I do manage to sneak other varieties in with the pouches. He loves fruit and will eat it all day long. He is also a fan of Mexican and Chinese...cultured eater ya know. Oh and he seemed to really enjoy his Yorkshire pudding on Christmas day.

Skills/Milestones: We have a walker!!!! Asher had been taking a few unassisted steps here and there for a few weeks then on Dec 18th he decided to come waddling in to the playroom where Chase and I were, all the way from the family room! Of course we all erupted in praise and clapping, and he started to cry lol. Since that day he hasn't stopped and is almost running. He LOVES his new found freedom, especially at the mall playground.

I want to say it was around the beginning of December that I gave Asher a fork, on a whim, and would you believe he picked it up, stabbed his food and ate. I think he loves doing things just like big brother Chase.

His speech is amazing! He says something new everyday and even 'sings' now. Some of the new words he says are: Thomas, train, lights, tree, up, down, sit, Chase, Asher, orange, apple, Santa. 

Favorites: Mummy, Daddy, Chase, trains, throwing and kicking a ball, wrestling with Daddy and Chase, minions, hats, coloring.

 

This is without a doubt, my favorite age with our Asher so far. He is just so so happy all of the time. I love to watch him walking around and babbling while playing ball. He is just so adorable and we are beyond blessed to have him as our son. His laugh, when he gives me a kiss, the way he looks up to Chase, just everything about him is perfect.

I hope and pray he never looses his sheer determination, his big big heart and the twinkle in his eye. He is just the best!

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

I am normally one of the most positive people out there but I'm not going to lie, I am not sad to see 2015 end. While there were some great moments and memories that I will cherish, we had an emotional and tough year and that I am glad to put in the past.

We encountered loss. At the beginning of the year some dear friend of ours lost their 3 month old son and it has been the most heartbreaking thing I have ever witnessed. They have amazed us though with the strength and perseverance they have shown to continue on with life. Through this difficult (an understatement) year with them we have formed and rekindled a friendship that will last a lifetime.
Towards the end of the year we also lost my Grandad Banfield. While it was expected, it was still a huge loss to our family as he was our laughter and entertainment. We are thankful that he is no longer suffering and is cancer free but it is us that now suffer in his absence. Grandad would never want us to be sad so we keep going on with smiles on and our faces and remember him and his jokes fondly.

We faced trials. It is no secret that James has been studying for his CCIE exam since 2010. He has put in endless hours of studying to pass this thing. He was determined to pass it in 2015 and not drag it into 2016. With that came every evening, weekend and any free minute in our basement studying and labbing. Obviously it was all for a good reason but that left our relatively new family of four separated. It was me and then kids, and then James. It sucked. I had anxiety. James was stressed. But ya know what? We did it! We made it through. Even better, James passed the exam in November! I can say with certainty that neither one of us has felt such relief before. I can't even begin to describe to you how happy I am that I don't have to hear the words, "I need to go study" anymore.

Like I said we did have some fun and good times this year, and thank goodness for that as it's what kept us going.

We traveled. There are so many places we want to take the boys. Experiences we want them to have and we got to check two of those places off this year. Over the summer we all went to my home, England. The boys had never been before. It was important to us that my Grandad get to meet them and vice versa. Of course I wanted to spend time with him too. There is something about going home, it is so good for the soul. Immediately after James passed his CCIE, we got to take a trip to San Francisco, CA. Not a bad way to celebrate! It was our first vacation as a family of 4 and it was so much fun. I love that our little boys are world travelers, and I have a feeling they thoroughly enjoy it also.

I have a high hopes for 2016! I think it's going to be a great year for us. We have some plans to do some renovations to our house, do some more traveling, and enjoying each others company.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!