Asher James: Ten Months

Another month in the books with our little Asher and creeping closer to him turning One! Now that he has crawling mastered there is no stopping him! He is taking steps (quick steps at that) holding onto our hands and I'm sure he will be walking within the next couple of months. He wants to keep up with big brother in the worst way.

Stats: We don't have an official weigh in/doctors appointment until he turns 1 but I'm guessing he is just over 24lbs and around 30 inches long. He is wearing all 18 month clothing at this point and by fall will be in 24 months.

Sleep: Not too much has changed in this department. He still wakes between 5am and 6am to eat and goes back to sleep in our bed. We had a couple of rough nights due to teething but then on the flip side he has started to settle himself back to sleep when he wakes in the night...yay!

Social: Still dealing with some separation anxiety but I know it comes with his age and it's just a phase he is going though. He loves to play with Chase and has started to hug him, especially in the bath and it's just the cutest. If Chase tries to talk a toy from him he completely flips out trying to keep the toy and defend himself. He has also become a little flirt, always managing to catch the eye of a girl/woman and eats up the attention they give to him.

Diet: Shockingly enough Asher has become a little picky about food. I don't know if it's due to teething or he is trying to claim some independence but it's a little frustrating. I can't complain too much as he still eats a ton and a wide variety of food.

Skills/Milestones: Crawling at lightening speed and is holding onto our hands and taking steps. As much as I don't want him to grow up part of me can't wait for him to walk as he is heavy! He can say nanana (banana) and awwdo (all done). He hasn't been quite as chatty as Chase was a baby but this past month he has really become quite vocal. It's adorable to hear him 'talk' and you can tell he is really trying to tell us things in his own little way.

Favorites: Mummy, Daddy, Chase, play food and play kitchen, the splash pad, paci, little people zoo and animals.

Asher James: 9 Months

9 months??? How can it be? Time with this little guy is just flying by at warp speed. He is learning some new skill everyday and is growing faster than I can keep up with. However baby boy loves his snuggles more than any baby I've ever known and you better believe I am taking full advantage of them.

Stats: Those rolls don't lie he is our chunker for sure, and yes I squeeze him all day every day! At 9 months he clocked in at 23lbs 10oz (95th percentile) and is 29 inches long (76th percentile). He will not be a shrimp of a kid. Doctor was very pleased with his progress and said he is extremely healthy, and cute, which of course I agree with.

Sleep: All in all I can't complain. He goes down between 7/7:30pm, wakes up at 6am to eat and goes back to sleep (in our bed) until 8:30ish. He is currently on two naps a day, roughly around 2 hours total. He does usually wake up once or twice a night for his paci and goes back to sleep. I think I've had only one sleepless night this month so I consider that a win. The one area we really need to work on is letting him put himself to sleep. He doesn't do well with it at all, cries hysterically to the point of hyperventilating so I really haven't been pushing it. Usually he falls asleep within 5 minutes of being rocked so for the time being that's our routine and honestly I really don't mind the cuddles and ending his day with a little one on one time is perfect.

 Social: He is a very social baby, as long as I'm around. If I even think of leaving the room while at a playdate, get ready for the water works. I do remember Chase going through some separation anxiety around this age so I know it's normal for Asher to act that way. From having an older brother with an active social life, Asher is always on the go. We have been frequent visitors to the pool and splash pad, and to my relief Asher is a little fish. He has also gone airplane watching, taken trips to the beach and had a Day out with Thomas and Friends. Asher does well around his little friends Eli and Isabelle and loves watching Chase and the big kids play. Of course his best friend is Chase. I love to watch them play together and it is quite obvious that Asher looks up to Chase.

Diet: We know from Asher's stats that he is no slouch when it comes to eating. Kid loves his food and you know what that makes my day so much easier. He is on table food 100% of the time. I love that I can give everyone the same thing for meals now. His favorite foods are yogurt, any fruit, bbq chicken and quesadillas (he loooves going to Moes for lunch). This past month he has dropped his mid-day bottle and now drinks a bottle at 6am and before bed. He has mastered the sippy cup and drinks 3 cups of water a day.

 Skills/Milestones: so many changes in this department, the biggest one is Asher is now mobile. Two days before he turned 9 months old he decided to crawl. He had been trying so hard for the past two months to get moving so I almost cried when he finally did it. He is so happy and much less frustrated that he can get around the house now and somewhat keep up with his big bro. As I mentioned before he has the sippy cup drinking skills down and he feeds himself now. He can pull up on objects such as the water table, toy chest, walk etc. Clapping is something else we can add to the list. He is also saying "mama, Dada, and makes a certain noise for Chase and another noise for Cisco. Plays peek a boo. Gives kisses.

Favorites: Mummy, Daddy, Chase, Lightening McQueen car, ball, touch and feel and lift the flap books, playing in any body of water (water table, bath, pool etc), being outside in general.

We had Asher dedicated on June 14th and Fairvew Village Church. We have been attending church for over a year there and we really like it. It was a special day and it was so nice to have our family this side of the pond be there with us. Of course we missed having the family in England being there.

Asher is the biggest sweetheart around and a smile that makes your heart melt. We are so blessed to have him as a part of our family.

Day out with Thomas & Friends

If you have a 2.5 year old boy, chances are he loves Thomas the train. Chase is no exception; we have about 4 different sets of train track and so many trains I can't keep track. We took Chase to meet Thomas the Train last fall for his birthday and he enjoyed it so much he has been asking to go back since. Trying to explain to a 2 year old that he had to wait 7 months to do so was not easy, but finally the big day arrived and Chase woke up ready to go. Not only was he itching to get out the door, he also kept telling Asher, "we are going to go and meet Thomas today, and Percy, and you will love it." Cuteness overload I tell you!

The first thing we did was take out train ride on Thomas, of course! Not only did Mom-Mom and Pop Berry join us for the day but Chase's friend Declan (and parents) came too. The boys got to experience the train ride together which made it even better. They were beyond excited but in such awe they were speechless. It was a beautiful day out so the windows on the train were open, guess which kid stuck his head out the window immediately and left it there for the entire ride? If you guess Chase you are wrong. If you guess Asher, you are correct, our little dare devil is he! He thought feeling the wind in his face was hysterical. After the actual train ride you get to go sit up front of Thomas and have your photo taken.

There is a whole day worth of stuff to at a Day out with Thomas. Percy now also comes to the Strasburg Railroad so we got to take a ride on him also. We got to meet Sir Topham Hat; Asher was mesmerized and Chase was not so sure. We played with train tables and motorized ride on Thomas toys. Of course there was a gift shop that we HAD to go in and each of the boys scored a souvenir. There were a couple of other trains that you could take a ride on which we wanted to do but by that time Chase could barely keep his eyes open as he was walking so we decided to end the day with everyone happy and zero tantrums being thrown.

Forward to the next morning. I go into Chase's room to say good morning once I've heard him stir:
ME: "Morning Chase!"
CHASE: "Let's go baaacccckkk!!!!" (as he jumps out of bed)
ME: "where?"
CHASE: "to Thomas!!!!!"

Giving your child a memorable day that they have been waiting for, for the past 7 months?? Mission completed!!!!!

Father's Day: Third Edition

A day to spoil James? We are all over that!

Our Father's day weekend got off to a bit of a rocky start but we salvaged it and had a blast. We had decided to head down to Lewes, De (James favorite local beach) for the weekend. We were supposed to leave Saturday, stay over and come home on Sunday. Well James got stuck at work longer than anticipated and we had to ditch the plan to go down on Saturday, and instead got up early on Sunday and headed right there.

We have found a new favorite beach; one that is quiet (no boardwalk), parking right on the beach, (no lugging all the beach gear for a half a mile), family friendly and barely any waves, aka perfect for our family with two little ones. We arrived at lunch time and stayed until just before 4pm. We dug holes, jumped waves, built hills for Chase's trucks, snacked on fruit, went swimming, it was a really great day enjoying each others company. Even though there was a nice breeze, it was a hot day and so we decided to grab some ice cream/ snow cones to cool us down and they were yummy.

Once we were all changed we decided to drive down to Fenwick and let the boys take a much needed nap after they played hard on the beach. James and I scouted out some future beach homes and took advantage of a quiet car and actually got to have conversation without being interrupted with crying, or 'mummy, mummy, daddy' every two seconds.

We had wanted to eat at Harpoon Hanna's but with it being Father's Day the placed was mobbed and we knew nobody would handle the way. We stumbled upon BJs on the Water in OC, MD and we really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. We got to sit overlooking the bay, watch ducks swimming by and see the sun set. It was the perfect ending to a great day.

Even though we had some kinks in our plans the main goal was accomplished and that was to spoil James and have him relax for the day. He works so hard day in, day out for us, to make sure we have everything we could ever need, and then some, that he was deserving to have a day based around him.

Dedication

Today we dedicated our Asher James to the Lord. In front of our family, godparents and church we promised to raise Asher to know God and to believe in God's ways. We pray that Asher grows to have a kind heart that loves all, and treats everyone with respect. We pray he realizes how blessed he is and wants to serve and help others. Most of all we pray he loves and follows God, when things are good and especially when they are bad.

Back on the Island

This past weekend we headed up to Long Island, NY for a good friends baby shower. Though our time on the island was brief it was a great little get away the four of us.

We decided to leave on the Friday evening around the boys bedtime figuring they would sleep the entire time and we would just transfer them to the hotel room. Nope that didn't happen, both boys were wide awake and hyper as anything. Asher 'yelled' at us the first half of the ride so I hopped in the back with the boys and that seemed to help Asher out a little and eventually he fell asleep. Chase however was too excited going over so many bridges (that were lit up) and seeing the NYC sky line. I have to admit it was fun showing him all the sights along the way. We made it to the hotel around 10pm, both boys went down to sleep perfectly in the room, that was until 2:30am when Chase decided the pack n play was not the place he wanted to sleep. By 6am I had both boys snuggled up with me, sleep I did not get, but seeing the boys cuddled up next to each other was just the cutest thing ever.

Saturday was baby shower day for my friend Kim who is expecting her second child but first girl. I couldn't be more excite for her and can't wait to see her tiny bundle - and yes I will be living vicariously through her and buying all the girl clothes that Target stocks. I took Asher to the shower with me, I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure how he would do with sitting around but he was amazing; completely pigged out on all the yummy NY food, didn't fuss and flirted with all of the women at the party. Chase stayed with James and the two of them went on adventure to watch the boats in the harbor - with Swedish fish in tow. They had a great time walking around, eating donuts and watching the ferry come into port and the cars unload. Chase called the ferry a transformer, I love how his mind works.

We had decided to only stay on the island for a night as we have so much else going on this summer but before we drove home we decided to grab some dinner and take the boys to the beach seeing we were right there. We ate at E.R. Singletons Seafood Shack on the beach and it was awesome, well you know as much as a non seafood eating girl can say that about a seafood restaurant lol. The best part was the restaurant was located on the beach so as soon we were done eating we headed down onto the sand. Chase takes after his mummy in that he loves the beach and seems so at home there. Immediately he was digging holes in the sand and had his boats in the water and declared he was going to sit in the water; fully clothed. Luckily neither I or James freak out about the boys getting messy, its part of being a child and having fun. Also, we carry spare clothes everywhere we go so it wasn't a big deal.

My brain was not operating at full capacity due to the lack of sleep so I completely forgot to take photos of the shower but I did manage to snap some photos of the boys at the beach and figured I would share a few.

Asher James: Eight Months

With each month that passes I think its not possible to love this little boy anymore, but then it happens and I love him even more so.

Let me tell ya, this kid is strong-willed, like full on knows what he wants and won't give in until he gets it, kind of strong-willed. It will serve him well in life as he grows but for now it means he 'yells' at me when his highchair tray is empty or he can't get to a toy he desperately wants. I will take it though because as much as he is strong-willed he is the biggest sweetheart around. There is nothing more he loves than to cuddle and has started nuzzling down into your neck when he wants a hug from you. I die every time he does it and squeeze him ever so tightly and think how lucky I am to have this little boy. He loves cuddling so much that he is still waking at 6am looking for my arms to snuggle into, so we cuddle under the blankets until he wakes around 8am to eat.

With the weather having been beautiful this past month we have spent every waking moment outside and Asher is perfectly fine with that. When he sees us heading out to the garage he starts bouncing around in excitement. We have used the water table and the pool a bunch already and he loves to splash around in both. We have also been making the most of the swingset out back.

As you can all tell this our Ashey loooooves his food. He has decided he only wants to eat table food now, that's fine by me, makes my life easier. This past month some of the new foods he has tried are; ribs, bbq chicken, ice cream and turkey burger.

How I love life with this cute guy around. He is so laid back and he is completely and utterly amazed by his big brother and I am so thankful I get to spend my days raising them to be the most kind hearted, selfless loving boys they can be.