Nothing Like It

There is nothing quite like a baby laughing. Asher can get going pretty good, himself - but this video is great! I can't quit watching it.

Baby Dedication

Asher was dedicated to the Lord on Sunday, February 13 at Homewood Church of Christ. Stan Tumlin prayed a blessing over him. Stan, known to Asher as Pop, is a shepherd at our church and is very special to our family. Plus, he and Asher share a birthday. So they have a special connection. :)

Asher received a "starter" Bible and I was given some beautiful gerber daisies. It was a very special day for our family.


This was the screen that was up during his time in the "spotlight".

Thank you to Amy Browning for taking these pictures for us.

We forgot to take a family picture afterward. I keep forgetting that. We didn't get a picture on Asher's first Sunday at church either. Shame on me!

Valentine's Day

For some reason I was so excited about Asher's first Valentine's Day. I like the holiday just fine, but it is really just another day for me...until now. I couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to wear, designing his valentines or planning out teacher gifts.

I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of him in his little red jon jon and when I picked him up from school he had a different outfit on. Uh oh. That only means one thing. Apparently he had not only pooped all over his outfit but all over his teacher as well. Poor Ms. Debra said it was in her hand, on her arm, shirt and the front AND back of her pants. She was so sweet about it and said it was just "part of the job". I still felt awful - that was NOT the valentine I wanted Asher to give her. He even got it on his white satin shoes but they washed them out for me and now you would never know. His teachers are the best!

Asher gave all of my co-workers some cookies and a sweet little card.

We gave his teachers the cookies as well, along with a couple of really cute valentine hand towels and some lotion from Bath & Body.

We got Daddy a U2 book and a dozen cookies from Icing on the Cookie in Homewood - yummy! And this personalized card from Shutterfly:

Ben gave me a necklace with a pearl and diamond pendant.  I love it. He was cute when he gave it to me because at first he only gave me the necklace and the pendant was with the card. Tricky.

Ben and I gave Asher a book called "How Do I Love You" by P.K. Halinan. It is so sweet and we read it to him every night now.

Asher - 4 Months

*4 Month Pictures coming in next post*

At 4 months old, Asher weighs 15 lbs (50^th percentile) and is 26 inches (90^th percentile) long. Dr. P says he is right on track and looks great!

We are going to wait on solid foods until he shows some interest. We were just able to ween him off of his constipation medicine a few weeks ago and I don't want to disrupt his digestive system until we need to. He currently takes 4 - 5 oz bottles and 2 - 4 oz bottles a day but I think I am about to bump up the 4 oz bottles and have him just take 6 - 5 ouncers. I probably need to see if he can handle 6 ounces at a time and go for longer periods between feedings. He is still eating every 3 hours and it would be nice to have an extra hour in between. But we are taking things one step at a time. His schedule is really good so I like to make small adjustments as we go along as not to mess things up too much.

He loves to laugh and make us laugh. He will do something in anticipation of our reaction and the funnier we think something is, the more he laughs too. He will even laugh in his sleep when he hears us laughing.

He smiles ALL the time and loves attention. Talking to him pretty much guarantees a grin for anyone.

We had to start giving him baths in his big bathtub (meaning: we put his baby tub in his regular bathtub instead of just putting it up on the bathroom counter) because he was splashing so much. He "dances" and wiggles nearly the entire time. It is hilarious to watch because he cracks himself up splishing and splashing everywhere.

He also loves story time. I was amazed when he started noticing the book and really looking at the pictures. He really pays attention when I read and it is a special time for us. We try to do bathtime, a bottle, story time and then bedtime every night.

He is officially sleeping in his own room now and the transition was much easier than I thought it would be. He LOVES his mobile so putting him down when he is not asleep is easy to do. He will usually watch it until he drifts off. If he is awake and I am trying to get something done (like draw his bath) I can put him in his crib and he will entertain himself by watching the mobile. It is an antique and doesn't have a motor so I didn't expect him to find it that interesting, but it will twirl and he has figured out that kicking makes the crib shake which makes the mobile move. The kicking is nice too because it tires him out.

He is making the funniest noises now. He loves to gurgle and growl. He jibber jabbers a lot and has some really dramatic sighs. He always has multiple sneezes at a time and after he is done, he lets out a big sigh - like the sneezing was exhausting.

He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. Toys, hands, bibs, clothes, our hands...he is exploring the world with his gums.

He has reached the age where he wants to be entertained more. He hasn't quite figured out how to play with toys yet. If you put something in his hand he will hold onto it and put it in his mouth but the concept of grabbing something and playing with it has not occurred to him yet. I am looking forward to that stage. He will talk to himself and laugh for a few minutes, but pretty soon he realizes that no one is paying attention and gets frustrated.

He still hasn't rolled over yet. Well not on purpose anyway. He HATES tummy time. The other day I put him on his tummy and he worked himself up onto his knees and elbows just because he was so mad about it. I sure hope he isn't an early crawler. I want him to be immobile for as long as possible. I keep saying that I am going to knock him down when he starts trying to walk. I kid, I kid (kind of).

When Asher was a newborn I would literally cry and say that I didn't want him to ever change. My mom told me that I would like every stage better than the last and while I am only 4 months into this whole mommy thing, I believe her. He gets more and more fun every day. Ben and I love him so much. He brings an incredible amount of joy to our lives and we feel so blessed to have him. We must look at each other at least 20 times a day and say, "Isn't he the cutest/sweetest/best/funniest/etc. baby you have ever seen??"

Welcome to My Crib

We finally took the plunge and put Asher is in his own room this past weekend. I knew he would do well. He has been a good sleeper from day one. He was literally sleeping 5-6 hours at a time the night we came home from the hospital and was up to 8 hours just a couple of weeks after that.

I was most nervous about being so far away from him. His room is upstairs, while ours is on the first floor.

I put him down at 9 PM. I laid in bed and cried while I watched him on the little screen. But after a few minutes, I put on my big girl pants and dealt with it. He didn't wake up until 4 AM. And that was mainly due to a leaky diaper. But a kick butt monitor helped A LOT with that. If you are in the market for a really good video monitor, I HIGHLY recommend this one:

The Summer Infant Baby Touch Color Video Monitor (at least that is the title Babies "R" Us has given it)

The next night I put him down while he was still awake to see if he could put himself to sleep. He did!

Last night he fell asleep in my arms while I was reading to him after his bath. I put him down in his crib at 8:30 and had to wake him up to eat at 6 AM. After eating, he went right back to sleep and woke up at 7:15 - which was exactly when he needs to wake up to get dressed for Day School. I hope we are able to keep up this routine. He makes it so easy on us as parents. Wonder if he will be this easy when he is a teenager???

Check out this sweet little face. I look forward to getting up and going to get him every morning!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you all have a wonderfully sweet day!

More Valentine's posts to come...

My Little Chunk

Dreaming of Spring

The sun is out and it looks so pretty. But don't be fooled. It is still COLD!

I ordered Asher's Easter Basket this morning. I can't wait for the Easter Bunny to fill it with goodies!!!

3 Month Pictures