"TROPICAL BIRD!"

Well, they just opened a Red Robin down the road from us and since I can't think of much these days that's better than having someone else cook for me and clean up the mess afterwards while I sit in the air conditioned room, we decided to go there the other night. It was a real treat! Asher did great and eat all his pasta and melon slices, and I got to spend time with my family. 

So, the Baby Einstein movie that we have been watching lately (over and over...) is about World Animals and one that they mention is the Tropical Bird. So, when we were at the restaurant and this guy showed up it made Asher's night! He saw him from across the room and started pointing and saying "tropical bird!" 

He was so excited when he finally made it to our table. This is Asher giving "Red" a high five. The hard part was every time he left Asher would start to cry and say "please, please, tropical bird, please." Good thing he came around the restaurant about 4 times! 
Asher giving him a hug! So funny! He wasn't scared or anything. While I was watching him get so excited about this big funny bird with a massive head I kept thinking that he is going to love Disneyland with all their big funny characters... unlike his mom with the unfortunate Captain Hook incident of 1991. Anyway, Thanks Red, for making my son so happy.
Asher even got to sit in a booster seat at the table. What a big boy. No more highchairs for him! P.S. Asher is 16 months old today!!

En Garde!

Well, my goofy boys found something fun to do with the oven mitts and pack 'n play poles. Asher started things off by picking up the pack 'n play poles that were out because we were in the middle of setting it up and started swinging them around like swords. 
Justin was on the phone but as soon as he was done he got in on the fun by equipping them both with shields (a.k.a. oven mitts) and teaching Asher how a proper sword fight should go!
Asher loved it! I think his stance is pretty impressive too. How young is too young to start fencing lessons? Just kidding, but I will say one thing... Oven mitts, metal poles, one giggly baby and a goofy husband make for some pretty entertaining Sunday afternoons!

Where did it go?

Asher was eating some Cheerios with Justin this morning and he was picking them up by sticking it to his finger then putting it in his mouth. Once he wasn't paying attention to where he was putting his hand and the Cheerio ended up sticking to his nose. 

The funny part was how confused Asher was for a minute about where it went!

I just can't get enough...

This is one sweet little boy. He got yet another battle wound on his lips yesterday when he fell at the garden, but it didn't even slow him down. I didn't freak out (as much) this time either!

Asher likes to wear Daddy's hat and make silly faces! I love this kid.

Summer days...

Asher right after he finished his Otter Pop during an apartment activity.

Asher recently found this step stool and loves to play with it.

Sometimes I keep the big boxes from Costco because, lets face it, kids love boxes more than toys. At least mine does :) 

We babysat a little friend the other day and the two little sweeties found a fun spot to play. 

4th of July Doughnuts...

Well, Asher liked the doughnuts. Thanks everyone for a great 4th of July!! 

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

Reap what you sow...

Asher loves to play in the dirt. Sticks, rocks, mud... Could life get any better?

Well, Justin has been quite the gardener this summer. We have a little garden plot at our apartment here, and he decided that he wanted to give it a try. With a little help and advise from my Dad it's been going really well. We've already had some cauliflower, a few cherry tomatoes, and he just picked some green peppers too! Way to go, Justin. Your garden looks great!

So yummy!

It's been fun to watch Justin take care of his garden and it always makes me think about Reaping what we Sow. This is one of my favorite quotes:  

“We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.”   - Charles A. Hall

More pictures...

So, here's a little update. Things have been nice here, except this has been my hardest week so far during this pregnancy. I have been getting some pretty consistent contractions and the doctors are a little worried about pre-term labor, but they think I will be okay if I just don't get too hot, stay hydrated, and lay down when the contractions come. Keep your fingers crossed. Other than that things are great and we are having fun. 

So, just a few more pictures of the boy. This was at the apartment sprinkler day. Asher liked running through the sprinklers with Justin the most. 

The pool was cold so Asher didn't like it, but it didn't bother Jane at all!

Checking out the little kid slip and slide.

This is Asher being silly in his crib. Sometimes Justin and I will both go into his room when we hear him wake up and sit and talk to him and watch him play. This day he sat down and looked right back at us.

Asher is funny about wanting to always eat like big people. (Mom, this is what I was telling you about.) Somehow it's different if we cut it up into pieces and he doesn't like it. Especially bananas! Give me a break, he wants to hold the whole thing and take gigantic bites. I decided to let him try the corn on the cob rather than waste time convincing him that the little kernels are the same thing that Mommy and Daddy were eating. He did great. It took him a while but he got it all! 

Good job, Asher!

I HATE mouth injuries...

...they just seem to gross me out more then some other cuts, bumps, or bruises would. And when they are happening to my son, forget about it! Yesterday we were at a fun little get together and right before we left Asher was walking towards the deck and tripped. His chin hit the edge of the deck pretty hard and he started to cry. Justin grabbed him and we saw that his little chin was bleeding. Justin cuddled him but he just kept crying which is unusual for Asher.

I scooped him up and tried to make him feel better. I wanted to check out his mouth and see that his little teeth were okay, but when I looked I didn't see any bottom teeth! Well, that's when I think that my heart really stopped. It didn't take me long to figure out that his two little bottom teeth had been jammed into his bottom lip and were completely covered up. I started to panic and called for Justin and the other men there to "DO SOMETHING!" but by the time they looked I had already gotten his lip unstuck. There was more blood but now Asher was finally able to stop crying. We gave him a popsicle to keep it cold and slow the circulation and swelling. Anyway, he was just fine and forgot about it a few minutes later. This morning the only way you can tell anything even happened is the band aid on his chin. My poor baby!!

But, to add to the fun, Asher woke up early this morning and was sitting on the couch with me. He asked for some water so I stood up to get him his sippy cup (thinking he would just stay cuddled up on the couch), but instead he decided to stand up and jump off. I saw him falling out of the corner of my eye and lunged. Now, lunging is never a good idea when you are a big pregnant lady like I am (Sorry about that, unborn baby!). I got to him just in time to land on top of his legs while giving myself a rug burn and some major round ligament pain. Now, the poor boy is sleeping again and I think I am going back to bed, too!! What a morning!

Our morning...

Well, I found myself laughing a lot this morning because Asher is just so funny. He is wearing his Hawaii outfit today because he doesn't have very many occasions to wear it (only one Luau birthday party so far...) and I wanted to get more use out of it before he out grows it. Then for snacks we had Grapes which he calls "Bappies" and he was putting them down his shirt when I was pretending not to be looking. Then, I would flip around and ask where they went and we would both laugh and laugh.

But, my favorite was when he wanted to play with all of my pens and was carrying handfuls of them around. When I was ready to put them away I asked him to bring them to me. Instead he put them all in a pile and sat on them and said his new favorite word... "no."

Father's Day Celebration...

We had a lot of fun with Father's Day this year. This is the picture that I put on Justin's card. Asher had fun trying to walk in Daddy's big shoes.
We started our father's day fun with matching Iron Man tattoos for my guys. They are so tough!
Then we wanted to eat breakfast at Kneaders, but the starter on our car had gone out. (P.S. Thanks Rex for fixing it! We're so glad that you have great car repair skills. Thanks again!!)  We didn't want that to stop us so we decided to take the bus and Trax. They look out-of-their-mind bored in this picture, but Asher really did like the ride. So, after a 4 hour bus adventure we were finally home and Asher went down for a nap. I had planned for Justin to go golfing, but he decided to stay home and take a nap with me instead. 

Then we went to dinner and stopped at the Sidewalk Chalk festival. This is Justin and Asher sharing their Ice Cream cone.

This was probably our favorite chalk drawing. It was fun to see how different they all were. Then it was bedtime for Asher and we got to hangout and watch a movie. The next morning I made Justin Breakfast in bed that was super yummy, and he made us a fantastic dinner on his new BBQ that night. It was great to spend time together! We love you Justin! You are the best Daddy ever!!

Love that face...

I just thought this picture makes him look old. 

Noodles and cheese...

Asher is great at feeding himself these days. What a cool dude! Today he was eating noodles and cheese and he did it all by himself.

But this eating by himself thing really slows down our pace because after every bite we have to clap and cheer :) Don't worry, if I forget to do it after one bite Asher will remind me.

"No Hands" is Asher's favorite trick.

And he likes to make really silly faces and laugh at himself when I show him a mirror. This was the funny face he was making today. 

Water adventures for Asher...

We had another really great adventure with Asher last night. We went and had a picnic and played at The Red Butte Gardens in the Children's Adventure Area. Asher had a tough time finishing his dinner because there was so much to see, touch and experience! So, finally when Mom and Dad were done eating we went over to play in the water fountains. 

This is right after Asher went all the way over there by himself and touched the snake fountain and then came running back to us! I was impressed at how brave he was!!

Now Dad is playing too.

I did it again Dad!!

My favorite was to watch Asher go do something fun and then run into Justin's arms like it was the "safe zone" for just a minute before he would go try something else new.

Then Justin and Asher helped a snail across the path so that no one would step on it, but of course they had to inspect it first!

Asher was being so silly while we were trying to get a family picture. Asher, we love you so much!! Thanks for being so hilarious!

A first for mommy...

Well, be glad there are no pictures to accompany this post. I've been wondering for a long time how I would handle the situation when I finally had to clean up my own child's throw up. I don't mean baby spit up. I mean real "big boy" throw up because Asher had just eaten a big boy breakfast (do you get the nasty picture?). Anyway, I remember when I was little and one of us was sick and throwing up and my mom would just take care of it. I would think to myself "Really, what are my kids going to do because I am NOT going to be able to stomach that." But, today the morning came when I was able to find out what I was made of and I'm happy to report that I did just fine. I am glad to say that Asher isn't sick anymore - he must have just had a bug or something. But he did so kindly give me an opportunity to "mom-up" to the challenge. Thanks a lot buddy but how about let's not do that again for a long time!! (Mom, I bet you are thinking "Wait until you have more than one and they are all sick at the same time!")

P.S. I cut my hair. Thanks Lisa, you always do a great job!!