Bye bye binky!

We are so proud of our Asher! He has always loved his binky. I have been dreading taking it away for months. Our original plan was to be down to naps and night by 18 months and gone for good by 2. Since we are having another baby though, right before Asher turns 2, we felt like we needed to work on it now.

We took it away on Thursday, Jan 10 before bedtime. We had a few rough days after that, especially naps. Asher usually naps for about 2.5-3 hours everyday. Without the binky, he was only napping for about 45 minutes. By Saturday I was ready to throw in the towel. I think it was harder on me than on him! I decided I would stick to it a couple of more days and see how things went before giving in to the binky. On Sunday, Tim pointed out that Asher had been chewing on his hands way more than usual, I figured he was missing the binky but Tim suggested that he might be teething. He was right! That night before bed we noticed a molar poking through. Talk about some major mommy guilt! I felt awful that we took it away right when he was teething, and probably needed it the most. Once he had some tylenol and a teething ring he was much happier! In no time he was back to great naps and going to sleep easily at bedtime. He has been perfectly fine without it, I am starting to think he didn't care about the binky being gone at all! I am so proud of how well he has been doing. And hopefully it's long forgotten by the time the baby comes!

I have been feeling guilty lately, like we are forcing Asher to grow up too quickly. With the baby coming not only did we need to take care of the binky, but he will also be moving to a toddler bed soon. Asher is such a little boy these days, though. He learns new things all the time and surprises us daily with the things he knows and does. I still feel like he is my little baby though, and I want him to stay that way a little longer! It makes me happy that he did so well giving up his binky. Hopefully the toddler bed goes just as well!

Here are some cute recent photos of our boy!

Christmas 2012

What a fun Christmas we had!! I was so excited for the holidays this year. The older Asher gets, the more fun holidays are. Since we are building our house we really tried to keep things simple this year. Tim and I decided not to get gifts for each other, which was actually great, and way less stressful. For Asher, we just got him a few things that we thought he would love. It was perfect, and something that I think we will continue to do every year. I love that he didn't end up with a crazy amount of toys that he won't play with. I feel like this way, as he gets older, we can focus on Christ rather than gifts and Santa.

We started our celebrations on Christmas Eve with my dad and Leslie at their house. It has been a tradition since Tim and I were dating to spend Christmas Eve at my dad's. We started out with our traditional cookie decorating for Santa. Asher enjoyed sneaking cookies while the rest of us frosted.

 

After cookies, we had a delicious dinner, as usual. Then we exchanged gifts and enjoyed spending time with everyone. Asher loved playing with everyone, playing the piano and climbing up and down the stairs all evening. He did get some super cute gifts, that he loves, and is still playing with everyday a month later. He got the little people zoo as well as a cute piano with a microphone.

We tried to get a photo of all the kids in their cute Christmas jammies, this is as good at it got! 

Christmas morning was my favorite, Asher was so cute when he got up. The first thing he did was run over to his stocking, pull out a sucker and then ran to turn on the TV, ha ha. Not quite the reaction we were expecting but it sure made us laugh. Once we directed him back to the gifts he got pretty into it. He loved the ball popper and his puzzles, and of course the sucker :)

Later that morning we had my mom, Rudy and the Davis bunch over. We had yummy cinnamon rolls and opened gifts. Asher loved the play kitchen he got from my mom and Rudy. We knew he would love it! He plays with it all the time still. He is too cute with it, he makes all the sound effects and always pulls us over to his kitchen "cook" with him. Asher loves it these days when we have people over, and he loved that Grandpa Rudy gave him chocolate milk! Tim and I also got spoiled with

new couches for our house, which I can't wait to start using.

Christmas afternoon Tim's parents, Aaron and Jonathan came over. We had a relaxing time visiting, and watching Asher show off all night. He is such a ham when he's the only little one around. He loves being the center of attention. It's so funny, he starts off shy but once he feels comfortable he can't get enough of the attention. He got the perfect gifts from Grandma and Grandpa McDonald, books and a quiet book for church. He loves books so much! And the quiet book has been great for sacrament. I love that he didn't get toys from everyone. He already has too many, but can't get enough books.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we feel so lucky we live close enough to spend the holidays with family. We are also grateful for everything our families do for us!

18 months

Is there a way I can slow down time just a little? Where did my baby go?! Asher is such a little boy now! He turned 18 months on Dec 21, and seriously, I don't think he could possibly get any cuter. He amazes us everyday with the things he does and his fun personality!

18 month stats:

Height: 34.65 inches- 95th percentile
Weight: 26.46 lbs.- 56th percentile
Head: 18.7 inches- 39th percentile

He's such a monster! I know I say this every time, but how did we end up with such a tall kid? Most people are surprised to hear he is only 18 months just because he is so tall!

Where do I even start? He is doing so many fun things these days. He is talking up a storm. He says 30+ words all on his own, and repeats us like crazy. I feel like I can have little conversations with him now. Even if he doesn't know what we are talking about he still responds to us and keeps the conversation going. One of my favorite things he says is "bummer dude!" And if Tim or I ever say "bummer" he always adds the "dude" for us. Too funny!

Some things that he loves right now include being chased around the kitchen table. He likes to peek through the chairs and say "I see you!". He still loves his books and bath time. He's obsessed with yogurt and fruit cups right now. He always wants to get into the fridge to pull one out then runs over to get his "poon" (spoon) so we can feed it to him. He is really into trucks lately and gets excited every time we hear one out the window. We have to watch the garbage truck each time it comes, and he is sure to wave and say "bye truck" each time it leaves. He also loves the vacuum, a little too much. Which,that one is nothing new but he still loves it just as much ever. He still loves music and dancing. I am pretty certain we are going to have to get him a piano one day. He loves it so much. He would sit and play at a piano for hours if he could. He is climbing up on everything. His favorite place to climb is on top of the kitchen table, and then jump. Crazy boy! He knows almost all of his body parts now and loves to color. He loves any kind of game, he is so playful and such a little tease already!

We have been trying out nursery for a little while now. I wish I could say it was going well. He is so not loving it though. He screams bloody murder and holds onto us with a death grip each time we drop him off. I want to cry each time we leave him but I know he has to get used to it. He always calms down eventually though and they never have to bring him to us. Once we pick him up though, he does not let go of us for anything! We always hear he enjoyed singing time, so that's one positive note. Last night in the tub he started doing some little actions over and over again and singing to  them. I have no idea what he was doing so it must be something he picked up in nursery. It was pretty cute!

 Overall, we pretty much have the cutest boy around. We love seeing everything he learns each day. He is getting so big and we love seeing his personality come out more and more everyday! Love you Asher boy!

Great changes!

So many exciting things going on with us these days! We are sure keeping busy with everything going on!

The most exciting thing happening right now, we are having another baby! Another BOY! We are so thrilled and can't wait to have our 2 cute boys. I am due May 28, which makes me 20 weeks already. This pregnancy sure has flown by. We can't wait for the little man to get here. I'm sure he and Asher will be the best of friends. They will be just shy of 2 years apart, which worries me just a little ;) I'm sure once we get past those early newborn stages though, and can get into a routine, it will be fun to have them so close. Our only problem right now is trying to come up with a name for this little one. Coming up with one boy name was hard enough for us! 

Exciting news #2: We are building a house, in Lehi! This one is still hard for me to believe. It doesn't feel quite real yet, maybe once we are a little closer to moving in. So far it has been super fun and super stressful. Honestly though, it isn't nearly as stressful as I expected. A lot of people told us "if your marriage can get through building a house, you can make it through anything!" Now that just seems silly to me. We are on the same page with just about everything. It's actually been really easy to make decisions together and compromise on the things that are really important to just one of us. Our finish date is set at March 12 right now, we'll see if that sticks with all the snow. I hope so! I want to get in and have everything ready and settled before our new babe comes. Tim's favorite thing about the house: Geothermal heating and air (we feel so green!), my favorite thing: white cabinets in the kitchen! We will post some photos along the way :)

We feel so lucky and so blessed for these changes coming our way. This is going to be a great year for our growing family!