Party Time!

 Asher was a lucky boy and pretty much had 3 birthday parties. On his actual birthday we decided to celebrate with just our little family. It was fun to spend the day with just the 3 of us and I think that's a tradition that we'll probably keep every year.

The Saturday after his birthday we had a little party at my Mom's house. It's so hard living in a little condo when things like this come up. We just don't have the room to have everyone over at our house. Maybe next year :) Luckily, we have family that is willing to help us out whenever we need it and my mom and Rudy were more than willing to let us have the party there. The guests were my mom and Rudy, Ashley and her kids, Tim's mom and dad, Amy, Ryan and their little family, Tim's brother Jonathan and Tim's grandpa.

The invites

The cake- It's supposed to look like water with graham crackers crumbs as the sand :)

The cupcakes

I decided to have a pirate theme thanks to some cute invites I found on Pinterest. It just so happens that Asher's swim trunks are the same color with a skull and cross bones, I think it was meant to be :)

We kept it pretty simple with a BBQ, a pool set up for the kids, and of course, a cake smash for Asher. For some reason Asher was so not into the pool that day so he was in there for maybe 3 minutes. Long enough for me to snap a couple of photos and he was done. We had a big pool for the older kids and little baby pool for Asher and Addy.

After everyone had eaten we let Asher open his presents. He actually did really well opening his gifts and was excited to play with his new toys. He ended up with new clothes, a wagon, books, some bath toys, a tonka truck and this cute wooden activity cube.

My favorite part was the cake smash. Asher was hilarious. At first he wanted nothing to do with is. I was worried he wasn't going to eat any. Turns out all he needed was a spoon!

 A quick family photo before the cake

Singing Happy Birthday. Dylan got a little excited and blew out the candle for Asher before the song was over. Asher didn't seem to mind ;)

 Not too excited about the cake...

 Once he has a spoon he decides it's not so bad...

The he decides the spoon is just slowing him down!

He went at it like that for a while, too funny!

Digging in!

After the cake we thought we'd be super great parents and let him have an ice cream cone too. Hey, it's only your first birthday once, right :) He thoroughly enjoyed it, although you might not be able to tell from the picture.

Asher had a great party! We were very happy we could celebrate with our families! Party number 3 was the next week but that will have to be yet another post!

Asher's Birthday

We had so much fun celebrating Asher's birthday. Tim took the day off so we could have a fun family day together. We decided to go to the splash pad. Asher loves to be outside and it was so hot we figured that would be the perfect thing. So right after Asher woke up from his nap we had some lunch and  headed to Highland to the splash pad. We had a great time. It was the first time Tim had been able to go with us and Asher had way more fun with him there.

After the splash pad we came home, had dinner and let Asher open his presents. I was so excited to give him his presents. He was so cute and opened them himself even. Tim just gave him a little help getting the paper started and he did the rest on his own. He loved his gifts, I was so glad. We gave him a drum filled with a bunch of musical instruments, blocks and some cars. 

I wasn't originally planning on making a cake for his actual birthday since he would be having a whole cake to himself in a couple of days. That morning we decided that we would make one though, it just wouldn't feel like a birthday without birthday cake. I made one while Asher was napping, nothing fancy but he didn't seem to mind :) It took him a minute to decide he actually wanted to try it but once he had a bite he loved it. Well, the frosting at least. He pretty much just ate all of the frosting off and then threw the rest on the ground. Now we know he's Tim's child, the frosting is all he cares about too, ha ha.  Unfortunately, the camera died right as he was about to dig in. So we only have phone pictures of him eating it.

Overall, I think Asher had a great first birthday, even though he doesn't know what a birthday is :) A couple of days later we had a family party at my mom's house. That will have to be another post though.

Twelve

12 month stats-
Weight: 22lbs 8oz -46th percentile
Height: 30 inches- 59th percentile
Head: 17.9 inches- 25th percentile

My baby turned one today. Where did the last year go? I swear we were just at the hospital, in awe of our perfect new baby. This year has flown by so quickly, I hope they don't all go this fast. I want Asher to stay little for a while longer :) He is at such a fun age right now. We can't get enough of him. We are always still in awe of how much we love him and how perfect he is to us. Don't get me wrong, he can be quite the handful, but we love him even more for it. 

He keeps us laughing all day long. He is super playful, and oh so very curious. He is into EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean everything. I'm pretty sure his perfect day would involve pulling everything out of every kitchen drawer/cupboard he can access (which he does on a daily basis) then pulling all of the clothes out of his dresser, emptying the diaper bag, and of course, the bathroom cupboards, unrolling the toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and all the while he'd be eating graham crackers. Lol, I wish I could say I'm exaggerating, but he does a number of these things each day within a matter of minutes. Perhaps we just need to be better at baby proofing :) He is one busy boy.

He is walking all over the place these days. It's probably 50/50 between walking and crawling. He's so cute when he stands right up and starts walking around. He gets so excited for himself each time he does it, too. He dances to the music his toys play and loves when we dance along with him. He repeats things we say a lot, especially things like "yay", "uh oh" and "uh uh uh". He'll hold our phones and his toy phone to his ear and he tries to brush his hair. He will "sing along" when we sing to him. He loves to throw things on the floor over and over again, and thinks it's hilarious if we ever drop things. Some of his favorite things are playing outside, looking at books and Tim chasing him around.

Apparently being a great eater was only temporary. He is back to being a bit of a picky eater, especially when he's grumpy. He'll often love something one day and then refuse it the next. However, he is down to 2 bottles a day and almost off of formula completely, thank heavens. He is really liking milk but I'm worried it may be a little hard on his tummy so we're trying to take it slow. He has 5 teeth and likes to eat like a big boy. Sometimes he'll refuse food when I break it up for him but he'll eat it if he can hold it himself and take bites. A little while ago my mom bought him some of these squeezable pouches that have apple sauce and other pureed fruits and veggies and he LOVES them. He grins every time I pull one out and always wants more.

He is doing pretty well with new people these days unless it's a big group of people, then he gets overwhelmed easily. He's a little reserved when others are around and needs a few minutes to warm up when he go new places. Funny how he's already like Tim and I in that way.

As much as I wish Asher could stay little forever, we love to watch him grow. It's the best feeling when we see him learn something new, or when he's so proud of himself for accomplishing something. We love you so much Asher boy and can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Love that cute smile!

"Talking" on the phone :)

Eleven

It's hard to believe that in less than a month my baby will be 1! What a fun month this has been! Like I said last month, Asher has changed so much so quickly. He is hardly a baby anymore. He is a little toddler now, and we love it. He sure keeps us busy, though. He is just a busy busy boy, and all over the place!

He even took his first steps last week, just a few days before 11 months. It was the cutest thing we have ever seen. Tim and I were so excited, and Asher was so proud himself. I'm so glad Tim and I were both home to witness it. He is still working on it and I'm sure in no time he'll be walking all over, more like running probably. He is ALWAYS on the move.

He also figured out this month that he can open the cupboards and drawers and is pretty much obsessed with the kitchen. We have had a giant diaper box sitting in front of the cupboard under the sink for over a week now because I can't find the right baby proof locks for our cupboards. Everything else has been rearranged so he can get into it and he loves it. Earlier today Tim and I were sitting in the living room while Asher crawled into the kitchen. A minute later we heard a drawer open and Asher laughing to himself over and over. We walked in to see him just playing with the box of ziploc bags, he thought it was hilarious. We love that he can entertain himself like that these days. He loves to explore and is very curious.

He is also such a good eater now. It has taken a while and he was such a picky eater before. He will eat just about anything we give him. Right now he is especially loving watermelon, spaghetti, yogurt and graham crackers. I limit the graham crackers but he would eat them all day if he could!

Asher is super talkative right now. He is always "chatting" and sounds like he is trying to say real words all the time, and sometimes he is. He copies us a lot, it's so cute. One of my favorite things is listening to him through the monitor when he wakes up, he'll stand in his crib and jump up and down while yelling for us "Mamamama, Dadadada". As soon as we walk in he gets a big smile on his face and jumps even more. I love that he is so happy to see us.

I'm so excited for his birthday! I started planning his party last week when I realized it was only a month away, I chose a theme, made the invitations, and made most of the decorations all in one day while he was napping. Now I'm getting antsy waiting for it. I can't wait to let him open his present and try some cake. I'm sure he'll love it! I think he'll especially love the cake part, he already has a sweet tooth. We love seeing him grow and learn new things all the time. It's definitely more work everyday to chase him around, and sometimes I wish he could stay a little baby forever, but I certainly wouldn't have it any other way! We love our Asher boy!

 Our cute boy! Asher loves to be outside.

Eating spaghetti and LOVING it!

Splash Pad

A couple of weeks ago Asher and I went to the splash pad with Ashley, Hunter and Brin. It was Asher's first time. Asher and I did go into the water a little but for most part we sat in the shade and chatted with Ashley. I'm so glad it's summer! I think we will be spending a lot of time outside this summer :)

 Cute Asher!

 Me and my boy

Ashley and Asher

Tulip Festival

Asher and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Ashley, Hunter and Brinley. We had so much fun. Asher was so good the whole time and loves to be outside. He happily sat in his stroller while we walked around. The Tulip Festival was beautiful. I'm so excited because my mom bought us a family pass to Thanksgiving Point for Easter. I can't wait to use it all the time this summer!

 My happy boy!

 

Cute Brinley giving Asher a kiss :)

10 months

10 months already! Actually, 10 and a half months now. Asher has changed so much this past month, probably more than any other month so far. He is such a happy boy these days. He is getting over his stranger anxiety, slowly but surely. He doesn't fuss much these days since he has become more mobile. I guess he likes his freedom.

 Here are some things he has been up to lately. He finally, FINALLY, started traditional crawling just before he hit 10 months. He had been doing this funny army crawling/scooting thing forever. I didn't think he was ever going to really crawl. All of a sudden though he is just all over the place. He would still much rather walk than crawl so he's always pulling at our hands for us to walk around with him. It's pretty cute. When he's not walking with us he's usually walking along the furniture, the walls, with his walker, or anything he can get his hands on. I knew he wouldn't crawl for long. I'm sure it will be any day now that he takes his first steps. He is already getting brave and letting go of us while he's standing. He gets so proud everytime he's standing alone. He'll get a huge smile and start clapping for himself. It's adorable. Every time we go to get him out of crib he's standing in the same spot jumping up and down.

His little personality is coming out more and more. He sure has an opinion about things and may be just be a little stubborn already. I don't know where he would have gotten that ;) He is so sweet and happy though. He likes to play peek a boo and will even put his hands over his eyes and say "a boo!". He can wave now and thinks it's so funny. He copies our words every now and then. We have heard him say yum, a boo (peek a boo) and book. He actually said book unprompted the other day so we're counting that as his first word. He is a great eater now and will eat just about anything we give him. He's figured how to bite the lids off of things like his Gerber puffs and it's one of his favorite things to do. He'll pull them out of the diaper bag, bite the lid off and take a big handful. Sometimes I let him just because it's so funny.

We love how much he's growing and learning. It makes us so proud when he learns new things! We love our Asher boy!