Christmas 2013

This Christmas was totally different for us in that Asher was really into it this year.  We got our tree shortly after Thanksgiving, a real tree from Home Depot just like my family used to get while growing up; although we would get trees from anywhere cheap like Meijer, random lots, etc..  Asher loved the whole experience, and I might add that we had some car drama the night we went to go and get it, which also felt fitting, because why would getting a tree for Christmas be anything but an adventure. Turns out the car battery was so dead that it refused to work in the cold.  It was about 20 degrees out, which is cold to my Honda Civic.

So Asher loved getting a tree and would come downstairs and and ask to see the Christmas Tree and to turn on the lights.  He made this year magical.

We decided to build Asher a play kitchen this year.  We made three separate parts, a refrigerator, Stove, and sink.  It's pretty amazing looking.  We started working on it early in the month, but got busy, so we didn't actually put it together until the weekend before Christmas.  I was going to help build, but we had to divide and conquer our errands, so Shem built the boxes while I shopped with Asher for accessories.  On Christmas eve I painted everything.  Three coats in one evening.  I stored the pieces in the laundry room, which is a small room, and turned the heat on really high so that everything would dry nice and fast.  It worked like a charm, because the next morning we were ready to assemble everything.

Grandma Thompson came over for breakfast and opening gifts and then we just relaxed the rest of the day.  Asher thought Christmas was the best!

  

Fall in Phoenix, AZ

This fall was full of a lot of fun for us as we had the chance to go and help my Grandma McLennan in Arizona for two weeks!  Aside from being away from daddy for two weeks, we loved our time there in the warm Arizona air!  Also, I will always remember it as the place I got to buy the latest and greatest iPhone!  It was an unexpected purchase, but one I was happy to make. :). I am known in my family as the lover of all gadgets, and I do enjoy me an apple gadget every now and then.  

My grandma lives in the country on two acres and it is a somewhat magical place.  One morning before she came home from rehab we woke up at 6:30 to hear a crop duster flying overhead, so we went out in our Jammie's to see the sunrise and this really cool plane!  Where she lives she also has irrigation canals that allow her to buy water to soak her years at various times of the year.  It was fascinating to me, and a little frightening since a kid could easily down in the water when it's flowing.  We were cautious.  Oh, and the dogs!!  Yeah, we couldn't go for a walk without all of the scary dogs barking at us, or chasing us.  It was not fun.

My grandma had her aeortic valve replaced, so recovery was not easy.  She is strong and strong willed and gained so much strength while I was there.  We enjoyed playing with anything that could be a toy, as well as playing outside.

Calling daddy!  He missed him so much!

Morning sprinkler fun at 7:00 AM!  It was a spur of the moment ordeal.  

My big boy!

Grandma's nachos on conference Sunday!  It's a tradition that I have missed for years!  I used to love going up north to her house to watch The General Conference of our church and eat nachos!  Asher was not a fan, so I ate his portion, naturally.

When Daddy came to visit our last weekend there we went hiking!  I remembered hiking Sqaw peak years ago, so we drove out there to attempt the climb without a baby backpack.  We almost made it and then we had to turn around so that we could make it back to San Tan Valley to take my grandma in for a blood draw.

Breakfast at the Olive Mill in Queen Creek!  It was awesome!

So, it was a great trip and I got to see my family, which us always nice, and we ate great food!  Oh, and my old iPhone, yeah, it was in my pocket when I jumped into the pool to help Asher, who had fallen in, and it died.  It was a sad day, and a week without a cell phone really made me so grateful for my new iPhone 5s even though I could only get it in space gray.  I really wanted gold.  Oh well!

Summer!!!!

So, I'm bringing this baby back to life!  It has been the most reliable way for me to keep a family journal, and I do want to remember these precious times.  Hopefully, soon, I'll get some books made of past entries so that I can keep those forever too.  And books with pictures are just fun, especially when  it's a book filled with the people you love!

In an effort to simplify my life, and connect with people I really care about, and those who live close to me, I've also disconnected from Facebook.  It was becoming a time waste for me and I don't need that in my life.  Despite the messenging ability, I don't miss it at all.  And really, the whole world doesn't need to know that I love puppies, or that Shem made me pancakes for breakfast.   I don't need that much attention.  Even though I left the beast of social networks, I may be back in the future, and I still Instagram and use Pinterest.  I love the art I see on Instagram and Pinterest is useful to me.  So, with that said, email or text me if you need something!  Haha!

Back to summer now.  It was one of the warmest Seattle summers I've known!  We loved going to parks, the beach, and just hanging out in the back yard.

We loved it when Daddy could join us at the beach after work!

Asher and his best girls, Chloe, and Rylynn. 

We also loved going into Seattle and playing at the Seattle Center near the Space Needle.  And we loved going to the Woodland park Zoo with Asher's friend, Grant!

Well, more later!  Oh, and I'm typing this up with the blogger app, so please ignore all the grammatical mistakes!  I apologize in advance!  😄

Final Post: I have a two year old!

This will likely be my final post on this blog.  I'm pretty sure that I have run out of space to load photos and it's time to transfer this whole thing into a book.  I still haven't decided to continue blogging, but truthfully it has helped me to document my families' memories (although I have missed quite a few from this year already).  Anyway, I at least have to document Asher's 2nd birthday since I will be putting all of his milestone posts into a book for him.

Stats.  He is still small, but the kid burns calories faster than he can eat them and is always on the move.  There were a few times in winter when he was sick and he would just lay on the couch, but for the most part he goes and doesn't stop.  We love that about him!

Weight: 25 lbs (10%)

Height:  33 1/2 "  (50%)

BMI: 15.66 (10-25%)

I just noticed they took his BMI!  That is weird.  I wish my BMI was that low!  Ha!

So, he keeps learning and growing so fast that I don't even think I could write it all down now.  As far as I can remember here is what he does well these days:

-He runs, walks, jumps, skips, prances, rolls, does downward dog (yoga), and is very nimble in general.  He moves easily and can dribble a soccer ball with ease.  He seems very coordinated.

-He express himself and uses words everyday.  Although he still uses a lot of his own words he communicates well.  Some is our favorite words are: "nighty" or "nigh night" = special blanket, "bubba" = sippy of milk, "choo choo" = train, "go" = a tv show, "B" = letters, and "cookie" = cracker and actual cookies.  He also grunts and makes some funny noises for other words which is kind of funny.

-He pretty much knows is ABC's by sight and he can repeat them.  There are a few that he still can't say, but when we get to them he will make that letter's sound instead.  I'm pretty impressed since I haven't been totally diligent in teaching him expect for putting shows like Word World and Leap Frog on for him.  We now spend time practicing with the his alphabet puzzle and some apps that I bought for him.  He can even spell a few words like: Ball and Barn and Hat, but that is mostly from memorization and just in the Word World app.  Still, impressive.

-He loves to play with friends like Rylynn Hill, Grant Stapley, and Chloe Brien.  He can say Chloe's name and its supper sweet.  Grant stayed the weekend with us a few weeks back and the boys loved playing together, laughing and sleeping in the same room.  Asher was so sad the next morning when he noticed that Grant wasn't in the crib next to him.

-He is really good at using the ipad.  What kid isn't these days?

-He loves when Daddy comes home!

-He is a monster at the grocery store unless I give him food.

-He says "No!" and will point his finger at me and shake it.  In fact, yesterday he had a mirror in the backseat of the car and I heard him saying "no, no, no, no baby" over and over again to his reflection!  He was using such a stern voice, so I'm guessing his reflection did something to make him really cross. :)

-He can't say his name yet, but refers to himself as "Baby".  He will point to his chest while calling himself "baby" when he wants to tell me he wants something.

-He still fights getting into the car seat on most trips and fights most diaper changes.

-He sleeps in!!!  Until 8am most mornings or later!  I've been sleeping with him, but when I get up before him around 7am it feels wonderful!  I hope to get back to my 5am runs soon so that I have lots of time before he wakes.  Black out curtains are a mom's best friend!

-He eats most everything but won't eat shredded meat, or anything slimy.  He will eat chicken on a stick though.

-He loves to play with trains, cars (Lightning McQueen is called "MeMe" and loves the movie Cars), crayons and a notepad, and balls.

-He loves to help and do anything that Mommy or Daddy is doing.  Like cooking eggs, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc.

-He makes his toys talk.  A lot of the time he has to tell them "no!"  Ha!

-He loves his sunglasses, hats (when Daddy wears one too), and boots.

It really is amazing to me how much he knows and what he loves to do.  He is a lot of fun when he not fighting me.  Definitely a blessing to Shem and I for sure. 

So, for his second birthday we kept it simple.  The weather was fantastic and was in the 80's!  So we wend to Idlywood Beach in Redmond to play with his new sand toys.  He had some friends come and Dad took the day off work!  Later we came home to take a nap and then had Gramma Thompson over for dinner and a small birthday celebration.  He loves all of the attention and his Gluten Free chocolate cupcakes as well!

 He was so sad here because he had touched the flame on the candle and burnt his finger!  I think he lost his excited for cake after that. :(

Last Night

I crawled into bed like normal, Shem waiting making the bed warm for me, and snuggled close to him.  We, I mean, I normally talk like crazy before falling asleep, but last night I actually was stuck in my own thoughts for a few moments before I had to share them with him.  I finally realized something so true about myself and apparently Shem has known this about me for a long time because he totally agreed.  So, in an effort to rid myself of this fault so that I can be my best self I'm telling the world...well, the couple of you who stop by here.  Maybe someone else out there is just like me and could benefit from this?  Who knows.

Well, here it is.  I hate being told what to do.  This trait has seemed to grow over the past few years to the point where Shem can't tell me how I'm feeling because I get frustrated with him telling me how I feel, and I tend to complain a lot about rules these days.  This seems so weird to me because growing up I was such a rule follower, and now me hating being told what to do is keeping me from reaching some of my goals.  One of which is still to lose the 10 extra pounds of baby weight and then the extra 10 of marriage/graduation- from-college-weight.  I start following these meal plans, and then I get so mad at them because they don't let me eat what I want and then I give up and eat a whole bunch of marshmallows or something dumb.  I rarely have sugar in the house, but I always find a way to eat too much of something to the point of turning it into junk.  Why do I hate following a diet???  My own brain isn't letting me reach my goals...that stinks.  I wish I could turn it off for a few days and just be.  Maybe then I could get past my brain.  Ha ha!

Anyway, isn't that weird?  In other news I have been thinking about some things to post.  Mostly just thoughts on where I am in my life.  Lately we've been trying to get pregnant again and have been off birth control for a year now and still no luck.  I'm starting to worry a bit and started to track my ovulation which, according to the LH surge predictor kit, I am not.  At least last cycle.  I finally went to see the midwife yesterday and was told to keep testing and trying until January.  If nothing by then I will go back and we'll check things out on the ultrasound and do some tests.  If needed go on Clomid.  It's so weird to have it be so hard to get pregnant a second time when we got pregnant with Asher.  Granted, we had two miscarriages before him, but we still got pregnant.  It seems like everyone around me is pregnant again and I'm ready for another baby.  This time around I can handle the emotions that come with trying without success, which is such a blessing.  Asher truly is a huge blessing to me and brings much joy into our home.

Time to go...his show just ended.  That was a nice 20 mins of me time! :)  

18 months

I'm avoiding the mounds of laundry that need folding, asked Shem to make dinner tonight, and decided to bake some whole wheat bread and blog.

I feel like there has been a lot going on around here, but I never get up here (here being in my room away from the little one) to type about our awesome lives. :)  Yes, my life is awesome.  

Asher is now 18 months and I feel like we've hit a sweet spot as he is so much fun to have around now.  He is finally starting to repeat what Mom and Dad say and it's so cute.  He has stopped calling me, "Mom! Mom! Mom!", and now lovingly calls me "Mommy" when he wants me.  I kind of love it.  Whenever he sees a photo of Dad he always says, "Daddy" or "Dada".  I still don't exist in photos, but at least I exist in real life to him.  Haha!  

He eats like a crazy man too.  He must be growing, but I wouldn't know since I still haven't scheduled his 18 month appointment.  Anyway, he ate cucumbers with breakfast yesterday, and fish for dinner, and loves carrots.  Pretty much will eat anything that isn't slimy.  I love that he eats and feel like my hard work in providing a variety of food for him to eat is paying off.  No chicken nuggets here because this kid will eat a whole chicken breast if I let him!  

He has started going to nursery at church and was doing wonderfully until 3 weeks ago when he decided that he'd rather scream and cry if Dad left him there.  Shem or I have to be in there with him and if we leave if figures it out pretty quickly.  Although it's kind of a step backwards for him to be so attached to us, he has become super cuddly lately!  We love it!  He has never been like this before and it melts ours hearts when he rests his head on our shoulders and squeezes them several times as he snuggles as close as we can to us.  He  has also developed the crazy talent of attaching himself to us and even if we let go he somehow still hangs on.  Very interesting.

He frequently plays with cars, action figures, blocks, and the iPad   He loves to watch a "go" (show) and if I let him I think he'd sit like a zombie in front of the TV all day long.

He seems to comprehend the world around him.  He will get his shoes, coat, throw diapers down the stairs, get a new diaper, try to open the front door, and he now knows how to frazzle the dishwasher.  We don't like that very much.

 He loves little books and has claimed my Hymn book in Portuguese as his own. :)

Life as I know it.

I have a toddler.  Life is crazy interesting as he is always doing something new.  This morning to evade getting dressed, he climbed back into his crib.  I, being a smart mom, took out my camera.  Now I'm just wondering if he wanted to be in the crib why is he trying so hard to get out?  Mystery.

Fuzzy me.  I felt pretty much how I look this morning.