Christmas Card 2011

Better late than never for those that didn't get one in the mail.  I think next year I'm not going to send any cards out...it just seems like people don't like to send them anymore.  We'll see.  I hate to see the tradition end because of modern technology.

 2011 Teacher/Mommy Tattle Tales

Ruth:  This is has been a good year to me and I can’t really complain because of all the blessings I have received.  This will forever be marked as the year that I became a mother and boy what a change that has been!  I feel like one week I was going full-tilt at work and then a week later I was a mom.  What a welcomed change it has been as I have learned a lot about myself, what I can handle, and pretty much how to take care of a little ball of needs. J

            I’ve mostly been enjoying working on projects around the house lately and I recently finished refinishing our dining table.  I have plans to paint some Goodwill frames that I bought and then cut my own mat board to dress-up whatever I decide to put in the frames.  Then I hope to build some shelves for the kitchen, bathrooms, and our bedrooms.

            Aside from wood working I still love photography and I have plans to learn how to sew!

Shem:  I have been busy with work as always. It has been my first year being bribed by a student (or at least attempted bribing. He brought in Krispy Kreme donuts for me and it was so out of place I asked him jokingly if he was trying to bribe me which he admitted he was. Apparently it was his way of trying to get me to accept a late assignment. When I told him he could turn it in late anyways with a small point deduction he took back his donuts. What goes through these kids minds?

Even worse, apparently, is what goes through my mind. There is a kid in my rambunctious 7^th period class who has been writing anything I say that is really funny and randomly shares the quotes with the class.  Among them are the following:

“How fast did the brown guy go?”

“Who is faster the brown guy or the black guy?”

“Fatty McFatfat is on the table”

“There’s a fat kid and a skinny kid on identical skate boards First you push the fat kid *bloolooloo*(this is supposed to sound like you are pushing a giant jello blob).

There are others too all of which are taken out of context. I have just included the G rated ones here. The other ones when taken out of context sound REALLY bad but I promise you they are all physics related questions.

Asher: I may not be very old, but I’m old enough to know I got jipped this year because I was only born in early May. This means I missed a third of the year! Well, short of being stuck in a small confined space for the first part this year has been pretty darn good. I eat, I sleep (sometimes) and I poo. What more is there to life? No that’s an actual question, is there more to life, because truly I have no clue.

Well even though I spend most of my time eating, sleeping and pooing. I have learned a few skills. I have standing skills, I can stand on my own when holding onto a couch or something. I’ve got mad jumping skills.  I can jump for hours and get myself to swing back and forth in whatever direction I so choose. I got crawling skills and—      

Um this is Dad interrupting here. Asher is totally over exaggerating, cause his “crawling skills” is really a push himself backward skill—

 It’s Asher back. I just sucked on my Daddy’s knee until his pants became saturated with saliva so he just left to change.

 Daddy doesn’t know what he is talking about and I would erase what he wrote but I can’t reach the delete key. Oh well.

Last but not least have mad flirting skills. I can get out of trouble with the slightest little giggle and I have my own harem of women at church who fight over who gets to hold me. Yeah, I’m cute!

This is Asher saying:   

“4bvc C  ;/;’Zxd8p9rf0j8yjbvjcvvccxc v, w . 0020n”  

 Peace out Yo! Word!

An Ode to the Phone

Yes, I have converted and I now own an iphone.  You happy?  I sure am!  I love love love it and even though I don't have a data plan I still love it because I still have a cheap pay-as-you-go plan!  Love it!!!  It has actually saved my life as my computer after only 3 years has decided to die!  My phone has kept me connected, saved all of my outlook contacts and appointments and has made the transfer to only one computer a lot easier.

Moving on, since I'm not lyrical in anyway (just ask my son, I can't rhyme for the life of me when I make up dumb songs on they fly about eating, pooping, or crying all night long), here are some of my favorite photos from my phone.

Seven and Eight

So, Asher is eight months old now and I can't believe how much fun he is now!  I just love him and I'm getting baby hungry again because he so cute, but he won't stop growing and doing new things.  It's very confusing to me to want him to grow and do new things, and at the same time never want him to change and to just stay little forever.  I so get it now.  Actually a lot of things make sense to me now that I'm a mother that I never could have understood had I not pushed that little nugget of joy out. :) 

So, here is what my little man is up to these days...drum roll please..........

He's crawling!!!!!!!  As of last Saturday and boy is he fast.  Like he won't stop moving!  I put him on the changing table and he rolls faster than a caterpillar being squished between my niece's two little fingers (oh yes she did... she rolled it and pinched it and said it was her friend until the little guy stopped moving).  I can't help but give a shout out to Bryn because she and Asher lovingly share the same crooked butt crack...it's so cute and uniquely a Thompson trait.  Now we just have to figure out who else in the fam has the crooked crack gene. 

Okay, moving on.  Asher also has amazingly become an expert stander and can pull himself up onto most anything that is within his reach.  I've saved him from a few near painful experiences as he has tried to stand up on things that were not so sturdy.  For example, the boxes at the top of the stairs that I used as a make-shift barricade to keep him from falling...yeah, he tipped one box over, but I caught him in mid fall and saved his life!  He also likes to follow me around the house now and will pull himself up by grabbing onto my pants. 

He eats so much food!!!  My homemade sweet potatoes are with out a doubt his favorite food!  I need to learn how to make more homemade baby food to freeze. 

He hates carrots.

He gets constipated very easily and yogurt doesn't seem to agree with him either.

Bath time is fun time.

He sits in the shopping cart now and charms everyone who passes by.  I'm not exaggerating either...he catches every one's eye and if they are lucky he'll flash them his cute gummy smile.  One crazy lady in Costco took his photo the other day...it was kind of creepy, but it made her day.

He sleeps in his crib and after reading "Solve your Child's Sleep Problems" and only one bad night and nap time he is totally used to falling asleep on his own!!!  I should have read that book a long time ago!!!  Sleep is sooooo awesome!  And so is my kid for sleeping!  I feel like a new woman and have gained about 5 hours of productive-I-can-get-things-done-time each day!

He plays well with toys and likes to study them.

He enjoys story time before bed.

For a while he would only sleep on his changing pad placed inside the crib.

He seems to be a bit of a mamma's boy.

He loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders!

He is fascinated with all electrical cords, ipod cords, wii remotes, and outlets.  Pretty much anything that could zap him.  Typical.

He likes other kids.

He still stinks at nursing...I'm in a bit of pain, but whatever.  He nurses how he does and will never be nice to me.

The Holidays Part 1 (of like a thousand posts because I'm way behind and have a child that doesn't sleep anymore. :))

We have definitely been busy over here lately, but I think it's just the nature of the holidays.  Thanksgiving came and went, but boy, was it a fun and fabulous Thankgiving!  Not only did I turn the big 30 before turkey day, but the Thompsons decided to go to the mountains and celebrate in nothing but the most beautiful cabin ever!  And there was snow...lots. of. soft. fluffy. snow!  Sledding was a blast and it created the most magical atmosphere ever.

All of the Thompsons at the top of the most amazing sledding hill.

Xander and Asher.  Xander is probably the most loving of all of the nephews in the family and he can't get enough of Asher.  He is constantly kissing him and hugging him and we frequently have to remind him to give the baby some space. :)  It's so cute and luckily nobody has gotten sick from the love swapping.

The girls looking at the magical winter wonderland outside!  Inside I felt just like they look; full of wonder and giddiness at all of the snow. :)

Shem and I (with the help of his Mom) saved ourselves from ruining a Thompson tradition by making the best rolls ever!  I was going to make them a head of time, but my freezing the dough method didn't turn out, so last minute we packed the Kitchenaid and made them on Thanksgiving morning.  They were a big hit with the kids like always and I'm happy they turned out...really happy.

 Our little snow angel!  He loved the snow and I was so excited to take him out in it.  Wednesday night when everyone arrived we had some trouble getting up the long and steep driveway with all of the snow and ice, so I hiked Asher up to the house in his car seat with Corom and as Corom carried him up the hill Asher couldn't stop laughing!  He loved the sound of the snow crunching under our feet and thought it was the best thing ever!  The next day we took him out, plopped him in a snow bank and the cousins and I danced around him crunching the snow beneath our feet.

This wasn't the amazing hill, but a good pic of Shem enjoying the ride.  We had fun with all of the nieces and nephews and I loved screaming my head off going down the hill for some added drama. :)

Six months

Baby boy is growing, but not gaining weight!  Here are is stats:

Height: 26 in (25-60 %)
Weight: 12 lbs 13 oz ( > 5%)
Head Circumference: 17 1/4 in (50%)

He's growing and moving so much now.  His favorite toy is his door way jumper and he literally jumps for hours in it.  He studies objects with his hands and eyes and loves to stick anything in his mouth.  He expecially loves to suck on my hoodie ties.  He loves to bounce in my lap and his sitting up on his own, but falls over still.  He has fallen off of the couch and figured out how to climb/fall out of the bumbo seat.  From that fall he got his first bruise on his head and I felt like the mother-of-the-year! :)  Joking...I felt like crap after seeing him fall like he did.

He is also, as of last tuesday, eating organic brown rice cereal with water and bananas!  Grandma T. tought me how to feed him and I couldn't be more pleased with the fact that he is eating from a spoon again.  He needs the calories and I'm hoping that this helps him to gain some much needed weight. 

He is still a horrible sleeper, but that may be because he is always hungry...or he just loves to see me all of the time. :)  Weird...I'm really not that pleasant at 12:00am, and then 1:35am , and then 2:00am and then....you get the point until it's time to get up at 6am, or until the hubs wakes up at 4am.  Needless to say, I may never sleep solid again, but that's okay...I love my fam. :)

Check out my photo blog for cute photos of him from a month ago (link is on the left sidebar) and here are some others from a couple weeks ago.

Five Months! (and a venting session)

Quick post today while Asher is sleeping and since I can't figure out how to use our Mega cool ladder to get some new clothes down for Asher and put my maternity clothes away I have nothing better to do than to post.  Sometimes I wish Shem were at my disposal at all times of the day to show me how things work and to keep me from doing dumb things like breaking the garbage disposal with rocks.  Yes.  I broke the garbage disposal by putting rocks in it and then turning it on.  That was a month ago and this weekend will be the first chance he's had since school started to fix it.  Let's hope the new disposal goes in without 50 trips to Home Depot and an ulcer to go along with it.

Asher is such a good boy, yet at times I can't figure him out.  There are times when I know that he is hungry, but he's so upset or restless that he doesn't stay on and we re-latch about 8 times before I give up and make him wait to try again on the other side.  Nursing has been so hard for me.  I don't think I know of anyone who has had a perfect experience nursing though.  If you have please don't tell me because I might just cry while hugging my chest and rocking back and forth.  I have Mastitis for the THIRD time now and if I get it again I'm done with nursing.  I feel so guilty thinking that and desiring that, but having sore boobs and running a high fever while taking care of a baby is not fun!  Especially when there is a kitchen full of dishes to do.  I wonder if I was even made for nursing at times because of all the trouble we've had.  About 3 weeks ago Asher finally started opening his mouth the latch on!  We've been stuck using the inconvenient nipple shield which is just a pain to wash and have on hand at all times.  I just have to remind myself that this is just a stage in my life right now and that soon enough I'll have my body back until I decide to have another kid.  Speaking of which, I'm all for spacing the kiddos out as much as I can...I think I need a break between each baby.

Anyway, I've had so many problems with my body since having the baby and I'm just done with it all.  I want to new back, new boobs, and I can't wait to lose weight (I've been stuck for the past while and I can't seem to lose anything these days).

Surprisingly that little lump in my throat is gone...venting is good for the soul. :)

Love this pic below even though it's got too much depth of field fuzz on his face!

Now on to Asher.  The little guy isn't gaining weight like he was. He has dropped from the 25th percentile to below the 5th and I'm worried.  I'm supposed to try and feed him 8 times day now, but I can only squeeze in about 6-7 feedings on a regular basis.  I finally have permission to start rice cereal and I think he loves it.  I hope this helps him to gain some weight since he has fallen off the charts recently.  Other than that he is doing super well.  As you can see he loves to put things in his mouth.

Today I sat him down in the Bumbo while I dried my hair.  He loves the sound of the hair dryer and like to watch me when I'm getting ready.  He loves to sing (scream) when he wants attention or when he starting to get tired or hungry.  Most of the time it's cute, but if you let it go on too long it kind of drives you crazy until you pick him up and he smiles at you knowing that he won.  He enjoys being in the same room as me and just watching me work on dinner, dishes, or anything else.  He loves his feet!  He holds his head up like a champ and he as excellent control.  He still loves to stand in your lap and has recently decided that sitting in the corner of the couch is much more enjoyable than laying on the floor or the boppy pillow.  He had his first fall off of the couch too and that wasn't so enjoyable.  Luckily he was okay.  I think the doctor freaked me out more after the fall with all the talk about what could happen to the baby with a fall, but whatever, he's okay.  He falls asleep every time we go running in the jogger and never sleeps when we go into the grocery store (he likes to look around).  Since I've been working in Primary lately Asher gets to hang out with the ladies in Relief Society and they fight over who gets to hold him. :)  It's so nice to have such awesome women be so willing to watch my baby for a while...I love it and I can tell that they love and enjoy him a lot.

Cheap Food!

I've just discovered www.bountifulbaskets.org and I think it's going to change my life and the way I shop!  I picked up my first basket this past Saturday and it was quite the experience and I was impressed.  It's a food co-op and it's volunteer based, so no one is paid and your $16.50/basket goes all into the food you buy!  I have to admit that I had fun waiting for the semi-truck to arrive and then we had to unload the truck and divide the food among the baskets.

You should try it out for yourself!  I hear that the produce is so fresh that it will last a couple of weeks.