Oh beautiful, crazy son of mine!

August 24th, 2011

I must start by saying that I feel so so very blessed to have Asher in my life. He brightens my day and I don't know what I would do without him. This is just a taste of a day in the life of Asher and mommy. Lets start with the morning. At 7:00 a.m. I wake up to this sweet little boy standing in his crib, waiting for me to come pick him up, his beautiful face smiling ear to ear when I finally enter his room. I change his diaper and feed him his morning bottle. Then, we plop down on the floor and watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and I have my morning cup of coffee. Asher's favorite part is the Hot Dog dance for which he drops anything he's doing to stare intently at the screen. I'm sure it won't be long before he starts dancing right along. Then, we play with toys for awhile until he starts to get sleepy. I know when it's time for his morning nap just from the look in his eyes. I rock him and hum his favorite tune and before long, he's dozing off in my arms. I lay him down in his crib and go try to get a few things done while he's asleep (aka, eat breakfast, feed the cats, play with the dogs...ya know, the important things.)

About an hour later, I hear some rustling coming from the back room and sure enough, my little pumpkin is awake, playing with his blanket! I walk in and ask "what are you doing silly?" which is returned by a huge grin and squeal! We go to the kitchen and I strap him into his highchair. It's time for some food which usually turns into a huge mess. Today, Asher got his first taste of homemade pizza...he loved it! For dessert, some bananas. We are just learning how to use a sippy cup which he is doing remarkably well with actually. Now it's time to change another diaper and get dressed for the day. This has become quite the process since Asher has started to move. It usually goes something like this....lay him down and take off his dirty diaper. He rolls over and crawls away mid-wipe. I grab him and lay him back down, finish wiping him and get one side of the new diaper snapped...he rolls over and crawls away. I grab him again and finish the other side of the diaper in an awkward position because he won't lay back down. He squirms away while I'm reaching for his clothes. I go get him and fight to get his shirt on. I try to lay him back down to put on his shorts but he won't have any of that...so again, we put his shorts on in a very awkward fashion, but it works, he's dressed!

Ready for the day we go outside with Lucy and Pearl. Asher goes for a stroller ride around the yard. We go look at the garden and the apple trees. Then we pick a nice shady spot and take a seat. The dogs play with each other and Asher reaches for the wheels of the stoller. He will play with anything that has wheels. After he gets bored with that, he starts pulling grass and trying to eat it. I tell him NO several times and try to distract him with his toys. He stops, looks up at me, hand full of grass, smiles and tries to eat it anyway. This carries on for a good 20-30 mins. Yesterday, he got a piece of grass up his nose. He didn't know what to think. He rubbed his nose and sneezed (and then laughed because he always laughs after he sneezes.) Then we go to get the mail!

We go inside and I try to find something to eat for lunch. Of course, Asher can't be left out when someone is eating so he has a snack while I eat. Then, we play on the floor. By play I mean, he crawls all over, usually to the dogs' dishes and I follow him around, intercepting things that he shouldn't be playing with. After awhile, I see him getting sleepy again so I make a bottle and he takes his afternoon nap. When he wakes up we usually play for awhile, go outside or sometimes even go visit daddy out in the field or grandma at her house. If we're driving, he usually does his screaming thing...which isn't a cry-like scream but more of a "I just do this because I like to hear my own voice" type of deal. It sounds cute, but really, it's not after awhile! After supper, it's bathtime. Asher looooooooves his bath. He gets so excited when he sees me start the water to fill up the tub. His new favorite thing is to try and stand up in the tub, which is a little scary. Hard surface + slippery does not equal something nice. Last night, I was adding a little more warm water and he was trying to grab it as it was coming from the faucet. Both hands were go go going and he just could not figure out why he couldn't get ahold of it. It was adorable, I wish I would have had a video camera.

When we're all done, I wrap him up in a snuggly towel and he always smiles at himself when we walk past the mirror. You can almost imagine what it's like trying to get him dressed into his jammies after his bath...nearly impossible so he usually goes on with his evening naked for awhile. If I'm lucky, I will get a diaper on him. After playing tractors or building blocks (I build, he destroys), around 8:00 p.m. it's time to get ready for bed. I can tell because he starts getting fussy and clingy. He gets a fresh diaper, I somehow get his jammies on, and we grab his bottle and head for his room (yes, I still hold him and rock him to sleep...I cherish the snuggle time.) Most nights, he goes right to sleep after the bottle is all gone but sometimes he is restless and doesn't want to give in. He plays with my face, pulls my hair, giggles and smiles, and squirms to get free. I try so hard to keep a straight face but I just can't. He's just too damn cute and I usually giggle right along with him. Finally, his eyes get droopy and his head slowly starts to hang and rest on my shoulder. I kiss his little bald head and whisper I love you in his ear before putting him down and leaving the room. My little monkey is down for the night. I always check on him before heading to bed myself but usually I don't hear a peep from him again until 7:00 a.m. when the next beautiful, wonderful day starts! Of course, every day is a little different and Asher surprises me daily with the new things he learns and I cherish each and every moment. I wanted to write down what a day with him is like at this stage for my own reference because I know it's going to be over soon and he will just keep growing growing growing (which is awesome!) and I can't wait to experience each age! The moral of the story is..........Asher rocks! :)