Too Cute

I just have to share...

Isn't this the sweetest smile?


This is the smile he flashes whenever he KNOWS he's doing something wrong! Oooh that little ornery boy!


How precious...the only time he's still...


The other day he was walking around with his pictures of Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and Grandma and Grandpa. For the longest time, every picture he saw was was "Emma" because her picture is on the desktop of our computer. Now though, he is starting to recognize Daddy and Grandpa too. For Grandpa and Pop-Pop they come out the same- Bah-Bah. It's so cute! He can say Grandma too but that's the same as me, "Mah-Mah" and he can say Mom-Mom pretty well, when he wants to. We're working on it all!

April Fool!

I got a call from my long time friend, Leah McKelvey today.

This is Leah and her daughter, Elise, holding Asher when he was 2 weeks old!

We've been friends since third grade! Anyway, when she called I was a little alarmed, knowing that she doesn't usually call on a Sunday afternoon. Especially knowing she's pregnant, due April 1st! Well, when I asked what's going on, she said, a lot! I had the baby! Now get this...the little April Fool baby really pulled a stunt...he was born not only a month early, but on February 29th! Leap Day! So, technically he won't have another birthday until 2012! Anyway, despite being early everything went well. They arrived at the hospital at 6:30 and he was born at 8:30! I'm so glad when people have deliveries that were not like mine! Little Timmy, 6 lbs, 8 oz. Leah came home but he's still in the NICU for a few days, but doing well.

So, happy news! Yea!

Good Morning to You

Mornings are not my favorite. But, this morning is a little different, and better. First of all, we'll be going to Marcia's to help Julie with her scrapbook, that way her mom can help with the boys. It's exciting to have some plans today! It's always fun to get together with Julie.

The thing that's different is I haven't nursed Asher before bed the last two nights. And this morning I decided to give him a milk cup instead of nursing him. That means I'm really weaning him. Ah. How bittersweet. While I'm ready to be free of that for a few months before I start over again, I'll never have that special time with my little Asher. With him being such a mover, I don't get to cuddle him other than those times. My little boy....he's almost one! I can't believe it.

I'm also feeling really achy this morning...in my neck and shoulders and it's giving me a headache. I haven't been sleeping well in that area and I keep having all this pain. Jeremy had time to massage me a little before he left and that felt so good.

So sorry, I didn't mean to complain...

I hope you have/had a terriffic day!

Quite a Day

Today was the most busy I've had in a long time! I had two appointments at the OB, one with a nurse (preliminary pregnancy stuff) at 11, and then with the doctor at 1:30. I took Asher to my mom's this morning; we got there around 10 am. Anyway, in between the nurse and doctor visit I ended up walking up to the hospital's lab (my doc's office is in the same building as the hospital) and getting my bloodwork done. Then I stopped at the cafe and had some AMAZING Mac and Cheese! Yum! It reminded me of the GREAT food at the hospital and I can't wait to stay there again and eat it! Anyway, at my doc appointment they couldn't hear a heartbeat, just like with Asher, so they scheduled a STAT Ultrasound at the hospital at 3:30. With 1 1/2 hours to kill, I went to Party City and shopped for Asher's birthday. Then it was back to the cafe (I was hungry again!) for some soup and salad, and then back to the lab area for the ultrasound! It was so cool to see the baby on the screen and see that he/she is really there...and there is only one baby! That's good, (I'm pretty sure it's good!). Anyway, it was so cool because you can see all the body parts but the baby's just so tiny. He/she was in there jumping around! Everything looked fine so that was good news. I have a picture. I hope to scan it so I can put it on here.

Something I'm thinking a lot about lately is whether to attempt a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Section). I was all ready to try it, but then I heard a statistic. They studied women who got to the pushing stage and then ended up having a C-Section. These women were significantly less successful at a VBAC than women who did not get to pushing. As you may or may not know, I pushed for 3 hours before having a C-Section. I don't want to do that all over again, only to have another C-Section delivery. Chances are I could have another big baby and that could significantly affect things. However, we'll be watching for that this time.

Anyway, to some people it's hard to understand why I want to attempt a VBAC and go through all the pain of labor and pushing again - Not to mention the (very low 1-2%) risk of uterine rupture). But part of me feels like I want another chance at it! Another chance to be able to hold my baby upon his coming into the world. For him to stay with me, where he should be, not in the nursery while I recover! To have that first moment to remember and to hold him right away, not merely look at him while I lay unable to move on an operating table.

I know ultimately the important thing is to have a healthy baby. Of course I won't jeopardize that. I haven't made up my mind yet, but these are the struggles I feel inside over the issue. If you think of it, say a prayer that I'd have peace in this area, and can trust God to lead us.

Well it's been quite a day. Good night, ALL!

Strengths and Weaknesses

I thought it was cool that my sis in law Julie blogged about the book we are reading, Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God. I was thinking of blogging about something I read in it too. I just came from the book study and Matt and Julie's house, and Jeremy and I were talking about the verses from 2 Corinthians 2:9-10 that talks about our weaknesses. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

I always took these verses to mean that God would turn our weak points into strengths by supernaturally changing us. While that is true as a part of sanctification, it will not be fully realized until we reach heaven! Here on earth, however, I think that it works a little differently. I was questioning what it really means; what it looks like to "boast in my weakness" and "delight in weaknesses." How do you really do that? I usually just lament my weaknesses, and try to do better but usually fail miserably, and (trying to remember to) ask God to help me in this area. I'm sure God is always teaching us in the area of our weaknesses, especially if we are open, listening, and asking him to do so. However, God gave me another perspective on it tonight.

It's like a husband and a wife who have different areas of strength and weakness. Together, they are strong. But just because the husband(or wife) is strong in a certain way, doesn't make the other individually strong in that area. It does, however, give the husband's (or wife's)strengths a chance to shine through. The wife (or husband) may learn some things about that weakness of hers through her husband (or wife), but it will probably not become a strength of hers.

It's the same way with God and our weaknesses. While we may learn to improve in our weaknesses a bit, what really makes us strong is that God, in our lives, is able to show his strength in that area because we are weak and unable to handle ourselves! It's not that God makes us strong personally, but his strength is shown because we are out of the way and his power shines through! And ultimately, it shows us our true need for a Savior -our DIRE need, as the author puts it. Only when we come to this place can we truly understand our need for a Savior. Praise God that we have one in Jesus, and that his death on the cross took our guilt and shame of all of our weakness!

I hope this makes sense...I tend to be wordy. It just really encouraged me to gain this new perspective and it's something I hope to thinking on and applying to my life in the future.

Good Night, All.

Adventures in the Snow!

We just had Asher out in the snow for the first time (since he can walk). He loved it! We didn't have a sled so we couldn't do that, but oh well. Here's some pics and a video.

Getting ready to go out in the snow!

First steps in the snow!

Confessions of a Schlumpadinka

Hi. Well here I am. It's Thursday. The snow melted boo hoo but we're supposed to get more tonight. Yeah! I want to take Asher sledding. I think it'd be so fun! Last winter I was too big, still healing, or caring for a newborn during the snows. I'm ready to get out and have snow much fun again!

Yesterday I watched Oprah. She had "Schlumpadinka Makeovers." If you don't know what a Schlumpadinka is then you've never watched Oprah...but it's her way of describing a woman who has let herself go. Well as I sat there in my comfy shirt and pants that I had also worn the day before, I realized I was exactly what Oprah was talking about - a Schlumpadinka! So, I admit it. But, it is hard to get dressed and ready when I'm not going anywhere. And, my clothing options are limited, so I like to save my nice outfits for when I am going somewhere. But anyway, TODAY I got dressed. And then I realized even an outfit I thought was kinda nicer is probably still Schlumpadinka. So I guess I need to go shopping! A depressing thing for me, but the Oprah show gave some nice affordable ideas. So I was all proud of myself for getting dressed nicely today...but haha...did I dress my kid? Nope. But he looked so cute in his footy pjs today...and so comfy!

Speaking of Asher, check out these curls on my kid:

And here's a few other funny pics/stories about Asher.

Here he is "helping" Daddy find things in the fridge:

His 11 month pictures:




Asher will climb in/on anything: standing in his toy bin...




Today he was mesmerized by the theme song to Full House. He seems to love music. He likes the theme to Family Matters too.

Here he is with his favorite tube of vaseline. He loves this thing for some reason and calls it "Honey."