Nine Months

This past month has been full of milestones for Asher. He can feed himself and he can stand up.

He still will not crawl, but he does try to pull up to standing. I am starting to think he is going to skip the crawling and go straight to running. Asher also started clapping his hands this month, he likes to show off and clap them when there are lots of people around.

The past few weeks have been pretty rough for Asher. He has gotten 4 teeth, had an allergic reaction to yogurt and he currently has his second ear infection. Before the past week I had never called the pediatrician, I think I have called at least five times since then.

At our most recent trip to the doctor's office Asher weighed 19 lbs 4 oz.

And, oh yeah, this month Asher decided he loves to eat grass.

Pool Time

Asher loves the water. He love the bathtub, the baby pool and even being in a big swimming pool. He loves the warm water and the cold water. The boy just loves to be wet.

Here are some pictures from Asher's pool days.

Cooling off on a hot day.

Mimi helping Asher eat his first popsicle (he loved it).

The result of too much pool time.

Asher's Room

One thing I have wanted to do since before Asher was born was decorate a nursery. It didn't happen in Surabaya because we were moving so soon after he was born and it hasn't happened in Paducah because we don't have our own place to live. I have high hopes that someday Asher will have his own room and that I will get to decorate that room and that next time we have a baby I will get to decorate a nursery for them.

Since we have been in Paducah Asher has been using the same bumper pad his Uncle Mel used when he was a baby. Thank goodness we had one to use or Asher would have a lot of bumps on his head.

A few weeks ago I made the mistake of going into Pottery Barn Kids and looking at all of their super cute baby stuff. I knew that I shouldn't have gone in, but I couldn't help myself. Seriously, this store is one reason I don't want to move overseas again. Everytime I go in there I want Roger to get a job and buy me a house so I can decorate a room for Asher. Anyway, I have been wanting to get a little crib set for Asher. This way when we start moving all over the world his little bed can look the same, I'm hoping it will make the transitions easier on him. I have had my eye on one at Target for several months and was saving up to buy it. But then came Pottery Barn Kids and all of their super adorable and super soft bedding. It was awful, I told Roger to go print out some resumes and take out a loan. We weren't moving to Bangkok. He was going to be working 40 hours a week and I was going to have my very own house. Luckily Roger is a man and because he is a man he is not easily swayed by items in baby stores. Thank goodness. He got me out of that store and into Baby Gap. I bought Asher some great baby-capris and went about my day.

A few days later I was using the computer and found baby bedding on sale at Pottery Barn Kids (click here to see it, I got the Caleb bumper and the Little Critters crib skirt). I decided to take the plunge and get Asher some new stuff. It actually ended up being cheaper than Target and I love it! I only got a bumper pad and a crib skirt, but it makes me feel better about moving away and it makes his crib look great. I am hoping that if we do have a little girl one day that this stuff could be used for her room as well.

Here's a picture of Asher's bed with it's new threads:

I haven't gotten any new crib sheets yet. I would like to get something really bright, but I'm not sure what color would look best. Any suggestions?

And just in case you were wondering here's a few more pictures of Asher's room (that is also his playroom, our bedroom, office and living room).

Asher in the library, he loves to sit and read his books.

The elephant humidifier, the growth chart full of pictures and the old rocking chair.

I am excited that even though it is not the nursery I thought Asher would have, it works for us.

Up, Up and Away

A hot summer day, we headed to the park.


Asher stayed cool in the swing.


And he tried to show off his new (top front) teeth.


I can't get enough of this smile.

Visa Pictures

Before we make the big move to Bangkok we have to get visas and in order to get visas we need 24 pictures of Asher wearing a white shirt. Instead of heading to CVS and having a teenager with a broken camera and bad lighting try and capture Asher's beautiful grin Roger broke out the camera and got what we needed.

Traveling with a Baby

Everybody knows that we travel a lot. While I was pregnant with Asher we flew almost 30,000 miles, and while we have slowed down a little since he was born, we still spend a lot of time going places. We started out flying to the beach when Asher was 7 weeks old, flying half-way around the world (literally) when he was 13 weeks old and then driving all over the southeast and flying to Denver during the past few months.

One of my Momma friends recently wrote a post about traveling with baby and I thought I would add my thoughts about traveling on airplanes with babies.

1. A good stroller is a must for long trips. We started out with a travel system, but now have a Maclaren Triumph. It's super lightweight and easy to fold up. When we had the travel system we would gate check the stroller and car seat, now we check the car seat with our luggage (it's free to check a car seat) and only gate check the stroller. When we are in an airport Asher stays in his stroller most of the time, but having a sling is great for those other times.

2. Try to not get stressed. When we flew from Indonesia to America we traveled for 2 days with 6 checked bags, a stroller, a car seat, a guitar, a diaper bag, 2 carry on bags and an infant. It was a lot of stuff and it was a tough trip, but I think one reason we made it so easily was that we just took it one step at a time and tried to stay calm.

Roger struggling with all of our bags and Asher struggling to stay awake.

3. I love nursing tank tops and my hooter hider! For two days of flying all Asher did was eat and sleep and these shirts made it so easy for him to eat and the hooter hider made it easy for me to feed him. Actually I love my hooter hider all the time, I use it anytime we are out and Asher needs to eat. It is probably one of the best baby things I have bought.

4. Dress warm and take a change of clothes! Airplanes are cold and babies like to be warm, so when we fly Asher wears pajamas with feet. That way I can change diapers easily, he stays warm and I don't have to keep up with socks. For our long trip I took several pairs of pajamas and put a clean outfit on him every 12 hours. I also took little baby hats so that his little bald head would stay warm.

Asher was nice and warm, but feeling a little crazy after 2 days on an airplane.

Well, I think that's all of the advice that I have. Basically, go prepared and enjoy yourself. If you have any questions let me know, I would love to help.

Re: a day out with daddy

I have never written about my wonderful Mother's Day gift. Roger gave a good preview of it here and then I never followed it up. Anyway, my big surprise was a plate that had Asher's little hands on it. I still haven't taken a picture of the finished product, but it is precious and something I will always treasure. Here is the full picture from Asher and Roger's big adventure.

Smiling Baby Pictures

Because when you are walking by with a camera, he's just too cute to pass by without taking a few shots.





Just for fun, here is Asher with his bear at 4 days old and at 8 months old.