Meeting Maddie (Part 2)

Asher and Maddie got together for a little dinner date recently in Bowling Green. In honor of Asher's big move to Bangkok we met at a Thai restaurant to eat and then headed over to Starbucks to catch up. Here is the night in pictures.

The evening started out with dinner chaperoned by Maddie's Daddy.

Asher and Maddie hanging out at Starbucks.

Asher makes his move.

Maddie makes Asher all googly-eyed.

Rejected. Poor Asher!

Asher and Maddie don't know it yet, but we have already conspired with their parents and arranged their marriage. They even have a celebrity couple name: Masher!

Unfortunately Asher and Maddie will probably not see each other for a while, but we are looking forward to seeing Maddie and her family whenever we can.

Money Saver

I'm really not the best at being thrifty, but I try. For example, I went to a yard sale a few weeks ago and got Asher a bunch of really cool toys for really cheap. Another big thing I have done is to shop at consignment shops for clothes. I am trying to buy most of Asher's clothes for the next several years and since I am shopping at consignment shops I have been able to get name brand clothing at a great price.

Usually my money saving ventures fail. We tried the whole Dave Ramsey put your money in an envelop thing. Didn't work. I threw away the envelope with the gas money in it and it made me into a cheapskate that wouldn't allow Roger to buy razor blades.

All of that to say that I thought of a new way to save money. Asher loves to swim and that meant we were going through a lot of swim diapers and those are some very expensive diapers. I reused some of them, but thought that there had to be a better solution. I searched online and found cloth swim diapers. I bought two different sizes of Imse Vimse swim diapers and these two diapers should last until Asher is potty trained.

So far they have worked well for us and as an added bonus Asher looks super cute in them!

I usually put swimming trunks over them, but sometimes he swims in just the diaper. I went ahead and only bought yellow and green so that any future children we may have could also wear them.

Asher's Top 10 @ 10

It's finally time for another Top 10 @ 10. When Asher was ten weeks old we put together a list of his ten favorite things, now that he is ten months old we are making a new list.

1. Mommy and Daddy

These guys are the best! I like them so much that I sometimes refuse to go see anybody else. I love to grab Daddy's nose and pull Mommy's hair, I love to ride on Daddy's shoulders and ride in Mommy's sling, and most of all I love it when they tickle me and make me giggle.

2. Milk

This one remains as one of my favorites. I still love it and I refuse to start my day without it. Sorry, no picture for this one, Mom says that would be weird and Dad whole-heartedly agrees.

3. Green Froggy Blanket

I sleep with my blanket every time I go to sleep. I fall asleep best if my blanket is over my face and almost stuffed in my mouth. Mommy and Daddy have to come up and check on me and take the blanket off of my face after I fall asleep, but they say it is totally worth it since I will fall asleep by myself.

4. Guitar

A few weeks ago my thrifty Mom went to a yard sale and bought me my first guitar. It plays songs from The Wiggles and well, those songs make me wiggle. Sometimes Daddy gets out his guitar and we play our guitars together.

5. Pacifier

This is another holdover from my original Top 10 List. I have definitely not out-grown this and really plan on never giving it up. (Mommy says there is no way I am giving it up until after we make the 14 hour flight to Thailand.) I don't need it all the time, but I require it for falling asleep and often enjoy it while riding in my car seat or when I get fussy.

6. Playing Outside

My favorite outside thing is flying in a swing, but I also love strolling around, feeding the ducks and sitting in the grass. When I get bored and tired of my inside toys Daddy will walk around outside with me so I can check out the yard and play with the dogs.

7. Sippy Cup

For the past few months I tried to drink out of a sippy cup, but it was too hard. It was just too heavy and it was too hard to get the water out of it. The other day Mimi let me drink out of her straw, it took me a few minutes to figure it out, but now I love to drink out of straws. Mom went out and bought me a big boy sippy cup with a straw and I love it!

8. Swimming

I. Love. Water. I don't care if it's hot or cold, sunny or rainy, the bathtub or the swimming pool, I just love to be in the water. I'm glad I'm moving to Thailand so I can swim all year round.

9. Books

One of my favorite places to play is the corner of my room with all of the books. I play with my books by myself sometimes, but it is even more fun if somebody reads a book to me.

10. Mobility

I love to run around the house in my walker and I am trying to start crawling. I can also walk around if somebody will hold my hands so I don't fall down. I love to get into everything and I love to chase people.

Thanks for reading another Top 10 @ 10, I hope you learned a lot about me!

Ten Months

Asher is ten months old. He is starting to crawl, although at this point it's more of a lunge/scoot and it usually ends with him being frustrated he can't get to where he wants to go. One of his favorite things to do is to walk around holding our hands, he gets so excited and can walk pretty fast.

Asher still loves to be around people, but he still prefers to be held by me or Roger while he is with people he is unfamiliar with. I have been told that in the church nursery he gets more excited very time a new baby gets dropped off. Hopefully this will make his transition to daycare easier. Starting next week Asher will be in daycare Monday - Friday for about 6 hours a day. This will be the first time he has been without Roger and I during the day (I'm thinking this will be much harder on us than it will be on him).

Next week will also mark our move to Asher's third home in the past ten months. This one will be pretty short term, only eight weeks. We are praying for a smooth transition for all us and I expect Asher will do great as always.

Coming soon, in honor of Asher's Ten Month birthday, another "Asher's Top 10 @ 10"

Asher's Family

Dada, Mama, Mimi, Asher, Uncle Mel

Granny and Asher

Mimi and Asher

Food Fun

At Asher's last doctor's appointment he was rapidly approaching the 20 pound mark, I attribute that to his love of milk and baby food. The boy loves to eat!

When Asher first started eating baby food I decided to try making baby food instead of buying it. I was very surprised how easy it was. Homemade baby food sounds like it would be difficult, but really all I do is cook it, put it in the food processor and then freeze it in an ice cube tray. Some foods are even easier because they don't have to be cooked first.

When Asher was just starting out eating solid food I would make them thinner and smoother, now that he is older I make them thicker and chunkier. Even easier than food that doesn't have to be cooked are the foods that don't have to be prepared in advance. I just mash up a banana when it is time to eat and I found out that it is cheaper to buy organic applesauce than to make it.

Asher's favorite food is sweet potatoes, so if I do come across a food he doesn't love (peas, corn) I can mix a cube of sweet potatoes in and he will love it! Some of the foods I make the most are avocados, sweet potatoes, chick peas, pears and prunes.

Fight Night

Last week Asher was involved in an altercation in the middle of the night. Evidently, he got into a fight with his blanket...

...and the blanket won.

Actually, he just woke up like this about a week ago. We couldn't figure out what had happened to him, so we headed to the doctor for the second time in 6 days and he was diagnosed with an allergy to an antibiotic and hives. A little benadryl and it was all better.

More Pool Time

This week we have been swimming almost everyday. We went with Mimi and few times and then spent an entire afternoon swimming and eating popsicles with the Powell boys. I didn't take any pictures (I was too busy trying to keep sunscreen on Asher's head and a pacifier in his mouth), but I do have some swimming pictures from a few weeks ago.



Don't you love Asher's baby (fake) Crocs? Actually I don't love them, I love the way they look, but he can get them off in a split second. They are probably one of the least functional baby items I have ever purchased. His swim shirt on the other hand, one of the best. It cuts way down on the amount of sunscreen he has to wear. An added bonus: he has the world's sweetest farmer's tan.

Today I received Asher's new swim diapers in the mail. They are Imse Vimse cloth swim diapers and I am very excited to try them out. Swim diapers are expensive and we have been using a ton of them lately, I am hoping that these cloth diapers will be an easy way to save money. I'm also not sure if I can buy swim diapers in Thailand. It's hot all the time in Thailand and I know we will be doing a lot of swimming, this way I know Asher will be prepared.

A Day for Daddy

For Father's Day this year Asher really wanted to get his daddy a cool t-shirt. You know the kind, the one every dad gets at some point, with a big trophy on it and some phrase like "World's Best Dad" or "#1 Dad." Well, unfortunately Asher could not find a shirt like this anywhere in the area. He was pretty disappointed.

So, we went to Plan B or I guess in this case it was more like Plan G for Golf. Asher made his Daddy a sweet little note telling him about his day of golfing and then with his Mommy's help he wrote his name.

Roger definitely enjoyed his day of golf and he enjoyed getting to hang with Asher on Father's Day.