4 Months

Daddy and Baby Jack had a little time alone one morning while Asher and I went to the grocery store. After they finished smiling and giggling at each other they decided to get the camera out and make sure Jack had a picture at 4 months old.

Jack weighs 14 lbs. 2 oz. (6.4 kg) and is 25 inches long (63.5 cm). He loves to smile and giggle, especially if he sees Asher. He has rolled from his belly to his back two times, both times it was to see Asher. He's so close to being able to roll over from his back to his belly, but he hasn't quite made it yet.

Baby Jack is still sleeping great at night. He goes to bed right after Asher, around 7:30 pm, I feed him when I go to bed and sleeps until 7 am the next morning. We are making progress with his naps, the hardest part is just not always being at home for him to sleep. His first morning nap is always good and lately he's taken a good afternoon nap as well. Usually we are gone during his second morning nap, but he will usually sleep in the carrier for a little while. The biggest change in the past month (actually the past week) is the discovery of Baby Jack's blanket.

It's just like Asher's blanket, just a different color. I gave it to Jack one day while he was laying on his play mat and I was studying Thai. I looked over a few minutes later and Jack had snuggled up to the blanket and gone to sleep. Since then he has taken some wonderfully long naps holding on to his blanket.

Jack has gotten pretty good at putting his hands and toys into his mouth. He loves to suck and chew on his fingers, his blanket and any toy that he can get close to his mouth. The Bumbo chair is getting a lot more use these days, Jack sits in it while we eat or play outside.

Baby Jack is still the most laid back baby and he almost always smiles at everyone we pass. When we stroll around I always hear people saying the Thai word for "doll" as they come over and squeeze his fat little cheeks.

Church Time

This is Mini (formerly known as Baby Mini, also formerly known as Asher's favorite baby). She loves Baby Jack. She loves to sniff him (it's an Asian thing). I think she also loves that she is no longer The Baby in the nursery.

Min (as she is often called) was trying to creep on Asher's Pretz last week. He was not pleased.

Another Sunday, another snack. Sticky rice is a Sunday favorite for Asher. Usually he gets some grilled chicken to go with it.

And finally, Baby Jack after a long morning at church. Little guy was just worn out.

Three Months

Happy 3 months Baby Jack!

I'm not sure how much Jack weighs at three months, but he definitely looks chunkier to me. He is still sleeping good and eating good. And drooling good, he's getting better and better at that.

This past month he took his first airplane ride and started sitting in the Bumbo chair. He really hasn't reached any big milestones. I keep waiting for him to roll over, but it hasn't happened yet.

Baby Jack is doing much better at bedtime (meaning that he has a bedtime and actually goes to bed before 11 pm). He goes to bed right after Asher, I feed him before I go to bed and he sleeps until close to 7 am most days. In the mornings he takes good naps, but in the afternoons he likes to be awake. I still swaddle him and put him on his back at night and he sleeps on his belly for his naps. The thing I like the best is that Jack actually falls asleep by himself for all of his naps and at night. I love getting to hold him while he gets sleepy and I love not having to rock him to sleep and hope he stays asleep when I put him in the bed.

Here's a few more pictures from Baby Jack's 3 month photo shoot. Feel free to add your own captions.

Two Months

Baby Jack is two months old. We went to the doctor this week so he could get some shots and he weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. (5.275 kg) and was almost 23 inches (58 cm) long. I always think that Jack is bigger than Asher was at this age, but at two months old Asher already weighed 12.5 pounds and was 24 inches long.

Jack is still an easy baby and really doesn't cry unless he gets really hungry. He's on a good schedule, eating every 3 hours during the day and taking 2 hour naps, and he sleeps all night long. For a long time he liked to be awake from about 6 pm - 11 pm, but the past few nights he has gone to bed around 8 pm, woken up to eat at 11 pm and then slept until 7 am. I definitely can't complain. During the day he sleeps on his belly in his crib and at night we swaddle him and put him on his back. When we are out during the day he will nap in the Moby Wrap and when my Thai tutor is here he usually naps while getting passed back and forth between the two of us.

Asher gets excited every time we go get Jack up from a nap. He can't wait until he can see him, but then as soon as I pick Jack up Asher starts asking (and demanding) that I put Jack down. It's a little love/hate thing, but overall I think Asher sort of likes having him around. Jack definitely loves Asher, he gives Asher the biggest smiles and giggles.

Now that Jack is bigger the cloth diapers fit him even better, he even wears them out of the house (I was a little scared to do that at first because Jack was too skinny and the diapers would leak a little bit). He still wears a disposable overnight, but I think I'm going to try cloth one night and just see what happens.

Jack spends most of his awake time playing with the play gym, hanging out in his swing or sitting on the couch with me while Asher plays cars. We have been taking him to the park in the evenings, but he has yet to stay awake long enough to actually see the park. The taxi ride puts him to sleep every time.

We are having so much fun with Baby Jack and this next month should be even more fun. Baby Jack is taking his first trip to the beach next week and then his first airplane ride the week after that.

1 Month

Jack turned one month old on Monday. At his one month check-up he weighed 10 pounds (4.55 kg) and was 21.5 inches (54.5 cm) long.

So far Jack is an easy baby. He doesn't cry much and he sleeps pretty good. A few times last week he slept through most of the night and even when he doesn't sleep all night he goes right back to sleep after eating. We swaddle him at night and he seems to really like that. He is eating great and obviously gaining lots of weight. Mimi gave him a bottle for the first time while she was here. He attacked it, drank 4 oz. and then got handed over to me to eat even more.

During the day he mostly naps on the couch or in my lap. It's not that he won't sleep in his bed, it's just that I am having so much fun laying around in the afternoons holding him. We have started putting him in his bed for naps in the morning and as long as we put him on his belly he sleeps really well.

My mom brought all of the cloth diapers with her, so within the past two weeks we have started using them. They are pretty bulky, but seem to fit Jack for the most part and they give him a sweet cloth diaper booty.

After a month Asher still really likes having Baby Jack around. He likes to know where he is and what he is doing at all times. I am so thankful that Asher adjusted well to his role as big brother.

Stroller Pics

Here are some pictures from around the house on Saturday. Asher had just gotten up from a super long afternoon nap. (On a sidenote: Asher takes the best naps now. He never slept good during the day when he was little and he occasionally took decent naps as he got older, but when we got rid of the morning nap it made everything better. Most days he naps for almost three hours.) We spent the morning swimming with some new friends and I think jumping off the side of the pool 500 times made him a little extra tired.

Asher loves his stroller. He loves to ride in it while I practice Thai and anytime we go outside he climbs in it. I brought it in this day (because part of it melted last week when I left it out in the sun all day...it's hot here!) and he was so excited to find it in the living room.

He happened to sit down in some pretty great light and Roger got some pretty great shots of him.

This is what happens when you tell Asher to smile. I have no idea where he got this silly smile from, but we love watching him make this face.

Maplewood Farm

On one of the rare sunny days we have had Asher and I headed off to Maplewood Farm to see some animals. I didn't think Asher would really get it or have fun, but he proved me wrong. He quacked at the ducks, chased some birds and petted a few goats. Here are some pictures from the day.

The morning commuter nap. Asher was all warm and snuggly in his stroller, he stayed awake for the whole train ride, but fell asleep as soon as we got on the first bus.

Asher loves to quack like a duck and evidently he also likes to chase the ducks. He would get scared when they would start to chase him back.

After a while he got tired from all the running and petting and quacking, he took a quick rest in the sling and was ready to go again.

One of my favorite parts of the day was going into the goat pen. All of the goats were walking around and all of the toddlers were petting/hitting/harassing the animals. Luckily the animals were very good natured.

Asher was calm at first, but once he got excited the goats were in trouble.

Finally, we were back on the bus heading for home and he was out. He slept the whole way home.

Hats and Sleepers

Now that we have settled into our life in Virginia we have gotten Asher to start falling asleep by himself again. It still involves some crying, but each night he gets better. After the crying stopped one night I went in to check on Asher and cover him up and I found that he had fallen asleep, but he was sitting up. Asher has just recently mastered the skill of going from his belly to sitting up and he is always very eager to practice. The first night I thought it was just a fluke, but every night since he has fallen asleep sitting up and I have had to go in and lay him down. We got the camera out two different times to capture his new sleeping position.

Besides sleeping in all sorts of odd positions Asher has been subjected to several shopping trips lately. Friday night we found ourselves in a Baby Gap and we came across the perfect hat (and matching mittens) to keep Asher warm during his upcoming Winter in Canada adventure. It straps onto his head so he can't get it off!

The very next day we were in the Gymboree outlet (I love shopping at outlets!) and found a baby cowboy hat. While Asher was crawling around we stuck the hat on his head and snapped a few pictures. He was so focused on the other kids in the store that he never noticed the hat.

Asher in Virginia - Week 1

Asher's first week in Virginia is coming to a close. I have made it my goal to take a picture of him each day during the eight weeks that we will be here.

Here is Asher's week in pictures.

We left Paducah on Sunday and drove to Richmond, Virginia. We stopped in West Virginia for Asher to stretch his legs. The motto of West Virginia is "Wild and Wonderful" and we think Asher is pretty wild and wonderful, too!

Monday we moved in to our new apartment, we have our own bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom and we share a common area with 3 families and 2 single guys. Asher settled right into his new home and enjoyed his lunch.

Tuesday we had lots of free time to get unpacked. We spent most of the day running errands and playing. Roger and Asher had lots of fun wrestling on the bed.

Wednesday was Asher's first day of daycare. I think the picture captures the experience quite well. He cried a lot when we dropped him off and he cried a lot when we picked him up. His teacher says he is improving and I think in another week he might even enjoy himself.

Thursday. Another day, another meal. Asher was enjoying an avocado for dinner after another busy day on Thursday. His teacher reported that he was "spoiled" but that he is improving and starting to have more fun.

Friday night we went for a walk and then went to the playground to swing. There are several playgrounds on campus, including one right outside of our apartment. We almost always spend time swinging right before Asher goes to bed. There are also swings at Asher's daycare. Asher didn't cry Friday when I dropped him off at daycare because he got to go straight outside to the swings.

Saturday was a day of rest for Asher, he took a great morning nap and a great afternoon nap. We tried to keep things as normal as possible for him, so we brought his bumper pad with us. His bed is smaller and in his own room (for the first time ever!), but he still sleeps well and he still looks very sweet while he sleeps.

Daycare has been good for Asher so far, he has come back to us each day full of new things. His crawling has gotten better and he has picked up some cute new tricks. I have new videos of Asher performing and I am trying to upload them. The internet here is slooooow, so check back later to see them.

The Sleep Week Conclusion

WARNING: This is another long post about Asher's sleep habits. If you don't care about this then just enjoy these pictures of our sweet boy taking a good, long nap.



Sleep Week was a success! Asher sleeps without a swaddle blanket at night, he falls asleep by himself most of the time and he has been taking longer naps. I kept trying to do exactly what Baby Wise said to do or exactly what the book by Dr. Ferber said to do, but in the end I think Asher started sleeping better because we were consistent and we did it all in moderation.

Here are my conclusions from Sleep Week:

- We quickly realized that Asher will fuss until he falls asleep, but he will not cry himself to sleep. Once he starts to scream and get really upset it is best to go and pick him up and calm him down and try again.
- He still takes short naps, but now they are closer to an hour long and when he wakes up he looks like he is well rested. He will sometimes take longer naps, but I have stopped being stressed out by his short naps.
- Asher goes to bed earlier (7:30 pm) and sleeps much more soundly, although he usually wiggles from one end of the bed to the other during the night. He is still waking up earlier than he was a few months ago (6:30 am instead of 7:15 am), but maybe that's just part of him getting bigger.
- He has a special blanket he sleeps with at night. I know I will probably regret this later, but I feel like it has helped him learn to lay in the bed and fall asleep easier.
- Asher goes down for his first nap and bedtime with no problems at all, we still have a little trouble getting him to go to sleep for his afternoon naps. I figure this will just continue to improve.

Seven Months

Look who's sitting up tall, eating all kinds of fruits and vegetables, talking all the time, not interested in crawling and getting cuter everyday.

It's Asher!

At Asher's last doctor's appointment he weighed 17 lbs 12 oz and was 27 inches long. He is now back on the "normal" schedule for vaccinations and he even had the blood work done that was supposed to be done when he was born.

Asher is eating solids three times a day and nursing five times a day. He eats rice cereal, squash, carrots, pears, sweet potatoes and avocados. Thanks to Sleep Week he has returned to his great night time sleep habits and we are finally starting to make some progress with his naps.

I feel like he is always talking! Most days "mama" and "dada" are his favorite words to say, but he can make a "baba" sound, too.

Lately we have been going to the park, Asher loves to swing and to ride in his stroller. Here are some pictures from our recent trips to the park.

Sleep Week - Tuesday & Wednesday

Sleep Week is showing results! Asher has returned to his great night time sleep habits. He has been going to bed earlier (Thanks for the article, Sharon!) and sleeping through the night without his swaddle blanket.
On Tuesday night he cried for about ten minutes before falling asleep and tonight he did not cry at all, he just tossed and turned until he fell asleep. Yay! We have realized that about 2 hours after he goes to bed he cries out, but doesn't wake up. All he needs is his passy and he is good to sleep until the next morning.
Nap time is getting better, but is still a struggle. He goes to sleep pretty easily for his morning nap, but has a harder time falling asleep for his other naps. Today he slept for about 45-50 minutes each nap, which is a big improvement from the 25-30 minute naps he had been taking. Hopefully once we get settled into a schedule he will start to nap longer and go to sleep easier.
For now I feel like he is on a pretty good schedule. Today Asher woke up at 6:30 am, napped at 8:45 am, 11:45 am and 3:45 pm and went to bed at 7:30 pm. Hopefully we can consistently follow this schedule for a while and help him to sleep better.
Thank you all for your suggestions and encouragement! It has been such a big help!

Sleep Week - Sunday & Monday

Bye-bye swaddle blanket, I've enjoyed sleeping with you for the past 7 months.

Here's what has happened so far.

Sunday Afternoon Nap - Asher cried for 45 minutes straight. We would go in to check on him every few minutes, but the crying just got louder. Actually this happened twice. Between the two attempted naps we put him in the stroller to go for a walk, he promptly fell asleep before we even reached the end of the driveway. I finally held him for a 30 minute nap and later he fell asleep while he was outside with Roger. Definitely not off to a good start.

Sunday Bedtime - This was Asher's first night to sleep without being swaddled. Asher fussed and cried when I put him down to go to bed, Roger went and calmed him down and he slept from 9 pm to about 10:45 pm. When he woke up I checked on him twice and then he fussed and moved around in his bed until he fell back asleep. I think he was only awake for about 15 minutes. He slept until 6:20 am. A very successful night.

Monday Morning Nap - I tried to keep Asher awake longer than usual, but by 8:30 am he was super sleepy. I put him down and after about 5 minutes of playing with his feet he started crying. After he cried for 3 minutes I checked on him and then left him to fall asleep. I think it took him about 10 minutes to fall asleep. He slept about 40 minutes (much better than his 30 minute naps) and only woke up when the phone rang. I tried to let him go back to sleep, but he was wide awake.

Monday Late Morning Nap - After being awake for 2 hours I tried to put him down for another nap. He screamed for about 15 minutes and I gave up. Besides sleep for about 5 minutes in the car he was awake until 2:30 pm.

Monday Afternoon Nap - I think it took almost 30 minutes to get Asher calm enough to go to sleep. I have realized that when he starts screaming he will not go to sleep, but if I can calm him down he can easily fuss himself to sleep. Once he calmed down he went to sleep in about 10 minutes and slept for 45 minutes. I would still like him to nap longer.

Monday Night - We had bath time, eating time and then rocking time. I put him down very sleepy, but still awake at 7:45 pm. I checked on him once after he cried for 3 minutes. After I left the room he quickly went to sleep. Around 10 pm he started crying, but according to Mimi his eyes were closed and he just needed his pacifier to go back to sleep.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, encouragement, comments and emails. I think if I can figure out a good schedule for Asher and be consistent with it Sleep Week will be a success.

Sleep Week

WARNING: The following post is long, all about Asher's sleep habits and contains few pictures of funny stories. If you don't care about Asher's sleep then feel free to just check out this picture and check back later for more funny Asher stories and cute Asher pictures.

You want me to take a nap?!?!

Asher is having a few problems sleeping and I have finally decided this is the week that we are going to try and fix the problem.

Here's what's going on...
Before Asher was born Roger and I read a book called On Becoming Baby Wise, we had heard great things about it and learned a lot about how much sleep a baby needs and how often a baby needs to eat. After Asher was born we followed the basic sleep-eat-waketime routine described in the book. We decided to not do everything the book said for various reasons. When Asher was around 4 weeks old we stopped waking him up in the middle of the night. I would feed him at 7 pm, swaddle him and put him to bed. When I went to bed around 10 pm I would feed him (he didn't really wake up) and then he would go back to bed and sleep until about 5 am. Over the next few weeks this stretched out to almost 7 am. There was never any crying in the middle of the night or fighting with him to go to sleep. During the day Asher followed about a 2.5 to 3 hour routine of eating, playing and sleeping and was generally a good napper.

I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly Asher stopped taking good naps. He would still go to sleep easily, but after 45 minutes he would be wide awake and not interested in sleeping anymore. If you have read Baby Wise I'm sure you would recognize the "45 minute intruder." So, yeah, I know that 45 minutes is not long enough for him to take a good nap, but I don't know what to do about it. We let him cry, we try to rock him back to sleep, but nothing work. I'm frustrated, but everybody always tells us we shouldn't complain because he sleeps so good at night.

As Asher got older he continued with his 45 minute naps, we had no solution for our problem. He consistently fell asleep by himself and slept through the night (now from 8:30 pm to 7 am without waking up to eat), but he would never sleep for more than 45 minutes. By the way, when I say 45 minutes I mean exactly 45 minutes. I could look at the clock and know exactly when he would wake up.

I guess I learned to live with the short naps, after all he slept so good at night, but a few weeks ago his sleep pattern changed again. He started taking 30 minute naps. So, we tried letting him cry when he would wake up, we tried rocking him back to sleep, we tired holding him through the whole nap. It didn't matter he would only sleep 30 minutes. This left him tired all day long and wanting to take little naps every hour or two. I tried keeping him up longer and putting him down sooner, nothing changed. This started messing with his night time sleep. For the first time since he was a tiny newborn he started crying at night and waking up at 5 am and he has stopped falling asleep on his own.

So, Roger and I have decided it's time to buckle down and do something about Asher's sleep problems. We have been researching and reading and praying about what to do. Sunday night Sleep Week begins. For one week we are going to train Asher to sleep good, to fall asleep on his own (without a swaddle blanket) and to hopefully take good naps.

If you have any suggestions, ideas, or encouragement please let me know. My baby won't sleep and I need help!

Asher's Top 10 @ 10

Asher is now 10 weeks old and he would like to share with you his top 10 @ 10.

1. Milk
I love Milk, I like to drink it at least 7 times everyday. I like it so much that sometimes I spit it back up.

I don't get the big deal with Starbucks. $3 for a cup of coffee? No way! Give me some milk.

2. Mommy and Daddy
This one is pretty self-explanatory. They pretty much do everything for me. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't get clean diapers or milk. I really like milk.



3. Eating
I love to eat milk. Most of the time Mommy feeds me, but sometimes Daddy gives me a bottle and when Mimi was here she would give me bottles, too.

Yummy, yummy!

4. Sleeping
I like to sleep so much that I go to bed at 7:30 pm and sleep until 6 am. Mommy still makes me wake up at 11 pm, but it's okay because I get to eat milk.

I love my basket, I'll miss it when I move to America.

5. Smiling
When I smile Mommy and Daddy get so excited, so I smile a lot because I like to make them happy. I didn't used to smile at Mommy and Daddy, I liked to smile at the curtains and the air conditioner (trust me, it's hot here, you would smile at an air conditioner, too). Now I smile at people I know.

I'm adorable and I know it!

6. Milk
I just like it so much I had to mention it again. It's really good.

7. Play Gym
I have a play gym with a red bird, I like to hit the red bird with my little fists. When the music is playing I get so excited I kick my legs and hit my red bird as hard as I can.

The star at the top plays music and I have a great time hitting the birds.

8. Milk
One last time, this stuff is good.

9. Pacifier
When I get really tired and Mommy or Daddy is rocking me I love to have my pacifier. It helps me to calm down and go to sleep.

After a long day of eating and sleeping, I can't wait to get home and relax with my passy.

10. Head Control
I love it now that I can hold up my head and look around. It scares all of the Indonesians when Mommy lets me hold my head up all by myself, but I'm strong and I know I can do it.

I love to lay on my boppy and watch Mommy play with my toys.

Well, that's Asher at 10 weeks old. He's still growing and changing everyday. He's makes us laugh and smile so much and we are so excited to see how much he changes in the next 10 weeks.