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.

Eight Months

Eight month old Asher still loves to eat, still loves to smile and he still loves to have his picture taken.
I have started making his baby food chunkier and giving him little cereal puffs to snack on.

We haven't been to the doctor lately, but I think he probably weighs around 19 lbs.

Asher has gotten more interested in his toys lately, he loves to sit in the floor and play. Of course, his favorite part of playing is putting everything in his mouth.

All of his top front teeth are coming in right now. So far only one has broken all the way through, but I think the others will be here any day now.

Asher has started pushing up on his arms and he can scoot backwards when he really wants to. He seems a little more interested in trying to crawl, but he hasn't quite figured it out yet.

The biggest challenge this month has been the appearance of some separation anxiety, mainly when Mama leaves the room. Luckily Asher is easily distracted by pretty much anything.

Asher talks more some days than others. He still sticks to the "mama" and "dada" sounds most of the time. Roger claims that Asher almost said dog and ball the other day. I'm not sure if this really did happen, but I do know that Asher loves dogs and balls, so it is a definite possibility.

Chuck E. Cheese

Asher has been busy celebrating birthdays this month. So far he has gone to Chuck E. Cheese for Mommy's birthday, celebrated at Alex's pizza birthday party and accompanied Mimi to her birthday dinner.
I may be a little biased, but I think he enjoyed my Chuck E. Cheese party the best. He bounced up and down the whole time we were there, he was so excited to see all of the other kids, the lights, the noises, the games. Asher did try to ride a few rides, it didn't go too well. I think he will have even more fun when he is older.

Enjoying Clifford the slow moving dog with Uncle Mel.

Smiling and bouncing in his highchair.


The whole crew in a self-portrait ala Will J.

The best part of any trip to Chuck E. Cheese is, of course, trading in your tickets for a wonderful prize. Asher traded in his tickets for a squishy basketball, perfect for teething (he got one new top tooth yesterday and has three more top teeth on the way), and carrying around as he runs wildly in his walker.

There was one part of the birthday festivities that Asher did miss out on...

Meeting Maddie

After our big trip to Keeneland we headed to Louisville for a few hours to visit the Jacksons. Since we last saw Will and Beth a lot has happened, Asher grew two teeth and Maddie was born. Asher and I spent a wonderful day at home with Beth and Maddie. I had so much fun sitting around and talking with Beth while we fed our babies, took them to Target, cooked supper and changed a lot of diapers. After supper was over we took the babies (and the mamas and daddies) outside for a little photo shoot.

I held Asher and Maddie (or as I often call them "Masher and Addie") while Roger snapped away. He really captured the moment and who knows, maybe we will be showing these pictures at their wedding one day.

Asher didn't quite know what to think when he first met Maddie.

I think he likes her...

...and he wants to kiss her!

After having a little chat with Asher about not kissing girls (or trying to lick their heads) we headed out to Krispy Kreme. Maddie slept like a sweet little baby and Asher sat in a high chair wearing a Krispy Kreme hat and beat on a box of donuts. I love my baby boy!

New Things and Play Things

On Sunday Asher went to the nursery at church for the first time. I think it was much more traumatic for me and Roger than for him. He sat around and looked at the other babies, drank some milk and took a nap. I think he liked it and I think he will go back.

Asher has also gotten his first two teeth. The first one popped in last Thursday and the second one followed on Monday.

This is the best picture I could get. They are both small, but super cute and super sharp. He still hasn't learned to bite down and (for my sake when I'm feeding him) I'm not in a hurry for him to learn.

Besides growing teeth Asher has spent most of his time playing.

He plays with his doggy in his bumbo seat while we eat.

He jumps up and down in the doorway while we get stuff done around the house.

And thanks to cousin Kelly and Sara Kate he spins around in circles and plays until he is exhausted in this exersaucer.

Four Months

Asher is now four months old and is getting his first tooth. It started a few days ago and now the first tooth has broken through his gums in a fit of screaming and tears.

The photography session really did start out well.

But right after this picture he fell forward onto his face and I may have accidentally knocked him in the head with my knee trying to catch him...and it all went downhill from there.

I really feel like we captured his pain. Poor baby! Hopefully he will start to feel better soon. We have been trying to give him cold teething toys to chew on, but he doesn't know how to chew yet so he just sucks on the toys and get his tongue cold.

Besides teething this has been a pretty uneventful month. Asher has started to giggle and interact with us more. He loves to sit up in his Bumbo chair or stand up in his walker. He's finished with all of that laying around like a baby nonsense.

We haven't been back to the doctor, so I don't have an update on his size, but I think he's getting bigger everyday. We still haven't started solids and I really don't plan to until around 6 months, but we will see how Asher does on his milk only diet.

Asher does have a favorite toy, his puppy.

This is the first toy that Asher has really shown an interest in. He mainly enjoys picking up the puppy and then throwing him on the ground, he also loves to get a puppy dog ear in his mouth so he can suck on it. The other day he even fell asleep holding his puppy.