asher sees jack for the first time

We took video of Asher and Jack's first meeting. Asher was super excited and happy. Baby Jack, well, he just slept. I'm sure that Baby Jack will think big brother is super cool in the future, but for now, he's just too sleepy. Enjoy!

Asher at The Little Gym

Every week Asher and I spend a morning at The Little Gym. It's a mommy and me gym class that we take with his friend Prim. Of course Prim (and most of the other kiddos) come with their nannies, but Asher gets to hang out with his mom.

Here's some highlights from this week's class.


Asher's favorite thing about The Little Gym...Bubble Time!


My self-absorbed almost two year old loves that there is a whole wall of mirrors so that he can watch himself.


Asher's second favorite thing about The Little Gym...Balls! Sometimes they want the kids to kick the balls instead of throw them. You know, like soccer. Although Asher hates cheese he is American enough to know that balls are for throwing. Leave the kicking to the other kids.


Check out Asher on the high bar, his current favorite piece of gym equipment. He has recently learned to climb onto a high mat and then sort of jump/fall and grab the bar. He swings until he can't hold it any longer and then loves falling onto the mat.


Asher rockin' the balance beam.

And now for the grandmother's...another Asher video.

A New Movie - Asher Speaks

I am still learning how to use iMovie, but here is my latest attempt at a little bit of video editing. Asher is talking more and more everyday and we have fun getting him to say stuff. Here are some of our favorite things he is doing and saying right now.

WARNING: Long video of Asher produced for the sake of his grandmothers and other family members.

The Bubble Video

Here it is, Asher and his bubbles and his sweet little voice. Turn on your speakers and enjoy.

All By Myself

Here's a video of Asher's newest skill: eating with a spoon. A few days ago he picked up his spoon and fed himself oatmeal and then a few days after that he tackled the yogurt.

I think the yogurt would be easier if it were more solid, but it tends to melt and get really runny as soon as it comes out of the fridge. Welcome to hot season.

It's a messy afternoon snack, but I think he looks good in pink.

A New Place to Sit

We went to the Thailand International Furniture Fair recently and bought a house full of furniture. Okay, so maybe not a house full, but we did pick up a few things to start furnishing our house with. My favorite find of the day was a table and chairs for Asher. I have been looking for something like this since we got here and I found the perfect one.

Check out the chairs. There's an elephant, a bear, a cat and a green thing.

I sort of planned on putting the table upstairs in Asher's room, but it ended up downstairs because that's where Asher spends most of his time. He has figured out how to climb up in the chair by himself and he spends a lot of time each day playing cars on top of the table.

Besides playing cars and reading books at his table Asher has been watching this video a lot lately.

It's called "The Chang Song" and it's in Thai and we only understand one word: chang (elephant). The song is super catchy and we listen to it several times a day. I'm sure Asher will understand all of the words long before Roger and I.

How We Survived

Here's how we survived a trip from North America to Southeast Asia with a very sweet (and active) 16 month old baby boy.

Actually Asher was great, so it wasn't really survival. It definitely wasn't fun, but that kind of trip is never fun.

I started taking pictures the afternoon before we left and tried to chronicle our journey from Vancouver to Bangkok.

Waking up from his last nap in Vancouver, we finally had to wake him up after almost 3 hours of sleep.

Our arrival at the airport in Vancouver. Final tally on the luggage: 3 trunks, 6 large duffel bags, 2 car seats, 1 guitar, 2 backpacks, 1 carry on suitcase, 1 small duffel bag, 1 diaper bag and 1 stroller.

Once we strolled through security we let Asher loose so he could burn off some energy before the long flight. The airport was practically empty at midnight, so Asher had plenty of space to run.

He did set down to rest for a few minutes before climbing down and discovering the moving sidewalks. We spent about 15 minutes going the wrong way on one of them.

Hour One.

On the plane and settled into our seats, Asher was exhausted, but wouldn't sleep. The lights were all on and a meal was served right after take-off and that kept him up even longer. He finally crashed about 4 am and slept for about 4 hours.

Hour Eight.

Drinking milk and talking on the phone, Asher seemed to be unaware that anything was different about today.

A video update of Asher's Airplane Adventures. There's something all over his face, I have no idea what it could be. Considering he ate Teddy Grahams almost constantly for 14 hours there's a good chance it could be crumbs.

Hour Ten.

Another video update. Asher took a good nap, he slept from the beginning to the end of, "The Informant." I was holding him at this point and appreciated his thoughtfulness and willingness to not wake up until the credits had started. When he woke up he was quite excited to see that Daddy was nearby.

Hour Twelve.

Almost there and Asher is still happy playing with Daddy, one last video update.

Hour Fifteen.

We made it to Hong Kong and raced through the airport to make our connecting flight. Roger and I were having some serious caffeine withdrawal, but didn't have time to stop for coffee. Asher kept his hands above his head the entire time we were in Hong Kong. I think this is his exhaustion pose.

Hours Sixteen - Eighteen.

Asher and Roger slept almost the whole way from Hong Kong to Bangkok, I read a book. Sorry, no pictures, we were all looking pretty rough.

Hour Nineteen.

Arrival in Bangkok. After being an angel for nineteen hours of travel Asher lost it while we were in line for immigration. Perfect timing. An immigration official came and got us from the back of the line and took us through to the front. Asher is amazing.

Hour Twenty.

Luggage collected and trip over. We finally made it to our new home. Somehow by the end of all of this Asher ended up with a baggage tag on his arm.

Pictures from Bangkok and the new house coming soon.

An Asher Video

Asher is mostly recovered from his Scary Day and things are getting back to normal around here. Well, at least as normal as things can get when you are moving to a new country in a week.

Back before Asher got sick we took a break from working and packing and had some fun during supper.

Asher says Hello and Gets a New Hat

Asher has recently picked up a new word and he sounds so cute when he says it. Here is a video of his sweet little voice saying, "Hello!"

I was downtown shopping recently and found a new hat for Asher. He had been refusing to wear hats since last spring, but I was determined to get him to wear one when it was really cold outside. The first few days he would only tolerate the hat for a few minutes at a time. Then one day morning he brought it over to me and let me put it on his head. We immediately took him outside to take pictures of him and his froggy hat.

Asher and his froggy hat.

Serious Asher.

Asher, cheesin' for the camera.

The curl is still there, poking out from under his hat.

Asher and Veggie Tales

One of Asher's new favorite things to do is to listen to the Veggie Tales music he got for his birthday. His favorite song is the Intro song, every time he hears it he claps and starts bouncing up and down. It's got a good beat and he just can't help himself.

Look Who's Walking Now

We were skyping with Mimi the other night and Asher decided to stand up and walk across the room.

He took his first few steps on Saturday night, so we were not expecting him to go this far so fast. His main problem now is that he would rather run than walk and this (and his big head) makes him fall down quite often.

Now that he is sort of walking I am thinking I may need to buy him some shoes. Any suggestions?

A Friday Night in the Quad Video

Here is another video of Asher crawling and giggling and just having fun.

Some things to look for:

1. Asher is a speedy crawler these days.

2. He can stand up and balance on his own for just a few seconds.

3. The second time he falls down he actually busts his lip, but he never notices. Roger noticed at the very end of the video.

4. After he falls down the second time he gives my leg a kiss. Listen carefully and you can hear the sweet little noise he makes when he gives kisses.

Asher's New Toy

First Words

It is only fitting that Asher's first words would be bye-bye. After all this is the baby that is in his third home in the first 10 months of his life and the baby that will have lived in 4 countries by the time he reaches 18 months old.

Asher came home from daycare the other day, sat down on the bed next to me, raised his chubby little fist and waved to me while saying in his tiny little voice, "bye bye." We spent the next ten minutes waving at each other and saying bye-bye over and over again. Roger came home and got out the camera to document this momentous occasion and of course Asher stopped talking. We managed to capture the wave and if you listen very closely you can hear that sweet, tiny voice speak those sweet, tiny words.

The Worm

Asher's crawling has progressed from The Scoot to The Worm.

Enjoy the video.

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!

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.

Kiss the Camera

Asher is a master walker in his walker. Everyday he runs around the house chasing dogs, exploring under the table, opening drawers and trying to get into the trash can. He loves to move. Just the other day he started giving us big, slobbery, baby kisses. This afternoon Asher was all wound up and we decided to capture some of the fun on video. Enjoy his sweet kisses and chubby little legs.

Ngomong Terus

Asher has become very loud lately. Here he is talking about "Dada."



And here is Asher giggling. He has learned to put his pacifier in his mouth, but sometimes he thinks it's funnier to drop it over and over again.

Carrots!

Now that Asher has mastered rice cereal we have started giving him carrots. He doesn't really like them. Here is a video of Roger and Asher tackling the carrots.



The carrots are so messy that I usually strip Asher down to his diaper when it's time to eat.


Look at that face, poor baby just doesn't like the carrots...yet.

Even if he doesn't like them, he looks cute trying to eat them.


If you were wondering, this the baby food that I made. It's a little chunkier than I would like, but I'm not sure how to get it to be more smooth. Any tips?