Asher is Going to America

Tomorrow afternoon Asher will leave the land of his birth to go to the land of his parent's birth. It's strange leaving here because we know that more than likely we will never return to this city. Although Asher is very excited to get to Kentucky and see Granny and Mimi there are some things he will miss about Indonesia.

From the time Asher came home from the hospital he has slept in a Moses Basket next to our bed. When we get to Kentucky he will be making the move to a big crib. When we first brought Asher home from the hospital he fit nicely in the middle of the basket, now he takes up the entire basket. It's a good thing we are moving now or we would have to find him a new place to sleep.

He takes up almost the whole basket.

Sleeping away the day in his cozy little basket.

Behind our bed are some beautiful, blue, polyester curtains. While Roger and I are not a big fan of them, Asher loves them. In fact, he loves them so much that sometimes he would rather smile at them than eat.

Oooh! Aaah! Asher loves those ugly curtains.

In the late afternoon it cools off enough that we can take Asher on walks around the neighborhood. While he will be able to still go for walks in Kentucky he will miss all of the exciting things our Indonesian neighborhood has to offer.

Checking out the neighborhood becak.

The neighborhood goat. We didn't want to get too close.

One person Asher will definitely miss is his Ibu. She comes to our house several times a week to clean, do laundry, cook, etc. One of her favorite things to do is to hold Asher and look out the front door. Asher loves to talk to her and smile at her while they check out what the neighbors are doing.

Asher and Ibu hanging out by the front door.

Of course Asher will miss his Indonesian friends, too. Whenever we go for a walk everybody comes running out of their house to say hi to Asher. They all think he is the cutest baby in all of Indonesia (we agree!). And they always tell us that they hope he will one day be president of the United States (just like another famous American that once lived in Indonesia.)

Visiting friends.

Last, there is our family here. These are the people that were with us when Asher was born, spent hours at the hospital teaching us how to take care of him and spent even more hours at our house taking care of us. They have been with us through everything the last two years. Even though Asher will not remember them, they are definitely the thing Roger and I will miss the most about Indonesia.

Our Indonesian family. We love these guys.

Rolling Around

Last Tuesday (December 2) Asher surprised us and himself when he rolled over. He was enjoying some tummy time before bed and just flipped right on over. Luckily we had the video camera out and were able to capture the whole thing. Turn on your speakers if you want to hear Roger get really excited.



Asher had been trying to roll over for a few days, so we had been watching and hoping that we would be able to catch it on video when it happened. Since then he has rolled over several more times. Now he is working on rolling from his back to his belly. He's a strong little man!

Thanksgiving

In Pictures - Asher's First Thanksgiving

Waking up in his big boy pajamas.
Thanks Aunt Jessica!


Hanging out in the sling.


Sleeping in Daddy's arms.


Watching everybody eat way too much food.

Asher needed some Mommy time after his busy day.

Sleepy baby, worn out after all that fun.

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.

Two Months

Next time we take a picture like this we will be in America!

Asher is two months old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone and how much he has changed and developed.

Check out that smile! Asher really started smiling while we were in Bali.

Asher now weighs 12.5 pounds and we think he is probably about 24 inches long. He is very good at smiling and cooing and he loves to play with his Baby Einstein gym. He eats good and sleeps great at night. He usually goes to bed around 7:30, I wake him up at 10:30 to eat and then he will sleep until 6:30. Asher still sleeps in our room (mostly because there's no other room for him to sleep in) and must be swaddled in order to sleep for a long time.

UPDATE!

We are happy to report that with three weeks to go before our trip to America Asher has an Indonesian birth certificate, a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (proof of American citizenship), an American passport and an almost finished visa. Last week we went to Immigration to get pictures and fingerprints done for his visa. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to fingerprint a 2 month old, but it's hard to get those little fists open and even harder to get those tiny fingers onto an ink pad. I think we ended up with two thumb prints electronically and finally had to make fake fingerprints using ink and my pinkie finger.

I Flew on an Airplane!

My Crying Baby

I've got a lot of short videos of Asher. I thought this would be a good place to post them for everyone to see.

Although he is the perfect baby he can occasionally throw a good fit. Usually this happens in the afternoon when he is tired, but doesn't want to sleep. Turn on your speakers and enjoy!