Roll Over Roll Over

OK I know it has been ages since I posted... so maybe I need to make a new years resolution to update the blog more regularly!!

We have been busy getting ready for Christmas; shopping, baking, wrapping etc. But were almost there!

Asher got his picture taken with Santa (as seen above) and actually quite liked sitting on Santa's knee! In fact Santa was excellent, very nice and since we were the last ones for the day we got a few extra pictures and chatted with Santa a bit!

We got some good news about my Dad's cancer this week! He went to his oncologist, she felt around his tummy and she said that it feels like the tumor may have shrunk a bit which means this new chemo might just be working!!! It's so nice to finally get a piece of good news on that side of things!

Since I don't have much time I'm going to have to cut this short but here is a video of Asher rolling over... for the second time! I took this video a few weeks ago, and I just love the look on his face when he is going over!!

The Forgotten Blog

We have been so busy with life and I just haven't had time to update the blog recently!


So, I'm quickly trying to think back over the last few weeks for an update before Asher needs to eat again so here it goes...

Last weekend we had Grandpa P's Surprise 60th Birthday Party. Well it was sort of a surprise - an hour before everyone arrived, he came home and we told him to hop in the shower before his guest arrived.

Of course he says he suspected something was going on... O sure he did... sure he did....



Here are a few pictures:

The Birthday Boy

The Cake

It`s a slot machine (if you couldn't`t tell...)

Asher is doing well, he will be 20 weeks tomorrow... hard to believe he is already 4 months old! Time goes so quickly when you are having fun.... well fun is a relative term for gas, mixed with teething, late nights and poopy diapers, all of which is shadowed by the smiles, chatter, milestones, giggles, cuddles, and love.... opps... I got all cheesy on ya, sorry about that! :O)

Actually I had a whole day off diaper duty on Wednesday, so in a way it was a holiday for me too!
FYI: The picture of him above was taken last week while he was happy and laughing in his swing.

We ran into 4 little scavengers on the way home one night last week:

These raccoons were eating berries by our mailbox at the top of the driveway. We stopped to watch them for quite a while and by the time I realized that we did in fact have the camera in the diaper bag, two of them had already gone into hiding and as you can see one of the others ran away shortly after - so we didn't get much on film.

Well that's all I can think of at the moment to post about and I probably don't have much time left so I better get back downstairs to my hubby and kidlet!

Trick or Treat

We had a fun Halloween this year! Asher dressed up as a little bat and we went to a few houses in Grandma and Grandpa P's neighbourhood with his cousins before heading up to Grandma and Grandpa M's house for the Halloween party!

Asher's little hat didn't want to stay on and when it was on it seemed to slip over his eyes... which really pissed him off!! :O)

At Grandma and Grandpa's house he decided to just wear his skelly PJ's which glowed in the dark!! Below are just a few pictures of the days events!

Mommy and her little baby bat!

The Trick or Treaters

The Party goers!

Gord's costume!

Pumpkin Carving

Here is a video clip of Asher before we carved the pumpkin. I sound like a total dork in this clip, but my kid loves it ;O)

Unfortunately he fell asleep before we finished carving his pumpkin for him!

More pics to come of his costume!!!

Kick Kick Kick

Pumpkin Patch

All the pumpkins at the pumpkin patch across the road... the pumpkin patch that everyone gets to pick from was a lot less full then this one!



Daddy and Asher in the Pumpkin Patch:





Which pumpkin should I choose Daddy?





I like this one Dad!

This is the pumpkin we ended up getting.... we went for a little one and ended up with a big one... but it was calling out to us!

Can't wait for next years trip to the Pumpkin patch... Asher will be running around all excited to pick the best pumpkin!

Now we just have to find some time to carve it this week... any volunteers to help???

Nascar Baby

Here is Asher this morning watching the race...

Cartoons

Apparently someone enjoys his early morning cartoons....

A poopy night...

Last night was a poopy night... and I don't mean it wasn't a good night, I mean that it was a poopy, shitty, messy night!

Asher usually has a BIG poop around noonish each day, but yesterday he didn't... I changed his diaper at 5pm expecting something, but to my surprise there was nothing at all! Shortly after that he started fussing, so I put him into what we call "Poo Position" which is where you place him forward on your chest, squish his legs up, and then you "bounce". This usually works out any gas he might have and also puts him in a good position for pooping!

I got a few farts out but nothing major! After daddy got home we made some dinner and played with the little guy for a while... then at about 7:15ish he started to fuss some more, so Gord put him into "Poo Position" he was farting up a storm and Gord figured he had probably "gone" so he decided to take him upstairs and change him.

Not 2 minutes later Gord called me upstairs.... assuming it was a fairly large poop I headed up ready to laugh at him since it was his turn to change it! I got into the room and Gord told me to have a look....I knew it had to be bad since he hadn't even removed the diaper yet and just told me to lift up his onsie...

I pulled back the onsie and saw the biggest Asher mess yet... about a half cup of mustardy poop sitting between his back and his onsie.... NICE!

We decided that the only way to get the onsie off was to cut it off... otherwise he would be covered, since the onsie would need to go over his head to be removed! It was quite the event...

After that he had his bath and was put into his jammies!

All was fine for a little while... we put him to bed around 9pm and went back down stairs for a bit....

Shortly after he woke up, Gord went to get him and noted that he was a bit gassy... so again put him into Poo Position.... I decided to go make some tea.

We were all in the kitchen chatting when Gord decided to check Asher`s back (checkìng for poop coming out the top of the diaper) since he had been farting quite a bit.... he looked down and there was poo dripping from his (Gord`s) shirt.... I couldn't believe it!

Since Asher was in two piece Jammies and we didn't put a onsie on him this time, the poo must have squirted up and out the diaper, right onto Gords shirt! It was quite a sight... poor Daddy, I`m pretty sure this is the 3rd time he has been pooped on :O)

I`m hoping tonight isn`t quite as poopy and Asher goes back to his usual Noon poop!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Teething

Well this week started out with Mommy getting a cold.... O Joy!

This meant that Asher and Mommy couldn't take Grandpa M to his Chemo appointment on Monday just in case either Grandpa or one of the other Cancer patients caught Mommy's cold too!

This also meant that Mommy's Birthday which was on Wednesday was going to be a non event since no one wanted Mommy's germs!!! So we decided to move Mommy's bday to Friday!

On Friday Grandma and Grandpa M, Aunty B and Aunty Gerry came over and we all had Thai for dinner. Then Great Grandpa and Grandma Ross came over for cake later on!

Asher gave mommy a beautiful necklace which had Diamonds and Ruby's (Asher's birthstone) for her birthday!

Asher is already quite good and picking out Jewellery!

But since mommy had been sick, of course we were all worried that Asher might get sick also... he started with these cute little coughs and he also had a runny nose that came and went on Thursday and Friday. However he didn't have a fever and since both the cough and runny nose seemed to come and go we weren't sure if he in fact had a cold or if he was teething!

On Saturday night when I got home from Grandma and Grandpa M's house, I changed his diaper and found Green Poop! So of course I had to google it to make sure all was OK! Turns out Green poop can be a sign of teething. I then googled other signs of teething which include:

Irritability - Check

Drooling - Check

Coughing - Check

Biting/Gnawing - Check (he has been gnawing on his fist)

Diarrhea - Check (green poop)

Not Sleeping Well - Check

Low grade fever - nope

And Cold like symptoms (runny nose etc.) - Check

Had I not been sick earlier in the week, we probably would have caught on that all his symptoms were teething related, rather then thinking he too was getting my cold, but at least we figured it out and can deal with it accordingly!!

Floating

Last night I took Asher in the Tub with me for the first time, he loved it SO much that we decided to do it again tonight!

We took a short video clip of him enjoying his floaty time in the tub...

Shortly after this he did a nice big fart, luckily it just made a bunch of bubbles... no sharting when your in the Big Tub with mommy!!

Asher

Lots of people ask us where we got the name Asher from, since most people haven't heard it before. So here is the pieced together story that I tell everyone.

Before I was even pregnant I was reading a book called the Red Tent. Basically the novel was the story of Dinah, daughter of Jacob and sister of Joseph. The book's title refers to the tent in which women of Jacob's tribe must, according to the ancient law, take refuge while menstruating or giving birth, and in which they find mutual support and encouragement from their mothers, sisters and aunts. In the Old Testament, Asher was the 8th son of Jacob and the second son of Zilpah, the maid of Jacob’s wife Leah. He was also the founder of the Tribe of Asher.

Although Asher wasn't a huge part of the book, when I read the name I loved it, and like many women wrote it down for future reference!

The name Asher means Happy/blessed/fortunate.

When we were picking names, we had a huge list of Boy names because there were so many that we liked... but Asher was always top of the list and in the end it was a pretty easy decision!

At the Farm

Just a quick picture I took today of Daddy, Asher and Great Grandpa today while we were at the heritage farm checking out all the steam engines and trains!

Sleepy Noises

Another video... this one is of Asher making all kinds of noises while he sleeps in Daddy's arms!

Settling in

Asher and Mommy have been trying to settle into a routine... which is probably why I feel like there really isn't much to blog about lately!

On a "normal" day we wake up around 7 or 8am, Asher has his first "meal" and usually plays on his floor mat for a bit while mommy makes tea or coffee and has some breaky! He loves to play on his mat. He kicks at the rattle and is really starting to make different happy noises!

Then after he has had enough exercise he either needs a bum change or wants a cuddle...or both!

He usually doesn't have a nap until 12ish... but some days he will nap for mommy at 10am! If he does decide to nap at 10am, mommy tries to get her workout in... on the Wii fit! If not I try to fit it in later in the day!

Most days Aunty Tricia and Cousin Kiana come over and hang out or we all go out together! It's so nice to have Aunty and Cousin around to chat with :O)

His second nap of the day is usually around 4 or 5pm... just before daddy gets home! This is the nap that mommy usually joins in on, which is so nice!

When daddy gets home, he has a shower and then Asher and daddy have some cuddle time and mommy usually finishes up dinner!

It's so nice to be settled in and we are really starting to see Asher change and develop new skills! He is getting so big now, I saw a newborn in the mall yesterday that just looked so tiny compared to him!! Hard to believe he was that small at one point!

Here is a video I took one morning while he was on his floor mat!

Bad Blogger

Sorry, I haven't posted in sooo long... life has been busy and I haven't had much time for the computer!

Asher is getting big and smiling lots! He went for his first round of shots on Thursday and didn't much appreciate getting stuck 3 times! But he settled down pretty quickly and had a cuddle with mom!

Yesterday (Saturday) was our first time away from the little man. Grumpy and Grandma M came and watched Asher for a few hours, while Mommy and Daddy went to a funeral. Not exactly a fun outing, but hopefully we will be able to do it again for something fun.

Right now we are working on getting little A to fall asleep in either his bassinet or Crib with out falling asleep in our arms first... just now Gord was holding him, he would fall asleep, Gord put him down and he would cry... this isn't what normally happens but I want to make sure he knows that he wont get picked up right away if he does that. So I told Gord to walk away. I rocked his bassinet a bit, turned on his seahorse and after a bit of protesting... he is asleep! Sometimes he just likes to cuddle... but I want to make sure he doesn't get in the habit of only wanting to sleep in our arms!

Well... that's all for now... hopefully I will get back and post some more this week, but for now here are some pictures!

Happy Birthday Aunty!

Here is Aunty and Asher when he was just 2 days old!!

Making Friends

The other night Asher met this cute little puppy Bear while walking into Grandma and Grandpa's place. Bear is 7 weeks old and was going for his first walk, although wasn't doing much walking at all!

Asher and I stopped for a visit with Bear, who decided to climb right into Asher's car seat! It was too cute not to snap a few photos!

A Weekend of Firsts

This weekend Asher enjoyed both his first Western Speedway night and his first Field Lacrosse Game!

On Saturday I took him to watch Daddy and Uncle Glen race. He was pretty bundled up and ended up sleeping through most of it. The sprint car main even was a bit loud since there were so many of them, so I had to take him under the stands, but all in all it was a good night!

Here he is before being bundled up, wearing his outfit with the orange race car on it for daddy...

All bundled up, cuddling with Grandma P:

All bundled in his car seat on the way home:


Today we went down to watch the final men's and women's field lacrosse games at Summer Slam. It was such a nice day and it was great to see some of the ladies I used to play with too!

Asher and Daddy at Summer Slam:

Cutest kid ever!!!

Cousins

Asher and Kiana have the same PJ's, just in different colours, so Aunty Tricia and I thought it would be neat to snap a few pics of them matching the other night! Unfortunately we didn't get any great shots and Asher was amused with something on the other side of the room, so I only got one with them both looking, and neither one looks impressed, but you get the idea....

Baby Train

On Wednesday, Asher, Aunty Tricia, Cousin Kiana and I went over to visit Tesia and her baby Alyssia. Asher is just 2 weeks older then Alyssia, and Kiana is the oldest having 6 months on both of them!

It is so nice that all the babies can hang out together... they really enjoy it! ;O)

In the afternoon we packed up all the babes and took them for a walk on the goose... the above picture is of all the kiddlets in their car seats... oddly enough they all had a gitter bugs hanging from their seats, which makes the picture look really staged but it was truly a coincidence.

In awesome news, the little man has been sleeping really well this week, and mommy and daddy have been getting some good chunks of sleep, which is sooo nice!!!

This weekend Asher is hoping to meet his Great Aunty Debbie and Cousin Shelbey, they live up island and are planning to come down for a visit!

Here is a picture of Abbi hanging out on Asher's floor mat:

Real PJ's

Asher wearing real two piece pj's for the first time... so cute!!

Lights of Courage

Tonight we went downtown to hang our lanterns for the lights of courage campaign, to celebrate the courage of people who are fighting, have beaten, or have succumbed to cancer.

It was really quite beautiful to see the hundreds of colourful Chinese paper lanterns illuminated in rows, and the hand written messages expressing hope, humour, love, grief and inspiration.

Each lantern comes with a paper tag, on which people can write a message as a tribute to anyone they know who has been diagnosed with cancer. I thought that this would be a great thing for us to do as a family so we could all think about the many ways that cancer has affected our lives. It was especially special to me because my dad has been diagnosed with cancer and will be starting his chemo treatments on Monday.

Asher wrote his Lantern for his Grumpy M, Great Grandpa Ross, Great Grandpa Irwin and Great Grandpa Percival. We know Grumpy will beat this thing so he can see his grandson grow big and strong!!!

Grumpy and Grandma M in front of our lanterns:

Asher trying to stay warm in his blankey:

Road Trip!

This last Sunday we headed up to Parksville for a visit with Uncle Glen, Aunty Tricia and Cousin Kiana at their family cabin in Qualicum Bay and to see the sand castles!

Baboo (this is my nickname for Asher) did pretty darn good on the trip up. We stopped once in Duncan so he could eat and had smooth sailing for the rest of the trip!

We met Aunty and Uncle in Parksville and walked down to the Sand Castles. I haven't been to see the Sand Castles since I was a little girl, in fact the only reason I remember it is because there is a picture of my dad and I standing by one... and for some reason, for years I thought he and I built it ourselves!

After that we drove to Tricia's family Cabin and had lunch at the local diner! The cabin is on a huge property with lots of trails, so after lunch we all went for a walk. I put Baboo in the sling, and Uncle Glen had Kiana in her carrier. After we had walked a little ways we heard something in the bushes which sounded like it was running/bounding at us! We all turned around on the spot and started walking briskly back towards the cabin!

On the ride home, Asher slept most of the way, again we stopped in Duncan for his dinner and while we were there we checked out the Superstore and picked up a few outfits for the little guy! We are frequent superstore shoppers, since it is the grocery store closest to our place, they have such good prices and cute baby clothes! Therefore walking into the Duncan Superstore was like a flash back to what our Superstore used to look like. The layout was the same as ours used to be a few years ago, they had no self checkout, and they still had plastic bags! It was pretty funny...to us anyways!

We stopped and Grandma and Grandpa P's on the way home since they were Abbisitting for the day and found out that Abbi had been whining for us all day, which is strange because normally she LOVES her Grandma and Grandpa's place... my guess is that she just wanted to come to the beach with us!!!

Here are a few pics of the sand castles:

And Asher yawning in the buggy during the walk around the sand castles...

Wordless Wednesday - Daddys and their babies

Newborn Photoshoot

Last week our friend Krysta came by and snapped a few photos of Asher! She sent the pictures to us last night and are so thrilled with how great they turned out.... here are just a few of the favs!

Happy 50th Birthday Grumpy!!

This is my favorite picture of Asher and his Grandpa so far, it is also the first picture of my dad as a Grandpa!

Weekend Fun!

This weekend was busy busy busy!

On Saturday we had some running around to do in the morning, including buying MORE diapers. And that night Daddy was supposed to race, except his car had an oil pump issue so he wasn't able to go out.

On Sunday we had Rob and Ali's wedding ceremony to attend at 12, then we had to jet out to mechosin for a family reunion with my Grumpy's side of the family at 2pm, and back for the Reception at 4pm! It was a busy day, but it was so nice to see everyone!

Monday was a bit more relaxed, Steve, Cathy and Cayla came over to meet Asher in the morning, and then in the afternoon we took Asher around in the stroller got some groceries etc. When we got home, Asher had some tummy time... and I couldn't believe it but the little man rolled from him tummy to his back... I didn't think he would be able to do that for quite some time, and of course that was the time I wasn't video taping him...! I can't wait to try it again this afternoon! Then we made a nice chicken dinner with scalloped potatoes and guess what people.... Asher slept through the whole dinner, and we both got to sit down at the table and eat the whole meal while it was hot! Can you believe it!

Then yesterday Krysta came and took some newborn pictures of Asher, can't wait to see them!

Here is a pic of Grumpy and Asher at the family Reunion:

The cousins at Rob and Ali's Wedding:

Daddy and Asher at the Reunion: