Happy Fall!

This time each year I’m convinced that fall is my favorite season… and then spring comes and then I’m convinced that it’s my favorite season. But, now I really know that FALL is my favorite. :) Maybe it was just the all-around crummy weathered summer that made me extra anxious for Fall? But whatever it was I’m glad it’s here! I love the football, the cooler weather, the leaves changing, open windows, and breezy days. I love the pumpkins, the harvest moons, the corn mazes (yes I live in Indiana), the honey crisp apples, and the cider & donuts. I love it all!

Today is a high of 64 degrees!!! So I bundled Asher up (seriously, it was a bit much) and we went for a walk with Daisy. In my defense of the long sleeve onesie, fleece hoodie, and smart wool hat it was SUPER windy and he is fighting a cold… and I’m a newbie. But I did take off his hat half-way through the walk.

This was the best picture-taking I could do while still holding the leash of a very excited dog who had just heard the magical word, “walk”! :)

In other news…

Our little boy is getting SO big! We are all set to start cereal one of these days! The high chair has been assembled…

but for right now we’re just letting Asher get used to sitting in it while we eat dinner. We got him one of those toys that suctions to the high chair tray and he loves to play with it. There will be lots of pictures when we actually begin cereal so check back soon!! :)

I love this picture because it kind of captures a paci-smile. You know, when they are smiling behind their pacifier? :) I think it’s the cutest when Asher does that.

Daisy continues to be a very sweet dog to her little buddy. She would cover him with kisses if we would let her.

No teeth yet… but I think they must be coming with the way this little guy is drooling and chewing on EVERYTHING. He has chew toys (lots of them) the kind that can be refrigerated, the kind that vibrate, the kind that do magic tricks (okay not really), but his preferred chewing toy is this one. It is the perfect size for his little hands to grip and he loves to chew on/suck on the little loops.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a few comparison shots. I think my little boy’s bouncy seat days are numbered. He really only sits in it now if I’m trying to finish getting ready in the morning. Where did that little baby go?! :)

Special Weekend!

We had a very special weekend with family in town as we dedicated Asher at our church, College Park. Today’s dedication was a public profession that we will raise Asher in a godly home and teach Him about Jesus. It is our prayer that when he is old enough to understand what Jesus did for him on the cross he will accept Him as his Savior.

Asher was dedicated with three other kids and surprisingly one of the other little boys was also an Asher! :) So there was an Asher Joseph and an Asher Judah! Crazy!

After church we went out for lunch at Bravo and Asher slept the whole time letting us all eat (woo hoo!) After that we came back to our house for cake and ice cream.

Thanks for coming everyone!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson

Auntie Liz and Uncle Joel

Nana and Papa Jasper

Such a LOVED little boy!!

Dear Asher,

We love you! We pray that you will come to know Jesus as your Savior and live your life to bring Him honor and glory. Asher your name means “happy and blessed” and we know that the only way to true happiness is through following Jesus and we pray you’ll discover this when you are young. We love you so much and you have brought ALL of us so much joy!

A picture is worth a thousand tears

There is not much to say about the pain and frustration of watching the Buckeyes lose (again) to USC.  Asher slept through the game, but when we told him about it the next day his reaction was much like his father’s… 

 

Oh well, there’s still the Michigan game… GO BUCKEYES!!  :)

Four months old!

A walk down memory lane... Where has our newborn gone?!

Well Asher you’ve been with us for four months now! You have brought us more joy than we can measure. Your smiles, coos, and baby laughs are the best! I love being your mommy and spending each day with you. My favorite part of the day is going in your room when you wake up from a nap. You are always so excited to see me and you smile so big that your face can hardly contain it! You are just such a happy boy! I think your daddy’s favorite part of the day is coming home from work and being greeted with your grins and squeals of delight.

There are moments when you’re not so happy, moments when you’re fighting sleep, or tired of being in your carseat at the grocery store, or you don’t want to have your pajamas put on, but you are just as precious to us in those moments as when you’re happy and sweetly cooing. I hope you’ll always know that we love you unconditionally and no-matter-what! :)

You’re growing up before our very eyes!! Four months has flown by and yet you are like a completely new baby! You smile (A LOT), you make all kinds of cute sounds, you giggle and laugh when we are goofy or singing songs.

You hold on to anything you can get your hands on (toys, hair, your paci, our hands…), you still love your playmat but now you reach up and grab the toys and hold on tight or put them in your mouth.

In fact, everything these days goes in your mouth. We think you might even be working on some teeth with how much you chew on everything! And your sweet mouth is a constant source of drool!

You still love bath time, you even like having us put lotion on you after bath time, but you hate having PJs put on! Crazy! You go from laughing and smiling to very upset in a matter of moments (no matter how hard we try to distract you)! We think you know that bedtime is coming once PJs are on and you just don’t want to have to leave the party yet! :)

Your new found love this month has definitely been your exercauser!! I almost cried the first time we put you in and you reached out and started to spin the little toys. You have definitely come a long way from the baby who just laid and looked at toys. You’re such a big boy! You are even starting to get the hang of moving around in your exercauser to look at all the different toys.

Something else you love… TV. Oh boy! We try to turn you away but you’ll strain your neck to see it. Yikes. Thankfully, you also love books. You have a few books with mirror pages and they are your favorites. You have started trying to pull the books from our hands so you can get them (surprise surprise) in your mouth!!

Something else you did this past month that was amazing (to us) was you rolled over!! Your dad was beginning to get worried, so we practiced!! Nana and Papa bought you a tummy time play mat and that helped a lot. It only took you a day to get the hang of rolling over and then you did it several times. You always look so pleased once you get on your back.

Usually this means you’ll stick your hands right back in your mouth but sometimes you vary it and go for your… toes! That’s right! You’re a toe sucker. :) When we are changing your diaper it’s the first thing you do – bring your toes right up to your face. Too cute!

Asher, you are even getting the hang of a routine!! Don’t worry I can say that without jinxing it because you’ve already been off your routine for two nights… but we KNOW you’ll get back on it soon (right!?) :) You go to bed between 7 and 8 pm and you sometimes sleep all the way until 7 am!! Other times you wake up at 5 am, but after a quick feeding you go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8!! You take a morning nap around 9 or 10 and have slept as long as until 1 in the afternoon! (Typically it’s more like 11 or 12 though). Then you take an afternoon nap around 2 or 3 so you’re awake to see daddy when he gets home! You sleep at night in your crib (hooray!) and you take your naps in your swing (uh-oh). We’re going to work on that this month. :)

Here are your stats little Asher-man!

Length: 26 in. (90th Percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs., 12 oz. (75th Percentile)

You’re wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes.

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you little man!

A quick visit with good friends!

On Tuesday our good friends the McKiddie’s stopped by for a quick visit. They were passing through on their way home to Wheaton. We met Julie and Eric a few years ago when they moved to Indy to teach at Heritage. Julie taught fourth grade with me across the hall and we were fast friends. They have since moved back to Wheaton which still make sad! (Especially because we’re both staying at home with kids this year and it would be so much fun to be close for play dates and to compare notes!) :) Julie and Eric also introduced us to some of our favorite games… Settlers of Catan and Cities & Knights!

You can tell we really like Julie and Eric considering we had to overlook the fact that their Wheaton grads AND Chris has had to overlook the fact that Eric is a die-hard Michigan fan. :) (Julie is a Buckeye so that makes up for it… kind of.)

The last year Julie and Eric were here Julie was pregnant with Kate and I had the true joy of getting to experience that with Julie at HCS. :) They moved right before Kate was born so the last time we saw her she was tiny!! This visit she had just turned one and she was crawling all over the house (which Daisy loved). She got lots of Daisy kisses. :)

Here is a picture of us with our kiddos now…

We miss you guys! Thanks for making a special stop to meet Asher! :)

Back in business & on a roll!

I have been without my computer for a few weeks now… which really hasn’t been too bad because I have my i-pod touch and if I was every really desperate I used Chris’s Mac (well, technically “our” Mac… but I’m more of a PC girl.) :) Why you might ask… well, back when Daisy looked more like this:

Than the sweet, laid back, non-hyper dog that she is today. She decided the power cord to the laptop looked like a good chew toy. (Actually everything looked like a chew toy to her in the beginning.) Chris did a good patch job with electric tape, but that fell apart a few weeks ago so we were forced to find a new one. After a few failed attempts Amazon came through for us and I’m happy to say that the new cord is charging up my laptop as I speak type.

Anyway, as a result of little to no computer access I’ve neglected to upload pics and information on our growing boy. Its hard to believe life before Asher and even harder to believe how fast the past four months have flown by! I totally get the “don’t blink” advice now!

Tomorrow Asher turns four months old so I’ll do his official four month picture in the blue chair and post all his stats then. I just wanted to do a quick update and let all my loyal readers :) know we’re back in business.

In the meantime here are a few snapshots of our sweet boy who finally decided to roll over!

SUCCESS!!!

Thanks Nana and Papa for the fun new tummy time play mat that helped get the ball boy rolling! I’ve been saving that pun for a few days now. Sorry! :)