18 Months

Well another milestone has come and gone with me forgetting to post an update. I would say 18 months is a fairly big deal, he's a toddler and everything now, which is crazy to me!! Things have been really busy the past few weeks so this is late. . . what else is new?!

- He has become a much more picky eater these days. He still loves string cheese, yogurt, grapes, and any pasta dish, but he's become alot more opinionated about what/how much goes into his mouth. Little turd has also figured out that if he didn't like a particular bite, he can just spit it out. Drives me crazy!

- He is obsessed with cars of any shape and size. He got the Cars movie for Christmas and knows all about "Queen" and loves the Lightning McQueen hot wheels that he has. He's also a big fan of stuffed animals and is constantly chattering about his monkeys.

- I don't know why, but he insists on spreading our throw blankets out on the ground during the day. My best guess is that he likes to drive his cars on them, but honestly, who really knows what goes on in the mind of that child?!

- He has all of his teeth, thank the good Lord! His canine teeth were the worst, he was a big old grouch the whole time they were cutting through.

- He has perfected the toddler tantrums. When he gets pissed, he throws himself onto the ground and does his whining cry. I typically ignore him when he gets like that, it doesn't last as long.

- He knows eyes, ears, mouth and nose by name and can point them out on faces. Sometimes he can find his own body parts without looking in the mirror, which seems like a pretty good trick, but I honestly don't know when kids start learning stuff like this, so maybe it's not that cool. . .

- He loves his cousin Drake, who he calls "D" The quickest way to get him out the door is to tell him that we are going to go see D. The second he hears that, he drops what he is doing and runs to the door yelling "D! D! D!" He even recognizes when we are getting close to their house because he gets really excited and starts saying D again. I'm so sad we moved, they are basically brothers, Asher still asks for him all the time.

- Still obsessed with his little, and yodels when he says it, sounds like, 'lee lee lee lee" If he's really exhausted and needs to sleep, if you tell him to go get his little, he does this cute little sigh of relief, almost a mix between a sigh and a laugh. It's like we are finally putting him out of his misery because he wants that little and a nap so bad. Pretty funny!

- He understands pretty much everything that we say to him. Which is actually a little bit frustrating because he is becoming more opinionated, so he chooses to disregard things we say. I feel like we need to start being more strict with him and hold him accountable for his behavior, but at the same time, he's still so little. . . we are in limbo there a bit, but more often than not, I turn into the strict crazy mom that puts her kid in timeout when he's acting rude. . . oh well, I'm sure he will turn out fine in the end!

- If he has something in his hands he knows we want, or he knows he shouldn't have (i.e. the remote), he will run away from us and go hide in a corner. Sometimes he runs away from us when we are outside and calling his name. . . awesome haha!

- He has been doing this really funny thing where he runs around in small circles for no apparent reason. He does this at least 5 times a day, it's pretty hilarious!

- He has a very distinct "reading" voice that he does. One of his favorite things to do is read books and you can tell when he is reading mode. Gosh, I just love listening to him talk, it is the best thing ever!

- He is constantly jabbering about something. His conversations with himself are so funny to listen in on! Somebody asked me the other day how many words he knows and I honestly haven't kept track anymore. He will pretty much mimmick anything back to us at this point, or at least attempt to. Here are some short sentences and new things he has been saying the last few weeks.

Where'd it go?

There it is!

Get you!

"Cawful" - Careful

"Awplane" - Airplane

"Luh Boo" - Love You

Ducky

Pretzel

- I don't know where this comes from, but he really likes helping us clean up his toys at the end of the day. I am 100% sure this will not last, so we will encourage it for now and be sad when cleanup time turns into a battle :)

-  He loves to brush his teeth. Unfortunately, he refuses to let us help him, so he basically just chews on the toothbrush in his mouth, there's got to be at least some benefit to that right?! Sometimes we pin him down to actually give him a decent brushing, but he gets real wound up when we do that to him!

- He has become very fond of Sesame Street and Cookie Monster in particular. He asks to watch "cookie" about 27 times every day! 

Well that's all the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. I should write a whole new post about moving to DC and all the craziness that went into that, but I'm not up for it at the moment. Considering my track record, maybe I'll get it done in the next 6 months or so! :)

15 Months

Things I want to remember about Asher between 12 and 15 months. . .

- He is obsessed with balloons! It all started when a couple of months ago when he noticed that there are always balloons hanging by the cash registers at Walmart and he thought they were pretty cool so he started reaching for them and got really excited about it. Now any time he sees a balloon he points and drags us over to it if he's walking and will screech out, "WHOOO WHOOO WHOOO!!" It is the funniest little quirk haha.

- He loves cars and has started making legit car noises when he drives them around. He has a bunch of hotwheels cars but he also has some bigger trucks and he always insists on trying to lift up the big cars to put them on top of the coffee table. I don't know why he decided that was something fun to do considering it takes all of his strength to get them up there and half the time he can't do it anyway, but I've stopped trying to figure out what goes on in the mind of that child, he does what wants!

- He is still a really good eater and at this point I've just started feeding him whatever we are eating for most of his meals. He still eats purees for fruits and veggies sometimes, but more often than not, he'd rather eat what's on our plates. He especially loves any form of pasta, cheese, yogurt, animal crackers, chicken, pizza, donuts, most soup he's tried. . . pretty much anything! He is getting better at drinking out of a regular cup, but the second he tries to do it himself he soaks himself.

- Here are a list of the words he's been saying lately

Baba - food/water 

Cheesh - Cheese 

Shoe-sh - Shoes
Gock - Sock 

Booka - Book

Buh bye Da - Bye bye Daddy 

Ba bowl - Ball

Kaka - Cracker

Awt - Hot

Caaw - Car

Woof woof - Dog
Buttaw - Button
Daw do - Thank You
 Monkey

Uh oh

Mama 

Dada

No no (of course!) 

- He loves being outside. When we go on walks he likes to pick up random leaves and sticks off of the ground. When he grabs a stick he'll do this funny thing where he swipes it on the ground like he's trying to dig a whole or something, it's the weirdest thing! He also likes climbing up the stairs and going down the slide at the playground in our neighborhood.

- He's usually stable on his feet but he's definitely had some pretty nasty falls. He face planted on the cement a couple of months ago and he had quite the fat lip. The other day he was running around the play ground and tripped head first into a pole, which left a bruise. As much as I feel bad for him and obviously don't want him to get hurt, I don't overly freak out about it and have just accepted the fact that scrapes and bruises will be the norm for the foreseeable future!

- He still loves dogs and gets so excited any time we see one.

- Sometimes if he's having a hard time falling asleep or if he wakes up after a nap and is hanging out in his crib, he will pull off his socks. It's so funny because he just starts with pulling at the toes, so I'll watch him on the baby monitor and all I see is this long stretch of fabric coming off his foot, cracks me up.

- He still doesn't have very much stranger danger. It's nice that he's not overly clingy and he doesn't mind being in large groups, but it would be nice if he was a little more cautious of total strangers!

- He almost always gets complimented on his long eyelashes when we are out running errands or if we meet someone new. They really are ridiculously long!

- For the most part he is a really easy going and content little guy, but there are definitely times when he is the most strong willed stinkin pill! Jared and I both have a bit of a stubborn streak and I think he's definitely inherited that from both of us. His temper tantrums include throwing himself on the ground and kicking his feet while screaming. . . awesome. . . I typically just ignore that dramatic behavior, I don't have the patience for it and luckilyy he's never done it while we've been out in public!

- Phrases/questions he understands: Are you hungry? (Runs over to his high chair)  Is it time for a nap? (Drops what he is doing and goes over to the baby gate) Go get your little (the blankie he sleeps with) books/cars etc.  Do you want some milk? Lets go for a walk. Lets put on your shoes. Go show mama/dada. Who's home? (I ask him that every time we hear the garage door open when Jared gets home from work, he runs over to the baby gate)  Can I have that please? (He'll let go of things if we ask him)   I feel like he honestly understands quite a bit of what we say to him, it's so crazy, but he really does.

Asher is 1!

Obviously my status as "best mom ever" has taken a big hit considering I'm more than two months late in posting this one. . . meh, I lost that status pretty much the second we got home from the hospital with our little bundle of joy last year ;)  Things I want to remember about Asher around the age of one:

- The best way to describe our nugget is that he is a busy body. He cannot sit still for more than 2 seconds. He's constantly moving and "working" haha

- He started walking right before he turned 11 months old. He was a little uncoordinated at first, but now he's cruising and likes to get around all over the place.

- He loves to "dance" which basically means rocking back and forth on his two feet and shaking his head back and forth too. He tends to do it more if there's music playing, but he still does it even when he's not thinking about it.

- He has learned how to clap for himself.  It took him forever to learn how to feed himself with his hands, so when he was trying to get the hang of it, I would always clap after he took a bite. So now he'll clap for himself after takes bites.

- He loves being outside, but now that he's walking, it's almost exhausting to take him out because he's all over the place!

- He's in that stage where anything will provide him with entertainment. I took him to a splash pad last week and instead of playing in the water he was more interested in walking all over and playing in the dirt. He's such a funny little guy.

- He now has four teeth on top  and still just the two on bottom. The top teeth were definitely a little more trouble coming in than the bottom ones!

- He is constantly making boy sounds and he has conversations with himself, it's pretty cute.

- He loves watching anything that has a motor. Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, construction vehicles etc. He will sit and watch for at least 5 minutes, which may as well be an eternity in Asher time!

- He still doesn't know how to go down the stairs very well, but he is definitely aware that he doesn't want anything to do with going near the stairs if he's at the top. He'll always stop and look over the edge and then go somewhere else, so that is nice since I don't really have to worry about him falling down.

- He loves sleeping with his "little" and gets royally pissed if he chucks it out of his crib before he falls asleep. You'd think he'd figure it out and not drop it on the ground, but no, he still throws it overboard at least once a day before a nap.

Photo credit for the cake pictures goes to Lora Grady, she's amazing and we were lucky enough to have her take our family pictures a couple of months ago.

I survived. . .

Well, I've almost survived one year of being a first time mom, so here's some friendly advice and reminders to myself to recall before we have another baby. . .

- Take every single "sleep training" book/blog and drop kick their advice straight out the tallest window you can find. . . and squish your heel in it for good measure. Seriously, the worst idea I ever had was Googling baby sleep. You get these crazies who literally think that your 2 month old baby should be able to sleep through the night AND take several two hour naps throughout the day. They will swear by this method and that method blah blah blah. . . Yeah, I totally want to hear about how your baby took a 3 hour nap, outside, on the ground, in the rain, all because of Baby Wise (okay, maybe that's a slight over-exaggeration). Congratulations, you have what's called a good sleeper and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with all of that stupid sleep training advice!!

- Your emotions, within any given hour, will span from overwhelming happiness, as in, "my kid is the cutest little thing on the whole planet I just want to kiss him all day long!" to mind boggling frustration, as in, "I swear if he touches those damn blinds one more time, I'm going to bash my head against this wall!" (luckily for all parties involved, Jared is much more intelligent than I am and decided that we should just raise the blinds up to remove all forms of temptation from the little punk).

- No matter how much you'd love to control your baby, he will do everything in his own time, because he actually has a personality and mind of his own! Totally unfair that the tiny dude gets to decide when to start sleeping through the night, ditching the swaddle, feeding himself, drinking from a sippy, crawling, walking etc. You are one of those control freak people, so this concept will be slightly difficult for your OCD to handle, but once you realize that your baby is actually the boss over when and what he learns, things become a lot easier.

- A funny thing happens when your baby turns eight months old. It will seem as if everybody around you has lost their minds because they will start to ask you when you are going to have another baby! The first couple times I laughed it off thinking, that if they knew me they couldn't be serious. And then it happened again, and again, and again. I wish I were a rockstar parent like some family and friends I know, but sadly, I am not. Maybe I should have Jared design me a t-shirt that says, "I love my baby, but I DO NOT have the mental capacity and emotional stability to have another anytime soon (sorry to disappoint)!!"

- Remember when you felt like a self-conscious idiot because you didn't have a clue how to carry a car seat on your arm or get the stupid door open when pushing the stroller? Don't worry, I'm pretty sure nobody was looking at you and thinking that you were an idiot because most people actually have lives and don't care what strangers are doing out in public!

- Never let your baby nap without a onesie or bottoms on. All will seem well and your kid will be quiet up in his room, but then when you check the monitor you will be greeted by the sight of the cutest little baby butt cheeks you have ever seen, but then you will notice that he took the advantage of his new found freedom and peed all over his bed. . . awesome!

- Upon the arrival of the sweet babe, your existence becomes extremely less important to those around you. All anybody will want to see or talk about is your baby. It makes sense, they are just so tiny and squishy and cute! But don't be surprised when you find it takes a while for your presence to be acknowledged when you walk in the door to visit family or friends!

- You will continuously compare your kid to other babies and their skills. You won't be able to help it (because you certainly have issues). Half the time you will think your kid is a champ because he started walking at ten months. The other half, you will swear there is something wrong with him because he can't feed himself yet with his fingers, but so-and-so's kid was doing that months ago.

- Sometimes you will find yourself pinning your child down just to get some Tylenol down his throat so he will stop acting like a little hellion because he is teething. . . that's about as fun as it sounds!

- Let your husband help! You aren't a child rearing expert just because you are the mom and you gave birth. News flash: Nobody knows what they hell they are doing when it comes to parenting!! Let your husband parent how he wants. Who cares if he changes the diapers or dresses your baby differently than you?? Nobody likes to feel nit picked, so if you keep correcting him and trying to force "your way," then you will effectively turn yourself into an only parent because I bet he'll eventually stop trying. Be grateful that you have a husband who is just as capable a parent as you are and let the dude help!

- You thought you were done with getting up in the middle of the night, but you were wrong. It's real unfortunate that pregnancy permanently caused your bladder to shrink. You'll be getting up every night to pee. . .

- Breastfeeding is going to turn you into a crazy hormonal psycho! Seriously, you will think your life is over just because your dang kid does not take a freaking nap. You will question your sanity and swear that you were totally laid back and normal before having a baby when said baby does not eat very well, is unpredictable, fussy, and blows out of every stupid diaper (or in other words, acts like a baby!). You will blame it on baby blues and wonder how that could last so long. Then when you are done nursing, almost overnight, you will feel so much better. Like, praise the Lord I knew I wasn't that crazy, better!

- Do not, I repeat, DO NOT reach into the back of your baby's diaper to see if he's pooped. Hello dummy, you are going to end up with crap on your hand at some point!!