A Nice Birthday

Despite not being thrilled about turning another year older, I did have a nice, relaxing birthday.  One friend told me she hoped I had a day showered with blessings because it rained all day long.  And it ended up that I did have many little blessings all day:

•  Had cake for breakfast (oops!)
• Ashyr was in one of his giggly moods which are my favorite kinds of days.  I enjoyed laughing with him all day long.
• I got to take a 2 hour nap (!)  
• He planted a big wet kiss on my cheek when I picked him up from the nap.
• My maternity clothes came in the mail that I ordered from Gap so I can dress like a semi-normal person again.
• Received lots of sweet cards, texts, calls, emails, and fb messages from family and friends
• Grant surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses when he got home from work.
• We went out for pizza and dessert.
• Spent the whole evening with the two boys I love so much.
• More fun planned going out with friends twice today, Grant's taking me antiquing and the plaza, then fondue tonight.  

Pretty great day and weekend plans..now just accepting and (trying to remember) that I'm now 26!

Halfway--20 Weeks!

This pregnancy is going so much faster than my first (no complaints there!).  I was looking at my pregnancy pictures with Ashyr, and I'm bigger this time than I was at 20 weeks with him (maybe a small complaint), but I think that's pretty typical (?)  I don't know.  I'll try to get a picture up sometime soon.

Anyway, yesterday I had my 20 week appointment which went really well--baby is growing on track, heart rate perfect, and my midwife refreshed me on some issues that will prep me for labor again...in an effort to actually get me to the birth center this time. :) 

I appreciate their concern about it, and why wouldn't they be concerned?  She told me that they had a mom whose first labor was short like mine, and she just had her second baby last week...and cut the time in half which usually happens with each baby. YIKES!  In other words, they want me to call the first time I even feel a twitch down there.  I definitely will...in fact I'm considering camping out on the front steps of the birth center the week I'm due...sheesh.

Two Questions

1. Why does this have to be my pregnancy craving?  (It was oranges last time!)

2. Why does there have to be a Sonic right next to the grocery store I shop at every week?

Not good.

Reaching New Heights...

I love watching all of his new discoveries. Wouldn't miss them for the world.

House

As of Thursday after signing more papers than I ever have in my entire life, Grant and I became homeowners. It feels pretty good, but I don't know that it has quite sunk in for me yet. It was such a long process, and we weren't sure that it was going to work out with this particular house. But it did, and we are thankful.

Now we get to fix it up. So we spent all day long Saturday at our house (we have been practicing calling it that now--feels strange!), Home Depot, and Sherwin Williams. There are so many decisions within decisions to be made--paint, lighting, flooring, appliances, etc.  The list goes on.

And I thought wedding planning was a lot of detailed decisions...

10 Months Old

At ten months, Ashyr loves:
Playing with my whisk! He finds it in the kitchen drawer and carries it around just about every day.

Helping me do laundry. I fold it. He unfolds it. Without fail. :)

And the camera. He always perks up when I get it out and smiles for me. Love him!

Teething and Weaning

The two most difficult things so far in my days of mommyhood.  I have never wanted Ashyr to grow up too fast (and I still don't) but I can say that I am ready for these two stages to be over..soon. Months 8 and 9 have seemed like they are dragging.  I absolutely hate seeing him in pain, constantly chewing on his little fingers and crying.  Teething is terrible, why wasn't I warned more about this?  And with baby #2 on the way, I really want him to be weaned by one year.  Having a couple months of not nursing a baby sounds wonderful! 

I can tell progress is being made in these areas, but it has been slow.  Seriously, why can't baby teeth just pop in over night instead of taking weeks?  I feel like I am trying to constantly console and comfort him all day (and night) and that becomes very taxing when you are already fatigued.

Needless to say, I am even more thankful for each smile and happy moment we have together right now.  
  

Christmas Recap

We had a great Christmas with my family. Our five days in Springfield included a trip toSilver Dollar City, Christmas church services, games, and of course lots of amazing food.

At Silver Dollar City for the Christmas tree light ceremony which was beautiful, but freezing!

With Natalie Rose--what a cutie!

 Jen, me, and Ashyr.

In his new outfit!

  

Ashyr got SPOILED on his first Christmas.

9 Months Old

Quick Update

This really isn't much of a post, but I wanted to pop in to say that I'm sorry my blog has been lacking content recently.  We have too much stuff going on which would make for some great blog posts, but I feel like I don't have time to sit down and tell you about it all right now.  I am hoping to get better about it in the near future once things settle down.  Probably after Christmas we will have a little breathing room and I will try to post more regularly. For now, here are a few pictures that I've taken over the past month or so and haven't shared yet. 

Thanksgiving:

Grant's 27th birthday cake. Homemade ice cream cake!

Fun with a friend: