A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Today we headed to the Pumpkin Patch with Marcus' mom before Halloween was over.

A little too young to sit up on his own...this was the best we could do. :)

Weekend Visitors

Weekends are still the best.  I love having Marcus home with me and Asher and doing all that we do.  This weekend was a fun one.

We got to see Jamie and Adam and their darling little Millie again.  It was only for a minute but it was so good to see them.  Millie is so cute and it is so fun to see the similarities and differences between her and Asher.  Last time we saw each other was two months ago and I can't believe how much our babies have changed since then.  They have gotten so much bigger and do so much more!

Little Thumb Sucker

So in the last few weeks Asher has found his thumb.  He just loves it.  He is starting to seem less interested in his binky and will even spit it out to suck on his thumb instead.  Whenever he is tired or fussy in goes the thumb.  Sometimes when he is asleep in his crib I will hear a loud smacking noise and sure enough he is in there loudly sucking on his thumb.

A few people have told me that I need to stop the habit now, while I can, and try to either pull his thumb out or get him to take his binky instead.  And I guess I just want to know, are they serious?  Is this something I really can stop now?  Or something that I should stop now?  Obviously I am his mom and think it is adorable, but I do know that if this becomes a habit now it will probably be hard to break the older he gets.   But I guess it doesn't seem realistic that I could stop him from sucking it now.  He sleeps so many hours a day and unless I was sitting over his crib every hour he is going to suck his thumb.  Just wondering what other people think?

A Few Favorites

So for the last few years I have thought I really didn't like to cook.  I liked to bake, but only when I had the time to do it, and it didn't seem like that happened very often.  Now that I am home though I am realizing that I don't hate cooking, I just hated it when I would get home from work, tired and hungry.  Now that I am home with Asher I have been cooking a lot and these are a few of my favorites lately, all of which feel just perfect for the fall weather.

Black Bean Soup from Our Best Bites

This soup was really easy to make and tasted so good to me.  Marcus even ate the leftovers over chips with cheese, like a bean dip and nachos.  

Pumpkin Coconut Soup from Just Cook Already

This was so delicious.  Probably the best soup I have had in a really long time.  I reduced the oil and the salt and used banana squash instead of butternut squash because that is what I had.  I will definitely be making this soup again.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread from The Sisters Cafe

I used the applesauce in place of some of the butter like she suggested and it turned out great.  It tasted healthy and wheat-y but I really liked that.

There are so many fun recipes on so many blogs out there, but I always like to hear when people I know have tried them and recommend them.  So these are my most recent favorites.  What are you favorites?

Pretty Fall Pictures

Marcus had the day off of work so we headed up American Fork Canyon to enjoy the leaves one last time before they're all gone.  So pretty.

Seriously angry looking little baby.  He wasn't, I promise.

Apparently Marcus is much better than I am at getting a smile out of Asher while taking a picture.

Mini Pumpkin Wreath

Last year I found this tutorial on Armelle for a mini pumpkin wreath and wanted to make it so bad.  I never got around to doing it so I knew this year I just had to make it.  I love those cute white pumpkins and love how it turned out!  It was super simple to make too, which is always a plus.  I must admit though that after I made it I had no faith that those pumpkins were going to stay glued to that wreath.  They are heavy!  I was pleasantly surprised this morning to open the door and see that they were all still there.

I decided to make it just a little bit spookier for Halloween by adding a few bats.

It was so easy and turned out just perfect!  And I love that after Halloween I can just take off the bats and continue to enjoy the wreath throughout November.  

Progress

It has been so amazing to watch how quickly Asher has been changing and how much more he is able to do in only the two and a half short months that he has been alive.  He is so much more alert now.  He loves watching your face and makes such good eye contact with you as you play or talk with him.  He follows your voice.  He has discovered his hands and loves to suck on them.  He reaches up towards his toys and swings his arms at them.  

He is so much stronger now and can really hold himself up during tummy time and in his bumbo.  He likes to be held facing out so he can watch the world.  He loves straightening his legs and putting his weight on them.  

And we used to have to work so hard to get a little smile out of him, and now he smiles and even giggles all of the time.  I'll do just about anything to get one of his dimply smiles.  He has discovered his voice, and does a lot of cooing, gurgling and even some squealing.  

It is so much fun watching him learn and grow and do more and more every day.  We just love this little guy!

Little Cowboy Baby

A Name and a Blessing

Yesterday Asher was blessed and it was such a wonderful day.  The weather started out a little bit cold but it turned out to be sunny and beautiful.  Asher was an angel boy and was happy all day long.  Marcus gave Asher such a sweet blessing and I was so grateful for my little family.

It also made me think so much about how badly I wanted this little baby.  I remember while I was waiting to get pregnant how hard other baby blessings were for me.  I remember just wanting a baby of my own to bless.  And now it was so unreal that this was actually my baby that was being blessed.  I used to hold back tears as other babies were blessed, and today I held back tears of joy and gratitude.  So grateful to be this little guy's mama.

And I can't help but wonder who is out there waiting for their turn.  Their turn to have a little baby of their own.  I pray that they don't have to wait much longer.

We had all of our family there and so many good friends.  I was so grateful to have them all there to celebrate this special day with us.  We are lucky to have such wonderful support from all of those we love.

We had a yummy brunch of cinnamon and orange rolls, muffins, ham and so much delicious fruit.  Thank you to everyone who helped!

I love this baby boy so much and I love this gospel.  I am so grateful that Marcus holds the Priesthood and was able to give him such a wonderful blessing.  I feel so blessed and am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for all that I have been given.

Asher Says...

And it was pretty awesome.  It probably was because he got his shots yesterday, but it was so great to get a full night of sleep.  And yeah, he has a little bit of a hard time holding his head up in his bumbo.  At least he's not crying.  Hopefully he is slowly learning to like it.

And the shots--seriously--they were awful.  I've heard moms say they hate them, but it really is awful.  I didn't even have to hold his arms down because Marcus was there and he did it, but it was all I could do to keep from crying when he started screaming.  But he is handling them like a champ, he is just really mellow and really sleepy.

2 Months Old

Asher is two months old!

At two months:

Weight: 13 pounds (80 percentile)

Height: 22.75 inches (60 percentile)

Head: 16 (80 percentile)

-Asher still eats about every 3 hours during the day and goes 5-6 hours at night, and has even gone 6.5 hours the last few nights.  He is on a pretty good schedule, he eats for the last time at 10:30 and then only wakes up 1 time to eat and then wakes up again to start his day between 8:00 and 8:30.

-He smiles a lot now and I love it.  He is especially happy in the morning when he wakes up and will give us lots of smiles.

-He coos and baby talks a lot and loves to have little conversations with us.

-He is pretty good about tummy time, and is getting really strong.  He'll get really excited and be up on just his tummy with both his arms and legs in the air.

-He loves his play mat and just kicks his little legs and bats his arms at the toys.  

-He is now just barely in size 2 diapers and is starting to outgrow 0-3 month clothes.  He now wears some 0-3 month and some 3-6 month outfits.

-He does pretty well about napping.  He usually goes down and grunts and fusses for a little while before falling asleep, but usually he doesn't really cry.  Sometimes when he goes down he doesn't make a peep, but just lies there awake for up to an hour!  I'll think he's asleep but he's not...he is a crazy little baby.  
-He still grunts a lot, loves to look up at the ceiling (especially lights and fans) and is slowly starting to grow back the hair on top of his head.
-He is really a calm, happy and content little baby.  We just love having him in our family and can't imagine our lives without him!

A Bear Lake Weekend

We headed up to Bear Lake for the weekend and stayed at Nate's parents' cabin.  We had so much fun all together!

The weekend included:

-Staying up WAY too late and talking and laughing around the kitchen table.  Lots and lots of laughing.

-The girls braving the muddy water and venturing a few inches into the cold lake.  Stella and Lola got just a little bit deeper.

-A round of golf for the boys.

-Playing on the playground for the girls.

-Everyone sprawled out everywhere as we listened to conference.

-Eating way too much junk food.  Delicious steaks and chicken, cooler corn, and a $13 watermelon.

-A surprise birthday party for Tierra, complete with a Halloween pinata.

-Tierra going crazy trying to break open said pinata while blindfolded and dizzy.  Resorting to using a golf club on the pinata when the plastic bat failed.

-Lots of Legos and Fantasy Football for the boys, while the girls looked at all the fun things they want to do on Pinterest.

-Asher getting spoiled with attention from his aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins.  It was especially sweet to see Lola just love him and want to hold him, Jackson being so helpful and careful with him, and even little Stella was so curious and cute with the baby.

-Pretty nasty burgers from Merlins.

-Tierra nearly singeing her eyebrows off in order to get the grill lit while the men were at Priesthood.

We had such a fun weekend and it was time to go home way too soon!  Thanks Katie and Nate!