Easily Entertained

Today I took Asher to a splash park to play in the water.  He played a little bit in the water, but he mostly just crawled all around, found little things on the ground to eat, and watched other kids playing.  At one point he chased two little girls around and that made him really laugh.  He liked it and was happy there, but wasn't all that interested in the water.  I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures.

But when we got home, and I opened up the dishwasher, that is what made him really happy.  Forget the playground or the water park, he just loves the silverware.

Five Years

Yesterday Marcus and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.  Time has flown because I cannot believe we have already been married for five years.  

I love Marcus more than ever and know that I am lucky to have him.  

Sleep

What is sweeter than a sleeping baby?

Asher has been a little strange with sleep lately.  At first he was waking up so early.  Like in the 6's.  And now the last few nights he has been waking up in the night, screaming so loud like something is really wrong.  When I go in there and get him, he doesn't want a bottle, but just snuggles up to me and falls asleep as I rock him in his chair.  He has never done this before since he was teeny tiny.  It is so strange to me.  I don't know if it was going to Hawaii (and having to sleep in my arms on the plane etc.), his sickness, or his age that has changed him, but it is different.  In one way it is really sweet that he finally wants me to help calm him down and get to sleep.  But at the same time he has always been such a good sleeper that this is really new.  I am sure it is just a phase, but it is always so hard not knowing what is really wrong.  I wish he could just tell me before he (and I) get too sleep deprived.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

I am lucky to have such a wonderful dad.  He was always there for me growing up and we were so close.  One of my favorite memories was when he was my soccer coach.  At first it was a little embarrassing because I was a teenager, and he was always there, overhearing all of the girl conversations between me and my friends, but as the months and eventually years went on I grew to love him there.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.  He knew all of my friends and he was one great coach.  I love you dad!

Marcus is lucky to have his dad.  He gets his completely calm and chill personality from him.  He set such a great example to relax and not sweat the small stuff.

Asher adores Marcus and it is so sweet to see him as a dad now.  It was a funny Father's Day with these two both sick with colds, but I was happy to spend it with them.  Love these boys of mine.

Hawaiian Adventure

How do you sum up 15 days in paradise in one little blog post? I don't know but I'm going to try (which means there will be a million pictures). We had the most incredible vacation with my family to the big island of Hawaii. My parents surprised us with places to stay for Christmas and it was such a fun trip.

Poor Asher came down with what we thought was a cold the night before we left. He was pretty miserable for the flight there which made it kinda rough and he cried a lot. It was a long day. But once we got there it was obviously all worth it. Asher actually had hand, foot and mouth disease and Marcus and I caught it too. What a miserable sickness! It put a damper on several days of our trip but definitely couldn't ruin it. Asher got blisters all over his body but especially his feet, legs, hands and around his mouth. He wouldn't eat or drink so I'm sure he had them in his mouth as well. Such bad timing!

We stayed in the most beautiful condos with a gorgeous pool and a few minutes walk away from the beach. We spent hours and hours just hanging out at either the pool or the beach. We ate lots of good food, and had so much fun all together.

So happy to be on the island...

Our little shark baby:

Asher had an amazing time with all of his cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. He was spoiled with attention and soaked up every minute of it. He loved waking up to play with his little cousins, and especially he and Stella had so much fun together.

We spent lots of days at other beaches, saw beautiful Akaka Falls and Rainbow Falls, hiked down to the gorgeous Waipio Valley black sand beach, and did lots of snorkeling. 

Akaka Falls:

Rainbow Falls:

Waipio Valley:

We swam with turtles and probably one of our favorite things was going out on a chartered catamaran and then swimming with dolphins. They were wild dolphins and it was amazing. There were so many of them and we were able to be so close to them and just swim around with them. It was incredible. Everyone helped with the babies so everyone could experience it.

We hiked out to Kiholo Bay which was so pretty and completely secluded. There were dozens of turtles down there and it was so fun to watch them and swim with them.

Asher was obsessed with the water and loved the pool and the ocean. He loved crawling around in the sand and was constantly shoving fistfuls of sand into his mouth. He also loved rocks and tried eating plenty of those as well.

(Yes, that is a rock in his mouth...story of our trip...)

Even though Asher was sick and pretty miserable some of the trip, he was such a good sport and just a good little boy.

My dad took us jeeping down a crazy road to the most beautiful, secluded beach. We bobbed around in the ocean and enjoyed being the only ones there.  We rented stand up paddle boards and spent lots of mornings out on them.

We ate giant banana, coconut and macadamia nut pancakes. The boys found and fell in love with Costco's pretzel rolls. We shopped and found sea cucumbers in the tide pools.  We enjoyed Hawaiian shaved ice.  My dad treated us to a delicious seafood feast at Bubba Gumps.

My dad and his sea cucumbers:

We spent a whole day driving around the entire island and going to the volcano park. It was a long drive and day but it was totally worth it to see Miles and my dad in heaven checking it all out. The giant crater and lava tubes were pretty cool.

I was kind of terrified for the flight home after how hard the first flight was. I was so worried that Asher would be awake and crying during the whole red eye. Surprisingly though he did awesome and fell asleep just as we took off and slept for about three hours of the flight.  After that he was awake for the rest but so calm and really good.  The flight from LA to home was a little bit harder, but he did ok. 

We had such an amazing, wonderful trip.  It was so fun to be in such a beautiful place for so many days with all of my family (except for Joe, who we missed of course).  I hope some day we get to do it again!

(And, you better believe I am going to post more pictures once I get some group pictures from my mom and some really cute pictures that Katie took...)

10 Months Old

Asher is ten months old!

Asher WILL NOT lay on his back.  The second you put him down he immediately flips over.  So the picture is a little different this month.

As always it is hard to believe that another month has gone by. We were in Hawaii on Asher's 10 months (June 4th) so this is a little late.

At ten months:

-Asher sleeps the night, usually from 8:15 to 7:30 or so.

-He got his first really bad sickness. He got hand foot and mouth disease and was so miserable. He was covered in red blisters and looked like he had the chicken pox.

-He went on his first plane ride...all the way to Hawaii.

-He is a constant little chatter box.  He makes the cutest little noises and uses his tongue to talk.  He almost sounds like he is yodeling.

-He says dadada and mamama all the time. I think he associates them with Marcus and me but sometimes it is hard to tell.

-He loves standing up on things and then hitting whatever it is with his hand.

-He is starting to walk along furniture, walls, cupboards, anything he can hold onto and move.

-He waves all the time. He waves when he sees someone for the first time, when it is nap time or bedtime, when we are leaving, or when someone else is coming or going. He loves to wave.

-He loves the water so much. He loves splashing and always tries to put his face in.

-He really loves bread. He loves all kinds and I would say that is probably his favorite food. He also loves pears, oranges, grapefruit, rice, beans, squash and sweet potatoes. He will tolerate baby food but definitely prefers just eating what we are eating and being able to feed himself.

-He is pretty crazy about the baby Mum-Mums.  It is almost like a comfort to him the way he loves them.

-Loves playing with doors. He wants to open and shut them over and over again.

-Can throw some major tantrums. He HATES getting his diaper or clothes changed. He seriously screams like he is dying.

-He loves rocks, and they always go in his mouth, just like everything else.

-He has a few favorite books and will now sit and happily read them with us.  His attention span for that is growing.  

-He is such a sweet, happy little boy and of course we just love him to death.

see last month here.