Weekend Highlights

This past weekend we had such a fun time since we are finally feeling better!  

We started Friday off by going to a birthday party for some awesome people from church.  I’m always curious to see how these things will go now that we’ve got a baby in tow.  He did great though and was pretty content the whole time!  Plus, I’ve realized that I just love seeing other people love him.  Our pastor’s daughter and our worship leader got to hold him quite a bit and he loved it!  I am so incredibly thankful for all these awesome people in his life and for how they bless our family.  I totally need to get more pictures of him with other people though!  Too often I don’t get my camera out.

Saturday was a day that turned out different than the first plan, but it worked!  We had wanted to go to the Farmer’s Market and go to their community breakfast, but then we saw it was raining and we had been slow at getting ready anyway.  So, that plan went out the window and we went instead to eat breakfast in town.  Then we ran some errands and I did some work at church before getting home to my much needed nap!  The longer stretches Asher sleeps at night makes it harder for me to go right back to bed sometimes.  Though, I am NOT complaining about him sleeping longer!  I will take my 6 and a half hours of sleep in a row whenever he will give it to me!  

 

(these are from a couple of weeks ago, but he’s just so cute and funny when he sleeps!)

Sunday meant getting ready for church and getting there in time for worship practice.  After church we hung around a bit and then Ryan’s aunt came over with a present for Asher.  Visiting time, nap time, and then family walk time all before our fun bedtime routine.  For bedtime, we’ve started giving Asher a bath and sometimes reading a little.  It’s pretty much my favorite. 

(blurry but I just love how he rests his hand on the stroller strap!)

All in all, a perfectly good weekend and now we’re back into the Monday routine with the husband off at work…but at least I got to go out to lunch with Asher, the husband, and my mom today!  And eat the most delicious greek grain salad and tomato bisque soup…mmmm. 

How was your weekend?

Friday Loves

Here’s what I’ve been loving this week!  I’ve been fighting a cold the last few days so there’s a slight theme with some… 🙂  

1. Hot water with honey!  This has totally made it easier to drink lots of fluids. Nursing and being sick meant upping the fluids quite a bit!

2. Ice cream…for a sore throat 🙂  I’ve been loving the Natural Vanilla from Breyer’s and Pistachio Pistachio by Ben & Jerry’s and Cinnamon Buns by Ben and Jerry’s.  I’ve been looking for the best cookies and cream ice cream out there but can never remember which brands I like and don’t like.  Plus, if anyone ever finds Mint Chocolate Cookie by Ben and Jerry’s let me know….I miss that flavor a lot!

3. Time with Asher, Boaz, and Ryan (when he’s not at work).  Boaz has been such a good sport with all his crazy allergies and then with more kennel time when I got sick.  He’s been so cute around Asher too.  Though, he’s made it his mission to find all of Asher’s pacifiers…

 

4. An awesome 2 mile run with the husband and Asher!  I was super happy with our time considering we had a stroller to push (we each took it for a mile) and since we haven’t been running much.  I ran/walked 3 miles the other day with Asher and Boaz…and let me tell you that is a whole new ball game handling a stroller and a leash!  Also, I’ve so been toying with the idea of sneaking in a half marathon before the weather turns cold, but based on timing it looks like we will have to shoot for next summer for some races.  Maybe we can find a stroller friendly race!

5.  My husband who takes such good care of me while I’m sick!  From helping with Asher to coming home from work early to taking care of the dog to getting me what I want….I’m glad I married him and super glad he’s Asher’s dad!

 

Lately…

Lately…there’s been a swirl of things to write about going through my head and I even had one started but then the gremlins decided to eat it up and not even save a draft!  I’m sure I’ll learn to hit save draft before heading onto the next thing (usually feeding Asher…he likes to eat. a lot!).

Lately…the weather has been absolutely close to perfect.  We’ve been loving going on walks throughout the day and just getting outside when we can.  Boaz has been thrilled about this and he’s been such fun to see run up and down the road.  He really does love a good sprint.  Though, speaking of Boaz, he’s been having a rough week.  He started itching and scratching like crazy last Tuesday and we finally figured out that he apparently has seasonal allergies (welcome to the family…) so they’ve just started him on a nice series of steroids, which will hopefully kick his symptoms to the curb!  So far, he’s seeming sleepier.   Lately…the Lord’s been teaching me about faithfulness, goodness, and being planted.  There’s been such a press on my heart to learn to lean into this idea of a quiet and gentle mixed with wholehearted and influential life (sounds like a whole lot of fluffy words that need a lot of fleshing out to really know what they mean and look like…I know…that’s for another post).  I’m leaning into stepping away from the idea that where I am, who I am, and what I am doing are not enough and instead stepping into the idea that there is much to be said about a simple, faithful, and obedient life.  Come December, I will have been here for five years and that messes with my head with so many questions.  Yet, the Lord’s faithfulness has been ever evident throughout these five years even if it’s mostly been in ways I would never have anticipated at the beginning.

Oh! I heard a little squawk from my little man.  Time to hit publish before this post gets sucked into a black hole never to be seen again!

 

Boaz doesn’t know what to think of tummy time…

What’s been going on with you lately?

 

All Smiles

I haven’t been able to capture his full on smile yet on camera, but these little smiles have been pretty fun to see.  I am so thankful that he’s a happy little man and already seems to like to smile.  His favorite places to smile are on the changing pad after getting a new diaper on, in his rock n play, and apparently Target sometimes makes him smile too!  He also had me smiling (after I made sure he was alive and well) early this morning when I woke up and realized that he had slept 6ish hours straight!  That was a very pleasant surprise!  Now to coax some more smiles out of him… 🙂

Top 5

Here are the top 5 things from my week!

1. We went on a family run/walk with the running group!  This was my first run since having Asher and it felt good to get out there!  Plus, Asher pretty much was a happy guy the whole time and even slept through us getting appetizers with people on the patio after the run.

2. I had the privilege of speaking at Kids Camp!  I love Kids Camp and wish I could have spent more time out there this year, but so loved being able to speak even if I felt a little scattered.  I spoke about Balaam’s Donkey 🙂

3. Asher is already a month old!  We took some cute pictures too for thank you cards!  And his relationship with Boaz is already hilarious 🙂

4. Some of our cloth diapers came! I’m excited to try them out after I get them all washed and ready.

5. I’ve been loving a couple of devotions that I downloaded on my phone in addition to spending time reading the Bible and prayer journaling.  God has been gracious and good to me in this season.

1 Month!

Our little man is already a month old!  The last month has both felt super fast and super slow all at once.  Looking back at pictures, I can definitely see how much he has grown and changed since we first met him.  I haven’t looked around too much at the fun monthly updates, but here’s a mixture of a few questions about our family and Asher that I thought could be fun to start!

What we’ve learned…this month, we’ve learned how to change a LOT of diapers and how to prevent leaks and how to prepare for the potential peeing during a diaper change.  We’ve learned to rock and cuddle and sleep when we can.  We’ve learned to love a whole lot and how much we like sleep.

What we’re enjoying right now…tummy time on mommy and daddy!  Longer walks and times in the car.  Music, music, and more music 🙂 Time alone while Asher naps!

What our biggest struggles are…sleep…what a crazy transition it is to go from sleeping a lot to being thrilled when you get 4 hours in a row.  Though, we are very thankful for when those 4 hours in a row do come!

Asher’s most exciting milestones are…sleeping a bit longer! Making more noises and glimpses of smiles.

What we are looking forward to…baby showers this coming month and having my brothers come to meet Asher!

Asher’s likes and dislikes…he loves tummy time, car rides, walks, grabbing at plastic, kicking, and music.  Dislikes include being hungry, speakers talking, loud noises, being startled, bright sun, and when the stroller stops moving.

What sleep looks like…we are getting up usually two or three times a night to eat.  He’s a hungry little man more often than not!  Usually around 1 or 2 and then again around 4 or 5.  Plus, lots of naps throughout the day too.  Though, we are getting longer wake times now too.

What we’re eating…for Asher, milk, milk, and more milk.  For the rest of us, we’ve had our share of salads, pizza, pasta, granola bars, quiche, tacos, and ice cream!

Who we have seen…a lot of family including getting a 5 generation photo, church family, friends, a Kevin Leal meeting, two family reunions, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. We’ve made trips to the library, Target, church, and Dunn Bros.

At the last doctor appointment…we learned Asher weighs 9 lb 7 oz and is 21 inches long.  This was at about 2 and a half weeks.