zoo lights

Today we went to the zoo lights as a family. It was lots of fun. I was surprised at how many exhibits were not available at first but it was perfect. Especially since I was the first ready to go home. Asher enjoyed going. He even admits to having "fun". Because of his fascination with lights I was initially expecting a bit more excitement but I guess he had to warm up to the idea. The number lights from the 12 days of Christmas did the trick and then he was set from there. He enjoyed everywhere we went.
The reptile house was awesome in the night because they were all awake. I have to admit the bats were awesome but they scared me especially when one poked his body out of the cluster of bats it was cuddling with. The sand cat was Asher's favorite. It was in the reptile house and Asher loved watching the "kitty". At one point it lookalike the cat howled. After leaving the cat to look at more reptiles I set Asher down to get a better look and he took a quick peek then walked away to the other side of the aisle to look at that sand cat again. It was super cute. Once he got there a little boy walked into the spot he was planning on looking from. Asher tried pushing him away he didn't even care that the other kid was twice his size!
The seals were his other favorite. That was a place he didn't want to leave and truthfully I don't blame the kid. I enjoyed watching them too. There were two that played as they swam around there area and a Harbor seal that kinda looked like a spotted bullet. Between the three of them there was a fairly consistent flow of seals. Asher being the cute boy that he is would watch a seal go by and then say "again!" As he did a little dance bouncing his knees. It's a good thing I had a treat for him so we were able to get out of there without a screaming child.

Holding Evie

Today Asher climbed onto my lap while I was feeding Evie. After she was done eating and I'd started getting hot I moved Evie. Asher then cried out "baby, baby!" 
Asher had thought that he'd been holding his sister even though technically he had only had her legs on his lap, but he loved the idea of holding his baby sister. After realizing this and putting Evie on his lap I took a picture of the three of us. A little while later Asher got the camera and tried taking a picture of him holding his sister. I truly do have a great family. Now if I could just figure out how to upload pictures from our camera.

Helichrysum

My Aunt gave us a sample of an oil called Helichrysum to help Jeron 's lip heal. (He had a crack in it and it wouldn't go away and would bleed every other day or so) The oil did an amazing job at helping his lip look normal in just a few days time. It was awesome. The best part came from what else my Aunt said it could do. She said that it could almost instantaneously stop bleeding. Well Jeron and I were getting ready to go out with the kids and Asher was in his jammies and fell on tile floor. He bit his lip so badly he was spewing out blood between sobs. He sucked on a frozen go-gurt for a couple of seconds but I'm sure it just tasted like blood because he was still spitting out blood and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon. That's when I had Jer go get the Helichrysum and we tried it. I know what my Aunt said but I didn't fully believe it until I saw it. I told Jeron that we now have to get that oil.

Silent Night

Today one of my friends posted a video of Silent Night being preformed in ASL. It was beautiful and reminded me of last year in Jeron's ASL class. It was finals week and we had taken Asher to the end of the class to show him off to Jeron's teacher and my friends in the COMD building. After the final Jan, Jeron's teacher was teaching her students how to sign Christmas songs. I started signing with them while holding Asher but I started signing at "sleep in heavenly peace." Asher didn't like that and started to cry because he didn't want to go to sleep. (Most times even then he'd tell me he wanted to go to sleep by calming down and snuggling) Anyway the video was beautiful to watch and a fun reminder of Asher's first Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SxrGYF4JaQ#t=222

Where's Evie

Today Asher asked where Evie was. I said "Where is Evie?" He walked off and I finished what I was doing. After a minuet or so I went to check on him. This is what I'd found.

He'd found Evie, climbed onto my bed and started trying to play with the computer next to her.

Later today we got out our Fisher Price nativity. Asher was excited to play with it. He loved it so much he had to show baby sissy. I couldn't get a picture of him putting it right up against her face so she could "see", but here's a picture of him showing her Mary.

This little guy sure loves his sister.

Big helper

Asher was Mommy's big helper yesterday. I asked him to get me one of baby Evie's diapers and he did! It took a little bit of prompting and when he handed it to me only his side faced me so he was able to quickly run away from me as soon as the diapers reached my hand. I think it was because he was pretty sure it was Evie's diaper but he wasn't going to take any chances. I think the funniest part was that today when I called my mom and told her about how he'd helped out yesterday he heard part of what I was saying and handed me one of Evie's diapers.
Asher also likes to be a big helper by giving Evie a plug. Most the time Evie is solidly asleep so she doesn't even notice. Sometimes though he is a little rough trying to make sure the plug gets into her mouth and she stirrs a bit. This is normally when I tell Asher thanks  helping and take the plug.
My visiting teachers husband was also a big helper. He changed their 18 month old son unused the closest diaper he could find. So when my vt got home he said "we need diapers that fit!" She looked around to find that he'd used a size 1 diaper, that was for a gift for Evie on their son who normally wears a size 4. Just hearing this made my day even if it made it so the package was open and missing a diaper.

 

Here is a picture of the toys Asher tried giving Evie during nap time. I heard him go to the bassinet and say baby she stirred a little bit but it wasn't until later that I realized he gave her toys to play with.

Modeling

This cute little fella could be a model one day. The picture itself could use a little work but Asher is just as cute as can be.

My Little Climber

Today Asher was so stinkin' cute! I left him alone for a little bit in the Living Room and a little while later he happily called out "Momma!" and then continued to jabber away.
I replied by saying "Oh, really?"
"Ya" he replied. Soon after I went into the living room and figured out what he was trying to tell me. He had climbed up to a standing position by using the couch.
"You're such a big boy!" I told him
Asher just beamed and then told me "I yuv you."
I then of course told him "I love you too."

Asher is seriously growing up way to fast! He's 9 months old now and the cutest sweetest little thing. Most people don't believe that he's talking but when he does they are shocked. I'm surprised at his ability to hold a conversation, even if some of it still sounds like gibberish, but I guess those turn taking games have payed off. Asher is starting to get into everything! He can get around quite well my army crawling and is starting to do a true crawl. He recently also figured out how to get from a laying position to a sitting position and back again. But his proudest accomplishment is learning how to set to a standing position with the objects around him. He REALLY wants to walk and be just like a big boy.
Asher loves music. He's learned a lot from going to his Aunt Kay's institute performances. In Dec he watched a group clogging and learned to dance from that. Recently during the spring show he saw some swing dancing and "twirled" as he danced along with the swing dancers. Asher also loves to sing. When he sings along he's really good at staying in tune. He loves playing in water and singing in the shower. His favorite things to do are sing into hollow objects to hear how they sound, get tickled, and jump on the tramp. He's started to notice boys and loves to look up to the males in his life, especially Daddy, Grandpa and Papa.

Look At How He's Grown!

Just a few days old

April 27th with Daddy. This used to be his outfit. Don't I look just like him?

Order Up

Today we went out to eat for Grandpa Mortensen's B-day. Asher wanted to be big to and insisted on having his own menu. He looked so cute with it though it was totally worth letting him look at his own. He enjoyed dinner and ate all sorts of good food.

Computer Geek

I left Asher for a second while I went to go get something. Before I left I made sure there was some distance between the computer and Asher. I came back to my cute boy playing with the computer.

 This is what he was able to accomplish while I was gone. Smart little fella. Thankfully Daddy was able to figure out how to fix it cuz I had no idea how to.

Papa's Walking Club

Probably should have taken the picture before the boys went on their walk because after they were exhausted. Asher got to join Papa's walking club and he loved it. Papa loved it too...even if you can't tell by the pictures.

Repertoire of Words

Today when getting ready for bed I asked Asher, "Do you want to go show
Grandma how cute you are?" His very cute response was "Yss." Later when Grandma asked him a question he again responded with "Yss." I have a stinkin' cute, stinkin' smart boy.
Asher also says "Muma" for Mommy. "ungy" for hungry. He also has learned that sheep say "ba ba ba." He's also working on saying all sorts of other sounds too. The silly boy also likes to sing, dance and play the piano all at the same time. I'll have to see if I can catch him sometime. It's Great!

Baby Loves

Asher is a people person. He loves to smile and give loves. Asher often gives loves by stroking cheeks or playing with hair. I think it's because I'd often stroke Asher's hair. For the most part he's surprisingly soft and doesn't often pull hair. Which is great for a baby. Here is Asher giving loves to his baby cousin Ammon. Ammon was crying and Asher was trying to make him feel better. I have the best baby ever!