I need some advice...

So sorry friends, that I haven't blogged in a while. I've been kind of stressed out. Today is thankful thursdays, so first, I will tell ya, I am so thankful for SHOWERS!!!! And I am thankful that Asher is sleeping through the night. We decided to close both our bedroom doors and when he cries and wakes up for a feeding, we let him cry. So ever since last monday (a week and half), he is sleeping and I can now sleep, atleast until around 5am or 6am, I will feed him so he'll sleep in longer. One problem though, I have found that now I really can't sleep. I wake up around 2 or 3am and then my brain keeps thinking for the rest of the night.

Okay now, I need some advice.
1. For those of you who have weened your breastfeeding babies, I really want to ween off Asher, he's thirteen months now, going on fourteen and it seems like he is gonna throw some major fits when I stop, he already is upset about the cut-backs we've made already. Advice please!

***Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, Asher doesn't drink. He doesn't like to drink (well, of course breastmilk). I've tried every kind of sippy cup, and regular cup, he never took the bottle well. I usually get a few sallows in and then he refuses anymore (so this makes it hard with the weening).

2. A schedule. I raised my baby to be flexible, which suits our crazy lifestyle. But now I need some sanity and I think he does too. I don't even know what I need advice about here. Some scheduling advice. What's more important to schedule and what are some things that just aren't as important? Asher has been cranky lately, (he's teething something fierce) but I think more of a schedule and routine would help him and help me, because I still can't get anything done around her.

3. Just a prayer request. Would anyone be willing to pray for me about something??? We are trying to find a place to move to (to rent). We really need three bedrooms and a little more room, so Josh can have an office and we won't be on top of each other. But in these parts, three bedrooms are hard to come by and if you find them, the price is usually out of our range. I have my heart on a townhome right now that I would love to move into. But I'm afraid to get my hopes up because the last two houses we almost rented didn't work out. Some kind of fluke, like my e-mails went into their junk mail so they thought we weren't interested, or the landlord's daughter rented it to someone else while he was out of town. Ugh! I know I need to just rely on the Lord, but when do I get excited about a place and it's actually the right place? Please pray!

thanks so much for letting me vent, I really needed it!
sincerely,
stressed out housewife!!!
Julie

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday: My sugar-virgin is no more!

" Okay, blow out the candle little guy!"

"What? You can't really expect me to eat this?"

"No, Asher it's really good, try it!"

"No, don't make me eat this!"

"I mean, um, this isn't bad"











"Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar!"






"Yeah, well don't get used to it," says Mom.

Thankful Thursday

My baby turns one year old TODAY!!!! I so thankful for twelve whole months with this amazing little guy. Everyday has been a joy, I am so thankful that I was able be home with him and witness everything he has ever done, how special is that? I have learned so much over the past year about life, love, myself, family, God. Before he was born, my family had done some research into the geneology to find that my generation of daughters who give birth to first born sons are likely to find some kind of mental tumor that would cause some kind of retardation or even death. One of my cousins, lost her son to it. Another cousin didn't loose her little man but struggles daily with doctors not being able to diagnose his rare condition. I was told that I should get an amniocentisis. After reading about what that was, I couldn't risk the chance of miscarriage or infection to my baby, so I decided to trust God. After all, if something was wrong with my child, there was no way I would ever abort him. The more I gave it to God the more dreams I would have that would reveal all the things I was scared about and show me there was no reason to fear. We decided to name him Asher, it means Happy and Blessed. I found it in the bible. My pregnancy seemed to go well, and he was born March 29th, 2006 after about 7 hours of labor.

From the beginning this child has been nothing but joy. He didn't sleep through the night right away like I had hoped, he was a three hour baby, but I didn't mind too much because he loved to take naps with his mommy. He was always really alert as a baby, paying attention to everything and smiling when he heard his mommy speak or sing to him (which she did often). He was always turning heads, stopping people at the store, attracting the attention of sweet little girls who chanted "baby Asher, baby Asher", disrupting the sermon of Sunday morning during his morning poop (lots of grunting there), and had the older women begging me to babysit. He was special from the beginning! Oh yea, and perfectly healthy. I was so worried about breastfeeding and I shouldn't have been, he was born at 7lbs 4 oz, and gained a pound a week for a couple months off of breastmilk. I would hear comments about how fat he was and feel bad, but now looking back, I realize those comments were because they thought fat babies were ADORABLE! I thank God for all the fat, because that is what gave his body a great start to life and the first time he ever got sick wasn't until around 9 months old.

Okay I will try to end this novel soon... My baby is still turning heads. We stand in line at the post office and he stares each person down until they smile back at him. We walk down pearl street and even the tattooed guys with mohawks soften their spirits and smile at him. It was Asher that attracted our neighbors whom we are now friends with. With my husband and I being in ministry, we know God meant Asher for us, because he is the one that brings people to us which then go on to become great relationships.

My little boy today is very interactive, very talkative (although I don't know what he's saying), and he loves to smile, laugh, hug and sometimes even kiss (especially eskimo kisses). I can't wait for the rest of the world to meet him and confirm to me how amazing God has made him.
Asher thank you for gracing our lives, we look forward to what else you have in store for us, thanks for making parenting easy! (okay now I am going to go cry about my little baby growing up so fast!)

things that make me giggle :)

So my little 11 month old's vocabulary is not very exstensive. He of course says Mama, referring to me and when he is hungry. He says Dada, referring to his Dad and referring to me when Dad is gone. He says Babababa on command, I have no idea what it means. He says other things I cannot even spell or understand. But what I think he says the most these days is Dat, it is quite clever if you think about it, because Dat has such a transformable (is that even a word?) meaning. It can mean "what's that?" a common question of little kids. It could mean "look at that" when he is trying to show me something. It could mean "I want that" when he is reaching for something I have. And the list goes on because he uses it for everything. But what makes me giggle is that he uses it to act like a big boy also. When he is around his little buddies that are walking and talking and a bit older than him, he will say Dat, in a more mature voice so they will think he's cool. But their response is what gets me. They will say, "I'm not your dad" to him every time. I crack up because I know he's not saying Dada, he's saying Dat. But here my little precious is trying to act grown up around his heroes and trying to make conversation with them, and they think he is calling them his daddy. Oh Asher, you crack me up!

What makes you giggle?

Silly Little Baby Face

Crazy Hip Mamma Site is hosting Photo Friday, today's theme: Silly Baby Faces, I just couldn't pass up a chance to find more pics of Asher! Enjoy!

...and suddenly, the world just stops...

Today is Wordless Wednesday, but the last two days have been such a whirlwind, I must speak. My baby is sick. It started Monday night, we thought it was just teething. I must have jinxed myself when I blogged about how thankful I was for such a healthy boy, or maybe God is saying, you know I want you to find gratefulness in the worst times. So, he's miserable, coughs, sneezes, snot like crazy, the drooling is insane, his eyes are red/watery, his cheeks are red, kind of feverish! He wouldn't nurse for a period of close to 24 hours. He would eat solids however, so we plugged him full of vitamin C fruits and super greens. He's nursing now, but ugh, I just don't take it very well when Asher gets sick. I need to be thankful however that this is only is second time of getting this sick since he has been born. I want him to have lots of fluids, but he doesn't really like to drink anything but breastmilk. And ofcourse there is that added stress of feeling like you've left the world behind because you can't get anything done and you don't get enough sleep. But Josh was telling me last night that Asher is the most important thing right now, so if nothing gets done, then nothing gets done. Suddenly, the world just stops for our little one who needs more TLC than ever before. The thing that does scare me right now is the weird sounds he is making that I've never heard before. Seems as though his throat may be swollen and sore, ouch!

I am still going to be thankful...it was a beautiful 60 degrees out yesterday and I opened the windows to get some fresh air AND my baby is still smiling!

IF ANY OF YOU MOMS HAVE ANY ADVICE, I COULD REALLY FEEL ENCOURAGED BY IT!

Thanks for listening.

Photo Tag, MY BUMP!

This pic was taken last year on Valentine's Day, and we had Asher on March 29th!

Hey, I'm playing photo tag, it all started on Adventures in Babywearing's sight. Since Asher is almost a year old, Josh and I have been reminiscing about what our life was like a year ago. Very anxious to meet our little one. And just how much our life has changed from just being a married couple to being parents. During this "season" of life, I do miss some of the freedoms I used to have, but that hole in my life is filled with an even greater joy of experiencing the life of my amazing little Asher. One thing is though, it does depress me a bit because it's almost been a whole year and I still have not returned to pre-pregnancy shape and I desire to feel like I look good instead of frumpy!

Wordless Wednesday!

"Mmmmm...tasty!" A mid-morning snack.

Snowboarding Mamas

Two housewifes went boarding on Monday to Eldora. We are both beginners so it was going to be an exciting day. We arrived at the lift that takes you to the green hills. The Eldora worker says, "you guys been boardin' long?" we say, "no, not at all," he says, "well, good luck, then!" Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I just have to say for the record...WE TORE IT UP OUT THERE! Oh yea, we were all over the green. So after lunch we graduated to the big lift and went up the mountain to some blues. A little icy, proved to be a little rough, provided some nasty wipe outs, but over all, I think we conquered! Can't wait to do it again Jan! Your awesome! Oh yea, and to my wonderful hubby-thanks! He watched both our kiddos for the day, how awesome is he?

The Mommy Chronicles

I LOVE BEING A MOM!!! My Baby turned 10 months old today, and even though I don't get as much sleep as I want, I have to say, he is the most amazing little person ever and I am still enjoying every second I get to spend with him. He's growing up so fast, I thought I should show you all what he's been doing.

My Little Helper. Asher loves to hang out in his jumperoo in the kitchen while I cook. He jumps and sings and talks and laughs, and I try to teach him a few things, but I just enjoy the company, he's my little helper!




My Little Genius. The other day I was reading a book to him and I read "clap your hands" and he started clapping his hands and then I read "touch your nose" and he touched his nose. He's been clapping for a while, but I didn't know he was paying any attention when I was trying to teach him to touch his nose. Of course I have not been able to have a repeat showing of this amazing feat, :)


My Little Learner. Taylor and Asher watch a Baby Einstein dvd together. Asher loves to interact with them.


My Little Adventurer. He's been pulling himself up on things a little bit, usually falls over, cuddles with mommy and tries it all over again.






My Little Imaginer. After barricading in a little play area in the living room with the couch cushion, Asher loves to put his toys in the missing cushion spot and he just sits there on his knees with a few interesting toys he's picked out for the day and I hear squeals and babble, it's adorable!

My Little Happy Bather. He loves bath time. He just graduated out of his little baby tub. Sometimes I put him in there, but that would be to deny him the joy of splashing! Oh he loves to splash!

My Little Angel! Asher means Happy and Blessed. I'm convinced that it means we are happy and blessed to be around him, but everyday he is growing into a happy and blessed little fellow. We love him!

The Little Things

The other day a friend asked me how my christmas vacation was, she said, tell me a hi-light and a low-light. Well, there were so many things that could be highlights because we were so blessed. We got to spend time with JOsh's fam and mine. Asher had so much fun with his grammy and poppy Luse, aunts and uncles,cousins, his grandma sue, great grandma joe and papa joe and Oren.

But in the midst of all this blessing, I was struck with some negative news and it had me thinking really deeply about what Christmas is all about and much more. I guess I'm a sensitive person because I felt kind of down at Christmas time because of some of these negative things. A family member was in the hospital, very frail and weak, another family member was in jail and one of Josh's family members was in the hospital also and has since passed away.

To top it all off, I had some of my family members talk to me about being worried about my dad's health. I have always been daddy's little girl, so it tears me up to hear others concerned about his health, makes me just worry more. To make the story short on my dad. He used to be this happy, content guy, who loved his family and sang all the time. Anything you would say, he could start singing a song with that line in it. His favorite was the beattles and he can sing you every line of every song. In fact, I could probably sing you every line of every song, because I've absorbed all the music he used to play into my brain. My favorite song he would sing? "Julie, Julie, Julie, do you love me?"

But when my parents got divorced in the ninth grade, things changed. When they went their separate ways and my dad became a batchelor living all alone, his spirit began to harden. He hasn't sang since. He suffers with heart disease currently, has had a couple surgeries to avoid heart attacks. I wish he would stop smoking, but I think the cigarette has become his most reliable friend. (A friend that will take his life in the end). He doesn't have much motivation to get better, to change things, or even to get checked out when he needs to get checked out. He will mutter something stuborn like "Well, I've got nothing to live for." Oh, but you do Dad! Me! And your beautiful little Asher! (pic of Dad and Asher coming soon!)

Maybe Asher will be the one to change my father, he has this power and I know he's caught my father's heart. So, drum roll please, the high-light of my whole vacation is something so simple you might not even get, but try with me for a second.

We visited my dad again as we were headed back through Lincoln, on our way back to Boulder. We ate at Schlotsky's, Josh's favorite. They were playing Beattles songs on the radio. My dad was holding Asher and I went to the bathroom. My dad started humming to the song, of course we both knew it, I was in the bathroom having flash backs to the last time I heard my dad sing along, almost 13 years ago. I come out of the bathroom, and without drawing any attention to himself, without thinking twice, my dad starts singing the song to Asher. BREAKTHROUGH!!!! This was a big deal, and my heart was filled with all good emotions, love, pride, joy, hope, everything! It's small, but it's just the beginning. Thank you God for the little things!