Boise Trip

This last week I went to Boise, it was a little scary driving by myself but Asher did awesome on both drives. We got spend the weekend with my sister. It was pretty low key, which was perfect for me. While we were there we met up with my Grandma and Grandpa Quinn which is Asher's  Great Grandma and Grandpa Quinn. It was nice to catch up with them and hear about my grandpa's war stories, he was a marine for a long time and served in World War two.

I also wanted to share a couple of pictures of Asher just being silly, clapping his hands and his new obsession of playing with door stoppers.

 Asher's first tooth he now has his second bottom one.

 Love that he claps his hands.

For Halloween this year we kept it pretty low key, I mean after all Asher really is only 9 months old and had no clue what was going on. But we still wanted to celebrate so we carved a pumpkin the night before. I should say Benj carved a pumpkin and Asher and I played with the guts. Asher was a big fan, though Benj wasn't. Ben worked on Halloween so my friend Jill and I dressed up and took Asher out in his costume. Jill dressed up as a dog, I as a farmer and Asher as a hamburger. It was a fun  halloween this year but I cant wait till next year when he actually understands whats going on.

It's Been a Long Time

Lately life has been.. to say the least hectic and crazy. We are both in school right now and both taking 14 credits. On the bright side we both graduate with our bachelor degrees in two semesters. Which means we only have a year left of school. Sometimes it makes us want to pull our hair out, but we are getting though it.  Sometimes it hard because we dont see each other often enough. An hour here and there but thats about it.
I had an amazing birthday this year. We spent it as a pretty normal day, school, homework, baby sat. That night though I had an amazing dinner with some good friends and of course Benj, and Asher. Benj spoiled me this year with a new camera, thats the real reason I havent updated my blog in a long time.
Asher is doing great. Growing fast, I miss him being a baby already. He is crawling, standing, and already taking a couple of steps here and there. He is going to be walking in no time. He loves his food and got his first tooth a couple of weeks ago. He is now starting to get his second tooth in.

As you can see the last time we posted pictures of him he was really really little.


Last week we ended up in the emergency room for Benj. For some reason he thought he could jump over a hand rail and not just any hand rail a hand rail that was probably 5 feet from the cement. As Benj jumped over it his left foot got caught on the rail and he caught himself on the cement. Though we did spend three hours in the emergency room with a very unhappy, hungry, needing a diaper change baby we were lucky enough to walk away with just a sprain. But his arm ended up swollen and bruised pretty bad.

I am so blessed.

Days weeks and months have gone by since Asher was born. The other night i found myself crying a little bit to Benj about how he is growing up to fast. We have a pretty set routine every night that I have fell in love with probably more than Asher has. We bath, read some books cuddle for a little bit he eats and then goes to bed. But Asher is already not wanting to cuddle with me anymore and it makes me cry a little. Im just seeing him grow up fast day by day. He is sitting on his own and already is getting closer to crawling everyday. Every night for the last two and a half weeks I have felt more and more blessed to have him as my baby. I am blessed I have a roof over my head, a husband who loves me and a son who needs me and that is all i truly need. When I hold my baby close at night i like to study him and remember who he is at this age and what he smells like. Life couldnt get any better than this.

motherhood.

I love that I get to be a mother because it is the most precious gift you can truly receive. I love that I get to wake up to Ashers giggles and squeals in the morning even if they are at the crack of dawn. While reading a book I found something that I thought was touching and how I think motherhood is. so here you go..

Motherhood- It Will Change Your Life 

By: Dan Hanson Bourke

Found in Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul

Time is running out for my friend. We are eating lunch when she causally mentions that she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family". What she means is that her biological clock has begun its countdown, and she being forced to consider the prospect of motherhood.


"We're taking a survey," she says half jokingly. "Do you think I should have a baby?" 


"It will change your life," I say carefully, keeping my tone neutral.


"I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on Saturdays, no more spontaneous vacations..."


But that is not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in child birth classes. I to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable. 


I consider warning her that she will never read a newspaper again without asking "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every fire, will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.


I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause her to drop a souffle or her best crystal without a moment's hesitation.


I feel that I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, bu tone day she will be going to an important business meeting and she will think about her baby's sweet smell. She will have to sue every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her child is alright.


I want my friend to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonalds will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of those clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in the that restroom. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.


Looking at my friend, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring. She will also begin to hope for more years, not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs'. I want her to know that a cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor.


My friend's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the ways she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is always careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his son or daughter. I think she should know that she will fall in love with her husband again for reasons she she would now find unromantic.


I wish my friend could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried desperately to stop war and prejudice and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my children's future.


I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to hit a baseball. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.


My friend's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You will never regret it." I say finally. Then I reach across the table and squeeze my friend's hand, and offer a prayer for her and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble into this holiest of callings. 

Benj 25th Birthday

Benji turned 25 on April 12th, I know this post is a little late but since both of us are going to school full time and have one active baby. Blogs are just not the most important thing for us right now. We had a pretty good day, we worked out and relaxed and since it was our "cheat meal day" I cooked for him all day long whatever he wanted. I ended up making him homemade chicken pockets, with broiled asparagus, and strawberry ginger-ale. I went all out for his cake Benj is a big fan of red velvet, he has asked for it every year since we got married we even had it for our wedding cake. So I made him a two layer velvet cake. I was so happy he had a good day. I really do love this boy so much.

some new changes

This post is really just for me. I have wanted to make some big changes in my life. Spiritually and physically which I have started to do. Slowly, but surely. One thing has been that I want to make sure we do FHE, read scriptures and pray together every night as a family I'm sure that this isnt a big deal to most of you but we have been struggling with it for a while. I just want to become better. WE have consistantly been having FHE every week but praying is hard as well as reading scriptures but we are working on it. Another thing I have been working on is losing this extra baby fat that i have from my pregnancy. Being twenty pounds more than when I married Benj and had the baby has been kind of a big deal for me. I hate the way I look and feel. P.S I am still wearing pregnancy jeans because no other jean fits. All of my jeans are 1 and 2's and I just gained forty five pounds during my pregnancy. That's a lot. Anyways I have been working hard at eating right ( we started the ABS diet this week) and working out six days a week. Wis me luck. I know most of you look at this blog to see pictures of Ashy so here are a couple...

Words Cant describe how much i love this little boy.

Parenting is hard, So very hard. But so so so worth it. As i sit here and type this I am watching my little boy grow up before my eyes. Im listening to his little cooeing his big gummy smile and his legs and arms flailing in the air. he truly is the biggest blessing in my life. I honestly couldnt imagine my life without him. He continues to amaze me every single day and my love for him grows bigger and bigger. Cant get enough of him!

One Month Stats

We got this cute boys one month stats today. He is healthy and strong. We sure do love this little one!

'

Weight: 9 lbs 2oz which puts him in the 25th percentile 

Height: 20 1/2 inches long, kind of a short kid hasn't grown length wise since we brought him home from the hospital but this puts him in the 15th percentile

 

Bath time

We are starting to get a better understanding of this whole parenting thing. Who knew it would be so hard, and time consuming, okay okay I knew it would be time consuming just not so hard. We have been good at getting a good bedtime routine going. It took us a while but it works and so we stick to it faithfully every night. We start with feeding him, then getting things ready for bath time while one of us burps him. When the bath is ready we bathe him lotion him down and put his pjs on. By the way he is really starting to love bath time. We then swaddle him tight in a swaddle blanket feed him some more so he sleeps longer (by the way he is sleeping four and a half hours a night before waking up to eat and we love it!!)  and rock him to sleep. Works every time and we love it. The only problem is that he hates his crib, bassinet, anything thats not snuggling up to one of us which sometimes makes for a really long night. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this problem we are about willing to try anything. But we sure love this little boy and cant believe how much he has grown.
Here are some pictures of bath time.