Baby Life Week 40: Quality, Not Quantity

This week (March 30-April 5) began with Asher's 9 month birthday.  It is hard to believe that Asher has officially been in the world longer than he was growing in me.  While I was pregnant nine months went by very quickly, but the past 9 months as a mom as been unspeakably fast.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was looking into Asher's eyes for the very first time and yet somehow, I also feel like I have been his mom forever.  I really cannot even picture what life without him would be.  Children truly are an amazing gift from God.

Eric's comparison from Asher's birth-day to his 9 month birthday.

The day was a fairly quiet Saturday at home.  We had things that needed to get done (ie practice for Easter Sunday worship team and dessert-making for Easter dinner), but we also had to take some time to enjoy a Spring-like day with our little guy.  Since Asher was too little to really do anything with during the nice months of his life last year, taking him outside now, was like taking him outside for the very first time.  We let him crawl around on the sidewalk (he had to knock it a few times with his fist to verify it's qualities), we checked out the flowers poking up, we said hi to the mail man and we played a little ball.  It was a great and memorable time, but quite honestly a bit stressful as well.  Asher is at the age that EVERYTHING needs to go into his mouth.  Inside, that is fairly easy to control by making sure that the floor is clean and everything harmful is out of reach.  Outside, that is almost impossible to do.  He found rocks, grass, leaves, dirt...  you get the picture.  As much fun as it was to have him outside, I couldn't wait to bring him back in so that I didn't have to constantly remove things from his little paws before they made it into his mouth.  We will definitely have to watch him at the beach this summer, because I'm pretty sure he'd be that kid that just sits and eats sand if we let him.

Asher & I playing a little ball.

Video: Playing Ball

Video: Sidewalk Crawling

This gate was originally our way of containing Emma to the Kitchen-Dining area while we are away, but has become handy for containing Asher in the Living Room as well...At least until he outsmarts us and figures out that he just needs to slide it over a few inches to crawl through.

Besides playing outside, we also had to have our typical monthly baby & calendar photo shoot.  Here are a "few" of my favorites.

He is getting SO big...doesn't even fit on the calendar anymore!

expressing his feelings for the calendar?

Asher taking a quick photo shoot break with daddy.

I always was a sucker for boys with blue eyes!  :)

One track mind.

Not sure what he's doing here.  It is either a GQ pose, or a little bum scratch? :)

"Let's see, on Monday I have a play date with Christina, on Friday I'm going to Michigan with Mom & Dad..."

Forget this, I need to get up on the bench!

Since I couldn't keep Asher interested on the floor, I changed my strategy at bit...

When he was board of the window, I switched to puff bribery

When he was board of the puffs, I switched to Easter egg bribery.

When the photo shoot was over, we went for a little family walk before bedtime, to enjoy the fresh air.

The next day was Easter, and for photos on that, you'll have to wait.  The rest of the week went by painfully slow.  It was painful because for some reason I missed Asher at work like never before.  Don't get me wrong, I always miss him and picking him up from daycare is always my favorite part of the work day, but this week my heart ached.  On Monday morning before I left for work, Eric and Asher were standing in the garage waiting for me to leave, when I realized I forgot something.  I went back into the house to get it.  When I came back out to the garage, Asher saw me and got a huge smile on his face and started to clap.  Right then, my heart melted and thus began my tearful week at work.  All week long, I missed him like crazy, and if I wasn't busy enough to keep my mind off of missing him, I was aching to go home and snuggle him.  It was a tough week, but I made it.  Due to the toughness of the week, I thoroughly enjoyed my Wednesday off with him.  I had been prepared to deal with a angry baby for the day, because Asher had is 9 month doctor visit.  I thought he would get shots, and would therefore be upset and possibly feverish or sleepy.  I was happy to find out that no shots were needed.  Thus after some measurements (21lbs 14oz (75%), 29 3/4" long (95%) & 18 3/4" head (95%), and a quick check up, we were off to have some good play time and all-around mommy-baby time.  He brings so much joy into my life, and I am so thankful for that!

While I was folding laundry on Wednesday, I looked up to see that Asher had gotten into the Kleenexes.  Reminds me of a quote I saw the other day, "Boys are 90% mischief and 10% dirt"...very suiting for this little guy.

Video: Asher Discovers the Kleenex Box

Asher got this sippy cup which converts to a training cup in his Easter basket.  Ideally, we would like to try to minimize our use of sippy cups (if that is even possible), but before we can go to the cup, he needs to at least know how to hold it...so we practice.

He got it...and then he lost it...oh well.

Later that day (still Wednesday), Asher & I enjoyed a taste of summer by sharing some watermelon.  It was yummy.  So much so, that Asher couldn't stop stuffing his face with it, and his cheeks got so full that little pieces kept falling out...note to self: only give him a few pieces at a time, so we don't need the heimlich maneuver.

Video: A Taste of Summer

Towards the end of the day, Asher & I went to the grocery store.  While he was waiting for me to get my things together (& probably noticing that I wasn't paying full attention to him), he decided to play with Emma's toys (which we normally don't allow).

Look Mom!  :)

On Thursday, my heart ache over missing Asher was the worst.  I cried off and on all day (& was quite happy no one was there to see it).  It was everything that I could do to get myself through the day and not just quit my job on the spot.  In the afternoon, I received a couple of photos from Christina at Asher's daycare.  As some background, I will say that at the beginning of this week, I had asked Eric that if he wanted to take Asher swinging, to take a video of it or wait until I was home, so that I could enjoy that first with him.  When I got the photos from Christina, I was pretty much pushed to the edge...my little guy was swinging for the first time (obviously lovin' it), and I wasn't there.  It was a tough moment in the life of this working mom.  :(

To help ease the pain, Eric set up our baby swing (which we originally bought for Micah to use) that evening.  It wasn't the first swing, but I guess I will take what I get.

Video: Asher Swinging

Eric & Asher rounded out that evening by enjoying a bit of Cars short films together.  I love these boys! <3

Well, that was week 40.  Some moments were wonderful moments that I will forever treasure in my heart...some were not so much.  We made it through though and again, I am simply reminded how important it is to treasure the moments that I do have with my boys.  As I was told this week, "it is quality, not quantity", right?