Baby Life Week 52+: How Did We Get Here?

Week 52.  How did we get here?  How did 52 weeks go by so quickly?  How did my fragile newborn baby suddenly turn into a walking, talking little boy?  It a blink, the weeks passed and it all now seems so long ago.  At this time, I can barely remember what life without a child was like.  He has been with us only a year, and yet I feel like he has been with me forever.  I cannot imagine life without my little guy.  He has added so much joy, laughter and love to our home...I wouldn't change it for anything!

So...what happened in the last (little more than a) week?  Well, it is tough to say.  We were so crazy busy that I really don't remember much of it.  As I've mentioned before, I have always planned on throwing a party for Asher's 1st birthday.  Doing so, meant a lot of work before the actual party came.  One of those "To Do" items, was the basement.  We had intended to finish off the basement (starting a little after Christmas) by Asher's party, so that there would be a place for people to go if the weather did not cooperate that day.  Although it was not entirely finished, Eric worked extremely hard in the time leading up to the party and did get all of the drywall up, the closet built, the doors on the workroom and laundry room, and all of our carpet tiles down before the party.  Thus, although it is still not finished, it was at least to a point that people could go down there for a party (all thankfully it wasn't required).

The basement with the drywall up. (Prior to week 52)

The framework for our new storage closet.(Prior to week 52)

With all of the hard work that Eric did on the basement (thank you babe!), this week started off with a wet, dreary morning and both Eric and I feeling quite motivated.  At this point, Eric had pretty much finished everything that he could before the party, and we decided it was time to call it quits and work on cleaning and reorganizing.  We spent most of the day on Saturday, dusting and mopping all of the surfaces in the basement, laying down the carpet tiles, going through our stored belongings and getting rid of as much as we could and then reorganizing everything in our new closet.  You know it is a good day when you get to fill storage bins and use your label maker! :)  When the day was over, we had an actual playroom for Asher to play in.  Granted, it is nothing real fancy, but it is at least a safe place for him to play that doesn't have a bunch of things out for him to get into and has plenty of room for him to scatter his toys everywhere without making the house feel like utter chaos...a mother's dream come true!

We woke Saturday morning to the rain and this little guy using our chair as a shelter from the storm.

Asher playing in his new playroom...if you're wondering what kind of carpet we picked out...it is called freecycling!  Eric has been taking home carpet samples that they no longer need for projects at work (whenever they're done with them) and saving them for the last few years.  We now have enough to cover the entire basement floor...it's a quilt-like style.

A boy and his tools.

Video: Asher practicing his walking in the new, improved basement.

On Saturday afternoon, Eric took Asher to Menards for a bit so that I could get some things done at home.  He fell asleep on the way home with the strap of his carseat in his mouth (ALWAYS has to have something in his mouth!)

On Sunday morning, we enjoyed some good snuggle time in bed before facing the day.  Asher likes to show his love for me by head-butting me.  ...doesn't make for the cutest of pictures, but it actually is pretty cute.  There are times, when his sparkling little eyes and toothy grin are right up next to mine that I take a mental snapshot and pray that I can picture that little face the rest of my life...even when he is far away from me and enjoying head-butts and snuggles with his own kids!

The rest of the week was basically a continuation of Saturday (doing what needed to be done to take care of our family, or little guy and get ready for Asher's big party).  By definition, this meant not only making decorations, cleaning, baking, shopping, organizing, etc.  But it also meant cherishing the last few days that we had of Baby Life.  For this, we quickly realized that our new playroom is an amazing place!  We LOVE it already, and it isn't even finished yet.  Having a place that we can let Asher play without lots of other furniture to get hurt on, dog food to get into, stairs to climb, etc is a wonderful thing.  We truly enjoyed going down there as a family and hanging out with no (or at least fewer) worries of what will harm our little guy and what he could possibly destroy.  We also noticed that having the playroom seemed to help Asher learn to walk better.  I think that the lack of furniture for him to bounce around to, forced him to venture out on his own more, and he made great strides (literally) this week...

Video: Asher's furthest walk to this point (all for the Ansul fire extinguisher!)

Blue popcorn for the Blue Truck party.

On Thursday night, my parents came down to help us prepare for Saturday.  I switched my day off from Wednesday to Friday so that I could have the day to get things ready.  It was a busy day, but a good day.  We got so much done.  I could not have pulled it all off without my mom's help (thank you Mom!), and I am also pretty thankful to Asher.  I was a bit concerned with how the day would go, trying to get things accomplished while having him home with me (I had considered putting him in daycare for the day, but my Mom wanted to keep him home to spend some extra time with him).  He was such a good boy all day long.  He spent most of the day hanging out with us and entertaining himself with various found objects (like the broom).  He must have spent several hours playing with the broom, which I will admit I find a bit gross, but he was content and I was very busy, so I believed it to be a wash.  In the afternoon, Eric came home from work a little early to help, and then at dinner time we all packed into the van to enjoy a family meal down at Big Star (our local drive-in).  It was a great day, and with less than 24 hours until Asher's party, I was feeling pretty confident that we actually could get everything that I hoped, done.

Asher helping Grandma K make some popcorn.  He thinks that the air popper is one of the coolest things he's ever seen...who needs TV?

Daddy giving our little wizard a ride on our broom (Asher's toy for the day).

On Saturday, June 29th, the day of the party had finally arrived and so did the last day of Baby Life.  We spent the morning and early afternoon making the final party preparations.  My mom (awesome as she is) volunteered to wash windows.  Since it was a cold, wet morning, she started washing the window interiors, carrying a bucket of vinegar water around the house with her.  Asher was quite intrigued by the bucket of water following her around, and at one point decided to try to climb in.  When my mom looked down she found Asher (in his pajamas) with one foot in the bucket.  We laughed, picked him up and got him out of his PJs.  A few minutes my mom turned around again to find that Asher had made his way back into the bucket...this time getting his entire body inside...his own personal "hot" tub.  ...man do I love that little stinker! :)