zoo-riffic

Asher and I went on a little date this morning, and some sweet friends met us there. It's absolutely perfect weather for a slow stroll down the paths (although I'm positive that Asher had no clue where we were... and would have been equally as happy at a local park). But it was fun for me to get out and see friends and the cool and unusual animals. It's about 70 degree's out and a very slight breeze. Amazing.

I wish for many more days like today. And I wish for many more moments like this with my precious Little Mr. :

Asher and I with the camels.

 Meg and her to sweetie's and Anne and her little sir enjoyed the sunshiny stroll with us. 

Asher did notice the goats, and spent time checking them out.

He also noticed the big cows.

And I just thought that this was a cool "puff-head" chicken.

 The end.

6 month Asher

Six Month Stats: (At your well check)

You Weigh 22 lbs 2 oz (+97%)

You're 28.25" tall (around 93%)

And your head is 18" around (around 93%)

You like to stand against things, but are still a little wobbly.

We practice sitting up too!

Mommy and Daddy call you:

"Asher"- because we realized we call you lots and lots of names (and still do)... but have tried to use your real name more often or in addition to the other endearing names (Shmuvs, sweetness, friend, Captain Adorable, etc). 

You often hear:

"How can mommy help you" when you cry. 

"It's not ok to arch your back" -and we put you down, you stop.

Classical music, instrumental folk and Imogen Heap are often playing in the background lately.

On walks you notice birds chirping, and the wind blowing, and sometimes it makes you catch your breath. 
"Dadadad"- but not coming from you. Your Daddy is pushing pretty hard on this one, he hopes it'll be your first word. You hear it a lot.  :-)  You should look right at him and say "Mama!" -that'd knock his socks off!  LOL!

Noises you make:

You press your lips together hard (and sometimes sneak your little tongue between them) and blow, making a  "pppppppppthpppthhhhhh" sound. Spit flies everywhere (and your clothes are drenched most of the time). 

You love to make this sound. And you like it when we make this sound on your cheeks too. (see pursed lips in above picture).

You don't always make loud yelling/happy noises, you've changed some of them to a light singing tone, especially when you're moving (like in the car or being held or in your stroller).
Rolling GIGGLES. They are the cutes and most heart warming sound ever. You laugh at us playing peek and making silly faces and playing "Uggy-muggy". They come from your tummy!

Your many faces make Mommy and Daddy laugh Sweetie. 

You Can:

• Play happily by yourself in your gym or nap-nanny or bumbo for long periods of time. You look around, talk, make silly sounds, grab at the hanging toys.
• You can hold a toy in one hand and chew and can switch it to the other hand too. You also grab toys that are on either side of you- they all go directly into your mouth.
• Prefer to munch your first two fingers still. You self sooth easily.
• You highly dislike a bottle or passi. (very unfortunate for us). But we keep trying. And we try different brands. 
• Sit in your stroller without a car seat, easily. 
• Grab our fingers/hands and pull yourself to sitting and with a tiny bit of support to standing (which you LOVE).  You like to stand against the couch by yourself.  
• Standing or sitting is a thrill in front of a mirror or skypeing with Landon, you are so amused to see babies, it makes you squeal and laugh and smile.
• After your naps, etc when we walk into the room to get you, you spot us and your face lights up with a HUGE smile.
• Entertain yourself for an hour or two (with one or two position changes) with toys to chew, music to listen to, and fans to watch or looking out the window. I like that you're independent little man.
• Cuddles. You now put your head down and snuggle in every now and then. You like hugs. *melt*

Tid-Bit's and highlights from your fourth month Tiny Muffin:

• Mommy let you watch "seasons" video by Baby Einstein. Your little mouth hangs open and you watch intently. (We only do this a couple times per week).
• You enjoy the nursery at church still.
• You had trouble with naps and sleeping for at least a week after the spring time change. That's been tough for mommy.
• At 5 months, 2 weeks you decided naps were a good idea again, after a whole week of wonky/non-existent napping.  A solid 2 hour morning nap and 2.5 -3 hour afternoon nap- Ahhhhh, relief for mommy! And if we go on a walk, you talk/sing for about 2-5 minutes and then turn your head to the side and you're sleeping. 
• 5 months, 4 weeks- you're sleeping like it's going out of style! You're back to sleeping ALLLLLL the way through the night 8:30p-7:30a and two long naps. Ahhhhh. thank you! 
• You Listen very intently to new sounds, and conversations. 
  You don't have any teeth yet Buddy.
• We traveled to Waterloo to celebrate Daddy's 31st birthday with family. 

We love you Little Mr. And we can't believe you're already HALF WAY through your first year of life!
You're such a blessing to our family.

magical furniture

I didn't know, but we bought magical furniture. It can change colors!
It changes from a gorgeous dark wood to a weird shade of grey. Huh! WOW! Cool! I wonder if anyone would be interested in purchasing very unique pieces that change colors with time. $$!!$$


Oh.

Wait.


hold on. crap. I was wrong. I just touched it, and it is only large layers of
DUST.

Bummer, no magic here folks. Just a really good old fashioned case of a REALLY dirty house.

So, I guess this means our toilets can't magically turn pink either- that's grime that needs to be scrubbed.  uhg.

I guess I have my work lined up for me the rest of the day.

In cuter news:

asher chews on everything!

And this is what our front lawn was looking like one week ago today!

early spring walks

 Last week Asher and I enjoyed getting out for neighborhood walks.  A few times Charlie joined us too. Asher seemed fascinated by the outdoor sounds- birds, dogs, and crisp wind in his face.

And without fail, he would fall asleep. Usually he would look around and make singing type sounds for the first 3-8 minutes, "oooooh, ahhhhhhh, erraaahhhh"... and then turn his head and he'd be out while we continued our stroll.  So precious.

Here's to many more walks together Little Man! kisses!

good bye beauty rest

good bye beauty rest.

HELLO STERNS AND FOSTER!

That's a great trade off for sure.  Charlie and I decided it was high time we got a bed that was just awesome, with no divot-ed holes to arrange ourselves in, one we could wake from without knee and back pain. Enter our new bed.

It arrived this morning, in the middle of our March snow-storm. (Yes we have a lovely fresh 5-6 inches on the ground so far. But I digress....)




The last two nights, as I lay there in our old bed (rather uncomfortably I might add...) I became strangely sentimental about it. I began to imagine where they would be taking it when it left our home. You see, I think I grew oddly attached to the old thing. When one lays in one's bed, morning-sick as could be weeks on end during three pregnancies, or spends an ENTIRE summer and fall snuggled in it (hummm, perhaps THAT'S where the divot's came from!) on bed rest praying that a certain Little Mr would stay put, or has friends sitting on the end or on the side or in the middle with me, helping to pass the long days there....one may quite possibly grow fond of this inanimate object.  It felt like I was throwing out a tiny part of me.  So this morning I lingered a smidge longer when I woke, reveling in my side of the bed in my (self-made) hole. Good grief.  Good bye sore mornings!

LOL!

Laugh at me if you will. I'm laughing at myself.

To welcome a new chapter of the Johnson Bed Chronicles our darling, loud, giggly little boy helped to put on fresh sheets. He broke in the bed with a (new to him) game of peek a boo. He was delighted as you can see in the video.  This completely erased any "sadness" I had about tossing out the old mattress.

5 month Asher

Asher Clark, 5 Months

Darling Asher, you make our hearts overwhelmed with gratefulness and love for you adorable, precious son. What a gift you are to us, we love you more with each passing day!

Five Month Stats: (on our bathroom scale on 3.10.11 -so, not dr. office accurate)

You Weigh between 20-22 lbs (but that was with a onsie and diaper on... got a different reading each time)
You're 28" tall
And your head is 17.75" 
We switched to size 4 diapers the last week of your 4th month, mostly because you kept having blowouts.

Mommy calls you: (Tiny) Muffin, Sweetness and Little Friend

Daddy calls you: Shmuvo, Shmuvs or Shmuvo, Friend
You often hear: Mommy loves you or Daddy loves you. Jesus Loves you. Songs: Jesus Loves Me, Standing on the Promises, ABC's, Patty-cake. "Uf-da" still, you're such a load to pick up baby! Every night daddy sings you this song after your bath while he walks around cuddling and calming you, then brings you to mommy to nurse: 

Good Night (lennon/mccartney-beatles)


Now it's time to say good night
Good night sleep tight 


Now the sun turns out his light
Good night sleep tight


Dream sweet dreams for me 
Dream sweet dreams for you.


Close your eyes and I'll close mine
Good night sleep tight


Now the moon begins to shine
Good night sleep tight


Dream sweet dreams for me 
Dream sweet dreams for you.


Good night good night everybody 
Everybody everywhere
 Good night.. 

Noises you make: Squeal back and forth with us.  Yell in different tones, even when you're not mad, angry or sad- just vocalizing. Play Peek-a-boo by putting your face down and then lifting up to look at us and smile and laugh. You've started to giggle more with your belly- especially in response to tickles or amusement. 

You Can:

Play in your gym and reach for toys. Sit in your bumbo easily. Grab toys a little better. Although you don't always keep them in your hands long. But you're certainly reaching and grabbing. You don't roll much at all, but can. You still prefer to sleep on your back in the woombie. Sit and listen to us read books to you for 15-20 minutes fairly quietly. You still don't like your passi, unless you're chewing on it out the side of your mouth like a cigar.

Just after you eat, as you're dosing off into a really deep sleep, you ALWAYS smile really big- two or three times (eyes closed) and then you're super out. It's darling.

Tid-Bit's and highlights from your fourth month Tiny Muffin:

4 Month, Week 1

You learned to squeal while you play. And you also squeal back at mommy and daddy when we "squeal talk" back to you, like a (loud) conversation.  Mommy knew the noise levels in our home would never be the same. It's true. You love to use your new found loud voice.

On Valentines day you and mommy got your 4 month pictures taken. You were mostly grumpy the whole two hours, but they're still cute.

4 Month, Week 2

Grammy, Papa, Aunties Cally, Anna and Bridge and Uncle Zach and cousin Landon came up to visit. We celebrated a "late" Reed family Christmas, hung out together and tried to take a few cousin pictures. But pretty much the whole month of February you have been very sober, and non-smiley. I think it's because you had the croup at the very beginning, felt healthy for about a week, and then got a super yucky cold again (it's now March 7 and it's just starting to go away)! So you've not been feeling well. Anyway, We had a good time with them here; they were able to come to your dedication service.

On February 19th, at the Saturday night service you were dedicated. Mommy forgot to take pictures, oops. But it was a very special night, and Son, we do pray one day you will belong fully to Jesus, and we release all earthly claims on your life.  This was extremely sobering to think about, in the week leading up to the night of the dedication. We know (kind of) what it feels like to have to give back to Jesus a precious little life you thought your were going to get to know. (You have two older siblings, Ruttigar and a big brother Bennett, you will meet in heaven one day). So we took this prayer of dedication VERY seriously. That night we made it through without tears, and with the support and love from family and friends. And you were pretty good too- only barfed once!  LOL! 

Aunty Bridge brought you a play gym and you love to be in there reaching for toys and kicking like crazy while you talk and squeal.

We've been going to church, but you are super loud and very busy. You like to talk/yell over whoever else is talking. so we have to stay in the back room during the sermon.  Because of your cold we've not been able to put you in the nursery. 

4 Month, Week 3

On the in-between the colds week, you went to Bible study and stayed in the nursery again. You did very well, and mommy didn't get called down at all. The ladies said you were super cute and smiling and squealing at them. And you really enjoy the stand up play bouncer.

At some point during this week you learned how to yell. You're not really mad or complaining or sad- just yelling. It's pretty funny (and annoying- but that's ok).  You furrow your eyebrows and sometimes pop one side up high, and sometimes open your mouth really wide and yell in different low tones. Like I said before- if there's a lot of people talking you try to (add?) to the conversation or overpower them with your voice. This has made going to small group and parties more difficult. Daddy thinks those types of situations may make you feel over stimulated. Mommy calls you a fog horn.

You started playing peek-a-boo with us. You've done it several times, and seem quite delighted and proud of yourself.  When you're on your tummy, you put your head down while we say "where's Asher?" and then boing your head up and smile big and we say "PEEK! There he is!" and you immediately do it again- over and over and over until your neck gets tired. It's super funny. And cute. 

You giggle. Especially in response to tickling or being amused by a noise or funny face. If we do it over you get all worked up and burst into tiny belly giggles. It's a sound that makes our hearts melt.

You can easily pull yourself into sitting and standing positions when we hold your hands/wrists. Your head is now much more steady when you're sitting. (With us or in your bumbo). You like to spend more time in your bumbo now.

4 Month, Week 4

Uncle The FoCack (Andrew) flew into Minneapolis to visit and celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's 60th birthdays. Aunt Elizabeth and Daddy and Uncle FoCack planned a surprise party for them and lots of family came. You were there, and you enjoyed watching all the activity, then decided you'd just had enough commotion, so mommy took you home and put you to bed.  We had a fun time with family over the weekend and Grandma watched you while the rest of us went shopping. You had no shortage of hugs and attention Little One.

two helpful tips: kitchen and prayer

I was just baking up some banana bread (because of two really brown banana's sitting on my counter, threatening to create fruit flies) in my kitchen. I realized that two people have shared these to tips with me and I use them a lot, and wouldn't have thought of them on my own, so maybe you'll be helped like I was.

Kitchen/baking tip:
I'm forever getting to the part of the recipe where is says, add softened stick of butter. And the stick of butter is sitting in my fridge, nice a hard. great. I don't want to wait hours for it to soften up...
DUH.
Put it in the microwave Amanda. Duh duh duh.
You just change the power level to 2, heat for 10 seconds and sometimes add 5-10 seconds after that on the flip side on power level 1.

Ta-da! Softened stick of butter in less than 20 seconds, with no melted puddle either!

Prayer tip:

My friend Anne taught me this a few years back. It's been so helpful for me to be able to pray for the people in our lives (I wish I could say daily, but at least often). It sits on our kitchen table and usually while we're eating breakfast I just pull out a stick with a name on it, and they because that days prayer focus. Sometimes general prayer for them, sometimes I know how to pray more specifically, and sometimes it's a good reminder to call or email to catch up with them!
Just write names of family and friends on a popsicle stick and plop it in a glass.
Pull out and pray!

I often find myself thinking of the verse when pulling a stick out:

Proverbs 16:33 (Amplified Bible)

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him].