Easter Weekend 2014

What a difference a year makes.  Over the Easter holiday last year we were in Idaho celebrating birthdays/retirements/resurrections and having all manners of fun with family.  There were only three of us that we knew of at the time, I found out I was pregnant with Asher the day after getting home from that trip.  And here a year later we are celebrating again, only now there are four.  What a sweet blessing Asher has been to our family.

Curtis had Good Friday off from work, so we decided to take advantage of beautiful weather and free time with a trip to the Dallas Arboretum.  It was so beautiful!  I would have loved more time enjoying all of the flowers, but Max wanted to spend our time in the children's garden so that's pretty much what we did all day.  It was awesome!  They have a great area with all things science and nature, just up his alley.  Asher was more than happy to come along for the ride, and we had a fun day.

We were not well prepared.  There was a splash zone, but we did not bring Max's swim trunks.  Oh well, shorts and undies dry eventually!

Ooooh sweet face!  I love this picture (and baby, and baby daddy).

Pretending to be a frog and hopping on lily pads.

He was amazingly adventurous and climbed quite high.  This is not normal for Max, he is usually much more cautious.

This picture was a total accident!  He was hiding from me in a "log" and I just stuck my camera down and snapped a bunch of frames.  Most of them were of the ground, but this one is awesome!  Love the look of pure joy on his face.

Asher spent time doing baby yoga!  he is at the phase where everything goes in the mouth, and since he can grab his feet now they go in too!

I can't even begin to express how much I love this picture.  It almost didn't happen as it was then end of the day and Max was tired and getting uncooperative.  Bribe much?  Why yes, yes we did.  It was worth every gummy!

Love Little Dude!

Why can't our grass at home be so lush and soft?  Oh right, we have dogs.

Sweet, sweet pictures!

Our official 2014 Easter picture.  Not great, but we are all there and we were all hungry.  We spent the day with part of our Waco family, the Blevins.

I hid all the rabbit characters needed to play a new game in plastic eggs.  The boys had to "rescue" them before they could play the game.  They were victorious!

Dying some eggs.  Max didn't get the concept of using a dipper.

Crazy boys!

Look at those fingers!!! Sigh… nothing a long soak in the tub at home couldn't get out!  Just glad we took the nice clothes off first!

It's so hard to be 4

months and years old!  At 4 months Asher had to have 2 more shots and has undergone "sleep regression" (that is more poor us) due to a growth spurt.  We were thinking that he might be teething, and he still may be, but he is nursing every 3 hours including at night.  Our pediatrician informed us that this is normal, and has been happening with her baby who is two week older than Asher.  Of course he is still growing and weighs 16lbs and 7oz and is 26.5" long.  His percentages have tapered off, as in he is no longer in the 90% and above, but I remember Max did the same at this age.  

On some positive milestone notes, Asher has rolled over from his stomach to his back twice and you will just have to take my word for it.  I'm the only one who has witnessed them!!!  Poor Curtis and Max.  However, pretty soon he will be rolling all over and we won't be able to keep him in one place.  He is giggling occasionally.  He grins a lot, but we have to work hard to get giggles out.  I have a video of his first ones.  He didn't necessarily outgrow his bucket tub, but he just got to the point that he wouldn't squat down in the water so we are bathing in Mama's big tub for now.  He does love to splash!  We are holding off on solids for another couple of months.  Most days I still feel like I am trying to catch my breath, so adding another very messy task just isn't in the cards for us right now.  Plus if Asher is anything like Max, he wouldn't start actually swallowing anything until 7 months anyway!

Max is still loving school and after long deliberations we have decided to keep Max at his current school through next year.  He is learning so much and really impresses us with all of his knowledge.  However, he has also had some regression probably due to Asher and the green-eyed monster.  Max has always been a really good sleeper, but suddenly he needs someone to sleep with him at night.  He is also really testing his boundaries (and his mama's patience!) and he and I have days when I feel like we may never see eye to eye again.  Then an hour later he is right as rain!  Ugh!  4 has been the hardest to be his parent by far.  I've already decided that I am not going to let Asher turn 4.  Nope, sorry!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks.  They are all out of order, sorry.  We took the boys to a dinosaur display that was down in Belton.  Max had fun, Asher slept, and we paid out the nose!  Oh well… it was worth it to see Max riding a triceratops.  There were two other rides, but Max was a little nervous so one was a big accomplishment.  He also panned for fossils.  The picture of Asher in his tub is the LAST time I could get him to cooperate.  I love this picture with his little feet and toes sticking up!  The last picture is of Asher in his car seat following his dr appointment and shots.  Following that particular torture I had the gall to take him to H-E-B.  It was a rough day!

First giggles

Playing following his 4 month appointment

Asher splashing in the bath