Asher, I am so proud of you.

I wish there was a way to tell my little six-month-old how proud I am of him.  Since this blog has served as a sort of "record" for his firsts, I thought I would write him a letter.  Maybe when he's an adult he'll read this, cry, and hold his mommy and tell me that he'll never love anyone as much as me.  I can dream, right??

Dear Asher,
           I never had any clue just how remarkable you would be.  I knew you would be cute, I knew I would love you, I knew you would be smart, but I had no idea what an amazing miracle you would be.
       Your latest "tricks" have been crawling backwards, and rolling in all directions to get something you want.  I just can't believe that you have figured out a way to move.  The look on your face is so cute--sheer determination to reach the toy that is just out of reach.  When you do reach it, you turn your head to find me and give me a big, proud smile.  You're amazing.
        Right now you are upstairs taking a nap.  Even how you go to sleep is amazing.  When you get sleepy, I put you in a sleepsack and start to nurse you.  While you nurse you keep your eyes tightly closed.  When you've had enough food, you open one eye (as if to make sure I'm still there) and put your right thumb in your mouth.  When I place you in your crib you roll on your side, keep sucking your thumb, tightly close your eyes, and go to sleep. Daddy and I love to watch this--we think it is so entertaining and adorable how you know exactly what you need and put yourself to sleep.  Every night when we leave your room after putting you to bed, Daddy and I look at each other and comment on what an awesome kid we have.
      You could not be more boyish.  You laugh after you poop, you are a very stinky kid, and you are attracted to things that are fast or shiny.  You are also the smileyest baby I've ever known--you honestly smile all the time.  Even if you are crying and fussy, if someone smiles at you you can't help but give them a giant smile back.  Your laugh is infectious and I would do just about anything to hear it.
         I love you so much and am so proud of you.  I adore you and feel so very blessed to be your mommy.  Always know that you are so very loved, valuable, and perfect just how you are.
Love, Mommy.

Christmas Cards!

One of our accidental traditions as a family has to do with our Christmas card.  Our first year of marriage we weren't sure whether it was appropriate to send a letter because we didn't have cute kids for our friends and family to tape to their fridge.  We ended up sending a card from shutterfly with a wedding picture.  Nice, simple, real crowd pleaser.

So, in 2008 we were not going to send anything at all.  Again, no cute kids to speak of and we had always mocked those who sent cards without kids.  I mean seriously, what are we looking at?  How you have changed your hair since last year?  However, that was the year of the huge snowstorm.  We were snowed in and stranded for about three days, but really life was not normal for about two weeks.  When the snow first started, we ran outside, asked a random guy putting chains on his car to take a picture, and got this gem in one shot!

So, in the middle of the snowstorm, we ordered cards from shutterfly and overnighted them.  We then had the genius plan to write a letter from Wilson's perspective and send it with the card.  We sent the photocard with the letter and were mocked mercilessly for the letter and got raves about how cute the picture was.

2009:  We are now pregnant and busier than we have ever been.  We now own a house, work full time in very demanding careers, and are trying to have a social life before little baby gets here!  We decided to send the letter from Wilson, but not  a picture.  We literally got emails and notes on Christmas cards asking where the photocard was.  People were ticked!  

So, for this year, we will not make that mistake again.  We have scheduled our pictures with our photographer and are determined to get a Christmas-card-worth pic.  We will certainly be ordering our cards from shutterfly.  I find their products to be the BEST and their customer service cannot be beat.  They are giving me free cards for blogging about them, but I think I would rave about them even if they didn't!

Since we don't have a picture yet I haven't picked which cards I want, but I have looked!  You can see their holiday cards here. 

Here are some of my favorites! 

Update:

Okay, so I have no pictures or anything interesting to say.  This post is just so I have some sort of record of when this stuff started happening!!
Asher has his second tooth.  It is right next the his first one on the bottom.  Also, he LOVES pears.  He squeals with delight while eating them and protests when they are all gone.  Adorable.
He is also sitting by himself for a few seconds and army crawling backwards.  He seems very frustrated that he isn't crawling yet.

K, I have to go fold more laundry!  :)

He is jealous for me.

I have an amazing husband. Every night he comes into Asher's room, reads him a story, and then we sing and play the guitar. Most of the time it's a very very silly time. Last night, I think it was for me. I've been so discouraged and angry about so many things in regards to God recently. Both things about what God allows to happen, as well as how so many of his "followers" act in hate and stupidity.

This song has always been a favorite of ours. Thank you, Tyler, for bringing this song up when I needed it most. Thank you for reminding me how God loves.

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we?re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don?t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way?

We have a tooth!!

So I don't have a picture because he is currently sleeping in his crib--but baby boy has a tooth!!!  What a big boy!!  Stay tuned....................

5 months and counting!!!