14 weeks

We've been blessed with yet another week with our baby boy.  He continues to delight us, especially now with his laughter.  Unfortunately he's got a bit of a cold, though thankfully it doesn't seem to be bothering him TOO much.  We're just praying it's gone long before Friday as I'm flying with him for the first time.  Eric, Asher, and I are heading to Kentucky this weekend for a youth leader conference with 10 or so others youth leaders from our church.  Eric's travelling with everyone in the van, but the youth pastor's wife and I am flying with our babies so they don't have to spend two full days in their car seats (and so everyone else doesn't have to deal with how frequently we'd have to stop).   It shoud be a good weekend. We're looking forward to it!  Just hoping that the cold doesn't cause problems for Asher's ears on the flight!  Anyway here's his pic of the week. Be praying for him if you think of it!  We'll give a full report next week!

#Meagan

Relaxing Weekend...

We had a nice relaxing weekend! And also captured a few photos that I think are worth sharing. :)

Asher spent some time bathing, and while pretty indifferent about bath time in general, he's finally got something to say:

Dear Mom and Dad,
I think it's just about time to stop giving me baths in the kitchen sink, don't you???  I mean, seriously, check it out.  Love, Asher

We think he's pretty cute.

Eric also taught himself how to fold fitted sheets using a link on my pinterest page.  I told him he just became the official sheet folder in the family. ;)  Didn't he do awesome?  My sister-in-law shared this weekend that she just wads them up and smashes them...  my method wasn't too different.  

Back to Asher's growing though, isn't this crazy?  The perspective is a little off, but if you look at where his head is relative to the arm rest, this is Asher from 2 weeks to 3 months...

And he's now pretty stable with his head... so we borrowed a friend's bumbo which he seems to enjoy. (Thanks, Satomi!)  Though here he looks about as indifferent as he acts during bath time. 

Anyway, the laugh was by far the best part of the weekend... scroll down for the video if you missed it!  But we just wanted to share some of the less exciting, but equally monumental moments of the weekend. 

#Meagan

Laughter

We have been waiting with great anticipation for the day when Asher would finally start laughing.  He has been so close for what seems like a really long time.  Well today we can say for certain that Asher is now a laughing baby.  It is music to our ears, and we love every little sound he is making.  We were even fortunate enough to get some of it on video.  Please excuse my wierdness.  Asher thinks it's funny.

And I don't know why this one turned blurry at the end...



And finally, short, but oh so sweet.

Hope you enjoyed the montage.  Find something to laugh about too.

#Eric

Asher's Dedication

Well I'm finally getting the opportunity to blog about Asher's dedication last Sunday, better late than never I guess.  Grandma and Grandpa Dobbs arrived Friday and were so excited to see Asher after having not seen him since Christmas!  He loved it too. :) 

Sunday morning my parents arrived as well along with my sister, Bethany, and my grandma, Marge.  Doesn't Asher look so dapper in his little suit coat, polo shirt, and khakis?  :) 

Such a special day... what a blessing for us that Asher has such a rich Christian heritage!

Three generations of Dobbs men! 

Asher did great throughout the service...  and while the day was a lot of fun to be surrounded by family, to put Asher in such adorable clothes, and to be glad that he didn't cry through his dedication, it was a very serious moment for us that we did not take lightly.   We vowed before God to raise our child in an environment where he will hopefully make a decision to follow Jesus sooner than later.  What an overwhelming task ahead of us to live our lives exemplifying Christ to our child.  But what a great blessing that our family, friends, and church congregation made the same vow, and will support our human efforts.  We pray that God would grab our little boy's heart as soon as he's able to comprehend what Jesus did for him.     

And, while a superficial concern, I was awfully grateful that God answered my silly prayers and that he helped Asher wait to have his weekly Sunday morning blowout until he was sitting in his car seat on the way to lunch instead of in the middle of church like he normally does.  Way to go, Asher.  Thanks for waiting... but maybe let's just stop that tradition all together, how 'bout?  :)

We changed his pants and he had to sit through lunch without socks, but our sweet little boy was so worn out from being so good all morning that he zonked sitting up, and slept through mid afternoon.  :)  

The family stuck around for the afternoon, and we had alot of fun just hanging out!  I know Eric already posted this pic of the girls on pinterest, but I'd just like to add my side of the story, that the boys were all outside in 30 degree weather flying a remote controlled airplane at the time, and I wish I could have captured a picture of them huddled around the computer moments earlier watching the videos of their flight. It would have been just as good. :)

It was a great day, a great weekend!  Here's just a couple more pics of Asher that were just too sweet to not include in the post. 

Thanks Grandmas and Grandpas for loving Jesus and for loving us enough to exemplify Christ to Eric and I when we were children and for now loving Asher in the same way!  We all fail from time to time, but thankfully God is full of grace and makes up for our mistakes. Praise be to Jesus for this beautiful baby boy.

#Meagan

Time for Me!

Sometimes as a stay at home mom, I miss having time on my own, to just have some "me" time. When Asher's sleeping, entertaining himself, or hanging with Eric, I often feel like I need to be productive, doing laundry, dishes, etc.  But I'm finding that when I do that, I can from time to time end up feeling like I'm working 24/7, and then when I do take a break, I end up feeling like I'm just wasting time.

And well, I got some "me" time this weekend while Eric's parents were here and it's so rare these days that I didn't know what to do with myself.  So Eric's mom suggested something along the lines of making a list of things I like to do on my own so that when I get a moment (when other priorities aren't pressing) I can easily grab something.  For me that would be something like a list of books I want to read, or recipes I want to try, or crafty projects I'd like to do to make my house prettier or more organized.

Anyway, Asher took a rediculously long nap this afternoon, and I felt (after prepping our youth group lesson for tonight, paying the bills, loading the dishwasher, and making sure that we had something for dinner) that I could take a break and do something for myself.  Unfortuately I haven't made "my list" yet so I found myself browsing Pinterest looking for something I could do with anything I had a home and here's what I found...

    
They are pajama eaters!   The mouth is a zipper and kids are supposed to store their pajamas in them during the day.  Since I first saw this a few weeks ago, I've been brainstorming ways to modify these for Eric and I, because I'd rather not have Eric's draped over the bed all day, and he doesn't really like mine in a pile on the bathroom floor. :)  So, I searched my craft room for fabric and found... none. At least not enough of anything that would look good in our bedroom.  But before getting too discouraged, it dawned on me that I had just packed away a bunch of ratty, old jeans of Eric's to get rid of.  And here's what I made with them!

Pajama bags!  Only took me about 20 minutes too!  I just cut off the legs of his jeans from the knee down, sewed up the bottom of the leg, hemmed around the top, hot glued a ribbon on either side of the inside so I could tie it up, and Voila! Our pajamas are neatly stored in cute bags on our bed! 

It's amazing how doing something so simple can make such a huge difference in my emotional health!  And they're going to bring me joy for days to come. :)

Here's how they look on the bed. Can't wait to show Eric when he gets home!

#Meagan

3 months!

It's hard to believe that Asher will be three months old tomorrow!  He's so, so close to laughing and has just recently starting grabbing at toys.  He prefers to sit propped up rather than lay on his back these days, because he really likes to watch his feet.  I'm afraid we may have a baby who learns to sit before he rolls over. :)  (That said, he still spends plenty of time laying on the floor and we do tummy time everyday so no need to worry.) 

The best news of the week is that Asher has slept through the night for four nights in a row.  Friday night he went from 10-6 between feedings, Saturday night from 11-5, Sunday night from 9-5:30 and Monday night from 9-6:45!  He goes to sleep about an hour after the start of that last feeding, so he's sleeping 5 - 8 hour stretches now, and then will often sleep another hour or two after he eats in the morning.  I'm counting my blessings, 'cause it's been pretty marvellous. :)   Hopefully it lasts!

I think a big contributor of the sleep though is that he's not hurting for calories.  We weighed him this past weekend and he was a whopping 15 lbs 10 oz... at three months.  He has 8 month old friends that weigh only a pound or two more.  I promise I don't feed him more often than every 2-4 hours! :)  (And remember that he was 10 lbs at birth!)

Anyway, here's his pic of the week. Thanks Aunt Lyndsey for the adorable outfit! 

Asher's new favorite activity...staring at his feet. :)

The jacket's still a little big and as it's puffy it adds a couple inches to his waist... but isn't it cute?  

#Meagan

So... how 'bout that Pinterest?

Yeesh. 

#Eric

Kicks

In the womb Asher enjoyed kicking, as far as we could tell.  Whether it was Meagan's bladder, kidneys, or the outer walls, he was active.  We're now getting to see that activity in him each day, but more and more under his own control.  He isn't doing much self directed grabbing with his hands yet, but we get to see him figure various things out on a pretty regular basis.

Future soccer player?  Maybe.  Awesome kid?  Definitely.

#Eric

A random thought regarding Norwex...

Okay so I've never been able to attend a Norwex party when I've been invited, so I really don't know that much about it.  I've been given wash cloths before... I'm not sure what they're called... some for my counter that I'm not supposed to use for dishes, and some for the baby.  They're supposed to have some special properties, but they just seem like normal old wash cloths to me.  

BUT THEN...  my mom gave me the "Polish" cloth for windows and mirrors for valentines day and I can not contain my amazement!!!  I just wash the surface down with water with any old rag and then just dry with this polish cloth, and it's 100 % streak free and shinier than it's been in a long time!  I even used it to dry off my black oven top last night after scrubbing all the food junk off, and I think I literally could have seen my face in it.  Norwex, you've won me over.  When's the next party?

Oh and thanks, mom! :)

Valentine's Day... extended edition

Well we had a blast in Minneapolis this past weekend celebrating my neice Acacia's 8th birthday and my baby sister Bethany's 25th.  We, of course, went skiing on the only day of winter we've had this year- it was 4 degrees in the morning.  My mom hung out in the lodge with Asher and I was able to ski for a few hours between feedings.  Eric taught me some new skills. And we had a lot of fun just hanging out together. 

Since my big sister Heidi's kids are homeschooled, my mom wanted to do the school valentine experience with them. So on Sunday we celebrated Valentine's Day by each decorating a bag, and then my mom gave us each a box of valentines and sent us off by ourselves to write kindnesses to one another. 

Here's some of our loot. :)  It was a fun flashback to the childhood days...

My four year old niece, Evelyn, by far wrote the best Valentine's (or rather dicated to Grandpa). They read "Eric, I love you because you are my aunt." " Meagan, I love you because you are my aunt." "Asher, I love you because you are a baby." And even better, to my sister's boyfriend, she wrote "John, I love you because you are - no not that - I kind of love you because you sort of are my aunt."  The word "uncle" seems to have been lost on her. :)
 

I made more sock monkeys as gifts for the holiday.  My sister reports that they've been played with constantly since Sunday, but that they are also already starting to fall apart.  Guess I've got to add a few more stitches next time I make them! 

The best monkey, though, by far, was this awesome hat cousin Acacia bought for Asher. 

We LOVE it! 

Which brings us to Tuesday.  I woke up to thank yous on sticky notes all over the house... "for cooking" stuck to the fridge, "for doing laundry" stuck to the washer, "for being such a good mom" on the baby stuff... etc! They were everywhere!  He also sent "I love you because..." texts all day. :)  I made him this, hand delivered to work-

The mug has a bunch of pics of dad and baby, and says "I love you, Dad!" 

Eric and Asher took me out to Red Lobster in Ames for dinner, where we had an awesome meal!  And here's what I got...  gorgeous roses and tulips plus chocolate covered strawberries he made himself!

But perhaps the best gift of all was from Asher. He slept the ENTIRE night for the very first time! I fed him at 9:00, put him down at 10:00 and he didn't wake up again until 5:30! I fed him and then he promptly went back to sleep until 8:00.  All in all we had a great holiday and I am so blessed to have such awesome guys in my life. 

#Meagan

Happy Valentine's Day

Well our little heart breaker turned 12 weeks on this, his first Valentine's day.  Much to the chagrin of all the lovely ladies out there, he helped me take his mom out on a date.  We'll write up on that tomorrow, since the night is not yet finished.  Here's his weekly photo op.

...aaand he's just not quite ready to sit up completely by himself yet...

#Eric

Some random thoughts...

So here's the pic of the week. I'm drawing a blank for what to write.  So here's a random conglomeration of thoughts.  (Is that even a word?)

• Holding himself upright is easier for him every week... we have fewer and fewer flop over moments during our photo sessions each week.
• Asher continues to delight us with new developments seemingly everyday. He's more chatty, more engagable (again is that a word?), more surprising. 
• Days seem to be getting easier and easier as I'm really settling into being a stay at home mom. Things seem less overwhelming and I can handle most things most days... but then sometimes out of the blue things just seem really hard again.  Like last night when I was dead exhausted and he just wouldn't go to sleep. But thankfully it doesn't happen all that often. AND he took a two hour nap for me this morning.  I also took a two hour nap.
• We're heading to Minneapolis this weekend to celebrate a couple birthdays with my family.  We're going skiing...well, Eric will at least.  I haven't figured out the logistics with Asher yet, even though grandma is more than willing to babysit!
• February 19th Asher will be dedicated at our church's 10:30 service.  We'd love to have as many family and friends there that can make it, as it's more of a public commitment on all our parts to do our best to raise him up to love Jesus.   
• I think that's it for now.

Look at those blue eyes...

Raspberry Surprise

My sense of humor is really friendly to pretty much all subject matter relating to..  ..well, farts.  When it comes to that, I think there tends to be a 12 year old boy in every man, no matter how old we get. Tonight I tried a bit of that with Asher, and didn't really get the reaction I might have expected.

I guess we'll have to give him a bit more time.  I think he'll come around.

#Eric

Girls' Craft Night

Remember when I said I was going to make Valentine sock monkeys, and had been pumping milk to leave Asher home with daddy?   Well... that was last night.   I had a great night!  Unfortunately it wasn't so great for Eric.  The sock monkey making was super fun, and it was nice getting out of the house and spending some time with some great girl friends.  But little Asher decided not to cooperate and he wouldn't take the bottle for daddy.  So after 20 minutes of Asher crying his eyes out, Eric called, and my awesome husband decided to bring him out to me to feed him.  I felt horrible for Eric that Asher wasn't cooperating as I could hear the stress in my husband's voice, but my wonderful husband never expressed anything but disappointment that he wasn't able to give me my girl's night without interruption!  Let me first say that I did not mind one tiny little bit taking a 20 minute break from sock monkey making to feed my baby.  But beyond that, how awesome to have a husband who gave up his own hopes and plans for the evening to drive Asher 15 minutes out of town for me to feed him, wait around in a house full of girls, and then drive him back home.  I offered to keep Asher with me, but Eric wouldn't hear of it.  He wanted me to have my night.  What an awesome man to have as my partner in parenthood!  

He had Asher asleep by the time I got home at 10:15, but having not fed him since 7:45, I woke Asher up to eat at 11:45 before I went to bed, and our little boy slept straight through the night until 6:00!   I fed him at 6:00 and except for a brief time awake at 7:30, he fell back asleep until 9:30!  What a Saturday morning treat!  Anyway, here's my Valentine sock monkey, which turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. :)   And we'll throw a couple recent cute pics of Asher just for good measure.  :) 

#Meagan

Greetings

I walked by some guys on the street today.  While waiting to get close enough for the cursory 'hi', I instead got a "HEY MAN, HOW YOU DOING?".  I said "Good, you?" and he said GOOD.  It got me thinking. When walking by someone, either at work or on the street, I am constantly faced with the dilemma of how to greet them. I tend to have a tough time deciding at a moment's notice, because I find that I have various options to choose from:

1. Stare at the ground, glance over your shoulder, or at something really interesting on the wall, waiting until you are a specific distance from the person, then look to catch their eye.  You then have two options:
• You catch their eye, greet them, and move on (perfect)
• They don't look up, in which case you move on (muttering to yourself something about the lack of social graces in society these days...)
2. Greet them the moment you see them at the far end of the hall/sidewalk.  Again, in this situation you are left with choices after the initial greeting:
• Glance around awkwardly until you have passed one another
• Start up some meaningless conversation that will only last the 5-10 seconds you have left before passing one another (be careful on this one.  If you miscalculate on time, you'll end up doing that awkward over-the-shoulder conversation finish, where you're talking to their back, unsure if they're even still listening...)
• Continue to greet them every ten feet or so until you have passed (extra points for different greetings and/or languages)
3. Busy yourself with something (i.e. phone, papers, intently biting your fingernails) until you have passed one another with no greeting. (boo)
4. Stare them down.  First one to cry loses.

I think the probability of awkwardness is directly proportional to the distance at which you first see the other person.  The farther away you see them, the more likely you'll walk away from the exchange going "what was that?!".  I tend to mix it up a bit, but always try to greet them in some way, shape, or form. 

So how do you approach it?  Have I missed options?
However you do it, I say to you: Go forth, and GREET!

#Eric

Cloth Diapering

We've been playing around with the idea of cloth diapering for a while now.  I bought a couple diapers of quite a few brands to try them out and decide which ones we like, 'cause at $20 a diaper I want to be sure before going all in.  There are, of course, cheaper cloth diapering options out there, but what can I say... I've got a weakness for the bright colors and convenience of the new fangled ones.    I mean, seriously, aren't they pretty?

Anyway, even though most of them say they'll fit at 8 pounds, until a couple weeks ago we were still getting a lot of leakage out the legs, which was quite lovely :P, so we kept going back to disposable -waiting till his little legs had a little more meat on them. :)  Disposable diapers, let me say, are way too convenient for their own good... even though they give us leakage up his back. So, although he's been fitting into his cloth diapers better for a couple weeks now, I've been hesitant to jump in, and have otherwise overlooked their finer atributes... until today.   We ran out of disposable diapers in the middle of the night and boy was I glad I had these on hand! 

We've got two BumGenius diapers with Velcro, two BumGenius with snaps, and one Charlie Banana diaper that I purchased predominantly with gifts cards, three gDiapers recieved as gifts, and a decent stack of pre-folds with Bummies covers that were hand-me-downs from my sister's kids (not pictured, cause to be honest, I haven't really figured out how to use them).

It's a big decision... there's the obvious benefits to the landfill, though it's often countered by the increase in water and electricity usage to wash cloth.  If you buy cheap bulk disposable vs. the cutesy expensive cloth (instead of the basic cloth diapers) there really isn't that huge of a price difference - EXCEPT when - I keep having to remind myself, because I often forget - you consider that cloth diapers can be reused across all your kids.  Cloth diapers just plain out take more time and effort too. 

I don't know.  I'm still undecided.  But I'm kinda liking where we are now.  I use disposable predominanlty but with a sprinkling of cloth diaper usage - usually go through my nine cloth diapers once or twice a week... it saves money, really buffers the monthly baby budget, and also saves me from an inordinate amount of laundry doing. 

I'm only personally $25 buckaroos into this decision, so even if we never go gung-ho and purchase another couple hundred bucks of cloth diapers that would be necessary to actually make their sole usage practical, all I know is, I sure appreciated them last night.

(I will at some point also include pics of my baby boy in those cute colorful contraptions, but you'll have to wait on that... even though I know pics can turn a boring post into one worth reading, I'm not really up for it today.) 

#Meagan