report card update

This month marks 6 months that Asher has been in swimming lessons. Here is the report card he got this week:

If I'm being honest, this looks exactly like his report card from 6 months ago. Interesting.

Well the good news is, he is happy in the water. That wasn't always the case, and I'm glad Danielle took the time to acknowledge that. If we get nothing out of it but some time to splash and laugh and sing and be silly, then that will be worth it. Worth even packing up in -23 degree weather at 8:00 am to get there. I sometimes need reminders of that, but worth it, nonetheless.

Why do I buy toys?

... when Asher is so easily amused with an empty Kleenex box and some plastic links. He seriously played with this for over a half an hour this morning, putting the links inside and taking them out again.

And of course there was the usual meltdown as he started to get tired.

Boys.

7 things

I've been noticing a trend lately on some of the blogs I read. The authors post 7 things about themselves that you may not know. I liked the idea, and thought I'd do it too. So here are my 7 things you may not know...



* My reoccurring bad dream is of losing my teeth. Usually my front ones and I'm always mortified when it happens. I have this dream probably once a month.

* I can't sleep if my feet are cold. I just can't do it. This means that I often wear socks to bed and then wake up in the middle of the night and take my socks off because I hate the feeling of wearing socks to bed.

* When ever I need to use my alarm clock to wake up in the morning, I have to check it, and re-check it a dozen times. Some people (and by some people I really mean my husband) may call this compulsive. I, on the other hand, like to think of it as thorough.


* Whenever I find a new recipe that I really like a lot, I want it all the time. So I make it all the time. And then I get sick of it. And that sucks because I actually really like the recipe!


* I'm a seasonal bather. Not that I don't clean myself; I do shower every day, but I only like to take baths if it's cold out.


* I really like the idea of magazines, but not the actual magazines themselves. A little bit of info on a topic that you can read about every month - sounds perfect! The trouble is, I just never seem to get to reading them. And when I do read them, I find them really surface-y and want more info.


* I have issues with the phone. Mainly, I feel really awkward on it and I hate calling people. I have to talk myself up to ordering pizza. I know, it's weird. Just know that if ever you're on the phone with me and I'm awkward, it's just me.

the illegal walker

So here is a little video of Asher in our borrowed "illegal walker", as I like to call it. A friend of mine has one and asked if we wanted to borrow it. I'll be honest, I never ever thought I'd let my son use a walker considering as they are banned in Canada! Apparently too many children died in them going down the stairs. Yikes! However, they are not banned in the USA, and she picked up one there not too long ago. Not wanting to be rude, I said yes to borrowing it thinking I'd never actually use it.

Well lo and behold, Asher got pretty curious about this contraption, so I finally decided that I would let him try it out. Supervised, of course, and with every door in our home firmly shut. I guess I just realized that walkers in and of themselves aren't The Invention of the Devil, but rather it's how one chooses to use it that ultimately matters. So we use it daily, after I've triple checked all the doors, and I'm always right here with him.

It turns out he loves the thing! He caught on fairly quickly to how to use it, and has been on the move ever since. He is so happy to be able to get around and begin to explore, and using the walker, I find, really has helped him to learn how to "walk". He now always wants to be standing and if we hold onto his little hands, he is off and walking.

I think bumper pads should come included in the purchase of these things!

bumGenius

Here is Asher sporting his very first cloth diaper. It's a bumGenius and we bought a couple at our local Farmer's Market. I've been considering trying cloth diapers since I was pregnant, but just got too overwhelmed with the number of styles and features out there. There is so much to consider! We finally went on a recommendation of a couple of friends, and so here we are. So far we have 2 of them and we're in a trial phase to see if this could work for us. I must say, so far so good! They are pretty easy to use, and seem to work great. No leaks yet. They definitely are bulkier than disposables, and there is the laundry to consider. But I did find myself impressed with how they kept the moisture off of Asher's bottom and love the fact that they have little snaps to adjust the sizing, so that way they can be used from newborn up to potty training. Our main reason for trying cloth is the realization of how many disposables we go through and thinking about the impact of all that on the environment. Hopefully this route will work for us. I'll keep you posted!

the hair cut

Here are some photos of Asher's first hair cut. Our friend Sarah did the honors since I couldn't bring myself to do it, and she actually is a hair dresser. We left his hair long and shaggy, since that's Asher's look, and I did save the rat tail for his baby book. Not everyone can say they have one of those!

Believe it or not, it is quite a bit shorter and the front of his hair doesn't hang in his eyes anymore. I think Asher looks like one of the Beatles with his new do. I love it!

12 events in the Lawson Family Christmas

I know that Christmas is over and done for another year, but I promised more info to all you readers on how our Christmas was here with Asher. It's not quite as catchy as the original, but here's our version of the 12 events in the Lawson Family Christmas.

12 hours of labour cleaning, cooking, and preparing our house. We had to finally start our baby proofing process since so many little ones were here on Christmas Day.

11 million cut up carrot pieces in Oprah's favorite stuffing recipe, which, I'll have you know, sucked out royally. Good thing my mom brought back up stuffing... I'm beginning to think she didn't trust me to deliver on the stuffing.

10 pounds of peeled potatoes by my husband. Thank God Greg had a lot of practice in his younger years on this one.

9 little presents in Asher's stocking. Seriously. I don't even know how many more were under the tree for him.

8 is the only line I couldn't remember from the original 12 days of Christmas. It's 8 maids-a-milking, for the record.

7 drawers to open in my new totally amazing jewelry box that Greg got me for Christmas. There's also a million little cubes inside the drawers. It's super huge and super awesome and totally holds all my goods. I love it!

6:30 wake up on Christmas morning by Mr. Asher. He never gets up this early. I think he sensed the excitement in the air!

5 kids under age 4 at my house on Christmas Day. Seriously. Hence the baby proofing that needed to happen. No more kids allowed in the Lawson family for a few years!

4 borrowed chairs in addition to all the chairs in my house to seat our 15 guests for Christmas Dinner.

3 hours of crying, and only 60 seconds of it was done by me. The rest? An overtired, overstimulated little boy on Christmas night.

2 bodily fluid accidents on my floor in the span of an hour, and neither of them done by my son.

All of this for Baby's 1st Christmas! One, I'm sure, that we'll never forget.

I'm back!!!

Hi friends, I'm back to blogging! Besides adjusting to life alone with Asher during the days after Greg's 2 week vacation home (and believe me, it was an adjustment) I also got sick this past week. It sucked! But the good news is, I guess breast milk really does help babies fight off illness, because Asher didn't get sick. Whoo hoo!

Oh. And I've also been busy takin' care of business around here, which included this fun new book shelf project.

I've been wanting these new bookshelves for a century now. I did have these old and completely-not-matching-with-my-decor bookshelves, which also did not provide enough space for my ever expanding collection of books (which seems to be quadrupling with the amount of baby stuff I feel the need to read), which did not get bigger over Christmas (that's probably too many ( ) and which's for one sentence, but oh well.)

And also takin' care of business like this.

Yip, that's a softball size poo in my sons diaper.

Aren't you glad you took the time to check in on us? :)