Snacktime

Asher is very aware of everything we eat. In fact, the only time he doesn't really pay attention is when he's in his high chair and has his own delicious meal to enjoy.

Any other time, he wants to know exactly what you're eating and if he can have some of it. He will then proceed to whine, whine, whine (and maybe scream and cry) until you either share it with him, finish it, or give up and put it away. I feel that not only is it mean to eat in front of him on a regular basis when he can't have it himself, but I really don't want to deal with or hear the whining if at all possible. Plus, I cannot enjoy food with something crying in my ear.

With that in mind, I like to employ one of three methods when it comes to indulging in something that Asher either can't eat or shouldn't eat:

A) The stuff your mouth in the kitchen approach. This entails, for example, grabbing a cookie and shoving it in your mouth when Asher is in the other room and then chewing it quickly before he sees you. I really prefer to not do this because I rather enjoy savoring my food and would rather not shove it down my throat, but it is highly effective I must admit.

B) Give Asher his own treat. If Asher has something good to eat at the same time, he will usually leave you alone and munch on his own thing. Of course, he will still probably peer at what you are having from time to time and wonder if yours is better, but ultimately, if he's happy with it, you're good to go. I prefer to find a kind of healthy dessert, such as homemade muffins or soy yogurt, but sometimes he'll even get a popsicle or chips as a special snack.

C) Wait until he's sleeping. This is easily achievable for me when Asher takes a nap (happens a lot of the time but not every single day), but Eric doesn't have access to that option very often. And usually, especially if he does take a nap, Asher doesn't go to bed until close to or at the same time we do, so this is not always a viable choice.

So that's how I do things myself. Eric on the other hand? He has his own method:

D) Eat whatever I want wherever and whenever I want.

Eric seems to think that perhaps this two-year-old has fallen from the sky just this morning and that he should not have to adapt his life to accommodate him. You can see that I am a big fan of this method. A few nights ago, after an especially whiny evening, it was close to bedtime. Eric decided to all of a sudden have some chocolate and then some chips! On the couch no less! Asher was very upset and of course wanted some. He had already had a snack earlier, and as I said, he was about to go to bed, so having another snack just wasn't going to happen. I truly enjoyed the endless protest that Asher put up until Eric finished eating, let me tell you.

If Asher is going to have something to eat after dinner, I will purposely time any snacking I want to do around that time or skip it altogether. Eric prefers to wait until we're all done to then have dessert because he just didn't feel like it earlier.

Sometimes, we can't always be in the mood when it comes to small children. Ahem.

Boy or Girl?

If you haven't already, don't forget to vote on what you think I'm having! So far, the girls are ahead by two votes! Very interesting! The big reveal is coming up...can't believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

I've been busy with trying to organize everything. We are moving Asher's bedroom into our current office so that we can keep all of the baby furniture in his current room (he doesn't sleep in his crib anyway). His new room is in disarray right now, and I am anxious to get it all put together. His bed arrived a couple of days ago, and we're planning on putting it together this weekend. Asher's dresser also arrived and is sitting in a box. Once everything is put together, then I start moving his clothes and closet stuff over. Lots to do!

A Chair Named Regret

We've lived in our house for a little over two years, and we are the first people to live in it. We have beautiful hardwood floors throughout much of the main level of the house. Over the past couple of years, we've naturally obtained a few scratches here and there and had just natural wear and tear, so it was time to have a little sanding done and a maintenance coat put on.

So, this past August, we did just that. Asher and I had to hang around outside for the 3-4 hours while the guy got it all done, and then we had to be out of the house for 24 hours while it dried. When we returned, the smell was still really strong, so we had to keep the windows open constantly and turn a ton of fans on. It took several days for it to really dissipate.

Basically, it was a lot of work, and it wasn't cheap (although it wasn't crazy expensive either). But, the floors looked gorgeous and brand-new, so it was totally worth it.

HOWEVER, Asher has this fold-up chair that he rarely uses. It used to sit in the carpeted living room until I realized he was hardly using it, so I put it in his closet. He saw it the other day and decided to bring it out. A little while later, I was busy in the kitchen making dinner, and he was occupied with his chair. I thought great! This will keep him busy for a while! He brought it into the kitchen, sat on it for a bit, and then took it around the house, sitting in various spots. I never heard any loud scratching sound or anything that alerted me that something was about to go terribly wrong.

Until Eric came home and practically went into shock. That's when I realized that in the process of taking his chair all around the house, Asher was actually dragging it, and it ended up leaving one (and in some places two) very long and deep scratches that go for about 20 feet or so. I just about had a heart attack. The bottom of the chair legs are plastic and flat, so it didn't seem like it would do any damage, but upon further inspection, one of the legs had a jagged piece of plastic that must have been the culprit.

At first, it looked really, really awful. It was fresh and white, and it was the very first thing you noticed when you walked into the room. We did have some scratch repair stuff that we put on it, and while it did nothing to actually take away the scratch, it did help to at least cover it up some so that they aren't quite as glaringly obvious (basically they just blend in better). Although they definitely still very present.

I tried to take a picture of it, but it's really hard to capture it accurately on camera in certain light. You can still see one of them, though. It's on the left side of the picture. The other one is more toward the right, but it doesn't really show up in the picture.So now we have these lovely scratches that we have to live with for quite a while since we just had the floors redone. I could just cry.

The only good news was that Eric never attempted to point the blame at me (although I'm sure I would have yelled at him if the roles were reversed, truth be told), and Asher had no idea what he was doing, so it wasn't like he was being malicious. Believe me, we know when he does things on purpose, such as spitting water on the floor until he makes a huge puddle, or looking at me directly in the eye before blatantly pouring a cup of bright pink Emergen-c on the carpet (he then put himself in timeout because he knew that was coming!).

That chair is now really hidden away and will probably not make an appearance anytime in the near future.

I hope we sell this house sooner than later because it might not be standing for very much longer!

Hop To It

Hoppy Halloween!

Asher went trick-or-treating for the first time tonight. He was dressed up as a frog and didn't even mind wearing the hat part of it. I suspect that this was because there was the promise of candy, something that Asher has recently discovered and loves (naturally!). I was hoping that he would get some candy that he could eat and wasn't allergic to, but just in case, I had bought a few treats for him to enjoy.Fortunately, there was just the right amount of candy for him to indulge in, and just the right amount for Mommy and Daddy to "help out" with (not to mention the candy I had already been sneaking throughout the week!). Asher had a lot of fun going door to door and filling up his pumpkin bowl, although I think he wasn't quite sure why we weren't actually going inside of anybody's house!
Afterward, we came home and passed out candy. Asher really got into it, and his big thrill was actually putting the candy into the kids' bags. He would even race to the door everytime the doorbell rang to make sure he didn't miss out! He also really enjoyed "playing" with the candy in the bowl (I think he was secretly hoping to eat a little bit more after he had already had more than enough and been cut off!).

I'd definitely say that this Halloween was a success for our little frog!

Midwife

Back when I was pregnant with Asher, I would watch a lot of those birthing shows. The ones with the midwives always interested me because they were so supportive and right there for the mom throughout the labor. However, midwives are usually synonymous with home birth or birthing center, neither of which was up my alley (and definitely not Eric's, being in the medical profession and all).

So I went with an OB/GYN and had a really good experience in Tucson. When we moved up to Colorado, I was 7 months pregnant and needed to find a new OB. I got a ton of recommendations for a male doctor, Dr. B. I was hesitant (I had actually never been to a male OB in my life), but I really liked him a lot and felt extremely comfortable. Although my labor and delivery wasn't quite what I had imagined (when is it though?), it went very smoothly and without any problems, so I was very happy with him and with the whole experience.

I probably would have continued to go to him for this pregnancy, except that he happens to have a midwife in his practice who also delivers in the hospital but provides all the extra bonuses of a midwife - helping you through the labor if you want a natural childbirth and even rubbing your back if you need it! Their styles are very similar, and I have some friends who have gone to her and just absolutely LOVE her. Even though I had a great experience with Dr. B, I just felt that it was time to make a switch. I am not 100% set on a natural childbirth this time around (that epidural last time was so awesome I must say!), but if I do go that route, having that extra support and encouragement would REALLY help me out and could make a huge difference.

So, I made the change (I actually had to tell the OB in person since they had scheduled me with him for my annual exam despite my requesting the midwife, which was super awkward, and I could tell he was upset, but ultimately, this is my delivery/baby so I had to decide what was most important to me, and I think he's okay with it now). Now, having gone to the midwife for a few months, I think she is really great, and I feel confident in the choice I made.

Even though it seems like there's a lot of time between now and March (and a lot of snow and swine flu craziness and anxiety!), I know these next 20 weeks will go by so fast!

Just Being Asher

Given Asher's love of all things phone, I'm beginning to wonder if this is what Asher is going to be like as a teenager...And this one is just 'cause he's cute...

Place Your Vote!

I decided to spice things up a bit and add a poll (to the right), so please place your vote on whether you think Asher will have a little brother or sister!

Answer to be revealed on Thanksgiving Day (November 26th)!