Best.Time.EVER!

Last week we went on our first family vacation to sunny Newport Beach in California!!!! It was sooo amazing! We had a flight out of DFW last Thursday morning...so we started our day before the sun came up at 4am!!! Let me tell you that packing for a 3 month old isn't as easy as I thought. I swear Asher's stuff took up more than me & Mike's together!! Anyway, we managed to get through security with everything in tow. (I was really nervous about the TSA folks but they were super great and we went through w/out and issues!) We were SO lucky that our flight was only 1/2 full. We literally had the back 10 rows to ourselves! We took Asher's car seat in and he slept the WHOLE way there! Whew!

We got to Cali at 9am and went straight to my brothers house...stayed there for about an hour and then went to my sisters house. We had lunch with her family and then we all headed to the beach front house that my mom rented for us all to stay. My mom, stepdad and stepbrother flew in on a different flight from Dallas and my grandparents flew in from San Francisco. There were EIGHTEEN of us total! Our house had 8 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, huge family areas, balcony, patio lots of bathrooms and most of all...an amazing ocean view! It was located right near Balboa Pier with tons of places to eat, and do within walking distance! We really had SO much fun. We went on 3-4 walks each day with the strollers to the park on the beach, pier and down the trail of shops & restaurants. The girls went for sushi one afternoon and the guys drove to LA (Mike was determined to go to the huge guitar center in LA). Each family (my sisters, brothers and mine) cooked a big dinner on separate nights. Mike & I had the first night so we grocery shopped for 18 people which was very stressful for me (HA!) and made delicious tacos, queso, beans, guacamole, chips, etc. It was yummy. My sisters family made jumbo shrimp fettichini with delicious bread and salad and my brothers family made Mediterranean chicken with pita bread and Greek salad. It was a great idea to rotate cooking dinner that way my mom an/or grandma wasn't stuck in the kitchen each night. It was perfect!!

We came home Sunday afternoon and unfortunately our flight was 'full' (even though I saw 2 empty seats near us!!!) so they wouldn't let us take the car seat. I got really nervous/anxious because it wasn't quite Asher's bedtime yet and he had already had a good nap that afternoon. Luckily he did great and only cried just for a few minutes at takeoff & landing. Everybody around us thought he was the cutest thing and complimented him on his calmness!! :) WHEW! He fell asleep for 90% of the flight, it was not comfortable AT ALL for me because I had to sit still the whole time and felt like I couldn't move since I was so nervous that he'd wake up! But, we made it home safe and luckily I took off work on Monday because we got settled in at home around midnight.

I was so happy to see all my nieces & nephews and have everybody together at the same time. This was very rare for my family!!! We hope to continue this tradition and do it each year! I haven't gone through all of the pics yet, but here are some random ones...

me & my love on the beach!

feeding Asher in the airport

happy baby!!!

my grandparents with Ash-man

3 newest additions: Everly, Asher & Corban SIL & Brother

beach bound

morning walk

Cory & his 3 girls :)

my sister and 1 of her 4 boys

My stepbrother, Paul, & my mom

COUSINS!! All of the kiddos!!

gorgeous!!

my mom & grandma with sky & aiden

he loves his hands!!

me & my mom at sushi!!!

logan showing me his tricks!!!

loves to giggle!!! xoxo

Growing Boy!!!

Seriously, I'm a horrible blogger! I can't seem to keep up with updating pictures and blogs here...but I'll try to do better! A lot of it has to do with our broken computer. Mike has the day off today and I told him to when I come home from work I want to see a new computer ready for me to use!!! He laughed...but I think it's gonna happen, finally! I'm SO not used to the laptop I have and my measly iPhone can only do so much... ANYWAY....Asher won't stop growing!!!!! I'm loving every minute of him. He is such a sweet baby!!! I don't want to jinx anything...BUT he has slept through the night THREE nights in a row!!! I'm loving it!!! I'm talking like ALL the way through...like 8p--7a!!! I definitely don't miss getting up in the middle of the night. ESPECIALLY since I'm back to work!!! YEP, I officially started back to work last week. I was really hoping that it wouldn't happen...but it did. Since Mike works from home 3 days a week he has been taking and picking up Ash from daycare. I will say that I LOVE his daycare. They are super sweet and have a great curriculum (even for infants!!!). They are Christian-based, very new, clean and love the 'teachers' in the infant room...and they are about 2 miles from my house. They also have video cameras in the rooms so I can check up on him every 5 minutes! ;) ha. It's fun to be able to see them reading him books, playing paddy-cake, singing songs, feeding him and watching him sleep. Of course I wish it was MEEE that was doing all of these things, but it's good to know that he's in great hands! That's all for now....back to work...

Sunday's best!!! This is the outfit that Asher wore to his Dedication at our church last weekend. Such a special day!!

2 Months!!!

I'm a bit late...but Asher is now 2 months and 7 days! He had his 2 month appointment last Monday and got the shots like a champ! I heard lots of horror stories and was expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised when he did great. He was a bit fussy that night but really nothing too bad at all. He weighed in at 12lbs 7oz and is now 23 3/4 inches long! He's definitely a growing boy!!!
Last weekend my mom, Asher and I went on a road trip to Oklahoma City for my cousin's baby shower. As always, Asher did great in the car! My mom got to experience how me and Ash get up in the middle of the night since we were in the same hotel room! :) It was great to see my dad, stepmom and stepsister who drove in from Nebraska! My stepsis, Kinsey, drove back to Dallas with us and spent her whole Spring Break here at our house! We loved every minute of it! We stayed busy visiting family, going out to dinner/lunches, shopping, and also went to the Harbor and the Arboretum. She took lots of pictures of Asher...I can't wait to see the final product! Asher loved spending time with Aunt Kinsey and he can't wait to see her again!!! xo!
Asher smiles a ton these days! He is SUCH a sweet baby! He loves car rides, stroller walks in the neighborhood, being outside, lying on my/Mike/anybody's chest, he loves to look around at lights, walls, shadows...really anything. He coos all the time and is starting to giggle. He is so fun!!!

SUPER sweet newborn photo. This is the pic I used on the birth announcements that went out a few weeks ago.

Newborn photo shoot

Newborn photo.

Ashers first time at the church nursery. THEY SAID that he did great. So I'll have to trust that it's true. ha! He was swinging in the swing when we picked him up and cried when they took him out to bring him to us. Maybe he DID have fun?!? :)

My stepsister, Kinsey, did a photo shoot of me and Ash at the Arboretum. I can't wait to see them all!

Kiddos!!!

My brother and SIL had their new addition to their family 3 weeks after Ash was born. Everly Blue was actually born on Asher's initial due date...January 24th. She is so adorable!

Check out her sweet cheeks!!!

Austyn is now a big sister!!! She gets adorable every time I see a new picture!

My sister is due with her 4th boy on March 10th! I can't wait to meet Corban Stone!! Her other 3 boys are staying so busy with auditions for new print ads, commercials and even movies! Here are their new head shots!

Skylar

Logan

Aiden

We just booked our flights to visit California! I really wish we lived much closer--I hate that I only get to see them a couple times a year. Sooo...Mike, Asher and I are heading out to Cali in April. I can't wait!!! My mom and stepdad are renting a beautiful house on Newport Beach for us all to stay at!! My grandparents are even coming in town from San Francisco! EIGHTEEN of us in the same house (including the 3 newborns!!). Although I'm really nervous to fly with Asher...I'm REAALLY excited to see my fam and be on vacation!

Speaking of Asher...here are some new pics of my love......

Baby Legs are my FAVE! They are so cute and easy for diaper changing! These are still big on him but at least he has room to grow! :)

Asher LOVES this sweet elephant that my bff gave him. It winds up and plays 'Rock-a-bye Baby' and moves his head back and forth. We keep it at his changing table to make that a more pleasant experience.

6 weeks!

Went to dinner with my BFF & her family. They loved Asher!

hanging out on the couch

***Not sure how the photos got split up but I'm not taking the time to fix it. Ha!

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. Asher is growing everyday. I went to an appointment this morning and realized that the carseat is SO heavy with him in it now! EEk! Hopefully my muscles will start to get with it since we have a long time ahead of us before he's out of that thing! Our home PC has crapped out on us recently so I've been MIA in the blogging world. I had to get out my MAC laptop and try to figure out how to post pics. I'm proud to say that I figured it out without having to call on my friends Lee (www.learnfromlee.com) or Ters. ha!
Valentines Day was greatness. Mike got me a garnet ring surrounded with diamonds. Garnet is Asher's birthstone so it's super special to me! I've been saying that I wanted something to resemble him or his birthstone but I couldn't decided what to get. I'm so glad he surprised me with this AND picked it out himself. It's BEAUtiful!!! Since I lost my wedding ring a few years ago...now I'll wear this on my wedding finger. :)
The weather has been UH-MAZING recently and I'm hoping it'll stay this way! We've been going out on walks when Mike gets home from work and I'm LOVING it! We are SO happy with our stroller purchase. We ended up getting the Britax B-ready that our carseat easily attaches to but it also has the actually stroller seat that also fits an infant. It's super smooth and rear or front facing which I love!

Taking a stroll.

Happy Baby!

Naked Baby! He loves the bath but doesn't like the getting out part when he is cold! :(

I love my Lovie Dovie!

I absolutely love spending every minute of every day with Asher!!! I guess I shouldn't say EVERY minute of EVERY day, because I do get breaks to take a shower, get my nails done, go on dates with my hubby, etc. Asher and I have been having so much fun staying at home together. Mike works from home each Tues & Thurs so those days are even better because he's here and is able to help out, eat lunch or even just come out of the office to take a break and play with us...or watch Ash sleep. :)
I'm learning new things each day about being a mommy. It's crazy the things that happen that I was never told about! I'll be honest to say the first 2 weeks were CRAZY! Emotionally, I was a wreck! I'm so glad I'm past that part. I probably cried myself to sleep almost every night. Sometimes I didn't really even have a reason, it just happened. BUT I have the best husband in the world and he was there each night to wipe my tears and promise me that everything will be alright. I think overall I was just overwhelmed. A lot of it had to do with the obstacles of breastfeeding and the pain I had from the delivery after I came home from the hospital and of course, having a brand new, iddy-biddy sweet baby that was on a crazy schedule that I wasn't used to. I no longer could get my normal 10 hours of sleep each night. I had to kiss that bu-bye!
Now I can say that I still have the everyday challenges of taking care of a newborn but I'm LOVING it! I'm used to my sleep schedule and Asher is actually sleeping 4-4.5 hours through the night--on a good night! (knock on wood!!!) I'll typically take a nap in the early morning or afternoon while Asher is sleeping to catch up on sleep if I'm dragging. Other than that, when he is awake we recently started to read books, sing, play with his various toys that play music and make noises, and play on the tummy-time mat. He doesn't last very long at any of these activities...but it's fun while it lasts. Ha!
I can't wait for the weather to get warmer so we can get out of the house and use the stroller. We have a great park right by my house and I'm itching to walk on the walking trail each day. Icy weather has taken over of temps in the teens & 20s recently so we've been staying in-doors. I'm looking forward to the 60 degree temps that it's supposed to be this weekend! I'm also looking forward to my Valentines date with my hubby. My mom offered to watch Asher while we go to dinner tomorrow night...assuming the roads aren't icy. A's pediatrician has said since day one "Don't forget to date your husband!". I totally agree and can see how the focus can be taken away from the marriage. We are so thankful that we have so much local family that CANT WAIT to babysit for us!! :)