Tomorrow's leader

This little guy is giving me a run for my money today. God sure has a sense of humor giving me so many strong-willed children. I didn't think any child could be more strong willed than Boston....and then little Asher was born. His first 3 years were easy breezy, but he was only saving up the fun! And his really is one of the sweetest, most precious little boys. But then when this child wants something he puts his whole heart and soul (and vocal chords) into it. I think I might have permanant damage to my inner ear from his screaming fit on the way home today from Sydney's swim lessons. All because I wouldn't buy him a popsicle. (Darn that Southwest Aquatics and the need to have a freezer of ice cream goodies on our way out the door.)

I can't wait to see what things this little leader does one day. I remember having a strong feeling while he was in my belly that he was destined for great things so it shouldn't be of any surprise that he is a strong-willed child growing into tomorrow's leader.

He is now sleeping soundly in his room after having cried his determined little body to sleep. I just pray he wakes up in a much better mood!

Three: a hard soft age

There are many days that I wish 3 away.

3 is an age full of discipline...pushing the limit....and testing mom's patience.

But 3 is also full of giggles, precious smiles, finding your voice, a twinkling in your eye, silly comments and a belly full of love.

God knew that 3 can be difficult as I try and direct a strong-willed little boy to do what is right....and that is why He gave me these precious moments....to push me threw the hard ones.

Sleeping while eating

I went to pick up Asher from my parents house and my mom said he had fallen asleep 30 minutes before I got there while having lunch. That's one tired boy!

Asher's first day of school

Asher had his very first day of school today! He is in a PreK-3 program at a church close to our house two mornings a week for 3 hours. He is over the moon excited about going and when we got there he ran in and almost forgot to say bye to mommy. I hugged his precious little body and he scampered off to play with the new found toys. I'm so proud of my brave boy. And he reported with a big smile about how much fun he had when I picked him up. He colored, played toys, sang and met new friends. He has been blessed with two great teachers and I know it's going to be a fantastic, fun filled preschool year for him.

Asher's meet the teacher

Today my baby boy met his very first teacher, Mrs. Moran. I can't believe my little, energetic, exuberant boy will be going to PreK-3. Of course it's only 2 mornings a week and 3 hours at that, but still, it's a big step. He has known for months that he would be going to school and when we would pass by the church where his school is he would get excited and say, "There's Asher's school." (Asher always refers to himself in 3rd person...one of the super cute things I absolutely LOVE about him.) And when I was having a hard time potty training him I would remind him that he wouldn't be able to go to school until he was. The day he went on the potty he proudly said with the biggest smile, "Mama I can go to school now!" And he was ready to go get in the car and head to school...I gotta love Asher's get up and go.

Here he is in the hallway to his class. Boy oh boy do I love this boy, especially his joyful smile!

His school celebrated their 50th anniversary as a preschool recently

Asher getting acquainted with his new classroom and all the new toys he will get to play with. He wasn't very interested in getting to know his teacher or meeting any of the other kids in the class but he sure did love all the great toys.

Belly sleeping

Asher awoke from his nap today and found me sitting on the couch with Sydney and he crawled up in my lap and went back to sleep on top of me.

Ahhh

Ashers 3 now and I never have him sleep on top of me anymore. It's one of those things about babies that I absolutley LOVE!

So I sat there and relished this moment. I thought about his first 3 years of life and how fast it's flown by. I thought about how quickly it will continue to go by. I watched Boston and Dallas run through the room playing gi Joe chasing each other and I looked at my 5 and 7 year old boys and how grown up they are.

My girlfiend Rebecca was telling me how it occured to her at church this past Sunday as they introduced this years high school seniors that her son would be up there in 8 years. She wondered where the time had gone. She talked about how everyone said it would go by fast but how she never truly underwood that but now she did.

As I'm laying there with Asher wishing I could stay there forever and love on him I heard "ring ring" coming from my cell phone sitting next to me. Well actually it rang the song "soul sister" by Train which I find I a whole lot more fun. I quickly answered it so I wouldn't wake my sleepy boy and on the other end was a lady in broken English asking me if I had a black and white dog named Dillard. She had gotten loose and was several streets over. My utopian experience reminising on ashers childhood was quickly interupted as I was catapolted back into the craziness of my life.

"kids! Load up in the car. We gotta drive to get Dillard".


- Cricket

Happy Birthday Asher

Happy Birthday my sweet Asher! Today my baby boy turned 3 years old. Where does the time go? 3 years ago I was at the hospital having an all nighter with my funny husband and crazy best friend Jessica (who left her 3 kids with her parents and drove all the way to be here for the birth). It was a fun fun fun labor....and an OH so painful one. I was trying hard to deliver without an epidural but since he was 2 weeks late they had to induce me. After 13 hours of hard hard labor without the epidural and still only 5 centimeters the nurses decided to start upping the pit at a more rapid rate. That's when the tears started flowing from my tired body. But in the end the epidural was great and the rest of the labor was enjoyable and it was even more amazing not knowing the sex this time around. And even though I already had 2 boys when the doctor said, "It's a boy!", I smiled and fell madly in love with him. How old are you Asher? He responds, "3!" as he holds up all 5 fingers.

We didn't have a big party this year but enjoyed celebrating with our famiy of 6 with a much requested Umizoomi cake. Since they don't sell any Umizoomi stuff yet being that the show is so new I had to improvise and print out pictures online and tape them to popsicle sticks. But it turned out great and he sure loved it! And we watched lots of Umizoomi today!

Admiring his Umizoomi cake I made for him. Opening presents. He wanted trains, of course we have about 1000 at our house already since he's the 3rd boy, but he trains he got! A Thomas the train set thats kinda like a rollercoaster for trains and a piece to add to the Geotrax set. We must own everything they sell for Geotraxs!

Thank you Asher for all the laughter you have brought into our lives. You truly are one of the funniest people I've ever met and most other people say the same thing about you after meeting you. Your smile is infectious and the words that come out of your mouth never cease to amaze me. What a blessing you are and I thank God for you!

This Monday brought a whole new meaning to Monday

So I awoke to an even worse sore throat and still running a 102 temp. At this point I thought that I might possibly have strep, especially since my throat had white spots on it. I thought I would go get swabbed for a test after Dallas was out of school and I was done schooling Boston. But then after lunch I realized that Asher's ear was looking really red and swollen. And when I say swollen, it was actually huge and sticking out from his ear.






I called the doctor and they said bring him in. So much for my dr check up since we have a neurologist appt for Dallas at 3:30. Sure enough the dr said she had never seen one so swollen so we needed to put him on antibiotics. He must have gotten bite by something bad.

While we were there I had her swab Boston for strep throat since he had been complaining of a sore throat for a few days. Sure enough he tested positive, confirming the fact that I most likely had it. I called my dr and they called me in antibiotics. So with three prescriptions for antibiotics we headed to the neurologist appt. After a total of about 3 hours in waiting rooms with 4 kids and a 102 temp I was ready for something stronger than antibiotics at this point. We headed for Publix for the drugs where the madness continued with an hour wait and crazy kids.

FINALLY we made it home and started the drugs....thank goodness for drugs at this point....and a new day tomorrow.