Four kids...Life is an adventure: December 2012

8 months old!!!

November has come and gone. Asher is a rock star! I want Mike to give his perspective on life in this months blog, but I will give you the stats on Asher.

Weight: around 16.4lbs

Clothing: mostly 6m clothes although he can wear some 3-6 month items still and can also kind of fit into 6-9 month clothes.

Diapers: Size 2 - We switched to Luvs kind of by accident. They were so cheap so I wanted to try them and bought a small package. It was a big difference! We haven't had any leaks since the switch and save tons of $$ of boxes.

Food: He takes five 6oz bottles a day and three meals of food. His favorite foods include apples, pears, chicken/apples, bananas, carrot/apple (pretty much anything mixed with apples or something sweet). He hates chicken noodle soup and mac'n'cheese. I tasted them and they weren't terrible. Seeing his face eating these you would think I was torturing him!

Sleep: Bedtime around 8/8:30 sleeps till 4-5am take a bottle and goes back to sleep until 7/7:30. Takes about an hour morning nap and a 2hr afternoon nap.

Milestones: babbling like crazy(a lot of dada but never directed at Mike); pulling himself up to standing on his own; holding onto the ottoman/couch and walking; sitting up by himself; laughs and smiles all the time; working on waving (he sometimes does it, but not sure if he knows what he is doing); crawling (mostly army crawling still. He gets up on hands and knees, but after a few steps realizes he can go faster in an army crawl); one bottom tooth and I think another one is trying to pop through

Things I love: When Mike unlocks the door and walks in at night, Asher whips around and crawls as fast as he can to Mike and then proceeds to climb up his leg until Mike picks him up!

Thoughts and rants about parenting by Mike. Feel free to skip straight to the pictures and videos.

1. It’s tough living away from all of our family and friends. It would be way tougher without Skype. I know it’s not the same as spending physical time with Asher, but I know everyone enjoys interacting with him on screen.

2. Asher has already followed in my footsteps and begun to enjoy television. I don’t know how kids were raised before TV. We won’t let the TV be his parent, but every once in a while, it’s a good break from parenting.

3. Funny thing happened to me when Asher got a little bit older. I had this horrible image of him while I was on a walk around the lake by our apartment. I thought, what would happen if I passed out or had a heart attack and his stroller rolled into the lake, and he was strapped into his stroller and I just pictured him struggling while he drowned. So now every time I take him for a walk, I connect a strap from the stroller to my arm. Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but having a kid messed with my head.

4. I already can’t stand other parents due to the obnoxious bragging they do. I don’t care if you’re a proud parent, trying to convince me that your kid is so advanced and so smart just makes me think you’re compensating for your empty life. I don’t mind comparing the differences in our kids, but when they’re infants, as long as they’re healthy then they’re all equal. I can already picture my future arguments with parents who claim to have “gifted” children.

5. It’s fun to watch Asher while he’s thinking. Like when he’s standing up against a couch, then he drops something on the ground. You can tell he’s trying to figure out how to pick it up, but it’s just not happening. The wheels are turning, but all he can do is fall over and cry. It’s funny, as long as I know he wasn’t hurt.

6. Asher bumps his head about twice a day. I hope that only makes him stronger.

7. I enjoy seeing Asher’s physical development, but I know what is coming. When he begins to walk, we’re going to have a lot of work ahead of us. This kid is already a monster.

8. Final rant: There’s no way a child should be raised in a single parent household. (Things like military deployments are obvious exceptions). If you’ve ever heard me complain about our fatherless society, I probably threw out statistics like ¾ of prison inmates come from single parent homes, etc. But now I’ve experienced enough over 8 months firsthand to realize that this is a two person job. Mandy is an amazing mom, but I think she would lose her mind without support. I know I couldn’t raise Asher properly without Mandy’s help either. Forget our national debt; this country is screwed because the number of kids in this country raised by one parent will soon outnumber those from a two parent home. That’s why it’s my goal to help Asher become so awesome, that his awesomeness will conquer the awfulness of the other kids.