HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I don't have much time to post, but I did want to acknowledge that TODAY is my precious little boy's FIRST birthday! What a wonderful (and trying) year it has been. As I look back to when this little one was born, I just can't believe how the time has flown by. Hopefully I'll have the time soon to post a short video, but if not, at least here are a couple of pictures so you, too, can marvel in the change! Happy Birthday, Asher!!!

Asher Seth 8/26/07

Asher Seth 8/26/08

Does he like the toy or the tag?

There have been many times that I catch Asher actually playing with the TAGS on his toys instead of the toys themselves. He will flick them with his fingers and suck on them. And he can keep himself entertained like that for quite a long time! It's so funny!

New Toy

Asher likes to get things out of our recycle bin to play with. I've seen him with a 2-Liter Pepsi bottle, a 20 oz coke bottle, and here he is with a gallon OJ container. I guess it's true that you don't have to spend a lot of money to keep a baby happy!!

Our Trip to Indianapolis

Well, if I wondered before, I definitely know now, that I just don't take the volume of pictures that I need to get some good ones. Paeter, Asher and I went to Indianapolis for 5 1/2 days and I have only a few pictures from the zoo to show for it (see below). You may ask, "why Indianapolis?" Well, because it's the location of the largest gaming convention in the world, of course!! :-) Paeter got a nice gift for his 30th birthday (which was back in April) from his wife, and that was to go to Gencon! So, while Paeter was at the Indianapolis Convention Center and various surrounding hotels for different types of gaming sessions (this is fantasy board games and role playing games, NOT video games), Asher and I mostly bummed around the hotel we were staying at. We stayed in a suite, so there were 2 rooms to play around in (made it nice when Asher was taking his naps!). And they had a pool, so that gave us something to do as well. AND as you can see from the pictures below, we got to go to the zoo one afternoon. I think it was probably a more memorable experience for me than Asher because he just looked around at all the people, while I was looking at the animals. All in all, it was a nice and relaxing trip, but it always takes so long to recover from vacations when we get back home!!

Just Playing

Well, nothing much has been going on around our house. Each day looks pretty much the same as the next. So, I decided to snap some pictures of Asher playing so that I can post SOMETHING for those of you who need an "Asher fix." :-) Oh, and by the way, he HAS taken a step or 2 without holding on to anything, but he still loses his balance pretty easily. We'll keep practicing, though, and I'm sure he'll be walking in no time!

Dada!

I don't have a picture for this post (and boy I wish I had a video of it!), but I just had to share this story. Once a day, almost everyday, when Asher gets up from a nap or is about to go down for one I take him in to see Paeter who is working on Spirit Blade in his "office." We like to call this event "The Presentation of the Child." Well, yesterday when it was time for the event, I let Asher crawl into the room. He needed a little coaxing from Paeter so he wouldn't get distracted by all the neat things in Paeter's room, but once Paeter got a hold of him, Asher stood up (or sat up, I can't remember which) and looked at me and said "Dada" like he was telling me who that was! It was SO precious! I'm not positive that Asher knew what he was saying, but I think it's possible that he did, because when I ask Asher where Dada is, he looks for him. Anyway, I just had to share.

More Scritching

I just wanted to show more pictures of Asher "scritching" different things.

Even though he's not actually scritching in this picture, I posted it anyway because this pillow is one of the things he likes to scritch the most (besides the carpet, of course)! I think because of the type of fabric it's made from, it makes a GREAT sound!

He's not camera shy!

Most of the time these days when Asher sees that I have the camera ready, he starts crawling right towards me! I don't know if he wants me to get a close-up, or what? So, I just decided to take the pictures when I could, even if I didn't get the one I originally wanted.

New Perspective

Now that Asher is getting around more, he doesn't get IN his exersaucer so much anymore, but he does like to "walk" around the outside of it and still play with the toys on it!