Fall 2010

Asher is a toddler! And what a little boy. Currently he is into climbing and throwing, and anytime he lays eyes on anything round he yells "ball" with gusto. He's having a great time with the Halloween season. When we walk around the neighborhood he shouts "ball!" every time we see a pumpkin (which is nearly every house). He is building his vocabulary and over the past two months has begun speaking, sometimes in a way we can understand. His first word was "da-da", followed by; mama, kitty, uh-oh, baby, no. We've had a busy fall with trips to Indy, a visit from Kathy, and another visit from my mom and dad and Uncle John.

The transition from one nap to two was rough, but we're finally there. He currently wakes b/w 6-8am, takes a nap around 11am and goes to bed b/w 6-7. He has been sleeping through the night for several months :)

Favorite activities include; reading books, anything involving water, playing at parks, playing with pots and pans and water bottles, throwing things down the back porch stairs. Oh, and he loves being chased and playing hide and seek. What a doll

July

Our baby boy is turning one, and he is no longer a baby. I write this on the eve of Asher's first birthday, I can't believe it's been a whole year. We had a birthday party bbq in our backyard last weekend with a bunch of friends and kiddos. Roger and I had a great time, and so did our little birthday boy. I made banana cupcakes with cream cheese molasses frosting, he wouldn't take a bite! He did however have his first french fry today and seemed pretty into it. He is starting to explore more food options which is pretty fun for us. He likes to sit on my lap every morning and share my oatmeal. The other big news is that Asher has joined the ranks of the rest of our toddler group and he is steadily walking around! It happened pretty fast, he took his first steps less than a month ago, and he now confidently walks from room to room and this has become his preferred method of locomotion. He's pretty steady on his feet and it's exciting to watch him waddle around. Of course this means we have to watch what we leave on the edge of the countertops since he can reach up and grab everything! He likes playing with balls, and my mom's baby blocks are a favorite right now. He plays with them every day. Speaking of moving fast, Roger has taken up biking and we've decided this is a great family activity so we bought a little chariot for Asher and we're starting to explore bike paths around the city. Asher seems to enjoy riding and there are many good bike paths that we hope to travel while the weather allows. We are having such a good time this summer, and enjoying a lot more freedom to explore things as Asher becomes more mobile. He is still on 2 naps a day which limits things a tad but he IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! This means more energy and better moods all around! Happy birthday darling boy! We love, love , love you.

June 2010

Well Asher is nearly one year old! June has been a great month, and big changes are happening. Our woobie popped his first tooth at the beginning of the month (front lower left), right before our trip home to Indy. Now as the month is nearing an end, the front lower right tooth is making it's way through. He's a pretty good sport about teething, and I have yet to ever use any meds for our little guy, for teething or anything else. We are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy little boy.
We took a couple of trips this month, first Asher and I flew home to Indy for a week and it was just fabulous. It's been a cold and wet spring here (the nice way of saying miserable) so the muggy sunny, midwest was a most welcome change! We walked around the neighborhood every day, and Asher got to swim every day as well! Saleh bought him an little whale pool which we used instead of nightly tubbies and of course we hit the Rivi's baby pool a couple of times too. He just LOVES the water. Our visit was naturally very social, it was his first time home and the grandparents were of course eager to show off their grandson. A cook-out brought over all the family from both sides, and we visited with The Davis family, Stephanie, Elizabeth and Avery, the preschool teachers, the swimnastics girls, even the bank tellers had their chance to meet Asher. Whew. Good thing he's so social, I mean, he is a Johnson:) I loved going home and showing my son where I grew up, even if he can't yet understand how awesome it is. Actually, I think he gets it. We will be back again with Roger in tow, for Jared's wedding. Yay!
At the end of the month we went to Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington with 3 other couples and all the kids. We rented a huge house with its own pool and we had a blast. We feel so fortunate to have such good friends out here, and we love that all our kids will grow up together.
On the mobility front, our little man is walking! He's taking about 6 steps before squatting back down or falling forward. His balance is excellent and he's been standing now freely for a little over a month. That's it, you can do it Asher!
Another milestone, and this is huge, he's sleeping through the night! Turns out if you just leave him alone, he can do it. After a super busy day at the clinic and an exhausting day of phone calls I decided to put in earplugs, turn off the moniter and give myself the much needed gift of sleep. I did this 2 nights in a row and he might have woken up for a minute or two and cried, but after 2 nights, we're all sleeping really well. Ahhhhhh.
He is really engaging now and while he can entertain himself adequately, he much prefers interacting and playing with someone else, mostly mommy and daddy. He enjoys being read to, and laughs and laughs when you let him stick something in your mouth. His mouth is still a very effective tool for exploration, although we are really looking forward to the end of this oral phase. He managed to find a piece of broken glass on the kitchen floor the other day, and I nearly had a heart attack after exctracting it from his mouth. It miraculously did not cut him. Not only is he eating glass and other unwanted floor finds but he is doing better at eating actual food! He's gobbling up raisins and he actually ate pancakes and cream cheese with lox. This is very exciting considering how little interest he's shown in anything other than nursing. Well, we look forward to our second year with the most amazing boy in the world!

April

Asher has linked his first coordinated crawl AND he pulled himself up to stand! This the day after I went upstairs after hearing a pretty upsetting cry, and found him laying on the floor next to the crib. Crap, that's not where I left him. Thank God he wasn't hurt, and up went the crib rail and everything else in the house. UP, up UP. The name of the game these days. Speaking of up, we are about to enter another phase of sleep training, as he woke up 5 times last night demanding to be nursed back down. We got into a good rhythm with sleep just before our Mexico trip where he was only waking once a night, but things went wonky during vacation and have stayed that way. So looks like Roger will have to be on night duty for awhile so we can night wean him again. This is a baby who LOVES to nurse. He is mostly toying with baby food, occasionally consuming it. He's just learned to spit and stick out his tongue, a new favorite move in response to being fed. We are struggling with the "real food" piece. He is simply not that interested in food just yet. I can't wait for him to catch on, I'm pretty worn out from being the constant food supply.
Okay, a few days have passed and Roger has developed the magic touch for feeding Asher. No distractions. You have to get close to him, act serious, keep the spoon close to his face. Seems to work. Hallelujah. Now we just need him to sleep more......

March

Where are the teeth? They must be coming soon.... I am amazed what Asher can fit into his mouth.

Favorite thing that makes Asher laugh and laugh, using the rubber ducky to squirt him with water in the bathtub.

Favorite thing that makes us so happy, nearly sleeping throught the night- waking only once to nurse and happily going right back to sleep. FINALLY!!!!

December/January

This has been an especially busy time for us. Aside from the obvious, we had a lot to celebrate at the close of 2009 and start of 2010. Roger turned 36, my family came to Seattle for Christmas, Roger's family came out in Jan, Asher can sit up on his own, oh, and we moved The Pin Cushion! With the gracious help of my parents and brothers, we managed to prep a new space and move the clinic in 2 weeks time. This was no small task. We worked long hours over the holidays (6 hours on Christmas Eve) and nearly every day of the family visit included construction, cleaning, countless trips to Home Depot...etc. Luckily we have the best baby in the world and a doting grandma who ensured we had the time to get it done. Looking back, I don't know how we could have done it without all the help, and I become exhausted just thinking about it. We did take off for Christmas Day, and we actually went to the beach as it was a beautiful, sunny 6o degrees here in Seattle. Asher was so accomodating, in the eleventh hour before The Pin Cushion open house I had him in the Bjorn asleep on my chest while I was vacuuming!

August

Summer is in full swing and we are spending lots of time outside in the backyard. My mom left in early August and Kathy came for the last 3 weeks of the month. I am still very weak and am so thankful for the help! It was a great visit, and grandma let us know that she was ready to move in! Her words," Asher is the most peaceful baby I've ever met." True.

This experience has made me even more appreciative of my health and strength. I am not used to feeling so weak and tired. Luckily Asher is a decent sleeper, even though he is waking every 2-3 hours he will eat and go right back to sleep.

We are adjusting to parenthood and I must say, at least for me, the transition is not hard. I've been waiting for this baby since I was two and I could not be happier. Roger is doing great. He is doing most of the diaper changing and he is a master at swaddling. He is patient and gentle and you would never know that he has no previous experience with babies.

Some growth and development standouts for the month include 2 weeks of projectile vomiting and his first interactive smile. The vomiting was tough. We're talking profuse amounts of vomit shooting 2 feet out. Think Exorcist. It's pushing me to my limit, I just want to find out what's causing this and stop it! All the good nursing he's doing and it seems that no milk is staying down. And of course I am afraid to go out or have people hold him because you never know when it's going to happen. The family doc thinks he'll outgrow it, I need reassurance from a specialist so we schedule an appt at Children's Hospital. Meanwhile I quit dairy (Kathy's brilliant idea) and the vomiting stops. Whew. Cancel the appt with the specialist, Asher and I agree we're done with the "PV". I will gladly give up dairy for you baby. Oh did I mention our water heater went out during this time? Everyone covered in puke and no hot water for 10 days. Roger took on the major project of installing a tankless water heater all by himself and you know what? He did it. Bravo!

He had some help from Jerry, who moved here from Indy this month. This is a big deal. We are so excited to have him here, and although Seattle might be a temporary home for him, it is our home and we're so glad to have him here.

I will never forget the first time Asher "glamoured" me. We were in the basement, and he was on my lap. We were looking at each other and he smiled and cooed. Once I put myself back together, I stared at him and smiled and he held my gaze, for an hour! And he was smiling and cooing the whole time. Somehow I just fell more in love.