What I Did on My Christmas Vacation

Hello Everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas break and that life in 2009 has been treating you well. I had a really good break and had a wonderful time with my family. Even thought it was kind of bitter sweet to take a break from blogging. I had so much to do this last month and I figured that my family and my psyche would be better off with a break, but I missed it-- a lot. My thoughts just had to well up inside of me with no creative outlet, and for some reason a journal isn't as much fun as a blog-- I guess because it can't leave you comments. Anyway, here is a quick re-cap on my life for the last few weeks:

• Asher took his first steps! A few days before his birthday he started walking between Jon and I. He still can only take a few steps before he gets scared and falls down, but he is slowly, slowly getting braver. Every once in awhile he will let go of something and walk, but he still prefers crawling-- it isn't as risky. Here is a quick clip of him cruising around on the bike Santa brought him ( I know it doesn't "technically" count as walking by himself, but...). He does a pretty fancy dismount if you ask me.
  

• Asher weaned himself/I weaned him this month. He had been cutting back on nursing sessions over the last several months, and by December he was only nursing once in the morning for about 3-5 minutes. Sometimes neither of us would remember until late in the morning and then he would cry until I gave him a little milk. He wanted it more for comfort than for food. Then about two weeks ago Jon and I went skiing and Asher stayed with his Grandma. That morning both Asher and I forgot about nursing and on the drive up to the ski resort I figured that I was weaning him that day-- I'd been thinking about it for a few weeks. I think weaning has been harder on me than on him. He didn't seem to miss it much and likes cow's milk a whole lot, but I really miss nursing him. You get this special tingly happy feeling every time your baby nurses, and it is hard not to have that. Also, it is hard not to have a quick fix, whip out the breast and make the baby immediately happy trick up my sleeve anymore. Oh well, I guess he has to grow up sometime-- I just wish he would let me decide when he gets to grow up!

• Our laundry room is almost done! Jon poured the concrete for the pad last week, well actually he didn't "pour' it he mixed it all by hand because he thought it would save money. He had sore arms and a sore back for a week, it was A LOT of work! He also has all the plumbing almost hooked up! I am SO excited. Soon there will be no more hauling bags of laundry through the snow!
  

• Asher got his second hair cut. He really needed it this time, he was starting to look like a baby troll doll. My mother-in-law cut it, and it was quite the wrestling game. He did good for about the first 5 min. and then lost it royally. But she's had lots of practice-- she has 4 boys-- all of whom screamed as if she was cutting off their heads when they got their hair cut, well they don't any more...

• I learned how to crochet. After being taught 10+ times over the last 10 years, it finally made sense, and I am 6 rows into a dish rag. It is going to be marvelous.
  

• I ate way too many yummy things in the last three weeks. But I am not regretting it, because life is too short for guilt.
  

• I really like what I gave Jon for Christmas so I am going to show it off.
  

It is all of our old t-shirts made into a quilt. This was my first quilt EVER, so it has lots of mistakes but it is so fluffy and comfortable that you don't notice. We are going to use it as our "Family Home Evening Blanket". The couple who lived next door to Jon and I when we were first married had an ugly crocheted blanket (which was made to be ugly) that they spread out on the floor for FHE and everyone sat on it. The tradition started with the husband's family and he said that in their family whenever the blanket was spread out they knew it was time for FHE and it kept them close together-- physically and spiritually. I thought it was a great idea, so this is going to be our FHE blanket. It is a hit already, for some reason Asher LOVES this blanket and likes to sit on it whenever it is out!

• Asher is now a three toothed chomper. He has his two bottom teeth and one top tooth. It is adorable. I think he looks like a hill billy. He bit his tongue the other day for the first time-- it was so cute, but a little sad, I laughed anyway.

• Jon and I scored two pairs of nice (Jon's) and REALLY nice (mine) cross country ski boots at the thrift store, now we are just on the look out for cheap-o skis and we will be daring cross country adventurers pulling our three toothed chomper behind us on a sled!

• Jon and I bombed out on New Year's Eve again. Last year we were so tired (Asher was only a few weeks old) that we went to bed at 8:00 PM and woke with a start at 12:00 when the fire works went off, Jon turned and gave me a kiss and we went back to sleep. This year we vowed to make it to midnight but at 10:30 PM we both fell asleep on the couch watching a movie and decided to call it a night. Pathetic-- maybe next year we will have to have people over so that they can make sure we don't bomb out again.

• Here a few photos from Asher's first b-day party. It was so much fun! He had a blast. I realized after I put him to bed that night that I had been so busy getting things ready that I'd forgotten to make dinner and all he had eaten was cake and ice cream!
  

Okay this last one isn't from his b-day, it is from the Christmas party at my Grandma's house. Asher got this suitcase with his name on it, and Jon is helping him test it out.