Practice

Ashton is currently obsessed with brushing his teeth. Of course, he loves it because he wants to be just like Emerson.

Stats

I realize I am way behind on posting Ashton well check stats. I know no-one cares about this, but this is my scrapbook and it needs to be here!

I don't think I ever posted the 12month ones, but I can't find them now, so here are his 15 month ones (from a month ago).

23lbs 10oz (36%)
33in (93%)

Long and lean. Just like Emy.

Ashton is 11 months old!

I have started getting RSVP's for Ashton's party. Insert sobbing here. How has this happened? I have made a good conscious effort to enjoy the baby parts of Ashton because I knew that it would go by all too fast...But already? Insert more tears here.

Deep breath. Moving on...Ashton is 11 months old and so much fun! He is such a delight. Everyone that meets him just adores him. He is smiley, chatty, playful, silly and LOVES to eat!

He has started holding things up to his ear to "talk" on the phone. It is precious. Here he is using his monkey to "talk on the phone". I told you it was cute!

Ashton loves playing copy-cat games with anyone that is wiling. His favorite thing to do (other than eat) is to play chase. He doesn't mind whether you are chasing him or he is chasing you...He enjoys it just the same either way. It is so cute because the entire time you are being chased he is just cracking up.
Oh, and his laugh! It is the cutest sweetest sound in the entire world! I wish I could bottle it up and keep it forever.
Ashton is still not walking but in the past week or so has done a little bit of independent standing. He is such a stinker...if he is holding on to something in each hand and not paying attention he will stand alone for the longest time. Until he realizes that he is standing, then he quickly sits down.
For record keeping sake, Ashton still gets 4 bottles a day. Three of them are basically at meal times and then one little one at bedtime. We are in the process of getting rid of the bedtime bottle so that we can then move on to cutting out the bottle all together. I want to start that project early after what happened with Emerson!

Ashy is totally off baby food and will eat whatever the rest of us are eating for dinner.

He still only has his two bottom teeth.

He is wearing 9-12mo clothes and size 3 diapers.

I am absolutely head over heels in love with him and can't believe that he is almost one. I don't know if it is just the infamous mother/son bond thing, but if I am having this hard a time with his first birthday coming up...what am I going to do when he goes off to college? Or (gasp) gets married?
Speaking of growing up too fast...Seriously, how grown up does Emerson look in this picture? She is changing so fast too! That deserves a post of its own though:)

Ashton is 9 months old!

Ashton is 9 months. I have actually started thinking about his first birthday party. Crazy.

I put him in his crib this morning to take his monthly picture like every other month. Ashton wanted no part of sitting and smiling for the camera. You see, he is now a boy on the move. As of last week he is officially a crawler. And a puller-uper. And apparently fearless. This boy will be standing and holding on to something and he totally tries to show off by letting go. He is no where near walking yet but he still tries to be a tough guy. This ends in him falling on his face every single time, but he still tries none-the-less.







In other news, Ashton finally has TWO teeth! Whew, I thought they would never come. He really likes to show them off too. If you say, "Look at Ashy's big boy teeth" he just scrunches up his face and gives you a big open mouth grin. It's cute.

Lately he also likes to "dance" with Emerson. I am going to try to get it on video because it is hilarious. At least we think it is.

His 9 month well check is Friday morning, so I will have stats to post then.

Official 6 month pictures

I took Ash outside today to try to get some cute 6 month pictures...I put him in his precious "work shirt" from his dedication. It was his first time to sit in grass and he was definitely more interested in feeling it and watching the cars drive by than he was in taking pictures. Despite his distraction, he still looked absolutely precious.

checking out the grass

watching cars

Guess who is 6 months old?
I have no idea how that happened. Do you?
At 6 months, Ashton is absolutely precious. I mean it. I could just eat him up. Every single day. He is such a super happy baby and a pure joy to our family.

His 6 months stats are:
Weight 17lbs 1oz - 42% (percentile is still falling...he is gonna end up long and lean like sister)
Height 28"- 92%
Ashton's favorite things at 6 months are:
-Eating. Especially puffs and mum mums. I think he got mommy's sweet tooth.
-Chewing on anything and everything
-Watching our cat. He goes absolutely nuts when he sees our cat come near him
-Standing up
-Sitting up on his own
-Playing in the exersaucer
-Listening to someone sing or read to him
-"talking". He is seriously so loud. It is like yelling all the time. Emy is constantly telling him to talk quieter or turn his volume down. :)

Other stuff to note for record keeping sake...Ash has only slept through the night once. He has come really close a handful of other times. I think we are almost there. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Ashton still does not have any teeth.

He can only roll toward his left when on his tummy or back. He has never rolled to his right.

Ashton's hair is coming in really good. It looks like it will be a light brown instead of the super blonde that Emerson has.

Ashton is 5 months old!

Where is the time going? Seriously, 5 months already?

Ashton at 5 months is such a delight. He truly is such a happy baby. He loves to kick and play and talk. He is getting 5 bottles a day and 1 at night. He eats food twice a day. He has tried avocado, green beans, peas, squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and apples. He will eat them all, although he enjoys some more than others.

His night sleep is getting better but his days are getting worse. I know that day sleep develops last, so I am holding on to that fact knowing that it will get better. During the day we do what we can to make sure he does not get over tired. He is napping in the swing right now.


He is just the sweetest boy. He smiles at anyone who will smile at him. He is really starting to play with toys and rattles. This week he has particularly enjoyed watching himself in his play mirror.

This last picture displays how Ashton has looked for the better part of this month- hands in his mouth. We are still waiting for his first tooth to appear!

Ashton's first meal

Remember when I said that we were in no hurry to try baby food with Ashton? Well, I guess I was kidding because we decided to give it a whirl today! After thinking about it we realized that he really was showing all the readiness signs...sitting up more, putting things in his mouth, etc...so why deprive him of something he is developmentally ready for?

Sitting in the highchair for the first time, checking things out from a new point of view.
Very first bite. Not sure.

More is coming out than is going down.

Getting excited about this stuff. If you could see his feet you would see that he is kicking and flailing in excitement.

More please. Learning to open his mouth in anticipation.

What a mess!

Big sister gets in on the feeding. Look at how adoringly Ashton looks at Emy...isn't it sweet?

She took feeding him very seriously.

After Ash got the hang of it he really liked it. He ate the entire bowl. Such a big boy!

Ashton is 4 months old

Can you believe it? I can't. Where has the time gone? Ashton is getting so big... Not just physically but developmentally too. He is chatty, social, loves his hands and LOVES to sit and stand. He has the sweetest personality and I can't get enough of him.

For record keeping, at his appointment this morning he is 27.25 inches tall (98%) and 15lbs 5oz (61%). He did so well with the doctor. Of course he chatted him up (he is already so much more social than Emerson was). He got an oral and had two shots and only cried for one of them. So brave!

The only things I discussed with the doctor were his sleeping and solid foods. In regards to solid foods, I am really in no hurry to drag all that stuff out (isn't that so lazy?!) so I think we are going to put off rice cereal for another month or so. While Ashton is sleeping 7 hours for his longest stretch, he still gets up to eat at 3am and then again at 6-6:30 and goes back to sleep for a couple hours. Even though Emerson was ready for sleep training at 4 months, I don't think Ashton is. He has NEVER gone all night without a feeding. Our doctor said to wait another month or so and see if he gives it up on his own. If he doesn't at that point he is most likely waking out of habit and we can go ahead and sleep train him.

This is Ash all the time lately... Two fingers in his mouth:)

Look at those eyes!

I had to post this precious profile. Look at those chubby cheeks:)