Flu Season!!!

I hate flu season. It's so hard on the little ones. Asher always comes down with something this time of year. When he was five months old he had RSV and had to be hospitalized. That was the worst experience I have ever been through. Having a sick baby is hard enough on a mom but having to put the sick baby in that hospital is heartbreaking. I hated every minute of it but God definitely heard my prayers and Asher got better fast. However, ever since that experience, I have been really paranoid about Asher's wellness. I never think that a cold is just a cold and I'm really fast to rush to the doctor. Sometimes it may seem unnecessary but I've learned that it's always best to act on your intuition. I would much rather a doctor tell me that it's just a cold and not to worry than for me to assume it's a cold when it could be something worse. This year Asher got his first flu shot, well actually it was the mist, and so far so good. I'm really thankful he was able to do it this year because I hate seeing him miserable with the flu. BUT now he has a sore throat. This is the first sore throat he has ever had. He is running fever but has started some antibiotic and I'm sure he'll be better soon. Even with the sore throat he is running around crazy which only makes his temperature go up. It's hard to settle him down since we are stuck inside. Asher needs outdoor time everyday or else he is crazy. To make matters even crazier, we are having an ice storm. The news says to stay inside and no driving. Everyone here says the news makes things sound worse than they are but I'm not taking any chances. Besides it's freezing!!! What a way to start off the week, right? BUT on a positive note, Adam's sister, Amanda, had a baby girl this morning. Asher now has two little girl cousins. We are so excited for Amanda and Chris. Nothing is better than the joy of being a parent.

Wedding time

My sister got married over Christmas and it was beautiful! My grandma made a lot of the decorations and she did a great job. There were Christmas trees everywhere and tons of flowers. Everything was red and brown, very Christmasy. I loved it! I wish that I would have taken more pictures of the way everything looked but I knew it would be impossible to keep up with my camera. The only bummer of the weekend was that Asher got sick. He ran fever the entire time which made him super cranky. He was the ring bearer and I really needed him to be in a good mood. Of course, the day of the wedding he woke up from his nap mad at the world. I know that he just didn't feel good and he just wanted to be with me. I had a lot of stuff to help Magen with so it's was kinda hard. Asher wanted to go home. I attempted to put his suit on him and he hated it. He did not want to wear it. We eventually convinced him to put it on and he definitely started to cheer up as the wedding got closer. He was an awesome ring bearer, the cutest one I have ever seen ;) Magen, of course, looked beautiful. She was a million feet tall with her massive red heels. She really made me look short. Thanks Mag! After the wedding, Magen and Brandon headed off on a cruise and spent their first Christmas together as a married couple all alone. We definitely missed them but I know they enjoyed every last minute of their trip.

Pictures: Landry and I cuttin a rug, my mom and Asher (notice the crankiness), all the girls, Magen getting her hair done by Britt

Christmas

Christmas was so much fun this year. Asher was so super excited, which made us all excited. He helped me make sugar cookies for Santa. (By help, I mean he licked some icing and MAYBE iced one cookie.) We sat out some cookies and milk for Santa and Santa ate the whole plate. Granted, he had a little help. We are also able to have Christmas at our house, which is something that Adam and I have never been able to do before. My parents and my brother came to our house. (We definitely missed Magen, my sister, but she was on her honeymoon soaking up the sun on beautiful beaches.) My mom made our favorite dinner, chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. Yummmmy is all I can say! We had dinner by candle light (maybe a little corny but I really enjoyed it) and then we went on a drive to look at Christmas lights. Looking at lights was one of Asher's favorite things this year. He still asks, "Where my Kissmas lights go?" Ahh, a boy after my own heart. I'm so glad that he enjoys the whole Christmas season as much as I do.

Pictures: Asher riding the Neigh-Neigh that Mimi and Papaw bought him. He's so sweet. Everytime he rides it he says, "Thanks Mimi Thanks Papaw for my Neigh-Neigh.". Asher riding his Harley motorcycle that Santa brought. Asher sitting in a box with his lion that his Daddy bought. They go lion hunting together. Asher sitting in Boom's lap watching TV. Asher loves his Uncle Boom.

My new lesson...

I know, I know, I still need to get to my Christmas blogging but first I wanted to share a major lesson that I have just realized I have learned. I was thinking this morning about how moms have to have an amazing memory. While most days I am incapable of having an intelligent conversation (my brain in stuck in two year old mode), I am VERY capable and required to have an amazing memory. This morning Asher looked at me and said, "Mama where my Doc?" Where is your Doc??? Let me think??? I know that any other car will not statisfy, I have to find Doc. My memory skills need to kick in. This must be a requirement in becoming a mom. In order to prevent major meltdowns, I have to remember...

1.) Doc was last left upstairs, probably in the bedroom while changing clothes.

2.)Spider man hands (his gloves) were last worn in the car and then pulled off because he realized he couldn't hold on to Doc as well if he was wearing them.

3.) Sally (another Car, if you want tell the movie "Cars" is a favorite) is in the side saddle bag of the Harley power wheel.

4.) All footballs are put in a closet downstairs and if he is looking for the black one, it's in the garage since we play with it in the front yard.

5.) Before agreeing to let him wear his Batman shirt, I have to remember whether or not it's clean, and if I remember it's dirty, I have to quickly change the subject to the Boomer Sooners, which then causes him to want to wear a Boomer shirt. I must remember the status of laundry before even walking into his closet. This could cause major meltdown.

6.) All milk cups must be accounted for at the end of the day. Remembering where they were last dropped is very important. The smell of rotten milk is disgusting.

These are just some of the many things I have to remember on a daily basis. I really think that moms are like super heroes. All we want is to protect our babies and make their life as enjoyable as possible. All this between the millions of loads of laundry...

Choo-Choo

Asher was completely obsessed with trains this Christmas. I can not count the number of times we watched Polar Express. It was by far his favorite Christmas movie this season. (Every once in a while we would throw in the Grinch but not that often.) When Asher was born, we decided that we were going to start him a train collection. We try to add different cars for birthdays, Christmas, or just special presents. But it's supposed to be something that he could keep forever, therefor it's not to play with. No fun for a little boy obsessed with trains! Adam decided that we would get the train out and put it around our Christmas tree. That lasted one day. Asher was constantly taking it off track and pushing it along. It just wasn't fair to tempt him like that so we put it up. Maybe next year!

One really fun train story this Christmas was when our small group at Church took the kids to a real Christmas train. It was an hour away from us but it super fun. Asher was pumped! Bad thing was that we had to stand in line to get on the train. That made him mad and his patience wore thin but we finally got on the train. The wait was well worth it. The train took us through the true story of Christmas. It goes from the creation of earth, to Jesus' birth, and his death on the cross. Very touching and awesome. Asher was amazed. HOWEVER, that night was the first Oklahoma ice storm so we didn't get to stay long and walk around the train station. Bummer but we will definitely be going back next year!

Pictures: Asher and Zach getting ready to go on the train, Asher and Charli - Asher throwing a fit because we have to wait in line, all the kids looking through the fence at the train

Cousins

Ok so I am going back in time. I know that I have already talked about Christmas but now I'm going all the way back to Thanksgiving. We all know that I am a terrible blogger and I am also terrible about downloading my pictures on to my computer. I have over 1000 pictures on my camera and I haven't downloaded any since Halloween. Geez!!! So I am starting over at Thanksgiving and I'm sure I'll be posting my Christmas pictures sometime in May. haha.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. Adam's sister, Lindsey, and her baby, Dagny came to visit. They stayed for 10 days. It was so much fun!! I loved having someone to hang out with all day and it was fun for me to see how Asher would interact with a baby. He was still a crazy little boy but over all, he was really good with Dagny. He did great sharing his toys with her. He really wanted to share his favorite toy, his football, but we had to keep explaining that she didn't know how to catch a football yet and that it was not good to throw it at her. That was a little scary. Asher was really sad to see her leave. He now always ask me, "Where my Dagny?" Then says, "Dagny live in Consin (Wisconsin)." It's very sweet. He loves his cousin!!

We went to my parents house for Thanksgiving and Asher was in HEAVEN!! Landry and a few OU football players came for dinner and Asher just thought they were all there to see him. One guy (HUGE guy) sat down and Asher walked right up to him, threw his blanket on his lap, and climbed on up. This big guy was shocked and not sure what to do with this little kid sitting on his lap. Pretty funny. After supper, Asher sat in the living room with all the guys and watched TV. He pulled his little chair in there and copied everything they did. He laughed when they laughed and repeated everything. Uncle Boom is a huge hero in our house.

Thanksgiving was great and I was so happy to have Lindsey and Dagny with us!

Pics: Asher and Papaw at Thanksgiving. He says Papaw is his buddy. Asher holding Dagny. He would only do it for a second then he would say, "It's hard!" and he would be done. Asher the first night checking out this new little baby. Dagny with Asher's animal that he really wanted her to hold.