Spirit, Smiles, and Stares

This week has flown by and not without a little team spirit for Jed's alma mater.  Too bad his team lost today, but Asher sure looked cute rooting them on.

Go Blue Devils!

These past two weeks have also been filled with firsts...

On February 15th Asher started to smile socially. The books say that this is when your baby smiles to mimic your smile.  Boy, were Jed and I doing a lot of exaggerated smiles to get Asher to smile.  Each time he started to smile it was priceless. Here are a few of his Kodak moments taken yesterday...

 Around the same time that Asher started to smile socially he also started to fixate on our faces. We love his gaze and could eat him up!

He also has grown out of his bassinet and has moved to his own room. We hooked up the video monitor two nights ago and I have had so much trouble falling to sleep because I am constantly checking the screen.  The best reality TV is watching my baby sleep in the next room.

Last day in his sweet bassinet

Here he is eating his hands, yummy!

Finally, he loves to stare at his mobile that is on his cradle swing, this has become our nightly entertainment. (see video below)

Home without Daddy--Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

What a sunny day in February it was today and the weather is supposed to be even better tomorrow, reaching into the 70s. Unfortunately, Jed is not here to witness this special event, he is in Dallas.  So, it is just Asher and I holding up the fort...

With that said, the minute Jed stepped out the door my anxiety kicked in to hyper drive.  All of a sudden, I was sure that Asher's breathing had changed and I was positive that something was seriously wrong.  After calling Jed several times and mimicking the exact sounds Asher was making into the phone for Jed to hear,  Jed as calm as usual said, "If you are worried, call the pediatrician." I promptly hung up the phone and made the call.  The nurse said, "Turn on the humidifier." That was it, wasn't there more she should say? Then I realized that with Jed's absence so to was my confidence. Once I realized that I was the problem,  Asher's breathing *miraculously* got better and relief set in.

With this new found relief, I decided to take Asher out for a stroll and to soak up some Vitamin D.   While on my walk, someone stopped and asked how old my son was and when I said 7 weeks, she told me that she was proud of me for going out for a walk. She then went on to say that her daughter had a 6 week old and was too afraid to take him out yet.  I felt so happy inside and confident with the compliment that she had given me that I just had to share these pictures of Asher taking a stroll even before his 7 week birthday! Yahoo!!!





This is my mother in law with Asher on Capitol Hill at 5 weeks.



Jed and Asher at 4 weeks

Happy Vals! XOXO

Today is the first holiday that Asher is celebrating and I am so happy that it is Valentine's Day!

Jed took the day off of work to spend some time with our little family and we loved every minute of it.

In honor of Valentine's Day we decided to give Asher a bath and get him all decked out for the day.




Asher is concentrating really hard on the shiny faucet. 

Lately, I have grown more confident with bathing my little guy and enjoy doing it *almost* daily.



Love wrapping him in his hooded towel, but hate watching his gums chatter

I also love dressing up our little Valentine...



 Those baby browns make my heart melt.



 After getting dressed and taking lots of pictures, we decided to go for a walk. We brought the dog and  walked all the way to Eastern Market.  It was such a beautiful day, I couldn't believe it was 60 degrees in February!

 Our walk was a lot of fun because Asher was so alert and looking at everything.  When we got back in the house we had to have some cuddle time with the little guy.

and I had to read the Valentine's Day card Asher got from his Bubbie (Grandma).

Happy Valentine's Day!


































































A day in the life of Asher at 6 weeks

Our little six week old sure keeps us busy. Sometimes I look at the clock and realize that the day is almost gone and I still haven't showered or changed out of my pajamas.  I am told that this will end soon enough.  One thing is for sure, I do not take little things like brushing my teeth and taking a shower for granted anymore.

Here is a typical day with Asher:

--Wake up for the day around 8am for a feeding (this is after a 6am feeding of course)

--cuddle in bed until 8:30

Then to his favorite swing for some rest and relaxation!



  Yeah for cradle swings!!!

Although it is important to rest it is also important to exercise....

Tummy time is a must every day!

Even Roswell gets involved and is Asher's personal trainer by rooting or licking him on

  After all that hard work Asher needs to be changed and read to



This is currently Asher's favorite book. Although the pages have to be stuffed in his face and even then he has about a 5 second attention span.

 Uh-Oh, Asher has spit up. Now, at this point, I would have given him his bath because he is normally so alert. However, it was just one of those days where we couldn't get everything in. So, instead, I decided to dress him up in a new outfit.

Asher in his pack and play admiring the turtles.

Alright, I have to admit, I thought Asher was so cute in his outfit that I went a little crazy and started taking pictures of him. Each time I took a picture he gave me a different facial expression.

I caught a smile in this one

Here he looks a little scared of the flash.



Mr. Happy!

At this point, Daddy comes home and we couldn't be happier! Daddy chips in and helps feed Asher. 

Do you see the mittens on Asher?  I am scared to cut his finger nails and as a result he has a minor boo boo on his nose.





Asher getting burped by Daddy!



Finally, a little swing time after dinner....






Do you see his outfit? Third one in a day, but he still has his  mittens on.

After our evening swing we get ready for bed.

Good night, Asher!

The first few days with Asher

Asher Harold Silversmith decided to make his appearance on  Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 1:36 pm.  Oddly enough, Jed and I have a thing for Sundays.  Our first date was on a Sunday and our wedding was on a Sunday. It makes sense that Asher would decide to arrive on a Sunday. 

I pushed for 1 1/2 hours and was exhausted as you can see by the big black circles under my eyes.

Jed holding Asher for the first time

We loved the nurses in the hospital and they showed us how to burp our newborn. We thought Asher looked so cute, we decided to take a photo.

This is the day we took Asher home from the hospital.

We had no idea what size of clothes to bring to the hospital and clearly we were wrong in our choice.

He looks like a little snowman.

My mom came to help for three full weeks. This is the longest we have spent together since my college days.
My mom arrived in DC on December 29th and spent time with Jed and I playing board games and planning for the big day.  Jed loved having a third person in the house to play Scotland Yard. We also had fun playing dominoes.

Here is my mom finally holding her new grandson. Asher is all wrapped up in his swaddle

The next few days we had to plan for Asher's bris.  Over 40 people attended the bris and we had it at the historic synagogue in DC.

See if you can find Asher...

All the grandparents were in attendance at the bris. This was such a special occasion for us.

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