flyin' watsons

race day

2009-08-16T15:30:00.004+01:00

still a boy

2009-08-12T19:57:00.004+01:00

We had our official ultrasound today to see Baby Boy #2. He is in fact (very obviously) still a boy, so that's good! He is currently weighing in at 13 oz, measuring 1 day smaller than I am pregnant--let's keep that small trend up, please and has a strong heartbeat of 143. It was great to get to see him and know that everything is looking healthy and strong! I love Psalm 139:13 that says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." This little guy is truly being knitted together in my womb by a wonderful and magnificent Creator. We can't wait to meet him in December!

Face (looks like a skull), is on the left, abdomen with heart and kidneys and bladder is on the right; hand is on top

A better picture of the face, abdomen and hand

assisting with the dishes

2009-08-11T19:46:00.003+01:00

If we leave the dishwasher open too long while doing dishes, the following is the result...

thai punting

2009-08-11T19:34:00.004+01:00

My good friend Katie invited me to go Thai Punting in Cambridge on Friday night with her, her mom and mom's friend who were visiting from Florida. Thanks to Janell and Chase who kept Asher (Ryan was working late...weird), I was able to go. It was sooo much fun!! It is THE way to see Cambridge! It's basically punting with a little flair. A Thai restaurant catered our dinner in the punting boat so we got to enjoy an amazing dinner while being "punted" down the river by a professional chauffeur and enjoying the beautiful colleges. It was fantastic. It's nice to get away and have "girl time" sans babies every once in awhile! Thanks Katie, Joy, Judy and Janell!!

Joy, Judy and some of the spread...yummmm!

Katie and me (with Luke, our "punter")

nakey time and purses

2009-08-11T19:17:00.005+01:00

We like to give Asher a little bit of "air time" to dry off completely after baths, so we let him run/crawl around nakey for a little bit. Just like every baby (so I've heard) he LOVES "nakey time!" The other day, he found one of my purses that I had hanging on my closet door, and he was playing with it, and at one point I looked at him and he had it around his neck. Ryan was not impressed, and Asher will probably hate these pictures when he's 16. We both got a good laugh out of it. He's a lot of fun and has a really fun and funny personality! We are truly enjoying him to the max right now! It's great!!

Looking at all his bath toys he threw all over the tub

Crawling around with my purse

I blurred out "the goods"

Asher and Mama. Happy Baby before bed! (Please ignore the HUGE feverblister on my lip!)

happy mornings

2009-07-20T15:10:00.003+01:00

Monday mornings are always tough. I think that's universal. It totally makes my day when I have a happy, very "cheeky" little 14 month old to smile at me constantly and laugh first thing in the morning! It makes it much more tolerable, and even fun. Thank you, Lord for a very happy kiddo!

chimney sweep

2009-07-16T12:18:00.005+01:00

As I was sitting in the dining room trying to get the commissary list put together, Asher was crawling around "playing" as usual...or so I thought. He discovered the fake charcoal "rocks" for the gas fireplace and decided to pull two of them out. I heard him crawling with things in his hand, which is completely normal for him to do, but I did not recognize the sound they were making when he was crawling. I stood up at the table just as he made it to the doorway of the dining room. He crawled with the soot covered charcoal rocks across the living room, down the hallway and to the dining room door. Somewhere along the way, he wanted to see what they tasted like, too! Ugh! What a mess that made for me to clean up. Apparently he wants to be a chimney sweep. He's getting started early...And I'm about to have TWO BOYS to get into mischief...oh the fun will at least triple I'm sure!!!

Where the rocks belong...IN the fireplace!

Part of his trail in the hallway

Yeah for soot!

The used-to-be-white sleeper. Hope it tasted good, Dude...yuck

baby!

2009-07-16T11:46:00.004+01:00

Well, the verdict is in. Mama and Dada tell me that I am going to have a baby brother! I couldn't be more excited. It will be so much fun to have a brother that is only 19 months younger than me. I can't wait to meet him. We're going to be bestest buddies! Here are some pictures of him from Mama's ultrasound on Tuesday. Love, Asher

Lower part of his leg (from the knee down) and a foot

Spinal cord along the top of the picture, head with brain shot and a hand

Head shot (profile), and saying Hi to Dada

i'm a keeper--oma and granddad said so!

2009-07-13T11:50:00.004+01:00

Thanks, Oma and Granddad for the great shirt from Destin. I hope next time you vacation there, I can go with you. Mama and Dada told me it's a great place. There's lots of sun, lots of heat and lots of water and sand. I can't wait to see it. When Mama first showed me this shirt it was way too big for me. It doesn't seem like that long ago when you sent it and I can already wear it. I hope you are all having a great Monday so far. In other news...I'm very excited to find out tomorrow if I am going to have a baby brother or a baby sister...stay tuned... **Posted by Asher**

All dressed, looking sharp (as usual if I must say so myself) and ready for the day

"Touchdown!" or "Praise the Lord!"

This finger in my mouth has become my new all-time position lately. I have 2 more teeth about to break through on my bottom gums. OW!

stairs are fun

2009-07-12T20:15:00.006+01:00

Asher has really enjoyed learning to go up the stairs. He's only fallen a few times and fortunately there have been no ER-worthy injuries or anything like that related to the stairs. We don't have a gate, so we have taught him to ask "Please, up?" before he is allowed to go up them. If we say "Yes," then he's allowed to go up, but if we say "No," he has to get off of the stairs and not go up then. He listens well, but there is definitely a bit of protesting when the answer is "No." We're still working on going down safely...

Just asked, "Please?" Got the approval. Starting the journey upwards.

And he's off...

Slow start, but once he get's going, he's gone!

Halfway there

Waving through the railing

Made it to the top and ready to go play!

learning young

2009-07-02T14:42:00.005+01:00

Chase came over to play today and he and Asher were trying to figure out the lawn mower together. It was pretty funny watching them. On would play with the handle while the other got down and "checked out" the motor. If only they were old enough to "play" with the real lawn mower...that will probably be sooner than we realize though...we're enjoying them while they're young!

miss you already, j

2009-07-01T17:08:00.010+01:00

We had a great visit with my sister the past 8 days while she was here. Asher loves his Auntie Julie! It's very obvious. We took her to the airport today and we weren't allowed to stand in the check-in line with her, but he kept putting his arms up in his stroller reaching for her from where we stood waiting for her to check in. It was very cute. It was obvious that he felt very comfortable with her and loved having her here! We miss you already, J, and hope you're enjoying your transatlantic flight. We know Jeff will be glad to have you home. Thanks for loaning her out, Jeff! :)

A--playing with his fishy

Getting excited for the camera

J--the muscle woman who carried all the candy back from the store on her back

A--picking and eating strawberries in the backyard--figured that one out on his own

Showing Auntie J how good the strawberry tastes

Auntie Julie is crazy

A & J

So sad...on the way out the door to the airport

you're welcome, candy lovers

2009-07-01T08:28:00.003+01:00

You're welcome, Jeff, Mags, Pops, Ansley and Aunt Alice! Julie, Asher and I rode bikes to the grocery store to fulfill all your sugar dreams! We bought 132 GBPs worth of chocolate, gummis and other sweets. Julie carried the load on her back. The full backpack weighed much more than Asher (22 lbs.), so we're guessing it was probably around 35 lbs. The lady at the checkout thought we were nuts, but we explained to her that we were getting all of this for people in the States. It was a great ride for a great cause! Enjoy all your goodies when they arrive.

The massive pile of sweets

Strong Julie with all the goodies

Fun times!

absolutely fantastic!

2009-06-29T09:57:00.006+01:00

Fantastic husband! Fantastic surprise getaway with just the two of us! Fantastic hotel! Fantastic food! Fantastic show! Fantastic sister who stayed with Asher!

The Park Plaza Riverfront--where we stayed. It's on the Thames River, just across from Parliament. Great views!

Our Room

Our Bathroom

Ice Cream for dessert...this is how it was served

WONDERFUL Show! Go see it if you haven't! Music was phenomenal!

Standing along the river outside our hotel. Big Ben lit up in the background.

asher with auntie julie

2009-06-27T14:11:00.004+01:00

Asher got to spend a fun-filled night with Auntie Julie while Dada took Mama on a surprise getaway to London! Dada took Mama to a nice 4-star hotel on the Thames and to a great Sushi dinner and to see "Phantom of the Opera." They had a fabulous time! Asher and Auntie Julie had a blast, too! Here are some videos of their fun times...

quasi walking

2009-06-24T08:57:00.005+01:00

Sunday night, Asher grabbed his push toy and started walking back and forth across the living room. This might not seem like such a big deal, because, afterall, that is what that toy is for. Well, up until Sunday night, he would push it and get his arms so far out in front of him, and never move his legs then he'd just fall down. So I guess this means he might be walking soon. Auntie Julie is here for a week, so maybe he'll start walking while she's here! That would be super fun! We'll practice, practice, practice...

asher's 1st b'day and dedication

2009-06-19T10:50:00.009+01:00

Asher had a lot going on in the month of May. May 10th was his first birthday! His Aunt Abi threw him a big, super fun birthday party with lots of his favorite people! A week later, we dedicated him at church. We had lots of good friends come out and support us for that, and we are so grateful for them and their prayers and support as we venture on this parenting thing....yikes! We need your prayers. Thank you! We were also very excited that Pops and Gram were able to make it out here for his dedication. They definitely had the longest trip to get here for it! Here are pictures from the big days.

Birthday King

Dori and Aunt Abi (Dori isn't prego any more!!! Welcome Baby Charlotte!!)

Asher always had lots of help from friends opening presents!

A and A

A and E

Emily, Noah, Whitney, Katie

The yellow cake

The chocolate cake (we had a lot of people to feed). We made sure to never put the cakes side by side so then it didn't look like "11"

The food table

The presents!

Sitting with his buddy, Brady, doing "Touchdown!"

crash and crawl

2009-05-06T20:37:00.007+01:00

I was in the kitchen this morning and heard a loud CRASH from the living room. I immediately knew what it was. Asher pulled over a candle stand with a glass hurricane on it, and well, the hurricane didn't survive. This will be the first of many I'm sure. Oh well. No one was hurt so that's good. Proof of Asher's destruction...

The second excitement of the day was he started crawling A LOT today. Apparently he just wanted to wait until Uncle Matt came home from Downrange and Dada came home from Romania to crawl. We were at Uncle Matt's and Aunt Abi's today and Uncle Matt chased him all around the first floor crawling. Asher's favorite thing to do is to take a toy, like a ball, and throw it up in the air and in front of him and then crawl to it and he'll do that across an entire room. It's pretty funny to watch. Check out Asher and his new skillz...

christ is risen

2009-05-05T16:22:00.003+01:00

Here are some pictures from our Easter. Asher and I had a great day! Of course it would have been better having Ryan around, but we spent the day with great friends! We went to church with our friends the Meads, Ally and Lily, Katie and Kristen. After church we went to the O'Club at M'hall for an Easter Brunch which was yummy and Asher got to see the Easter Bunny. He didn't really think much of him. He was more interested in the food! We came home and Asher took a good nap while I made a Sweet Potato Casserole, then went over to the Meads for a great Easter Dinner. It was super yummy and we had a great time. Here are some pictures of Asher playing with his friends Ella, Lily and Taylor (he's a pimp).

Asher, Ella, Taylor

Lily (Her Daddy would be proud)

Asher, Ella, Taylor

Ella, Asher, Taylor

Ella, Asher

too long

2009-05-05T11:55:00.006+01:00

Please forgive me for just now trying to catch back up with blogging. Ryan was gone to Romania for 3 weeks and he took the computer with him. He needed it to finish up his 3rd Masters class (which he got an A in!! I'm pretty proud of him!) Asher and I were able to check our email b/c we have such great friends who let us borrow their computers, but we didn't do much else on the internet besides that. I know no one really "reads" our blog for the entries, it's more the pictures. So here are some pictures of the little man doing what he does best...

Fully enjoying breakfast--eating and wearing it!

We have had some really nice, sunny days recently for which I am very grateful. Asher loves being outside, and I am much happier if I can get outside in the sunshine and run outside! One sunny morning I took him outside to get some pictures of him in good light...

...but he was way more interested in eating the rocks than looking at the camera!

Yummmmmm

Throwing them was a lot of fun, too.

At our friend Ric's Fini Flight. Hearing protection is very important (Pops and Uncle Dave would be so proud!)

This is pretty cool, Guys!

Another great thing about nice weather--the park

Asher loves the swings

Ready to take off--he actually is crawling some these days

Big cheeeezzz for the camera

Hi!

mum's the word

2009-03-25T22:59:00.005Z

This is a shout out to all the "Mums" (Surrogate Mums and Godmums, too) in our lives! Happy Mum's Day! We love you all. You are all so special in your own unique way. We're two months early you say? Not in the UK. Their "Mothering Day" or "Mum's Day" is in March. I felt very special on Sunday at church. All the Mums there got a bouquet of daffodils. It's nice to be able to have two Mother's Days in one year.

One of the many, many joys of being a Mum is getting to watch our sweet son discover the world. Today I was holding him in the kitchen and the washer was going (when is it not?!) and he noticed it for the first time. He totally locked onto it and his eyes got really big and he reached out towards it. It was very funny, so I walked over to it and set him in front of it. He sat and watched it and "talked" to it for a good 10-12 minutes. Who needs TV when we can watch washing machines? If only our lives were that simple. Now for doing the laundry in addition to watching it...I guess I shouldn't hold my breath for that one, it might be awhile. Simple pleasures!

punting

2009-03-25T14:01:00.007Z

Last week we were fortunate to have some wonderful, gracious guests! Geremy, his mom, Pam and his sister, Kristy came to visit from Tennessee. Geremy and Ryan have been best friends since 6th Grade. Geremy has been to visit us once before, but it was Pam and Kristy's first visit. They were a joy to have here! We did lots of fun things with them--here are some pictures from our day out in Cambridge. We went punting on the River Cam. We could not have asked for a more perfect day! The sun was shining brightly and it was probably in the low 60s. They were quite the troopers--this was the day they arrived and they stayed awake and were very adventurous!

Geremy, Kristy & Pam enjoying punting

Asher, Geremy & Ryan waiting to go punting

Pam & Asher

Pam, Kristy, Geremy & Ryan exploring Cambridge

Geremy outside of St. Catharine's College

Asher & Ryan--looking at something...interesting...

Asher and his typical "Happy Face"

Emily, Ryan & Asher enjoying the sun and punting

Pam, Geremy, Ryan, Asher & Emily

new discoveries

2009-03-04T11:52:00.004Z

It seems that recently Asher learns something new almost everyday. Here are a few of his latest discoveries or "tricks" as we like to call them (kind of makes him sound like a dog...poor kid)...

Playing with Jordan--Asher has really started noticing Jordan and Maverick and gets very excited to see them and especially excited to pet them. It's very cute.

If we say, "Where's Asher?" He puts his arm up over his eyes like this, then drops them down and laughs as we say "There he is." or "Peek-A-Boo."

He knows how to "Clap, Clap." his hands now.

So this isn't new, but I couldn't resist...
Who's going potty? This Guy! (I realize when he's 16 he'll hate me for this, but I'm okay with that)

happy morning

2009-03-02T15:46:00.005Z

This morning was perfect! I woke up to this....

The SUN!! It was shining through the window so bright and beautiful...I know this may not seem like such a big deal, but those of you on this grey island with us can relate.

....had a delicious cup of coffee. It wasn't really Starbucks coffee, it was some yummy Maple Pecan flavored coffee that Krissy sent from a little coffee shop in Augusta (Thanks, Krissy!)...

...and, of course, this ALWAYS makes my morning...

We're always greeted with this amazing smile when we go to get Asher up--either first thing in the morning or from naps! What a Blessing he truly is!

buddies

2009-03-02T10:28:00.004Z

I stole this picture from Janell (Thanks for being a better documenting Mama than me, Janell and always having your camera available!). This is Asher's buddy, Chase. Last week, he got to have several Play Dates with Chase. Asher is 2 months older than Chase (almost to the day) and it is so fun to see them interact. They like to copy what the other one does. Janell and I also noticed that just because they are merely (almost) 8 and 10 months old, they already are showing signs of selfishness--Thank you, sin nature! If Chase has a toy and Asher has a toy, Asher will put down his toy and try to "grab" (more like smack with an open hand) Chase's toy, and vice versa! Their mannerisms are so so similar and they are so fun to watch together. They are good at keeping each other entertained, too, so Janell and I are very grateful to be able to do our own thing while they play together! Chase left today for a few weeks and Asher is going to miss him terribly. Have a great time meeting all your extended family, Chase!

more abq fun

2009-03-02T09:12:00.010Z

We had such a fabulous trip to Albuquerque a few weeks ago. (I'm just slow to sit down and write about it). I'll just let the pictures tell the stories...

Asher had his own seat on the plane flying to Abq. He sure thought he was a BIG Deal (and, if we're honest, we thought so, too)! He was friends with ALL the flight attendants. He even went off and played with them by himself. His favorite was a really nice Texas lady named Sarah!

Playing with John. He had several Play Dates with John while we were there. Great Buds!

Rocking on John's snail

Asher had to sleep in a closet b/c he wasn't technically allowed in the room (shhhh...don't tell!) Kate got him a pack-n-play eventually. (Thanks, Kate!)

Meeting Anna for the first time; VERY exciting!

Kate took us to a yummy New Mexican lunch

Asher & Sara (wonderful college friend)

Asher with Sara & Larry (great UT friends--soooo good to see them again!!)

Good Friends, Good Times at Mac Grill! Abi, Ryan, Emily, Sara & Larry (We miss you, Uncle Matt. Not the same without you)

Asher with Aunt Abi, Kate and John

Asher, Emily, Kate & John

High Fives (or Fist Pumps, or whatever...) with Asher and John

Asher, Emily, Kate, John & Abi. Good Times!

Asher and Auntie A (wishing you were there, too, Uncle Matt)

The first night we were there, our good friends, Ryan & Ashley stopped by to say Hello, too. They were not going to be in Abq the entire time we were there, so we really appreciated them taking the time to pop in and see us--Sorry, Guys, if we didn't make much sense--it was 3AM our time when you were there! We were also able to see Ryan's Pastor from his Del Rio church, Ben and his wife, Ginny! We shared a delicious meal with them at Gardunos one night! Thanks for the great fellowship, Cravers! So, apparently, Abq IS the place to be. We had so much fun getting to see so many old friends. It's so wonderful to reunite with people throughout the years. So when are you all coming to visit us??!!

happy (belated) valentine's day

2009-02-23T13:26:00.009Z

Happy Valentine's Day! I know it was over a week ago, but we were gone and had very limited computer access, so I'm catching up on blogging!
We had a great Valentine's weekend. We got to spend Valentine's Day dinner with Kate, John, my parents, Joel & Maggie (Pops & Gram as Asher knows them), and Kate's parents, Art & Breda. We were in Albuquerque and Kate and her parents showed us such a great time! They are AWESOME hosts.
Sunday night, Ryan and I went and had dinner at "The Melting Pot" while Pops & Gram kept Asher. It's so nice to have a date night with JUST my husband. The whole fondue experience was fabulous.
On Monday, Ryan, my Dad and I skiied in Santa Fe while Gram and Asher hung out going to the park, playing peek-a-boo and patty-cake and napping. After a great day of skiing, Ryan and I went and each had a massage at a nice spa recommended by Kate and her Mom! It was fantastic. If I had planned better then we wouldn't have been late because of getting lost and would have been able to enjoy a full hour massage. Oops! Thirty minutes was great!
We hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Yummy Valentine's Goody Basket from Ryan's Mom

Playing with one of John's V-Day Balloons
(the "ooo" face is his new favorite)

Opening his card from Uncle Matt & Aunt Abi

Reading his card to Dada

Ryan & Emily skiing
(notice there is no snow in the valley--it was 63 degrees F at the bottom of the mountain, 23 degrees F at the top)

Asher hanging out with Gram & Pops
(he is a complete ham in front of the camera now)

Asher and Gram

u-g-l-y...

2009-02-02T22:12:00.006Z

...we ain't got no alibi, we ugly, yea, yea! Last Saturday we went to an Ugly Sweater Party hosted by some friends from work. It was pretty funny seeing all the fugliness that people were able to find. We were all happy to support our local charity shops. It's amazing some of the apparel that people put their time and effort into making...yikes! Here are some of the winners of the night...

Yikes! Scary, hairy clown!(1st Place)

Popping Buttons (2nd Place)

We thought our's were pretty bad till we got there

Ooww! Hot Mamas!

Asher even had an ugly sweater

training for 2012

2009-02-02T20:21:00.005Z

Asher loves Baby Gymnastics. As a matter of fact, he's training for the 2012 Olympics to be held right here in London. Thanks Uncle Brian and Aunt Kathy for the Jumperoo!

the fluffy white stuff

2009-02-02T19:51:00.004Z

The view out of Asher's window

We bought Asher a snowsuit to wear while we were on holiday in Germany for Christmas and he never wore it. I thought that he wasn't going to ever get to wear it because he would be too big for it by the time it snowed again, but I was wrong! Yea! We got about 7 or so inches of snow today and it was awesome! Everything looked so pretty. He was able to go "play" in it. As you can see, the snowsuit makes him more like a Michelin-Snowman who can't move very easily. He did enjoy chewing on the mittens so that was pretty exciting for him! He laughed and didn't seem to mind sitting in the snow. Maybe next year he'll make snowballs and throw them at Jordan or Dada!

The Happy Snow Baby

room--mission complete

2009-01-30T16:01:00.001Z

Asher is almost 9 months old, and finally, today, we've received the last piece of furniture for his bedroom! It's been a slow process, but that's how things go living "abroad." He slept in his pack and play for 2 months before we were able to get his crib over here with some friend's household goods. The rocker came when he was 3 months old, but it was the wrong one, so 6 weeks later we received the correct one. We're very grateful to our friends, Ric & Mhari, who enlisted the help of Ric's sweet Mom to get the bookcase shipped over here. It's perfect and looks great in Asher's room! Here he is proudly sitting up in front of it...

why not?!

2009-01-30T15:40:00.000Z

Okay, okay, so we're going to (maybe) finally start this whole blogging thing. This will hopefully be a good way to streamline stories and pictures about us--and by "us" I, naturally I am referring to Asher--he is the big attention stealer of the family these days! Please be patient as I very slowly try and figure this all out. Hopefully there will be some fun things to read about to keep you all entertained as you keep up with us...