So I finally caught Asher smiling - well, mostly smiling. He seriously sees the camera/phone and stops smiling! My friend Michelle and I were at Winco when he just decided to be so happy and smile over and over again... it was the cutest thing ever! Here is the evidence for all of you to see!
Asher has been a pretty easy baby. Not too much screaming... but once he's hungry, there's no consoling him! He's like his dad and fights falling asleep but other than that, things have been pretty good. It's tough not to have things be laid out for me - I'm sure all you moms know how unpredictable children are :-) I'm finding more and more that God desires me to let go and just relax. When I think about my life and imagine being laid back, taking it easy and just dealing with things as they come along I almost cry! Good tears (no worries) b/c it would be so nice, easy and well, relaxed! Why not? What reason do I have to try and plan things out? I just get disappointed when things don't work out... am I seriously that dense? What could be easier than just going with the flow? Sure, some times do call for planning but not each second of the day. I've been shocked at how much I could learn in such a short time and I hope to be learning this lesson I've described very, very soon! I want to be open to God working however He decides so I need to be open to Him changing my plans and look at the fluctuations as chances to have Him work through me!
off my shoulders :)
Ok, so I've physically lost 30lbs since January which I am excited about... but even more exciting is the huge weight off my shoulders due to the fact that we received the check from the buyer who bought our car today and took it down to the bank eliminating nearly $14,000 in debt and over $400 in payments and insurance from our monthly overhead. That in and of itself is a huge relief! But it gets better.
Joellen, Asher and I plan on moving in with our good friend Kory of
Valley Green Landscape when our lease is up in June. The great thing about that is that the move will save us an additional $400-$500 dollars a month and we'll be helping Kory out with his mortgage. We've gotten behind quite a bit being "upside down" for the past couple years, but it will be great to slow the financial hemorrhaging and start making strides toward getting caught up. In addition, we'll have access to a kitchen with normal human-sized counters, a fireplace, hot tub and of course the baby grand piano! Asher will have lawn and floor space to crawl around on once he gets to that point and we all will have a little more breathing room...
Last but not least, I have an interview in a couple hours with our church for a position as a ministry coordinator / admin assistant. We'll see what happens there, but I'm hoping to soon be free from the deep dark clutches of AT&T.
Asher's been smiling more the past few days although his smiles have been elusive to the camera so far... We'll keep trying but for the time being you'll just have to take our word for it - it's super cute :)
That's about it for now. Joellen and Asher send their love and say "Hi!"
May is going to be crazy! I won't go into details but I will be one busy woman :-) I'll post more on that when I've got some more time. In the meantime, here is a photo of our friends' little girl Ellie and little Asher... aren't they cute?
Ellie seemed to think the pacifier was like a button you push that makes the baby happy... it was so funny to see how she reacted every time Asher started to fuss or when he lost his binky. She would look all distressed and try to either put it in his mouth really fast or try to push it in harder to make it stay :-) She looked so worried! And she didn't seem to believe us that he didn't always need it. Kids are too cute!
Mark has an interview Monday for the position with the church. Be praying that Creekside would find the right candidate - we hope that this candidate is Mark, but it's more important that God's work is done and if that's through another person, it's okay with us. Also, we sold his car!!! The person is financing it but was pre-approved and just needs to have her bank fax our bank the $$$! What a load off! Pray also that there are no hiccups with that. Anyway, I'm starving and Asher is finally asleep... bye!
I just thought Asher was too cute in this outfit! He wore it to church when we went down to Coos Bay. I think he officially fits in more 3-6 month clothes than he does in his age bracket. Ah well - chubby babies are the cutest! Here is our mini-Mark :-)
So, I haven't posted in a while (sorry) but I have been a tad bit busy. I went down to Coos Bay for 4 days and got to just hang out with family most of the time. I went to the 100th Coos County Track Meet which was pretty fun - though I didn't stay for too long. It was pretty cold and started to rain so Asher and I went home to "relax." I say relax in quotes b/c Asher has a difficult time doing that. Since he's usually so fussy before sleeping and seemed to be having a lot of gas and issues going #2 (that's right, I said/wrote #2) we put him on a formula that is for sensitive tummies and he is doing a lot better. He still doesn't like going to sleep but at least he's not crying out in pain when trying to pass gas or make a dirty diaper. It's not soy based so we don't have to worry about allergy issues with it either - and once again, WIC is providing the formula (praise God)!
Asher is starting to sleep for longer and longer parts through the night which is making everyone much happier :-) Last night he ate at 9:45pm, 2:15am and 7am. Not bad at all! The only difficult thing about it is that he hasn't quite figured out that he needs to eat more at his feedings to make up for the missed feeding at night. So I'm making more bottles during the day but I'm getting more sleep - I consider it a great trade!
Also, I took some more photos of Asher today, mainly of his feet actually :-) And I finally got the photo "announcement" so I'll be sending and handing those out soon! Love you all!
While we're on the topic of family and of Grandpa Armstrong, I wanted to let you know that I have posted the photos from this slideshow to our Armstrong family page. I'm reminded of the legacy that he left us and I pray each of us would be able to leave a legacy as marvelous as his to our own kids and grandkids...
I mean that in the broadest sense of the word. Let me explain...
I've noticed more and more of us are creating blogs or sites of sorts and those of us who are family members especially seem to really be blessed by each others updates. However, we do usually end up cruising from one blog to the next, commenting here or there which does work but can seem a little scattered. Well as you all know I've been on a bit of an organizational kick and I ran across a way to create our own private networking site. (I know private networking sounds like a bit of an oxymoron but stay with me).
Anyway, I've created
armstrongs.ning.com as a place for everyone who is a descendent of or related to, or related to a descendent of Grandpa Armstrong to get together and share, well everything. So even those who are not Armstrongs in the strict sense of the word (Watsons, Brewers, Browns, Boatrights, other Browns and so many others) are welcome, nay encouraged to join. We can upload photos, movies, blog directly on the site (and all of our blog postings will show up on the main page for all to see) discuss in our own forums, schedule events... you get the idea. I did restrict the site so that not just anyone could join and post because you never know who you're going to get. However, many of you will be receiving invites via e-mail from me over the next few days to join the site. If you don't receive an invite or if you just really want to be added before I get to you, shoot me an email or leave a comment on this post with your e-mail address and I will be sure and get you added.
I am super excited to see what kind of gathering place we can turn this into...
Can't wait to see you all there!
Ok so this post really has nothing to do with death or taxes, save the fact that, horray! - I did get our taxes filed yesterday, just under the wire :) Also this photo has nothing to do with anything, it's just Asher sleeping at the park...
Joellen was gone most of yesterday since she had agreed to help Margy get her midwife certification (she needed a newborn for the exam) which she aced and now only needs to complete the written exam to become certified as a midwife. We both wish her all the best and know she will make a great midwife! Later yesterday evening, mom came over and went to a baby shower our church put on for her and it sounds like they had a great time. So anyway, it was a quiet house yesterday.
In other news, I am very proud to say, my e-mail inbox is at zero and the tasks remaining in my "midnight inbox" seem manageable. Might this be a break in the madness? We'll see...
I did have someone call about our car yesterday so we're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping we can find a buyer. Speaking of which, here is the link in case anyone wants to buy a 2005 Mazda 3s -
click here.
If this post has been a bit choppy, scattered and less than coherent, that's because I am too. I need to get ready for work but I at least wanted to say hi. I haven't had too much time to post anything, but don't worry - we're still here and doing well :)
I'll start with this adorable photo!
Aren't they cute together :-) We think so. This is Asher laying next to Hope Avniela Lacine while Chelsi was in the hospital a couple weeks ago. I have to admit, I am a terrible friend! I haven't spoken with Chelsi since we saw them that day... sounds like things are fine but I don't know any details. I'm crazy busy this week (+taking care of baby) and out of town all weekend but I'm hoping to make it out there, to their new place, next week sometime.
This week I get to be an honored guest at the 100th Coos County Track Meet! I hold the meet record in the LJ so I am presenting the medals for the LJ. Cool huh? I'm really excited to take Asher down and show him off! Unfortunately, Mark has to work so I'll be going down with just the baby and my sister Tracy. But it will be great sister time... plus I'm planning on taking some beach and family photos while I'm there so that should be fun. My almost 14 year old sister is quite the little model so it will be REALLY fun to take some images of her - especially since I actually know a little about what I'm doing!
Mark has been crazy busy with work! Lots of design work - so much that even with him sleeping through Asher's feedings in the middle of the night, he is still getting less sleep than me! Poor guy. I so greatly appreciate his dedication and hard work - especially since I know I would be in the fetal position in a corner if I was that overloaded :-) He has since cut out a few hours at AT&T each week b/c the design work pays more and he just NEEDS those extra hours to keep from getting behind. He was working 4 10hr days which would leave him with barely enough brain power and physical strength to function at a sub-par level. So now, working 4 8hr days he actually gets some work done when he gets home. Then he also spends most of his days off working too. Pray for him if you remember... this is a phase... much needed financially to get us caught up... but it will be a long one! Pray also, that God would bless my photos since that is another way that we can be bringing in the income needed. And while you're at it, pray that God would bring the right person or dealership to buy our blue Mazda. We owe less than the wholesale price and got a good response from one dealership (still didn't buy - had another one on the lot for less at the time) so hopefully we can be relieved of that burden within a week or two!
Anyway, this was longer than expected! Just wanted to give an update - can you tell our lives are a bit busier since Asher came along :-) Love you all!
I finally took a few photos of Asher today... well, real ones with my SLR. He was a great model... looking straight into the lens and everything :-) Enjoy!
Well folks, if you ever have the honor of getting married and especially if you decide to have kids, I highly recommend you find yourself a wife like Jo. She has taken to being a mother like a fish to water and wouldn't you know it, it's like she was made for it!
I have been ridiculously busy this past week and a half with work and a bunch of
Goldstreet and
Brasfort projects and so I haven't been able to help out a ton with Asher. Joellen's been doing a really great job making sure Asher is completely cared for and supporting me in my work. So again I say, if you get yourself married, find a wife like her.
Naomi (Jo's sister) is in town from Boston this week to meet the baby, hang out with us and help clean up what has become somewhat of a disaster of a living space. She got in yesterday and Tracy came down from Tigard last night to join us all for dinner. We had a lovely time over chicken and seasoned potatoes :)
That's about it for now. Oh, I'm looking at applying for a position as an admin assistant for our church which would be a really good move for us I think. My graphic design workload is starting to pick up and it's getting really difficult to juggle that and full time work at AT&T. Besides, the money I'm bringing in now from AT&T has become pretty abysmal. Please be praying that the Lord would continue to guide and provide...
As an aside, if any of you are mac users out there and are looking for a solution to organize your projects and tasks, I have found one I LOVE after scouring the web at length. It's not perfect, but for me it's by far the best I've found. It's based around David Allen's
Getting Things Done methodology. Icing on the cake: they've announced support for the iPhone - Coming Soon. Anyway, I highly recommend checking out
midnight inbox if you're looking for something like that (No I was not paid for that endorsement... I just really like their product)
Ok. Now I'm done... Really.
This will be really short - I posted another post on my Small Mustard Seed blog... (see our links).
I know, it's been over a month since I had last posted on there! I'm not making promises or anything, but I hope (emphasis on HOPE) to be writing a bit more often.
Thanks!
Alright, so we've been slacking a bit... but who can blame us? We are both staying pretty busy - not just with the baby but with lots of work stuff. I've been trying to put in some good hours of work for Jeanne and Mark has a TON of graphic design work - for Goldstreet and for The Brasfort Company (our own business) not to mention going back to work full time this week. Next week doesn't look much slower either - I have plans for every single day!!!! Thankfully my big sister is coming to town so at least I'll have some company in my busyness :-) Though, I have a bit of cleaning to take care of prior to, but when does a stay at home mom not have cleaning!
Today I have a baby shower for my friend Amanda, who is also having a boy. I swear, this year is baby year for ALL of my friends. I'm so far behind on knitting them all blankets... hopefully I'll catch up before the weather gets too hot! Knitting blankets in August pretty much bites. Plus, I still have this huge blanket I've been "working on" for Mark for a very, incredibly and ridiculously long time :-) It takes me almost a full 1/2 hour to get across one row - now you see why it has taken me so long! I lose hope every time I pick it up again - I think "I am NEVER going to finish this." But I am determined to get it done before Christmas this year!
Anyway, I've got to finish getting some tax stuff done (yay) and pump myself up with some coffee (yum). Hope you enjoy the photo of our handsome boy! He looks so much like a kid now - less like a baby every day! I've heard they grow fast but I am still in shock at how true that is. Love you all!
Well, not really "yay" according to Asher. More like "waaaah!!!!" But I guess that's typical of newborns :-) But here's a cute pic of him before he got all worked up...
Also, his hair is growing in a bit more and it looks kind of red, almost an orange-ish color. I talked to Wes Thomas - all 3 of his kids have bright red hair while him and his wife have black hair - and he said all his kids' had the exact same color as Asher's! So we may have a red-headed family... we'll see!
Well, that's all for now... sorry I don't have anything too clever or funny to say! Enjoy.
I can't believe how much Asher has grown the past 2 weeks! We had his Dr's appointment yesterday and he seems to be healthy as can be! He was 10lbs, his head was 15.5" around and he was 21.5" long... that is almost 2 lbs heavier than 2 weeks ago! Plus, his head grew over 1/2" and he grew 1.5" in length. I kept having to adjust the straps on the carseat and I was beginning to think I was doing something wrong - turns out, he really was getting bigger every day!
It's been fun watching him change and learn new things - although small at this point in his life :-) He's started to notice when his hands are on something, he doesn't have hardly any control but you can tell he realizes that he's feeling something. And he's been playing with his tongue a
lot. He'll watch Mark and stick it out after Mark does. I'm jealous because Mark and Asher can curl their tongues - I cannot! I know, it's genetic, but still! It's weird that your baby can do something you can't!
One other thing... he's started to outgrow clothes already! I was particularly sad this morning b/c I put this onesie on him (this cute one my mom gave him) and it was way too tight! It fit him just 2 weeks ago... but I guess 2 lbs is a lot of body mass to gain when you start out at 8 :-)
Oh well, I guess I'll just be making some trips to our local clothing consignment store... I'm going to need some cute clothes here soon anyway! Also, we got Asher circumcised - that was fun :-( It's been fine though... the first diaper was a nightmare so thank the Lord that my good friend Gizelle lives only 2 doors down and was able too rush over to the rescue. Then, last night we went to Mark's parent's house for dinner and grandma Betty was able to give me some pointers and put my mind at ease. I'm so thankful for such a circle of support! I would go crazy without all of you! Enjoy the pics!
