La Famille Armstrong

Asher turned 16 months on 

the 11th - it's wild to see how much he has learned and grown in the past 4 months even! He says many things now - and you can actually understand a lot of them! Like, "bink" "more" "up" "dog" "bear" "off" and a few others. There are TONS of things he says that only mom and dad recognize... like all the things "bah" means and what he's meaning when he says "toe." He also has lots of words that are close - stairs, play, toys, bath, water, pants, shirt, don't, no-no... all the important ones :-) He's such a boy - into trucks and cars - and he loves being outside. But he's also just like me when I was his age. Super shy, takes a while to let his guard down with new people and lately, when he gets in trouble he hides his face in his hands or covers his eyes - it's so sad but also really cute. 

He's also gotten really good at going up and down stairs! Which is great b/c I am too heavy to carry myself up! Today, he's gone up and down 2 times each without a single whimper - see, he's been able to go up and down fine for almost 2 months now, but a few weeks ago it was only done with massive amounts of crying... just ask my dad! But now, he really enjoys it! Also, when you tell Asher to throw something away, he walks over to the garbage can, puts it in, closes the lid and then claps... so cute! When it's bedtime or naptime, we just tell him "Okay, it's sleepy time, let's go to your room" and he will waltz down the hallway to his room, walk over and wait until we turn on the fan, then we say "okay, get in your bed" and he climbs up and waits for you to hand him his bear. Then, after we pray, he takes his binky out and says "amen." Melts our hearts every time!

There's also been a lot going on in my world but I have too much to do this nap to write about all of  it :-) A couple highlights, the photo day was great but left me exhausted and with a messed up hip... mainly b/c I did a total of 4 hours of photos, lots of walking and shopping at Turkey Rama, Washington Square Mall, Fry's and local stores buying fruit, helping with a bridal shower and too many trips up and down the stairs. It was well worth it tho! We also found a swing for baby Cole for $20 at a garage sale - it's one of those really nice side-to-side swings that I've been wanting but couldn't justify even the $60 used price I was finding everywhere else... I am still so thrilled about finding it! Anyway, here are some cute photos of Asher from Saturday... I'll post some from the Photo Day within the week as well. Love you all!