Asher: ten months old

Growth/ development: Two weeks ago, at 9.5 months, Asher weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces and was 30.5 inches tall. His head was about 18.5 inches in circumference. He wears size four diapers and size 12-18 month clothing. Because he wears cloth diapers, he needs extra big clothing. :)

This month Asher has been taking bottles consistently, and seems totally happy to get pumped milk from the bottle, instead of only nursing. It's been a long six weeks of trying to heal my skin where his teeth cut, but hopefully things are on the mend. I would really love to get back to nursing regularly, but we will see. For now, I think we will try to keep nursing for the first feeding of the day, but during the day and at bedtime it just seems easier to do bottles. 

Asher is a crazy fast crawler! He figured it out on vacation in Colorado, and hasn't looked back. I love to hear his little hands clapping the hardwood floors as he maneuvers around the house. 

He's also mastered pulling himself up! He loves to stand in the bathtub, and next to the couch, and on the play kitchen. He can't always get himself back down easily, though, which presents a problem when he's standing sobbing in his crib:

Sleep/schedule: Drumroll, please.... Asher no longer nurses at night!!!! It only took nine months ;) but it's totally amazing. He doesn't even wake up most nights, but if he does cry, Joel goes in and talks quietly to him for a minute and comes back to bed. Night weaning/ sleep training this month was a lot easier than I expected, and I'm so relieved!

Asher is still going to bed around 7pm. He wakes up pretty early (usually around 6am), and he takes his first nap around 8am. His second nap is almost always around 1pm. Both his naps are consistently at least1.5 hours, but sometimes they are two full hours!!

Asher likes: crawling!!!, standing up, following Charlotte around the house, touching things, dumping out toys, WATER!!, snuggling/ hugging, chewing everything, "reading" books, and so many more things. He is a really happy, easygoing baby. 

Asher doesn't like; diaper changes, getting dressed, waiting for milk, and getting his sleep sack on. The moments before sleep time are his worst all day! It's kind of hilarious to me, because it's like: "dude, you've been getting zipped into your sleep sack multiple times a day for your whole life... Get used to it!" :) 

Parenting: this month has been a whirlwind!! I think the word change sums up Asher's tenth month of life. One week he started crawling, the next week he night weaned, and the next week he started dropping nursing sessions!! It feels like a lot to me, and I've been pretty emotional about how fast it's all gone. I also feel really, really sad to be giving up nursing him already. I love this baby so much and it breaks my heart to not get as much quiet time with him as I used to have. 

Asher is a totally delightful little boy; he lights up our world!!