Happy Birthday, Asher!

At school, Asher's teacher made him a crown and some homemade crayons, and his friends Ryan and Haylee made him birthday cards. He was so proud when he came home with his treasures!

September 27, 2005, our lives were graced with our sweet Asher. He was a gorgeous baby who slept for two straight weeks after his traumatic birth. At the end of those two weeks, he opened his eyes, never to sleep through the night again. He was a joy and a definite challenge, with the strongest, funniest personality I have ever come in contact with.

Our lives have been forever changed and infinitely blessed because we have this child in our presence. I can't describe to you how much I love him, or how empty our lives would be without him in our family.

I don't want to forget:

• The way Asher says EVERYTHING! Every single thing he says has its own unique, hilarious twist. I crack up a hundred times a day with him around! The way he says, "e-mote" for "remote", "e-member" for "remember", "e-wind" when he wants the video tape rewound. The way he says, "that's just begusting" (disgusting).
  
• The way he randomly tells me "Mom? I love you!" a million times a day, no matter who is around to hear it.
  
• How he laughs his head off when we say something silly. Anything I say that sounds ridiculous, like "Asher HATES ice cream!" he laughs and laughs and finally catches his breath to say, "No, I don't!" A silly statement can make Asher stop crying no matter what's wrong, and turn his tears into the cutest laughter I have ever heard.
  
• The way he worships Grandma 'Chele like she's not even human. One day he told my mom he wants to live with Grandma 'Chele. My mom said, "But where will you sleep at Grandma 'Chele's?" He said, "In her bed! A course!" It's so obvious to him that she would do anything for him, he doesn't even think twice. He asks me a hundred times a day if he can go to Grandma 'Chele's house and when he gets to go, he ends up begging me to let him stay there overnight. (He usually gets to.)
  
• The way he can manipulate with the best of them, and charm his way into (or out of) any situation he desires. As my husband put it this morning, "He has stalling down to an art." Asher doesn't use the usual techniques to avoid getting into bed or going to school. He always finds a way to mask what he's doing and convince us to sit and talk to him until we realize we've let 15 or 20 minutes slip away.
• The way he has his own interpretation of everything. He doesn't take anybody's word for it - he must see for himself before he believes anything. Example: We took him to Lagoon for his birthday. Everyone was telling him it was going to be so much fun, he was going to love it! Since he'd never been there before, he told everyone "No, I'm not going to Lagoon. I want to stay home and watch this movie." After he got there and loved it, he didn't want to go home and cried the whole ride back to our house, but he has to see it for himself.
• His incredible grip on language and vocabulary. He can hear a word once, ask what it means, and use it correctly in different conversations from then on. He is able to place words accurately in sentences every time, no matter how long it's been since he's heard it, or how difficult the word is to use.
  
• How he has his own vocabulary. When Asher hears a word and what it means, sometimes he will choose to change the name of that thing. Example: "What's this?" (holding up a toothpick) Me: "Toothpick." Asher: "What's it for?" Me: "You can get things out of your teeth with it, or you can stick it in the middle of a cake and see if your cake is done. Like this." (demonstrating) Asher: "Hmm. Toothpick. I'm-a call 'em stabbers."
  

There are a billion things he does that I never want to forget. So many happen per day that I couldn't possibly remember them all. I'll just leave you with some pictures from Asher's birthday party at my in-laws' house this weekend. :)

Asher shared his birthday party with his Aunt Dani - whose birthday was the 23rd.




Max took a nap while everyone was celebrating...

Asher tried out his new gigantic dinosaurs.

Josh fell madly in love with the new Mario & Koopa plushies!

Me & Danielle


Danielle & Nick

My husband, bbqing :)


Can you believe this cake?? My mother-in-law made it! Asher requested a Mario cake, so she definitely delivered!


The boys decided it would be awesome if Max rode the dinosaur.


They even bought Josh a Koopa Troopa so he wouldn't feel left out!