Prayer

For a few months we have been eating dinner at the table all together and we pray before our meal. James and I would try to hold Asa's hands during the prayer, mainly so he wouldn't be eating at that time. Most of the time Asa would scream no and push our hands away. Recently he has been excited to hold our hands for prayer. And in just the last couple of days, I've seen him bowing his head a little and he seems to mutter something quietly. I think he's praying on his own. Only God knows what he's saying!

This Week

Judah is getting so big. It seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. He is looking around and smiling at us. And we don't have to work too hard for smiles either! He is soothed sometimes when we put him in the swing or under his barn-yard play gym. I'm so proud of my little baby!


Asa is also getting so big and learning so many things. He truly does understand more than what we give him credit for. He can say a lot of words and he can point to a lot of his body parts: teeth, nose, eyes, head, hands, feet, tummy, etc. We're trying to capture him talking on video. It's rather tricky because when I pull out the camera, he says cheese and tries to touch the camera. Here's the best I've been able to do:


Saturday we were at Larry and Carol Anderson's house. The worst thing that Asa has done to Judah happened while we were there. Asa was walking around with his sippy cup when he suddenly threw it. And it hit Judah right in the head. So of course, Judah started crying and Asa had no idea what he had done. That's where I struggle. I know we can't punish him for doing that, but how do we make him aware that he was the reason Judah cried? I'm just hoping that Judah lives to be a year old! Later in the evening, we were playing Wii bowling. Asa liked cheering when we knocked over the pins. Here's some video of that:

Judah's Personality

Judah is now seven weeks old. I'm not sure that he has a personality, but he has some things that he does a lot. He seems to sneeze more than I remember Asa sneezing. Hopefully he's not allergic to everything like his aunt Melinda or cousin Zoe. He is really starting to smile a lot. When he's awake, he looks around mostly with a blank stare, but he will smile when we talk to him. He also is doing the happy baby noises. It's cute to hear the coos. Ever since Judah was born, he has been a grunter. He makes various grunting noises when he is squirming around in our arms. When he nurses, he makes a lot of gulping noises and high pitched squeaks. It's hard to describe. And the final little personality trait he has developed is hacking. My dad was a hacker. He would get a cough and hack and cough up stuff. The first time Asa coughed and hacked, I laughed instead of being concerned as most new mothers would be. Judah has only done the hacking thing twice. And I haven't been concerned either time.
Here's Judah happily swinging with no expression on his face.

Here he is sleeping at Grandma's.

Smile!!

Yesterday I was at the missions convention at our District Assembly. I accidentally wandered into the meeting about the district budget. Boring! It was late starting and I didn't want to leave and go to another workshop and be even later getting to that one. So I stayed and actually learned something useful. Judah started crying so I took him out. After a while, he was no longer crying. I sat down on the floor in the hallway with him. He talked a little bit to me so I started smiling and talking to him. After a couple minutes, he smiled at me! It was his first purposeful smile! That makes a happy day for a mom.

Asa the Nanny

Who needs a nanny when you have Asa. He is very helpful with Judah. If Judah is crying and James or I am holding him, Asa will pick up a blanket or pacifier and bring it to us. He doesn't, however, do a very good job of bringing a blanket if we ask him. The other day he saw a dirty diaper on the floor and took it to the trash. Today while I was taking a shower and Asa was in the bathroom playing with toys, Judah started waking up in his cradle that is in our room. I heard Asa run off to check on him. He came back to the bathroom and checked on Judah another time while I was finishing up my shower. (How long until I can take a shower in peace?) He's just a helpful little boy.
But then I was drafting this post in my head while I was nursing Judah a few minutes ago. Asa was looking at books in my room. He shut the door and was unable to get out. After Judah was finished eating, we went to free Asa only to find that he had found the opened package of toilet paper. He had taken out several rolls and unrolled half of one roll. He was ripping up the toilet paper into tiny little pieces. It was cute, but mischievous. Just when I was thinking he was such a big helper, he goes and makes a big mess!
And a few minutes later Asa fell asleep on the couch next to me. He's back to being an angel again!

Dance, Asa, Dance

Here's a video of Asa dancing. It's the best footage we've gotten so far. Yes, he's eating while dancing. It's probably not the safest activity. Asa loves music. When he first hears music, he runs over to the TV or the computer and then he claps and dances. My favorite move is the head nod. In the van he pats his legs to the beat a lot. He actually has pretty good rhythm.