Two Years Old and the Giraffe

 Hard to believe how grown up he is!

Just look at how tiny he was!

Alex's 1st Day of Preschool!

Today was Alex's first day of Preschool! He will be spending his 5 year old year at Messiah Lutheran Preschool in Prosser. We are so excited for him!  When we got there he let go of my hand and walked right in without me. This Mama got a little choked up, but shed no tears. Maybe later.

 Showing off Lightning McQueen

 So excited to go to school!

 (The sun was in our poor guys eyes)

18 Months

Changes

Ahhh change.....

I think my least favorite word is change. I try to keep it out of my vocabulary as much as possible. With the exception of new shoes and household decor I prefer things stay the same, but that doesn't seem to be how God works. Things are changing for the Cooks and God is stretching me.

As you can see in the picture there is blue sky above this house, so obviously it's not in Centralia. God has called us to Grandview Church of the Nazarene in Grandview, WA and we are heading there next month. This is the parsonage that we will soon be calling home! We have clearly seen the Lord's hand leading, but will dearly miss the family and precious friends we have here. I am incredibly grateful for those who have walked alongside and ministered with us these last 4 1/2 years. We have been deeply loved.

Asher and His Giraffe

Asher Benjamin is 1!

I'm not sure where the time goes, but my baby boy is a year old. He is growing into such a sweet and fun little boy! He's nearly walking and saying the occasional word. He's extremely adventurous and has no fear of anything. He climbs until he gives his Mama a near heart attack! We love watching him grow and change and seeing his personality come out. Happy Birthday, Asher! We love you more than we can say!

Where did this tiny baby go?

Photo collage by Lynne Friberg

Asher's Teeth

You can see the faintest hint of his bottom tooth if you look hard.

Isn't that the cutest one-tooth grin ever? The 2nd top tooth seems to be closest to popping through. We're anxiously awaiting a couple of more in the hopes the crankies will calm with their arrival. I think his big front tooth makes him seem more grown up. When did my baby get so old?

10 Months

Here's our happy 10 month old! His first tooth finally poked through on 6/28. It was a top tooth which surprised me since I've had my eye on those bottom teeth for a while now. He has gotten busier and busier.... He's crawling and pulling up and getting into absolutely everything! His skin seems to be improving on the new diet and he's much, much happier. So fun to see his silly little personality coming out!

9 Months

Here's our sweet 9 month old. Mr. Serious. Always trying to figure everything out. He started crawling on May 29, one day before his well check. I guess he knew it was coming! He was 8lbs 14oz and 28 inches long. Average across the board. I'll post some happier pictures later. He's never thrilled to sit with this giraffe!

8 Months

Our sweet boy is 8 months old now. Still no teeth, but he's working his hardest at crawling. I expect him to be all over the house in the next couple of days. Right now he gets himself up on his hands and knees and then sort of throws himself the direction he wants to go, then gets up on his hands and knees and throws himself again. He's starting to work on the knee action so I expect some better results soon. :) He started saying "Mama" last week officially. Daddy is jealous that both boys have said Mama first. We expect "Dada" will be the next word although Alex is lobbying for Asher to say his name first...




I have to say I thought taking Ash's picture with the giraffe each month was a really good idea when he was immobile and couldn't pick it up. Now it's really tricky to get pictures where he's sitting there without the giraffe in his mouth, covering his entire face. ;)

7 Months

And another month has passed....

Our little man is sitting up on his own, eating bananas, applesauce, pears, squash, carrots, peas and sweet potatoes. He's still not enjoying rice cereal, but we sneak it in now and then. He's chatting up a storm and I think is trying his hardest to say "Mama" first. Every now and again I'm sure I can hear it... He's finally rolling from his back to his tummy and working his hardest to get on his hands and knees. Next stop = crawling.

6 Months

Hard to believe half a year has already passed since this sweet boy entered our lives! He's growing and changing so quickly now. He's rolling over some. Sitting up for short bits of time and making it obvious to us that he's not a tiny infant anymore. It's such fun to see his personality coming out and the new interactions between him and Alex.

5 Months

Our sweet little man is 5 months old! Hard to believe, but it's true. His favorite activities right now are playing with his toes, teething on everything and giggling as much as possible. He's rolling around and squirming to get around. He seems to want to run, but we're hopefully quite a ways away from that. This boy melts my heart daily. Just look at that face....

Grumpy Old Saint Nicholas

Not quite jolly

Crazy eyes

Looks like Santa had one too many...

"Santa" with his giraffe at 3 months old.

3 Months

This little man is 3 months old today! He's growing up entirely too fast. I weighed him yesterday and he came in at 14.5 lbs. He's quite a bit bigger than Alex was at this age as I recall. He's such a happy little man. He's smiling, cooing and laughing all the time. I just love staring at his sweet face and having him chat with me. Such a sweet boy.

16 Months Old

Today Alex had his 15 month well baby check. (He's 16 months old, but mommy was a little behind in making his appointment.) He's now 28lbs 4oz and 33.5 inches tall. His head size is still off the charts, but not to worry--I'm sure he'll grow into it! He had to get 4 shots today, but was very brave and only cried a little.

Here he is having a little lunch. He's mastering the use of his fork and spoon really quickly! A lot of the food ends up on his shirt, face hair, and hands, but the vast majority makes it into his mouth. Now that he's been using a utensil he doesn't care much for eating without one!

Here's our boy pushing a kitchen chair around. He's always moving things around to suit his purposes. :)