I Love Summertime

We had a welcome home BBQ for Berkeley on Monday night with the Ward family. The kids were all playing in a little pool, so Berkeley decided to take Asa for a dip! He is fascinated with water and really seemed to enjoy it.






On Tuesday we drove to Provo and had a little cook-out with Nathaniel, Dorothy and Chris. It was a lot of fun to hang out together.




Last, we started feeding Asa rice cereal and Oatmeal yesterday! Here is a video of his first experience with spoon feeding! He does a great job!

Basic Military Training Graduation

Berkeley did it! 9 weeks ago he left for BMT and wow did those 2 months go slowly! Berkeley graduated from BMT on Friday June 26th and we are so proud of him. I am so happy to have him home again and be able to get back to normal life for a while.

This first video is from the coin ceremony. Upon recieval of your coin, you are no longer a trainee but an official member of the US Airforce. Airmen carry this coin with them all the time and it is an honor to have one. Berkeley is the 2nd one on the left side.


This next video is at the coin ceremony also. It is just a short clip of Berkeley giving an order.


This video is just to show how many graduates there were. Berkeley was in the top 10% of this group for academic and physical achievement.


This is a video of the ceremony held for the honor graduates. There were 670 BMT grads and only 35 honor grads. Berkeley was one of them and I am so proud of him! At this ceremony they recieved another coin.


It was SO BLIMIN' HOT in San Antonio! Asa won't take a bottle so we kept giving him little bits of water from our water bottles. It was cute to watch him try and drink from them.

Are women born this way?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha....Breath.....Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!



It looks like the answer is YES.

Playdate!

Yesterday Asa and I went to Spanish Fork and had a playdate with my friends Holley and Brooke. We all used to work together and had our babies within 2 months of eachother. It was fun to see them and catch up a little bit. The picture goes from oldest to youngest: Brooke and Aiden, Me and Asa, Holley and Brooks.

Brooks!

Brooks is such a chubby baby! I love it! This is what happened when Holley put him in the bouncer chair! Hello Floor!

Aiden is such a doll! I love his double chin!

The Three Amigos. Asa was unhappy and crying so Aiden reached over and held his hand. Less than a minute late, Brooks reached over and put his hand on Asa's shoulder. It was like they were trying to comfort him. Adorable.

Blah on Post-Baby Bodies

Any of you have any great advice on how to get your body back to looking somewhat normal after having a baby?? I feel blah. I know it has only been 4 months since I had Asa but I really don't foresee myself getting into a bathing suit this summer. Nope. In the meantime, here is a bit of my new work-out regime.


And here is Asa's new form of working out!! Sorry the video is a little long but the good stuff happens towards the end.

We Really Have Come a Long Way!!

Sometimes when I get discouraged with hard days with Asa, I just have to remember that we have made big progress in a lot of ways! Here are some examples...

Just Some Thoughts

Life has been a rough haul the last couple months. I know that things have seemed much more difficult because Berkeley has been gone. He just has a way of keeping me level headed, calm, and more patient. He always knows just what to say and do to make me feel special especially during times when I feel down. Only 2 1/2 weeks until he gets home and I can't wait to have him back!! I can't wait to share the responsibility of Asa with him again. I have never been more tired in my whole life than I have been the last two months. No joke. Who knew an infant could take so much out of you. My biggest struggle with Asa is sleeping. The nights are bad. He usually does a 3 hour shift to start the night then wakes up every hour or two after that. I only feed him ever 4 hours if possible, but he just wakes up and cries and squirms. I started doing some sleep training two nights ago. He is crying himself to sleep and in the night I usually let him fuss for quite a while in hopes that he will learn to put himself back to sleep. So far that hasn't worked. It is just hard. I am tired. Hopefully he will start to learn how to be a better sleeper soon or I might go crazy. I ran into my good friend yesterday. She has a baby one month younger than Asa. I asked her how he sleeps and she said he goes to bed at 10 pm and doesn't wake up until 8 am!! Is it normal to feel jealous over your friends babies?? Also, Asa is such a fussy little guy a lot of the time and it is so hard not knowing how long this phase will last. I wish I could see the end of the fussy period and get a glimpse of what it will be like when he is happy and content more often. He does have some good days and usually some good times each day. When he smiles it melts my heart and makes things seem so worth it. I just can't wait until there is more of that happening. I keep telling myself that this time will pass and things will get easier. Until then I pray a lot and ask for the strength and energy I need to keep plugging along. Sometimes I feel guilty for complaining because I realize what a blessing it is to be a mother and the love I have for Asa is unlike any love I've ever experienced. My sister-in-law Jackie said it perfectly. She said that kids are "a wonderful trial" but so worth it. I am learning so much every day mostly about myself. I know I am developing patience, endurance, and faith in the Lord's will and timing. I also know that Berkeley and I made the right decision about joining the military, so the struggles I'm facing now must be for my good. Thanks to all of you for being such great friends. Thank you for all the phone calls just to see how we're doing. Thanks for your prayers in our behalf. We love you guys.