20 months & 16 weeks

This is a tower Trey built mostly by himself

My favorite helper - he was trying to mop the floor this morning while Daddy took a break from mopping

Our little man is 20 months old today. I don't ever want to rush him growing up - I was talking to David today about how in 4 months, Trey will be 2. We both quickly dismissed the thought and decided to talk about something else. We love him so much and love seeing him learn and grow, but there is a certain almost sadness to that too. He is still very much dependent on us, but we can see each day how he is striving for his own independence. He is a pretty compliant little guy, but we do see regular glimpses of how irritated he is when he wants to do whatever he has decided he has wants to do and we interfere with his agenda. It goes something like knees buckling, back arched, head on the ground. It's really quite lovely especially in a public situation. We are praying that we can train him to obey and how to respond to situations even when he doesn't like the outcome simply because it makes Mommy and Daddy happy - or ultimately because it pleases Jesus (something David and I are still learning ourselves). I know he is little and he will have outbursts and get frustrated, but we are still trying to learn to be consistent. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to respond to a temper tantrum? I know there are times when I can walk away and ignore it, but I can't always do that.

Trey loves to swim - he likes to hold on to the sides and walk around the pool

Trey is still not saying a lot of words - but he communicates all the time. I'll ask him where something is, and he will make the sound and voice fluctuations like he is saying "I don't know" but it comes out with no words - just the sounds and tones you might here if he was actually saying it - does that makes any sense at all? We are really working on him using words and learning new words. Some of the words he does say are:

cracker - he pronounces it "cacker"
Trey - "Tay"
banana - "nana"
Dada
Da - (instead of Mama) I know he can say Mama - it was one of his first words but he won't say it now
dog - "dog"
down - "dee?" his voice goes up at the very end into a small squeal
door - "duh"
ball - "bah"
Gigi - "Gee?" his voice goes up at the end into a squeal
brother - "bubber"
book - "boo"
"uh oh"

Trey goes to sleep around 8pm and sleeps until 8 am - he takes his nap around noon for 3 hours. He loves loves loves books - he loves us to read to him but will also sit and look through a book himself. This morning, though, he laid in his crib for 20 minutes looking at a book left in there last night. He was just laying on his back and chattering away to himself. He reaches out his hands to us at mealtime when we pray together - it is so sweet. We want to show him and teach him to be thankful to Jesus for everything that we have. We love this little boy so much and thank God for the blessing of him and of being his parents.

He climbs up in his rocker sometimes and looks through a book

On a pregnancy note, I am 16 weeks now. I am feeling better than I did. Not too much nausea - still tired but probably more from my schedule at work than from pregnancy. I felt 3 sweet little taps coming from inside me today while I was laying down with Trey for a nap - it is so amazing to feel life inside, and I loved feeling the baby move. I'm looking forward to that movement increasing in frequency and strength as the days go on. I have my 16 week checkup tomorrow. I have yet to gain any weight. I've actually lost since I've been pregnant - with Trey, I had already gained 10 pounds at this point.

16 weeks

Our date

All dressed up for our date - this was my first time this pregnancy to wear maternity clothes (15 weeks)

David and I went on a real date - we even had a babysitter. We have not done this since he was born. Well, I take that back. We did go see a movie when he was 6 months old during his afternoon nap - David's parents watched him while he slept but for some reason, it didn't feel too much like a date. We had to rush back home so I could nurse Trey when he woke up. And then there was the time when we went to Old Navy during his nap when he was 6 weeks old. We were up in PA visiting, and my mom watched him. But it didn't feel too much like a date either. But lst night was the real deal. David arranged everything. He called the babysitter - a girl from church that had come highly recommended to us by friends. He made reservations at the Melting Pot and had a coupon for free dessert (a man after my own heart - using coupons). We left our house at 6 - we had fed Trey dinner already. He didn't seem to mind that we left - and I actually was totally okay with leaving him. I didn't even feel the need to check on him - although we did text Ruthy during dinner to make sure he had gone to sleep okay. We had a yummy 4 course meal. Have you ever been to the Melting Pot? It is so much fun - not something we do very often but you pay for the experience alone. We started out with a spinach and artichoke cheeese fondue. They give you bread, tortilla chips, apples, and veggies to dip into the fondue. Next was the salad. The next course was the meat and vegetables. We had filet mignon, salmon, teriyaki chicken, sirloin, and shrimp along with broccoli, mushroom caps, and red potatoes. They bring out the meat raw on a plate and then you take each piece at a time and cook it in the broth pot in the middle of the table. The last course is the chocolate fondue. It is so yummy, but by the time the chocolate came out, I was full, so I just had a couple strawberries and bananas dipped in chocolate. The entire meal takes about 3 hours to complete, and we had great conversation. I even had coffee with my dessert - I haven't wanted to smell or drink coffee for the last 3 months and I have missed my favorite beverage of choice. But last night I tried some, and it actually tasted so good.

This is not what we ordered but gives you an idea of the cheese fondue - ours was a white cheese with spinach, garlic, and artichoke

This is similar to the meat we ate - just didn't have any wine with our meal

Our chocolate fondue was called the Flaming Turtle - it was milk chocolate, with carmel and pecans flambeed tableside - the server is stirring the chocolate and carmel together and then will flambee it

We then went to see "My Sister's Keeper". What I love about David is that he will go do something with me even if it's not really something he wants to do. This movie wouldn't have been his first choice, but after several girls at work telling me they had read the book, I really wanted to see the movie. I really liked it although I started crying about 20 minutes into it which continued til the very end of the movie. I am glad we saw it. Made me really think.

We got home close to 1 am - Trey was sound asleep - I picked him up and rocked him for a few minutes and then went to sleep myself. It was such a fun night. We both really want to make date nights a priority for us - we didn't realize how much we needed a night out to talk and focus on our marriage.


Pregnancy Tickers from WiddlyTinks.com

Our trip to Knoxville

The 3 Ashworth guys - Matt, David, and Stephen

I found Trey climing up and down the keyboard at David's parents house one day

Happy to be visiting his family in TN

I know that my blogging is behind - I will try to catch you up to speed with what has happened in June (just in time for the month to be over).

We were planning on going to Europe in September (more about that later in this post) - because I was taking 2 weeks of vacation in September for that trip, we didn't have a lot of time to make a trip to Knoxville. We are taking the rest of my vacation to go to PA to see my family in July. About every 3 weeks, I get a stretch of 8 days off, so we took a trip to TN on that stretch of time off in June. We flew into Nashville and Matt and Renee picked us up. We spent the night at their new home in Chattanooga. They adore Trey, and he feels the same way about them. They play with him and get down on the floor and laugh with him - it is so fun to see them with him. Renee and I went for a pedicure, and she didn't act at all inconvenienced to drive around and find my continual craving - blueberries. The next day, David's parents drove down to pick us up. Trey was very excited to see them too. It was nice to be back at their home for the remainder of our time there. David's other brother Stephen and his wife Catherine came for the weekend, so we were all together which is always a fun time.

Aunt Renee lovin' on Trey and Uncle Matt looking on - see that cute little rocker Trey is sitting on? His Gigi and Papa (David's parents) got that for their back porch - he loved it

Trey with Gigi and Papa We took this picture very impromptu - very last minute - David's parents, siblings, and wives

We always find a lot of encouragement and support from David's cousin Cindy and her husband Al. They have been some of our number one cheerleaders since before we were married. We always try to get together with them when we are in TN. Their kids love Trey.

Gracie Li, Trey, Harper, and Maggie

David's birthday was on June 15, but I decided to throw him an early surprise birthday party while we were in TN so we could celebrate with his family and some close friends. David's best friend Lee hosted the party at his home, so we arranged to have David believe we were having our old community group all get together for a little bit on Saturday night. We drove over to Lee and Jen's house, and he was surprised to see his family and friends all gathered for his birthday. We grilled out, and we had a really fun time together. At one point in the party, I found Trey heading independently down the wooden basement stairs. I went to get him but spilled my red punch on him in the process, so he ended up at most of the party in just a diaper while his outfit was washed. He didn't seem to mind though. He loved the balloons and even climbed on the table trying to capture them.

Surprise, David!

David and his best friend Lee

Matt and Renee left Sunday, and Stephen and Catherine left early Monday. David had been planning to go overnight to a friend's cabin with his friend Lee and then go whitewater kayaking the next day. He hasn't done that for a couple years and was very excited to go. My friend Jenn had planned to come up from Atlanta and visit us while David was gone. Parker and Trey love each other and have so much fun playing together. We went to the Westtown Mall and let the boys play in the indoor play area. They ran around and squealed as the played in the cars and slid down the slide. It is always good to catch up with Jenn too - and once again, we are pregnant together. I was 10 weeks behind her with Trey but this time I am about 6 weeks ahead of her. It is fun to have someone to share pregnancy with.

Buddies - Parker and Trey

So back to the Europe trip. David's parents took his 2 younger brothers back in 2001. David didn't get to go, and they had promised him that they would take him the next time they went. They decided earlier this year that they would go to Europe this fall. They offered to buy our plane tickets and Eurorail tickets if we wanted to go (which was very generous). We figured the trip would still cost us about $3,500. We have been saving every month toward a future house, and our tax return was about $3,500, so we decided we would use that money toward the Europe trip. But the only problem was we wouldn't have a plane seat for Trey (he can still fly for free because he is under 2) - we would have to hold him on our laps for the entire flight (ever tried to hold an active, almost 2 year old on your lap for 14 hours?). David's parents suggested that we leave Trey with someone, but we didn't want to leave him - we haven't even left him for overnight let alone to leave him for 2 1/2 weeks while we are overseas. I've been struggling with the whole trip idea because I really wanted to go - I REALLY wanted David to go. He felt bad that he missed out on the trip in 2001, and I didn't want him to miss out on this trip. But the more I thought about taking Trey (and holding him for the flight, not having a car seat for him, not having a crib for him in some places, etc.), the more nonappealing the trip sounded to me. Don't get me wrong - I think Trey travels really well. He adjusts well to new surroundings, but we would be travelling to 4 countries in 2 weeks with train rides in between each country lasting up to 8 hours. I talked to David about going to Europe without me - he was pretty adamantly against that. I totally appreciate that, but I also knew this trip meant a lot to him. I wanted him to have this time with his parents. Plus, if just David goes, they said they would pay for the entire trip (just like they did for his brothers). So, he reluctantly decided to go without me and Trey. I am still a little sad when I think about it - I was really excited about getting to experience all this with him, but I am also very happy he is getting to go. I just think that in life there are seasons. This is a season where Trey needs me - much more than I need to travel abroad. I will have time later to travel when the demands of having little ones aren't so pressing. But for now, he needs me, and I am happy to be home with him. I wouldn't trade this time in my life for anything. I don't feel deprived or like I'm giving up anything - I feel blessed to have this sweet little boy at my feet. I am really excited for this time for David too - I know he will miss us, but I pray this trip will be a wonderful time together for him and his parents.