Mobile

Some children learn how to crawl or even walk pretty early.  My little man has figured out a different way to get around.  He's very mobile this way!  He rolls over, scoots, maneuvers, and does this little hip thrust thing.  It's really weird and he usually does blow spit bubbles the whole time he does it.  Enjoy this little bit of entertainment!

Going's on...

I've decided that I am one of those annoying parents that just LOVES to talk about my babe!  I am usually pretty reserved and don't have much that I like to share, but I can talk all day long about my little man.  He really is such a bright spot in our lives!  But first, my other man had something pretty cool happen this last week.  On thursday he got an email saying that a guest artist was coming to perform here at BYU-I and they needed a small orchestra.  Apparently a lot of their cellists bailed and so they asked David if he would join.  And the concert would be Friday.  As in he had 24 hours notice.  It wasn't a huge deal because usually pop music like that (the artist was a pianist, William Joseph) isn't too difficult.  But David could only make it to the sound check before the concert.  When he got home from the sound check, he said "So...I kind of have 2 solo's..."  I was super excited and kind of bummed I couldn't go!  But my mom graciously offered to babysit for us on such short notice and I was able to attend.  While we were driving over there David started getting nervous, which was weird because he usually doesn't care about pop music concerts because they're so easy.  But he pointed out to me that it would only be his second time playing the music and didn't feel quite prepared...  But anyways, he did AWESOME!  I missed the beginning of Amazing Grace where David was playing all by himself, but I got the end where William Joseph, the violinist he brought with him, and David are all playing.  The second piece is an original.  And I had a seat in the nosebleed section (because it was a comp ticket, which are usually bad seats) so I was recording the big screen so the video is crap but the audio is pretty good.  But here you go!  It was even better live!  And I did take a picture of David on the big screen.  I was just excited to see him up there!  He's famous!

 

 

And now here are some pictures of my beautiful babe!

You don't even know how much this boy loves bath time!

My boys

He's a happy boy!

Asher had been smacking his lips all day.  David started doing it back to him and he started laughing so hard!  You can see him trying to do it in the middle of the video, but he's so excited and laughing so hard it doesn't really work!

David's Recital and more of Asher at 6 months

This month has been quite the doozy.  The month started off busy with rehearsal for the Idaho Falls Symphony.  Our "Red Dress" concert (red to represent heart health awareness) was so much fun with the mariachi band come as our guest artists!  They were such a fun group of people and the music was so different from what we normally play and very entertaining. 

Also at the beginning of this month, I found out that my sister is about half way along with her pregnancy!  I was apparently the last one to find out, but David and I are both very happy for her.  She has one little boy already and he really needs a play-mate so it will be an exciting adventure for her.  She finds out in about 2 weeks if it's a boy or a girl.  It will probably be a boy because apparently us Mitchell's can't grow girls!

One really exciting thing that happened was David's senior recital!  People are always confused about David's school status and ask why he did his senior recital now even though he graduated.  What happened was he decided too late he wanted to do music education and the school wouldn't let him stay around to finish up that degree because he had too many credits.  So he had to graduate and now he's a non-tradition (or non-matriculating or non-degree seeking) student.  He's just working on his certification to teach in public schools.  He'll do his student teaching this fall.  Anyways, his recital was amazing!  He's been working on the music since last summer and even won the concerto competition at the college with one of his pieces!  I'm so proud of all the work he puts into his music.  He asked me once if I was ok with him being a musician (because he was worried I'd be put out by being poor the rest of our lives).  The first thing I said was that I graduated in art so I obviously had no plans to be rich!  The second was that I can see how much he loves music.  And I'd rather he do something he loves than be rich and have him hate going to work every day.  He told me that when he was in high school he would practice his cello for hours just because he loved it so much.  And his cello professor here at the college said that he was so impressed with how far David had come.  When David first came to the school, he just showed up wanting to be a music major.  He wasn't on scholarship and none of the professors knew who he was.  When he showed up to his first lesson, Brother Tueller (his cello professor) asked him if he had taken any lessons.  David said he'd had a few lessons from his stand partner in high school and I'm sure Brother Tueller was horrified to hear that!  But he said that David had so much raw talent that he just took off.  He even said that if David had had consistent training and lessons when he was younger he could've gotten into a very good music school.  He also said he still could, but he'd have to really buckle down and basically live in the practice rooms so I am not the biggest advocate of that route...He even made it to the final round of the concerto competition when he was a freshman!  We have a DVD of that around here somewhere, I'll have to see if I can find it and put it on here.  He looks so young!  Anyways, David's family made it up here to see him play and we loved having them!  Brittany, who is married to David's brother Brian, recorded most of it and you can watch it on her blog here:

http://brittanyfisher5.blogspot.com/2014/02/weekend-in-rexburg.html

Now on to Asher.  My babe is 6 months old!  It's gone by semi-fast, but the first 3 months felt like they lasted about 7 years.  I guess that happens when your baby cries any time he's awake...but he is such a joy now!  He is so happy and fun.  Here are a few things about my bubba (that's what David always calls him)

-He's 17.5 lbs (46th percentile) and 28.5 inches tall (96th percentile!)  The doctor called him "lanky"
-He loves to smile and laugh!  And he now has 2 teeth on the bottom that peek out every time he does.
-He rolls and scoots all over the place.  It surprised me how mobile he got so soon!
-He loves bath time.  He rolls around in the tub, drinks the water, and blows bubbles in the water whenever he can.
-And speaking of blowing bubbles, he loves to blow bubbles when I give him a drink out of a cup.  He likes drinking out of cups and gets really excited whenever I'm holding him and get a drink for myself so I have to share and give him a drink too.  It usually ends up with both of us getting very wet, but he loves it and can't get enough!
-He has very fat feet.  And he always rubs his feet together.  So socks don't stay on very well and I don't even try to squeeze shoes onto his feet!  My mom says all her babies had fat feet so we couldn't wear shoes either.
-His hair is coming in nice and thick - I love to rub it!
-Because he's so tall he has to wear at least 9 months clothes, but most of what he wears is 12 month.

He's so fun to be around (most of the time) and we have a lot of fun being his parents.  Here's a look at the last 6 months!

1 day old and already love him so much!

David loved being a Dad from the beginning.  They're buddies.

2 months old.  He still sleeps like this.

3 months old and starting to smile a lot!  That goofy grin makes me so happy!

4 months old.  My sister wanted me to give him a Mohawk.  It doesn't work for him because of his cowlick he has right in front.  Yay for missionary comb-over forever!

This is his motto.  He eats like crazy.

5 months old - we had to buy him this because we were having sub-zero temperatures for about a week!  David and the rest of my family call this his "blue nightmare" suit because it looks like the bunny suit from A Christmas Story.

6 months!  They love to play, especially on our bed.



My sister gave me a sucker.  I gave it to Asher.  He was concentrating so hard on eating it and had a hard time getting it into his mouth!  It didn't help that it kept getting stuck on his arm, chest, etc.  But he loved it!



Here's a comparison from my 6 month picture and Asher's.  I would put David's up here if I had it.
I sure do love my little boy!  He makes me so happy and I can't help but give him a million kisses and hugs every day.  I'll leave you with a video of my funny little guy.

My Baby is 6 Months Old!!!

My little boy is growing up!  He is now 6 months old and figuring life out so fast.  I sure do love him so much.  He makes me so happy!  Here are some things I want to remember about him:

-He rolls all over the place!  It's amazing how fast he went from first learning to roll to being able to get wherever he wants to go!  Well, almost wherever.  He can only roll one way so when he hits a wall he is usually stuck.  In fact, if he rolls in his sleep, he'll get stuck on his stomach when he runs into the side and will scream until we put him on his back again.  Here's a picture of when I was watching him at my mom's house.  I put him on the play mat.  Where's Waldo???

-He is a very happy boy.  He will usually smile and laugh if you talk to him.  Even when he's not feeling well (like when he's teething), he'll try to laugh and smile in between cries!  He really wants to be in a good mood!  I love his little smile.  He's such a cutie!

-He loves people.  And cuddling.  And getting attention.  He doesn't mind being held by other people, just as long as he's getting all three of those things!  I love being able to cuddle with him. 

-He has one tooth!  And more on the way!  I think that was the first real sign to me that he's growing into a real person and that he won't be a baby forever.  I think it feels weird for him because he's always sticking his tongue out feeling that little tooth.

-He loves to play with his Daddy.  Probably because Dad throws him around a little more and is a lot more goofy.  David can get him screaming and laughing so hard!  And it makes me laugh really hard watching them play.

Here are some pictures of the last little while.  It sure is fun being a Mom to my little Asher!

He's such a cutie pie!

 

David loves getting his picture taken!  He was giving Asher something to chew on.  Those dang teeth don't feel good!

Their favorite place to play is on our bed.

I just love that big belly laugh!

My Name is Asher Lev - Part 2

Here are a few more insights I gained from reading My Name is Asher Lev:

"We studied the meaning of the verse in Proverbs 'The candle of God is the soul of man.'  The souls of Jews are like the flame of a candle, the mashpia said.  The flame burns upward; it seeks to be parted from the wick in order to unite with its source above, in the universal element of fire.  Similarly, the soul of the Jew yearns to separate itself and depart from the body in order to unite with the Master of the Universe."  I liked this imagery because it showed to me how much our souls want to be with our Heavenly Father.  We have to get past the "natural man", but once we do that, we won't be held back by our bodies and we can better communicate and share our lives with Him.  I saw a poem recently about babies and part of the reason they cry is because they miss being with our Heavenly Father.  It made me tear up because I don't want my little boy to be sad.  I want him to be happy.  But it's partly up to me to make sure that he lives worthy of being able to return back to His presence.

"There are two ways of painting the world...One is the way of Greece and Africa, which sees the world as a geometric design.  The other is the way of Persia and India and China, which sees the world as a flower."  This isn't really a gospel insight, more of an art insight.  I've never thought about things like that before, but it is very true!

 "I remember that the first time I saw the Michelangelo Pieta...I was an observant Jew, yet that block of stone moved through me like a cry, like the call of seagulls over morning surf..."  The picture below is the Pieta that Chaim Potok is referring too.  It is also called The Deposition.  The figures are Jesus in the center being held my the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene with either Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea standing behind.  I hope that I can see works of art like this and have it affect me as much.  The grief and pain that is showed in Jesus' face affect Asher Lev so much that, even though he is Jewish, he uses the crucifix in his greatest paintings later on.

"An observant Jew working on a crucifixion because there was no aesthetic mold in his own religious tradition into which he could pour a painting of ultimate anguish and torment."  Jewish people do not use the cross to remember Christ.  In fact, they view Christ as a man with good intentions, but someone who brought many, many years of pain and suffering to the Jewish people.  In the book, Asher uses the cross to show the pain his mother felt when she had to stand between her husband and son.  The reason this touched me so much is because it helped me realize the pain and suffering Jesus went through.  So much so that in other cultures, they don't have a symbol that even comes close to showing the torment that our crucifixion does.  It makes the Atonement that much more special to me.  To realize that Christ went through so much because He loves us.  He wants us to be able to make up for our mistakes.


This is the painting the author of the book, Chaim Potok, made.  This is what he imagined "Brooklyn Crucifixion" to be.
 



My Name is Asher Lev

About 10 years ago I read a book called "My Name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok.  This book is where I got the name for my little boy (although some people think I got his name from one of the tribes of Israel).  If you've ever read it, you might think it's a weird book for me to get a name from.  The story is very sad, but I love the way it's written.  It's about a Jewish boy who becomes a great artist.  His father works for the Rebbe (Rabbi) and wants his son, Asher, to do away with the foolishness of trying to become an artist and instead work for the Rebbe just as he does.  Asher becomes a great artist and it causes quite a rift in their family.  I think the reason I like it so much is because of how much passion Asher shows for his art.  I love all the fine arts and I think that, outside of the artist community, art is greatly overlooked and needs to be fought for more.  While I was reading this book, I found so many great gospel insights.

I had a religion teacher that liked to point out the similarities between the LDS faith and the Jewish faith.  I love hearing about the Jewish people because it helps me understand our way of life even more.  Here are some of the insights I gained from this book:

-"Any man who has caused a single Jewish soul to perish, the Torah considers it as if he had caused a whole world to perish; and any man who has saved a Jewish soul, it is as if he had saved a whole world."  I loved this because it helps me to understand why God considers murder such a horrible offense.  There are many reasons, I know, but this one I really appreciate.  You are taking away the chance for that person to give spirits a mortal body.  These spirits may come through someone else, but you are taking away that chance.  You aren't just affecting one person, you're affection many generations.

-"May Michael be at my right hand; Gabriel at my left; before me, Uriel; behind me Raphael; and above my head the divine presence of God."  This is a prayer that is to be said each night before bed.  Sometimes I think we forget that we can ask for help, and that we should always ask that the presence of God be with us.  If we know we are protected by angels and God, we wouldn't have any fear.  It's comforting to me to think that we are protected on all sides against the evils of the world, if only we seek and are worthy of the presence of our Heavenly Father.

-"A tremulous crescendo of sound began to fill the synagogue.  Men swayed fervently back and forth.  Arms gesticulated toward the veiling and walls."  My religion teacher told us that when Jewish men pray, they but their entire bodies into it.  They sway and rock in order to focus all of their energy and thoughts on their prayer.  They commit themselves completely to communing with God.  Sometimes I think it's much to easy to get distracted during prayers.  Your mind wanders and you lose your concentration.  I like the idea of what these Jewish men do, it helps me realize that I could put so much more into my prayers.

-"Someone once asked how it is possible to establish a connection between man and the Master of the Universe.  The answer was that man must take the first step.  In order for there to be a connection between man and the Master of the Universe, there must fist be an opening, a passageway, even a passageway as small as the eye of a needle.  But man must make the opening by himself; man must take the beginning step.  Then the Master of the Universe will move in, as it were, and widen the passageway."  I love this analogy.  It tells me that as long as we create a crack, a hole, some kind of break in our minds to allow Heavenly Father to communicate with us, He will take that opening and expand it as far as we will let Him.  He wants to be with us and wants to share everything that He has with us.  All we have to do is take that first step towards Him.

I'll end with this last one.  I'll probably do another post with more from this book.  But here is one that I thought was sweet:
"Is it dead, Papa?" (a bird they saw near their house)
"Yes," I heard him say in a sad distant way.
"Why did it die?"
"Everything that lives must die."
....
"Why?" I asked.
"That's the way the Ribbono Shel Olom made the world, Asher."
"Why?"
"So life would be precious, Asher.  Something that is yours forever is never precious."
I don't agree that if something is yours forever it isn't precious, but I do think we appreciate things more if we know we won't have them for long.  The reason I loved that quote so much is because it reminds me that life is precious.  David and I have been having a little bit of a rough time with school and work and basically the day to day struggles of life, and it's too easy to get caught up in it.  When I start getting overwhelmed and want to sit down and cry, it's usually then that I really look at Asher and realize that no matter how hard things are, I have this precious little boy that I love with all my heart.  And he doesn't care that we don't have money.  He doesn't care that we can't buy him all sorts of fun toys and fancy clothes.  He just wants us to play with him and care for him.  And I can do that.  It changes my whole perspective and makes me so happy that I have him.

Little Insights

You may or may not know that I am a little bit of a bookworm.  I love to read!  I love science fiction, fantasy, young adult, self help books, mystery, classics, and so much more!  Recently, I've noticed that books that I read often help me understand the gospel better.  I don't know if books always have that in them, or it's just been the books I've been reading recently, but I've found things that give me that "a-ha" moment.  They may not seem like such great insights to you, but I liked them.  Here are a few from the book I just finished, "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown.

Dan Brown does bring in a lot of religion in his books, so it's no wonder that he happens to mention Christianity in this one.  One passage is talking about the entanglement theory, the theory that says particles behave in such a way that they appear to be connected to each other.  That idea of being connected with other beings in the universe is at the core of many religions.  A quote from the book says "man's oldest spiritual quest was to perceive his own entanglement, to sense his own interconnection with all things.  He has always wanted to become 'one' with the universe...to achieve the state of 'at-one-ment.'"  I've never thought about the Atonement like that.  The Atonement is a chance for us to become one with God, to want the peace and love that He wants for all His children.  It helps me realize what we are doing here one earth.

Another quote from the book breaks down the word sacrifice.  It's origin is from the words "sacra" which means sacred and "face" with mean make.  To make something sacred.  I didn't find that those words were the origin of the word sacrifice in my short search, but it does make you look at sacrifice differently.  We talk about sacrifice when we say we sacrifice our time or our money or countless other things.  To me, thinking that I am making myself more sacred and closer to God is a much better way to think of sacrifice than to think that I'm merely giving up what I want.  It helps me to have a better attitude about what I am doing.

The last insight I have to share is about something that scares many people: the apocalypse.  We all think of it as some great battle where the world will be torn apart and we'll have to make our final choice between good and evil.  But the meaning of the word "apocalypse" is very different.  It's Greek for a disclosure of knowledge or a lifting of the veil or a revelation.  A quote from the book says "The Apocalypse is literally a reveal-ation.  The Book of Reveal-ation in the Bible predicts an unveiling of great truth and unimaginable wisdom."  To think that I have thought about that completely wrong all these years!  There will be a lot of destruction, I'm sure, but that isn't what we should focus on.  I think of it like a house.  If you have a house that is broken down, the best thing to do is to tear it apart, spread a little destruction, and then you can build something infinitely better in it's place.  That's what Christ will do.  He will give us many great truths that will change everything.  It comforts me to think of it like that instead of a horrible battle.

Those are the main insights I gained from that book.  These are some personal insights that I gained that may be a little off or not strike a chord with you, but they helped me understand some things in the gospel just a little bit better.  I have another book I'd like to share some other insights from, but that will have to be for next time!  Hopefully this helped you, even if it just got you thinking about the gospel a little bit more. :)

Videos of my funny guy

Asher has been such a goof this last week.  He has been pretty fussy because he has a tooth that is threatening to come down, but he's also busy exploring his new body!  He found his ears and pulls on them constantly.  He is also figuring out the ranges of his voice.  Here are some videos of what we've got to listen to the last 3 days (and these videos are two different days...)





I've also been trying to get him to use the jumper that my mom let us borrow.  He's not really good at it.  He will stand there and likes to look around, and he likes it if you pick the top up and swing him!  Today he decided he just wanted to walk drunkenly around in a circle.  By the time I took this video, he had wound the cord around so much that it was getting hard for him to keep walking in the direction!  He thought it was fun when I picked his legs up and unwound him.



He also has figured out how to get his legs under him when he's on his tummy.  He's pretty proficient at rolling over, now he's working on crawling!  Hopefully in the next couple of months he'll get that down!  I'll leave you with a few pictures!

This was when he was laying on his back, and rolled over while holding on to the blanket.  He got mad about 2 seconds after I took this picture because his hands were stuck!

 

Noises

Today I was driving around with Asher in the back in his carseat.  I started hearing a weird noise and it took me awhile to figure out what it was.  I finally figured it out.  Asher is figuring out he can make mouth noises!  It's pretty funny!  He is a delicate child.

What a Year!

It has been quite a crazy year.  I'd say by far the biggest change has been the addition of Asher into our family.  He's such a fun, crazy little guy!  He'll be 5 months old in about a week so I thought I'd give an update of all the fun (and not so fun) things he does!

-He is learning to use his voice a lot more.  He'll try to babble a lot especially if you're talking to him (or he hears the TV or you're talking to someone else)
-He LOVES it when people talk to him!  He'll usually smile and giggle and be adorable when you do.
-He can now roll from stomach to back, and more recently from back to stomach!  I don't think it will be long before he's crawling and moving around all on his own. 
-He's a kicker.  If you put him on the ground he'll kick his legs almost the whole time.  And he also rubs his feet together so any socks I try to put on him come off in about 20 minutes.
-He's getting very ticklish!  Especially on his feet/stomach/legs.  Changing him is a lot more fun because it usually turns into tickle time.
-He still doesn't sleep incredibly well at night, but things are getting better.  We're now up to about 6 hours at night!  Someday we might even make it to 12 just like his cousin!
-He now has to wear 12 month pajamas.  And 9 month onesies.  He's built like his mom and grandpa, long body but short legs!
-He loves eating oatmeal.  And bananas.  And everything else you give to him!  He eats a lot.  But he has to to keep up with that growing body!  At his last appointment, he was 94th percentile for height.  And I think the next appointment will be about the same!  Asher is the same size as his cousin who is 6 months older than him.
-Asher is a thumb sucker, which isn't surprising because it's in his genes.  Both mom and grandma were pretty good at that too!  It's going to be awful to try to break him of that habit when he's older, but it's so cute now!

Things are so fun with him, and he is growing up so fast!  I remember when he was 2 months old (and very colic-y) that someone told me that I should treasure this time because he will grow up so fast.  I thought then, and I still think now, that at that point she was crazy (I didn't enjoy the 8 hours of crying every day).  But I see what she meant now!  He really is growing up so fast and it's so fun to watch him explore his world!

As for David and I, we are just going along.  David will begin school again next week and I'll still be working.  Not too much changes for us.  Here are some pictures of the last little while!  I'm sure I'll add more later!

We needed something to dress him in for our freezing cold winters!  My sister calls him the "Blue Nightmare" (from A Christmas Story!  Although that was pink.)

I thought he looked so cute in his church clothes!

 

I don't know.  It was David's doing.

 

I made this hat a couple of years ago.  I was so happy when it actually fit him!

He was more interested in the shiny ornaments than Santa.

I love our family!

As a last note, I would like to put a link to my sister's adoption profile.  Her and her husband would love to add a new little baby to their family!  Please share this with anyone and everyone! 

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/28312466/ourMessage.jsf