Asher's One Year Check Up

Asher and Pop

Sitting on the scale

This year has been so full and so busy I can hardly believe my Asher is already One. It has passed so quickly and so slowly. Someone said: The days are long but the years are short. And I can't help but nod my nostalgic agreement with that truth.

When you have a treasured child, a blessing and a bright shining light of youth and newness and exuberance to fill your days, the days take forever to pass - as an adult your energy is substantially less than your child's, a fact that is sometimes painfully apparent as you are running fumes by the end of the day - but the years you share with them speed by before you even realize it.



Waiting for the Dr

Every day with Asher this past year has been long and full and often tiring. But once his first birthday rolled around, I found myself awed at how quickly it seemed to have arrived. After all those long days and often sleepless nights; after the sickness, growth spurts and teething; the laughter and belly flubs and bedtime cuddles, new words and books read together ... he was suddenly One. He was suddenly my Toddler. My little baby boy was transforming second by minute by day. Some mornings he would wake up and I'd walk into his room and see him standing in his crib waiting for me, or sitting and playing with his Cuddly bear and he'd look up and beam and coo and reach for me and I'd realize he looked different. His soft little blue-eyed face had changed overnight.

Those fleeting moments pop up so often as you realize your new baby is a growing, dynamic little person and you can't do anything about it. You love it and it kills you at the same time. It's that mama hurt ... all of a sudden everything hurts just a little bit more, everything means just a little bit more and time passes just a little bit faster.

Before I knew it, I was taking Asher to his one year check up. We had breezed through his newborn appointment, a 2 month appointment when he was sick and I was *that* mom, certain he had something worse than his first of many colds to come; we got through his 3, 6 and 9 month check ups with ease ... he had all his shots and did so well. And then his 12 month check up arrived. He didn't love the shots so much.



Me and my Asher

 Of course he always cried a little whenever he got his shots, but this time it seemed worse. He was NOT pleased and right after that first shot (one of THREE), he started howling. And as a mom, you feel like a jerk holding your child's arms down so they can't get away. Please, just give ME the shots! Poor kid has no idea what the heck is going on and just knows it hurts. He can't know that it hurts my mama heart even more. As soon as the shots were administered I scooped him up and gave him some comfort and cuddles and he calmed down pretty quickly. I'm glad we are done with shots for a while.

Asher's One Year Stats

Height: 32 inches (97th percentile)

Weight: 26 pounds, 6 ounces (95th percentile)

Head Circ: 46 cm (97th percentile)