Buddy Boy

Here's the latest installment of picture of the week.  He's still got a cough, but glad to be home :)

His newest thing is holding and sucking his hands. 

We are now entering the realm of the (very) wet baby hands.

#Eric

Home from the Hospital!

We got to come home from the hospital at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon, exactly 5 days after being admitted.  It sure is nice to be home!  I wanted to share a few more pics though from our time at the hospital that were just too cute not to!


I'm ready to read, dad! 

 
We're so glad that Asher remained pretty happy throughout the duration of our time in the hospital.  But we're absolutely thrilled that we're no longer hooked up to the three cords/tubes and restrained us to moving no more than three feet from his bed!  So much easier to keep him entertained when we can move around!  He's happy to be home.

#Meagan

God's still in the little things

I had a pretty big scare the other night over the loss of my wedding ring.  I realized I didn't have it on when I was running from my car into the hospital on Wednesday night.  It was dark and rainy and I was fumbling for my phone and hurrying to get back to Asher after running home for a quick shower.

I've been wearing it on my pinky since Asher was born, as it just doesn't quite fit yet on my ring finger.  I took a quick glance around but assumed I must have just left it on the bathroom counter at home.  Eric forgot to check for me when he went home that night and I spent all of the next day unable to shake the horrible feeling that it might have fallen off on the sidewalk outside of the hospital. 

When Eric stopped by, I went and looked outside with no success and was even more devastated when it wasn't to be found in its usual spot at home.  I told Eric that if I found a ring outside I would turn it in to the police, he said he would have turned it in to the hospital.  So even though I hoped it was still at home somewhere, we thought it wouldn't hurt to check... and lo and behold, one of the nurses had seen it on the sidewalk coming in for her shift and turned it in to the hospital!  What a gut wrenching, sickening feeling to realize it really had spent the night out on the sidewalk for anyone to find, but what a huge relief that it had been found by someone honest! 

Praise God for answering prayers for the little things. (While a wedding ring has great value, everything is put in perspective when your baby's hooked up to oxygen in the hospital!) It brings me comfort to think how much God must be watching over Asher when he was watching over a little piece of metal and shiny rock that was of value to me.  Anyway, my ring is now securely back around my neck where it hung throughout the duration of my pregnancy.   New motivation to lose those last 10- 15 pounds... I can't wait to get it back on my finger! :)


P.S. Asher continues to improve, is needing less oxygen. less IV fluids, and fewer nebulizer treatments all the time!  We'll be here at least till Saturday or Sunday, though, still.  He has to make it through a whole night without needing oxygen.  Thanks again for all your prayers!

#Meagan

Lots going on!

This past week has been loaded with fun and craziness and I'm not sure I'll have time to cover it all right now, but Asher's contentedly playing in the hospital's swing so I'll do I what I can. We had an awesome trip to Clarinda this past weekend with family.  Asher had a lot of fun playing at Grandma and Grandpa's (Even though he was sick!  Although, you'd hardly know it!)

My home church threw a baby shower for Asher, and, boy, were we blessed! Around 30 people came! It really meant alot to me!

We also spent Monday touring the capitol with my dad (a state legislator in Des Moines, for those of you who don't know). He's decided this will be his last term before moving on to other opportunities so we wanted to get down this spring while we could. Check out some of Eric's awesome photography!

A future legislator, perhaps? :)

But all of those have been overshadowed, of course, by Asher's hospitalization on Tuesday. After being diagnosed with RSV on Saturday, we began treatments at home, but it just wasn't cutting it. I had some concerns that he was getting dehydrated (from not eating well) and breathing harder than he should have been. I made an appointment for him, and the doctor agreed. She recommended that we admit him right away. He has been hooked up to an IV, blood oxygen sensor, and has been put on oxygen. It's not the worst case by any means, but I'm glad we're here so I don't have to be worrying at home. He's improving already, but we may have another night or two in the hospital still ahead of us. Asher still has a great temperment as always, even though he doesn't always feel the best.

We didn't get our picture of the week done this week, so these will have to do.

It's definitely not been how we expected to spend our week, but Eric's been a huge support and his work has been extremely understanding so he's been here to check in on Asher and I more than I could have hoped. The majority of the nurses have been awesome and our pediatrician is great. In some ways, it's nice to be able to just forget about the piles of dishes and laundry at home, not have to worry about cooking or cleaning, and just play with my baby and read while he's sleeping. And it helps that he's still a happy little boy.  I'll get Eric to post some video tonight or tomorrow. 

We really appreciate all your prayers and the kind messages you've sent our way. We'll keep you posted.

#Meagan

Sick

On Thursday Asher developed a bit of a cough.  We didn't think a whole lot of it, but last night it got progressively more mucousy and thick, and today Meagan thought he was running a bit of a fever.  We're in Clarinda, but we called Marshalltown first nurse, and she thought it would be a good idea to take him in to get checked out, which meant a trip to the emergency room.  Once there, they did some tests to check him out.

Tests not seen would be looking into his little ear, listening to his chest, and sticking a swab pretty darn far up his little nose.  Not sure, but there may have been a bit of gray matter on the tip when it came out.  Needless to say, he was not pleased.

The outcome of these inspections/tests is that he not only has an ear infection in each ear, but he also has RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus).  Sooo, he had a nebulizer treatment at the hospital, which we'll continue at home along with saline/suction and antibiotics.  

But even sick he's got a pretty good temperament.  He went to a baby shower this morning, and has been generally happy and chatty for most of the day.  

We'll continue to monitor him, and hopefully he kicks this thing pretty quickly, because it just isn't very fun to be sick.

We'll post more about the weekend and the baby shower later.  Keep Asher in prayer!

#Eric

Gorgeous weather!

Hard to believe we've been having 70-80 degree weather in the middle of March in Iowa, but we're soaking it up without complaint! Asher and I have been getting out everyday this week on walks to get him some fresh air and me some exercise. 

This pic was from Saturday... today I was in shorts and a t-shirt!!!

It's been so warm, that I even put him in shorts today too! I can't get over these pics! :)

We're headed to the grocery store on our walk again today for Eric's corned beef and cabbage.  St. Patty's day kind of snuck up on me!  St. Patrick's day has always been a fun holiday for me to celebrate with green foods, green accessories, and now my husband's addition of corned beef and cabbage, but it's even more fun for us now, because last year, March 17th was the day we found out I was pregnant!  It's crazy and wonderful to think about that tiny little dot on the screen with the racing heart beat being the same person as my happy, strong little boy today. 

And, boy, is he getting strong! We've always known he was strong even when he was still in the belly, and when he was able to hold his head up when he was just a few days old... so this doesn't really surprise me. 

But now we're just waiting for some of the more manual motor skills to pick up... rolling over, putting weight on his arms during tummy time instead of flailing them with his head up at at 90 degree angle... (I'll have to try and capture a pic.) And well you know he just started grabbing toys last week.  But we're not concerned, we think he's working on language first... he jabbers all the time. Constantly cooing, laughing, making noises at about anything and everything.  We love it!

We're looking forward to his 4 month appointment next week to find out his height and weight stats... but at the same time dreading round two of immunizations.  We'll keep you posted!  Get out and enjoy the glorious weather!

#Meagan

Lil' Dude

Sorry we're a bit late on the weekly picture today, it's been busy and we've tried to enjoy the gorgeous weather!  We'll update more in the next couple days.

#Eric

Louisville and Catch up

Well Eric had an 8:00 meeting on a Saturday morning (with church stuff, not work!) and Asher's sound a sleep (for a nap, not still from the night) and well I thought I'd catch everyone up on our lives.  :)

We had an awesome weekend last weekend in Louisville, Kentucky at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference.  I flew with Asher, and he did awesome.  He slept through all the take offs on the way there and ate through the landings, and vice versa on the way home.  No ear problems, hardly any fussing... our biggest drama was him peeing on the changing table in the airport and trying to figure out how to wipe up the giant puddle of pee without leaving him "unattended on the changing table"...  :)  Thankfully our friend and travel partner Disa was there to help!  It's been forever since he's peed with his diaper off!  Many a person in the airport asked if Disa's nine month old son, Gibson, and Asher (now three months) were twins...  more proof that I birthed a giant baby. Can't really blame them though when Gibson only weighs one more pound than Asher!

The conference itself was great!  Great speakers, great worship by Shane and Shane! (one of my absolute faves), great workshops, tons of great info on working with and ministering to teens, great time with Eric away from regular life... what more can I say?  :) It was a huge blessing and we definitely hope we'll get the opportunity to return next year!

In other news, Asher has finally mastered grabbing onto toys and putting them in his mouth... we may come to despise this new skill once he's on the go and putting random objects in his mouth... but for now we celebrate that he's connecting the neurons in his brain.

Also thought I'd share the photos from Eric's playtime with Asher the other night... I think Eric was entertaining himself more than he was entertaining Asher, but the resulting photos and ensuing laughter were well worth it. :) 

Wishing you all a great weekend cherishing both the blessings and the crazy, funny moments that life brings!  Happy Saturday!

#Meagan

Well I survived my first flight with Asher this weekend.  In fact it went great!  I'll write more as I find time tomorrow or the next day because it's getting late and today was a busy day, but I wanted to get the Tuesday pic out while it was still Tuesday.  I just enjoyed this one.  :)  

P.S. Doesn't he have the sweetest profile?

#Meagan