Asher E.--A Baby Story

    I promise I won't go into great detail, but I did want to write out my birth experience with Asher.  Okay, so maybe I should share a little about the pregnancy before telling about the birth.  We found out we were pregnant on July 24, 2012.  We were very excited, but also very nervous.  I'm still not sure I ever felt like the pregnancy was real (trust me I know how weird that sounds, but I didn't want to get my hopes up).  I put a call into my doctor and they did a blood test to confirm the pregnancy and check what the hcg levels were at.  They had me repeat the test about a week later to see if they were high enough to do an ultrasound.  At about six weeks I went in for an ultrasound and they said they could see the baby, but that I was not far enough along to see the heartbeat.  The ultrasound was repeated about a week later and I was able to see the sweet little heartbeat, nothing more than a flutter, but to me it was the first checkmark I could make on my mental one.  My mental checklist included things like seeing the heartbeat, hearing the heartbeat, making it to such and such week, then to the next target date, feeling the baby move, and another week milestone.  Other than waiting until the end of my first trimester with my first two, these things didn't even cross my mind.  They were givens.  But I was nervous throughout the whole pregnancy, but very determined that this one would end up like the other two with me going into labor on my due date.  With this pregnancy we opted not to do any prenatal screening.  We just trusted that whatever God had in store we could work through. I had a very easy pregnancy with no complications.  I felt baby move at about sixteen and a half weeks (which gave me reassurance).  We did another ultrasound at twenty weeks and opted not to find out the gender.  Mike and the kids were convinced it was a girl, as was I until the baby started moving.  At 36 weeks I saw my doctor and had a normal appointment.  He did the Group strep B test, listened to the heart, and we joked about how I was willing to hold off until my due date just so that he didn't miss the delivery while he was on his Spring Break trip.  Haha.  Joke was on me.  I went home and had a normal evening and even told the parents of the daycare that it looked like I would go full-term.  Went to bed and woke up at about 3:00 in the morning when Noah came into our bed.  I helped him up and then went to the bathroom.  The trip was a little different.  I went to lay back down, but I couldn't get the story of my friend who was due somewhere around the same time off my mind.  She had a leak in her amniotic sac and was told they would need to deliver.  About 4:30 in the morning I decided to put a call into the doctors office.  When the doctor on-call didn't call back, I put in another call at about 6:30.  My doctor called me back and asked how soon I could get to the hospital.  We dropped Mikayla and Noah off at my sisters and headed for the hospital.  When we arrived at the hospital they tested the fluid and said that it was my water that was leaking.  At this point in time I was not having any contractions.  They hooked me up to the monitor and started a pitocin IV.  I had a great nurse who made sure to move me around and change positions.  Towards the end my contractions were coming so fast that I didn't have much time to recoup.  I finally opted for the epidural and about a half hour after getting it he was born.  I was lucky in that the delivery was pretty easy.  It definitely made for an easy recovery.  Since I was only 36 weeks we were given all the standard speeches about how he might not be able to breath or eat on his own, but our little guy came out perfect and healthy.  We are truly blessed.

Welcome Asher Ethan!

 

What's New

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have posted.  As you might have guessed things have changed since I last blogged.  The biggest change is our new addition.  Asher Ethan was born on March 9.  We are so in love with him and are excited to have him as a part of our family.  I will share in a few posts later some of our obstacles in having him, but for now we are going to leave it that we are in a good place with a very happy baby.  As for Mikayla and Noah they are both thrilled to have a little brother.  Mikayla finished up fall soccer and then went on to play in an indoor league.  As soon as that was done we dove right back into gymnastics at a new location where Mikayla is thriving.  She also completed second grade (guess there is an end of year post due).  Both Mikayla and Noah  had swimming lessons.  Mikayla is now in level 3 and Noah is in level 1.  Noah is looking forward to a summer full of activities.  He graduated preschool and is now set to enter Kindergarten (enter sad face).  Not sure how that is possible.  Hopefully once we set into the summer routine I will be able to post more regularly.  But for now I will leave you with a few pictures of Asher.

Fresh new bundle.

Ready for home.

A big yawn.

Asher and big brother.

Proud big sister and brother.

And Then There Were Clowns

     Remember how I mentioned I love fall because there are so many things to do?  We decided to try something a little new this year.  Thanks in part to our pediatrician (who gave us some tickets), we went to The Night of the Living Farm at one of our local petting farms.  It was a night-time event so I was a little afraid of how the kids would do with it just being dark, but that didn't seem to bother them.  With all the people I became the nervous mom and didn't want to let them out of my sight (smart mom I was, I didn't put any identifying things for the night-time).  So I ruined their fun of playing in the dark on the playground sets.  But we did enjoy a mildly spooky tractor pull ride through a forest, roasting marshmallows, a bit of trick-or-treating, and posing with various characters.  After we had gone on the non-spooky hayride, the kids decided they were up for the spooky one.  We made our way over to it, but the line was not worth waiting in.  But we did go to the spooky barn.  This really should have had some warnings on it.  I was expecting maybe some fog machines with some eery sounds and a few skeletons here and there.  Instead there were teenagers dressed up in clown costumes out to really scare people.  Although I couldn't really tell you they were clowns as I had Noah clinging to my neck as I made a beeline for the exit.  After the whole evening, all both the kids could talk about was the scary clowns.  Note to self...check out anything labelled spooky prior to taking kids.  Thankfully no nightmares, although Noah has sworn off the farm.  We came home, had the kids showered, and finished the evening with a movie.

Noah was very excited to see Darth Vader.

She wanted a picture with Marvin the Martian

This was supposed to be the Red Robin mascot,
 but um yea, we'll just call him a Jayhawk.

Not sure what he was doing with his hand/wing here.

Ciderfest and Pumpkin Patch

     I love fall!  It just seems like there is so much more to get out and do, especially with the kids.  Recently we went to a local cidermill during their fall festival called Ciderfest.  Really the main reason to visit is fresh, warm apple donuts, and fresh hot apple cider.  Ciderfest is probably their busiest time of the year, but the donuts are so worth the wait in line.  We spent a little time looking around at some of the local vendors (and even made a Christmas or Birthday purchase), before heading down the road to a less busy pumpkin patch.  On one of our visits to cider mill a few years ago someone directed us to another local patch.  That year we went a little later in the season and had to venture way out into the patch to get a decent pumpkin, but we still felt it worthwile to venture back.  This time there were plenty of pumpkins to choose from, but I think the kids had more fun riding in the wagon than looking for pumpkins.  Noah was really cute on the way back up to the front to pay.  He had us stop as he got out of the wagon and went up and picked up a pumpkin that was just for him.  It had a little accident as he put it in the wagon, so after Mike paid Noah thought we shouldn't keep it and threw it.  Thankfully it was savageable and Mike and Noah had fun making it into Cowboy Buzz Monster Pumpkin?  Not sure really what it is called, but he was so proud of his work (which now adorns our front stoop).

Kid size maze.

She was trying to build a sand castle.

He decided it would be good idea to bury his figurines in the sand. 
Yea, that was fun sifting through the sand to find them.

Even though they were squished, they both insisted on
sitting in the wagon with the pumpkins.

Hay ride around the patch.

Look at how intensely he is working on this.

His finished product.  The putty hardened overnight and had
 to be removed before being put on display.

Life Goes On...

     O bah dee, O bah dah, Life Goes On...La la la How life goes on...  I just sang that, in my head at least.  Anyway, this fall has definitely proved to be busy.  With both kids and Mike back in school, it seems like we always have something going on.  Our Saturdays are filled with soccer games (which Mikayla is getting pretty good at), and on Sundays we try and fit in anything and everything we couldn't get done during the week.  
     Last weekend I decided to do mini-dates with the kids.  Mikayla had a soccer scrimmage on Friday night and I promised her that after we would attempt to find her a costume.  We stopped and had a quick dinner before we struck out in the costume department at Target (really their selection was bare for anything Mikayla's age).  But just so I wouldn't disappoint her, I agreed that we could stop at Wal-Mart (one of my least favorite places) to see how their selection was.  Thankfully they put the costumes at the front of the store and we were able to find one she liked right away and get out.  She is going to be Hello Kitty (sorry, no photo yet).
     Saturday morning was Noah's turn.  We grabbed some breakfast and were our way.  We had a date with a dog and a Mystery Machine.  Noah was very excited about getting to go and kept asking when he would be able to see Scooby.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I didn't want to wait too long in line since we would still need to make it to Mikayla's soccer game.  We were one of the first people there and to complete their scavenger hunt.  In return for turning in a completed hunt we got two figurines.  Noah would have stayed there all day long right next to Scooby if I would have let him.  But it was cold and I told him we needed to let other kids have a turn too.  He settled for reading books with a stuffed Scooby.

The travelling Mystery Machine.

Scooby.

Shaggy Noah?

He wasn't quite tall enough to be Velma.

And of course there is Daphne.

We stopped by Old Navy on the way home and he insisted on
getting his picture taken as the fireman.

 

First Day of Second Grade

     Today was Mikayla's first day of Second Grade.  I still think both my kids are growing up way too fast.  I love watching them grow up, I just someone would slow down time so they wouldn't do it so fast.  Below are my annual questions for Mikayla.  I enjoy asking these as I like to see how she grows and how likes/interests change over time. 

Height: 46"
Weight: 45 lbs.
Hair Color: dark blond/light brown

Favorite Color: purple & pink

Favorite Book: Fancy Nancy

Favorite Activity: Playing Barbies
Favorite Food: Pizza

Best Friend: Sydney & Flora
Looking forward to most in Second Grade: recess

Olympic Fever

     We definitely have a bit of the Olympic fever at our house.  I wasn't sure how interested the kids would be in the games, but Mikayla has been following right along with all the events.  We started off by watching the opening ceremonies {which was a little slow for the kids}, watch the events each night, and intend on ending it all with the closing ceremony.  Our favorite events are gymnastics, swimming, and diving.  The best part of it all is seeing the kids re-enact the different Olympic sports.  Sometimes it even feels like Olympic Stadium with Mikayla doing her own commentating.  Noah just tries his best to keep up with sister.  They really enjoy pretending their gymanastic superstars, or the next fastest runner.  I just like to sit there and smile as I watch the way they envision it all.  I think we all be sad when it is over.