we are here

Asher and I have been in Cary for a few days now and are adjusting well. It is really a beautiful place. There are trees every where and it is taking me a minute to get use to that. Especially since they block your view of everything so you often don't know you are at where you wanted to be at until you have already passed it. The u-turn is my friend.

We had a few hiccups getting here. My mom, Asher and I flew in Saturday morning. I called Quinn to get an update on how far he and my dad were in their drive. Not far. The transmission in the truck blew about 30 minutes outside of Dallas. After much debate, they decided to leave the truck to get fixed the following week and press on together in the other car. There were really no good options and at least this way they were together and no one had to drive alone and Quinn didn't miss work and my Dad didn't miss spending time with the family (Danny, Stacey & Jax had come down from VA). Quinn will fly back to Dallas tomorrow and do the drive all over again. Thankfully, his Mom has graciously agreed to join him. I just hate the thought of anyone driving long distances by themselves. I'm just a worrier that way so this definitely puts my mind at ease.

We have already seen quite a bit of NC. We drove about 2 hours to Carolina Beach one day. It was a lot of fun. I spent most of my time under the umbrella with Asher. I did walk along the beach for about 15 minutes and came back with a nice sunburn on one arm.

We toured several college campuses...NC State, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. We got an early start for Asher :)Future Blue Devil??

We drove out to see the Raleigh temple. It was raining so I didn't actually get out of the car so no pics of that.

All in all it has been a great start to our new life here. I am still having such a hard time believing that this is where I live now.

moving day

for heather

It finally fits!

4 months

Asher is now 4 months old. Where has the time gone? I can't believe he is already that old.


Asher is joy during the day...not so much at night :)

He now weighs probably close to 17 pounds. He is HUGE! He laughs all the time. He loves to play with toys and grabs at everything, including my hair. He loves his hands and feet and is constantly trying to suck on them. Just in the last two days he has mastered rolling over--both tummy to back and back to tummy. He had mastered sleeping in the crib and sleeping all night but our trip to Virginia has set him back a bit. I am seeing progress everyday but I'm sure it will all be undone with the move this weekend. Oh well, we will get there eventually.

I'm excited for the upcoming months to see how he further grows and develops.!

time of his life

I'm pretty sure Quinn is having the time of his life. Every time I speak to him on the phone he just raves about his new job. It is so exciting to hear about him interacting professionally with people he has looked up to for so long.

Quinn arrived safely in Cary, NC on Tuesday morning. There was a small snafu when he got to our temporary apartment and it was only a one bedroom. The company is switching him to a two bedroom on Friday just in time for Asher and I to get there. Other than that, everything has gone smoothly.

This single parent thing is hard. I've realized how lucky I've been to have Quinn home the last few months. It's only been three days but I miss having someone else around to help out with Asher. I really missed Quinn last night when Asher was awake from 2 am to 3 am. Thank goodness my Mom agreed to come and help out while I do moving related tasks. I can't wait for her to get here on Monday so I can have a little adult company.

Family Reunion 2009

We got back Sunday night from the DelHoyo family reunion in Lake Anna, VA. We had such a great time. It was so nice to be with all of the DelHoyo family. I got to finally meet the people in the family I had yet to meet since being married to Quinn and everyone got to meet Asher. For a better recap and more pictures you can visit my sister-in-law Cara's blog here and here. For now I'm going to stick to chronicling Asher's reunion.

Here he is on his first airplane ride. He was so good and I had suffered such anxiety over it but it was all for not.

He got to meet his cousins--Miley (3 months), Chloe (10 mos) and then Asher (4 mos) and yes I am aware he is the biggest one.

He got decked out in his swim attire and headed to the lake.

More lakeside fun for Asher who spent his time in the shade with Mom.

Dad dipped his toes in the water. He didn't like it very much.

He enjoyed sitting out on the deck with Mom but not for too long because Mom kept getting bit by mosquitoes.

He discovered he can suck on his toes.

He visited the beach again with the family.

And he was much more alert on the ride home.

bright and early

Bright and early tomorrow morning we are getting on a plane for Virginia to go to Lake Anna and stay here and spend a week with Quinn's family. I'm so excited but also nervous for Asher's first plane ride. He has been known to cry for long periods of time for no particular reason (at least as far as I can tell). I'm really hoping that doesn't happen tomorrow. Luckily, I checked seats this afternoon and the entire back of the plane is empty so I'm hoping we won't disturb too many people.

I'll catch up next week when we get back!

my new pastime

I've been messing around in Photoshop. I really want to take a class some day soon as well as some sort of basic photography class so i can take better pictures of Asher. This is what I created today.

Before:


After:

we aren't the only ones leaving

While we were finding out we were moving to North Carolina, Danny & Stacey decided to take advantage of an opportunity and spend the rest of the summer in Manassas, VA. Last night we took advantage of them still being in town and had them watch Asher while Quinn and I went and saw Transformers 2. Let me just say that that movie is so hideously awful. Also, tonight we met them for ice cream to say our Texas goodbye. Stacey and Jax leave tomorrow for the Arnett family reunion in Utah and Danny will drive out to Virginia. We aren't too sad about this as them being in VA for the rest of the summer puts them much closer to us once we get to NC.

Here are a few pics from our ice cream goodbye party.


In other news, my sister Dana is currently in the hospital in labor and I'm getting super excited to see pics of my newest nephew.

celebrations

We are enjoying a nice celebratory weekend. Friday night our friends Sterling and KC came over to get some Asher face time before we leave. Saturday we went to Buca di Beppo with Danny, Stacey and Jax for a dinner celebrating Quinn's new job. I took my camera but totally spaced taking pictures. Saturday was also Asher's three month birthday. He is getting bigger every day. It has been so fun watching him grow and discover the world around him. Today we are celebrating Quinn's first Father's Day.

I made him a dinner of chicken piccata, parmesan garlic rosemary roasted potatoes and zucchini. I bought him and Asher a mini mango cheesecake also for both of their milestones.


Asher couldn't wait to try it.

we are moving

Here:
Quinn has accepted his dream job in Cary (just outside of Raleigh), NC. I'm so happy for him and so proud of how hard he has worked. Working at his new game studio will really be a dream come true for him. It is one of the premiere studios in the country. I won't be saying the name of it on the blog because I don't want our blog to come up in any internet searches.

We are sad to leave Texas but are excited for the road ahead.

Also, thank you for everyone who prayed on our behalf. We are very grateful!

sunday and dance party 2

We had a great Sunday. I spoke in church (not so fun) but Danny, Stacey and Jax came and heard me speak which made it more fun. After church Stacey brought over most of the dinner and we ate. We spent the rest of the day playing games. I think we played games from about 2 pm until 11 pm. We played some Wii Golf, lots of Wii Smarty Pants, Disney Scene It and regular Scene It. We had so much fun. It is so nice to live by family even if it is only temporarily.

I've mentioned before how much Asher loves music. We can sit with him on our laps for quite a while and be at the lap top as long as there is music playing. I found Quinn and Asher doing this today and just had to get it on video.

12 weeks

This is what I woke up to today on Asher's 12 week birthday.


Asher woke up around 7:15 this morning. After feeding, I put him back in his swing in hopes he would fall back asleep because I was still pretty tired. Well, he didn't but I did. I woke up about 2 hours later and neither Quinn nor Asher were in the room. So I went out to the living room and found Asher like he was above. Quinn had bathed him and put him down for his first nap of the day. So he was so happy and content just hanging in his chair waiting for his mommy to wake up.


Isn't he adorable?

good morning

Asher has turned into a sleeping machine. He sleeps from 8 to 8 now every night with only one night feeding usually around 3 or 4 am. I love it!

This morning he was so happy to be awake. He was going crazy with the talking. Of course, as soon as I turn the camera on he quiets right down and gets distracted by the camera in his face so this is the best I could do.

Enjoy!

learning

I'm already learning a lot from my new book (see the side bar to the right). With just a few pages read, I've learned that little Asher is probably over-tired (hence why he is SO cranky at night). So yesterday he took 3 good naps and was fast asleep by 8:15 pm and slept until 7 am with only one feeding at 2 am. Granted most (ok all) of this sleeping was done in the swing but it was sleeping nonetheless.

For about two 1/2 days he did so wonderfully in the crib. Went down without a peep. Now he screams absolute bloody murder the second I put him in it. So I'm going to finish reading my book to learn more skills and try again.

two months

Asher had his two month check up today. He is a big growing boy. Here are his latest stats:

Height: 24 inches--75 percentile
Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz--80 percentile
Head: 16 1/4 inches--75 percentile

The doctor said he is an awesome baby and very healthy. They gave Asher three shots. The doctor had said the nurse was really fast at giving the shots. She was like a shot giving ninja. I turned away for a second and heard Asher start to cry and she was already on the third shot. Asher screamed really loud and Quinn teared up just a bit. It was cute (Quinn, not Asher screaming bloody murder).

Today also starts Operation Sleeping In Crib. I told myself I would give him until two months and then I would start training him to sleep in his crib. I hope it goes well. He is napping in his crib right now. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

At two months old Asher coos and smiles all the time. He has discovered his tongue. He snorts when he gets frustrated. He has started sucking on his fist. He has started to sleep about 4 to 5 hours at a time (finally!). He still is a bit of a cat-napper but has started taking one long nap in the morning (heaven!). Asher loves music. He loves to be sung to. Sometimes when he is a little bit fussy I'll sit him on my lap in front of the computer and spin the hits on YouTube. He loves Leonna Lewis and Westlife (obviously). He has a mind of his own. He knows when he has a wet or messy diaper and lets it be known. He doesn't like to be left alone in a room, he wants to be in the action. He likes sitting face forward on your lap to watch the fun colors on the TV. He loves his bath and is all around absolutely adorable.

In honor of our new efforts to get him sleeping in his crib, here are some pics of the various locations in which he currently sleeps or naps.

dance party

This is what my boys were up to yesterday while I was in a drug-induced sleep.

one crazy and eventful week

Poor Quinn, in the span of 7 days was our anniversary, Mother's Day and my birthday.

Our anniversary started out normal. We weren't planning on doing anything major that day as we were waiting for the weekend when Danny & Stacey were going to babysit. Unfortunately, that day Quinn got some bad news. The company that he was working for announced that they were shutting down. It came as a complete shock to everyone. Long story short, their publisher pulled funding and they just don't have enough money on their own to keep going. Needless to say that put a damper on the celebratory mood. But Quinn actually has quite a few prospects and I'm very confident something will work out soon in the coming weeks.

We ended up celebrating by leaving Asher with Stacey and Danny and going to watch Star Trek. It was a low key celebration but nice to get out and just sit and watch a movie sans baby.

The rest of the week was hectic and busy and stressful consisting of everything that accompanies losing work and looking for new work.

Yesterday was my birthday. It was nice to have Quinn home all day to help out. Around four or so in the afternoon I started to have some cramping. At first I thought it might be menstrual cramps and that I was going to be one of those women who menstruates even though she is nursing, but eventually the pain began to feel different. We went to dinner at Carrabba's with Danny, Stacey and Jax. Dinner was delish followed by a delicious orange/chocolate cake courtesy of Stacey. At home, I started to feel more and more pain. Then around 10 o'clock I could feel the intense pain in my back...by my kidneys. I knew I had a stone. I had a prescription from my pregnancy when I had another flare up, so I took some of that and tried to get the pain under control. No such luck. The vomiting began. The dinner and cake was not so delish the second time around. Finally around two the pain was pretty intense and I knew I wasn't going to make it through the night. I called Stacey who graciously came over to stay with Asher while Quinn took me to the hospital. Some lab work, a CT scan and some morphine later it was confirmed that I have another stone. Thank goodness we still have insurance! The doctor says it is close to passing so I'm certainly hoping this one won't give me as much trouble as the last one.

We got home around 6:30 this morning and were both exhausted. The worst part is that Asher had his best night ever and slept for 6 1/2 hours and I wasn't able to enjoy it. Luckily, once we got home he went down for another 3 hours to let me get some sleep and he has been so good today. And speaking of Asher, here is a Mother's Day picture of us. Enjoy!

hawaii

I just had to post this picture of Asher in this outfit I bought from my favorite store for little boy clothes (it was on sale!).

just because

=

genius

I just got back from Walgreens with my sister Stacey. We went so I could try out the advice of this blog in my attempt to become thrifty. Unfortunately, they were out of stock of the item I was trying to purchase to get started on this whole Register Rewards thing. However, I did buy dish washing liquid with a coupon and feel pretty good about that. But I digress. The reason for the post is I was in the candy aisle buying a treat for my nephew when I came upon these.I love Starbursts. One of my fav candies. Although I hate the Halloween two-paks because you run the risk of getting a yellow/orange combo which I do not like. A few years ago, my friend Erin gave me one of the greatest presents ever...it was a tin full of only the pinks and the reds. I loved it. Now, I can replicate this gift on my own. How genius is this idea...a pack of only the red ones. Truly genius. I'm enjoying them now and I'm quite content.

blessing day and smiling

Today Quinn blessed Asher in church. Most of my family (minus the Brijs family) arrived into town yesterday. They were all able to go to church with us today so we decided to bless Asher. Quinn gave such a beautiful blessing. It was a really neat experience to hear your husband bless your child. Here are a few pics that we snapped after the blessing.

Uncle Cameron also worked with Asher all afternoon to get him to smile. Here are the results:

one month

Asher turned one month old today. I can't believe it has been that long already. Some days it feels like he has been here forever, other days I feel just as overwhelmed as the first days home from the hospital.

In honor of his birthday we are making a cast of his footprint that some friends gave us tonight for FHE.

Asher is a very good eater. He pretty much eats every two hours and if something delays this he is not a happy camper. He is not the best sleeper but we are working on it.

Asher has marked his territory all over the house. He has spit up on the couch, my pillow, my bed, the floor, etc... I've found poo on my pants, the boppy, Quinn's shirt, my hands and Quinn's hands. Fun, fun. And for people who know me they know I don't do well with poo.

He is growing like a weed. I measured him for fun last night and he is just about 24 inches long already...crazy...no wonder he eats like crazy. This outfit he is wearing is even a 3-6 months.


We also just got back from my postpartum check up. The doctor said everything is fine and I was happy to see I only have 3.5 lbs to get rid of to get down to pre-baby weight.

he is a fan of Lost

This is a picture of Asher we took Wednesday night as he pondered the deeper mysteries of Lost. He seemed to really enjoy the show. Although, he thought the episode could have revealed a bit more.

happy easter!

The Easter Bunny found Asher this morning. He brought him a stuffed bunny, a onesie from Game Developers Conference, a rattle/toy that attaches to his car seat and interestingly enough an assortment of his parents favorite Easter candy.

Asher and I also braved church for Easter Sunday. Isn't his outfit cute? We only went to Sacrament as we are going to slowly ease into this 9 am church thing.

more pics

Grandma with Asher




Uncle Danny came to visit Asher also

pediatrician

Asher went to the pediatrician today. I started getting ready at 7 am to make it to the doctor's by 10 am. We made it. He was so good the whole time (minus the bloody murder screaming when they pricked his heel but that is understandable). He is growing like crazy. He has gained 10 ounces and now weighs 8 lbs 8 oz and has grown an inch. The doctor says he looks perfect and is doing beautifully.

While I was at the doctors, Quinn was picking up his mom from the airport. We are all so excited to have her here and look forward to lots of fun during her visit.


Here is a picture for my mom. She requested an updated picture. This is Asher just before we headed out to the pediatrician.

grandmas

Asher and I just got back from our first outing. We took Grandma Kathy (aka Gangy) to the airport. We are very sad she is gone but so thankful that she was able to come and spend time with us. I really don't know what I would have done without her.

Thanks Mom!

Another Grandma is on her way on Wednesday. I'm excited Vicky can come as well. Picking her up will be our second outing and another good prep for our third outing which will be a trip to the pediatrician on Thursday morning. I'm scared of trying to get up and out the door and to somewhere on a schedule. Wish me luck!

week one

I can't believe it has already been a week. It has been a long hard week, harder then I thought I would be. But things are looking up. At first, Asher wanted nothing to do with his crib or really anything that didn't involve him sleeping while someone held him. This made for extremely long nights. But last night progress was made. My mom stayed up with Asher until 4 am (hallelujah!) while I got some sleep and worked with him all night on sleeping in his crib. He slept for 3, then 2, then another 2 all in his crib. And all day long he has napped in his crib, not as long as I would like, but progress nonetheless.

We are starting to get the hang of eating. Asher has a tendency to fall asleep rather quickly whilst feeding which makes it hard, but today I've worked on trying to stretch the time between feedings since he was wanting to eat so frequently due to falling asleep. It seems to be working. He was also much more alert and content just to be sitting in his vibrating chair today then he has been in the past.

Despite all the stress and lack of sleep, he is an absolute delight to have in the home. My mom has been a lifesaver especially while Quinn has been gone. Speaking of, Quinn gets home in a few hours and I can't wait!