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!

dimples

This video was shot right when the brought Asher to me. If you look closely in the video you can see Asher's adorable dimples.

Also, here are a few of my favorite photos from today.Getting ready for his sponge bath

I just love this look

Check out his mullet!

Can you tell Quinn was having fun dressing him up?Daddy and Asher getting in some bonding time before Quinn had to leave for San Fran.

27 hours give or take

Thursday March 19th

7:30 pm: Check into hospital, we are moved upstairs where I'm hooked up to monitors etc... and then given the Cervidil to try and get things started. They monitored me all night and I had contractions ranging from 3 to 7 minutes apart. They weren't that bad at all and I was able to sleep through most of them.

Important to note (at least it was to me) that I was not allowed any food from this point on or any liquids after midnight.

Friday March 20th

7:00 am: Moved down to Labor and Delivery and started on the drip to get things going even more.

8:30 am: My doctor comes in and checks me. She has a very discouraged look on her face and tells me it is going to be a long day as I'm only at a 2 (which I've been at since 35 weeks). They turn the drip up.

10:00 am: My mom arrives with McDonald's for Quinn for breakfast. It looks delicious.

11:30 am: Doctor returns to check me. 3. Not much progress. She "breaks" my water. This really really hurt. I'm having contractions but they aren't very strong.

1:00 pm: I start to have more intense contractions especially back labor which is not so enjoyable.

1:30 pm: Quite a bit of pain and I decide to bring on the epidural. Anesthesiologist comes in. He was extremely funny and we spend most of the time discussing March Madness and Pres. Obama. At this point Quinn is out picking up some food for him and my Mom. I was pleasantly surprised at how not painful the epidural. To me the nurses attempt at getting my first IV in the night before hurt much more than this did.

2:00 pm: Starting to feel much better. Quinn and Mom eat Subway. Dr. comes and checks me a 4. She says she can still feel the membranes so breaks my water again, basically meaning she didn't get it the first time. I felt a gush this time where as I felt nothing the first time. We are hopeful that this will really get things started.

4:00 pm: Dr. returns. Still a 4. She is starting to get concerned. She says she will come back in two hours or so and if I'm not at least at a 6 we will have to discuss our options (i.e. cesarean).

6:30 pm: She comes back and checks me. I hear her tell the nurse it is a miracle and I'm at a nine. I start to get excited because I really didn't want to have to do a c-section.

7:30 pm: I can start to feel the epidural wear off on my right side. We try to fix it by changing positions but the baby doesn't do well unless I'm on my left side.

8:00 pm: We start pushing. I had a great nurse who really helped me through it. We pushed for maybe 40 minutes or so before she brought in the doctor.

8:40 pm: The doctor comes in and everything starts moving. I keep pushing. I can feel him moving down the birth canal and it is pretty painful if I don't push through it.

9:11 pm: Asher is finally born! We stay in labor and delivery for a while while they finish everything up.

10:30 pm: We are taken up to our room and Asher goes to the nursery for a check-up and a bath.

11:00 pm: I am finally able to eat something. They brought me which I'm sure was a secretly disgusting turkey sandwich but it tasted like heaven to me along with some fruit and cottage cheese.

1:00 am: They bring us our most precious little boy all washed and clean. I had never seen anything more beautiful!

P.S. For a much more peaceful delivery of which I am very jealous check out my cousin Lacy's blog who had a beautiful little girl Lucy Marie on Sunday morning. A special shout out to Lacy for holding off until Asher was born or I might have had a complete breakdown since Lacy was also due after me.

here he is

Asher Quinn DelHoyo
Born: March 20, 2009 at 9:11 pm

7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long

induction

I went in early this morning for another ultrasound with the doctor. She said my fluid is lower than it was on Tuesday and just barely above the mark they would use anyway for induction so she feels good about inducing me tonight, said she probably would want to anyway even if I hadn't asked. So I'm suppose to report to the hospital tonight at 7:30. I'm off to take a nap now as I have a feeling it will be a long night and morning!

swollen

It's official. My hands and feet are officially swollen. I'm just glad it took this long to get to this point. I'd been having a bit of swelling at the end of the day for the last week or so, but yesterday it pretty much stayed that way all day and today looks to be about the same. I'm not complaining and it isn't really even that bad. It just looks like I have fat fingers and I can't wear my wedding ring anymore.