8 weeks

Asher is really starting to develop his own personality now. He had a great week with a visit from NeeNee although he missed his dad (who went on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach). I've been debating about when I can really write down that he is smiling in his baby book and now I'm sure this week is it! We're not just getting those half smiles that come with a little gas or in his sleep but it's the real deal with bright eyes and wide open mouth now(we haven't been able to quite capture his smiles in a picture yet!). He thinks his mommy and daddy are pretty funny when they stick our their tongue at him and blow raspberries.

Asher also discovered his changing table wall this week. I'd like to think we're his best friends; however, I think the changing table wall is giving us a run for our money. Asher can lay on his changing pad and look at his wall forever just smiling, cooing and kicking his legs. Apparently it's quite entertaining!

A tough week

I've been dreading this week for a while now and it's finally here. We kicked it off with having to say good-bye to NeeNee and Uncle Tim. Asher really enjoyed getting to "talk" to his Uncle Tim as he came down to go on a golf outing with Heath to Myrtle Beach. And NeeNee came for the week to help out with Heath being out of town.
After the good-byes Asher had his 2-month check up with the doctor. He was very happy to see Dr. Mutch and even showed off his smiles! He was not, however, so happy to see the nurse who gave him three shots. I probably cried as much as he did (although I'm SURE I didn't cry as loud!) But a couple of Loony Tunes band-aids later and we seem to be doing all right . . . for now!
The shots certainly weren't any fun but it was fun to see Asher growing and find out he really is "perfect" - direct quote from the doctor. He was 12 lbs 6 oz and is 24 inches long - in the 75% in both.
You would think that would be enough for one week but after the good-byes and the shots we've got daycare and going back to work to look forward to. Again, I'm sure it'll be much harder on me than Asher!

Week 7 means more visitors!

Asher got to meet yet another member of his extended family while celebrating his 7 week birthday as Aunt Jennifer made a pit stop in Lynchburg this past week! It was a pretty low-key vacation -however, true to her style every morning we woke up wondering, "What are we going to do today??" Our small outings certainly began adventures as we took our little guy with us and made our first trip to the mall! Asher was a trooper and will certainly be a shopper one day! We also made it to the paint your own pottery place (to document the size of Asher's feet) and visited daddy at work!

You can see from above Asher has now discovered his hands and LOVES to suck on them!

My First Fountain

Asher is now 6 weeks old! And this morning was the first time Asher decided to surprise me with a fountain while changing his diaper. I've heard this can happen a lot with a boy and NeeNee experienced this once or twice while she was visiting. Don't get me wrong Asher has leaked through multiple diapers and is able to get quite "relaxed" while taking a bath but this was the first time on the changing table! As I've been documenting there are certainly have been lots of firsts!

A couple of others would be Asher's first time attempting to use a bottle. With returning to work looming over my head and daycare fast approaching we figured we better make sure he can drink out of a bottle and he was quite successful!

Finally, on Asher's 6 week birthday his dad went golfing (of course!) and put Asher in his little golf outfit. These bibs are very special to us because they are the very first outfit Heath picked out when we found out we were having a boy. That day seems like so long ago!!

Some Big Numbers!!

Over this past week Asher has had some very memorable moments (or at least his parents think so!). First, he's still gaining weight! On Monday he was up to 10 lbs 11 oz. That's hard to believe he's grown that much in the last 5 1/2 weeks. I'm pretty sure if you asked Heath or I neither one us would say we would want to go back to where we've were 5 weeks ago (we've come a long way as parents) but as weird as it sounds we do miss how he felt in our arms just a few short weeks ago. He actually makes your arms a little tired now from holding him!

699-XX-XXXX - another big number. We just received Asher's social security card in the mail yesterday. What an overwhelming sense of responsibility! We received his birth certificate a few days ago too. It's really fun to see his name on the documents - making him official :) And of course it's been pretty obvious to us since he came home from the hospital that we're totally responsible for him but I think receiving those documents makes it that much more real.

Finally, the last big number is SEVEN! Yes, Asher actually went 7 hours in between feedings last night. Of course by the time he had his bath, got in to his jammies and actually went to sleep mom only got 6 hours of sleep but that feels like a HUGE accomplishment. Talking to friends, I realize that I shouldn't hold my breath and who knows what tonight brings but I at least feel refreshed this morning!

Week 5

Asher celebrated his 5 week birthday with some visitors! His cousin Sam and Aunt Heather came to visit from Omaha! We all had a great time and went on many adventures from going to the grocery store, to eating out to swimming at pool! Asher and Sam became fast friends and Sam loved giving him kisses (although I think he was hoping for a little more of a playmate - regularly asking Asher to "stand up please!"). "Tucker-Peyton" even enjoyed the visit!

Happy Birthday - Week 4

So it's been a month! Wow four weeks have gone in the blink of any eye. And just like his one week birthday I was again able to celebrate with Asher at the actual time of his birth (4:42 a.m.!) It's amazing that no matter how many books you read or people you talk to nothing is going to teach you what your child needs but your child. Every day Heath and I wake up looking for any routine or pattern to Asher's needs - unfortunately, we've yet to find them but we're still hopeful!
In the above picture Asher is actually holding his rattle - another exciting milestone! He was even trying to shake it. I suppose he probably didn't know what he was doing but we can pretend!

While it still feels like we have a REALLY long way to go to knowing what Asher is trying to tell us and to getting a full night's sleep we have come a long way. We can now give him a bath in no time, we can get the diaper on to avoid leaks (almost every time) and we know some of his favorite positions to settle him from a meltdown!

Week 3

Today is Asher's 3 week birthday! Hard to believe 21 days have passed since his birth! We celebrated today with eating, sleeping and pooping (I suppose very similar to all the other days!) but we also enjoyed just a few minutes of tummy time on his playmat - he's even start to lift his head a little and some play time loving kicking his legs!

Every day is a new Milestone!

While I feel a little like every day is Groundhog's Day, I also feel like every day is a new milestone. We're cautiously optimistic that we're getting in to a routine. Eating every three hours (a little longer at night) and and one time in between feedings when Asher's awake the entire time and ready to play! He loves kicking his feet and is working on getting his hands in his mouth. We even had a few minutes of successful tummy time were he lifted and turned his head. Plus he was able to track one of his favorite toys.

But in addition to the regular feedings, burpings and diaper changes, Asher has had some pretty big accomplishments! He just lost his umbilical cord yesterday! He also is continuing to enjoy outings here and there and especially likes Neighbors! He even visited his daddy at work!

Perhaps one of the biggest and best milestones for his mom was his weight check today. While Heath laughed a little (because it's pretty clear he's gaining weight) over-anxious, crazy mom had to take him to get weighed. Asher was not overly excited about getting stripped down AGAIN (seems like he's always naked, that's mom's preferred method of feeding to keep him awake!) but mom was super excited to see that now at 18 days he weighs 7 lbs 12 oz - almost 2 lbs more than when he was born!

Grateful for Family

Over the last 18 days all four of Asher's grandparents have been able to meet him and love on him! Papa Ewing made it down for the weekend, Grandma Jane got to stay the whole week, Papaw Jim was here for two weeks and we were lucky enough to have NeeNee Ann here for 3 weeks (after a few tears and an unexpected plane ticket purchase).

Asher already loves his grandparents very much and feels blessed to have them. He loved snuggling up with all of them and even peed on Papaw Jim and loved reading with NeeNee.

We're excited that they are already planning their trips back to visit!

13 oz

If you'd asked us 10 days ago we would have said 10 onces was nothing, but today we considered it a huge milestone! Asher went for a weight check at the pediatrician's office and now weighs 7 lbs 12 oz! That's up 13 onces from last Thursday and from his birth weight. What a crazy feeling to know that things are going well and little Asher is gainging weight but to almost be a little sad to know that soon he'll be out of his newborn clothes and he'll never be that small again.

It seems like everyday for the last ten days we mark a milestone and in all the craziness it's really hard to document them all! Today we also went out to lunch. Asher did great and Heath, NeeNee, Papaw and I had a great lunch at Panera.

4:42 a.m.

Of course 4:42 a.m. will now be a time I'll never forget since it's when our little Asher came in to our life. Apparently, it's also going to be a time I'm never going to forget because I'm going to see it quite often!

Not to leave Heath out - we both were up and taking care of Asher to celebrate the exact moment of Asher's one week birthday!

For those of you who know me well you know that I am NOT a late night person and the idea of being up at 2, 3, or 4 in the morning is about the last thing I'd want to be doing. But over the last nine days there have been several late nights. And while some have been more stressful than others and there have been some tears shed by both Asher and mommy they are moments I'll never forget and always treasure.

Of course, I must admit I'd never make it through them without all of the love and support from Heath, my parents, in-laws and family and friends. Thanks for all of the help!!!

Where to start?

Nine days after after Asher's birthday the Ewing family seems to be doing OK! At some moments we feel like he was born yesterday - many of the days seem to be the same: eat, sleep, poop. Other times it seems like the little guy has been with us forever and of course as crazy at is sounds it's hard to even remember what our life was like with out him.

We've had a lot of milestones over the last nine days and already taken hundreds of pictures. Asher had a little jaundice so we had two doctor appointments his first few days home. He passed with flying colors he even made it back to his birth way by the Thursday after his birth. His weight is still in the 10-25% for his height but we're working on that awfully hard!

Asher also had a two hour photo shoot for his newborn pictures and he was quite the trooper! Aside from a little pee and poop that is going to have to be photoshopped out of the pictures he did great.

Another milestone was Asher's first trip to Target and his first lunch out at Montana Plains!

JUNE 30th!!

So pretty much for the last nine months Heath and I have been repeating the date "June 30th" over and over again! While I think the statistic is something like only 5% of babies are born on their due date, after hearing a particular day over and over again you can help but think that's going to be the big day! Well . . . . here we are.

It's a bit surreal figuring out how you want to spend the last few days as a "couple" leading up to your child's birth day and beginning of a whole new family life. Heath decided to even start nesting himself. Over the last two days he has done a lot of work to our basement and our bathroom (luckily what was going to be a project that inhibited the use of our shower for two days turned into no access to the shower for just one evening!). He also baked one of his amazing homemade carrot cakes because I was craving it, and finally today he decided to get in one more round of golf with a good friend.

In an effort to save as many sick days as possible, I decided to come to work. I suppose there is also a little pride in being able to say I worked truly up until my due date. I'm also going to enjoy lunch with a good friend. Prior to this "big day" I've spent a ton of time cleaning and vacuuming, getting the baby's room ready (perhaps a little early to have the baby monitors set up but it makes me feel better!) and stocking up on toilet paper. Oh, and walking, walking, walking. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think walking to induce labor is just an old wives tale!

Whether today's the big day or not there's no denying how excited we are ( and our family, I'm getting use to the nightly phone calls!) Half jokingly, half serious a good friend made a comment that if he's anything like his dad he'll be late and probably come on the 4th of July just to make a statement! Oh goodness, I hope he's here before then :)

"My Heart Belongs to My Mommy"

It turns out our doctor wanted to do one more ultrasound on little Baby E before his big arrival. There wasn't really a big scare but just a few things she wanted to check out. And, as predicted, everything seems to be perfectly normal. Surprisingly he seems to be measuring at 7.6 lbs although she said that could be off.

Heath and I both know that while we can feel as prepared as possible neither one of us truly have any idea what it's like to be a parent until the little guy gets here. But I think we both felt a little taste of that with the anxiety of thinking something might not be just quite 100% perfect with our baby prior to his birth. Being completely responsible for this little guy is quite an awesome task.

The other thing I think I learned from this ultrasound is how hard ultrasounds are to read! I chalked our initial ultrasounds at 7, 10, and 22 weeks up to the fact that the baby was so tiny. Now, I'm not quite sure what the excuse is. Our ultrasound tech kept trying to figure out which nose our baby had - I was just trying to figure out where his nose was!!! In case you need some help the picture above is of his tiny little heart!

The picture above is of his little hearbeat (just in case you needed a little help like me!)