Tis the Season

Since my last post, so much has happened that I'm not sure how to summarize it all. So I'll start from the beginning and work from there.

Halloween! I went to Wichita Falls to visit my mom in a rehab center and to see my other family there. We surprised her by bringing Asher into her rehab session dressed like a big puffy dinosaur! He was all that anyone in the room could look at. Grant and I recently went to Pinot and Picasso with our friends Adam and Courtney. You drink wine while being taught how to paint a famous painting. We had a wonderful time together!

School has been chaotic. Trying to catch up from being gone on maternity leave seems like an impossible challenge. Thankfully, my coworkers are wonderful and helpful. Grant and I finally decided on a dining room table! It only took 6 months. :) We were lucky to have all our friends over for a Thanksgiving feast at our house. We were so excited to finally use our china that we had gotten for our wedding.

Thanksgiving came quickly upon us, and Grant, Asher, and I headed to Wichita Falls. I was so glad Grant could go because it is so difficult traveling 6 hours with Asher by myself. A day before we got there my mom went into the emergency room because she had unbearable abdomen pain. The hospital said it was constipation due to her pain medications. Thanksgiving seemed like it really wasn't happening because mom wasn't home, and we weren't cooking our traditional dishes. Thanksgiving day we went to my cousin's Stacey's and we were lucky to have my dad's family join us too. Upon arriving at the hospital that evening, my mom's breathing was very shallow and we knew that something wasn't right. After a 14 month battle with lung cancer, with all of our family gathered around her, she finally let go and joined our Lord Jesus Christ. She is free of pain, treatments, struggles, medication, and most certainly, cancer. It was the hardest thing that I could ever have imagined witnessing. Though I know how wonderful it is for my sweet mom, it is impossible to be happy that she has passed. Her funeral was a few days later, and it was a wonderful celebration of her life! All of our family's hearts are broken, and the holidays are not being approached with the joy that they usually are. This past week I attended a retirement ceremony for my former principle at Teague Middle School, and I was given a card signed by several staff members. I was told of a donation that will be made in mom's name to the American Cancer Society. It was an unexpected, wonderful surprise that meant so very much to me!

Since then, Asher has had his first cold, and Grant and I are two very paranoid parents! It is very hard to see a  little infant all congested and snotty. :( I also convinced Grant to hang Christmas lights on our house! We decked our halls and made our house full of Christmas cheer. Last weekend, we joined Sarah and Kason at "Lights in the Heights." This was our 3rd or 4th time to go out with Asher bear. We laughed and had an awesome time with friends and looking at Christmas lights. This weekend, my dad, Eric, Ricky, and Christopher all came to Houston to celebrate an early Christmas. Today we went to the zoo for the Africa exhibit. It was so much fun. The weather was cool and sunny. Pictures are below!

Can it really be?

This title is most appropriate because there have been so many things going on!

1st "Can it really be?" I went back to work! Through a friend at work we found a wonderful German lady to babysit Asher. She keeps 2 other babies and I feel totally comfortable leaving Asher there. Though I must admit, I started choking up when I was explaining his schedule to her on the first day. :( Work is good. I like my co workers, but not too enthused about 5th and 6th graders. They cry everyday!!!!!! I'm sure I'll love them by the end of the year...but right now is a big learning curve.

2nd "Can it really be?" I traveled to Chicago to visit my mom in the hospital. I woke up at 4:30am and Grant dropped me off at the airport...the WRONG airport! I was calling him, texting, and emailing him like crazy, but of course his phone was at home. I took a cab to the other airport and still missed the flight. Anyways, now I can laugh about the mishap, but at 5AM I was not laughing. :) The trip went well. The Cancer Treatment Center of America's hospital and living quarters were unbelievably nice. They pick you up from the airport in a limo, the living quarters are brand new hotels with tons of amenities. The hospital is small and they pay the patients very close attention. I feel like she is in great hands.


3rd "Can it really be?": Asher was dedicated at church on Sunday! We were so proud to hold him up on stage and promise to raise him in the church. This was something that was very important to Grant and I growing up, so we want Asher to have the same experience. He wore a really cute sweater vest and khaki pants...for which he pooped through right before we went on stage! My parents got to come in town, and Grant's parents, brother, sister, and grandmother came. Asher had most groupies!

4th "Can it really be?" Asher is talking up a storm. These are not real words, mind you, but wonderful shrills of gibberish that make us smile. He ROLLED OVER for the first time! He loves to hold my hands and stand up. He sits perfectly in his Bumbo and loves laying on his back looking up at his toys.


5th: "Can it really be?" Grant and I came home last night and our house was broken into. Our TVs, laptop, jewelry, etc was stolen. The items can all be replaced, but it was so creepy and disturbing to think of people going through our home. All the drawers were emptied out, and they even went through Asher's drawers which makes me infuriated. We took work off today and got a security system set up and blinds for our windows.

This has been a very busy time in our lives! We love our family, our dogs, our God and of course, each other. :)

 

Go Texas!

Asher and Grandma Arme

 

Papa Arme

 

Go Cowboys!

 

Asher rocks the bumbo

 

When it's sunny I cover up...

 

When its shady I open up!

I take so many pictures! I can't help it! :)

Photos by Whitney Runyon www.whitneyrogersphotography.com

Candids and 2 month photo shoot

 

Cutie!

Asher in his baby gap gear from grandma Arme

Asher and Uncle Eric. Happy 21st!

Asher and Papa Arme

 

This is Asher and Grant in our 2 month photo shoot

Visitors and fun

Kristine visits from NYC

 

I LOVE his sad face. haha :)

 

Asher and mommy

Chilling in the bumbo

Sarah and Asher. His first ball cap!

Getting in the Swing of things...

Since Asher has been around, we have had tons of visitors! I love seeing people so I think its great! Kristine came from NYC and stayed for about 4 days, my parents have been here twice for a week both times, Grant's family has come over about once a week, I got to spend the afternoon with my wonderful sister-in-law, Haley a few weeks ago, Sarah has been over several times, Anthea has visited briefly, and best of all there was a GMT reunion at our house. (Grant, Mike, and Travis were roommates 3 years in college and therefore became known as "GMT"). I'm very greatful for my friends and family!!

Grant and I let Grant's parents babysit Asher and we went on a date night! It was so fun. We stayed in the Woodlands area and went to places on the waterway. We went to Goose's Acre for an appetizer and a drink, then we went to eat Sushi, and then to a wine bar, Crush. Crush was so swanky and fun. The following statement is true and I kid you not, when we walked in there was a girl wearing "Hello Kitty" boy short panties and a boy wearing briefs. Everyone else was wearing normal cute clothes and no one, besides Grant and I, seemed to notice the scandalously clad couple.

Kristine asked me if Asher was "Bullemic." because he threw up everything he ate. I had to laugh hard at that comment because he does seem to spit up ALOT!. Asher is doing quite well. I am so thankful to my parents for getiing us his swing. He looooves it. He sits in there, stares around, and sometimes takes very long naps. Nestle, our 40lb mutt, was on defense mode lately. He started marking various things in our house. Rah!! Our NEW house! So he is now crated everytime we leave.

Our biggest milestone with Asher as of late is that he is officially potty trained! No, no I'm just kidding, but he did move out of our room, and up to his own bedroom. He has only slept through the night twice in his short little life, so hopefully this will be a good transistion.

Labor Day weekend we went to Wichita Falls to see my mom and celebrate my brother, Eric, turning 21!! With traffic and having Asher it took us about 8 hours both ways. My dad cooked out stakes for us and I took down all the males in my family twice in poker...that includes Grant. :) It was good to see my parents. My mom was very ill, so it make me very greatful that we made the trip. She is currently in Chicago recovering from a heart surgery and about to undergo one more type of chemotherapy. Please continue prayers. She is a fighter, but she is getting weak.

I got back to work in a little over a week. :( Staying home is....awesome! I will miss my time with Asher, but I am looking forward to working at my new school.

Who needs sleep??. . . um, I do!!

When I was pregnant people presented me with ALL sorts of advice. One precious token was "sleep now, because when Asher gets here, you won't get any sleep." I totally ignored this, and I wish I had listened.

Asher sleeps off and on during the day, and at night he always seems wide awake and in a wonderful mood. Here is a picture of him all swaddled and ready for bed just last night, and as you can see he wanted nothing of it! My parents gave me a Disney music box that was my younger brother's that shines Mickey Mouse and friends rotating on the ceiling while playing, "When you wish upon a star..." and it is great! Asher loves to look at it and make loud noises that eventually turn into loud snores. Grant, being a light sleeper, has become a pro at sleeping with a pillow on his head. :)

Another piece of advice given to me was write down little funny/cute things your baby does because you won't remember all of them even if you think you will. Thus, I have this blog, so I will keep a running list that hopefully Asher can even look back on later in life. So far I love that Asher has started smiling! He started making cooing sounds too and it makes my heart melt each time. He is very calm while getting his hair washed, but horrible when it comes to changing diapers or outfits. He won't go to sleep at night without his swaddle blanket on, so I hope they eventually make those in adult sizes...no I'm just kidding, but that would be funny. Having traveled from the Gulf of Mexico all the way north to Oklahoma with just Asher and I, I discovered quickly that he does very well in the car. I feel like his car seat is magic. Anytime he sits in it, he falls instantly asleep. Here is a funny adventure we had on our car trip: I stopped at a McDonalds about and hour after feeding him to change his diaper. I think that bathroom changers are extremely germy and gross so I decided to change Asher in the back seat. He was a little upset when I woke him up as I was getting him out of his car seat, so I held him for a few seconds. Upon removing him from my chest, I noticed that there was poop smeared all over my white T-shirt. Great. So I laid the crying baby on the seat that is not flat, but angles just enough to make him slide into the seatbelt fastner. As I go to change this monsterous diaper I realize that I have about 3 wipes that I skillfully used. Feeling rather proud of myself that I handled this so well, Asher then began to pee on the backseat...of course. We changed to a new outfit...yes WE had to change into new outfits inside the McDonalds bathroom.

Recently, my friend Lauren took one month photos of the baby. Here are some of them. She did a great job. After the photo shoot we agreed he doesn't have a modeling career. We couldn't get him to go to sleep no matter how hard we tried, and he successfully soiled 3 blankets during the short photo shoot. It would be a difficult job being an infant photographer!

I did get a chance to spend one week with my parents in Wichita Falls. It was sad being away from Grant for one week but, great to get that much time with my parents. I think that they enjoyed getting that much Asher time. My mom's battle with lung cancer still wages on. She is an inspiration to all people around her. Within a year she has had more procedures, tests, scans, and surgeries than most people have in a lifetime. Her strength and unyielding faith in the Lord is humbling. My dad, her solo caretaker, has been equally as brave. His life has become selflessly devoted to her and her cancer. I feel guilty ever complaining to either of them about my life when they hardly ever complain. I hope that they serve as inspirations to others. My mom is going to be working part time this year at Ben Milam as a Reading Specialist. This is will bring some well needed normalcy to her life. She has more passion for her job than anyone I've ever seen!

Ecclesiasties 7:8
"The end of a matter is better and its beginning, and patience is better than pride."

And on a much lighter note, here are random cute pictures of Asher!

Matching shorts, hat, and shoes!

Our little future Longhorn!