The Baby Blog: Asher John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VALYy1pRfU

Thanks, Brandon and Leah.

Bry and I were at Babies R Us today buying bigger clothes for our hugely adorable babes when we saw a bib that said “tax deduction.” Both of us cringed a bit. We both agreed that our son would never wear a bib like that. Although I’m sure it’s just supposed to be a joke, I was still a little appalled. Maybe because in this broken world where money becomes so important, it seems that some people really see their kids as not much more than a tax break. For whatever reason, that bib bothered me.

In other news, I’ve decided to actually start keeping a written journal for our tiny guy (yes, i know he’s quite large for his age, but i just still need him to be my tiny guy). I know some of you are probably thinking “good luck with keeping up with that since you have not done a good job keeping up with this thing.” However, you should know that I’ve already written the first entry PLUS i’m motivated. I really want this to be something that I can give him when he gets married or has kids of his own. So he can see how much we loved and cherished him from the very beginning. I also think that as fast as computer technology has taken over in my generation, and his generation will probably see it all the more, that it might be nice to have a handwritten, personal journal that hasn’t been desensitized with type font. Bryan thinks that his future wife might appreciate it more than he will because he’s a boy and boys aren’t into that stuff, but i don’t care. I still want to write it for him…

And probably for me too. I feel like reading the thoughts and feelings I had when he was so small will help me remember what life is like in this moment. Bryan also said that this will be a very good way to make me all weepsy in 20 years. I’m ok with that. Is there a better reason to shed a few tears than over memories of your precious, tiny son? I cannot think of too many better reasons.

I’ve decided to write them as letters to Asher John. Here’s some bits from his first letter:

” You bring joy to so many lives just by being you. What a slobbery, chubby, cooing little blessing of a babes.”

And this is from when I was telling him the story of the night the two of us stayed up all night with him crying because he had to poop and couldn’t. He seemed in a lot of pain. He cried from about 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. until he finally pooped and fell asleep.

“Even though that night was painful and hard for us both, I cherish it. It won’t be long before I can’t just hold you and cuddle you all night until things get better. You’ll have to learn to soothe yourself. But for now, as long as it helps you feel better, I would gladly spend 1,000 sleepless nights holding my tiny guy just to make his world a little better.”

I feel like i’ve taken on a big endeavor with this journal thing. But i also feel like it’s important. Like it will help me sort things out as a mother. It will also help to better communicate love to my son when he’s old enough to appreciate reading it. Wish me luck with my devotion to its upkeep…

our not-so-tiny, tiny guy in his easter clothes:

I just realized that I haven’t updated this thing in a while, so here goes…

Asher will be 6 weeks on Thursday-which is a little crazy to think about! He’s so chubs now. It’s funny to see pictures from a few weeks ago because he’s gained sooo much weight. He’s almost 6 weeks old and he’s already wearing 3 month sized clothes. I didn’t think it was possible for him to get any cuter, but his rolls defiinitely add to his adorableness.
Along with putting on the pounds (he weighed 11.4 lbs at his 1 month check up), he’s also starting to make new sounds. I just love those new sounds. I can’t wait until they turn into words. ..like ” mama” hehe.
Although he can still be quite the grumpy gwama, he’s starting to mellow out and be more awake and alert for longer periods of time. It’s fun, but sometimes I don’t know what to do with him because I’m still not used to him being awake for so long.
He’s trying to hold his head up like a big boy. When he’s laying against someone’s shoulder he’ll try to hold his head up and look around and it will start to wobble and then fall. I call it his cobra dance because he looks like those cobras that sway up out of baskets when the charmers play music. It’s pretty neat.
He can almost roll over by himself already. He can at least get from his back to his side. He can’t make it all the way yet though. He also tries to climb up people when he’s resting against their shoulder. I think he’s practicing his crawling technique…

Not too much excitement here, but I just wanted to let people know how he’s doing, just in case anyone was wondering…He’s still adorable and lovely. AND it might just be because I’m his mom, but he’s the best looking kid around.

1. From the moment he was born, Asher has had a mini mullet. The hairs at the back of his head are just really long…

2. Sometimes I wonder what Asher’s teeth are going to look like…it’s hard to tell just by the gums.

3. Right after he has a bath, his hair looks red. yay!

4. Sometimes when I’m breastfeeding, projectile milk squirts him in the face when he unlatches. i’m sorry if there are any boys reading this and that grossed you out, but one day you may have a wife, who may have a child, and she may breastfeed…don’t say i didn’t warn you about the squirt gun effect…

5. #4 is really funny to me because before Asher was born, I used to joke around with Bryan about squirting milk…i didn’t know it was physically possible at the time…

6. Asher has multiple chins now.

7. Almost every night we fall asleep watching Family Guy. He sleeps on my chest for a while and then i move him so that he’s laying in between me and bry. Not because I don’t want to be close to my husband, but because i don’t want the babes to fall off of the bed…

8. Sometimes he makes poot noises with his mouth and me and bry think it’s funny…so what if it’s elementary school humor?

9. I think he’s adorable even when he’s a grumpy gwama and is screaming his head off.

10. he poops a lot.

11. my grandma (his great grandma) is a miracle worker and can get him to sleep not matter how mad he is…she can also keep him sleeping…it’s great.

12. he has really big feet. in fact, one of his feety pajama outfits feets him perfectly except in the feeties…his feet are too long…

13. he always laughs in his sleep and it’s really cute

14. i wonder what his voice will sound like when i hear him make baby noises…judging by baby noises- it’s going to be pretty cute

15. when i was pregnant and we found out he was a boy, i used to picture him as a tiny bryan…that’s exactly what i got and i love it.

16. he was born on elvis pressley’s birthday…that’s not so important to me, but my dad thinks it’s cool

17. when he’s getting grumps and about to start crying he starts kicking really hard…he also makes funny mouth noises

18. pampers diapers are better than huggies…deal with it, hugs.

19. he hates baths and sometimes it’s a struggle, but he smells so darn good when it’s all over

20. i love his gigantor feets

21. his fingernails were strangely long when he came out of the womb…he scratched up his face within his first 2 minutes in the world

22. i like to sing the veggie tales song “think of me” to him…in case you’re not familiar the words are:
          Think of me everyday
          Hold tight to what I say
          And I’ll be close to you
          Even from far away…

          Know that wherever you are
          It is never too far
          If you think of me
          I’ll be with you…

23. i think he’s going to have brown eyes…although they are currently still blue

24. he has my hands and feet

25. in case you didn’t know, he’s the best baby in the whole, wide world…even when he’s grumpy gwama-ing it up

For the past couple of days, my asher has been a grumpy gwama.  He’s been fussy and not sleeping good and it’s been hard for my family and me. For some reason, he also has decided that 3-5:30 a.m. every morning is a great time to be awake and alert. Since he has been so fussy, I started looking around online to see if I could find any reasons for it. I discovered that sometimes when breastfeeding mothers drink caffine, it can make the baby irritable and fussy. During my pregnancy, I really tried to watch my caffine intake, but almost as soon as I got home from the hospital I started drinking sweet tea like it was my job. So now, after doing my research, I’ve cut out caffine totally for a while to see if that helps my babes.

While I was pregnant, I was very aware that my baby would be eating and drinking everything that I did. It’s easy to forget that, since he’s breastfeeding, he is still pretty much on my diet.

So goodbye, my lovely sweet tea…it seems we have to part again indefinitely…

it’s ok though. Sometimes my babes just needs his milk caffine-free and his mom’s just got to give him what he needs. It’s the supply and demand of happy baby and happy mother…

It’s funny how much having a baby changes things. I mean everyone always says it, so I was somewhat prepared, but some changes I hadn’t anticipated. Like how I plan my days around feeding times…I have these little pockets of free time now between feedings that I have to take advantage of. I’m also getting used to the night shift of feeding-sleeping in 2-4 hour intervals, depending on the babes. Being on feeding time schedule actually makes the days go by a lot faster since they’re broken up into these little sections…I also did not anticipate having to buy shirts and bras that have easy access for feeding time. I had to go shopping and get some new shirts that were all button up kind. Another thing is that it’s been weird adjusting to my new body. During pregnancy, I never really had problems with negative body image or anything like that because I was supposed to be gaining weight and getting a huge belly. Now though, post baby birth, it’s been a little hard for me to deal with weird stretch marks and flab that i never had before pregnancy. I realize i’m only about 1 1/2 weeks out from childbirth and that some parts of my body will shape back up a little, but i was just a little shocked to realize how insecure these new baby changes made me. Bryan has been wonderful about telling me how beautiful I am and making me feel that way too. He actually likes my body with the extra baby weight. He’s so good to me. I’m sure I’ll get over these insecurities soon enough, they’re just fresh at the moment.

Despite all the weird or unexpected changes that babies tend to make, I think I can speak for both Bryan and myself when I say that Asher has made our lives so much better. Despite difficult times or frustrating circumstances, we have something to be so thankful for and to rejoice in. He’s a reminder of God’s goodness and mercy, even if we don’t deserve something so lovely. Despite what some may think and despite how I felt at certain times through out my pregnancy, our blessing of Asher was perfect timing. I think he’s just what Bry and I needed to help us make it through these last couple of months while Bry finishes up school. Asher gives us something to happily work for and look foward to.

One last unanticipated change that our beautiful boy has brought is that he’s further motivated our wish to eventually adopt one day. Bryan and I had talked about trying to adopt our last child (whatever number that may be). It’s funny though, because now that we’ve had Asher and loved him so much in just these several days of his life, it breaks my heart to think about all the tiny little babes out there who don’t have such love from parents and family. It’s so hard for me to imagine someone having to or just wanting to give up such a precious little person…that baby not having someone to get excited about his regular poops and to check to make sure he’s still breathing in the middle of the night. I hope and plan to one day adopt so that at least one of those tiny babes can feel all the love of warmth of a family. I mean, after all, as believers, we’ve all been adopted into love-what a beautiful chance to help someone understand that.

Asher had his follow up dr.’s visit today. It went so well! He’s gained 5 oz since wednesday! The doctor was amazed. She said they expect newborns to gain about 1 oz a day, but he’s gained 5 in 1 1/2 days. Bry and I were both chubby babies, so we figure he’ll put on some chub soon. We also found out today that his jaundice is almost gone and he’s clear enough to go off of the phototherapy. That made me happy! So all in all, our babes is still doing wonderfully. He’s just the best baby in the world ever. Except for baby Jesus, I guess…He’s just the best baby in the world ever that was not the incarnate of God himself…

Asher’s Phototherapy machine: The Biliblanket

Asher John is 1 week old today! That’s really exciting for me. Especially with all of the worrying that i’ve been doing as a new mama. He’s doing wonderful though. He had his first check up yesterday (wednesday) and he’ll go back for a follow up tomorrow (friday). He’s been eating so well that he was almost back up to birth weight at his check up. He weighed 7 lbs 15oz when he was born and at check up he weighed 7lbs 14oz. His doctor was really excited about that, so that made me excited. When we left the hospital he was a little jaundice and that had not cleared up yet, so the dr. gave us a blanket/ pad thing to lay him on that gives him phototherapy to help break up the jaundice. i know it’s good for him, but i don’t like it. we have to strap him to it. he doesn’t seem to mind it, but because he’s all strapped in you can only hold him if you’re right beside the machine. Oh well, hopefully he’ll only have 1 more day of that thing and then he’ll be better. The dr didn’t seem worried about it at all, so i’m not. I just don’t like having to strap him up.

a good dr.’s visit makes me feel like bry and i are doing alright with this baby thing. Of course, we’ve had so much help and support from friends and family who love us and our son. we’ve talked a lot about how much harder this would be without those people.  so “thank you!” if you happen to be one of those people! You have been a blessing to both us and our little guy.

Asher also had his first bath this week. he hated it. right at the end, when i was trying to dry him off he peed and pooped all over bry’s arm and hand. it made me really regret not video taping the whole thing. i laughed really hard. bry tried to pretend like he was grumpy, but he laughed a lot too. we forgot to take pictures ( i know…i’m sorry) because we were in a hurry. It was feeding time and i wanted to go ahead and try to wash him before then so that i could use that to calm him down afterwards. it worked. after he was all dry, i fed him and he was happy and content ( not to mention he smelled like beautiful, clean baby boy).  I promise we’ll try to take pictures of bathtime #2, even though it’s not quite the same.

here’s some pictures from week 1:

i’m not gonna lie…these sleepless nights are getting harder. i am still so thankful for any time i get to spend with asher, whether i’m sleep deprived or not, but my body is aching for some good, hard sleep. Oh well, in time that will come.

asher is still doing great. he’s eating regularly and, for those of you who may be interested, his poop is starting to become normal color and consistency. good poop is a sign of good eating, so i get a little excited about changing a good poop.

Let me know if there’s anything that you want to know specifically about how he’s doing. i’m trying to keep up with the basics, but if you have any questions, i’ll be happy to share whatever.

overall, you should just know that bry and i think he’s wonderful. we also think we make pretty good looking kids. I have to go and feed asher now though because bry is holding him and he just informed me that asher keeps trying to bite his nipple….i laughed out loud.

we love you guys!! all three of us…

I’ve wanted to start one of these for a while, but never felt that I had anything important or meaningful enough to say. However, now that my babes is here, I thought it would be a nice way to keep posted friends and family that aren’t able to be as close as they would like. I’ll try to keep most of my posts Asher focused, so as not to dissapoint you guys, and i’ll also try to add pictures and videos as often as possible.

For those of you who do not already know, Asher John McClelland was born on January 8, 2009 at 5:21 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 21 iches long. OK now that all the preliminary stuff is out of the way, here’s what i’m thinking right now at 3:23 in the morning as i’m sitting at the computer desk on an inflatable donut (oh the joys of post childbirth body):

I know it sounds cliche and every new parent says this, but after meeting my babes about 2 1/2 days ago, I am truly amazed at how much I love him. I mean, I knew I would love him, but it is really quite overwhelming. He’s so tiny and so precious (not to mention the cutest baby ever…sorry other moms, but it’s true). He’s my 2nd favorite person in the whole, wide world (my husb being 1st, of course). I just can’t explain how much I love and enjoy that tiny little guy. I even enjoy the all-nighters just because I get to spend time with him.

However, the downside to so much love right now is that I have become an insane WORRY WART! Asher and Bry have been asleep for an hour or two now, and although I tried to lay down and sleep I could not because every little noise I hear from my babe makes me panic. I can’t sleep if I know that everyone else is asleep too and there’s no one awake to check on him every few minutes. I’m really hoping that this passes once I get used to having him home and taking care of him. Tonight, I think I can pull it off because I napped during the day while friends and family visited and took care of him. I tried to go to sleep when Bryan and Asher did, but had nightmares of baby snatchers and SIDS. I know-i’m pretty ridiculous right now. I admit it. I have to keep checking to make sure that he’s warm and breathing. Whew. What a life change.

Anyways, regardless of my irrational fears, Asher is doing beautifully. He’s eating good and adjusting well. He’s also become quite skilled in the art of charming everyone he meets. He probably gets that from his dad.