Happy 36 Weeks to our Warrior!

Happy 36 Weeks to our little miracle! You continue to amaze us with your strength and growth! You have now hit the 5 lb milestone and at 2.5 liters of oxygen pressure. Your face is filling out and you are so cute! Your strawberry blonde hair shines as you talk to us with your precious coos. Your eyes are observant of what is close by you. Every moment we hold you we sing praises to God for you.. the miracle He blessed us with from above! We all love you so much and can't wait for your arrival home! Love, Hugs, and Many Kisses ~ Mommy, Daddy, and Easton

I can't believe another week has gone by! It was definitely a busy week, but another very blessed one because of our loving and merciful God! Some of my favorite moments of the week would include giving Asher a bath, dressing him in clothes for the first time, holding him face to face while we talked to each other, spending time with my sister and family, Easton being a big helper around the house and running errands together, and of course each moment I got to spend with Asher and cuddle with him.

Bath Time: Monday night, James stayed home with Easton while I went to the hospital to visit my miracle boy. I will explain in more detail later in a separate post, but James is starting to see Asher every other day now due to work and spending meaningful time with Easton. When I entered, it was bath time. The nurse asked if I would like to give him a bath, and of course I said yes! I am still a little nervous as he has cords and his breathing tube to work around, but it gets easier each time. The nurse guided me through it and gave me tips on where to start and end. I began by wiping both eyes from the inside corners to the outside corners. Next came wiping his precious face. Then I took the soap and dropped some droplets on his tummy and gently wiped his tummy making sure I wet the sticker areas where the cords were so they could easily wipe off as he gets new ones each bath. Then it was time for his little feet, to his legs, and then his bottom. Last I soaped his hair, as that is the part of the body that loses heat the quickest, so she said it is always best to do last.Finally she helped me pour clean water over his tummy, legs, and hair to clean the soap. She then showed me how to wrap him in a towel being sure to dry the hair first and to do it well. Then it was time to place him on the scale.. which he was in the 4 1/2 pound range.. getting big! As she made his bed, I got to dress him. It was my first time dressing him in clothes. It was a little challenging as I first had to put on a tiny t-shirt  onesie. Then put the sleeper on. Due to it being a zip up, she had to cut a tiny hole in it for the cords to go through. We then wrapped him up in a warm blanket. He was wide eyed and very comfy. Giving him a bath was such a beautiful gift and he did very well.. didn't get too upset! I loved seeing him all clean, happy, and warm. :)

Mommy/Son Time: Wednesday I met my parents at the hospital. Mom went in with me first. When we arrived I again got to give Asher a bath. This time he was a little mad at first, but we managed to calm him down. Mom heard Asher cry for the first time and it cracked me up because it broke her Grandma heart. She couldn't take seeing him mad, and being the loving grandma and mom she is, she just wanted to so bad pick him up and cuddle with him and let him know all is okay. While I gave him a bath, she then got my dad. My dad loved seeing Asher and enjoyed watching him get a bath, get weighed,and get dressed. He took several pictures and video of it, which I am so grateful for to add as memories of Asher's miraculous journey. Dad enjoyed seeing him all wide eyed and observant. As Asher got cuddled back into bed, Dad got mom as she didn't get to see Asher all content and wide eyed since he was upset when she was in. As my mom reentered, the nurse came over with a pillow. I thought it was to help me prop up my arm in the chair, but instead she had a beautiful idea. She placed the pillow vertical on my lap and then placed my little fighter face to face upright on the pillow. He was all wide eyed, full of coos and smiles. I told him all about how Daddy and Easton painted his nursery, how Daddy was putting his crib together, how I had washed his clothes and hung them in his closet, played with Easton.. etc. all the happenings of the day. I can't put into words how special that moment was. Our eyes locked together in a special Mommy/Son conversation. The nurse then came and took photos on my phone of the special bonding moment. I just remember sitting there with him eye to eye thinking how blessed I truly was that God blessed us with this miracle and this miraculous journey. Yes it is hard to see Asher on oxygen and all that he has went through, but I honestly wouldn't want the story any other way. This story God has written for James and I is beyond beautiful. It has changed our lives and led us in a much stronger relationship with Him. It has led us to truly cherish each day and moment. It has led us to see what a miracle life is... and especially how precious it is! He has blessed us with a little fighter who has touched our lives so deeply.

Nesting: So yes usually the nesting phase comes to mothers in the third trimester prior to baby's arrival. Well my story is a little different. My nesting phase I believe has officially hit this week. I have felt more energized this week and so I went on a nesting mission... to get the house organized prior to Asher's home coming. Tuesday I had my 6 week check-up at Jasper, yes it has already been 6 weeks (now more like 7) since Asher's arrival... crazy! All went well, so when I came back home, I was ready to get the house put back together.

I began by hanging up the clothes mom and I had washed a couple weeks ago, while washing some of the clothes we didn't get to. In the end, I have arranged Asher's closet from newborn size up to 12 months. I then have 18-24 months in bins. With Easton being born in the month of November, and Asher technically due in September, most of Easton's clothes should fit perfectly. I then got all his drawers organized with sleepers, blankets, bibs, burp cloths, etc. Hand me downs are such blessings!

The next mission was to get all the toys mom and I had cleaned organized in his room. James had put together his crib on Wednesday evening in our room as we will have close watch over him the first year. So in his room, we have stored all his toys and gear for the first year. We will gradually get to putting decor on the walls, but our main focus is to just have everything organized. I will be doing the warrior theme in his room... arrows and deer..... as he is a true warrior! With the grey walls I will be adding mint and navy and white as accents. But like I said, that will be a winter project most likely as our main focus is our little miracle right now. :)

Easton enjoys helping mommy, so he was all excited when I asked him to help me organize his room. Prior to this journey his room was pretty organized, but since I have been home and not been able to get down on the floor to help him clean up or to control how many toys he dumped at a time, the toys have gotten all mixed together in different boxes. So he thought it was a treasure when I told him to dump a box at a time and we sorted the toys together. Eventually  we got the toys in the right boxes. We then looked in his toy box and got it all organized. Next was the puzzle shelf as most of the puzzles were missing pieces etc. So we managed to put them all together and find all the missing pieces. Then I let him dump his 2 shelf spaces of books on the floor. We put them back on his shelf spaces in a much neater way as before they were just piled on top of each other where you couldn't see which book you were choosing. Next we went in his closet and organized his memory boxes as we had a whole summer of items to add to his boxes. Easton loved looking at his favorite baby toys again as we went through the boxes. We then went through his clothes hanging in the closet putting away the ones that no longer fit him into the bins in Asher's room. We then ran errands together Thursday early morning as the nicu was in need of more breast milk. After running to the nicu, we went to Target and Wal-Mart to get a crib sheet, diaper changer cover, and boppy pillow cover. Easton then wanted a cookie as each time we run errands he assumes we are going to Schnucks for a free cookie and grocery shopping. He had been such a great helper and so good running errands that I couldn't say no, and I was need of frozen spinach anyways to make some spinach dip I had been craving. It made my day to see him full of smiles as he chose one of his favorite cookies... M&M (or as he call it "M's).

James also was a big help in this "nesting"  phase lol. Our tile floors hadn't been scrubbed since prior to this journey, so we knew it was time to clean them as they felt grimy on our feet (gross I know!). This had obviously been the longest time we have went without cleaning as we weren't home over the summer and since we have been home our days have been quite busy. So James got the fun job of scrubbing them :). It honestly was such a gift once they were clean as the floor felt so smooth on our feet.. you could just tell they were fresh and clean! Next was the lovely bathroom..... our tubs and floors needed cleaned badly as they too have not been touched since prior. So yes James... (he gets the fun jobs as you can see!) cleaned them good. However, I can't forget to mention that he had a helper.. Easton! He was truly daddy's boy on the cleaning day because Easton loves to help.. especially when it comes to cleaning! He will take the swiffer across the floor... pretend to vacuum along with daddy with his little toy push mower, dust with mommy or grandma with a cloth, and now he was in  the bath room helping daddy clean the floors and observing daddy scrubbing the shower and tub.When they were done, Easton had to come get me and show me how clean the floors were as he was so proud to have helped clean them.. something that truly melted my heart!

This week my "nesting" goals are to shred a bunch of papers that have built up over the past few months, dust the house, and file all our lovely hospital papers to help keep us organized as we get many, many, many envelopes in the mail daily that are hospital related.. so it is hard to keep them organized when we just stack them on a desk. I also plan to officially sign papers for us to join Saint Wendel Parish as we love going to Mass there, not only because it is where I work, but because Father Ed means the world to us and we feel at home there. We also will then be planning Asher's Baptism with Father Ed. We plan to do it in October/November sometime and Father Ed has told us that we will do a family Baptism that is separate from Mass as Asher is to be away from any sickness for a year. That means so much to us, as most Baptisms are during the Mass, but Asher would be at risk of catching something more easily in a big crowd. So we thank Father Ed for going out of his way for us. I also plan on dropping off photos of Easton and Asher for the Saint Wendel Social photo contest. My sister was here over the weekend and took some cute photos  of both of them for it. :) On a more fun note, I hope to make spinach dip tonight as I have been craving it for a long time!

I thank God for this time to "nest" as I didn't really get to "nest" as a normal mother would. I would much rather have Asher home, but God has blessed our little miracle in so many ways and keeping him strong in the nicu right now is such a blessing. So as I sit and wait patiently for his arrival, I cherish this "nesting" time God has blessed us with to prepare for our sweet miracle's homecoming.

Family Time: On Saturday my parents along with my sister and Hunter visited. I was excited as Lacy was bringing her wedding DVD that our cousin taped and put together. He did an AMAZING job with it! Even though I Skyped the whole wedding, there were still things that I didn't get to fully see, so it was so neat getting to see it all again. When we watched the moments Easton walked down the aisle as ring bearer and when I gave my speech over Skype, my eyes teared up. It brought me back to that actual day, yes it was so hard not being there, but how grateful I was for that day! With God's blessing of technology I was able to "be there" and that is what meant the most to me! After watching the DVD, we visited our little miracle in the nicu. Hunter got to see him for the first time, which he was all smiles when he saw him. Lacy got to see him wide awake and take some cute video and pics of him. She even got to see Dr. Pyle again as he was on for that day. After the nicu, we went out to eat and then headed back to our house as Lacy took photos of Easton for the contest. It was nice to again get to spend time with my family. I couldn't be more blessed..... they are always here shining the gifts of love, support, care, smiles, and laughter.

I will be posting another post today about God's special plan for us this year. I wanted to post it separately so I can just focus on the one topic. So you will be blessed with 2 posts this week! :)

Dear Loving God, I praise You for all Your endless blessings in our life. Thank You for keeping our little miracle strong and blessing him with amazing growth. Thank You for the gift of family time. Thank You for this beautiful "nesting phase" to help us prepare for Asher's arrival home in Your perfect timing. Thank You for time with Easton as he is such a big helper! Thank You for the joys of giving Asher a bath, dressing him, bonding with him in special ways, and holding him, our miracle, in our hands. Thank You for amazing prayer warriors who pray daily for our little fighter. Our trust is fully in You as You heal Asher in Your perfect timing. You are so beautiful to us! May You continue to shine Your miraculous works  through Asher so all may witness the power of Your healing grace and grow closer to You. Please heal and protect all the nicu babies... which are all miracles! We love You above all things! Amen.

Thank you to all of you for being the powerful prayer warriors you are! We couldn't be more blessed to have all your amazing prayers surrounding our little warrior and all of us. May God send many blessings upon all of you for being our strength. Let us continue to hold hands together with God, Josh, and all the Angels and Saints in prayer throughout this amazing journey! Asher is comforted in all your prayers and in our Miraculous God's loving and healing arms!