98.5

Asa has not had a fever all day and so long has his 48 hr blood cultures come back normal at 6pm, we will be going home. Thanks for all your notes and prayers, we are doing well. Can't wait to get back to regular life!

Fever

Friday night Annabelle had a little fever, complained she wasn't feeling well and was all together out of sorts. With a little Tylenol and spoiling she was back to herself Saturday morning. Unfortunately when Asa woke up from a nap on Saturday he felt warm. I checked and sure enough he then had a fever. Since he is so little I knew he needed to be seen, so we went to the Emergency room. They were awesome, saw him right away (and I mean instantly, no waiting) and started doing tests to rule out the most dangerous possibilites. After his chest x-rays and initial blood work came back normal they told me they wanted to keep him over night for observation. They don't have a pediatric unit at that hospital but they let me drive him over to their sister hospital not too far away. So we've been here ever since. He still has a low-grade fever. He has undergone more tests and so far so good. With any luck we'll be going home tomorrow. He seems like himself, just a little fussy when he is on tylenol and semi-miserable when he is not. He is on tylenol right now and is laying on my lap grunting and sticking out his tounge as he studies the half-open blinds.

All of this is mostly just precautionary, so I don't feel especially worried but I'd appreciate if you would keep him in your prayers today. I'll update again tomorrow and let you know how he is doing. Thanks!

Monsoon

For all of you who have never lived in AZ, here is an interesting bit of information: we have a monsoon season. from late July through August we have thunderstorms that build in the east over the mountains, and then drop into the valley. They sometimes flood the roads, and cause trees and telephone poles to fall. The Arizona drivers have a pretty rough time with the slightest amount of water on the road. They slow down drastically and accidents are more common. Anyways it is nice to see the clouds and to get a little bit of moisture in the dessert.

Here is the first monsoon of the season last week as seen from our balcony.

-Mike

Is this REAL life?

I love this video. Friday was not my most favorite day of my life BUT the kidney stones are out. I really felt like the kid in the video. Soooo out of it. My emotions were everywhere - I remember being so angry, why would they do this to me? when would my head stop spinning? who hurt me? I felt tired and had no ability to remember what was happening. It was like I was waking up over and over again every 5 seconds or so, until we got home from the hospital and I slept it off for a few hours that is. I've been under general anesthesia 3 times before and never took so long to wake up. Anyway, this video totally made my day. I'm considering buying a t-shirt from the website: davidafterdentist.com - I could justify it by saying that some of the proceeds go to a good cause.

Mike said my reactions weren't all together too different from this 7 year olds. Awesome, under the influence the main difference between me and a 7 year old is just replacing his finger and eyes comments with "Why did they do this to me?" groans thrust at odd places in the conversation Mike and I had on the drive home.

I'm doing better now. The stent that was put in during surgery was taken out today and so I am ready for my body to really start healing.

I'm a Stoner

That's right, I've joined an elite group of stoners. Kidney stoners that is. My dad and his dad are in the group and I almost feel privileged to be joining them. I only wish I was as tough as them.

As it turns out my body has produced some pretty good sized calcium stones and the big one (at least 8 mm) tried to take a slide to the nearest exit and got stuck. So later this week I'm going to have a quick out patient surgery to have it broken up and taken out. The doc is kind enough to take the others with him while he is in there.

Thanks to some prescription pain killers I really just have a mild back ache most of the time. Mike of course hasn't let me lift a finger and has kept me away from the car keys as well! I have had awesome friends in the ward taking care of me, driving me around, watching Annabelle - so far I have been on something of a "stay-cation". Seriously: personal drivers, live-in chef and house keeper, a part time nanny and the overall feeling of relaxation (yes, some of that feeling could be due to the drugs). Ha ha!

Anyway, life goes on. It will all be fine. Poor Asa won't be able to nurse for 5 days after the procedure due to some antibiotics that I will be on and I only have enough milk frozen for a day or two . . . so we've gotta introduce formula, hopefully he likes it because there isn't much of a choice!

One Month

We've had our sweet Asa for a month now and it has been pure bliss! He is such a sweet boy and time has been flying far too quickly. Since he was born he has been a great eater and still hasn't developed too much more of a cry than a quiet fuss.

The first week after Asa was born my mom was here to help with Annabelle and take care of all of us once we got home. It was great to not worry about all the details and to know that Annabelle was having a blast with outings to the library and little projects to keep her busy. Thanks a million mom!

The following week we had Mike's parents here to help me out and entertain Annabelle as well. I felt so great thanks to their help that I didn't feel like I was really in recovery anymore. Most of the time we just played, ran errands (some necessary, others just because I liked getting out of the hosue) and enjoyed snuggles from Asa. It was a wonderful week and a great way to transition into having kids.

After family left, the reality of how quickly I could get behind on things like dishes and getting out of my pjs set in, so I stopped worrying about it and have for the most part just been doing the minimum to maintain the house and snuggling with this little bug the rest of the time.

Annabelle just wants to love and play with Asa a good portion of the day. I can tell he really likes her, he will breath all fast and kick around more when she approaches him. But he also gets nervous when she is super loud and in his face. I keep wondering if he will be a louder kid just so that he will be heard over her, or if he will be quieter because she is so loud . . . so far quieter - but not necessarily because of her.

In other Annabelle news . . . she got her ears pierced last week! I had told her she could get it done whenever she wanted. For the last 6 months or so she told me that she wanted to wait until she was 11. But after asking every day for about a week we took her and got it done. She was so determined, she hardly flinched. Beforehand she said that she wasn't scared, but that she still wanted to hold Mike's hand. Afterward she said that it didn't hurt, but that it did hurt a little bit.

Mike was able to take the first week off after Asa was born and has since then been making the most of his afternoons and evenings by helping me with a never ending 'honey do list', playing with Anna and of course taking pictures all along the way. Annabelle snapped this one of Mike a week or so ago- a great portrait I think!

We celebrated our 4th of July weekend with all of my family and Mike's parents in town again. Mike has jokingly invited people to come visit us for the 4th of July since we moved here, but who would have guessed that we would actually have a compelling enough reason to have people come down! Mike blessed Asa in church on Sunday. It was great to have so many family members here to participate and support us. Thankfully they all made it out alive, despite the 111 degree weather.

I feel so blessed to have a healthy, sweet baby in the house again. He is a constant reminder to take things slow, enjoy the family that I have been blessed with and that time goes way too fast. I feel gratitude in my heart everyday for such blessings.

Thanks for all the notes and comments you have left. Sorry I haven't responded or even been commenting on other posts. I haven't been spending all that much time on the computer - but I haven't forgotten you, I've just been happily distracted lately!