Our Little Owlet: September 2013

My sweet little Asher is almost 2 years old! In some ways we can hardly believe it, while in others it seems like he's been with us longer. It's hard to imagine life before him, and it's humorous how much perspective you gain from parenthood. I thought I knew before... I had NO idea. It's freaking HARD, much of the time. It's exhausting. It can be insanely frustrating... but he's absolutely amazing and I can't tell you how exciting it is just to have him in our lives and dream about what life in the future might be like with him. It's a joy that's indescribable, unless of course you are a parent and you know of the joy that I'm referring to. It's a challenge to articulate. For me as a mama, it's much like having my heart walk around outside of my body. That in and of itself is terrifying for many reasons, but MAN, is it amazing. It's crazy to think that there's a God that loves Asher even more than I do, more than I can, a God that loves ME more than I love Asher. I can't conceive of it, really.

We were planning on a very small family only birthday party for the Ash man this weekend... until Asher came down with a very nasty URI out of nowhere. Likely just a nasty virus, but the congestion and fever have been just awful. He's on day 10 of the virus and the fever has left him, but he's insanely congested still, so we went a good 7-8 nights with no sleep. The first few nights with the fever and congestion consisted of me not sleeping AT ALL, and just constantly holding and rocking him, desperately attempting to help him get some sleep. When Asher gets sick, it's BAD. Every. Time. He's never ever ever in his little life had just a cold. It always turns into a secondary infection in his sinuses, chest, and/or ears. This is why I'm a crazy OCD Nazi regarding germs during cold and flu season, and why I'll go to any lengths to prevent him from getting sick. This includes not seeing my sister and her kids for weeks on end if there is an illness on either end. It means canceling plans, canceling guests, not taking him out to places prone to have tons of germs, using gallons of hand sanitizer, using cart wipes, and washing our hands a bazillion times. I know, it's annoying and seems uptight, but I don't care. If you had to spend just 24 hours with my sweet little one when he is miserable with a high fever, particularly at night, you would get it. SO not worth it, for anything, really. The doctor confirmed that he has a secondary infection at this point, saying he now has a sinus infection. I'm thankful that she prescribed an antibiotic over the phone (she saw him just days prior), because had she made us come back in for another visit, I think she would have found that on top of this sinus infection, I'm certain he also has an ear infection now. THIS is why I have to prevent illness for him at ALL costs... because 100% of the time it turns into a secondary infection requiring antibiotic, and he is sick for a minimum of 2 weeks. NOT. WORTH. IT.

Just weeks ago, out of nowhere, Asher spiked a crazy high fever, that got as high as just under 105. It was terrifying, particularly because he had NO other symptoms at all, ever. Just an insane fever for DAYS. We brought him to the doctor, and in the time we left our house to the time the nurse took his temp it has risen 5 entire degrees from normal to 103.8 degrees... in like 30 minutes. I'm thankful that in those minutes of it rapidly flying through the roof that he didn't seize, as this is actually very normal with a spike so high so fast. The pediatrician was alarmed and gave him MORE medicine on the spot, and also tested for a UTI (which was HORRIFYING and we will NEVER do that again). It ended up just being a virus, likely Roseola, due to the insane temp out of nowhere. It was frightening and stressful and I'm ready for Asher to have some time of being healthy! Before this, he hadn't been sick since March or something, so that was a nice stretch of good health!

I have Asher signed up for a "creative movement" "mommy and me" class this Fall... I'm not sure, because this kid is hard to read, but I think he's going to LOVE it! Anyone that knows Asher, knows this kid has some moves, and absolutely LOVES music, rhythm, and dancing. I hope it's a good time :)

Papa and Nana came to visit!

Going for ride to the store :)

Sesame Street score from Titi

TIRED boy

The penguins!

Insane bird house where you're constantly dive bombed

Not a fan of the photo shoot, so we tried again in the afternoon ;)

Waiting for the morning school bus to arrive...

Here it is!

Waving at "the mister" driving the school bus (the guy is maybe 20!)

This is what happens when your kid wakes @ or before 5:30am EVERY day

More "Mister" waving

The splash park down the street from our house. He LOOOOOOVES it! :)

There was an airplane!

Poor sweet boy... he's been SO SO sick :(

This is what happens when he's so sick he can't sleep, and he refuses his nap... impromptu nap orchestrated by Mama darkening the room and putting on a quiet Winnie the Pooh movie