One Year Ago Today . . .

One year ago today, we went in for my 20-week ultrasound for Asher.  I can still remember it like yesterday – the excitement to find out if we would have a boy or a girl, the ultrasound tech pausing on the heart and saying she needed some more time to examine it, the announcement that our new little boy would have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the rainbow in the sky that my friend Kara sad was God’s message to me, the visit with Asher’s cardiologist and coming to understand the challenges Asher would face, especially his first year of life – all the emotions and thoughts of that day are still very vivid in my mind.  However, as I look back on this last year and all that has happened, I am overwhelmed by the miracles we have seen in Asher’s short seven months of life.  We could only dream that he would do as amazing as he has.  He is healthy, growing and developing like any normal seven month old, and a joy to have in our family. 

We feel humbled by all of the prayers and support we have received from our family and friends over this past year.  We have truly come to understand the strength that comes as others join with you to “bear your burdens.”  We don’t know what the future will hold, but as President Monson says, and as we always remind ourselves when the fearful thoughts enter our minds, “the future is as bright as your faith.”  We know that each day with Asher is a miracle and a blessing! 

At seven months, here are some things Asher does:

• Army crawl/scoot all over the place
• Sit up
• Get up on his hands and knees (and sometimes one his hands and feet, in the yoga pose)
• Eats all sorts of soft baby food
• Sleeps for three naps a day, and from 8pm to 7am, waking just once to feed.
• Laugh, giggle, smile, and babble at his brothers
• Loves to read and look at books (and eat them)
• Loves when we sing to him
• Loves his bath, especially kicking his feet and splashing his hands in the water
• As you can see from the picture below, he also likes eating leaves . . . and anything else he can find left on the floor!

     

Halloween

We’ve had a busy week this Halloween week, but we' had a fun time at the Trunk or Treat at church, trick or treating at Shane’s work, carving pumpkins, and finally trick or treating on Halloween.

Wednesday evening was the first chance we had to carve pumpkins.  The kids had fun, and Davis and Landon designed their own.  (Landon’s is a guy hiding behind a bush?)

         

Halloween night couldn’t have been more perfect weather.  It wasn’t very cold at all and the sky was mostly clear.  We went a little bit on our own, and then some with friends too.  Landon was a robot (we made it), Davis was a construction worker, James was Super James (recycled from Super Landon and Super Davis), and Asher was a tiger (donate by Packers).

         

Pumpkin Patch

The last weekend in October, my parents came up to Portland, and the Packers came down from Seattle for the weekend.  We had a bit of a busy day with van shopping for the Packers and two soccer games for us, but we had a great time at the pumpkin patch. 

We had a little time in the afternoon to play in the leaves in our front yard.  The boy started out by trying to make the pile themselves, but then it really got big once Grandpa came out and helped rake them into a pile.  They were pretty excited to go jump in once they got their big pile!

         

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch, Lee Farms.  We missed Jake and Stacey, as they’ve gone with us the last few years when they lived in Ashland.  The kids had fun on the slide, going through the maze, eating donuts, looking at the farm animals, and going on the cow ride.