We had a full day yesterday!  It started with an early morning trip to Phoenix Children’s.  We’ve had a funky month with his eating and the dreaded Tobi rotation, so we were kind of looking forward to this visit to see how Asher is doing.  Overall, we left there encouraged and again no major procedures on the horizon – raise the roof – woot woot!  He’s in the 75th percentile for weight and height, which just warms our heart!

Asher also had his first day of this class we signed him up for through the Town of Gilbert called Mini-Explorers.  Yep, that pretty much perfectly describes Asher.  When I heard that there were centers and no structure I knew this was the class for us.  It was so cute, and we can’t wait for next week!

Then, we ended the day with daddy and dinner outside.  It’s been so unseasonably beautiful here we have to take advantage of it!  Jeremy was trying to teach Asher to just sit back and relax, but that only lasted for about a second :).

Asher had the great privilege of spending the evening with our friends the Corley’s last night.  Oh boy does he love being around other kids!  Asher was up playing hard into his wee hours of the night (9:00p :-)), and we came back to him completely passed out and snuggled up on Mandy.  We knew he had a blast while he was there, and just to prove it we have a video that Monte put together giving us a snippet of their fun times.  This video cracks us up!  Asher seriously looks like a king on his throne, being spoon fed and demanding the people to entertain him, ha!  Thank you, Corley’s, and for all your love for Asher!

Jeremy and I started painting and preparing for our baby when I was 4 months along.  We were painting our changing table, and I asked Jeremy to write a little note on the back of it to our baby.  He usually rolls his eyes and smirks (in the most loving way, ha!) at all my sentimental stuff, but we’re both so happy we have this little memory now.  Oh yeah, and I’m pretty sure I can never sell this piece of furniture :)!

It reads…

To our first: We don’t know yet if you are a boy or a girl but there are two things we do know:

1. You will be AWESOME!!!

2. We love you!

Love, Mom and Dad – May 2007

These little neighborhood girls came to our door the other day telling us that they were having a car wash to collect money and asked if we needed one.  We said “yes!” before we asked what the donations were for or how much it cost.  Here’s the best part – they were collecting money to buy jackets – like the pink jackets from Grease (that was their actual quote…pink jackets from Grease).  And, they were only charging $3.00 for a car wash.  We couldn’t stop smiling.  I mean, what an awesome cause, and a smoking deal, right!

So, of course, we had to make a family adventure out of it.  They also had some lemondade for their customers to enjoy while the work began (this was after we completed the registration form, ha!).  Asher was trilled to take part in this.  He got his own cup – his own cup full of pink sugar (you know how kids make lemonade).  If Asher could stand still this wouldn’t be a problem, but soon he was just feeding our neighborhood ants and creating quiet the mess.  At that moment I became the rightful, certainly more responsible, owner of the cup.  The kids did a great job washing our car, and even sent us home with a “Black Ice” air freshener, ha!  I can’t wait for Asher to have his own lemonade stands and car washes – how cute!

We are so blessed to announce that teamASHER raised $9,563.31 for the ’09 Great Strides Walk!  WOW!  That is so much money!  We are really excited about this, and thank everyone who helped us raise money and fight for a cure this year!!!!!

*Asher thinking* Ho de hum, ho de hum…I haven’t played with this turtle for awhile…hmm, I’ve gotta get a better look at these buttons…why did mommy put this long shirt on me…I can’t bend my knees…would…you…just…THERE’S my turtle…YEA!

Yesterday was Asher’s first, official pool party!  We got together with our friends from our small group and enjoyed some splashes, great food, and great company!  I was snapping some pics of the kiddos playing and was thinking how great it is that Asher gets to grow up with all these kids.  So fun!  He did really well for the first time in the big, huge pool!  By the end of the night he had accomplished walking off the edge of the pool into Daddy’s arms, going under the water a couple of times, and laying on his back in the water.  He really dug the pool.  We all had a great time with our friends!

Licking the spoon.  Hands down, best part.  Yesterday Asher and I made some Celebration Crispies, and so he of course got to lick the spoon.  The funniest part (to me anyways) was that he had a Rice Krispie stuck to his upper lip after the first bite for the entire snack time.  He knew something wasn’t right and kept licking his lips, but he couldn’t get to it.  You know when you have that piece of hair in front of your eye and you just can’t find it, ha!  It was cracking me up!!!

Jeremy and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary yesterday!  Wow, that’s a crazy amount of time!  Life just keeps getting better too.

We had a pretty busy weekend, and Asher and I were so happy to have Jeremy home for an extra day!

We had dinner with our friends, the Greene’s.  Asher had his first encounter with reptiles.  Captain Curious couldn’t just look at them with his eyes, he’s gotta check everything out!  I really think reptiles are gross, but I started to feel bad for the little guys, ha!  Asher turned the little one over a couple of times, and kept giving them a push from behind.  I guess they don’t move as fast as he would like.

Then we took a stroll on the golf cart through their beautiful neighborhood.  They have paths lined with grapevines in bloom, it’s gorgeous.  Asher wanted to get out and run and taste the grapes, but that didn’t go so well.  He hacked for awhile and then threw up all over his clothes and shoes.  Seriously, what else can you do at that point besides laugh and thank God he didn’t choke!  That’s what we did.  We ended the evening with ice cream and Rock Band.  Thanks so much, Greene’s, we had a great time!!

We also went to Asher’s cousin Christian’s 2nd Birthday party!  Lots of kids running around, which meant one happy and hot Asher!  Christian’s mom bought water guns for all the kids, which was so perfect for a little boy’s birthday party!  Asher couldn’t quite figure out the purpose of them, but he did “enjoy” shooting himself with water.

We celebrated Memorial Day hanging out as a family…a little cooler family.  We bought one of those 10ft blow-up pools and had a blast splashing around yesterday!  It’s crazy that a little water like that can make you feel chilled in 100 degree temps!

We had a great, long weekend as family!

Last weekend we were at the Scorza’s celebrating Whitney’s Graduation.  Congratulations, Whitney!!!  Whitney has always shared so much love with Asher, she even came to the hospital to bring some toys and treats for Asher and us when he was admitted.  We love you, Whit!

A major mommy moment happened while we were there, and so I wanted to record it.  The Scorza’s have a little playhouse in their backyard, which Asher just loves climbing up and investigating.  It’s about 6 feet off the ground, so when Asher is up there he is literally out of my arms reach, but it brings him so much joy to climb up the stairs, open and shut the door, and look down on us through the windows.

Well, this time there were already 4 really big kids up in the playhouse.  They were being rowdy and rough, and doing all the things really big kids do.  Of course that didn’t scare Asher, he wanted to be a part of the fun.  So he climbed up the stairs with no hesitation, and busted through the door saying “hi” to his new friends.  The really big kids were a little annoyed by Asher, and continued on with their really big kid games.

I had SOOOO many emotions going on at that moment, I couldn’t believe it.  I felt like I was on the verge of tears the entire time he was up there (thankfully I saved these for Jeremy when I was retelling the story, ha!).  He was only hanging with the really big kids for about a minute, but it seemed like an eternity!  This was the only thing I could think to say to the really big kids was, “hey guys, he’s just a little boy so be careful.”

Here is just a snippet of the emotions that were going on in my head, and all in a matter of one minute…

Be careful;  I swear, if you kids hurt him I’m going to march up there and ring your necks; there’s no rail on that side, I better go stand over there; Asher please make good choices; kid, seriously, I will hurt you; Asher, they don’t want your hugs; please just come back on the ground; this is how the playground at school is going to be for him; kids are going to be mean to him; maybe I can volunteer every day in his class; I think he needs a haircut; watch out for your fingers; did that kid just slam the door on my son.

Sigh…it was quite the moment.  I’m glad it’s over.

I need some help.  I don’t sew, and I’m not creative.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I can help Asher with his mask?  The strap on his mask is constantly slipping down the back of his neck and pulls down on his ears.  I’m starting to worry about the wrestling cauliflower ears, and it’s driving me nuts!  I’m guessing it doesn’t feel the greatest for him either and I want to make his treatments as comfortable as possible.

The two things that I keep thinking about are seat belt covers, and those thick plastic strips that go over electrical cords so people can walk over them.  If I could somehow fashion these two things together to hold the strap in place and give him some cushion.  The Michael’s customer service lady asked me if I sewed…there was a lot of silence…I don’t…at all.

Anyone crafty?  Lunch is on me!

Oh, and I had to put this picture up because Asher NEVER falls asleep while he’s doing his evening treatments.  But, the other night once his vest finished his little eyes started drooping, and Sid the Science Kid wasn’t that interesting anymore :).