No more Jaundice...

Well, Caleb did have a high Bilirubin count so we just had to do light therapy for a while to treat his Jaundice. And the poor baby had to have his little heel poked to do blood tests almost everyday this week!

This is Caleb just relaxin' in the BiliBed.

Once he got used to not being swaddled he did really well with this whole thing.

We are thankful that it is over and we don't have to worry about the lights anymore. We can just enjoy our little boy. We're so glad that it was nothing worse and are thankful to the doctors and nurses that helped us this week!

Asher is a trooper!

Asher's little world has changed, but he is dealing with everything beautifully! He is so sweet and kind to little brother and has fun giving kisses, helping with his binky, and pointing to everyone in our little family and saying our names, "Dada, Mama, Ashy and Bebe Bruh-der"
My boys! It's funny because Justin and I find ourselves saying "He" but not knowing anymore which one we are talking about.
Asher giving Caleb some love.
It was a busy week for our family and Asher handled it well, but he did get bored at the hospital. He entertained himself with the stroller, the cabinets, a golf ball, and the receptionist outside my room (she really liked him).

Asher never took a binky, but as soon as Caleb had one Asher needed one too! It only lasted about two days before he didn't care again but it was entertaining!
Asher is still as happy as ever, and so smart! We are always impressed with him and so happy we get to be his parents!

Bike Trailer...

Hey everyone! I have a few minutes so I am going to try to put up some more pictures for you all to see. This has been a FANTASTIC week!!! I have had so many fun feelings, sweet moments and special experiences! I am going to try really hard to record all my thoughts and feelings, but a girl can only handle so much, so we'll see how it goes. But right now... just lots of pictures!

Justin got a great deal on a bike trailer and he and Asher have been really enjoying it. We had a hard time finding a helmet small enough for Asher and the one we finally got is still a little big, but it works.

P.S. Justin just reminded me of something funny. Asher's new helmet has dinosaurs on it, but he thinks they are cows. He points to them and lets out a very enthusiastic "Moooooooo, Moooooooo!" whenever he looks at it.

Welcome to the world and the fam, Caleb Spencer!!

Well, he made it!  Caleb Spencer was born at 8:51 am, weighing 7 lbs and 19 in long.  We're so grateful that it worked out the way it did, everything went amazingly smooth.  Abby's water broke at around 4:30 this morning, we got to the hospital around 6:00 (with, admittedly, a bit of speeding on my part...but I kept it below 90....), and by 9:00 we had a beautiful little boy.  Abby is feeling awesome (especially compared to the last delivery) and Caleb is as well.  10 fingers, 10 toes, healthy and doing great.  Asher is taken well, for the most part, to little bro.  He seemed a little unsure at first, but I think the whole situation was contributing to that.  He would want Mama and then keep his distance when he saw this little person invading his space.  When we went back to the hospital after his nap he seemed to warm up pretty well, pointing and saying "bruh-ter" and even giving little kisses.  And he only had to be reminded to be "soft" a few times.  Anyway, not much more to the narrative than that, so let's get to the pictures, shall we?

This picture was actually taken just a few days ago by one of our friends (and arguably our new photographer).  Thanks Anna! Not sure I need to say much more, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Here we are again, just waiting...it seems like we were just here!  Props to the anesthesiologist; look at the smile he put on Abby's face! (Believe me, it wasn't there eariler - hence the urgency in getting to the hospital.)

Here he is, just minutes after joining the world!  One of the few open-eye pictures, and probably the least alienish picture...he's a cute alien, though! 

We love that little smashed face already!

It was quite a new experience to have the baby just handed to you after he's delivered.  For those who don't know, Asher

 joined us via emergency c-section, so we're happy this one worked out differently.

Here's the wide-eyed boy during his assessment 

in the nursery...one of the few times during his first day that he actually had his eyes open.  He's kind of been a little sleepy head!

Just one of those new baby pictures.

Mama and her boys!  This is earlier, when Asher wanted Mama but wasn't quite sure about brother yet.

Big bro checking out little bro.  I think he's being soft...I think I would be reacting if he was going for an eye...

Kiss kiss!  Caleb is definitely a kissable little baby!  He's still getting used to things, but Asher's gonna be a great big brother! They are 16 months and 6 days apart. I have a feeling they will be buddies!!

Here he comes!!

So, we're here at the hospital.  We've been here for almost 2 hours and right now we're just playing the "hurry up and wait" game.  Hurry and get to the hospital (thanks Cory and Shiree for coming down to watch Asher until Abby's mom got there!) - and now we wait.  Things are going well, Abby and the baby and doing well.  Abby probably wouldn't want any pictures posted at this point, so you'll have to wait for that.  When there's more we'll get it posted but until then, just waiting...

Watermelon or shoes? Which does he love more...

We went on a little outing to Park City to get Asher some new shoes at the Stride Rite Outlet (He has thick feet and normal shoes just don't cut it...). So, we had his little feet fitted and then started looking at all the shoes and every time Justin opened another shoe box Asher would say "Ooooh! Ashy's shoes!" He loved them all and gets really excited to put on his shoes now.

Then we stopped for dinner and Asher got to eat some watermelon. It started out all neat and clean with Justin cutting little pieces and giving them to him with a fork, but that didn't last. Asher loves to eat like we do and wanted to hold his own piece. He did great, but ended up as messy and sticky as a kid could be. But, you might agree that he looked super cute doing it! 

These are Asher's new shoes. They look really big to me because he has been wearing sandals all summer, but he likes them.  Sorry it's kind of an action shot, my little ball of energy wouldn't hold still this morning.

"TROPICAL BIRD!"

Well, they just opened a Red Robin down the road from us and since I can't think of much these days that's better than having someone else cook for me and clean up the mess afterwards while I sit in the air conditioned room, we decided to go there the other night. It was a real treat! Asher did great and eat all his pasta and melon slices, and I got to spend time with my family. 

So, the Baby Einstein movie that we have been watching lately (over and over...) is about World Animals and one that they mention is the Tropical Bird. So, when we were at the restaurant and this guy showed up it made Asher's night! He saw him from across the room and started pointing and saying "tropical bird!" 

He was so excited when he finally made it to our table. This is Asher giving "Red" a high five. The hard part was every time he left Asher would start to cry and say "please, please, tropical bird, please." Good thing he came around the restaurant about 4 times! 
Asher giving him a hug! So funny! He wasn't scared or anything. While I was watching him get so excited about this big funny bird with a massive head I kept thinking that he is going to love Disneyland with all their big funny characters... unlike his mom with the unfortunate Captain Hook incident of 1991. Anyway, Thanks Red, for making my son so happy.
Asher even got to sit in a booster seat at the table. What a big boy. No more highchairs for him! P.S. Asher is 16 months old today!!

En Garde!

Well, my goofy boys found something fun to do with the oven mitts and pack 'n play poles. Asher started things off by picking up the pack 'n play poles that were out because we were in the middle of setting it up and started swinging them around like swords. 
Justin was on the phone but as soon as he was done he got in on the fun by equipping them both with shields (a.k.a. oven mitts) and teaching Asher how a proper sword fight should go!
Asher loved it! I think his stance is pretty impressive too. How young is too young to start fencing lessons? Just kidding, but I will say one thing... Oven mitts, metal poles, one giggly baby and a goofy husband make for some pretty entertaining Sunday afternoons!

Where did it go?

Asher was eating some Cheerios with Justin this morning and he was picking them up by sticking it to his finger then putting it in his mouth. Once he wasn't paying attention to where he was putting his hand and the Cheerio ended up sticking to his nose. 

The funny part was how confused Asher was for a minute about where it went!

I just can't get enough...

This is one sweet little boy. He got yet another battle wound on his lips yesterday when he fell at the garden, but it didn't even slow him down. I didn't freak out (as much) this time either!

Asher likes to wear Daddy's hat and make silly faces! I love this kid.

Summer days...

Asher right after he finished his Otter Pop during an apartment activity.

Asher recently found this step stool and loves to play with it.

Sometimes I keep the big boxes from Costco because, lets face it, kids love boxes more than toys. At least mine does :) 

We babysat a little friend the other day and the two little sweeties found a fun spot to play. 

4th of July Doughnuts...

Well, Asher liked the doughnuts. Thanks everyone for a great 4th of July!! 

P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

Reap what you sow...

Asher loves to play in the dirt. Sticks, rocks, mud... Could life get any better?

Well, Justin has been quite the gardener this summer. We have a little garden plot at our apartment here, and he decided that he wanted to give it a try. With a little help and advise from my Dad it's been going really well. We've already had some cauliflower, a few cherry tomatoes, and he just picked some green peppers too! Way to go, Justin. Your garden looks great!

So yummy!

It's been fun to watch Justin take care of his garden and it always makes me think about Reaping what we Sow. This is one of my favorite quotes:  

“We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny.”   - Charles A. Hall