asher loves his brother and sisters

One of the very best parts about being in Utah is how much time Asher has had with his brother and sisters. They really all love each other!

we're so glad when daddy comes home

Jared came home last night after five days in Utah to take the kids back. Boy, are we happy to have him home! I hate being apart from Jared, and although I was less lonely having Asher with me, it was also harder having to take care of a baby all by myself. I would never want to be a single mom to an infant. And boy am I glad that my husband is home most of the time. I gotta hand it to all you moms out there with husbands that are gone a lot for work. I am spoiled by having mine work at home right now. It's really nice having another set of hands to hold a fussy baby. One night I didn't eat dinner until after 9 pm because Asher wouldn't stay asleep if I wasn't holding him. But most of the time he was really good. Yesterday he hung out in the carrier lots while I cleaned and didn't complain at all.

Last night, Asher was sound asleep when I left to go pick up Jared at the airport. He was asleep when I carried him in and then about 3 minutes before Jared got there, Asher woke right up and was really alert. I was glad he woke up to see his Daddy. He smiled lots for Jared too. Asher has been smiling more and more every day. It's so fun. I still haven't gotten good photos of it yet because I'm usually having too much fun smiling back at him, or as soon as the camera comes out he stops. I'm pretty sure seeing my baby smile at me or his daddy is about the best thing there is in life.

Life is a lot quieter now with the kiddos gone. It's just the three of us. And honestly, although it's hard to have Jared's kids so far away, we are grateful for this time with just Asher. I'm grateful that just as we got to enjoy time as newlyweds, we will get to enjoy this time with our sweet baby.

The plan is that this will be our last year in NC. Next summer we hope to move out to Utah while Jared writes his dissertation. He met with people at a couple of the Universities out there about teaching part-time next year. We don't want to settle in Utah long term, but it will be nice for a couple years. I'm starting to look forward to it even. It will be so much better for everyone to be near the kids. We both have lots of family there. Two of my siblings will even be at BYU. Plus, I have tons of friends there. I love it here in North Carolina, but it will be really good to be back near so many of the people we love. Plus, we'll save a bundle not having to fly out there so much!

letter to my love

By now most of you have probably heard about the plane crash involving Stephanie and Christian Nielson (this will take you to her sisters blog where updates are posted). Stephanie's blog is one of the very first I discovered when I jumped on board this whole blogging thing some 18 months ago. I have emailed her several times and she is always so gracious with her responses. I am just heartbroken imagining her wrapped in bandages in the hospital fighting for her life and knowing that if she makes it through, that life will never be the same. Many of Stephanie's faithful readers have posted about this tragedy and have honored her in various ways. Here is mine.

When Stephanie's husband goes away she often writes "Letters to Mr. Nielson" on her blog. Well my husband left me today to take the children back to Utah. It is just me and the Ash Man at home for the next five days. Today this letter to my darling husband is in honor of the Nielsons.


Dear Jared,

Asher and I have now survived some three hours on our own. Those three hours consisted of eating, playing, diaper changing, tummy time, snuggles, and now Asher is sleeping while I do this. I hope your flight is going well and that the next one will too.

As you know, the Nielson family has been on my mind a lot this week. Thinking of such a beautiful family has made me so grateful for our own beautiful family. Thank you for creating a family with me. Thank you for sharing your children. Thank you for giving me a son. He is already such a little person. It is so fun getting to know him. I love that he is so obviously part of both of us. The eyes from you. The dimples from me. Can you believe we created him? It still blows my mind.

I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you. This summer has been difficult. You have had so much on your shoulders-- first a pregnant wife on bed rest and then a new baby, three kids, a class to teach, RA work, your thesis to finish up, plus all the little necessities of life. You have cooked WAY WAY more than your share of meals. You have cleaned. You have been the go-to man for all of us. I know it hasn't been easy and I want you to know how much I appreciate all you have done and continue to do for me and for our family.

I hope your trip goes well. Know that Asher and I are here waiting for you. It will be wonderful to have you back home with us. We miss you and love you more than ever!

yours always,

Katrina

PS.... Here are a few of the photos we took yesterday. Too bad there were so many bugs outside. There were several almost good ones. Oh well.

This is the best of the two we took of all of us. If only Isaac had cooperated.

Here is the best one of the kids. Grace is doing her crazy face, but otherwise pretty good.

And this one of me and Asher would have been perfect if he had opened his eyes. But he's a baby, so we can't ask for much, can we?

finally some photos from the beach

I finally got around to going through our photos from our family vacation at the beach last month. Here are a few of them.

The first moments at the beach.

The kiddos

Two white folk at the beach.

The beautiful sandcastle Lauren made.

I love this one.

Hilary and Me.

Hilary looking chic under the umbrella.

Miss Olivia wet from a swim.

Mr. Isaac after he got hit by a wave.

Miss Grace running. She did a lot of that.

Olivia

Grace making her latest fake photo smile.

The whole gang at dinner on our last night there.

park day

Yesterday the high was a balmy 83 degrees. It was wonderful! I was able to take the kids out to the park--our first sans Daddy excursion. It could not have been a more beautiful day. Here are a few photos. I had fun messing around with Pioneer Woman's PhotoShop actions on these.

he's a dad

This is a post I started on Father's Day and never finished due to a hospital visit, bed rest, family coming, etc. It is for Jared.

I married a father. A father of three even. I'm wild and crazy like that.
But look how cute he is. How could I resist?
The kids are pretty cute too.

I love them.
Even though they drive me crazy sometimes.

Jared is a really great father.
I knew that before I married him. Not many women can say that.
Because he's been a student (he was a wee undergrad when Olivia and Isaac were born and PhDs take a long time) the entire time he's been a dad, he's always had a flexible schedule. This has allowed him to spend a lot of time with his kids.

He has really special relationships with each of his children.

Olivia and he are probably the most alike. They are both too smart for their own good sometimes but can also be totally clueless in other areas. They both think outside the box. They both know how to get what they want.


Isaac is a little blond version of Jared. He looks so much like his dad. Isaac is Jared's "Buddy". They both love all things super hero. Isaac loves helping his dad do guy things like taking out the trash and hooking up the dryer. And was really excited to pick out these socks for Jared's birthday last year. :-)


And there is Grace. Jared has a special little place in his heart for funny Grace. She is full of spunk and personality. Plus, she's been the baby for nearly 5 years now. The youngest always gets a little spoiled. ;-)

These three kids adore their dad. The past couple years have been hard since they moved to Utah. But Jared has made seeing them as much as he can a priority. At Halloween, he was in Utah and even made their costumes.

Soon, Jared will be a father for the fourth time. (wo!) I can't wait to see him with our son. Jared adores babies, and I know my love for him will grow even more once I see him with the little life we created together. He is already a great dad to our little Asher. He has taken such good care of me during this pregnancy. The past 5 weeks have been hard--I've been in the hospital twice, been on bed rest, we moved, Jared had to finish revisions on his thesis, the kids came, he started teaching, plus his RA work and a hundred other things that are part of life like paying bills and cooking meals, all while dealing with an emotional pregnant invalid for a wife. It's been really stressful for him, but he's done it. I am so very grateful for him. I don't have the words to express my gratitude.

I married a wonderful man and an extraordinary father. I feel so blessed that he is the father of my little baby. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that I get him as my eternal husband and that my children get him as their dad.


Happy Father's Day, Jared!

Sorry it took so long to get this posted!

weekend update

We did make it out for our date on Friday night to a local restaurant. It was lovely to have some time out of the house together. I made sure we got a photo on our last night as just the two of us. I'm really grateful I'm not on strict bed rest and can get out of the house a little.

Saturday afternoon we had another date--we went to Target and to the movies to see Iron Man. It was a really fun movie! Then it was back home for me, and Jared went to the airport to get the kids.

They have been so cute talking about "Baby Asher" all the time and taking turns pretending to be a baby. They are all very excited to have a baby brother.

It's so good to have them here but it does add to the craziness of our house right now. Because I haven't been able to do much and Jared has been busy finishing thesis revisions, our house is still a mess of boxes. It's starting to get to me, especially with three more people in the apartment. I REALLY wish I could do more to get things organized. And I feel bad for Jared because he has to do so much--cooking every meal, cleaning, unpacking--all on top of his work. It will be so nice to get a couple more weeks out of the way because at that point, I will feel more comfortable doing more. Plus, my family will be here in two weeks! And we are going to the beach! I can't wait.

moved

Well, we survived the move across town. I can't express enough how grateful I am for all the people who helped. Between packing and the moving, more than 20 people helped us. There is no way we could have done it without each of them. It is very weird to be in a new home having done so little of the work to get us here. Now that we are here, it's especially hard that I can't do the unpacking and organizing. I have to sit nicely and tell Jared what to do. Things are just going to take a little longer to get organized.

I'm still having contractions throughout the day. I'm just doing my best to keep them to a minimum by staying put as much as possible. I did go to church yesterday, but only for sacrament meeting. I still need to figure out a time to go into work one more time, but I want to wait a few days and take it really easy.

And the kids are coming on Saturday! The plan had been for us to meet them in New York next week to visit Jared's family, but since we can't go anymore, they are coming straight here instead. We are very excited to see them and spend the summer with them. The other day their mom told Jared that Isaac talks about Baby Asher every day. He is so excited to have a little brother. We just don't want their little brother to come too soon!

updates

Work has been busy this week, hence the lack of postage here. I do have a few updates however.

Isaac went back to the doctor yesterday and his platelet count was at 400,000! That is on the high end of normal, so we are very glad. If you recall he was only at 7,000 a week ago. Thank you everyone once again who prayed for him!

We ended up not making it to the Obama rally Monday night. I was too tired to stay up that late and deal with all the hassle it would have involved. Plus, some friends we were going with had their baby that morning! So of course they couldn't make it, and I just wasn't motivated enough to stay up that late. Pregnant ladies need their rest!

For anyone who still cares what my pregnant belly is looking like week to week, I added a photo yesterday to Sunday's post. I didn't think I was bigger than last week, but maybe I am after all. The kid just keeps on growing--as he should. :-)

Isaac update

Isaac just went to the hematologist and the diagnosis is for sure ITP. Such a relief. They aren't going to even treat him because in most cases the platelet levels will normalize on their own. He's not currently bleeding and since he's old enough to be careful, they are just going to keep on eye on things and see if he gets better on his own. The common treatment is steroids which have their own set of side effects, so they are going to try this first. He will just have to be really careful that he doesn't hit his head or get injured because he could bleed a lot. The school will have to be notified, and he probably won't be doing any fun playing or recess for awhile. But this is such a relief! We are so grateful it's not anything more serious and hopefully Isaac will be better soon. Thank you so much for your prayers! He still needs them.

prayers for Isaac

Our little Isaac man, my 6-year-old stepson, could use some extra prayers right now. Last night his mom called and said they were on their way to the hospital. Isaac has been having some strange symptoms lately, the latest of which was unexplainable bruising. He went to the doctor yesterday and was told to go to the hospital for testing because it could be a blood disorder and possibly even Leukemia. We spent a worried night waiting for news, praying and hoping for the best, and trying not to let all the negative scenarios get carried away in our minds.

Fortunately, the blood tests show that his red and white blood cells look good so it's most likely not cancer. But his platelet levels were extremely low. The average range is 150,000–400,000 and Isaac's was only 7,000. The doctor says he probably has ITP, which basically means low platelet count for an unknown reason. I guess the bruises are from blood seeping out of the veins. He will be seeing a specialist tomorrow, so hopefully we'll know more then. Poor Isaac isn't allowed to do anything active and won't be going to school this week until we know more. A bad fall could even be fatal.

Please keep Isaac in your prayers. We really hope that it is nothing more serious than ITP, which can be treated fairly easily and often goes into remission on its own. It's so hard to be far away in North Carolina when he's in Utah. It's especially hard for Jared. Again, we are so grateful it's most likely not cancer. Jared has his Master's Thesis defense today too. I don't know how he would have done it if we had had bad news.

I'll keep everyone updated as we learn more. Thank you for your prayers.

trying to feel baby asher

The kids have been so cute about the pregnancy. They are really excited to be getting a little brother and already talk about "Baby Asher" all the time.
We'd be sitting on the couch and Grace would say, "There are three people on the couch--You, Me, and Baby Ashuh."
Although I tried to let them know when Asher was kicking so they could feel him, Grace was the only one who actually did feel him kick. What is it about babies that as soon as someone tries to feel them kick they stop? I guess Olivia and Isaac will have to wait until June.

playing outside

I am back in North Carolina! I must say that it felt very good to walk out of the airport and feel warm, 75 degree, humid air. It was COLD in Utah! It even snowed. But the trip was really, really good. We got to spend a lot of time with family and of course had some really good quality time with the kiddos. These photos are from last Wednesday (before the snow).