Journey to Parenthood

I want to be purposeful about journaling during this time in our lives as we watch our miracle micro preemie, Asher, continue to grow and thrive. I began this blog during my month of bed rest at the hospital while I was pregnant with Asher and his brother Titus. We continue to hope and trust the Lord for Asher's future. This blog begins with the story of how both of our boys came to be. They came about after many tears, many prayers, and many months of crushed hopes. On February 2, 2012, our boys Titus Bauer and Asher Mark were born at just 23 weeks and 2 days gestation. My water around Titus broke at 19 weeks, so his lungs were very underdeveloped. Titus lived 45 minutes and is now living a perfect life in heaven as he watches over his little brother Asher. Two and a half years later God redeemed our story of hurt with a precious full term baby brother for Asher. We are humbled by how the Lord has loved on us in our journey through parenthood.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

First Mother's Day with Asher at Home

Bryan treated us to a family date at Color Me Mine to make something special with Asher's footprints for Mother's Day. Bryan's parents joined us too! It was very special to go out as a family to do this. That's all I wanted was a family outing. Asher didn't mind having his foot painted to first time...but by the 4th time he was crying BIG tears. Thankfully his Dig Dig and daddy took him out to play right after that and he felt much better! It will be so special to have these footprints because we have them from last Mother's Day too when he was just 4lbs. It was a nice day, I was so thankful!! 





Starting to loose it...


Best smile- handsome men! 


Loving on Dig Dig and Mama Gail 


Asher's prints from last Mother's Day, he was 3mo old and 4lbs! 


Last Mother's Day to this one.... 



I also took Asher to the grocery store for the first time on Mother's Day! I thought about the irony of this...how most mothers would rather not take their 1 year old to the store with them. But I am just starting to be able to do that now that it's late spring/almost summer. So, this time, it was fun! I know that will wear off, but on this day it was a special treat that only first time moms of micro preemies who have been in rsv lockdown can truly understand!! Asher's look says it all...umm, should I be in here?? He could NOT stop looking around. He wanted to take it all in. One lady even said, "wow, your baby is very observant!" 




I love this...




Thursday, May 2, 2013

15 Months!

A LOT of things of happened this month! Asher has been very busy doing new things and going new places!


First trip inside Eatzi's- YUM!

Reaching new things.

Getting the crib lowered (right after this pic!)

Pulling the camera down.


Oh so close crawling moves...


To actual crawling!! YEA!! 


Trying whole milk for the first time! 

Getting toys out by himself! 

Mmm..discovering the new sound of the shutters banging and then hearing the phrase "no touch" for the first time. :) 

First trip into a store- he loved smiling at sales associates! 


Using the "B" sound to babble!  (We've been working on this!) 



At Children's for his 6th dilation of his esophagus 

He was so happy and loved playing in the crib! 


From his last dilation to this one- 2 mo to 11 mo (corrected). 

After....very sleepy 

He cuddled a LOT with us. We loved it! 

After getting home and some rest, he felt much better. He loves exploring his closet! 

We are incredibly thankful for all the progress Asher has made! We can't wait to see what the next month brings us. He's changed so much already! It's so fun to see him to try to follow us into a room, crawl over to us, and pull up on our legs.  He's getting pretty quick too! Just today I thought, "Where is he?" and he was on his way to see dad in the bedroom. His next step is working on pulling up to standing and then cruising around furniture. (I can't picture this!!) He's also going to be getting a bit more OT time to reinforce some fine motor skills as well. 

He will have a swallow study in the next week or so to see if we can find out why he's struggling after swallowing sometimes. He did try pieces of cheese today at therapy and did well so that was GREAT! We might attempt very flat and thin grilled cheese sandwich bites in the next week too. We will see how that goes! 

We'd love continued prayers for protection over his lungs- against sickness (which damages the lungs), and for his eating skills-- that he would have the desire to try new things, that the esophagus would cooperate, and that he would understand hunger and that's the reason we eat so that one day we can say goodbye to the g-button!! 

Thank you!!