So much has been happening these past few months, I feel like I'm just now able to catch my breath. And in a few more months things are going to get even crazier! One thing I've noticed that has been on both my and David's mind has been how worried we are about Asher once the twins are born. Asher is used to being an only child, and while he absolutely loves other kids, we aren't sure how much he'll love having them living in our house 24/7.
So I feel like I have to take every opportunity now to enjoy the crap out of spending time with my firstborn while he has me all to himself! He is such a good kid and we really did get lucky having such a spunky, loving, and adventurous child to enjoy these last few years. Here's just a few things I want to remember about Asher right now:
His talking has improved sooooo much compared to where he was last year! He loved speech therapy and it really helped me be able to help him. Now he loves to tell me lots of stories and narrate everything he does and (a little to my dismay) copies words and phrases that he hears. Yesterday he came up to me and said "Mama, I have a problem." Other phrases he likes to use are "Oh my gosh!", "Don't be naughty", and "Good job!". It makes me sad that he's starting to lose his baby talk and pronounces words more correctly.
He is such a good boy at heart! He loves to say no when you tell him to do something, and will sometimes throw a tantrum, but usually does what you want without too much more whining. At the park he was starting to get too far away from where I was sitting, so I yelled over for him to come back. The mother sitting next to me thought it was funny that even as he was saying no, he was walking back over and doing what he was told. I explained that that's the 3 year old in him wanting to be naughty, but his good nature to listen to me! He also doesn't want anyone to be sad. If I ever want him to give me a hug, I'll just tell him that I'm sad and a hug will make me happy. It's a little manipulative, but it works every time! When I take Millie outside to go to the bathroom, he says that Millie is sad because she has to go potty, but when I take her outside I'm making her happy! He just wants everyone to be happy!
He likes to help me clean. Not pick up his toys, because that would be silly, but if I'm ever wiping things down he'll grab a disinfecting wipe and get right next to me to help clean! If I'm doing dishes, he'll grab dishes from the table and bring them over. When I was setting up our crib, he was right there helping me hold stuff and screwing things in. He loves to go get things for me or David while we're doing stuff. Or if we're feeling lazy and don't want to get up to get things.
Still loves cars. I know any present I get him that has wheels he will love. Which is why we have a bajillion cars in our house. And he's not big into coming up with creative names. The names of his cars are Blue Car, School Bus, Tractor, etc. The only cars that have real names are the cars that look like cartoons. He has a semi he calls Mack (from Cars). And he knows all the names of the Thomas trains. And the cars from Blaze.
He is just a real goof ball and always makes me laugh! I hope he'll always keep that quality! It'll be a big adjustment when the twins are born, but I think he will actually like it. And I'm pretty positive these babies will absolutely love their big brother!
I bought this floaty toy awhile ago, and while I was cleaning Asher found it. He kept asking to go swimming, but this was the best I could do. He didn't seem to mind and had a blast! Even if it was a little squishy.
Last Sunday he came up to me and announced that he had his shoes and necklace on, so he was ready for church!
Yesterday Asher told me to lay down on the couch (I didn't complain). He then picked the flowers from off our Christmas tree and put them in my hair and told me I was pretty. Then he tried to cut my nails (which I was too nervous to let him do). Then he got a candy cane (which he calls candle cans) and force-fed it to me to help me feel better! After that, he said my teeth were yucky and went and got my toothbrush and toothpaste and had me brush my teeth. He's very good at taking care of others!
I got on the computer to write this post. He put the glasses on me. Then the headphones. He's very helpful.
Asher did my hair. Then he moved on to Millie. Don't worry, if Millie really hated it she would've just got up and left.
Asher loves that we are getting out all the baby stuff. And I still think he has the best laugh around!
My sister kept asking for a baby bump picture. This was me at 16 weeks. I have to really not think about how much time I have left to go in this pregnancy. But everyone is healthy and that's the most important part, right???
David playing in the West Jordan community orchestra. He almost forgot about this concert, and it's a good thing he didn't! He was 1 of 2 cellists. It was a fun little Christmas concert! I'm more excited about his next concert, though. Messiah sing along!
As crazy as we thought our life was going to be after we found out we were going to have twins, a week later it just got crazier (and not in a good way).
Thursday, Oct 27 - David was going to have a concert with the West Jordan Symphony that night, so I took him to work so Asher and I could have a car to get to the concert that night. We were going to meet David for dinner and he was just going to hang out at his school till we got there. But David called me during lunch and said he really hurt his back and could hardly move. So we left home 2 hours earlier than planned, met David at the school, and took him to an urgent care. He could barely move and had to lean on me to walk. The doctor there gave him a shot of an anti-inflamatory and a pain pill and sent us on our way. The shot did nothing and David couldn't even feel the pain pill working. But he played in the concert that night anyways because he didn't to disappoint his students that were coming. Then we went home and he crashed on our bed and couldn't move. He hardly slept that night because of the pain.
Friday, Oct 28 - The pain was still awful. We took him to a different urgent care/family doctor close to our house. They did an x-ray, another shot, a muscle relaxant, anti-inflamatory pills, and more powerful pain pills. The x-ray showed that the bones were all fine, but pulling slightly in his spine, which didn't say much except that his muscles were pulling them, which we already knew. We were told to come back on Monday for a follow up. The shot and pain pills still weren't helping, and I was basically David's walking stick because he had to lean on me wherever he went.
Saturday, Oct 29 - David was in a lot of pain. He tried to move around to loosen up the muscles, but could barely get around the apartment. Pain pills still not working, but the anti-inflamatory pills helped a little. It's a little bit of a cruel irony that I, the woman pregnant with twins, am the most able-bodied person in our house. I had to help David with almost everything.
Sunday, Oct 30 - Stake Conference. I didn't feel comfortable leaving David because he was so dependent on me for that long so I stayed home. Also, Asher got a cold. Probably from going to the doctors offices.
Monday, Oct 31 - We went back to the doctors. David was told to go to Physical Therapy and we got an MRI scheduled. Better pain pills that kind of work! I took Asher trick or treating that night, which he just loved! After a couple houses, he got the hang of it and we were walking around for about an hour! When we got home, David was in a much better mood because the pills were actually helping take the edge off the pain.
My little pirate!
This is him saying "ARRGH!"
With all his spoils! Asher doesn't really love candy, so he gave David and I most of it.
Tuesday, Nov 1 - Physical Therapy. The therapist couldn't do much because we didn't know what was wrong yet. He guessed the disk was bulging and the nerve bundles were hanging out a little. They didn't do much for David, but he did get a shirt and Asher made a bunch of new friends! At all the doctors offices, most people thought Asher was super cute and would get him toys and stickers and play with him. At the physical therapists, there was an older patient there that Asher thought was the coolest person ever!
Later that night I went to DI and got David a walker. I was just getting to be too much to have him lean on me for everything. This also helped him have a lot more freedom to move around. Mostly all I do to help him now is move stuff out of his way or go get things for him.
Wednesday, Nov 2 - David tried to go to work. I thought with the walker and pain pills he would be ok, but he only lasted 3 hours before his back pain was too much. Also, MRI today. We drove to Provo and had Joy watch Asher while we did this. He had a lot of fun with her and I got to see her new place when we picked him back up! I was surprised that the MRI only last about 15-20 minutes. While we were there, the guy helping David said he had to get part of his spine fused because of arthritis. He looked like he was moving pretty good! So if David has to do that at least I know he'll be able to walk better than he is now!
This picture breaks my heart a little. I figured this is the only way he would let me take a picture of him with the walker.
Thursday, Nov 3 - David spent most of the day laying down. The only position that feels comfortable. We got the results of the MRI. Protruding disk with annular tear (disk tear) in the L5 S1 region. We were referred to a specialist, who we'll meet with on Monday. We were also told the only way to completely relieve David's pain is with an epidural. We tried to get set up with that, but our doctor's office hasn't been super good at calling us back in a timely fashion.
Friday and Saturday, Nov 4/5 - Not much happened. David stayed home and mostly laid down. It hurts him so much to move around. We're all so frustrated that this is still going on. David is frustrated he's in so much pain and can't do hardly anything and can't go to work. I'm frustrated that I have to help everyone else in the house do everything (helping them go to the bathroom, getting them to bed, feeding everyone). Asher and Millie are frustrated because their routine is all messed up and they don't have their playmate and I don't take them to the park as much. We all just want life to go back to normal.
Today is Fast Sunday. I'm not able to fast but if all you out there could include us in your thoughts and prayers this day, we would really appreciate it. I honestly feel like we're doing everything we can, but it still feels like it's not enough. I'm trying super hard not to think about what all this is going to cost when the bills start coming in, and trying extra super hard to not think about when the twins are born and if they end up in the NICU and how trying (emotionally and financially) that's going to be! We're trying to be as upbeat as we can about all this and have found many ways to laugh at how ridiculous our situation is. I just pray that the appointment tomorrow will go well and they can fix David as soon as possible so I can have my husband and Asher and Millie can have their Daddy back.
This is the best position for David. Laying on our couch. He spends the majority of his time here.
I just had to include these pictures. Asher has taken to tucking his toys into bed and then running to find me to show me! And don't worry, tractors get tucked in just like any human-like toy.
And here are his farmers all tucked in.
Wan-Mart got out all their Christmas decorations! I love Christmas so I was a little excited (even if I do think it's too early). I was most excited to see their chocolate oranges! I feel like they run out of those so fast! I normally try to avoid them because I gain most of my holiday weight from them, but I really needed one this week.
I hope this post doesn't turn out to be too long! But since my last post, there has been about a million things happening. First off, here are just some random pictures of us!
On the rare occasion that David beats me to bed, if I take too long my spot usually gets taken. Millie is definitely David's dog. When he gets home she follows him around everywhere!
Pajama pants I made for Asher. My sisters, Mom, and I pick out little projects to do together. It's a lot of fun and makes it seem like I'm still living close by for a little while!
Chicago style pizza from Papa Murphy's and Diet Pepsi. We were channelling my dad that night.
Asher loves this park and especially that swing! He'll sit in there while I push for half an hour until I kick him out because I'm so sick of pushing him.
Ok, now on to more fun stuff! In September, my sisters and mom came to visit us for a couple of days. I had so much fun and love being able to spend time with family (that includes you too, Clay people!) The night they came up we went to dinner, went shopping for our children, and saw the movie Storks. It was a perfect night out for a bunch of fairly new mothers and grandma! When we got back home we were all pretty exhausted. But that didn't stop us from partying the next day as well! We had breakfast and then headed for the aquarium about 20 minutes away. It was so much fun and Asher kept running around trying to see everything at once! He talked about that place for a solid month afterwards, so I think we may have to make another trip back soon. I wish I had taken more pictures, but here is what I have:
Asher LOVED the jellyfish! This was probably the hardest room to get him away from.
Looking at the huge Amazon fish. Asher wanted to show David every exhibit there was, even if David was already standing there looking at it!
Going to the 4-D movie, which Asher completely hated. He refused to wear the glasses so the screen was all blurry and he really hated being squirted with water or feeling the blasts of air. Maybe when he's older...
After the aquarium, we went to lunch and then David went home and us girls (and Asher because he wanted to spend more time with Grandma, and Cache because he was Joni's little buddy this trip) all went shopping! I'm really bad at shopping and couldn't find anything I wanted. At TJ Max I was looking around and Asher managed to find the toy section. He kept bringing toys up to me that he wanted me to buy, but they were either too expensive or he already had the toys. So he started bringing toys to Lisa to see if she would take pity on him, but no luck there either! Finally, Grandma came up and asked Asher why he was so upset. I told her that he wanted a toy so she nodded her head, turned to Asher, and told him to go pick out any toy he wanted! Such a softie! He was holding a little car when she asked, but he immediately put that down and picked up this big dump truck and excavator. He was happy as a clam the rest of the day!
A few days after they left, he was still enthralled with his awesome present.
After that we went to See's candy because I wanted to see if it is better than Florence's (where I used to work). I am happy to report that Florence's still wins in my book! Once we got home, they all had to leave to save their husbands from being stuck with the kids all weekend, so we said goodbye. It was a fun trip and I'm glad they came!
Asher loves to help us cook, so one night I was feeling super crappy so I decided that dinner would be a little less...healthy....and we made muddy buddies!
I was recently put in Young Women's and missed mutual because of how sick I felt. The next day, I found out why I was feeling like that. It was because......
We're having twins! I knew I was pregnant, but had no idea there was more than one baby in there. With Asher, I was sick from about weeks 4-8. With this pregnancy, I started feeling sick around week 3 and at 11 weeks now, I still get pretty sick but mostly at night. And I have definitely been throwing up a lot more. From weeks 4-8 I could hardly keep any food down. I lost a lot of weight. Not in my belly or my face where you would want to look thinner, but my legs and arms shrunk some. I'm sure I'll do many posts about this, but for now I'll just say that I feel crappy all the time, my belly is already getting bigger, and we're completely freaked out about having twins. How are we going to afford this?? How are we going to handle end-of-school craziness with 2 newborns?? Is Asher going to feel totally neglected?? All questions that race through my mind every day. But it will all work out, right?
This summer I really wanted to do something fun for Halloween, but being so sick that all went in the trash. So I was really proud of myself when I found a simple pirate costume for Asher! It's a step up from throwing a white sheet over him and having him be a ghost, which was my back-up plan. He loves his costume for about 20 minutes, and then he wants to rip it all off, but he loves going around and getting candy! And I like it when he gets candy because he only likes about half of what he gets (he's not big into candy) so I get a bunch too!
I didn't think he would like his hook, but I think that's his favorite part!
I'll finish off with a few random pictures of Asher. He has been so awesome about everything and I know I'm lucky to have him.
I was in the bath one night when Asher walked into our room and climbed into our bed and fell asleep. He does this about once a night. He loves sleeping in our bed.
David bought Asher some crayons a little while ago, but he had no coloring book! I bought him one last night. I picked out the dinosaur one, but Asher insisted on the kitty one. He really is a Mitchell.
This weekend was not fun for anyone at our house, so I bought Asher a car to try to make up for that fact. He loves that car, which he named "Truckie" and today he read Truckie a story and put him to bed.
Truckie all tucked in, complete with a sippy cup of milk.
Last week was a little out of the ordinary for us! To start out, Monday was Labor Day so David didn't have school. I thought it would be fun for us to finally go out on a hike, something we've been talking about doing since we moved here and knew about the abundance of hikes in the vicinity! We went to Battle Creek Falls. It was about a mile hike in (I think) and David and I could tell it's been awhile since we've been on any kind of hike. This was a lot steeper than I originally thought and I was a little worried about Asher, but he was the one leading us the whole way! Pictures to document our trip:
It was VERY busy there. This is apparently a very popular place to go on a holiday weekend!
David hates getting his picture taken, so I had to sneak this one while he was talking to me.
This was our view the whole time. Us dragging ourselves up the hill and Asher running ahead.
We made it! The whole week after that Asher kept asking to go back to the waterfall. We may have to go back soon!
Tuesday and Wednesday were just about the most boring days ever for Asher and I. David is conducting the Jordan Youth Symphony and they had auditions those days, so he left work at 6:30 and didn't get home until about 7. He has auditions this week too. It wouldn't be so bad, but we only have one car so while David's at work, Asher and I are stuck at home or wherever we can walk to. David has been working so hard this school year. He works 10 hour days to make sure that we have enough money for our needs. I really appreciate him! So Asher and I had a lot of extra bonding time this week.
I experimented with no naps this week. I learned that it just made Asher extra grumpy and it didn't make it any easier to put him to bed at night.
David takes his cello to school sometimes, but that may not be happening much in the future because last week some kid knocked it over and took a small chunk out of the fingerboard and scratched the body. So we got to take a trip to Peter Prier's in Salt Lake! While we were there, David tried out some of the cellos in the shop. His favorite one cost a cool $1.5 million! Asher also got to try out the cutest little cello you ever did see!
We saw this on the way home. It was very cool!
After the cello shop we went to buy some school clothes for David. We managed to get 3 new shirts for $25!
I'll leave you with this. Toddlers are ridiculous sometimes. Asher wanted a strawberry, so I gave him a strawberry. Then he wanted a hot dog, so I gave him a hot dog. And he still ended up in tears on the couch. Oh well...
Asher's 3rd birthday has come and gone, and now he feels even more grown up than ever! I love having him around (most of the time...) and it's so fun to watch him learn and play and interact with the world around him. I'll start off with some things about Asher:
This boy loves to jump and climb and run and do all things active. He'll run laps around our living room every day for about 30 minutes, just because. He loves to climb on anyone sitting down. And he can't just climb off something, he has to jump off.
He moved into his big boy bed and seems to really like it. He goes down pretty easy for naps, but getting him to stay in bed for bedtime is still a bit of a struggle. But we're learning. Also, he has figured out that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can come climb in our bed! This happens maybe twice a week, and while I get annoyed that I don't sleep as well, I secretly kind of like it. Sometimes I wake up enough to put him back in his bed, sometimes not. But even if he does sleep in his bed all night, he wakes me up by climbing into our bed anyways and moving around until I wake up enough to get up.
He's very good at pushing his limits! I know it's all part of the toddler stage, but it gets a little frustrating at times.
His favorite thing in the world is probably going swimming! The Mitchell genes show through!
Loves loves loves Millie. Sometimes a little too aggressively. But she's very tolerant and he loves to maul her!
Mostly potty trained. We still have accident every now and then and I still have him in a diaper at night, but he's usually dry in the morning.
Thinks that Dad is the coolest person on the planet and is way more fun to play with than Mom.
Loves playing with other kids!
Talks so much now! Speech was such a good thing for Asher. It was a lot of work and I know it was hard for him, but it's really paid off because he is now back on track! I love having conversations with him and getting to know his personality even more.
He remembers things much better now. He tells me he misses Ledger, or that Isaac and Hunter live in Idaho, or when we went swimming he asked if Joy Joy was coming. For the week before his birthday, he had me sing Happy Birthday to all his toys and was so excited for cake! It's so fun to have him be excited for things, I can't wait for all the holidays coming up!
For his birthday, we didn't have a lot of money to do stuff so I thought it would be fun to do all his favorite things. We watched a movie in the morning during breakfast, then I blew up some balloons and we played "keep the balloon off the floor" for an entire hour (which made me surprisingly tired) and then we went swimming with Brittany! Brittany surprised Asher with a play kitchen which he has so much fun with. I did still make him take a nap (he is much happier when he takes a nap) and afterwards we did presents and cake and then went to Arctic Circle where he got ice cream and got to play on the toys! I think he even got to stay up an extra hour that night. All in all, I think he had a pretty good day!
He made David play with the balloons later that night. Millie even got in on the action!
Don't mind the underwear...
My fantastic cake! And his Transformers robot. Which went everywhere with us for the next 4 days.
While we were in Idaho, I told my mom I felt bad I didn't have more professional pictures of Asher. It seemed like we were always moving and just never had the time or money to do it. So while my sister was getting her son's newborn pictures taken, they arranged with her to get Asher's pictures taken as a present for his birthday! And the photographer is even moving to North Carolina, for all my
in-laws out there! I didn't have any nice clothes for Asher, so Joni
let us borrow some of Ledger's. I love these pictures and am so happy we have them.
I think this one is my favorite. :)
This picture was impossible to get! It was so hard for Asher to work those little fingers to only hold 3 of them up!
