Papa Jeep's Visit

Mark's dad (famously known by the boys as "Papa Jeep" for the cool white Jeep he drives) was able to fly down for a quick weekend trip to visit the family, see our new house, and of course, meet his new grandson and birthday-sharer, Grant. The visit was really short, and we wish he could have stayed longer, but we had a ton of fun with him while he was here. For the boys, the best part was the highly anticipated visit to the neighborhood pool. Throw in a trip to the donut store, fun up at Market Street, and a movie night, and they just absolutely loved "when Papa Jeep stayed at our house"!!!

Getting ready to jump into the kiddie end!

Rudy LOVES the water. He's definitely the braver swimmer of the two big boys.

One, two, three...jump!

Grant and I watched from the side while everyone else swam for nearly two hours. It was very cloudy and on the verge or raining the whole time which was a blessing for us! No glaring sun! And a treat for the boys too...we were some of the only people there and stayed until the rain finally came.

Rudy and Papa Jeep in the waterfall. Obviously neither of them was having a good time!

Cheese! Can you see the resemblance? We think Rudy looks so much like the Asmussen side of the family.

Hanging out...talking about life and the weather...

Hugs for Papa Jeep up at Market Street

Yum, yum! A little ice cream cone!

I wanted a picture of all the Asmussen boys but Rudy was entering full meltdown and would not participate and Grant was crashed in the sling.

Movie Night!!! The boys love piling up on a palate and were excited to have baby Grant with them for a few minutes too!

Mr. Clean!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 29

I'll admit it: finding the time to thoughtfully write out three entries into my little online journal here has proved to be pretty difficult in the past few weeks. Yes, I do have random bits of free time, but it's just that--bits. Realistically I like to take close to an hour or so to really think about the week and write it all out. The chunks of time I have now are more like five minutes here, five minutes there. And usually they're filled with things like getting myself dressed, starting another load of laundry, reading through the mail for the day, etc. But I realize that all things are temporary and there will come a time where I'll be able to write at length again. Just have to remind myself to enjoy the season before it passes.

So instead of my usual lengthy paragraphs, I thought I'd just throw out a few tidbits--things I want to remember. Or maybe forget! Things that bring a smile to my face.

- Rudy is doing fantastic with the potty training. I really shouldn't even say 'training.' He's already trained. In fact, he's even waking up in the morning dry. He's pretty much the coolest kid ever for potty training himself. Took a major load off of my plate, that's for sure.

- Grant turned one month old on Sunday. Has it really been a month? It sure doesn't seem like it. But you can certainly tell by looking at him. He has already changed so much. In fact, I took him to get weighed at the lactation center at our hospital. He weighed nine pounds and four ounces! That's nearly two-and-a-half pounds since we left the hospital one month ago. Kiddo likes to eat! And he looks a lot like Kolbe.

- I finished round two of antibiotics on Sunday. So far the mastitis hasn't come back. Still isn't pain free, unfortunately, but we're working on it.

- A few days ago I was wrestling around on the floor with the big boys. I was all stretched out on the floor when Kolbe said, "Mama why is your belly flat?"
I replied, "Well, Kolbe, there's not a baby in there anymore. The only reason it was big was because Grant was in there. No more baby!"
And what I got in response was: "Well, there needs to be another baby in there. 'Cause I need to have a sister."
Sheesh. Give my poor body a break, kid!

- Hormonal imbalances post baby are not cool. I've just about had it with my share of tearing up while reading random kids books, breaking out in random sweats for no reason, and going from "happy mama" to if-you-don't-leave-my-presence-right-this-second-I'm-going-to-snap at the drop of a dime. For the most part, I'm my normal self, but watch out!

- Last Friday my mom and I decided to get brave and take all three boys down to Reliant Stadium (where the Texans play) to see the Barnum and Bailey's Circus. We weren't sure if it was going to be a great experience or a total flop. I'll sum it up by saying that the boys have asked to go to the circus every single day since last Friday. They loved it! And they were fabulous. After witnessing multiple children have total meltdowns, it left me with the feeling that hey, I've got some pretty good kids!

- Ready for some pictures of the past few weeks in the life of The Asmussens?

What's not to love about a sleeping baby?

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed...the boys love to climb up on the bed and watch me change and dress Grant after bath time.

Working on my cheeks and my double chin!

First taste ever of cotton candy at the circus! (Rudy would have nothing to do with it but Kolbe...Mr. Sweet Tooth...loved it!) You know it's not good for you when you wake up the next morning and the leftovers in the bag have shrunk down to a small hard ball of sugar.

Look, Mom! Three brothers holding hands!

Mr. One-Month-Old!

Those first few weeks at home...4th of July included!

Our sweet little guy, Grant, is officially one month old today! We really can't believe it. Time sure does fly! Here are a few pictures of his first weeks at home. They include shots of his first bath, G-ma's visit, and the fourth of July. Mark's dad, Maury, also came last weekend, but those pics are on a different camera and the battery is dead, so I'll do my best to get those pics up later this week. Here we go!

Not a fan of being cold...

The big brothers had to be right in on the action.

All cleaned up and decked out in his duck jammies. I'm pretty sure he's wondering what in the world we just did to him!

G-ma treated the boys to a fun trip to Chuck E. Cheese to play on all of the kiddie rides. What fun!

Practicing throwing the pigskin!

And cruising in a Jeep, just like Papa Jeep! (that's what the boys call Grandpa Maury!)

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure that would be classified as cheating...

And the boys' favorite past-time with G-ma...a good scrubbin'!

Hanging out at Pinkie and Pa's over fourth of July weekend...we ended up having to move back there for several days when our air conditioner went out over the holiday weekend and no one could come to fix it. Go figure.

The boys were so excited to meet Spiderman at the Fourth of July parade in Market Street. They really have no idea who he is but were fascinated nonetheless.

Nothing beats a balloon!

Pinkie and the guys enjoying the parade.

They loved all the military vehicles that came through.

And even Little Grant got out for a few minutes to check out the sites!

We sure are having fun with this little one. So far, Kolbe is the very concerned, protective big brother. And Rudy is definitely the lovey, affectionate big brother. They can't wait to teach Grant all the ins and out of being a boy! And Mark and I are just taking all the time we can to soak up as much of this baby stage as possible. We certainly know how quickly it passes and want to cherish each moment with Little Grant!

TTT: Season 2, Episode 28

1. Last week I was on the mend from a case of mastitis. In fact, I had just one day left of my ten day course of antibiotics and I was feeling just fine. That afternoon, though, I noticed a red, swollen area on my C-section incision. Hoping it was just an ingrown hair or something, I headed to my doctor on Friday morning for a check-up of the mastitis. She seemed to think that was better but wasn't too happy about the way the incision looked. In fact, she pressed on it with the blunt end of a sterile cotton swab and it sure enough...well, I won't go into the gory details. Let's just say, it provided her with plenty of substance to take a culture and send it off to their lab. She put me on another seven days of a different antibiotic, since obviously the one I was taking for the mastitis didn't manage to keep the incision from getting infected. I headed home and started taking those antibiotics on Friday night. By Sunday afternoon, guess what was back? The mastitis. Full on--fever, chills, aching, redness, misery. I immediately called my doctor and she was shocked that it would be able to come back with the new antibiotic I was on for the incision. After a little bit of investigating, we discovered that my pharmacy gave me the wrong prescription. Seriously! You hear horror stories about that happening to people, but I certainly didn't ever think it would happen to me. They had given me a very light dose of the antibiotic I had previously taken for the mastitis. Like a child's dosage. Thank God it wasn't some other medicine that could have caused me a lot of harm. So, we switched to a different pharmacy and she called in the strongest dose of Augmentin that you can take in pill form. Good thing, because her nurse called me back on Tuesday and told me that the culture they took from the incision was positive for a staph infection. Of course it was! I'm on day four of this new antibiotic and considering all of the not-so-fun side effects of taking antibiotics for more than two weeks, I'm ready to be done. And really, really, really praying that all of this will clear up. It's terribly frustrating but I keep trying to remind myself that these are common things that happen to women post pregnancy. And find a little solace in the fact that hey, maybe it's been really not cool here at the end, but hey, I've never had morning sickness, don't have a single stretch mark on my body, hardly even look or feel pregnant until the last few months, and lose any weight I gain in less than two weeks. I'll call it a major trade off! Though I'm not lying...it would be nice to add "never had mastitis" and "never got an infection" to that list too! Oh well, let's not get greedy.

2. On the parenting side of things, I have a major horn to toot for my middle child this week. We've known that Reagan was ready to potty train for a few months now. In fact, just before we left Lubbock, he was starting to get the hang of going #2 on the potty. When we moved down to The Woodlands, things took a major back seat to finding a new house, moving in, getting things set up, and of course, getting through the pregnancy. This week, however, I guess he decided that he was tired of waiting for mom and dad to help him train and just decided to do it on his own. For real. As in he's worn undies for the past three days and hasn't had a single accident. Over the weekend he started telling us when he needed to go to the bathroom, but Mark's dad was in town, we were out and about a whole bunch, and none of us were willing to let him go without a diaper just because he said he wanted undies. We've gone 100% undies during the day since Monday and like I said, he's done perfect! I guess when you figure it out in your mind, it just all makes sense. And actually, from my parents' stories, I potty trained in much of the same way. Just up and decided one day that I wasn't wearing undies anymore and that was that. It was also right at the end of my mom's pregnancy with my brother, Andy. Maybe there's something to that. Who knows? He sure has loved the whole "big brother" thing and maybe this is just an extension of feeling grown up. And growing up, he definitely is. Not a day goes by that I don't look over at him and think Where did my little baby Rudy go!?! I sure am proud of that little bruiser.

3. One of  the unique aspects of The Woodlands is that it's a community built within nature. Not a massive, bulldozed plot of land, cleared out to build a community. Really, everywhere you go, you're amongst the trees. For example, driving down one of the main drags, the only way you know that there's a gas station or McDonald's or oil change place is by the carved and painted wooden signs poking out from the trees, telling you to turn into the next entrance. And no visible  power lines. They're all buried underground. It really is a beautiful community, but when you keep that much of nature preserved, it's a guarantee that all the woodland-type creatures are going to be completely comfortable hanging around. Squirrels, deer, possums, rabbits...we see all of these things with regularity around here. But we certainly weren't expecting to see this fella' in our backyard!

I'm pretty sure I've never seen a live armadillo before. Sure, living in West Texas for so long, I saw plenty of dead ones on the side of the road, but never any just walking around, taking in the day. My parents had stopped by to check on me (this was Monday morning, right after the mastitis had kicked back in) and we were all sitting around the kitchen table. My dad spied this guy outside the kitchen window and we all snuck out onto the back deck to watch him snoop around. Very cool for the boys to see. And me too! It's a perfect ending to a "You know you live in Texas when..." statement!

Grant Michael Asmussen

Our third little gift from God was born into this world on June 24th at 1:34pm. Almost a month ago! So I figured I'd better try my best to recount that special day before life continues to happen and I gradually start to lose track of all the little details.

Though I was extremely fortunate once again to have a relatively easy pregnancy for the first three-fourths of it, my pregnancy with Grant was by far the most stressful one yet. We found out we'd be blessed with another baby at the beginning of November 2010, just weeks before Mark decided it would be best for us to find a new job situation for himself and our family. We never expected we'd be making a major move during this pregnancy, but God apparently saw otherwise. So between getting our Lubbock house ready to sell, selling it, moving to The Woodlands and in with my parents, finding a new house in The Woodlands, moving once again, getting our new house set up, and continuing to take care of Kolbe and Reagan all the while, it's safe to say that this pregnancy was hectic, busy, and stressful. As expected, the last few weeks got a little tougher as my blood pressure creeped up and lots and lots of swelling set in. Since the other two boys were both born right at thirty-six weeks, I fully expected Grant to make his appearance then too, but was completely thrilled when I ended up making it seven extra days to thirty-seven weeks...full term!

I woke up on Friday morning with a bad headache and lots of dizziness. The blood pressure cuff had been a good friend of mine the several weeks prior to this, and on that morning, it was reading even higher than it previously had been. In the "not safe" range. When the dizziness and light-headedness wouldn't clear up, the blood pressure wouldn't go down, and lots of contractions set in, I went ahead and called my doctor who had me come in to labor and delivery right away. Mark was at work and we weren't exactly sure what was going to happen, so my mom came over and got me and the boys. We took the boys back to her house and dropped them off with my dad and she accompanied me to the hospital. After checking in and getting set up, they told us I'd be having the baby in just an hour and a half or so.

Things moved quickly from there. Mark arrived shortly there after and the nurses began giving me medicine to prepare for my third C-section. I was so excited to meeting our new little guy, though I think the excitement was masked by the effects of the blood pressure dips and spikes, the dizziness, and the headache. Just before they took me back to the OR, the anesthesiologist came in to go over everything and asked if I would like for my mom to come in to the OR too. Since I am my mother's only daughter, I always hoped that she would be able to be there with me to see one of her grandchildren be born. After Kolbe and Reagan's births, I assumed that this was essentially impossible since they usually only let you have one person in the OR with you. I was thrilled by this kind gesture from the doctors. And we didn't even ask! They just offered! It was a gift that I knew my mother wanted badly and that I never thought I'd be able to give her. I was so thankful for it! Of course, having my husband there with me too was absolutely wonderful. His presence always makes me feel reassured that everything is going to be okay.

Grant's delivery took just a few minutes. It sure did feel like a lot longer, but as soon as I heard that little cry, time stood still. Man, nothing can beat that moment! They took him to get cleaned up and checked over; both Mark and my mom were back and forth between me and Grant. I loved that this time they had the baby just about five feet away from me so I could see everything that was going on. Of course, some of that excitement was masked by the fact that I got hit by a major wave of nausea and within a few minutes I was trying to toss my cookies while laying down. Pretty impossible. And even more impossible considering I hadn't had anything to eat since the night before! Meanwhile, I just about rolled off the operating bed when they announced that Grant weighed in at seven pounds and ten ounces. Really? My baby!?! The other two were five pounders! He came in at literally two whole pounds more than Reagan and even more than that compared to Kolbe. And at just seven days further along than them. I'm guessing that if he had made it the full forty weeks, he would have been quite the chunk!

After that cleared up they took us all to the recover room where I got to hold Grant for the first time. We tried nursing right away, which was when the nurses started noticing how much he was grunting. He seemed like he couldn't try to nurse and breath well at the same time. They tried getting him to cry more by giving him a bath...supposedly this helps clear fluid out of the lungs some. Still, the grunting was getting louder and happening with each breath so they decided to take him to the NICU. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me too much since I had already had some good time with him, knew he was doing really well, and felt confident that it was just a little problem and nothing major. In fact, I found it so ironic that my full-term, biggest-yet fella was the only one to go to the NICU!

Unfortunately, the "hopefully just a few hours" stay in the NICU turned into about forty-eight hours. Even though his oxygen levels were always right near 100%, the grunting was still there...and even got louder for a while...so they were forced to tube feed him my pumped milk through his nose. As is started to clear up, they allowed me to come down at each feeding and try nursing him and then hold him on my chest while the tube feeding was taking place. Of course, this wasn't how I wanted things to start out, but I was willing to do whatever it took to get him cleared up and in the room with me. Between pumping frequently, going down to the NICU for each feeding (which was gradually given to him over an hour's time), and taking care of my own medical needs, this meant very little sleeping the first few days! They decided they would release him as soon as he would latch on and nurse consistently for ten minutes in a thirty minute period. By Sunday morning, he was finally up in the room with me! Eating well and breathing well!

In the midst of all of this, we also celebrated two more birthdays! Friday, the 24th...the day Grant was born...was also Mark's dad, Maury's birthday. How cool to have a grandson born on your birthday! He was still in Lubbock so we were celebrating from afar, but it was still very special to get to tell him that he'd have a grandson that shares his birthday. And then, on the 25th, I rang in big number twenty-nine. I told everyone that I secretly planned it that way so that in years to come when I'm in my thirties...and then forties!...my aging would be overshadowed by Grant's birthday. Every little kiddo wants his birthday to be noticed, and everyone leaving their twenties has no problem with their birthdays being forgotten! It was still a very special birthday with the best gift I could have ever wished for! It will be pretty impossible that!

Grant and I finally got to go home on Monday afternoon and were welcomed by two eager big brothers and one eager grandma, G-ma (Mark's mom), who flew in for the week to help out with our transition home. Our birth experience was a wonderful celebration of life and as special and wonderful as I could have hoped for it to be, especially considering the past experiences. We are so thrilled to have Grant! Considering Reagan is now two-and-a-half, we had almost forgotten what it was like to have a tiny little newborn. It's such a fantastic feeling and we just can't get enough of this precious boy: the sweet smells, the squeaky little cries, the silky soft skin, the helpless, innocent little eyes look up and trusting that you'll be the ones to care for him forever. And we will!

Last shot of pregnancy #3!

Welcome to the world, little guy!

Seven pounds and ten ounces! Or so the monitor says!

Doesn't he clean up nicely?

Right after cuddling with Mama for the first time. That's one happy lady!

The whole O.R. crew in the recovery room.

Pinkie and Grant

Proud Papa, once again.

Riding down the hall in his little bassinet (it's against hospital rules to carry your baby down the hall, don't you know. I accidentally tried.)

Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi drove down from Dallas to meet their godson and help out with the big boys too. They were a God-send!!!

Spending time with Dada.

Two brothers and two brothers! The smaller set is on the way to meet their other brother!

And on Saturday morning they brought Mama flowers for her birthday!

Headed home!

Small baby, big car seat!

Getting to hold Grant for the first time. Rudy loved it...Kolbe was terrified and chickened out!

Somebody is proud to not just be the little brother...but the big brother too!