Salmon Run and A Brand New Home

Another blog post from last October... be patient I am almost caught up to the present. 

Every year the salmon run up Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe to spawn and mate and die. 

Yes, sad and tragic that salmon die once they've given up their genes to the next generation, 

but it's also exciting and beautiful to witness. 

It's become a family tradition every year we have lived in Reno to walk along the 

Taylor Creek Trail to see the bright red salmon

all coupled together and being romantic. 

Yes, I romanticize animals.

Two years ago we even caught the Salmon Festival, 

but the festival doesn't always coincide with the best viewing times. 

Asher was still 4 1/2 months old
and I'll always remember it was the weekend after we moved to our new apartment. 

We meet up with grandma Julie and grandpa Bob and great grandma Marje. 

It was the most beautiful, gorgeous FALL day and by far the best "Salmon Run" I've ever seen to date. 

There were SO many salmon in all their bright red glory. 

It felt so nice to get out in nature and spend all day up in Tahoe with family. 

Asher loved the day trip immensely.

Afterwards we also ate at Chevy's!! 

 Reno's Chevy's closed down so it was a real treat to be able to go again :) 

Great grandma Marje and Grandma Julie walking along the trail

Family of 3

The whole crew

Asher and grandma. Cute smile! I love this photo

You really can't capture all of the salmon in the water on camera. But Asher had fun with Daddy up close to the fishy!

Grandma and Grandpa Hines

Taking a break with Great Grandma Marje

Grandpa is so funny!

Ok, so I absolutely LOVE family traditions like these!

This tradition rates at the top of my list. 

 My other favorite family traditions is cutting down the Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving Day. 

I love all traditions that include getting out in nature, trails, and enjoying the great outdoors. 

Period.

 I can't wait until next year when Asher will be running around
and able to explore the great outdoors for himself. I love him so much <3

The other exciting event this month (besides Halloween)

 ...... drum roll please.... 

we MOVED! 

Our old apartment at Vista Ridge Apartments was just one bedroom.

 I will always remember that apartment as the apartment we
 first brought home Asher from the hospital to,

 but I wasn't sad to leave. 

Our new apartment is a great find. 

A treasure.  

A diamond in the rough.

A real blessing in a time of need.

It all started when 

I went visiting teaching with my awesome partner-Chanika McCombs.

(Her youngest is only 8 days apart from Asher)

Sometimes things are meant to be.

Sometimes VT can be more of blessing for you than those you teach.

I was stressed, at a breaking point with Asher 

....and our itty bitty apartment....

with only one bedroom.

At night we would often put him to bed in our room 

then try to transfer him into the living room when we went to bed.

It was stressful for me because I needed some space of my own.

I had nowhere to retreat when I wanted to read 

or relax

or unwind from the day.

Turns out Chanika and her husband Chris had renters in their basement

who were moving out in one week.

It all happened very fast.

We went and checked it out and instantly knew we wanted this.

Two weeks later on Oct 1st we were moved in. 

Our new place in underneath a great family in our ward who have 3 kids,

we have a great backyard! A yard! No more complex :)

(I can't wait for summer!)

There are two very large bedrooms

another room we use for an office, but could be used as a nursery as well.

A large bathroom with a washer and dryer

A large kitchen and living room-great room so to speak. 

All utilities included.

We went from 655 sq ft to 1250 sq ft

1 bedroom to 3 bedrooms

Great neighbors

...For less $$ than our previous apartment

WE ARE HAPPY!

Ok, so not all things are without cons

No pets allowed, so we had to hand over our two cats

to Drew's parents for the time being. 

But, it has helped me tremendously to be able to have 

an experienced, fun-loving, strong, motivated mom

upstairs to talk to on a regular basis. 

I'm not going to lie... I believe I had a little post partum

And it was not helping being cooped up in our little apartment everyday. 

I love that I can get out more in this new place and have someone to talk to.

Even if it is just outside in the backyard.

My whole attitude, my outlook 

has been a lot brighter since moving. 

 AND A LIFE SAVER when it comes to scheduling conflicts. 

The coolest advantage of our new place is living in the same home as another family in our ward.

It had been a real challenge getting to 7pm church functions

when Drew has class two nights a week until 7pm

(Poor guy works all day, goes straight to class until 7pm and doesn't get to see Asher all day on those days)

Ok, Drew you are awesome- and working hard for our family.

NOW, if I put Asher down for the night

and Chris or Chanika are home upstairs

they listen in for him until Drew gets home and I get to functions on time! :) 

It's a mutually beneficial living condition. 

We often listen out for their little one.

Drew and I can once again date!

As long as we coordinate nights in or out there is always an
opportunity to leave Asher in his warm, familiar bed for the night.

Also, I can do a quick run to the store if he's napping.

Ok... the advantages are endless.

AND... Did I mention Asher had his very OWN room!

It's GRAND!

5 Month Update

I wrote this post back in October when Asher was 5 months old. 

"Children is what God gave you time for." ~ Elder Anderson

Asher 5 months: journal notes
~Our little guy is not so little anymore. He is a big boy! Ok... literally he is huge!18 lbs 4oz. (still at 90th percentile I believe!)
~We moved to a new apartment and has his own room and has a real crib for the first time! 
~ Wearing 6-9 month clothes but fast approaching 9-12 month clothes. 
~Nicknames include: Ashe, Moose, Rollie Pollie, Hambone, Butterball Turkey, Dooly!
~ Favorite Toys: Mr. Crabman and Keys
~ Eating approx. every 3hrs.(No longer will let mommy eat without him in her lap)
~Bed around 7pm and gets up around 7am w/ a feeding around 11pm and 4am. Naps about 30-45 min between 9-10am, 12-1pm and then later around 3 or 4pm.
~ Loves to play with his feet! New discovery! Lays with feet in the air all the time. 
~ Constantly chews on his left index finger and thumb together at the same time.
~As you can imagine this is one sturdy guy-must take a lot a muscle to suport all those rolls. He loves sitting up and sitting in his jumaproo and practically leaps out of my arms to get into it. Always trying to sit up on his own to look around :)
~Uses "baby power" (staring intensely and reaching to let you know he wants something)
~ Started rolling at 20 weeks (4 1/2 months)
~DROOLING like a faucet... he is going through several outfits a day.
~Just recently found a fascination with my hair and trying to eat it, but mostly just playing with it. When ever I twirl my hair or Drew plays with my hair he stops everything he's doing to watch.
~Laughs out loud a lot more- SO social. Squeals and laughs at almost at provocation!
~Loves getting a diaper change and always has!
~ Loves the itsy bitsy spider song :)



I truly love this stage in life. I have heard lots of people describe their favorite ages. For me the first 4 months were really hard, but I am truly loving every minute now that Asher is 5 months old. He is past colic (yes he did have colic by the official definition) and past the worst of sleep training and is active and happy and social. Also, Asher is hitting so many fun milestones its so fun to watch him progress and take in the world around him!

P.S. I have officially lost all the baby weight. According to my doctors numbers I lost all of my baby weight at 4 months, but within the last month I am truly to my beginning weight. I'm able to wear all of my old clothes and jeans again! Yipee! Some ask me if I've been doing anything and honestly I did walk a lot in the beginning but all I have to do is hold up Asher and say, "Look!". Nursing and caring for an 18 lb 5 month old is like taking care of  a tank baby and it is back breaking work not to mention that he nurses a ton! So there it is. Nursing is magical in respect to weight gain for some and for others nursing doesn't work, but I am happy that I am in the first category! It's been fabulous! I can't ever seem to drink enough fluids! It's hard to imagine that nursing requires more energy (500 kcal additional) than being pregnant although it seems like I ate a ton more while I was pregnant!

Emergency Appendectomy!

Here is the story of Drew's emergency appendectomy back in August. I am still working on catching up our blog :)

Drew woke up Saturday morning  (August 6th) not feeling well, but thought he had just eaten something bad. That morning Drew's mom watched Asher for us so we could go play tennis. Tennis was great- yet short lived. I realized how disintegrated my abs were 3 months post partum and little known to me at the time, but Drew's stomach was acting up. As the day progressed it got worse. After coming home and showering Drew lay on the couch and said he didn't feel like eating cause he wasn't feeling well. I thought that was odd since Drew is usually always in the mood for eating! We had a hectic day in Gardnerville running around to thrift stores buying up cheap books for Asher's library and running around the annual Catholic Rummage Sale. After that we went to Carson City for some errands and were planning to meet Drew's brother Tyler and his family for an early dinner at Olive Garden. We were waiting for a table and for Tyler and Tristan to arrive and Drew said that he didn't think he could eat anything. "Uh-oh, is it that bad?" So as soon as Tyler and Tristan arrived we told them that we couldn't stay, Drew was really not feeling well. I had no idea what was going on, but Drew and I both figured he was having some major digestive issues. It happens every now and then.

That night he couldn't lay down without  intense pain so I suggested he sleep on the couch- that always helped me during my pregnancy (we have the best and most comfortable couch!). Come Sunday morning he was feeling even worse. I got Asher and I ready for church, but Drew was going to stay home. Minutes before I was to walk out the door Drew said he felt like he should go to a doctor. I called Vanessa (my go to person for all questions medical) and asked her about appendicitis ( that was my first impression and I thought she had it once in college so she could tell us all about it.) Vanessa directed us to Dan by paging him- apparently he was on shift at the hospital. Dan talked to Drew on the phone and told us he couldn't confirm any of Drew's symptoms over the phone, but we should go in immediately to rule out appendicitis. This was about 8:50am. Good thing I didn't go to church! We went straight to the Urgent Care and a doctor there they said it was probably appendicitis and he needed to go to the hospital to get a CAT scan and go straight to surgery. The doctor said she would call the hospital and tell them to be expecting us. From our conversation with the doctor it had seemed that the doctor was going to notify the hospital to admit Drew and we would go to surgery....

I am not sure if there was a communication breach because we ended up having to go through a very painful process of waiting in the ER waiting room just to get seen by a triage nurse(weren't they expecting us?). The pain in Drew's lower right side continued to get worse and worse and worse. I was very scared because I thought that Drew's appendix might burst while we were just waiting to get seen! Didn't they know this was time sensitive? I kept inquiring if the doctor and Urgent Care had spoken with them. I was with Drew in the waiting room changing Asher, breastfeeding, and going through the normal stress of taking care of Asher in the hospital and also worrying to death about Drew. By now Drew was curling over, holding his stomach, and closing his eyes and squirming in pain. I knew I needed to jump to action and be Drew's advocate to get seen. I marched up to the tech and in the nicest, sincerest, most urgent tone I could muster I explained that my husband needed to be seen immediately because of his appendix (and the fact that the other doctor we had already seen at Urgent Care told us we need to go straight to get a CAT scan and surgery). She told me if we weren't already next in line, she would make us be next. Thank you! She got us into see and triage nurse who moved us into the "internal waiting room" just to do some more waiting because they didn't' have any rooms available. Wow! What a busy morning for the ER!

After that the pain kept getting worse and worse and Drew could not wait any longer... tears started streaming down his face. I had never seen Drew is so much pain before- let along cry from pain. I wanted to cry myself, so once again I had to go to the nurses station and tell them kindly that MY HUSBAND"S APPENDIX IS GOING TO BURST! Again I reiterated that a very bad situation was going to get even worse if he was not seen immediately!! At that point they started to move... finally!! They put him in a room. He got dressed into a gown- and a nurse came in to get all him vitals and information- I think they also started him on pain medication.  The doctor arrived and asked him several questions and pushed on his stomach. Drew scrunched in pain.  The doctor decided to forgo the CAT scan because it would only delay him going to surgery. Drew needed surgery immediately! Now they were moving fast! So they called the surgeon he came in and explained the procedure-- laproscopic appendectomy, the  risks, and answered questions.We also were talking to Drew's parents on the phone, giving status updates and I was stressed and near tears and we asked Julie and Bob to come up and be with us. They dropped everything and drove the hour to the hospital.

What the surgeon did not tell us at this point which he divulged to us later was how worried he was about the severity of Drew's case. He said that he was afraid of what was actually going on inside since Drew was experiencing more pain than the ordinary case, but he wouldn't be able to see what was going on (or if the appendix had burst) until he got Drew into surgery. Afterwards the surgeon explained to us that Drew had a very bad case of appendicitis and the appendix was so extended it had actually started to erode into the abdominal cavity which is why his case was so painful.


Before surgery the surgeon could not determine if it had already burst (thankfully it hadn't) but would have to get inside to tell. We were taken up to the surgery floor soon after discussing the procedure with him and Drew was given a morphine like drug which helped a ton!   He was in heaven. He couldn't stop talking about Asher. I think he was a little out of it. He kept telling them what a handsome boy Asher was, how much he loved him. It was really sweet and cute and I kept thinking to myself, "He really loves him, he really does." Asher did great in the hospital by the way even though he was in his carseat the entire day! Maybe he liked being pushed around for all his naps in the snap and go.

Drew on Morphine-  right before surgery.

I was able to stay with Drew on the surgery floor until right before the surgery. I think it was around 12 or 1pm when he finally went in. Drew's parents didn't make it to see Drew before surgery, but they arrived while he was in surgery. While waiting alone I called Vanessa to give her the update and to talk to someone. It was a great comfort to me to talk to her. Drew's parents arrived shortly after and we waited for the report from the surgeon-whether the appendix had burst etc. The wait was excruciating.  If the appendix burst we would be looking at 4-5 days in the hospital, but thankfully it had not burst and it was a standard outpatient procedure :) It was then that he stated that the appendix had eroded a hole into Andrew's abdominal cavity, but the surgery went perfectly and Andrew passed with "flying colors"!

On the road to recovery- walking it off.

We called Phil Walker that afternoon to come to the hospital to help give Andrew a blessing with his Dad. After a few hours they gave Drew the option to stay or go home, but he opted to stay the night. The recovery was mostly the same as when I had my c-section including no lifting anything greater than 10 lbs. for 4-5 weeks.

I stayed in the hospital for as long as possible then came home around 9pm or so. Asher was great the whole time taking naps in his carseat and being very happy and content the rest of the time. By the time I got home with Asher I was mentally and physically exhausted.  Asher must have sensed my extremely stressed state and slept 8 hours straight that night! Thank you little boy! The next morning we went back to the hospital and Drew's mom came back up too to help cook and clean and help with Asher. THank you Julie!

Really, the surgery couldn't have come at a better time for Drew. He was finished with summer classes and was no longer working. However, he was in the middle of interviews. He had 3 job interviews for School Counseling jobs the week before and had to reschedule one job interview for the morning after that had been scheduled for 9am.

Needless to say that August was very stressful for our little family. We were both jobless (sort of, I was working per diem), hospital bills were looming, baby and living expense were piling up, and Drew was in the middle of job interviews. Asher was also still very colicky at 3 months (this was the hardest to deal without Drew being able to take a "turn")  and had to go to the hospital a few weeks later himself  on August 28th (the day before my birthday) for a high temperature- turned out to be Roseola we suspect.

August was bar none, the worst month of my life. I was run ragged trying to let Drew rest, taking care of Asher by myself, and extremely sleep deprived. When asked how my birthday was I almost wanted to cry.. August was awful and I never want to think or talk about it again. I probably lost all of my baby weight in this month alone. I know I have probably lost most weight from nursing, but I can also say that between 4-5 months I was back at pre-baby weight and I do attribute a lot of it to stress, not eating, running around with my head cut off and other unhealthy measures.

Drew is doing great and now we both have battle scars on our bellies that we like to compare all the time. I win every time though- my scar is much much bigger.