6 week check up

I had my 6 week appointment at the dr today, and have been given the go ahead to resume all normal activities! I have officially lost 32 pounds since giving birth to Asa...yes 32 pounds...and i still have 20 to go. I gained a lot of weight during my pregnancy, but it is definitely coming of pretty easily which i am thankful for. We realized after we left the hospital that we never got a picture of Asa with our Dr. And since we have talked so much about Dr.Locher through out the pregnancy i figured you all might want to see what he looks like too.Adam and i had quite the conversation with Dr. Locher during the cesarean. First Dr Locher and the nurses were all talking about my tattoo when they were giving me my spinal. They had to actually give me the spinal twice because the first time they inserted the needle i felt pain on the right side of my hip. When i told them it was hurting, the nurses and Dr Locher all felt the need to ask me a ton of questions to try to distract me. (This was really not necessary because i was not in that much pain) however i humored them and began answering them. When i told them all what verse was tattooed on my back when asked, (Romans 8:37-39) Dr. Locher chuckled and told me that he actually was reading Romans that morning. Then when Asa was born and we told them all his name, Dr Locher and i had a long conversation about how Asa was a good king in the bible. We had this conversation while he was stitching me up. When we went into the appointment today, he said that he has been talking about our delivery to quite a few people since Asa was born, and also told us that he told his son about the delivery story (tattoo, and Asa's name) and he was glad he was able to do that because his son has drifted from the Lord lately. What a way to witness huh?

On a different note we have also been trying to put Asa in his bumbo to have him sit up a bit. He doesn't last too long before he is frustrated from sitting up, but he is always very alert while he is sitting up in it. He is able to lift his head up and look around for about 20 seconds or so, and then it slowly flops to the side, or front, or back, and sits and rests for a minute. Then again will lift his head up, and hold it again. He is really so strong, and it is neat to see him hold his head up for a while on his own.

Sometimes he sucks on his hand while sitting in his bumbo...maybe to distract himself for a minute?

Here is also a pic of Adam "Chillin'" with Asa on the couch.

Labor Day

We had a great Labor Day weekend. We went to my Godfathers cabin, as we do every year. We headed up on Saturday morning, and came home on Tuesday night. We spent almost the entire weekend outside enjoying the fresh air, and we had great weather. Marty (Godfather) has a lot of land that his cabin is on, so it is perfect for playing boccie ball, and other lawn games. Adam, Asa and i stayed in one half of the guest cabin, and Chuck and Bridget stayed in the other half of the guest cabin. Joey slept in a tent, and my parents and Marty slept in the main cabin. Asa was great at the lake. It was a little difficult adjusting to the routine of getting up at night being in a new place, and not having the comfort of my bed to nurse him in, but it was still great. We even got him a life jacket and took him on the boat. Sunday night in town they have a "Bizarre" that we went to. It is a small festival that the church puts on. They have bingo, dancing, a raffle, and the BEST greasy hamburgers that we have ever had. We talk about them all year round. It was really fun. Adam won at bingo, and Marty won $40 at the raffle.

Things at the Heeren house have been great! I think this week i have really realized how little sleep i have been getting. Adam is going to start working on Monday, so i have been trying to do all of the getting up in the middle of the night to help him out and get used to having to be the one to get up each time to feed Asa. With that being said, i have been really tired during the day, and have realized i have to take advantage of taking naps.

We reached sort of a milestone this week as well. Asa is now breastfeeding, and not using the shield. I didn't think he would be willing to feed without it, but with a bit of persistence, and trial and error, we have successfully not used the shield since Tuesday. Maybe TMI?

Also, i have had a sore throat for like the past 3 weeks. It went away over the Labor Day weekend, however i woke up this morning and it was back again. Not sure what is up with that, but it is getting really frustrating!

Congrats Sorbels!!!!!

We went to visit little Elias in the hospital...along with Steph and Brandt :) We think that Asa has a new best friend! He is so cute and tiny...and he peed on Adam, a little. It was so good to see them, and meet Eli. Steph looked GREAT for only having him yesterday! I think they are trying to hold hands in the second picture...awe sweet!

Also, have attached some pics from the state fair. Asa was so good! He slept the majority of the time and woke up to be fed a few times. We had a really good time at the fair. We ate some good food and walked around the whole fair. Adam and i had our first date at the fair, so it is always so much fun to go back.

Asa's Full Album

Our photographer put all of Asa's newborn pictures on her site to view.

Click on http://www.kdbphotos.com/
Then click on Online Proofing at the bottom
Click on the Heeren album, and then the password is ah81909.

Enjoy the pictures :)

Things are great around here. Asa is still keeping us busy and we are lacking sleep, but we are enjoying every minute of it. I caught a bit of a bug last week that is still lingering. I have a sore throat and the lack of sleep doesn't help heal me very quickly.

Yesterday was Adam and my two year anniversary. My parents were gracious enough and watched Asa for us so we could go out to dinner. We went to the Oceanaire, and had some amazing food, and just a great time together. When we went to pick Asa up, my mom let us know that Asa peed on her twice. oops....They watched him last weekend for a few hours as well, and he slept the entire time, so i guess this was a bit of a change to be peed on.

I think Adam and i are going to go to the fair tomorrow with Asa, and then we have our friends Jackie and Mitch's wedding on Saturday. We are so excited to see them get married!

Asa's a natural model!

We took Asa yesterday to have some newborn shots taken. We went out to St Francis to Kati's house and she had a whole set up there for him. He did a really good job. She was really patient and let us take breaks during the almost 3 hour shoot to nurse and keep him content. He ended up peeing on everything she put him in. I guess he is not used to all of that naked time. She was so nice and reassured us that it was not a big deal that he was peeing on everything. At one point Adam and her daughter were trying to hold up two ends of a blanket he was wrapped in to get the hanging effect, and sure enough pee shot straight up and ALMOST landed on Kati's daughter. She was a champ and didn't even flinch. She put a sneak peek on her website of what is to come with the pictures. She will have the whole album on her site in about a week. Until then, you can visit this link http://www.kdbphotography.blogspot.com/ to see the few she put on there. We are so happy with how they turned out, and can't wait to see the rest of them!

Shutterfly

I created a shutterfly site for people to go to so they can view pictures of Asa, and our family. Feel free to visit and view pictures. We are so happy to share updated pictures of Asa as he grows!

http://asajohnheeren.shutterfly.com/

Can't believe he's ours

We are back from the hospital and things are going great at home. It is hard to live on such little sleep, but Adam is being great at helping me catch up when i need it. I have been pumping between feedings so Adam has been able to feed Asa without waking me up if needed.

Asa couldn't be doing better, he is feeding every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. He sleeps at night until he is hungry, and just gets a bit squirmy when he wakes up to feed. He rarely cries, and couldn't be more perfect to Adam and I.

We gave him his 1st bath today at home. He took it like a champ, although was pretty cold afterwards. Just more reason to bundle him up and cuddle with him!

We love all of the little grunts moans and noises he makes.

I don't think we ever were quite prepared, nor can any 1st time parent be, for the amazing feeling being a parent is. We couldn't be more proud of Asa, even though he is only 5 days old, and we can't imagine loving anything more then him.

Our dogs have been doing so great with him as well. Cadea loves to give his feet, hands, face, and ears kisses. She also loves to cuddle up next to him when he is sleeping. Chloe on the other hand doesn't care as much about him. She slowly creeps up to him to say hi, and then turns around quickly to find a spot to lay.

The hospital stay was really nice. We were so thankful for all of the nurses and drs that took care of us. They were just amazing! It was nice to have him in the nursery for the first 3 nights. They would just roll him in when it was time to feed, and give me my pain medicine (and don't forget the stool softener) when it was time for them. The biggest adjustment has been keeping track of feedings and when to take my meds since being home. I have created a medicine schedule for me, and adam has a chart that he keeps track of for feedings, and pumping.

Adam has been master diaper changer man since Asa was born. Adam had never changed a diaper in his life, and was able to put on Asa's 1st diaper, and has been so great at changing him since. Since being home from the hospital 1 day, Adam has already changed his diaper in the bathroom at church, and on the back seat of the car. He is just so great at taking him right after i feed, and he has clearly made noises out of his butt that indicates needing a change. He has never complained, and i honestly think i have maybe changed 2 diapers since he was born. He has been a great Daddy!!!

We had so many visitors come to the hospital, and are so blessed to have so many great friends and family. One of our friends that visited said that the nurse that man's the front desk said when he walked in to the birth center, "you must be here to visit room 319" he asked why she knew that, and she said that everyone that has been coming has been visiting room 319. We must have had a lot of visitors being she asked him that. We didn't once feel overwhelmed by visitors, we loved having people stop by and meet Asa. We have already had a few visitors to the house on Sunday.

Hope that is a good update for now. I am writing this at 3am Monday morning after being up feeding Asa. I am about to go back to bed, and get more sleep. I will update more and often. Adam even said that he wanted to post a blog strictly about Asa's poop. I will have to hold him too that because i think it would be super funny. He has been really into talking about poop and nipples since the Asa was born.

Leaving you with a few pictures we have taken over the past few days.Thanks again for all of your comments, thoughts, and prayers. Again we are so blessed, and thankful for what God has given to us. To Him be all of the thanks, praise and glory!