coming home - take three

Happy Friday from the cutest little peanut in the world (okay, I might be biased).

Today we are finally home from hospital stay #3 and it feels good to be snuggling Mr. Guy in bed instead of in a dumb hospital chair. On Tuesday, Asher woke up with a 104* temperature and was having a hard time breathing again. He was admitted in-patient almost immediately after arriving at the ER and we now know that when Asher get's sick, he gets really sick, really fast. Luckily for us, this time we caught it early and we didn't have to go to such extreme measures like the ICU and a ventilator to help him get better (!!!). So we made our home in W12, the baby wing, and waited out his illness with the help of a few hundred doctors. I'll admit, this hospital stay seemed to be easier on him, but it was a lot harder on me. I didn't love our nursing or doctor team like I usually do, I was crabbier than I'd like to admit and unlike last time when I was on maternity leave, the world didn't stop when Asher got sick. I had responsibilities at home and I wasn't able to spend all day every day in his hospital room and that was really hard for me.

I have spent the majority of this week throwing myself an extra large pity party and being mad at the world so instead of sharing an update on Asher's health (aside from what I just shared) I am going to tell you about Asher, a normal 11 week old cutie, and not Asher, the patient, because honestly if I hear him referred to as a patient one more time I might lose it.

• As you might have picked up by now, Asher's nickname is "Mr. Guy" and it changes depending on his mood and what he is doing. Common variations that he is called often are: Mr. Happy Guy, Mr. Grunty Guy, Mr. Stinky Guy, Mr. Sleepy Guy and so on. I don't actually know who started this nickname, but it stuck and I am 99% sure that it will continue to stick and that on the day of his high school graduation he will be referred to as Mr. Graduating Guy.

• Asher spends the majority of his days with either me or my mom, both of who spend their days talking to babies more than regular adults. Asher is not always the greatest sport when it comes to listening to us, so often times when either of us start talking to him he will immediately close his eyes. I am pretty sure he thinks if he closes his eyes, we will go away (we don't).

• If you press on Asher's nose, he purses his lips. I don't know why he does it, but it is adorable and it is our favorite trick.

• Asher has this incredible talent of getting poop every where BUT in his diaper. I do laundry every day now and it is awful.

• Asher rarely cries, but when he does it is for no longer than 20 seconds and I'm pretty sure it's just to make sure we all know he is still there. He is immediately soothed if he can hear someone. This is especially fun throughout the night (!!!)

• Asher has a love hate relationship with his pacifier. He roots around for it and then as soon as he sees it, immediately clenches his jaw shut so you can't put it in his mouth.

• As you can see, Asher is the boss and the one who wear the pants in this relationship (except he actually rarely wears pants because of his casts).

• Mr. Guys best friend is DaeDae (can you tell our family like nicknames?), my parents 1 year old little boy (see picture below). DaeDae has been obsessed with Asher since I was pregnant (his favorite thing to do was sit on my giant belly) and even though he has his own little brother who he is pretty rough with, will immediate give Asher kisses and pat his head when asked where his baby is.

• Asher is almost 12 weeks old, 10.5 pounds, and the absolute best thing that's ever happened to me.