Calling all Disney lovers!!!

So D and I are going to DisneyLand in March for a conference and we want someone to come with us! The dates we will be there are March 11 through March 18, and we can get discounted tickets through my conference. As an example, a 3-day park hopper pass is $149!!! If you are interested I can also check and see if the hotels for the conference are full, if not I might be able to pull some strings there as well. Anyway, let me (jill.pettey@slcc.edu) or Durrant (dpettey@bookstore.utah.edu) know and we'll see what we can do. Seriously, who doesn't have fun at DisneyLand?!?!?!? Besides, we need someone to keep an eye on Asher while we go on the rides - baby swap passes, here we come!!!!!

Video of Asher Smiling

I still haven't figured out what is wrong with my computer, but it happens that I am at my Mom's this weekend and have downloaded a video of Asher smiling. Please ignore his mother's comments, they aren't nearly as cute. :) Other than that, please have patience with me to figure out what is wrong with our computer for any pictures in the future!

Asher's blessing, among other things

Hello All! I'm sorry for being so remiss in posting lately - it's amazing how quickly the time goes! Anyway, we are blessing Asher on Saturday, February 28th at 12:30pm. Due to the smallness of our apartment, and the number of people coming we decided it would be best to do it at our church (1400 South 1900 East, big white building on the west side of the street). We will be having a salad bar afterward, so those of you who can please bring your favorite salad for all of us to share! :)

Other news: Durrant did not get the FAA job like we were hoping. I know, bummer. However, we are still optimistic for our future. We are looking into grad school and other options. AND we are actually in the market for a house! In order to do that we will be moving out of our apartment and bunking in with Durrant's parents (thank you so much!!!!) for a few weeks until everything goes through. Those of you who can, we would love some help in moving the weekend of the blessing. If you can't, we will only hold a grudge for a little while. Okay, we probably won't notice and love you anyway!!!

The most fun part of this post is that Asher is now starting to smile socially. As soon as I figure out what is wrong with my computer I will post the video - it is really fun. Also, we had a 6-week check up today and Asher is now 22 3/4 inches long and 9 lbs 1 oz! He is finally starting to fit into his newborn clothes! He is starting to focus really well and is generally a ton of fun.

Videos

So I keep telling you that Asher has the funniest faces and I was finally able to catch them on camera. Here is the video of him and his cute faces - my favorite is at the end when he sucks in his bottom lip. Also, just for kicks, we got one of him crying. I'm holding my breath so you don't hear me laughing. :)

Best Day Ever...

The morning of January 2nd started very early as Durrant and I made our way back up to the hospital to feed Asher. As we were traveling around 6:30am we were making plans to continue our preparations for when Asher might be able to come home with us. Stop by Babies 'R Us to get the monitor and sheets. Get Christmas put up and away so we would have room for the crib. Do the dishes and the laundry. So on and so forth.

When we arrived at 2 North we met the doctor who had some good news - Asher was doing well and they needed to complete some tests and then we would be able to take Asher home that morning! We were thrilled! We were thinking later that afternoon at the earliest, and didn't come prepared with clothes or anything. Fortunately, we had the car seat in the car, and Durrant had some time to run home to get something for Asher to wear. However, when we put the clothes on him we realized Asher was a little smaller than we anticipated. They completely drowned him. So, we just left him in the receiving shirt and diaper he came in and threw on an over large stay-puffed marshmallow suit (thanks Meg!!!) and buckled him in the car seat.



We headed home with our son in the back seat and light hearts - it was really real, he was really coming home!!!! While we knew our days of freedom and independence were over, it is impossible to express the joy and relief of having our son finally be OURS. The medical personnel at the U were wonderful, and we are truly grateful for their concern and care for our son. But I must admit, we were anxious to try this whole parenthood thing out on our own (heaven help us all!!! :)

The rest of the day we tried to get our apartment ready for a child. Then as the time of the Utah game drew closer we decided to bring out the tee we knew would drown our son as much as the clothing we had a the hospital. But somehow this was different. It was a Utah shirt - size was irrelevant when it comes to the biggest game in Utah Football history. So, father and son posed for a picture, hoping that Utah would make them proud.

All their dreams came true last night as Utah made fools of Alabama, the SEC and the BCS and their high opinions of themselves. Father was in heaven as he sat watching his team do a great job with his brand new son in his arms. You would be hard pressed to find a more content man anywhere. I think it even helped him through the restless night heading his way! ;)

More Photos

I promised more current photos of Asher and these are the ones you get for now. We have a ton more, but I'm not sure how to do those cool photo collages I've seen (ps - if any of you know how let me know! :). Anyway, the first one here is of Asher with his eyes open. Sorry about the whole not in focus thing, but it was the best one of his face and I couldn't resist.






This next one again was so adorable that I had to post it. He was looking so peaceful when he was sleeping that I had to show you.








The last, and my personal favorite, makes me laugh until I cry. Durrant was holding Asher as he slept and I was playing on the internet briefly when suddenly I hear D say "uh oh." I look up alarmed to see D looking down at his shirt. It has a wet spot about 5 inches in diameter right on his belly. He looked back up to me and said, "I think we just had a blowout." Again, I laughed until I cried, and do so again and again whenever I remember it. Poor Dad... :)

Asher Durrant Hunter Pettey

Well, he's here... sort of. Asher was born on Sunday December 28th 2008 at the University of Utah Hospital at 10:14 pm. He weighed seven pounds and was twenty and a half inches long at birth. He has some light brown hair and blue-gray eyes (for the time being).

He's a smashing young lad but he has come with a couple of little problems that the medical staff is trying to work out. First off he has some air by his lung that needs to go away - the doctors feel that this will resolve itself and a second x-ray seems to indicate that it will do just that. The second problem is that they feel he may have pneumonia, so he's been on antibiotics for a few days and will probably remain on them for another 2-4 days.

All this means he has had to remain in the hospital under the supervision of doctors and nurses rather than his parents. I won't lie to you, it has been difficult both physically and emotionally. Each day we see him several times for feedings and then we go home without him. It breaks our hearts each time we kiss him on the forehead and say goodbye. This is not what we expected, but at the same time when we compare what we are dealing with to what others have gone through, or are going through, we count our blessings.

Jill is doing well, she feels sore, swollen and oh so exhausted; but again we have been blessed as she is in excellent health considering all that she went through in labor. For any of you who keep tabs on peoples labor, we started timing the contractions at about 3:00 pm on Saturday and the child was born at 10:14 pm on Sunday....you do the math....ouch!!! On the upside the "pushing" stage (personally I don't think calling it pushing does any justice to what exactly happens) only lasted around 20 minutes - so again blessings abound.

Asher has already given us so much joy, I wish I could tell you all how we feel, but words just aren't enough. I guess we finally know for ourselves what so many of you have tried to explain to us, being a parent is a wonderful thing.

I hope that Jill and I will be able to give you some more details about all that has gone on over the course of the last few days. I would try to do so now, but am are experiencing that "lack of sleep" thing that we have heard so much about so I don't know that either of us has the energy to give you much more than this right now.

We'd like to thank you all for your prayers and for all the help you have already given us. We have been given food, clothes, care and concern insomuch that we feel we will never be able to repay any of you. Thank you so much! We love you all.