happy hallowe'en!!!

yes, yes, i know. it's already november and i still haven't posted about hallowe'en. bad asher's mom, bad bad asher's mom. and so here we go: the long-awaited post.

asher got his costume a couple weeks ago, and so he wore it. a lot. everywhere. all the time. yup, he LURVS his costume.

alright, fine, twist my arm. here's a pic:

that's right, folks. he was ELMO!!!!!!

(funny story: so, you may or may not remember how i got through his diagnosis and first admission. when i learned that he would be blue, i thought, "well, that makes hallowe'en easy. he'll be grover." so, now that he's pink, he doesn't need to be anyone blue. nope. asher almost blends in with the costume now!!! WOOHOO!!!!)

so, i'll tell you about hallowe'en now. i got all the kids dressed. you've already seen asher.

bram was Sheerluck Holmes, from VeggieTales. Sheerluck is their version of Sherlock, and is played by Larry the Cucumber. hence the green face and buck tooth. how cute is he, eh??

blithe was Mina Harker, from Dracula. look at her working that costume. i'm actually quite proud of this one.

here's the close-up of the make-up. now, i don't usually allow the kids to be anything evil or scary, and blithe wasn't supposed to be. this started as a medieval princess, which blithe understood to be an evil princess, and well, it went from there. and then i was having so much fun doing her make-up, and i guess i got a little carried away. but she looks fang-tastic, wouldn't you say?

anyway, the kids got all costumed, and out we went.

with bram's bestest buddy nicholas. nicholas' mom lori took us all around her usual "haunts." we left their place at 6:00, and didn't get back till almost 8. and you know what?

asher walked.

the whole way.

the whole time.

sure, he was a little slower than the other boys, but that's because they are two years older and have longer legs.

not because asher was tired.

yes, you read that right.

asher walked.

and ran.

and jumped.

and carried a pail full of candy etc.

the

whole

long

way.

for two hours.

and he wasn't even winded.

just a normal kid doing normal kid stuff at a normal 3 year old pace.

extraordinary, no?

i love it.

(and you're gonna laugh... i told him he's allergic to chocolate. and i got blithe and bram in on it. so he handed me every chocolate bar he got. mwahaha)

(and yes, i have some ideas about future costumes. next year: a robot. {wink})

"mommy, you make percy beautiful for me?"

i was asked to "make percy beautiful" with pale green sidewalk chalk.

asher approved of my work.

ASHER'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

his bumblebee backpack. it's so huge on him!

look how proud he is of himself.

LOOK AT MY LITTLEST MAN!!!!!!!

this is asher, waiting for the school bus. he was soooooooooo excited to go to school today!!!

right now, as i'm typing this post, asher is at school. his first day of JK. my little man is growing up!!! one of the moms at the bus stop asked if i was going to cry, and i'm going to be honest here, i'm not crying. i'm actually overjoyed that this day is here!!! my littlest man is going about his normal life, doing all the things that normal kids do, and he couldn't possibly be any happier, and frankly, neither could i.

there was a bit of a hiccup yesterday with the whole "asher starting school" thing: the VP called and said that she would like to have another intake meeting because "i understand asher has some health issues." she wasn't aware that asher would only be going for half-days at first, and she seemed surprised that he would be riding the bus. i said, "of course he'll be on the bus! that's one of the things he's most excited about!" "well," said she, "the bus can be pretty dangerous. it's bumpy, there's a lot of jostling..." so i told her that asher is not on a strong blood thinner, and he's got a protective vest over his pacemaker, and blithe and bram are very protective of him, and he will be fine. so she accepted that. i'm afraid that they are now expecting asher to be very frail and fragile and lethargic and all things stereotypical heart/SN kid. wow, are they ever in for a shock! so we will be meeting with the VP, LST (learning support/special ed teacher) and the teacher, EA or ECE from asher's class. asher's dad and i will both be there, and our paediatrician is also planning to attend. i told the VP that i would bring my notes from our meeting in june and we'll get all caught up and make sure we're on the same page. i think the meeting will go very well.

ok, i should go now. i will be picking asher up from school in about 45 minutes, and i'm eager to hear from him how well his first day went. i'll fill you in later today with his version of events. :)

even *i* cannot come up with a clever caption for this pic! LOL

asher's dad just sent me this pic. asher likes to cuddle in his sleep, can you tell?

yes, there's a real update coming today, but first... an awesome pic of asher!!!!!

how cute is this little man of mine, eh? (he's smiling b/c he didn't know i'd spiked his hair at the time. so, shhhh... don't tell him. {wink} )

thank-you, allison, for this pic. LOVE IT!!!

asher's new 'do

look how cute he looks with his little "faux-hawk"!!!! i figured it matches his personality. haha

and the tale... so, asher's hair is insane when it's longer. and it was long. the girl must have cut a couple inches off, at least! he was so excited about going to get his haircut. he ran in, and was laughing and happy... until she called him back. then he didn't want to go. but i put him on the chair, he got his little cape-thing on, and then...

started screaming.

he calmed down while she was using the clippers. mind you, he had his face buried in my chest, but he stayed still. then she pulled out...

the scissors!!!!

that screaming you heard about an hour ago (and yes, i'm aware there's people in australia reading this... surely you heard the screams!)... yeah, that was ash. and then when she finished the cutting, and she went to put the gel in his hair...

oh, the horror!

he refused to even look in the mirror when it was done. flat out refused. he looked at his pic on my phone, but he just would not look in the mirror!

but now he likes it. i'm sure it'll be cooler for him in this heat and humidity than the long curls were, which will be nice for him.

oh! and someone needs to remind me to post of pic of ash with his new hat. a cute little plaid newsboy number that looks absolutely adorable on him! this kid of mine can pull off just about any look he wants.

are we surprised he likes his new "big boy rebel" look? not if you've met him, i'm sure! LOL

ps - i'll post about our immuno appointment later today. we went to sick kids on wednesday for that clinic. waste of time. but i'll fill you in later.

pps - we go for a kidney ultrasound this afternoon, and we're seeing nephro in early august. unless something earth-shattering happens this afternoon, i'll just wait till clinic to give you the deets about that.

some sweetness.. and some sadness...

blithe wanted to take some pics tonight with my phone, so i let her. lol i thought i'd give you a peak at what down-time is like around here. :)

especially since... today, asher went for therapy again. and that breaks my heart.

as usual, he first went straight for the cars and threw them all into the sandtray... and proceeded to bury them. then he pointed out a generic tow-truck which he keeps telling us is "like Mater." after a while of burying the cars, KW asked asher what mater does.

"he hook cars up to his tail."

"which cars? any cars?"

"no, juss de broken ones."

"oh, ok. what does he do with them?"

"he take dem to de garage."

"to get fixed?"

no answer.

"do the broken cars get fixed at the garage?"

nod.

"does it hurt the cars when they're getting fixed?"

no answer.

"do they feel better when they're done getting fixed?"

no answer.

after a couple more minutes, KW decided to join in his game. so she picked up a red car with a missing wheel.

"help, mater, help! i'm broken! can you help me??"

"here come mater! he hook lightning [the red racecar. my bad, i should have specified.] up and take him."

"where is he taking lightning?"

"to de garage."

"what's going to happen there?"

no answer.

same game for several more cars. once she stopped playing that game, he buried all the cars that "mater" took to the garage.

do i need to explain any of this? i hope not. because it makes my heart go down to think about it.

so please hold asher in the Light over the next while. dealing with all this now is much better than letting it fester for years until it's overwhelming and he begins acting out... but seeing just how traumatized he was by the events of this spring is absolutely heartbreaking. so please pray for him.

also, since you're praying... please pray for asher's little heart buddy, Hannah, who has TGA (transposition of the great arteries). she is in the hospital right now, in st thomas. she is now doing better than she was the other day when she was admitted, but momma (Rachel) got some nerve-wracking news today, and they are now, basically, waiting for hannah to get really sick before they do anything. she will need to have her aortic arch ballooned or stented, and there is some narrowing in her pulmonary valve, and her MPA isn't doing so well, either. so it's "wait and see" for now. so please hold this family (dad is Nick) in the Light over the next little while. this is stressful, knowing there are a bunch of issues that need to be dealt with but that aren't being dealt with until "absolutely necessary." (for the record, they're not being reckless about this. there's a reason they're waiting, but i won't go into too much detail.) a stressful situation, this is; one that i know far too well. believe me, it sucks. so yeah, please pray for them. and i'll try to keep you posted. thanks.

and for those of you following my FB status lines this afternoon... ;)

defenders of the universe, Superash and Superbram. so, no worries, folks. they'll protect us! LOL (oh, yeah, this was still the night before the fontan... stupid blogger is messing up my attempts to post more than 2 pics at a time!! boo, blogger, boo!!)

UPDATE: just realized that not all my readers are on my facebook. (and why not? add me. seriously.) anyway, here's what you missed:
"heather is happy that superbram and spiderash figured out what was causing that earthquake in space."
"heather wants to reassure everyone, even though there is a giant basket hurtling toward the town from outer space, that superash and wonderblithe are on it. so, no worries. ;)"

note the blue line at the bottom... those are his SATS!!!!!!!! pre-fontan was 78-82%!!!! thank-you, dr caldarone!!!!!

post-fontan

note the colour of his toenails. not blue anymore!!! and you'll see why in the next pic...

some old pics, from pre-fontan and post-op. be prepared to be amazed!!

this van exploded across the street from my parents' house at 2am, the night before asher's fontan.

bram and asher, in their matching superman pj's.

asher, post-op in CCCU. note the colour. and the smile. and the flower that he specifically requested at pre-op, and was delighted to see on his bed in the unit (yes, he even remembered.)

a morning out

asher's with ed today and tomorrow, and this morning, they went to the mall. asher decided to hang out with his good friend, paddington. hey, ash, where's your hat? ;)

"it's dirt, it's sun, it's mom and nana and me... and don't forget squirmy!!"

so, it was absolutely beautiful outside today, so we went... well, outside! i walked downtown to run some errands (and got most of my bills paid off entirely!!! hooray!!!!), and started on my job search. while i was out, my mom took the boys for a walk to the flower garden a few blocks away. after i picked blithe up from the bus stop, we walked home and decided to stay outdoors for a little while.

well! i decided to get to work in the garden. and much to my surprise, there's actually stuff growing in there!! i had forgotten that i planted garlic last year, so that's already coming up nicely. and the lavendar wintered very well, so it's coming back already, too.

but this is asher's blog, not my simple life, so i'm going to talk about asher (novel idea, don't you think?)

asher, for those who are somehow unaware, is a boy. a normal boy. a very normal boy. which means...

where there's dirt, there's asher.

lucky for him, i was digging around in the soil, and found a nice long worm for him. he loved it!!! he named it Squirmy. it's in his hands in that picture. he didn't want to put little squirmy down. he wanted to bring him inside and have him as a pet. my mom heard that and said, "um.... no. squirmy stays outside " (my mom is not a fan of worms.)

and this all happened, you'll note...

on post-op day 8.

at home.

:)

UPDATE: i feel compelled, looking at this picture, to mention that asher is actually not blue anymore. it's just bad lighting. LOL

cutest. kid. ever.

k, i just rediscovered these pics tonight, and i had to share them. sadly, though, i don't remember when they were taken. all i know is that it's in the hospital in London... i think... but i don't remember why we would have been there in the last couple months when he wore this hoodie. hmm... ah, well, doesn't really matter. what matters is that my little man is the cutest little thing ever. you know i'm right.

Asher's 3!!!!!!

asher's cake. he was so excited that it was elmo-ey. (fyi, everything has "-ey" at the end now. "caboosey," "brammy," "blithey," thomas-ey", and so forth. lol) the cake was made with love by nana (my mom).

the birthday boy, so happy with his candles.

look! he eats!!!!

asher wanted another piece of cake. specifically, elmo-ey's nose. but of course, he's not allowed more if he still has some on his plate. solution? put what's left of piece #1... on mommy's plate. no one will notice. LOL ah, well, it's his birthday. we'll humour him tonight. :)

(asher's b-day is actually wednesday, but we celebrated today because he's with ed on wednesday. and he doesn't know it's not really his b-day. he got an elmo cake, elmo lego, and thomas videos! who cares what day it is!!! LOL)

awww.... how sweet is this?!?!

asher and charlie are absolute best friends. they go everywhere together... including dreamland, it seems.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

we had a wonderful thanksgiving this weekend, full of family, and community, and generosity. and of course, lots and LOTS of food! in fact, at this very moment, i have a fridge full of leftovers, and pot of turkey soup on the stove (which i'm making for the first time in my life! i hope it turns out ok!), and three very tired children (and one very tired doggie) all sleeping peacefully in my house. :) it was such a special weekend for us, and i hope yours was just as memorable. :)

happy thanksgiving, everyone! :)

(and yes, that's a pumpkin hat, which asher found downstairs at Nana's and wore upstairs... and he walked into the dining room with a huge grin on his face, so amused with this hat!! LOL)

enough of the bad news... here's what he's REALLY like :)

at bedtime tonight, i asked asher to put his boots by the door. i meant, in the basket with all the other kids' shoes, or on the shoe rack with mine. i forgot that a 2-year-old asher is a literal asher. lol

we were cuddling in bed tonight, trying to get him to sleep. (didn't work, btw... he's playing with blocks right now... serves me right for letting him fall asleep at 5pm.) anyway, he rolled over so he was facing me, and he said, "mommy, you so pretty. you so snuggly, too." and then he threw his arms around me and hugged me.

he plays with charlie (our dog) every chance he gets. and charlie is very patient, letting asher grab onto his face, pull his legs, that sort of thing. sometimes, charlie starts licking him, which gets shrieks of delight and "charlie likes me! charlie likes me!!"

we went grocery shopping today, and he threw a fit when i wouldn't buy him cheese strings. he absolutely loves those things!! the kid's obsessed with fake cheese! ugh!

i think that's about it for now. there's a million other things, but i'm gonna keep them for myself, if you don't mind. ;) i just wanted you to know he's more than a wonky heart and feeding tube. he's an absolute joy, and i adore him. <3

i suppose he might have a point.... *might* have a point... i'm not saying he's right. but he might be. ;)

our dinner conversation tonight:

me: seriously, is there anything better than hash browns?!

asher: yes.

me: oh, really? what?

asher: me!!!

and on another quick note: i'm taking him to emerg tonight. his paeds is on call in town here, so we're going there. his tube site is looking pretty bad, and his nurse this morning recommended taking him to see the doc. and he's uber pale lately (see the pic), with blue spells, sweating, puffiness and SOB. :( so, i'm taking him in to get checked out, and i'll post sometime this weekend with the verdict.

look at my boy, growing up so fast! :)

asher and "easter bunny" on his big boy bed
look at him, with his big elmo and the blanket i made blithe when she was a baby... and now she passed along to her baby brother. :)