The First "Bath"

We think it was a success (?)

Orange Crush

Yes, this is Megan's favorite soda.  Unfortunately, it was also partly Asher's skin color, which meant his bilirubin had gotten too high and he was jaundiced.  Bilirun is a natural substance in our blood stream that is a by-product of the breakdown of red blood cells.  Our body is constantly breaking red blood cells down, and usually the liver does a good job of clearing the blood stream of excess bilirubin.  Newborns, on the other hand, can sometimes not clear the bilirubin fast enough, and it becomes deposited in fat cells and the skin (and gives the skin its orange color).  This isn't too big of an issue, but excessively high levels of bilirubin have been linked to a few development issues, so doctors normally require some treatment if it gets too high.  Photo-therapy, using a blue light that breaks down the deposited bilirubin, is the quickest way to remedy the situation.  The picture above is Asher hanging out in his bilirubin bed, which fit comfortably in grampa's bassinet.  Any time he was not feeding, he was required to be in his bed.  This was a little rough for everyone, as his two favorite things, being swaddled and being held, were not possible.  He ended up spending about 48 hours in the bed by the time his bilirubin levels had come down enough.  He also had to go through a few heel pricks to check the bilirubin levels in his blood, so overall everyone was happy when it was over.  It's been a full day since the treatment ended, and he has blissfully been hanging out in our arms ever since.  Here's a couple more pictures of him in the bed:

Welcome Asher David!

Asher David Plante arrived to us 10 days early on Saturday July 14th 10:14 AM.  It was quite the surprise.  One minute we're downstairs eating some Thai food from Singapore! and then next we are calling the doctor to let them know we're on our way to the hospital.  (Literally the turn of events went that quickly- do I get to blame the Thai food?)  About 12 hours later Asher was born.  To be honest, I don't remember much of the details but know I would do it all over again if it meant Asher was going to be in our lives.

Casey and I enjoyed this first week of parenthood, both highs and lows.  It's been quite entertaining learning how to be a parent as well as observing all the precious nuances of our son.  For example, one of the first diaper changes we (that's right it was a team effort the first few times) we forgot to cover him up and next thing we know we have a golden arch going across the table.  We were both so shocked that we both started laughing and then realized that we should probably do something about it (I partially blame the delayed reaction to the lack of sleep :) )  As to his nuances we love how cute his hiccups are- similar to a chipmunk being in the room with us or how he sometimes snorts when he gets really worked up about something (usually food).

Finally, we both feel very fortunate to have our family and friends with us during these exciting times.  Thanks to everyone for their love and support.  It means so much to the three of us (and Henry :) ).

There will be many more stories to come!

West Coast Tour

Back in April, Megan and I took a trip down the West Coast, starting in Seattle and finishing in San Francisco. We rented a car and drove down the coast. It was out last big vacation before the big "event" :) We enjoyed it immensely - it was just adventurous enough to see some amazing sights, but relaxing enough for those of us who needed to carry an extra person around every where we went (boy were my arms tired). Without further ado - the trip: We started out with a day in Seattle. While we didn't get any great pictures of them, the city is surrounded by mountains, with Mount Ranier towering over everything. It is an impressive sight. Here's a quick picture.

We stayed downtown, and spent the majority of our day around Pike's Place market. It may be a big tourist destination, but it was for good reason. There were tons of interesting things for sale - Megan
took lots of good pictures

They were throwing fish all over the place. Should have got a video.

We took some of the smoked salmon in that picture on the road with us. It was delicious. We also bought some salmon jerky. Not quite as tasty, but a good road food that would last a couple days without refrigeration. They had tons of fresh flowers for sale. Megan got some really good pictures of
the flowers

Probably the most impressive people we ran into were Thor and Jim Parsons.  Who knew they hung out together?  Thor was a little intense - Jim was a little more laid back.

Other Seattle highlights included the infamous gum wall.  Don't ask me why they have a famous gum wall - it was gross enough just witnessing it.

The next day we were on the road, and the real sights started to pop up.  The next few days were spent along the Oregon coast, which was amazing.

Below is a picture of Cape Disappointment, where Lewis and Clark ended their push West (since they couldn't go any farther West).  It is where the Columbia river enters the Pacific ocean.  When Lewis and Clark first arrived, they were rained on for nearly four months straight.  We had beautiful weather.  You can see a ship navigating its way into the mouth of the river.  While it looks wide open, there are many shallow areas where boats can get stuck - it actually takes quite a bit of skill to navigate the opening.

Here's a cove we found a little farther down the road.  Megan and I both agreed it was the most beautiful place we saw on the trip.  To get there, we had to hike about a mile and a half through thick Oregon rainforest, which then opened up into this beautiful beach, surrounded by the rocky shore. 

While it seems like Oregon wouldn't be the place for a rainforest, the coast gets so much rain that it is considered rain forest.  And when you walk through the woods, all you see is dense foliage and green everywhere.  Pictures below were of a hike to a waterfall.  The waterfall doesn't look as impressive as it did in person, as it actually was over 200 feet tall.  But the pictures do give you a good idea of how thick the forest was.

Once we hit Northern California, we ran into the giant redwoods.  They are beasts.  We also ran into some banana slugs, which Megan thought were pretty cute.

Lastly was San Francisco.  We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our good friend Alejandro and his girlfriend Ryane.  They were great hosts, and showed us all around San Francisco.  We had all the local specialties, which included some delicious coffee and ice cream.  We wrapped up the trip with a hike to the Golden Gate bridge.

It was a great vacation!



That's My Spot

Any of you watch The Big Bang Theory? If so, you'll know that Sheldon has his spot on the couch that no one else can sit in. Apparently Henry feels the same way. All I was trying to do was play a little Wii, and he decided he wanted his spot back. The end product came out like this:

Happy Mother's Day!

We really need an updated picture as this one is six weeks old, but the mom-to-be is on a plane to Florida right now, so this will have to do.

Old Man Birthday

Luckily this birthday party had some good pictures of young people so there was something to share. Megan made the delicious pie that you see Leah and I eating with relish.

Just to be clear - the wine glass is mine and the sippy cup is Leah's. Before dinner we were reading The Little Mermaid. I assured her there were no bad guys in the entire story.

Who do you think is the better looking guy? I'd go with the bald one, although the hair profiles will most likely reverse as the years go on.