Many Names and Many Hats

I am racking up nicknames:  Babaloo, my Lumber Jack, Sonshine, but mostly just "Baby Atlas".

Mom had a hard time when I transitioned into daycare on September 16, 2013. We went for a walk around the hospital like always, and she seemed a bit sad.  

Vie thought this was funny so I tolerated it.  For a while.

Okay, that was the last sticker.  Sheesh.

Last day home with Mama.

I didn't want any of that bottle business so she came out and nursed me every day at lunchtime for the first couple of weeks. I am learning that bottles aren't so bad now.

On Thurs October 10th I gave Mommy my first belly laugh as she Boinged me back and forth from one leg to another.  In the time honored tradition of Asaro children and Warner Brother's frogs, I promptly stopped laughing when she started video recording. I laughed again two nights ago when she jumped toward me and said "You!" Dad rushed up the stares with Vie and I stared at them quietly. I was laughing on the inside.

I rolled over from tummy to back three times in less than three minutes Friday October 18. I am now working on other skills and often look like I am trying to run in place while lying on my back.

First day in the door to door ministry in October 2013.  Dad was sick but Unc came.  I slept almost the whole morning to help Mom out.

I am NOT a potato head!

Dad was telling me all about a fascinating documentary he just watched.  I love him so much I feigned interest for a long time, like two seconds.

Ostensibly this is Vie's "baby Boots".  But I am drooling on him so much I hope she lets me keep him.

First time on the swing.  I guess it's okay.

Gonna be a balla.

This is Spinal Tap, Anxiety to 11

On Friday I was nursing a lot, which makes sense because kids have a growth spurt around this time.  I was crying a bit urgently and mom thought it was a sign that I wanted to eat a lot for the next few days.  At one am Saturday, she changed me and was going to move me into a position to nurse, but she thought I felt warm.  Vie walked in the room right then.  Mom took my temp and it read 102; the cutoff for emergency attention at my age 100.4.  She sent Vie to get Dad, who said when he took it three times my temp was reading "one hundred point four".  Since it was right on the line, they decided to wait and see if it went up or down or stayed the same.  Mom explained that one hundred point four was right when you should get your kid checked.  Twenty minutes later, Dad said, "Nope, it's still one oh one point four".  Mom sat straight up and said, "You mean one hundred point four?"  They had been miscommunicating.  Mom had a scary tone in her voice and told Dad to get Vie ready right away because we were going to the ER.

When they first took my temp it was 99.  Mom was so glad, saying they were just terrible at taking temps.  The nurse said no, if you got a rectal reading of 101 he had a fever which could read lower because he just pooped.  They started drawing blood and running tests.  The doctor said she recommended a spinal tap to test for meningitis just so we could all sleep better and then she would send us home.  Mom and Dad looked at each other a minute and decided to do it.  It hurt.  Daddy took Vie away so she wouldn't worry so much about me.  Mom stayed by my side and talked to me and comforted me when it was done.  The doctor came back and mom was ready to get things wrapped up when she told us that my white blood cell count was elevated and I did have meningitis.  We were admitted to a room on the third floor at about 7am.

Mom whispered to Dad that she would hold it together in front of Vie but that she was terrified.  He nodded quietly like he does.  It was a long 36 hours of IV antibiotics, three different kinds, while we waited for cultures to even find out if it was bacterial or viral meningitis.  It turned out to be viral from the enterovirus, which is very common in the summer months.  My fever stayed down on its own and we were sent home Sunday in the late afternoon.  I am so glad to be home and back to normal activities of fussing, looking around, smiling, cooing, eating, and pooping.

Vie at around 3am at Wolfson's Children's Hospital with her mickey mouse gloves on

Atlas in an arm board for his IV

In the room where he would stay for 36 hours.  They gave him the gown with pink animals so people kept calling him "she"

Vie loved the car in the kids' area of the hospital.

Mommy and Atlas on the couch where she would camp out in his room for 36 hours.

Unc and Atlas

Napping while waiting for the doc to sign the discharge papers.

Oh, Baby Baby it's a Wild World

Atlas Wild Asaro is born

First meeting

I suppose my story begins in Washington DC back in October 2012 when my Mom was wondering why she was having trouble keeping up with other joggers at a conference.  When the family got back from a nice vacation she took a test and found out I had been stowed away the whole trip.

My due date was July 4th.  At midnight on a Friday night/Saturday morning, mom went downstairs and ate some Publix Bear Claw icecream and started timing contractions.  Unc came over and snoozed on the couch at about 2am while Mom told Daddy to get some rest because she was in labor but it would be a while.  By 230am Dad was getting the car packed.  By 330am Mom was bent over the hood of Daddy's soul in breathless pain waiting for the midwife to let her in the birth center.  They drew a hot bath and the minute mom got in her water broke.  I was born at 4:14am on Saturday, June 22, 2013.  I weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce and was 18.5 inches long.

I eat like a champ.  I was nursing before the cord was cut and we were still in the tub.  By my two week check-up I weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long.

My big sister Vie says I am her baby.  She likes to hold me and sings songs to me, even reads me books.  I am working hard to push up and hold my own head so I can soon play with her.  She is very concerned about my lack of teeth, but I think it makes eating milk easier.  So far life is sleep, poop, and eat.  The past few days I have spent a bit more time looking around and have even smiled a few times (for Dad first, of course).