Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a busy December and January is shaping up the same way. We were lucky to spend the Christmas season with all of our family. My family was in town the week before Christmas. Charlotte and Asher were spoiled like crazy by Grandma, Mr. Marc, and Aunt Alyssa. Christmas Eve was spent with Grandma and Grandpa Cooley, Uncle Daniel, Aunt Pam and Uncle Mark. Christmas day we stayed home and Papa Rick came to visit. We missed the big Cooley Christmas this year to make sure we didn’t expose Asher to too many germs. It was kind of a bummer, BUT we cooked a big meal and really did enjoy the downtime. I even cooked my first turkey (it was delicious in case you were wondering).

Charlotte posing in front of all the presents from Grandma and Mr. Marc

Decorating cookies

Almost time to open presents!

Charlotte being very excited about her new sparkly shoes

Baby Felicity's very first outfit

The aftermath



Christmas Morning The big presents. A hockey set and a karaoke machine <3 Power tool set from Papa Rick

We had tentatively planned on moving in the spring, but have decided to stay put for now. Having a new baby and spending time in the hospital would keep us plenty busy. So it looks like we will be in Anderson for a while longer--- I can’t complain except for we have to figure out how to make one more little person fit. The last few weeks were also hectic with getting new carpet and having the upstairs painted. Thank you Mom and Dad! The house looks so fresh. Charlotte and Asher will be sharing a room when baby Felicity arrives and have brand new bunk beds from Ikea. They are pretty thrilled and haven’t missed a night sleeping in them, even though Asher’s bed is still set up in his room. I can’t wait to share some pictures once we have everything in place.

Asher has continued to do very well with his treatment. Charlotte managed to get a wicked cold and ended up being tested for whooping cough, putting all of us on high alert. Thankfully the test came back negative but that didn’t stop Asher from catching her cold. It’s “okay” if Asher gets a cold, but if he gets a fever he is guaranteed at least a night in the hospital with antibiotics to rule out an infection. I was dreading the possibility. He breezed through the cold with no fever and they finally both sound better.

Asher’s last round of chemo was administered at home. So, guess who became a chemo nurse? We had the option to have a home care nurse come every day or learn to do it on our own, so we did. It was quite intimidating but after some close instruction from the nurses and written instructions I did just fine. On Christmas Day Asher sat in Dave’s lap and we all sang carols while he got his treatment. Thank you to Dave for the lovely shots of me in my chemo hazmat gear.

Next week we will be admitted for one night to start another cycle of chemo and I pray that he continues to handle it as well as he has been. Although just yesterday I think we saw the start of a chemo side effect when Asher started limping. One of the chemo drugs can cause neuropathy (nerve pain/damage) and clumsy walking called “drop foot”. He really is walking with a wobbly gate so the doctors will keep a close eye on him and he may have to start physical therapy. I am hoping that it will just resolve itself…but I really have no idea what the chances of that are. Luckily it doesn’t seem to bother him much, just slows him down a little.

Again, we want to thank everyone for their continued prayers. It means a lot to us.