Welcome Anna!

Well it's another weekend gone by, and another Monday is here, and happily another life on Earth!

The Ash family sends our congratulations to the Wernly family who just grew from 2 to 3!  The newest Wernly is Anna Elizabeth who was born @ 12:37am and weighs in @ 7lbs 12oz (that's more than what Thomas weighed, and born earlier too).

Obviously since the news is so new and breaking, there are photos of Anna in Don's possession, also I do have some photos of the Ash clan and Wernly clan from a couple years ago (Summer 2007) when Don & Jenn drove down to Florida (Jacksonville) to visit Mark & Jenny (please excuse Don's glasses).

Jenn walks and talks with Jenny and Mark.  We strolled around and did some window shopping.

Yeah, this is what I do whenever I see a cannon.  Get used to it, Jenn already has.

Hey, every one's gotta have a nice portrait before the trip ends.  PS - look at how rested we all look before we became parents (those were the days).

Jenn took this picture during our drive back from FL to MD, and as you can see I had these sweet shades to wear under my glasses.  Look people, nobody cool likes glasses, and when you get your eye-sight corrected with lasers you have to wear glasses for a little while, which is tough but I was able to manage!

Again, congrats to Mark and Jenny, the newest Mom & Dad, and if you blog readers are nice, I'll throw some Thomas photos up later this week!

March Madness

What a terrific weekend we had!  On Friday we had several visitors.  1st, we had Cousin Kelsey and Auntie Anne come by the house and say hello to Thomas.  Then we had Maryland friends Andres and Jess visit us from there new location in California.  Andres and Jess, drove out Friday afternoon and spent the whole weekend with us.  Unfortunately we had such a fun time with them, that we forgot to take any pictures or any videos (sorry to all those visual aid blog readers).

Saturday we woke up and went on a little tour of the beautiful ASU campus.  Thomas especially enjoyed riding around in his stroller and checking out the bookstore, and all the palm trees along palm walk.  The only minor complaint (which I think most people will sympathize with), is that the weather was up in the 80's and 90's, oh, and very sunny.  

So after the tour, and a quick lunch pit-stop, we headed over to the best sports-bar in town, Native New Yorker, and we hung out on the patio and watched those college basketball games.  I received a lot of criticism because I picked Arizona State to go all the way, and of course, that was a mistake (they only got past the first round).

Saturday evening was fun because we turned on the BBQ, and had Gramma Katie, Uncle Tony, Auntie Leia, Uncle Steve and Trevor over for hamburgers and hot dogs.  For those of you not familiar with Trevor, he is another friend from High School who also happens to live here in amazing Arizona, so that was treat to get to see him.

All I can say about Saturday night is that there was a lot of basketball viewing and a lot of beer drinking, a lot of eating and of course some hand and foot at the end of the night!

Sunday we all slept in a little and woke up to have a nice big breakfast of waffles and bacon, and fresh orange juice.  Some people reading this blog have yet to visit us here and therefore are unaware of the crazy good orange tree in the backyard which has more oranges than we can shake a stick at (literally).

Jess was most excited about the oranges, and so when we told her that down the street were citrus trees of every shape and size, we grabbed some grocery bags, and we all headed out the door to go pick some more fruit!  Obviously one can never have enough lemons, oranges or grapefruits, but when you have too many, you can always give some away to friends!

Once Andres and Jess left and headed back to California (Santa Monica), Jenn and I were relaxing with the coolest little man in town.  As you can see from this video, Thomas has been becoming more and more observant of his surroundings and especially himself (mainly his fingers and hands).  Check him out, trying to eat his own fist!

Tough Week

What a week, what a week, what a week.

Sadly on Friday March 6th, our very good friend Tom Clagett passed away. The funeral services were held the following Wednesday and Thursday. Gramma Katie gave Don a free airline ticket, and Jenn's coworker gave her another airline ticket. So, Wednesday morning at 6am, Don, Jenn and Thomas were on board an airplane to Maryland.

The funeral services were very nice considering that it was such a sad event, but some very lovely things were said about Mr. C, and just about everyone we met was thrilled to meet little Thomas. It is said that a new baby is always a welcome site at funeral type events.

By Friday everyone was tired of crying and we got to spend some time with our Maryland friends, like Garrett, Janice, Ben, Jessie, Michael and Peter!  On Saturday and Sunday we ran around town helping Auntie Allison get ready for her wedding in a couple months.  We are already excited to fly back for that party!

Check out pictures from our trip, and a video from one of the flights!

MD in March

Once we returned to Arizona things didn't get quiet.  Over the last couple weeks Thomas has developed a rash that started on his arm and has spread over his torso and down his leg.  The pediatrician (kid doctor) said that he couldn't tell what kind of rash it was and sent us to a dermatologist (skin doctor) on Monday after we returned from Maryland.  We were excited to see the dermatologist because he would cure Thomas, but instead he looked at Thomas and said, "I don't know what kind of rash this is, let me refer you to another doctor."

So Tuesday morning we drive to Phoenix Children's Hospital (hopefully our only trip) and our specialist doctor (this dude was a pediatrician and a dermatologist) walks in, looks at Thomas for about a minute, checks his skin with a magnifying glass, and declares, "This kid has scabies!"

Now most parents might think, "What is scabies?"  But Jenn and I have already theorized about scabies.

(back-story)

About 8-9 months ago when Jenn and I arrived in Arizona, I started getting very itchy.  My arms, my legs, all over and worse in the evenings.  I saw one dermatologist 3 times and another dermatologist 2 times, and on all 5 visits, they said, "You're skin is dry, try this lotion, and 'No', you don't have scabies!"

(back to the present)

Turns out, all 3 of us (Don, Jenn & Thomas) have scabies.  Now this smart doctor (pretty sure he's 1-in-a million) tells us the cure is fairly simple and that all we do is put on a special cream, and then wash it off 8-10 hours later.  Also we do some laundry of sheets and towels, but over all in a couple weeks we should all be itch-free!

Note * Sorry to any family or friends who have been in contact with Don, Jenn or Thomas, because if you develop symptoms (usually in a couple weeks) of scabies, see your doctor and tell him you might have scabies, not dry skin!

So, here are some pictures of Thomas, after his scabies treatment, when he got out of the tub and is nice and clean.  I couldn't help but mess up his hair (he's a wild man)!

Happy Birthday Jenn

Jenn completed her first week back at work and did an amazing job.  

Several weeks before her birthday (March 9th), she noticed that her Monday Birthday and my evening Monday class would conflict, and so she became sad.  I then check my school calendar and discovered that my Monday class was cancelled on her birthday because it's Spring Break (I just poured water on my tee shirt when I typed Spring Break).

I decided it would be fun to surprise Jenn and make her believe that I was going to class, but then show up at the restaurant so she gets happy.  So, once Jenn returned to work, she checked the University calendar and was like, "You don't have class on my birthday, you can come out to dinner with us!" 

To which, I replied, "No, I do have class because my education classes are on a different schedule than the rest of the University."  

And then Jenn said, "Are you sure, maybe I should call your department head and verify that.  I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to do that."  

I quickly said, "Don't call my professors or dean, allow me to call and figure out why they are doing this."

Lets just say, that I convinced her that I didn't have Spring Break, and she eventually was telling co-workers that the College of Education had it's own Spring Break.  So last night, I got on my bike and rode off to class as normal, and told Jenn to have a nice dinner with Katie (Mom) and Tony (Brother).  I then parked my bike at the near-by church parking lot, where Steve and Leia picked me up so that we arrived at the restaurant before Jenn!  

Below are some pictures from Jenn's birthday dinner at Carrabbas, as well as a couple photos of Jenn and Thomas.  Also included in the photos are a couple shots of a Saturday evening dinner we had with some friends on top of South Mountain.

Jenn's Work & Birthday

What a Week!

Hello Everybody!  As most of you know Jenn returned to work this week and Thomas was left in the care of his Daddy (don't be too worried).  Because I have now become a stay-at-home Dad, I thought you might find it educational to see what Thomas and I did all week.  Enjoy the video!

You Tube Version HERE!

Videos & Yard Work

Hello everybody!  Auntie Allison learned to use You Tube (finally) and has a few short videos posted on there from when she visited a several weeks ago.  Check out her videos here!

On a more updating entry, we have had a fairly quiet weekend!  Friday afternoon we stopped by the doctors for a little arm rash (let me know if that's too much info), and we weighed Thomas.  He is now in the double digit club weighing 10 lbs 10 oz.  Woo-Pee   :-)

Saturday we went over to Gramma Katie's house and Jenn, Tony, Gramma and Don did some serious yard work (Thomas slept on the couch with Steve & Leia).  We cleared out her back yard and planted some grass so hopefully Gramma's back yard will be nice and grassy so Thomas can run and play back there... one day!

Sunday was fun because Thomas took his first shower (because he pooped everywhere [again, let me know about my detail levels] very dirty), and then we got cleaned up and attended church with Gramma Katie and Uncle Mundo.  After church we stopped and said hello to Fr. Thomas and Fr. Thomas told (baby) Thomas how excited he was to perform his baptism.  Here it is: Baptism is scheduled for April 26th @ 11am, so we'll find out if Thomas will be a little saint or have holy water burn him like it does Daddy (that's just a joke).

By the way, happy Monday Mommy!  Jenn has her first day back to work today, and Thomas and Daddy are sad that they are all alone (not sure who's sadder, we're both crying).  We love you Mommy, hurry home!