Life: It's a new year...

Hi 2016!
2015 was amazing, crazy, scary, long, short, hectic, funny, thrilling, and so much more.
Let me catch everyone up quickly.
We moved back to Texas. I got a job teaching 4th grade at an amazing school. Tim works for a construction company as a project manager. We got the boys into a great daycare that we love. Cogley started walking...and now running. He is now 21 months old. Asher is doing therapy and getting a helmet to re-shape his flat head, poor baby. He is now 10 months old. He still isn't crawling, barely sitting up, and doesn't like baby food, but we are working on all of those things.
One of the most exciting things we did in 2015 was buy our first house. Over the last 5 years we have rented, so it was time to settle down and get a place of our own. WE. LOVE. OUR. HOUSE.
We are in the process of decorating and making it our own. The fun part.
Now for some pics!

Happy New Year and God Bless!

life: two boys at home...

Asher was released from the hospital on June 5th. He spent 77 days in the NICU. It seems like a lot, but it went by so fast.

It has been one crazy week at our house.
He came home last Friday, my mother and grandmother flew in on Monday, and Cogley's last day at daycare was this past Friday. Jeepers.

My mother and grandmother are here to watch the babies while my school year ends. We didn't want to put Asher in daycare fresh out of the hospital.
Cogley has done pretty well considering all the changes. He recognizes the other baby is in his house and likes to touch him. We are working on being gentle.

Asher has done great being home. We had a pediatrician appointment on Tuesday and he was up to 7 lbs 14 oz. Big boy! He also got his 2 month shots and took them like a champ. We have a follow-up appointment this Tuesday to see if he's gaining an ounce a day.

It has been magical for me not having to go to the hospital every day.
God is so good. My boys are home and healthy.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

God Bless!

life: 1 year and 1 month...

Our sweet Cogley turned 1 last Sunday. ONE!
It's amazing to me how fast his first year went. My mommy heart is taking it pretty well. I had a few cryface moments. But, life must go on.
We celebrated with just our little family. He ate a cupcake that he hated. Opened presents. We bought him his first Bible. Can't wait to read the stories with him and see him understand.
Cogley is still army crawling everywhere and just started to pull up on things this past week.
Next step, walking! (Ba dump ching!)
Let's go down memory lane. Here is Cogley at the hospital! He is such a little boy now.

Baby Asher turned 1 month last Sunday! (Sunday was huge for us!)
Today when I went to visit him he is up to 3 pounds 11.6 ounces. He is in an open crib and wearing preemie clothes. Eating good. Sleeping good. Breathing good.
God is so good!
We also took our first family photo last week! You may want to grab some tissues...

God Bless!

life: support baby asher

It completely amazes us with the amount of love and prayer we have witnessed for this sweet baby. Strangers are praying for him. It's amazing.
If I could meet each and every one of you I would hug you for loving on my sweet boy. Thank you for your support.
If you would like to show your support for Baby Asher during his stay in the NICU you can purchase a shirt. The shirt features the hashtags that I've been using on Instagram to document his daily updates.
You can purchase one HERE and there are different styles to choose from.

{The money earned from this campaign will help the Hollinger family with hospital and living expenses during this time.}
Thank you again and God Bless!

life: 2 weeks...

2 weeks has gone by so fast. 14 days old.
In 2 weeks Asher has changed so much.
The docs and nurses are very impressed with his strength.
One thing that will be ongoing is oxygen. He is such a small baby and his lungs will need help for a while.
He keeps amazing us with his weight and ability to get through anything. His PICC line was taken out within the first week and his breast milk feedings have increased from 3 ml to 23 ml. Growing boy!
His birth weight was 1080 grams and he is now 1175 grams. His skin color is less red and more pink and he is slowly filling out, but still looks like a wrinkly old man.

Thank you to everyone that has prayed and thought about our sweet family.
God Bless!

life: Asher was ready...

We've had a crazy 2 weeks. I went into preterm labor last Sunday afternoon. I was admitted to the hospital and put on Magnesium to stop contractions and given steroids to help with Asher's lung production in case I was to give birth.

After 48 hours on the Magnesium, the contractions had stopped and the baby was good.

They kept me over night and then discharged me around lunch time on Wednesday. Went home, was fine, taking it easy, and went to sleep.
On Thursday, I woke up around 6 am and went to the bathroom and there was blood. I told Timmy and he was so calm and got everything ready. We dropped Cogley off at daycare, went into Labor and Delivery, peed in a cup and my water broke, and got all hooked up again. They started me on Magnesium again to stop contractions, but by 5 pm I was having painful contractions much closer together. Timmy had left to go pick Cogley up from daycare and headed right back to the hospital. The pain was so intense that I got an epidural even before Tim and Cogley arrived. The epidural kicked in and I was on cloud 9 again.
After about 2 hours on the epidural, the doctor came to check my cervix and I had dilated 10 cm and she said she wanted to go ahead and start pushing, this baby was coming! They got the room set up, all the NICU docs and nurses came in, and then the pushing started.
I pushed twice and he was out, along with a gush of amniotic fluid in the docs face, but that's a story for another time. She held him in one hand and we could hear his little, kitty-like cries. How amazing to hear a 26 week old baby cry when they are born.

After that everything moved quickly. Timmy got to go take pictures of Asher and watch them get him ready to be moved to the NICU. I was all cleaned up and made ready for postpartum.
Asher was whisked away to the NICU and we were told that all had gone perfectly and he was looking good.

After a few hours in postpartum, getting the feeling in my legs back, and the arrival of my in-laws from Texas, we walked down to the NICU to see him. He had a CPAP mask on, a ton of cords, and looked so small.

They said he was doing great and his lungs were awesome.
Since then we have visited him everyday, I've been pumping and taking the breast milk for him, and have only heard good things each time we go in.

Today I was allowed to hold him skin-to-skin. It was so wonderful and made my momma heart happy.
What a miracle baby! Friends and family have been sharing the news of his early arrival and so many people are praying for this sweet boy. We thank you all and appreciate your prayers and support.

Now, as far as Cogley goes, well....he's a big brother!

Asher was born on his 11 month birthday and they are Irish Twins (born within the same 12 months). Very cool. Cogley has no idea, of course, that he has a brother. I can't wait until he understands and can recognize that Asher is his. The funny story from Asher's birth is that Cogley was sound asleep in the pack-n-play in the corner of the delivery room and slept through the entire birth. Such a sweet boy!

This entire experience has been like a dream. It's weird to not be pregnant anymore. There will not be a birth on June 20th. Been there, done that. Crazy! I'm so happy he's out, though, and taken care of so well by those nurses.

God Bless!
#asherspreemiestory