where in the world is Ashley Holloway?

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving at the Holloway's. I'm realizing now that we took all of 6 pictures while we were there. How lame...
Jackson, Boston, and Jeffery in a moving box. Party time.

See how fun?!

Everyone but Jackson is having a ball. I guess he didn't want to miss out on the party.

Alright everyone, I'm sure the whole world has been concerned, but I AM alive. I found out a little over a month ago that I was prego with baby number 2 and I didn't want to post anything about it until after Thanksgiving because we were gonna tell Joe's family in person. PLUS, I was so tired all the time that blogging was the least of my concerns. I didn't forget how sick I was with Boston (and I wasn't all that sick this time) but I did forget how tired you are. Really, a midday (is that one word?) is a requirement.

Then, last week Boston was diagnosed with pertussis (whooping cough). I don't know how long he had it because he had been throwing fits and acting all crazy for a long time. But his cough and nose and everything just intensified and so we brought him in to the doctor and they tested him and it was positive. Apparently, it has been going around like wildfire in this area and the doctors don't know why. A high school made the pertussis booster mandatory a couple weeks ago. Anyway, so he was tested Tuesday, came back positive on Wednesday and the doctor informed me that everyone living with Bos had to be on antibiotics and get a booster if they were due for one. Since we are living at home that is SEVEN people. My family was not happy with the Bos man...

Later that day I had a scheduled OBGYN appt. to hear the heart beat (I was 12 weeks at this point), but I ended up having to get an ultrasound because the nurses couldn't find it. Unfortunately, the baby was no longer alive and the doctor and I had to discuss our options. It was pretty tough to watch the ultrasound because 4 weeks earlier Joe and I had seen the heart beating and everything seemed fine. I drove to Joe's office and told him (I'm glad he wasn't at the office visit because I don't think I could have held my tears back if he was there) and then told him that Friday I had to go in to the hospital and get a D&E. My OBGYN told me after the D&E that he felt my placenta was viable (which means they grow tissue from the cells) and they will take the grown tissue and test it for genetic abnormalities, basically to see if they can find out what went wrong. The results, however, won't be in for about 5 weeks. So now it's just wait and see. Joe's sister shared what her doctor told her after a miscarriage and I thought I'd share it for all those who have had one or might have one in the future (hopefully this doesn't happen though). "As soon as you see a positive result on that pregnancy test, it is a person to you and it is perfect. There aren't any genetic problems or physical deformities, it's just a perfect little baby." (I'm hoping I quoted that well enough) Therefore, it's tough to hear that something might have been wrong with the fetus because it is true, you feel that everything will be alright and that it will grow to be healthy and strong. I don't know why this pregnancy didn't work out, but in a way I am grateful because it has made the relationship I have with Joe even stronger. I feel that our love deepened and our compassion and understanding grew as well. I appreciate and love him so much for listening to me and giving me a shoulder to cry on. This experience has also made me take a breath and enjoy this stage in Boston's life even more than I was before. I have such an awesome little family :)

Needless to say, the past week has been pretty tough for our family. We're all doing much better now and we're grateful for all of those who have been there--whether in person or by phone--for us. We hope all is well with all our friends and family and we wish you all a spectacular Christmas and New Year!!!

OSU vs Michigan

Okay these are the pictures from the best game Joe and I have ever been to; Ohio State vs Michigan!! It really was unbelievable and even though it was at the Big House in Ann Arbor, it was well worth the trip. The traffic was awful on the way back to Columbus, but we all would do it all over again in a heartbeat. It was definitely a different football experience than ANY BYU game. We were yelled at so many times I lost count and I heard F- you more times than I've ever heard in my lifetime. Plus, we had some looney tell us that, and I quote, "I hope you all die in a car crash on your way home." Well, thank you. Right back at ya!

Here's me and my uncle Todd. He and his friend all rode with us to the game. He had some awesome plastic glasses that flashed red.

Here's me and Joe during a round of O-H-I-O going around the Michigan stadium. Definitely a cool moment!!

The final score!!!

The band, players and fans!

This is just closer up. At the end of the game they all get together and play and sing the Alma Mater.

This was the band marching through Michigan tailgate territory. They were verbally harassed too. I felt bad for them because they're just the band, but they hate everything Ohio State and we hate everything Michigan so it makes sense.

After the teams ran out... little confrontation midfield.

This was before it started to rain. I woke up and did my hair to get rained and snowed on :(

The girl behind us took this picture before the game started. Afterwards, we discovered she had the dirtiest mouth out of the whole stadium. When your on row 100+, no point in yelling that many obscenities, especially when there are kids around.

The band of Ohio State fans in red around the rim of the stadium. They announced that this was the 2nd highest attendance ever at Michigan Stadium, over 112,000 (I can't remember the exact number). Half of the stadium is actually below the ground so all of the seats are good seats. But since the stadium is like 100 years old, it was built for people that were like 150 lbs or less. Not the average fan size today. I think I had half a seat for the whole game. It was nice only because it was it was raining and eventually snowed and the body heat from all us sardines kept us warm for a little bit. It was so so so cold...

Joe said that the band really did an awesome job keeping the fans in the game. So here's to them!

random pictures

Well, I've tried to switch the order of these to make more sense, but my computer is a piece of junk and won't let me. So here are some random pictures, in random order :)

Boston was running around the house naked. Some people I know let their child do this to "air out." I will never recommend this to ANYONE!!! See the last picture for a reason why...

I LOVE this picture. I think he looks just too cute.

Me, my one flared nostril, my double chin, and Mitt Romney. I hate this picture, but it was cool I was so close to him. He came for a fund raiser that my Grandpa held for him. By blood, I was invited. Cool, huh?

Me, Dustin, and Mitt. We look sweet...

Okay, a close up. There is a better picture of me, but my cousin put his stupid head in it and made one heck of a retarded face, so I chose this one.

This is when we were moving into my parent's basement. My mom bought these forearm lifts from QVC and since no one ever uses them, she insisted Joe and Dustin try them. Showing how easy it is to lift! They should be on an infomercial :)

Okay, maybe by the look on Dustin's face it still isn't that easy. But Joe is laughing... so I don't know.

This is one heck of an awful picture, especially of yours truly. We took this when my mom was headed back with Boston to Ohio and her trunk was packed with all of our decorations. I left with the moving truck 2 days later, followed by Joe 2 weeks later. Boston doesn't look too happy to begin this journey (7 hours).

Grandpa feeding Boston a banana at one of my brother's soccer game.

My friend, Rachel, sent us these cute little Havananas (I don't know if that's how their spelled) because her little guy outgrew them. This was when he was walking around naked, airing out. Right after this picture, he pooped and peed all over the floor. Just squatted and went. I thought I'd save everyone from losing their lunch and didn't post a picture (by mistake, it was captured on film). Never let your kid air dry folks, unless you enjoy cleaning that nasty up. I'll take diaper rash over that any day. Does that make me a bad mom?!?

OSU vs Kent State

Here are some of the pictures that we took at the Ohio State game we went to clear back in October!!! haha, long time to not post :) It was just OSU versus Kent State, which was not a big game, hence the reason we scored some tickets. But my grandpa is on the Board of Trustees for OSU and he invited us up to the press box after half time which was very cool. Plus, they have all the free food you can think of! So here are the pics in no particular order:

The famous Script Ohio!!

The marching band came up to the press box and played a few numbers for us -- here we are looking awesome and my hair looks like something from the 80s.... no one knows...

Just a visual of how red the stadium was :)

The team had just run on the field and then were warming up or something. I actually can't remember what they were doing in this pic!

Yes. We look like we are number 70

This one is a little better.

I think this was more script Ohio

Trombone player dotting the "I" in Ohio. A very significant thing.

Okay, more posts to come!

Boston's Halloween costume

I would like to profess my love for Old Navy and their AWESOME Halloween costumes. My aunt, who dressed her 8 month old son in the chicken costume they had, told me about their adorable costumes. Their was ONE left when I got there and it is a 2T, but it fits fine enough. PLUS, it was 50% off and you can't beat that. I don't think I could make a costume for 12 dollars, so again, thank you Old Navy! He didn't like the dragon head hanging over his forehead at first, but I gave him a bunch of pretzels and now he's fine with it.
Later in the video (when it's darker) it becomes hard to see, but I kept it in because he was shaking his little pumpkin toy to get candy :) Awwww, it was too cute.

Boston and Diet Coke don't mix

Sorry that these videos aren't great quality. They show up great on our camera, but transferring them over to YouTube jacks them all up. Alright, I just had to mention that.
Boston got some Diet Coke from his loving Grandma Welch because he was screaming for a sip (he loves drinking from straws). She obviously wasn't thinking of the possible outcome. Needless to say, a 14 month old and caffeine don't mix. He was spinning for about an hour... but at least he was happy!

Boston tech decking

Okay just so everyone knows, we are still alive!! I have just been busy and lazy both at the same time. So here is a new video of Bos playing with my brother's tech deck -- which is a little finger skateboard. He loves to do this and don't know why. It really isn't that fun...
There will be more videos and tons more pictures to come. I'm getting back on the horse... just as soon as I take a nap :)

boston, boston, how are you?

Alright the update with our little fam is that last Saturday Boston gave me his first kiss after I asked him for one! Words cannot describe the joy that I felt!! It made me not care that he refuses to call me mom, or actually even attempt to say any sort of noise. I do not care if he doesn't utter my name for many more years, as long as I get his little kisses :) Two days ago Joe was holding Boston and he gave me a kiss with that "mmwah" noise and Boston leaned in to kiss me too and said, "mmmuuh." VERY cute! Those kisses made my day much, much better :)

Also, Sunday Boston full on said "daddy." I wasn't jealous for too long, I did get his first kiss! He hasn't really referred to Joe soley as daddy, it's more like "dadadadadada," but know we know he can do it. Other words he has said are tree ("tee"), ball ("doll" -- well he actually has said "ball" before, but prefers to call it "doll"), doggie ("da-doh"), off (he says this perfectly, but no one can figure out why he picked it up. We rarely ever say off), and he said bottle tonight ("ba-ta"). He also attempted to say clock because I change his diaper by a grandfather clock and it usually goes off when he's laying there (he must poop on a schedule?!?). It sounds more like "ckck" (imagine this sound) than "clock," but I'll take what I can get. I'm just glad he hasn't learned "no" yet. I'm foreseeing that to be quite an annoying new word...

Oh, I need to post the video of Boston's new obsessions: skateboards, Tech Deck, and Gatorade bottles. None of us can figure these obsessions out. Later!

Funny Clip of the Week

This clip is brought to you by my Grandma McFerson. Okay that sounds like I've been watching too much Seasame Street... this clip is brought to you by the letter "G." Anyway, hope you all have a good week!!

Funny Clip of the Week

Alright, this clip is brought to you by Luke Holloway, Joe's younger brother. He said this is one of his new favorite bands right now. So thanks for the laugh!

new best friend and the zoo

So like I told you, we have been busy doing things and so here is another post to prove it. Boston LOVES being here at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He roams around from room to room and then wakes up and does it all over again. You think he would get sick of it, but no, there's too much to explore. His little partner in crime in all of this is their dog. So here are some pictures of Boston and his new best friend, Kolbe.

Pulling out the single serving pretzel bags while Kolbe watches and learns. I found Kolbe later that day with bags of pretzels on his dog bed.

I said, "Why are you teaching him bad tricks??" He looked at me like, "I'm not doing anything wrong..."


Putting the pretzel bags in my crossed legs. Look at nosy Kolbe.

I think our camera is broken because the flash never goes off anymore. I gave it to Boston once and got it back in this condition... don't make the same mistake! So if you can see it, Kolbe is licking Boston's hand, which in turn makes him laugh hysterically.

I was trying to get a picture of his new shirt. He was getting mad because he was on the ground for a while because Kolbe kept putting his stupid dog head in all the pictures. He obviously is very attached to Boston.

Okay Joe wanted to take Boston to the Columbus Zoo and they have all these bronze (???) sculptures of different animals everywhere. This one is actually his size and so he really liked it.

Kicking it.
Poking the elephant in the eye. He does this to babies, animals, and apparently statues. He is drawn to eye sockets, so watch out!

I almost got a cute one of him looking... oh well.

He was talking to the statue. Pretty funny :)

This one was not his size and he didn't like it as much. Nor did his dad who was paranoid that he would fall off while I was yelling at Joe to get out of the picture.

This is the seal exhibit. He really is not into zoos. All my friends babies are, but Boston couldn't care less. But he did like this one because these little guys zipped around so fast that it kept his attention. These seals made being a seal look fun. Does that sound totally earthy and weird?

This is the Bos man at the petting zoo. That sheep does not look clean, but he was having fun. Look at his little kissy lips! haha

This sheep, or whatever it is, is totally funky. I think Boston thought so too.

He heard me and came over. Goof head. He looks like some sort of prisoner of the petting zoo.

Looking at... hmm I can't remember. But he takes after me and looks very interested in whoever is talking to him :)

Joe, Bos, and chub chub goat.

He was going for the eye socket and was deflected by dad. A nostril will have to do...

A hoof. Wow. It is amazing though that what amuses a 15 month old is almost lame-o to us adults. I guess what I should say is that it is the everyday, normal, nothing too special things that amaze and captivate young children. But that doesn't sound too much like me though :)

Now the focal point of this picture should be the goat who climbed the tree to get some food. Instead, the lady who should not be wearing a tank top causes your eyes to zoom in on her. This is unfortunate and I am sorry for making your eyes avert to that. Boston and Joe look cute though.

There was a little boy brushing this sheep and that was fascinating to Boston. Man that sheep needs a bath.

Isn't this picture so cute??! We were going to go check out the moose. Essentially, this zoo trip was just exercise for me and Joe because Boston was bored (minus the seals and mist fans). But we had a fun time walking around and being together. I hadn't seen Joe for two weeks so it was a fun little family date. Awww... okay peace out until next time!