Our future photographer and his lame mother.

Asher loves to hijack my phone and play games. I tried to stop him originally, but once I saw how careful he is with my phone and how useful it is in keeping him occupied in various situations I let the boy indulge. A recent favorite of his is taking pictures and making videos. He has always been interested, but he's currently obsessed.

I love to look through at the millions of up-close self-portraits and other randoms he deems worthy of a photo. They usually end up looking like a 2-year-old took them.

The other day I was laying around feeling sick, which is a current obsession of mine apparently and I heard the iPhone camera clicking away. Here's one of the shots of that unplanned photo shoot. I was sad when I first saw it because now we have proof that I am lame and sickly all the time and then I changed my mind.

I know it sounds silly, but I am really grateful for this picture. It captures reality right now. I have had to get up early and teach every morning, fulfill my church calling responsibilities, and pick up Ambrose every day from school while feeling like I want to curl up and die. Those three everyday tasks seem like nothing when you feel fine. When you are nauseous all the time they are mountains to climb. And honestly, the rest of the day looks like that picture most of the time. Every once in a while I feel bad enough to take my kids on an outing or try my hand at getting some sort of dinner together. At the beginning of this first trimester I was telling myself: "Keep your head down and just swim right through it. Paddle, paddle, paddle."

Finally I am starting to get energy back and even enjoying some of the things I eat instead of just shoveling the nearest cracker in my mouth before I ... you know what. The queasiness is so manageable lately and I don't end each day with a sigh that it will get better soon because it already is!

I am glad Mr. Ash captured this little chunk of our lives (when Mama watched a lot of Netflix on demand while he and his brother messed up our house) for me to remember the hard work it takes to grow a human life, but life with Ambrose and Asher everyday proves how worth it it is! Every wave of nausea is a reminder that we have good things in store with a baby we already love and have been looking forward to for a long time--and we wouldn't change that for the world!