Est. 2006 The Schreibman: October 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fall Friday

I love Fall.

I love decorating the house, carving pumpkins, crisp cool air, making chilli, the smells of pumpkin spice and the crunch of leaves under my feet.

Halloween in our neighborhood is like nothing you have ever seen before. Van loads full of children pull up outside your house and unload all at once with lots of tricks and looking for treats. We are full stocked full of candy. A brown paper grocery bag FULL with Snickers, Hershey's Butterfingers, Milky Way, Resse Cups, Fast Breaks, Three Musketeers. Loads of chocolate goodness...melt in your hand or your mouth goodness! Every kids and parents dream.

Asher will make his rounds to a few our neighbors in his adorable costume.

Did I mention how much I love seeing all of the neighborhood kids in their costumes!?

Last Halloween I was secretly pregnant. This Halloween I am a mother.

Welcome to our house...

Adding a little "Fall Lighting" effect...

that the birds and animals have thoroughly enjoyed feasting on

The Entryway Candy Table

I wish I could take Asher outside and just jump in piles of leaves with him like I used to do as a kid. Since Asher is a little too young for this we decided to take the party inside and play on the floor. Asher's preference is to party naked....so here is a little sampling of the fun.

Asher is finally discovering his legs/feet. Check out those legs!?! Wow!

...he can finally touch his knee (not his toes!), hahahaah!

hello chunky monkey...but check out those abs!?!?

trying to master sitting up - serious face

(this was taken seconds before he fell over)

really starting to enjoy this belly action, if only my head wasnt so big and heavy...

mini philip...incredible

Happy Halloween from us to you!

Shredded

Im sure by now your over my diaper posts.

I was too...

Until I found a shredded poopy diaper in Bella's cage this afternoon as I was getting ready to run out of the office on my lunch break. I almost vomitted with my jaw dropped staring at it.

15 minutes of my lunch wasted cleaning it up.

Are you kidding me?

Yesterday Philip changed Asher's poopy diaper - not so bad

Then I had to clean up the shredded poopy diaper - bad

Now I am going to have to clean up after a vomitting/diahrrea dog - gross

New rule in our house:

DO NOT put the poopy diapers in the trash can without the lid (PHILIP!)

I can only call him out because I too have done this once before and learned my lesson.

Oh Bella...how we love you unconditionally!

Of course

Right after I post about Cloth Diapers (which was started over a week ago)...
Asher had a major break out from the cloth.

Bright Red.
Splotchy.
His entire diaper area.
Looked like he was wearing a red diaper.
(sorry, no photos!)
The nanny put vaseline on it!?!?
Might have made it worse.
Poor guy.
We gave him a bath to take the edge off the rash.
Cornstarched him up.
Thank heavens for a stash of on sale Huggies Pure & Natural.
Swearing off cloth for a few days.

It just so happens that Huggies Pure & Natural (which are 100% hypoallergenic)
are on sale just about everywhere....Target, Rite Aid, CVS (some carry them), Harris Teeter.
You can find $3 off coupons EVERYWHERE including this past weeks newspaper.

Target:
16.99 for 52 diapers (mega back)
Buy 2 Mega packs and get $5 in a Target Gift Card.
Plus $3 manufacturers coupon off each pack.

Side note: I might have expensive taste in diapers but we have tried several other brands and he still breaks out or gets a rash... Im patiently waiting for them to make Huggies P&N in Costco or BJ sized packs....

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pure and Natural

As you recall...WE are cloth diapering.
We STILL use them...but not religiously despite what I had planned.

I do not regret my decision to cloth diaper but I regret my decision to buy so many of one kind in advanced. If I had as big of a stash of Bum Genius 3.0 that I do of Fuzzi Bunz this post might be totally different. I know the snaps last longer but the fit is akward. I am not a Fuzzi Bunz fan.

Asher is a big baby. 99th%+ these days so its bad enough we had to buy him all new clothes for Winter in 12 months vs 6 months...we don't need to add extra diaper bulk on top of that.

Cloth creates bulk which = going up a size in clothes. No thanks.

So we have found a balance between cloth and disposable diapers.
Asher always sleeps/naps in Huggies Pure & Natural.
The wetness of the cloth would keep him awake and that wasn't cutting it come nap time.
I love Huggies P & N.
He never gets diaper rash.
They hold a great deal of, ya know, pee.

So we might not really be Pure & Natural...but we sure do try.
oh and save the "i told you so's for someone else's blog"

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Moving on up....

I am a sucker for a good bargain...but I have expensive taste.

When the Britax Boulevard CS went on MAJOR sale and I found an additional 15% coupon I decided I needed to go ahead and snag this convertible cart seat NOW! Consumer's gave this car seat one of the best ratings and everyone raves about Britax so it was an easy choice for us.

I got it for more than $100 less than advertised at Buy Buy Baby or Babies R Us + No Tax and Free Shipping! SCORE! (http://www.adolcebaby.com/)

Our pediatrician warned us at the 4 month check up that we would have to switch to the Covertible Rear facing car seat in the next 2-3 months so we are now prepared.

How can he be that grown already?

Monday, October 26, 2009

Our Skeleton in the Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out with Asher once the entire weekend.

Too many germs for us to be taking any chances with such a little guy who was already under the weather.

We went to the pumpkin patch so he could "pick out" his very own Pumpkin!

After inspecting all of the shapes and sizes we finally picked one out.

Medium Size, Round with a Large Stem

When we went to go pay for it the cashier lifted it up by the stem

(who does this that works at a pumpkin patch?!?) and it popped right off!

Ugh.

There went all that hard work to find the perfect pumpkin...

but we ended up with a bigger better pumpkin in the end and some great photos of our little skeleton.

Daddy...get your hands off my pumpkin!

The slant on the hill was not helping him.

He almost face planted into the pumpkins several times!

of course I had to grab a photo with my little man...

and some giggles before we headed home for more rest...

We can't wait to carve the pumpkins on Friday and prepare for Halloween!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

One wet mess!

Softa recently taught Asher to blow raspberries and make noises with his mouth.

As soon as he sees her he instantly starts showing off his new skill.

He thinks this is the greatest thing on earth!

Now he just loves to do it for attention or when he gets bored (like on car rides)

First we start off with some drool...

Then a few bubbles...

so many bubbles it looks like he ate soap...

and lastly some drool with the bubbles...

Now that is what we call fun at 4 1/2 months old!

ps Asher has his daddy's plump lips. Look out ladies!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

104

Asher's rectal temperature at 9:45 AM Friday, October 23rd.

My response....panic!

Thankfully Poppy was at the house watching Asher for the morning since the Nanny was out sick. Sick with a respiratory infection

He wrapped Asher up in cool towels in effort to lower

his body temperature while I frantically called the pediatrician.

I could barely get my words out to the receptionist as

Asher was shrilling in the background.

.8 mL of Tylenol at 9:50 AM.

..please work.

...faster

...praying the pediatrician calls back NOW

In the meantime I nursed him to calm him.

45 minutes after Tylenol fever dropped to 103.

Passed him off to Poppy so I could wrap up some work and let them know the situation

Screaming in the background...

shrilling make your eyes water up listening to the sound type of shrill

My baby was in pain.

Silence.

Was he breathing?

What happened?

Stuck on the phone with boss man.

Ugh. This mommy stuff hurts your heart.

Off the phone. Checked on Poppy with Asher.

They both fell asleep.

This is what I found.

One second he was screaming the next he was asleep.

That is what 104 does to a 4 1/2 month old.

Pediatrician called. Bring him in at 11:50a.

Full work up. Lots of questions, Oxygen Level normal, Urine Sample, 4 Tubes of blood which took 45 minutes to draw.

Babies have veins that wiggle like a worm. Watching this jacked my anxiety level up 200%..

CBC Normal, Urine blood free but going off for a culture.

Waiitng on Flu Titer and Blood Culture.

Temporary Conclusion. Possible reaction to Pertussis. Just like his momma 28 years ago.

Updates to follow...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Sleep, Eat, Eat Sleep

Asher gets into these routines... or ruts...

whatever they are they are a blessing!

Either he is constantly eating and not wanting to nap (but still sleeping through the night)

Barely eating and napping like a champ.

Currently he is not eating as much as normal and requiring TONS of sleep.

I cant get over this 7p-7a, wake up for 30 minutes at 7a and sleep till 10a !?!?

Where did I find this heavenly child?

I am sure the next one will be the worst sleeper ever....

This week he had his 4 month immunizations - 2 weeks late

They weighed him and he is gaining LIKE A ROCK STAR

18 lbs 11 oz, 25 1/2 inches.

He gained over 1 lb since his last appointment, 10 days ago!

His legs are so tight in the Bumbo we can pick him up with him still stuck in it!

Again we will NOT be feeding him anything other than breast milk...

Oy... no wonder why he cant touch his toes yet!

Asher is getting better and better at sitting up with his own strength each day.

It brings the personality out in him!

He can sit up for a few seconds on his own on the floor before he either face plants forward or fly's backwards (which he thinks is hysterical on the bed!)

Bath Time is still one of Asher's favorites. He loves to try to "catch" the water or kick it with his toes. He has almost out grown the plastic tub in the sink and we will be transitioning to the tub once he can sit up on his own.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Sissy is Marrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrried!

The Wedding Weekend in Photos...mainly because I am too tired to type all of the details!
It was perfect in every way.
The Ballantyne Country Club was a fanastic venue with outstanding food.
I cried.
My parents are officially empty nester's.

------

On another note I think I was late to everything except the ceremony.
Mommy brain was in full force.
Frantically trying to remember everything, yet forget everything all in the same thought.
Asher decided to have a blow out diaper about 45 minutes before the bridal luncheon.
As I proceeded to change him he pooped all over my hands.
Thankfully I was smart and took off my dress to feed and change him before this all went down.
I was late to the Bridal Luncheon. Flat hair from the cold and dreery weather.

Oh how I love thee!

Enjoy....

Rehearsal Outside

(although the wedding ended up being inside due to freezing temps and rain)