Im so far behind its not even funny. Another month has passed without a blog update.
We have definitely had a bad streak of luck over the past few months and are praying that things are looking up for our family in 2013.
My modified schedule is ending this weekend and I will return back to work full time.
I am convinced my prayers are being heard that we need things to calm back down in our lives.
In order to remember this hectic time I will rehash some of the recent life events.
Poor softa had 3 vertigo attacks over the course of a month. During each of them she was laid up in our family room on our sleeper sofa from 3-5+ days. She is now living with us till the end of the month until she moves into her apartment. No longer on the sofa as we moved her into our 4th bedroom and are in the process of getting her a day bed with a trundle. She is feeling better and things are looking up!
Papu had a TIA (aka. mini stroke, two days before Thanksgiving) which also happened to be the same day that Softa had a vertigo attack. Crazy life!
the Mr. and Papu were driving home from Thanksgiving dinner on 485 (major highway that loops around Charlotte) and were hit by a drunk driver from behind at 8 pm at night. thankfully the Mr is a super duper driver and somehow was able to gain control of his car without it spinning out or flipping. his car is totaled, the driver was charged and we are patiently awaiting the drivers court date. thankfully both the Mr and Papu survived without any major damage to themselves but the Mr. definitely had whip lash and required many visits to the chiropractor. as a result we had to rush into buying him a new car once the insurance totaled his car and settled the property damage. we are so thankful they are both OK, but devastated that we lost a car that was paid in full and had many more years of driving left on it. the Mr. found a 2007 Toyota Camry with low miles that he purchased last week and is now driving around town. the stress this situation placed on our family could not have had worse timing.
the following week I came down with the stomach virus after all of us finally started to feel better after having a viral infection for over 6 weeks. mayer and asher both got ear infections.
our lives in photos....
the many adorable faces of mayer...
seriously yummmy
deeeeeelicious....
Our first night out since Mayer was born....Amy and Ross' wedding at the Ritz!
Asher's Class Thanksgiving
his pine cone turkey
this pine cone was massive.
mayer bear enjoying the beautiful december weather
check me out? im so grown!
i even like baby food!!!!
my brother never liked it, but i think its delicious.
mommy made me carrotts, apples, bananas, peas, squash, pears...yum
mayer celebrated his first hanukkah... clearly he loved it.
more hanukkah celebrations and photos later..
admist everything Softa finally closed on their house, which makes the sale of their house one of he longest and drawn out closings in the history of real estate. not really, but it felt like it. buying and selling homes these days is brutal. they make nothing easy. we are thrilled this burden is no longer upon our family.
to add fuel to the fire our deep freezer tripped the outlet and we lost everything in our deep freezer including my precious breast milk I had been saving. DEVASTATED. liquid gold gone. tears.
things are looking up. we are tired. but we are healthy. and we are surrounded by the love of our family and friends....to be continued
my maternity leave is closing in and i am scrambling to get everything i wanted to do, DONE.
i never imagined 17 weeks would go by this quickly, but a lot has happened around here. more than i could ever handle had i been at work....thank heavens for maternity leave.
first and foremost i must update you on my sweet mayer
at his 3 month check up he did fabulous
took his shots like a champ with no reaction!
he weighed 16 lbs - 100+ percentile, he was 25 inches tall - 95th percentile and his head was only in the 25th percentile.
although he is a hefty boy he isnt nearly as chunky as asher was. asher's feet were so fat and his head was much larger! mayer can actually put on the cute little baby shoes and hats that people bought asher. he can also still fit in the bumbo. ive had a grand ole time dressing him up.
Mayer and Nana for a lunch treat at Ballantyne Resort
Me and my sleeper Mayer at Ballantyne Lunch
mayer is a belly sleeper and has been since day one. he doesnt like to be swaddled, but loves his sleepsacks and mittens. on his 3 month birthday he started sleeping from 730-630ish... a full night sleep! amazing. his schedule isnt concrete but in order for him to sleep through the night he must get at least 2-3 naps a day. typically he wakes between 4-7am, nurses and goes back to sleep till 830/9. Once he wakes up he eats and plays for a little under 2 hours before he is ready for a little snack and a nap. His morning nap is usually from 1030-1130. He goes back down around 1 pm and sometimes sleeps till 430...just depends on the day. he usually eats around 5pm and is ready to go down at 645 or earlier depending upon when he got up. we bathe him every other day and have to wash his hair with t-gel twice a week (Monday and Friday). he had a bad case of cradle cap around 2 months that flaked off his head and caused a horrible rash all over his face and upper torso. it was so bad that the aquafor didnt work and we had to apply hydrocortisone cream on his sweet little skin.
at 13 weeks mayer found his hands and sucks on them constantly. we are not sure if he is already teething but based on his recent oral activity it is very possible. he will suck on anything that is near his mouth. time to get the teething toys asher never used out of the attic. mayer also drools and blows lots of bubbles. he is fabulous at mimicing and copying sounds/intonnation. during his PT eval he was rated at a 5 month level for communication vs a 1 month level for head control (he is a bobble head from his BPT)
mayer is a super sweet and cuddly baby. this is completely foreign to me as asher was stiff and jerky) and i can not get enough of it. he loves to be held, cuddled and played with. asher was the complete opposite. they both have very calm dispositions and are very "chill".
During my leave Asher had off school a lot for the Jewish Holidays so we hit the park for some fun in the sun!
i feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time with Mayer on my maternity leave but also asher...12 weeks just isnt enough.
during my maternity leave softa and papu sold their house and papu moved into an assisted living facility so he could get better around the clock care and supervision. his parkinsons disease and dementia have progressed a lot over the past few months. its been really hard on us, especially philip as he is still learning to accept what this terrible disease has done and continues to do to his dad. he also fell within the first two weeks of living at the assisted living facility and ended up in the hospital...and now is in rehab working to regain his strength. we are sending lots of love and prayers to papu during this tough time and trying to make visits when we are not sick.
Papu with the boys at his new place
The wreath Paige, Brittan and I made for Papu's door at his new home
we also have had a lot of visitors during my maternity leave...
lots of events...jewish holidays, birthdays (papu, philip, aunt estelle)...and the list goes on.
uncle Rich took asher took the kids create at home depot and they made a bulletin board!
we took a trip to the beach (hilton head) a trip to raleigh and a trip to washington dc to surprise my sister.
Daddy and Asher at his first NC State game!
He loved the NC State football game
While in Raleigh we got to sneak in a play date with the Plunkett Girls. We had a blast catching up!
We also made a stop to see some more friends in Raleigh and their kids. Lauren had Cassie and I (plus kids and husbands) all over and the kids enjoyed her newly expanded house and gorgeous backyard. I cant believe we all have two kids!?!?!? How did we grow up so fast. I feel like we were just in high school?
Crazy to think we are all grown up mommas and still such great friends 10+ years later! Lauren and I have been friends since high school and Cassie since my very first day of college. We have been through so much together.
Auntie E with her Big M during our surprise visit to see her and uncle rich in DC
Sisters forever!!!! Elizas birthday dinner at Maggianos
Nana and Asher in DC outside of the worst Aquarium ever!
Aunt E with her nephews!
Halloween weekend face painting at the DC Aquarium. Spiderman invades!
over the past 4 months we dealt with lots of doctors appointments and lots of sickness...sinus infections, walking pneumonia, wheezing, nebulizers, cough's...even the dog had a stomach virus. i feel like a copay machine between the dr's offices and the pharmacy... and yes the pharmacy knows us by name.
Poor Ash had to do nebulizer treatments for almost 2 weeks 3-4 times a day. He was such a trooper even when we had to pull him out of class to administer the medicine.
Sick day home.... mayer's bottom lip sticking out is my favorite part of this photo. He is too cute when he does this
Mayer at 2 months old.
i attempted to eat gluten free, dairy free, leafy greens free and acidic free for almost three weeks. going gluten free didnt help my GI issues at all so i added it back in to save my bank account and sanity. it was a "fun challenge". im ready to have my leafy greens and tomatoes back, but mayer's GI track isnt ready yet..... i used to eat salad at least once a day and havent had it in 14 weeks. im jonesing for salad BADLY. so is my waistline. somehow ive managed to stay below my pre preganncy weight but i have been missing the gym and havent been in 3 weeks due to sickness.
over the past month (during the sickness) our sweet asher grew horns. yup. something called the terrible three's have invaded our house. our sweet sweet asher has learned a lot about family rules, discipline and time out. he is fairly receptive to the disciplinary tactics we use and we work as a great tag team to discipline. we are extremely consistent which i think helps and do not put up with his bad behavior. pretty positive a lot of what he is doing is coming from school. grrr. one naughty boy in his class who has influenced many kids. frustrating but thats life and thats reality.
Asher and Mayer dressed up for Yom Kippur BreakFast.
Mayer at 3 months old
my major maternity leave project is underway... designing and contracting for a remodel of our office and 4th bedroom. currently the office is empty (we sold all the furniture and cleared everything out - now sitting in the dining room) the plan is to move my craft room which currently resides in the 4th bedroom, downstairs to the office as well as make it a space for homework, computer stations, books and lots of storage. i drew up the plans and now we are waiting on two more bids before we begin. we are ripping up the carpet and replacing with hardwoods (we had them left over from the house build), putting in lots of filing cabinets and drawers, a very large wrap around the room counter space and cabinets and shelving above the desk space. we also plan to paint the room and eventually down the road add new lighting. the fourth bedroom will finally become a bedroom/guest room...until we have another child.
yes we will be having a third child sometime in the future... but not ANY time soon. im pretty excited about having a designated craft space for my sewing machine, paints, projects, gifts, fabric, paper etc this renovation will allow us to stay in the house much longer since it frees up the bedroom upstairs and makes use of a space that previously went mostly under utilized. lots of photos to come to include before and after shots....if i remember.
asher and tahli having a fun play date over yom kippur
friends forever!
my return to work is set for nov 19th. i will return 30 hours a week through the end of the year.
the new nanny started TODAY she is fabulous and her name is elizabeth. she found us on care.com. she will watch mayer and help with asher on monday, wednesday friday. she is a student at UNCC majoring in Math/ Actuary Science. Um yeah, she is really smart.she is perfect for this job. maybe she can work her baby magic on mayer and convince him that bottles are not the devil. mayer HATES bottles... i think he hates them even more than asher did. its stressing me out, but i know he will have no choice in the next two weeks, but to take a bottle with my impending return to work. we have officially tried every single bottle on the market and nothing is better than the other, we have tried every technique ive read online, even sippy cup or transition cups. different people , warm, cold. you name it. he will have to just cave at some point.
we attempted to give him a bottle over a 24 hour period exclusively... lots of crying, resistance and falling asleep due to crying. finally at 20 hours i caved and nursed. we have tried the following bottles: medela, closer to nature/tommee tippee, dr browns, born free, avent, think baby, the first year breast flow, odiri, nuk, mum and a cheapo one... last attempt is the rubber nipple or go back to the breast flow with a faster nipple. i keep forgetting he is 3 1/2 months old and thinking he is a baby. he is a very quick nurser so i think that the flow is making him made in the bottles. he is way too smart for his own good. i am now ok with the fact that i know he wont starve if he goes without while i am at work (if that is what he choses). what a mess that boy!
while i was out we got to attend a few fun things like asher's first UCS photoshoot. our good friends own UCS and asked asher and another friend to be models for their upcoming catalog. several photos will be featured with asher in them in their upcoming equipment catalog and website. he did really well and loved getting his photos taken. he has asked for another photo shoot...funny.
and i think that is a huge recap of four months with tons of stuff missing....but ill pick back up with halloween (even though that was three weeks ago) in a separate post. if you stuck along this far into the post enjoy some of the sweetest sounds to my ears, mr mayer laughing....
thanks for hanging in there while i try to get my life in order.
nana and poppy took asher to the greenway for a bike ride.
i was a little worried since he is still trying to get the hang of it and loves to look at his feet instead of in front of him....but he did fabulous!
it ended up raining halfway into their mile bike ride so they ended up riding back in the rain, but he didnt seem to mind. he probably loved it! the quality is bad but the memory is great!
i was dead set and determined to get to the beach this summer. i couldnt imagine a summer without the beach...especially for asher's sake. before mayer arrived we agreed that we would go for a long weekend over labor day whether we had to stay in a hotel or at our friends beach house.
thankfully our family friends weren't renting out there house the week before or after labor day so we made the trek down to the beach on friday afternoon. with the car packed to the brim we departed from charlotte much later than we anticipated.... 4:30 pm. that would put us arriving sometime after 9 with dinner and bathroom stops. thankfully there was no traffic and mayer slept the first hour. we stopped for a quick dinner and so i could nurse mayer and then hit the road again.
neither boy slept the remainder of the ride till we got to the house at 10 pm.
thankfully they both went right to sleep when we got there and mayer slept close to 8 hours after being wide awake the majority of the ride.
the next morning we hit the beach around 10 and stayed out till 1. we packed lunch, rented chairs and an umbrella and mayer slept almost the entire time we were out there in his baby tent. we realized when we arrived at the beach we were missing a memory card for our camera hence the reason for no pictures.
after naps we hit the skull creek boat house for dinner. this was the very same spot we visited with asher 3 years earlier when we came to hilton head. he was 3 months old. we dined on the early bird special ad ate oysters and fresh seafood. it was delicious
asher finishing off my soup
lemon face
after we ate we went out to the pier for our annual family photo...
asher is working on mastering his "smile" for the camera... it either consists of a mouth wide open or a squint right now
thankfully we went to dinner early enough that we could get the boys home for a decent bedtime after such a late night the night before.
asher and mayer had a little love fest...i love this sequence of photos
we also threw the crab traps out in the morning before the beach and when we came home we found three crabs (that we later accidentally killed before eating and had to trash). asher loved catching crabs and fishing off the dock.
we got some crabs!
the big bad crabs, caught!
fishing off the dock... looks like a pro to me!
im gonna catch a big one daddy!
on sunday we went down to the beach again around 10 am and snapped some photos, ate some sand and soaked up the near perfect weather
asher and daddy spent move of their time at the beach making sandcastles and burying each other.
asher was a complete beach bum the entire time and couldve played out there for hours!
while mayer napped most of the time we were at the beach each morning in his pea pod
each day we would return from the beach, shower off the sand and nap. on sunday we invited our friends the rosens (Jen and Andrew) over for dinner. we found out on our way down to the beach they were also in hilton head staying in a hotel and figured we could all get together and enjoy each others company away from home!
mayer was in la la land....
thanks jen and andrew for visiting us and taking our pictures! we enjoyed a great night with the two of them and we know the kids enjoyed having them there too!
monday morning was our final beach day and asher really hammed it up
mayer in 2012
asher in 2009
this was our beach set up each day....
and prior to leaving the beach we would hose down the sand...
asher enjoyed sticking the hose down his pants hahaha
sweet mayer
our final night we decided to go to harbour town in sea pines where we were staying to check out the boats, shops and play on the playground before dinner
mayer in 2012
asher in 2009...
asher got to play on the playground for a little bit, but our tummies were growling!
we headed home to find two new crabs in the crab trap!
this crab was gripping the tongs fearing for his life...
asher thought they were going to "scream" because someone said lobsters scream when you put them in the steamer...
for our final meal we feasted on the crabs and grilled chicken.
we ate all of our meals in except for one dinner and one lunch at the sea shack.
between my dietary restrictions and the kids this was the best option
we had the most fabulous trip. we came home well rested and sun kissed.
so thankful for our friends the adelsons for letting us stay at their beach house and for the break from home life. it was great to get away and soak up the sun and play in the sand.
