ketchup...catchup

Im so behind on life....

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...

aunt janet, cousin brittan, cousin paige, aunt andrea, aunt eliza, uncle rich,

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.