When mom's away the boy's play...

This is what goes down when mommy runs out to walk the dog and pick up dinner...

First Daddy puts me on the ottoman.

Thankfully he stands there watching me (except to take this photo) so I don't fall off.

If mommy was here she probably wouldn't let us do this!

I like to test the waters so I rock from side to side getting momentum to roll over.

For your viewing pleasure a side view of the "rock"

You can't have all this going on without some classic tongue action...

...and some funny faces (after all this is hard work!)...

...see guys, I can lift myself up and I am only 5 weeks old...

...mom and dad, you are in trouble...

Asher has made us clearly aware of his strength at the mere age of 5 weeks. 

As you can see he can lift his whole body up on his own. He can roll over from tummy to back and does this regularly now. 

We are in trouble...You would've thought with a head in the 95th percentile that it would've been too large to lift... WRONG...more reason to throw it all around!

Announcing...

Oh yeah... we had a baby...

Here is the announcement that went out 2 weeks after Asher was born.

I decided I wanted to take the photo to use on the announcement and design them myself. 

My wonderful neighbor Miguel helped teach me how to carry out my vision in Photoshop. We designed them several weeks before I was due and when Asher was born Miguel patiently waited for the photo and the information before before he sent them off to his commercial printer. I was over prepared. Before I was due I stamped and addressed all 175+ envelopes to be stuffed once the announcements were printed. 

It was a 5x7 card with a glossy finish.

We love the way they came out and they were a STEAL OF A DEAL!

Our travels...

I'm a slacker.
Or just a busy and overwhelmed first time mom trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do now that two potential nannies have fallen through...
Yeah, find another one.
Someone is out there that doesnt want more for part time care than someone else wants for full time.
Is it that hard to find someone for 3 days a week that isnt going to cost me more than day care would full time? YUP.We are 100% positive based on our research what we are looking for is reasonable and possible.
You would think people need work these days?

Mary Poppins is out there and I know it will all work out in due time.
Patience... (update: I began writing this post on Monday, its now almost Thursday and I am getting it published... go figure, slacker again! The good news is I think we have figured out a nanny situation...details coming soon. There is a god!)

Anyway ... I must catch you up on an overdue/late post.

Asher is already a world traveler.

At the mere age of 2 weeks and 4 days he traveled via plane to Chicago to attend Ben and Lisa's wedding. Ben is one of Philip's best friends from his childhood (and even practically lived at his house for several months growing up) and we just couldnt imagine missing this wedding. Softa and Papu went with us and we honestly couldnt have made it without them on this trip...(reasons why are not blog appropriate, but needless to say my recovery from my delivery was less than pleasant).

In the Charlotte airport waiting for our plane!

Let's just say he was a peach. A very sweet one at that.

He was perfect. Slept anytime we were in the prescense of anyone and barely made a noise on the plane. We couldn't have been more lucky and he came home perfectly healthy, 

No Swine Flu.

The Levine Family at the Rehersal Dinner

Our new Family at the Rehersal Dinner

Touring Chicago with Softa and Papu!

Funny side note: Try outs for "The Biggest Loser" were going on at NBC outside our hotel. Actually not funny. Really sad.

While there we got to have brunch with Liz who is a friend that I grew up with in Raleigh and Philip and I both have known for over 10 years. She and her husband live in Chicago and it was awesome to see her. Asher especially liked her.

We had a great time... Unfortunately due to my sickness from delivery complications, Philip's time being consumed with wedding activities and having a 2 1/2 week old... we will definitely be going back to really enjoy Chicago at a later date. We felt we didn't get to explore nearly enough of the city and what it has to offer. The weather was AMAZING. Perfect temps, sunny skies. I am already, ready to make another visit...but we are broke :)      

Let the wedding weekend begin!

The Bride and Groom

               

Four Course Dinner!

Softa and Papu (our lifesaver's on the trip!)

Our new family at the reception on the River!

The "must have" best friend photo. 

Ben and Philip have been best friends since elementary school and we have a similar photo from our wedding with the roles reversed!

Asher's precious seer sucker polo outfit... and monogrammed satin shoes that Gin Gin bought him for his Bris. This was Asher during the wedding ceremony!

Mommy with Asher right before his blow out diaper which forced us to change his outfit...

Clean outfit...some how we managed to match my outfit and the back up outfit/sling! Genius!

The gorgeous view at our hotel of the River

We were so thankful to have made this trip to Chicago and witness Ben and Lisa's wedding!

Chunky Monkey

Friday the 10th was Asher's one month check up... and my reality check.
THIS BOY IS GETTING CHUNKY!

Dr. Samarel our pediatrician is a wonderful family friend and I truly look forward to our visits in his office. Asher also loves him and is instantly calmed in his arms (which is so comforting to me!)... we will see if things stay that way after his first shot appt next month.

Asher was dead asleep when we got there. I had to get him undressed which he didnt seem to mind until we stretched him on the chart to get his height... oy boy did he let out a cry, more like a scream...bloody murder woman!

Asher stats:

21 1/2 inches - 25/50th percentile

10 lbs 2 oz - 75th percentile (pretty impressive for weighing 6 lbs 6 oz only 3 weeks ago!)

No head measurement, but its HUGE - 95th percentile!

Dr Samarel said that his measurements are great and confirmed that I must be giving him more than enough with his feedings. I have to be honest after prior weight loss I was concerned.

I have to keep an eye on his stomach problems because he might have a slightly unique case of "colic" or "reflux" that doesnt include the spitting up (thank goodness for now). His stomach gets rock hard, he screams and he tenses up. Its very distinct. The issue is he isnt going #2 often and we think this is part of it...when he goes, its a BLOW OUT... I mean OUT OF THE DIAPER, up the back soaking the clothes and me and results in a bath immediately as well as a load of laundry.

Now that he has put on some weight we are going to move to cloth diaper's.... WISH ME LUCK!

Im sure I will have many stories to tell as I make this journey to cloth!

A maternal diet might be the next thing on our lists (oy!). bye bye dairy.
oh how I love cheese, milk, chocolate and the list goes on.
but I love this boy oh so much more...

First Response WHAT?

I cant get over this.

I saw a commercial today for this "new product" and I couldnt be more annoyed.

After personally struggling with fertility and watching so many friends go through fertility struggles I just truly can't believe pee on a stick can truly tell you whether or not

"YOU ARE ABLE TO GET PREGNANT".

If it was THAT EASY to determine dont you think Fertility Specialists would be out of their jobs? This is very misleading and I can only imagine the millions that will dish out the dough for this product to be mislead.

Ugh, disgust.

I was a first response fan...but this did it for me.

4 weeks = 1 month!

Today Asher is 4 weeks old!

It is amazing how quickly he has grown in just a mere 4 weeks.

The first photo is from the day he was born. His head was half of Philip's hand.

The second photo is at 4 weeks (this is how happy he is when sleeping). His head is now the size of Philip's entire hand!

  

...and a few more just because he is so darn cute!

I get sweeter with kisses...

I am learning to pose...

This is Asher's "freak out" face. He throws his arm out like this when he is startled!

so yummy...

Friday is his 1 month check up... 

we are expecting quite a weight gain from the last appointment where he was 7 lbs 14 oz!

Our Patriotic Model!

How can we not fall in love with him when he makes faces like this....

and poses like this...

in his 4th of July spirited outfit for work!

I love the red and white seer sucker pants, white shirt and blue blazer.

We are sure it was hit... at least in our house.

Boy we sure love him!

Whale of a time!

We bought Asher (cough cough, us) a blow up pool for our backyard. Since he is too young for the big kids pool with chlorine and bacteria galore we decided he needed to experience pool time in his very own backyard... aka mommy sun tan time.

We bought a whale pool that spits up water at one end and has a tail to shade the little munckin at the other. Luckily he has his daddy's complexion and loves the sun (although we still have to keep him minimally exposed). From the first day we brought him home he was soothed by the heat and the sun. Any time he fusses you can bring him outside and his body goes limp and/or he stares at the sky. I believe this is because I laid out for the last 3 months of my pregnancy.

He will do anything and everything to be outside...so figured why fight it as long as it is not too much!? So, daddy blew up the whale pool and mommy took him for a dip. As you can see he was decked out in his pool gear and although the water was quite cold he didn't freak TOO much.

I'm ready...

Check out my new pool!

Mommy was giving me a pep talk!

Oh its not that bad....but that bath (aka spa) water is much warmer!

We have a feeling we will be spending lots of time in the pool by the looks of this face!

Sleepy Time

Any new baby loves their sleep....Asher is no different!

He LOVES his sleepy time...

We love watching him sleep and now that we figured out how to do more with the videos of him sleeping, we wanted to show them off!

The first clip is of Asher in the swing....The commentary says it all!

The second clip is Asher making all of his typical sleepy noises...while big sister Bella watches over him. She is in love with him and constantly watches over/protects him!

 

The many faces....

Kisses from Daddy Face

Laughing Face

Pouting (just like daddy!) Face

Smiling Face

Milk Drugged Face

These photos were all taken right after he was fed....hence the funny looks :)

Asher has been quite expressive this past few days.

He is officially 3 weeks and 1 day old!

He still has amazing head and neck control and constantly pulls away to look at you without flopping over. This has been the case since the day he delivered. Asher loves to ride in mommy's sling and listen to music. He also LOVES the sun and the heat and it calms him instantly (must be all that laying out mommy did while she was pregnant!)

He is beginning to smile regularly which is by far our favorite to watch.

We have been blessed with an Angel baby...even with the typical gas!

He sleeps 3-5.5 hours at a time at night and usually only gets up once a night. He takes 2-4 hour naps at least twice a day. He breast feeds like a champ and is packing on the lbs!

We are so obsessed with our little munckin!