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.

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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)

Rich's music cake at the Rehearsal Dinner.

He is a pianist!

"the Kids" at the Rehearsal....OUR NEW FAMILY!

Family at the Bridal Luncheon

Lisa, Mom & Audrey (the flower girl and Lisa's daughter)

Lisa is Cathy's daughter (my mom's best friend who was in the accident's)

Wedding Photos

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The girls Playing Old Maid Pre-Wedding Prep

Candy Bar

Table Arrangements (I designed the table names)

Table Arrangement (high tables)

Red Bull (since Eliza works for Red Bull) in Custom Koozies for the Favors and Place Cards

The Bride

Seeind Daddy for the First Time

The Bridesmaids

Sissy and I

Up Close and Personal

Asher arrived ready for the festivities!

The "Bass" women with Asher

Such a ham!

Robin our Cousin from NY

Take this suit off me.... I'd rather be naked!

Spencer our 2 year old Cousin (Ring Bearer)

The Chuppah

The Ketubah (this was hand painted by my mom's friend!)

The Handsome Groomsmen!

The Bride & Groom!

The proud Parents!

Check out that Gorgeous dress!!!!

Ring Bearer and Fower Girl Attack Philip!

Matron of Honor Speech

Rich wrote Eliza a song when he Proposed and Sang it for Everyone

We dont know how to have party without tossing them up in the chairs!

Audrey the Flower Girl

and we danced the night away....

Mazal Tov to the NEW Mr. and Mrs. Richard Carney

Eliza Carney she will forever be....

The Wide Web

I was blown away when I stepped out on my front patio and noticed this enormous and intricate spider web. This spider has woven a web between two very large pine trees that are at least 10 feet apart.It just so happened the spider was hanging out in the dead center when I walked out. I couldnt resist its beauty...

...now named, Charlotte's Web....

A fraction of the action

We have been having a blast with all of Asher's recent activity.

He is spending lots more time on his tummy rolling...

He also enjoys kicking just about everything and he is learning to sit up...

we could this for hours...and so could he!

The painted pumpkin

Nana painted Asher a pumpkin with her seniors this week.

She was so excited to bring it to him that we had to snap some photos of his exploring it.

Asher decided to use it as an arm rest.

It also happened to be football Sunday so he had on his football sweater (check out the buttons!) that our friends (Jen and Jason's) mom got for him. Pretty darn cute huh!?

We cant wait to take him to the pumpkin patch for more photos and fun...

Asher loves the fall! No more sweaty hot baby!

Sissy

Sissy is getting married on Saturday.

I cant believe the big day is almost here.

Its bittersweet for me. She is my one and only sister.

My little sissy...

formerly known as Loopy, Azile (her name backwards for when she was mean), Lizzy....

As I sat down to write my MATRON (how the heck did I become a matron...I feel so old!?) of honor speech I started reminiscing. I wont give away my speech but Eliza and I have a bond that is different than so many sister's. We can fight and argue with the best of them and we can love like their is no tomorrow. We are so different yet so alike. We are 2 1/2 years apart. As kids we were fairly different. Now that we are adults we are a lot more alike and I have to admit...I love it!

She is the only one in our family born in November. We are all March. We used to tease her that we found her in a trash can and felt sorry for her so we took her home (she didn't like this story too much as you can imagine). She never had doors on her closet growing up because she was afraid someone would hide in there and she checked under her bed every night to make sure ET wasn't under there. How can you not love that cuteness?

Eliza was an exceptional dancer in her youth. I always looked up to her in her sparkly and shiny costumes with a face full of make up and fake eye lashes. She knew how to turn it on when she hit the stage. I attended almost every dance competition she was in and loved watching her take home the SUPER 1st or Platinum trophy. I wasn't gifted with dancing feet like she was. I remember how proud I used to be as her sister.

Eliza loves attention. She always found a way to redirect a conversation so that she could talk or be heard. Always has and always will. We love her for this. She demands affection. Eliza was a very loving and touchy child....which was the opposite of me. The thought of being hugged gave me the hebby jeebies. She taught me how to be more compassionate and affectionate.

Eliza is special.

As you can tell she has a lot to offer to her husband and is going to be make quite a lovely wife. She is loving, sensitive, entertaining, talented, smart and beautiful. I still can't believe she is 25 and she is also getting married!? I guess I always thought time would stand still. Although she will always be my little loopy she is now all grown up and is now not only Aunt Sissy but about to be a wife. I am so very proud of her. I am so excited for her. I love her so very much.

My little sissy, the soon to be wifey of Mr. Richard Carney. Tear. Tear. Tear.

I know Rich loves her as much as we do and for that we are all so very thankful that she is now his responsibility :) I sure hope he knows what he is getting himself into ... hee hee!

I love you and will always be there right by your side as your one and only big sister!

4 months

Asher is officially FOUR MONTHS old TODAY!!!

He had his 4 month check up and he is doing fantastic developmentally (according to Dr. Matt)

Weight: 17 lbs 6 oz

(yes this is lower than the last report which was clothed & a different office)

His weight is in the 95th percentile. We love them big and juicy!

Dr. Matt confirmed that we do not need to feed him anything other than breast milk till our next appointment at 6 months. There is no reason to rush him to rice cereal or any pureed food for that matter because he is a big boy AND he sleeps through the night.

Height: 26 inches (he grew 4 inches!)

He has stepped up into the 50th percentile!

"Back to Sleep Program"

Dr. Matt said that Asher's head is growing nicely and now that he is 4 months old we need to try to keep him on his stomach as often as possible so that his head can round out. We followed the "back to sleep program" pretty closely once Dr. Matt advised us not to put him on his stomach ALL of the time and of course their are consequences. It isn't the flattest baby head but its definitely a little flat back there. We have been using the PREEMIE donut to keep him off of it and in no time he will be rolling all over his crib anyway.

Development

Asher has been rolling from stomach to back since he was 3 weeks old. We are hoping he will find his way back (back to stomach) in the coming weeks. He wants to sit up so badly. He is constantly doing a mini ab crunch in hopes to pull forward but his fat rolls tend to get in the way. Once he is sitting he can almost do it without help depending upon the surface he is sitting on. Again he will be sitting in the next few weeks on his own. We really think once he can sit up with strength he is going to be the happiest baby ever. He knows his feet exist but he can't reach them because his arms are too short and he is too chunky! He loves to play with his hands, pull them to his center and eat, slobber, suck and chew on them. Asher loves to suck on his lips. He tucks his bottom top under his bottom lip and it is hysterical. He also sucks on his lips in a wave like pattern. He is following our voices and our movement much closer. He likes to stare at Bella as she moves around him. He love to hold onto everything anything and then put it into his mouth. He is getting a little heavy for his swing. He is re-learning to enjoy tummy time.

Sleep

He is still sleeping a TON! Usually 10-15 hours a night. He usually goes down at 7:30 and wakes up at 6 and then goes right back down after eating and getting his diaper changed for at least another 2-4 hours. He takes cat naps 2-3 times a day lasting usually no more than an hour. He still loves bath time and as soon as he is sitting on his own will transition from the sink tub to the bath tub (he is getting too big for the sink tub!). This is how he relaxes for bed. We still do not put any lotions on him what so ever and he has perfect skin!

Stomach

Asher still seems to struggle in the stomach reflux department. I tried to incorporate dairy back into my diet and I dont think it went so well. We can't tell if he outgrew his medicine (by weight) or if it was the dairy so we will give it a try again in a few weeks. He is now taking 2 mL of Axid twice a day vs the 1 mL he was taking before. He seems a lot more relaxed and comfortable. Asher seems to be developing just like I did. He is very stiff and rigid, arches his back all of the time and is very chunky. All mommy.

Disposition

He is very happy. He laughs out loud all of the time and talks up a storm particularly after he nurses. He is very vocal. Everyone is trying to brainwash him to say their name but he is smarter than that. He knows his first word will be "ma" :)

Bottles

We finally figured out why he kept resisting the bottle. It wasn't warm enough. Because he is exclusively taking breast milk and breast feeding as often as possible he was used to it straight out of the tap (which is warm/body temperature). Even the bottle at room temperature to him was COLD and he would flip. Now that we warm them up he downs the bottle and it makes for a much more pleasurable eating experience for all! Let me tell you how much I hated hearing him scream. Over the past month he has had a sleepover at his Softa's and his daddy put him down with a bottle while mommy had a night time meeting.

We feel so very blessed to have Asher in our lives. Just the other day Philip said he never realized he could fall in love with someone so quickly...after all it took him over a year to fall in love with me...

Smiling, Sitting and Sucking

This is what Asher been up to lately...

Smiling...

Sitting & Smiling (double chin and all)

more smiling...

....sitting and being serious...

...more smiling (and some laughing!)...

...and LOTS OF SUCKING (on his fingers!)

Asher will be 4 months old on Friday.

We are madly in love with him and all of his chubby cuteness!

Bed Time

Asher is an amazing sleeper.

Dont hate us.

He has been sleeping 8-12 hours a night since he was 4 weeks old.

He has never slept less than 4-6 hours at a time since he was born.

The first clip is pre-bed time song session & daddy making it home from class just in time to kiss us goodnight! (Please excuse my awful singing and goofy voice)

The second clip is Asher falling asleep on the changing table.

As you will notice he has this head shake that he does when he is falling asleep.

This is very normal and a great indicator as to when he is going to go night night.

We think it is precious...but then again he is our child!

More movies to follow... we are finally getting the hang of this

A special thanks to Nana and Poppy for lending us their Flip Video Camera...it rocks!

Major Progress

Short and sweet...
Cathy (my mom's best friend) is doing remarkable!

Your prayers are working and are so powerful in her healing.
She was released to a rehab facility two days ago.
She has some vision in her right eye (which is a miracle)
Her staples are all removed, her neck brace gone, she is drinking liquids

SHE IS YAPPING UP A STORM AND WALKING!
She is a miracle of life.

Feel free to check out my mom's daily updates to the right of this entry (Cathy's Climb)

We are so amazed by the power of prayer and Cathy's strength.
Thank you to anyone and everyone who have been praying with us during this time of healing.
They feel as though she might only need 1-2 weeks of rehab at this rate.