Before I put these photos side by side I assumed that I was much bigger for this second pregnancy....but I actually feel a sense of relief looking back and comparing. There really is no difference hahah! Pathetic of me to think otherwise, but true. I started off a little lighter this pregnancy than when I got pregnant with Asher.
Left 2012, Right 2008
12 1/2 weeks pregnant in both photos
I need a tan :)
We took a carribean cruise the week before the 2008 photo was taken.
Next photo update is at 17 weeks or so (which is the same time I took a photo the last pregnancy) ps. I will have a tan in my 2012 photo... just saying.
we are anxious to get asher started in sports, but most of the programs dont start till they are 3.
in the mean time daddy and papu took asher on to the courts at the gym and played some "ball"... which turned into a little soccer, a little basketball and a little of something else we are unsure of what it is.
a lot of things happened in december. and we are way behind...
because im exhausted this pregnancy
and we were pretty much sick (stomach virus, cough, sinus infection) the entire month.
first we finished off hanukkah. the big family hanukkah celebration was the night that i began to feel like death. my dreams of this huge party turned into mush. we went through with the party. philip cooked a bazillion amazingly delicious latkes on his brand new electric skillet ( my parents gave him for hanukkah). he is a hard core latka maker.
they looked, smelled and tasted amazing.
our hanukkah spread
latkes, brisket, rotisserie chicken, hearts of palm salad and steamed mixed veggies
i set the dining room table for the adults. we used paper hanukkah plates. no shame
china woulve just been too much feeling like crud with 10 guests.
asher's stack of hanukkah presents....ready for opening
we started a tradition last year where we all pick names. we did it again this year and we even skyped with eliza and rich while we all opened our presents to and from each other. it was great fun and a tradition that we will continue to do. it helps make it a more budget friendly celebration and everyone gets a present!
asher got a awesome melissa and doug train table that he has been obsessed with since hanukkah. he also got this buzz light year toy. as you can see once he realized what it was, he sat back and exclaimed..."BUZZZZZ LIGHTYEAR MOMMY" he was ecstatic.
daddy put the table together after he went to sleep and set up buzz on top for when he woke up in the morning. it was a huge hit.
asher and i made the banner hanging from the mantel. its precious. love it. and love we did it together.
we also participated in the latka cook off at temple for the tot shabbat event.
of course my child wanted to protect the fire extinguisher in case the hanukkah candles caught fire...
the kids patiently waiting to light their menorahs
lots of families gather together to light the candles...
serious business...
later on when we started to feel a little better and we needed to get out of the house we took asher's bike for a stroll. he has always been a hefty boy so peddling his own weight up until recently was a challenge... now he can peddle all on his own. he looks so grown up to me in this photo.
during hanukkah my girlfriend jill delivered her second baby girl emery 3 weeks early.
we brought them brunch the day after christmas and got to love on baby emery... well not really since we were all still sick, but we got to admire her from afar. asher and tahli got to play which was a treat and we also got to visit and catch up with our friends sarah and robert who moved to denver, but were in town for the holidays...
asher and tahli enjoying their bagels and cream cheese
ya think he liked it?
sarah and baby
and finally the last night of hanukkah
we decided to continue a childhood tradition of mine that includes hiding on the couch face down waiting for your hanukkah present each night as the hanukkah present is delivered via a shouting parent " im coming, im coming..." and we place the present on his back. he seems to love it as much as i did so im sticking with it. because it really makes me smile and reminds me of such fond memories of my childhood celebrating hanukkah. you can hear my congestion in my voice. oh memories...
in july we will welcome another sweet schreibman baby into our family.
we feel so blessed by this baby growing inside my belly.
after a battle with fertility issues conceiving asher we were so lucky to get pregnant so very quickly the second time around.
(6 week ultrasound)
(12 week ultrasound and excited mommy)
i know several people read this that have or are battling with fertility issues so i have chosen to share my story. feel free to skip over this part...now that you got the exciting news....
after asher was born i chose to get a Mirena IUD (inner uterine device). i was a little worried about still conceiving with the IUD after hearing so many crazy stories. for me it was the IUD or naturally trying to avoid getting pregnant. we always knew we wanted our children to be at least three years apart so getting pregnant wasnt something i was ready for in the months after delivering asher. so an IUD it was. i liked that i could get it out at any point when i was ready to conceive, i still ovulated with the IUD and i could leave it in up to 5 years. it also helped that my insurance covered it completely. so that was that. several months after getting the IUD i thought i had an appendicitis.... went to urgent care, ended up in the er. after severalappointments it turned out my body was actually ovulating. i had no clue what it felt like, nor did i know my ovulation was that painful because I had been on birth control since i was 17 and you dont ovulate on birth control pills. yes i had to ovulate to get pregnant with asher but the one cycle i got pregnant was the cycle i ovulated courtesy of clomid, not my own doing. my body started "working" again on its very own after i got my iud. this was a great sign for what was to come. not great in the sense that every month the pain was crazy, but i sure knew when i was ovulating!
so after we got back from europe and philip took a new job we decided the stars were aligned. it was time to remove the iud. i called to make an appointment and the receptionist said....you can come in today. GULP. what? today? i thought she would say one week two weeks...but not today. i swallowed my pride and scheduled the appointment for the next day.i can walk there from my office (huge bonus!). so a quick appointment. iud removed and my sweet ob wished me luck. because of my previous fertility issues he gave me 6 weeks to have a normal cycle. if i didnt ovulate or get my period he strongly advised that i go back to clomid again. he however was extremely optimistic and felt almost positive thati wouldnt need to go that route. we kept it from everyone. our little secret. denying the constant second child question. it was so much less stressful. my mom goes to the same OB. she even went to see him days after i had been there for an appointment and said to him " i think renee and philip are going to go for #2 this coming year" ha. she had no clue he already knew.
oh and yeah. i changed ob's after the huge mishap with asher's delivery. i love my new ob. the practice, the midwives, the nurses. everything.
month 1 came and went. completely normal. textbook normal. got my period.
month 2 textbook. i knew within 2-3 days of conceiving i was pregnant.
immediately i noticed the "welt like" acne, painful breasts and constipation all kicked in full force. i waited, waited and waited. i actually waited past when the early response test could pick up a pregnancy. maybe it was 2nd child denial. but i waited.
it was a wednesday evening. philip was at temple for adult education. i took the test. asher was there but he had no clue what was going on. PREGNANT. Boom. I was smiling ear to ear....how in the world was i going to tell philip. i didnt even tell him i was going to test, but i did tell him the past 2-3 weeks i was confident i was pregnant. i decided to bake him fresh chocolate chip cookies (his fave) and i hid the capped positive test under the plate of cookies and put them on his side of the bed. of course he came home and brought me a chocolate chip cookie from temple. he had eaten two at temple. he didnt want to hurt my feelings so he said he would have one and save the rest for later. he took the plate downstairs and as he was tipping it into a plastic baggie the test slipped out.... he ran upstairs with a huge smile on his face...over joyed.
we celebrated together knowing we were going to have to keep this a secret for more than a week or two when we could tell our parents. the next day we were scheduled to leave with his parents to go to nashville for our cousins bat mitzvah. i had been exhausted. i used the stomach issues card the entire weekend resisting glass of wine after glass of wine. somehow we managed to keep it a secret....all the way until thanksgiving....
i had a plan. of course. i made these adorable little turkey placecards to reveal the secret....
i made up a great story about how i got the idea from a craft they did at school.
each kid "wrote" what they were thankful for and put them inside to share.
instead i cut out numbers that made up the due date. (which has since changed by two days) strung them on a string and at the end of the string was a glass pacifier. every year we go around and say what we are thankful for. so we did the same this year. i was sick to my stomach nervous the entire time. praying my idea would work out and they would be surprised. finally it was asher's turn. they began opening their boxes....clueless... "asher is thankful for numbers"....."i got a pacifier"... finally my dad put it together.... "YOU ARE PREGNANT!!!' They were shocked. Papu was in Nashville so when he returned we got to have a very special moment with him to share the news (which we also recorded and you can see below).
Thanksgiving Video Surprise
Papu Surprise (you have to listen carefully but his reaction was precious...over pizza!)
immediately after Thanksgiving i got the stomach virus. it was miserable. i thought it was morning sickness but luckily it was not. the right before christmas i came down with some crud asher brought home...which turned into a two week sinus infection that required antibiotics. what a crazy first trimester with sickness. i have been so lucky that with both pregnancies i did not suffer from any morning sickness on top of all of this. food adversions, yes. sensitivity to smells, yes...but no morning sickness.
over hanukkah/ christmas break i came down with a pretty bad cold that forced me to cave to tylenol and benadryl for 48 hours, but am finally on the up and up.
i looked back through my belly book from my pregnancy with asher.
i can not believe how different i look this pregnancy. i can compare my current stomach to that of my stomach from my pregnancy with asher at 20 weeks... OMG. shoot me now. i didnt start showing with asher till 22 weeks. i feel like i already have a small pooch. everyone warned me.
i started off 1 lb lighter this time than i was with asher and have yet to gain weight. YET. I fear the weight gain this time around as i am not working out 5 days a week like i was the first pregnancy. if i am lucky its 3 days a week. it will be what it will be.
i am so thankful for this 2nd chance at creating another life, nothing else really matters (like weight gain). we could not be more thrilled about baby schreibman #2 and cant wait to share the journey again with our family and friends....
asher has been learning about hanukkah at school for weeks
the jewish community came together to offer a hanukkah concert featuring the Maccabeats....they became youtube sensations last year and tour all over the world performing...im sure you can recognize the song from the video.
softa and papu treated us to the concert and as you can tell we all truly enjoyed....this defintely got us into the hanukkah mood...
asher was more than ready when it came time to celebrate the first night of hanukkah
it was a little rushed as we got to softa and papu's right before bed time since he was having a sleepover. we quickly gathered round and he was so excited. he got to light the menorah he made at school. i made my very first menorah when in 1983. i was 2. i still have it and we still use it. i cant wait to cherish asher's just like my parents did with mine. the other side of the block has an A on it.
asher was showing us what the flame of the candle looked like..
daddy providing some assistance with the candles...
and of course the candles were followed by the opening of presents...he first night he got one of the cars from "cars"...he somehow ended up bottomless...
nothing unusual there...
the 2nd night of hanukkah was much more relaxed and we took our time...
enjoy the precious video.
he knows the blessings and loves to participate in signing them. so impressed...
i love him wearing his daddy's hat and note tonight he is shirtless and pantless....but still has his socks on AGAIN...ha!
next up presents...
one from uncle bill and aunt hilda, one from the school hanukkah party and a small present from mommy and daddy. we are doing very small presents this year.
asher had his 30 month, otherwise known as 2 1/2 year check up this week
we are still breeding a big boy
85th percentile for height - almost off the chart (next time he gets the big boy chart!)
90th percentile for Weight at 35 lbs
50th percentile for his head
asher talked about his appointment for days prior to the day
"dr matt on tuesday mommy, happy hanukkah"
we see dr matt a lot... at temple, thankfully not at the drs
so he is more than just dr. matt to asher
asher LOVES dr. matt. but then again who doesnt?!?
we brought him sufganiot (dougnuts) since our appointment was the first night of hanukkah
asher gave him a huge bear hug and a kiss on the lips (we dont have boundaries yet)
dr. matt continued to talk about how well socialized asher is
he is comfortable with adults, teens and kids
he can work a room full of people
his language is really picking up and doesnt just consist of nouns.
we now hear words like "That is Asher's, Mommy"
he is putting together full sentences and using filler words
his manners are fantastic and we dont have to prompt him anymore. love that!
he is still extremely clumsy
i feel like we get an incident report at school every week
he always has bruises somewhere
he is all boy, this is all to be expected
his 2 year molars are completely in. he is ready for his first dentist appointment.
he loves getting his teeth brushed so i am sure he wont mind it
with the upcoming attempts at potty training we are going to cut back the milk before nap and bedtime and move the time we give it to him closer to his meals vs while laying in bed to encourage potty before bedtime.
he wakes up singing, "shabbat shalom, hey!"
and loves his big boy bed
we still get 12 hours of sleep out of him every night
the boy loves his sleep
some mornings he wakes up...lays around for 20-30 minutes dozing in and out
climbs down out of his bed and sits in his chair reading books
the iphone takes such great photos on the fly that i have relied it for all things photo and video lately. i know the quality cant touch my slr but we live life on the fly...
papu came over for dinner the other night because softa was out of town.
these boys were "watching the news" together.
so cute...
the other day i went to drop asher off at school and two of his girlfriends ella and kate were laying on the floor reading books. ash decided he needed to join them. precious. i couldnt handle the cuteness.. thank you iphone in my pocket for catching it.
the new thing i our house is a cream cheese mustache...
they are a must have and the key to a successful breaskfast for asher and mommy.
i just realized the above three photos were from different times all shot on the same day. breakfast, mid morning and dinner. definitely was a happy day for ash man with lots of photo love.
the next day daddy took papu to the nc state basketball game so asher and i had a whole evening to our ourself... we decided to turn on the fire place (yes its the kind you flip a light switch) and enjoy the fire. it gets pretty hot but wanted to let asher experience the fire place. he loved it but definitely was old enough to know... "it was hot mommy!"
I am not sure if it was bad childhood experiences or just low expectations....but I had very little hope that Asher's school pictures would turn out halfway decent.
BOY was I wrong....
he was smiling in every darn photo that they gave me for a proof. There was just 2.... we got 12+ proofs to pick from. ah-mazing.
Evidently the guy was talking about a turkey and must have been hilarious, because almost every kid was laughing or smiling in their photos. genius i tell ya.
first ever school photo courtesy of St. John Photography in Charlotte, NC.
ps I bought the rights to these two photos so I could print as many as I wanted for family and friends. If you want one let me know.
So one of my upcoming Asher "holiday time off goals" is testing the potty training waters.
He is definitely curious and has been for quite some time.
He still calls pee pee diapers, poopy diapers, but he always acknowledges when he goes in his diaper. He sits on the big boy potty every night before bath time and only about 25% of the time does he actually pee. He gets it though. Understands how to control the stream, hold it down so it doesnt shoot up.... etc. Oh the joys of having a boy!
More than half his class is potty trained. With that being said he is the 2nd to youngest in the class and the youngest is a girl who just embarked on potty training.
What are the odds....slim, but I am positively optimistic.
I do not plan to force this on him and if its too soon we wil move it out another few months and try again.
In the meantime I leave you with this...
Courtesy of a sleepover at Nana and Poppy's over the weekend while mommy and daddy attended a work holiday dinner.
Our text in box was filled with this...
.
and the proud big boy....
Although he hasnt bought into the idea 100%...M&Ms are quite the rave when well earned.
School is going to help by putting him on the potty when they put the other kids on and if he goes he gets and M&M.
I would love to hear your tricks or what you think worked for you.
Doesnt mean we will try it, but ideas are welcome....
ive been admitedly horrible about updating the blog.
lots of work travel
sickness
thanksgiving
lots of laziness
and excuses
and really a lack of desire
kind of a blog funk i presume
but so much to share ugh.
so with no further ado.
cousin brittans bat mitzvah weekend part 1
we all packed into the pilot and headed to nashville
we drove the first evening to knoxville and stayed in a hotel to break up the drive
arrived in nashville on friday morning just in time for lunch and naps
friday evening was shabbat services and family dinner
asher was super excited to see brittan
Friday Night we enjoyed a family dinner at the Temple prior to services.
the peacock table setting was precious
brittan with aunt janet and uncle bill (aka her parents)
asher looks sweet and innocent here, but he was actually hiding to poop. cute, huh.
asher's behavior was less than desireable for the majority of the evening. probably a result of lots of travel and sleeping in hotels. we made it through 1/2 of services before we headed back to the hotel for bedtime
the next morning was the big bat mitzvah service.
asher looked so spiffy with his homemade bow tie.
snuggling up to his softa
asher had a babysitter during services and did excellent
we tried to snag a family photo but he really wanted to go party instead
and he was off..
the original schreibmans with Brittan (Mike, Janet and Bill)
they had a delicious luncheon and a huge dessert table
check out these adorable homemade desserts
so cute and creative...
the big dessert set up.
and of course the table centerpieces..
after the luncheon we headed home for naps before the big night time party....
