We went on vacation!

in no particular order....our amazing Cruise Vacation to St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola and the Bahamas....in celebration of my mom's upcoming 55th birthday in March.

qe left Friday to head to Ft. Lauderdale where we planned to stay overnight. qe arrived right on time and Asher was a gem on the plane. we took a nice walk down the street from the hotel to a little diner that was recommended to us. asher got to see a train going down the tracks just several fee in front of us. It was quite impressive!

we enjoyed an early bed time and hotel morning breakfast before we headed off in a cab to the ship. it wasn an overcast day, but it was warm! on the ship we went and Asher's big eyes got even bigger. he was in awe. asher even snagged a nice nap in his new bed on the ship before we got the party started. we participated in the routine muster station drills and he got his bracelet for the week. thankfully he tolerated it all week!

once the drill was complete we pulled away from the port and sailed out into the sea...

we also snagged a little chess action on the lido desk waiting for camp carnival orientation

Nana and Asher patiently waiting for dinner on the first night. we participated in the anytime dining program which was quite an experience. we thought it would be quick, easy and flexible, but so did almost everyone else on the ship.

the first two days on the ship we spent at sea. we had never been on a cruise that included the dirst two days at sea so we got a little stir crazy even though the water was beautiful.

the photos began... the ladies of the family

and the boys...

on the 2nd night the waitstaff put on a performance and asher really got into it

asher became known on the ship after his debut at comedy night.

as the days went on he also was recognized by many as captain asher.

enjoying his morning milk in our cabin and some room service

the first port day was in st. thomas. we ventured off the boat around 10 am and headed to the beach. Magen's Bay. It was a nice short beach with lots of cruisers. We spent a few hours soaking up the sun and getting asher reaquiatined with the sand and the water. we also purchased new rubber watch bands for our philip stein watches in st. thomas. this was our hanukkah presents to each other. we were so glad we waited to buy them because we got quite a deal.

the view on the drive to magen's bay.

the 4th day we visited anitgua which was by far our favorite place of the entire trip.

we took a lovely cab ride to dickinson bay which was the same location of the sandal's resort in antigua. the beach was gorgeous, deep, long and the water was a beautiful blue green water. we spent hours on the beach building castles, relaxing and getting our vitamin D

our sweet family on the beach

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asher eating his peanut butter sandwich on the beach

much easier to eat in the stroller than on the sand.

aunt E and her nephew.

asher relaxing on his sand pillow

army crawling in the sand.

we all got some sun by this point of the cruise.

my favorite photo of eliza and rich during the trip

my favorite photo of my sweet boys and i with baby #2 in the belly

ash enjoying my virgin strawberry pina colada

the parentals

boys love their momma's and this is definitely the case

boys are also so silly

this is what happens when you ask them to smile

they cut up and then laugh

we decided to start striking a pose with our towel people...

asher's biggest debut for comedy night. he was the hit of the show and it circulated on the tvs in the cabins the entire cruise. he kept shouting cantaloupe which caught the family comedians attention. he invited asher up and he even got to tell a knock knock joke

the gorgeous view while relaxing on the beach in st. thomas

soaking up the rays in st. thomas. asher was obsessed with helping us blow up the rafts. my parents brought us all rafts so that we could have something cushioned to lay on the beach as well as float in the ocean. it was semi successful...if only they held air!

asher and his homey

captain asher is alive... nana bought asher this fun hat at one of the ports and it became the infamous cruise hate.

one night at dinner the waiter took a napkin and made it into a little mouse and kept teasing asher with it. he was hysterical. the noises that were coming out of him couldve brought you to tears... his life is contagious.

more buddies on the bed

someone knows they are so cute.

we just love him dearly

and so do his nana and poppy

and our favorite waiter SUKI... he would cut asher's food up for him, bring him all of his favorites. he was a gem.

later that night asher participated in the thriller dance lessons. watching him try to take dance instructions was hysterical.

this is an excellent shot of his bed set up. it made me nervous the first few nights, but he loved his 'special bed'. we had no choice and he slept like a brick. 12 hours at night (mostly) and 2-3 hour naps. whatever work rights? he loved trying to climb up on daddy to get into the bed, even though we really had to lift him.

asher cheesin with freddy funship at the captains cocktail

and our crew. this is chubby the ass. matre di' who took to asher. he had three boys of his own back home. and asher's "ladies" the hostesses. they would dote on him, kiss him, hug him.

it had to be the sweetest thing i have seen in a long time.

and our family sweetness had to be captured

the bass ladies

and the big birthday bass... 55 woot woot!

our clan on the ship. we captured a family photo that night

more birthday celebrating for mommy

one of our last towel creatures hiding...

and of course another one on the bed...

this vacation was awesome. long... but so needed.

thank you mom and dad for treating us to such a wonderful vacation.

it was just what the doctor had ordered after 2 months of straight sickness in the schreibman house...

cheers to warm weather.... if only it would stay in charlotte for more than a few days!

Celebrating 60

The week after new years was my uncle jay (my moms brother) 60th birthday. since eliza and rich were in town we decided to host a brunch surprise party for my uncle on new years day so we could all celebrate together.

to asher that just meant more time to play with his aunt and uncle....

and we even got to snag some cute family photos.

man i miss her to death.

one day.... sometime soon...(lets hope)....my sister and i will be together

our great aunt estelle loves joining in on the family fun.

she adores spending time with all of us and can never get enough of eliza.

prior to uncle jay arriving for the big surprise asher was going around and giving each of us "running hugs" this consists of slamming himself into you in the form of a hug. its super cute.

mommy and her doggies.

scooty on the left and happy on the right

did i mention he loves to horse around with uncle rich.

this went on for 15 minutes at least.

and he adores uncle rich.

as well as his baby...

uncle jay finally arrived fashionably late and we definitely surprised him.

we got him to wear this adorable hat....only for this photo. ha

i love how my mom jazzed up this cake.

she is too cute.

asher with his uncle "wich" oppps... i mean uncle jay.

he consistently calls uncle jay..uncle wich...for uncle rich.

my uncle works at the jewish community center (JCC) and the kids at asher's school walk around the JCC all of the time. he always sees our uncle and waves and gets excited but still cant get his name right. its pretty funny, but i think uncle wich secretly likes it

Happy 60th birthday Uncle GUY... that is what ive always called him since i was a little girl

so glad you are so close and we get to spend so many special occasions with you.

Extra Sugar with the Sweetness

Reflecting on NYE

Ive finally regained some energy and can stay up past 8 pm.

That means I can now catch up on a months worth of blogging...ugh.

With no further a-d0....New Years weekend...

Aunt Eliza and Uncle Rich came into town for New Years eve with some of their friends so we got to sneak a quick lunch with them on New Years Eve Eve. We were way past nap time but Asher was thrilled he got to see them.

I hadn't been feeling well most of the day on new years eve and my food aversions are pretty strong this pregnancy compared to the last. we had diner plans to eat at beef and bottle with our parents. as expected beef, beef and more beef. beef has been one thing that has been really hard for me to stomach. we had early reservations for 6 pm. i got my appetite back at dinner and ended up order lobster and a small filet. i ate about half of it which is normal. asher ate a ton of broccoli and some steak. one of my favorite family traditions that we have still continued is family dinner on new years. love this tradition.

photos to capture the occasion...

i love this photo. i wish it wasnt so dark and hazy....but that is what you get when you use your iphone.

after dinner we headed over to our friends house to get together with some other families with kids in asher's class. our friends recently moved two houses away from other friends of ours so we got to play with sparklers in the cul-de-sac before we went inside for dessert.

these were heavy monster sparklers. asher was in heaven.

two hands were a must!

look at me mom!!! i did it. i did it.

of course daddy had as much fun as asher. look at that huge grin.

when we got inside ella, kate and malaya were waiting for asher's arrival.

they were so cute playing together. i knew it would be a far fetched attempt to get a photo of them together without any other adult assistance but we managed to capture a cute one.

we brought over cupcakes from SAS Cupcakes to celebrate the special evening

and they had prepared fondue with fruit. the kids loved it

of course they made a huge mess. but that is what kids do best.

yummy marshmallow and chocolate

happy kids devouring their chocolate, fruit and marshmallows.

did i mentioned they got messy?

malaya left a little early... poor thing ended up with the stomach flu late into the night.

the kids decided they needed more sugar and ate some of our cupcakes.

then the sugar rush took over and they were piling up on top of each other and attempting their first pillow fight (video below)

we couldnt get over their sweet moments. check out her moves on him?

hand on his tie....taking possession. oh boy.

i cant wait to show them this photo when they are 13....18...25....

maybe some bar/bat mitzvah blackmail. love love love it.

what new years eve party is a party without a pillow fight?

we made it home right before 10 pm and asher went to sleep immediately.

we are always prompt with his bedtime so this was a stretch but even with the sugar he did super. we had such a blast with all of our friends and love that we could spend it with our family and friends.

somehow i stayed awake till the ball drop. probably because justin bieber was performing. i still havent gone into detail regarding my JB obsession but that is another post for another day. anyway.

2012 is going to be a crazy awesome year. cant wait to see what else it has in store for us and how embrace it all. cheers. l'chaim!

2008 vs 2012

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.

Baller

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.

priceless.

can.not.wait.for.the.little.league.sports

While we were sick....

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...

next up... new years!