im ashamed that i havent posted an update on mayer's progress since september....
we are creeping on his 6 month appointment and god forbid the world wide web doesnt have his stats documented.
clearly my priorities are out of whack.
mayer is GINORMOUS.
that sums it up
at his 5 month appointment (which really was probably a sick visit, because we are professional sickos around here)
he weighed 19+ lbs, measured 28 inches. his head is 25th%tile. tiny compared to the rest of him. he has a perfect head shape. thank goodness!
he is WAY off the charts. WAYYYYY.
his height is crazy off and his weight is just slightly off.
he is wearing 12-18 month clothes and in some cases 18 month clothes
mayer can roll from his tummy to his right side. thats it. too much mass to move. he loves his tummy
he is just starting to sit up without assistance, but still teeters over often
he LOVES baby food. this is foreign to momma bear. i had no clue what a baby food eatin baby was like. we introduced food at 4 months. i had no choice. he still refuses the bottle and the kid clearly loves to eat. he can scarf down some baby food. we have introduced carrots, apples, pears, bananas, peas, broccoli, avocado, squash, mango, milk, milk and more milk. breast milk of course. he also loves to eat his hands. he still hasnt figured out that he can bring things up to his mouth other than his hands.
im still coming home at lunch every day to nurse.
at almost 6 months mayer has a great schedule
he has been sleeping through the night since 3 months, with a few blips from ear infections.
he wakes around 630. nurses and goes back to sleep till about 9. wakes eats some kind of baby food, plays and naps from 1030-12ish, wakes in time for me to get home to nurse, nurses and then typically goes down for a nap around 130-330/4. Plays lots till i get home. Nurses when I get home at 515, eats his baby food dinner and by 630 he is DONE and ready for bed. bath, book, song, nurse and in bed lights out no later than 7 or he turns into a devil. zzzzzzzzzz through the night.
he still receives PT every other week for his BPT. he still has episodes about once every two weeks.
he was super crooked this episode....but typically still a happy guy.
ive reintroduced leafy greens, acidics and dairy.
we are almost 100% weaned off reflux meds!
now if we could get rid of these double ear infections.
we are on our second one in a month and just cant seem to kick this one we are on antibiotic #3
and a few more cute sweet photos of mayer from the past months iphone photos...
i rarely have my camera with me anymore and tend to use my iphone more than anything.
hopefully this weekend i can get some real shot outside in the upcoming beautiful weather!
mayer is yet another angel baby. he is sweet. smiley snuggly. delicious. im in love all over again. sometimes i cant believe these kids are both mine. so blessed.
Im so far behind its not even funny. Another month has passed without a blog update.
We have definitely had a bad streak of luck over the past few months and are praying that things are looking up for our family in 2013.
My modified schedule is ending this weekend and I will return back to work full time.
I am convinced my prayers are being heard that we need things to calm back down in our lives.
In order to remember this hectic time I will rehash some of the recent life events.
Poor softa had 3 vertigo attacks over the course of a month. During each of them she was laid up in our family room on our sleeper sofa from 3-5+ days. She is now living with us till the end of the month until she moves into her apartment. No longer on the sofa as we moved her into our 4th bedroom and are in the process of getting her a day bed with a trundle. She is feeling better and things are looking up!
Papu had a TIA (aka. mini stroke, two days before Thanksgiving) which also happened to be the same day that Softa had a vertigo attack. Crazy life!
the Mr. and Papu were driving home from Thanksgiving dinner on 485 (major highway that loops around Charlotte) and were hit by a drunk driver from behind at 8 pm at night. thankfully the Mr is a super duper driver and somehow was able to gain control of his car without it spinning out or flipping. his car is totaled, the driver was charged and we are patiently awaiting the drivers court date. thankfully both the Mr and Papu survived without any major damage to themselves but the Mr. definitely had whip lash and required many visits to the chiropractor. as a result we had to rush into buying him a new car once the insurance totaled his car and settled the property damage. we are so thankful they are both OK, but devastated that we lost a car that was paid in full and had many more years of driving left on it. the Mr. found a 2007 Toyota Camry with low miles that he purchased last week and is now driving around town. the stress this situation placed on our family could not have had worse timing.
the following week I came down with the stomach virus after all of us finally started to feel better after having a viral infection for over 6 weeks. mayer and asher both got ear infections.
our lives in photos....
the many adorable faces of mayer...
seriously yummmy
deeeeeelicious....
Our first night out since Mayer was born....Amy and Ross' wedding at the Ritz!
Asher's Class Thanksgiving
his pine cone turkey
this pine cone was massive.
mayer bear enjoying the beautiful december weather
check me out? im so grown!
i even like baby food!!!!
my brother never liked it, but i think its delicious.
mommy made me carrotts, apples, bananas, peas, squash, pears...yum
mayer celebrated his first hanukkah... clearly he loved it.
more hanukkah celebrations and photos later..
admist everything Softa finally closed on their house, which makes the sale of their house one of he longest and drawn out closings in the history of real estate. not really, but it felt like it. buying and selling homes these days is brutal. they make nothing easy. we are thrilled this burden is no longer upon our family.
to add fuel to the fire our deep freezer tripped the outlet and we lost everything in our deep freezer including my precious breast milk I had been saving. DEVASTATED. liquid gold gone. tears.
things are looking up. we are tired. but we are healthy. and we are surrounded by the love of our family and friends....to be continued
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...
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.
