The new view

We decided a week before Asher's first birthday (gasp!) to turn his car seat around.

This video was captured during the first few minutes of his first ride in his new view. Don't worry no one was harmed in creating this video.

Asher's reaction makes me laugh. He kept trying to look in the old direction.

He never had a huge problem with facing backwards but definitely likes the new view a lot more now that he can see everything.

Have I mentioned this kid is sooo nosey!?!?

This video also gives you a glimpse of the wrist and ankle turning that he does when he gets excited. The pediatrician and Dr's say its nothing to worry about...just a delayed sensory development and could be related to his neurological episodes...time will tell...we are definitely keeping a close eye on it.

Sending prayers of healing....

This is a HUGE Prayer Request.
A LOT has happened over the past 3 days and it's time to fill you in....

My Great Aunt Estelle and Great Uncle Jerry came up for Asher's Birthday Party and an extended visit this past weekend. They live in Florida year round. Two days after the party Jerry started throwing up. We all figured food posioning...virus. Well three days later it didn't stop and my dad took him to Urgent Care. Mind you...Jerry is 86. They transported him to the hospital for a CT with Contrast. Keeping contrast down when you have been vomitting isnt an easy task. They concluded in the middle of the night that he has a bowel (intestinal) blockage. They inserted an NG tube and are waiting to see if it clears up over the next 24-48 hours. If it doesnt he has to have surgery. This is major for anyone of this age.

Unfortunately that is only the tip of the iceberg this week.

Additional Prayer Requests:

My Father in Law: He is experiencing severe hip back pain that is making it extremely difficult to walk. They are trying to get an MRI scheduled to find out if something happened in his back to cause this pain.

Cassidy's Grandma: She is 93 and had to have surgery this week. She suffered from a stroke in the middle of the night after the surgery.

Janie Meyers: Janie recently had back surgery (6 weeks ago) and was helping nicely. She fell and broke her ankle and re-injured her back.

My Godmother Cathy: She had last minute eye surgery this week due to a collapsing eye lid from her accident back in September 2009.

Me: I have pink eye. This is my 2nd bad eye infection in 3 months, the last one lasted an entire month. Please pray that Asher doesn't get it and that it doesnt spread.

I hate that this ia debbie downer post...but sometimes it isnt all peaches and creme.

I promise there are some FANTASTIC posts coming down the pipeline that I am really excited to share with the blog world.

Paid OFF!

As of TODAY Philip's car is PAID OFF!

We OWN YOU Camry!

What an amazing feeling after making double payments for the last year.

We paid off the car a full 18 months early.

We hope to get lots of good use out of you over the next 100,000 miles or till we drive you into the ground. Sorry honey, those BMW dreams will have to wait!

Asher's First Birthday Part 1 - Handmade Details

Asher's First Birthday Party was themed a "Sweet Shoppe"
Just about EVERYTHING was made from scratch or by hand to include invitations, decorations, food and favors.

I cut, designed, glued, sewed, melted, and dipped everything with LOTS of help from Amanda.
Without Amanda most of this would not have been possible.
She was truly my partner in crime and my right hand woman.

I got a lot of inspiration and ideas from Etsy.com but couldn't bare to buy it from someone else.
As always I HAD to MAKE it MYSELF.
I present to you...Asher's HAND MADE first birthday!

.................................

Bucket's for the ice cream toppings from the Dollar Section at Target with Sticker Logos and Custom Cupcake Flags

Asher's Throne...

Hand Made First Birthday Hat

Hand Sewn High Chair Flag Banner

(which I decided to whip together the morning of the party because I am psycho)

The Ice Cream Sunday Bar Table

We served Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Cream

Toppings: Caramel, Chocolate Syrup, Whipped Cream,

Oreo's, M&M's, Butterfinger and Sprinkles

Ice Cream bowls customized with a handmade sticker

Vanilla Cupcake Cake Pops

Close up of the cupcake flags

Home Made Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

Everyone loved these...I should've made more!

The Birthday Cupcakes with Custom Made Cupcake Flags

Chocolate Cupcake Cake Bites

These were a huge hit!

Asher's cupcake

Hand made Martha Stewart Pom Pom's

Asher's sour patch kids - displayed with his birthday invitation

What is a sweet shoppe party without tasty lollipops!?

The entry table that changes for every holiday or occasion

Party Favors.

Three Homemade crayons in the shape of a Hershey Kiss

(perfect size for a a little hand to hold)

Organic All Natural Yummy Earth Lollipops.

Packaged and ready for the party!

"Thanks for making my first birthday so Sweet, Love Asher"

The candy wreath that we made which greeted the guests at the front door.

This wreath was my inspiration for the entire party.

The backyard set up

It was a little over 95 degrees with an insane humidity index.

Although our backyard is shaded from 3 PM on it was still ridiculously hot.

Several kids still braved it in the backyard, but we didn't make use of it as much as we had planned.

We borrowed the tent from a party planner friend. The mats under the tent were a very generous gift from our friends Jen and Jason (www.ucsspirit.com). The tent and tunnel was a steal of a deal at Costco and the patio set up is our permanent summer time lime green umbrella, chair cushions and table cloth.

The Birthday Banner (double backed letter's designed to match the cake pop flags)

Happy Birthday First Birthday to Our Big Boy Asher!

more come to come...

O-N-E!

(homemade candy birthday wreath!)

Today our sweet sweet little big boy is ONE!

Asher has decided that he wants to be a toddler this week. He is over being a baby.

He is crawling, pulling up on everything to a stand including furniture, his crib, the stairs.

He even crawled up two stairs on his own!

He is cruising along furniture without hesitation.

In one week he has become a completely different child

One is fun...and always on the run!

Mommy-made hat and shirt!

We are so proud of his development and growth!

I would like to highlight some of the exceptional qualities Asher exemplifies:

HE IS AN AMAZING SLEEPER. I officially made it to one year and feel comfortable saying this without jinixing myself. From 6 weeks on he slept through the night. Over the course of the entire year he only woke up ONE TIME in the middle of the night. It was his first cold (and frankly it wasnt even a bad one but it was new to him and I think it scared him that he had trouble breathing easily).

Asher has an amazingly chill tempermanent. He is rarely upset by anything, rarely cries, rarely whines, and loves to people watch in public places. He is completed often on his great beavhior.

He has learned to smile for the camera and scrunches his nose up when he smiles. It melts my heart.

Asher eats just about anything. We feed him what we eat in much much smaller portions and pieces. Unless he is teething he will eat anything. Fish, Beef, Chicken, Vegetables (he loves broccoli and asparagus) dairy. He still is not 100% on watery textures like yogurt or applesauce or anything that resembles baby food (which he despised).

Asher LOVES to open and close anything: books, doors, drawers, toys

Now on to the good stuff...

cake, party and more cake

We had a small family celebration the night of his birthday.

Gigi (Asher' great grandma) is in town for his birthday and Amanda also stayed for dinner.

Softa had Tizz Benson from Tizzert's make him a smash cake to match the "adult cake".

The adult cake had a lion, alligator and elephant on it. His cake had a blue elephant.

Note to self: blue icing stains!

Asher decided to take matters into his own hands...or face? He bent over and stuck his face into the cake to get a larger surface area into his mouth. Pretty smart, huh!?

We encourage making a mess for first birthdays!

Enjoy the video of Asher the Cake Smasher

All cleaned up .... and ready for bed!'

That cake eating is a lot of work and being one isnt a piece of cake!

Sneak Peak for the Birthday Party this weekend...

Amanda and I have been crafting away for almost 2 months now and we can't wait to share!

Thursday is Asher's 1 year check up!

I predict he will weigh 25 lbs (I think he lost some weight) and 32 inches tall...

ta ta for now!

Let's not rush it...mmk?

Glaring at me this morning was an email in my inbox with this title:

Your 1 year old



First off... let's not rush it Baby Center!
You know his birthday isnt until June 9th.
I still have 48 hours to accept reality.
Asher will be ONE on Wednesday.
Couldn't you hold off on the email for another 2 days?
Are you trying to give me a panic attack?

(this is Asher's smile face..he scrunches up his nose. I could eat him when he does this its so cute!)

Asher is making it very clear to us that his FIRST birthday is quickly approaching.

Tonight we will be lowering his crib. We have gotten away with it thus far without lowering it.

Today he stood up in the crib.
It is clearly time.
It is amazing how just a few days can make a difference in a child's development.

Yesterday he started crawling up on his knees.

This baby is ready to be one...much more ready than his Momma.

don't judge

this post is for me and really only me.
but feel free to enjoy if you wish

one week from today Asher will be one.
this is a bittersweet day for us.
its been quite a year with lots of "unexpected", thousands of firsts, and tears of joy
i remember one year ago i was consumed with so many emotions
would it be a natural transition from pregnancy to mommy?
would i be able to breastfeed?
would i be able to handle working full time and taking care of a baby?
would my child sleep through the night...
clearly i was anxious and ready for asher to arrive
i wasn't sure if i was ready for him to come out yet, but obviously had no say in that decision
i LOVED being pregnant
i still miss being pregnant (hopefully god will bless us with more children!)

so one week from today asher will be one.
im not ready.
im not ready to give up breastfeeding.
i never thought i would feel this way
i was surprised i made it this long
so many people think a light switch just turns on and turns off
not in this house, not this mom, not this baby
june 9th 2010...this momma will still be nursing
sorry folks. im not ready to give it up.
asher isnt ready to give it up.
time will tell when the time is right
and NO i wont be breastfeeding forever
nor will i be that parent that has their kid crawling all over them in public trying to rip her clothes off.
we will do what is right for us.
i believe that will be transitioning to nursing morning and night and whole milk during the day
im not really sure how to make this transition and i fear it.
i run it through my head non stop.
i dedicated the past year of my life to nursing this child
im scared to stop nursing, crazy!?
so one year later im excited yet nervous to enter this new phase of asher's life
reoccuring theme? yup
its all about being a parent, rolling with the punches and loving every minute of it.

CSA #2

This week's crop share made for a perfect dinner with leftovers! Saturday night we sauteed fresh garlic, onions, potatoes, the two types of zucchini in the photo below, fresh eggplant and bella mushrooms. The fresh garlic smelled amazing and was deliciously juicy. We cut a crisp green salad with the CSA lettuce and grilled up ribeyes. We used almost all of the items from our CSA and it tasted so fresh!

This week’s share contains:

Mixed summer squash

Red Pontiac New Potatoes

Paris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce

Chioggia Beets

Radishes

Scarlet Queen Turnips

Red Russian Kale

Mixed Asian Greens

Garlic

Onion

Recipe ideas are welcome!!!

All gussied up for Pam & Jason!

Two of our good friends Pam and Jason got married this weekend at the Ballantyne Resort and Lodge. We were pretty excited about getting all dressed up for this beautiful black tie affair. To add icing to the cake I claim that I set them up since they met at a 20's/30's Young Adult event that I planned two years ago. We had a blast at the wedding and are so happy for the two of them as they take this journey in life together. Pam and Jason have been living long distance (Charlotte & Michigan) for the past year and although we are sad to see Pam move up to Michigan to be with Jason we know they will back soon! Right guys!?!?

The ceremony was outside overlooking the golf course.

It was picture perfect...a little toasty (the guys were dripping sweat) and PACKED.

Over 250+ guests...standing room only!

The chuppah was GORGEOUS!

(dont worry there was no one golfing during the ceremony, just very loud ducks QUACKING!)

Not a bad looking group once we are all cleaned up, huh?!

Several of our friends that we made through the 20's/30's group here in Charlotte

Mr. and Mrs. Jason Trompeter!

The delicious cake..."the leaning tower of Pisa"

They happen to be honeymooning in Italy, but this leaning cake was a complete accident!

(this photo was snapped before it really started to tilt)

The groom and best man showing the bride some love!

The Schreibman Men all dressed up! So handsome.

More of the newlyweds

Move back soon....we already miss you!

Pamela & Josh came up from Atlanta.

We were so fortunate that they stayed with us the night of the wedding. We miss them tons and wish they were still in Charlotte...what is with everyone moving on us!?!?

Mazel Tov to Pam and Jason!