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.
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!
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....
