Dog Allergy's

our lil bella bean has had allergy problems since the day we brought her home 10 years ago

just this past year we had exhausted every possibility except allergy testing

we have done bloodwork, special diets, special medications, atopica, steriod shots, benadryl and the list goes on and on and on....thousands of dollars later.

we decided to bite the bullet and 2 months ago made our appointment with the only vet dermatologist in charlotte.

our appointment was one day after bella's 10th birthday.

we arrived that morning and we went over every detail with dr. kelly. thenwe left bella there for allergy testing....

we already knew she was going to be allergic to a lot, but now we know what.

trees. go figure. almost all kinds. weeds, a few molds and fleas where a few noteable ones.

she also has yeast infections on some of her skin and paws.

no way around this. bella needs allergy shots.

we were excited to hear that we dont have to restrict her diet anymore. the special food was costing a fortune and she was always hungry. she used to be a semi plump dog and now she is skin and bones only weighing 14.2 lbs.

she is always itchy. always anxious and always irritated. she is now home resting after her traumatic day.

she is now on a course of steriods for a week or so to help with her recovery from the allergy testing. she is also on meds for the yeast infections, bi monthly flea prevention, benadryl.... until we pick our vaccine from the vet in a week or two and begin the shots.

initially every three days for 2-3 months, then once a week for the rest of her life.

bless her little heart

this has a 60-80% chance of working.

please pray this works.

the upside.... bella might finally feel some relief. we wont be making visits to the vet every 3-4 weeks...racking up insane bills...instead we just dumped a bunch of money into the visit, testing and vaccine....now we will be cutting down on long term costs! there is always an upside!

24 weeks.

here i am....24 weeks pregnant... i think !!??!

after a long day of work on the left and all cute in 2009 at 24 weeks pregnant with asher

OH MI. I am HUGE in my belly this time. CRAZYYY

side note: ever since i had asher ive had non stop eye/contact problems. i wear my glasses about 50% of the time now. people often ask....so there ya go!

Ashers First Dentist Visit

i was due for my cleaning so i thought it would be the perfect time to bring asher.

i go to a family dentist and he spent the first 4 years of his dental career in a pediatric dentist office so he sees young children as well as older children and adults. dr brady and his staff are super kid friendly and all have young kids so i knew asher would be very comfortable.

i liked that he could watch me get my teeth cleaned...then have his turn.

the pediatrician said it was the perfect age to introduce him to the dentist.

asher loves brushing his teeth so we didnt think there would be any issues.

and he hopped right into the dental chair....

he was ready to hop up in that seat and have his turn!

he let the hygenist (ann) scrape any "sugar bugs" off his teeth...

she then proceeded to polish them with bubble gum polish

he even let her spray the water in his mouth and suction it out.

then she finished off with a floss (not much to floss when you have huge gaps between baby teeth!)

she said that she couldnt believe how cooperative he was for not even being three.

dr brady said his teeth looked great, jaw line looks great and we are headed in a good direction with the health of his teeth. this was a relief since philip had dental/jaw issues at asher's age.

we will continue to make our 6 month visits a routine now that we have conquered the dentist.

thank goodness for tv in the dentist chair!

we could not be anymore proud of our big boy!

31st Birthday!

last year was the big year....this year is just another birthday...

we headed to Yama (my friend sushi restaurant) for a family birthday

lots of COOKED sushi....edamame, calamari, beef negmaki and cake...

i had a special helper with the candles....

quick family photo with our handsome big boy

and the big event of the night was asher not only eating an insane amount of calamari but using his chopsticks to dip it in the sauce and then eat it...

what a perfect birthday filled with our parents....but missing everyone else!

Drummer Hoff

drummer hoff was one of the first books that philip bought asher before he was born.

he had very fond memories of reading this caldicott book as a child...this very book which i had never heard of. go figure. asher and philip have read it hundreds of times. it gets cuter each time. asher now knows most of the book, asks for it often and his enthusiasm for drummer hoff is evident as you watch them enjoy this book together...

my sweet boys rendition of drummer hoff....

Chowing Down

i love how he twirls the noodles

and then shoves them in his mouth....you have to give him credit for trying to eat like a big boy!

22 weeks....oh mi

i dont think i have done an update in weeks.

first of all.... we are having ANOTHER BOY!!!!!!

we are thrilled. i know i know... people ask all the time, dont you want a girl.

id love a girl, but i am really excited about another boy.

ive always though id be a mom to three boys...bring it on.

so of course as soon as i found out i started racking my brains as to what i was going to do with the nursery. can i find bedding i like? do i need to order custom bedding....which option is cheaper...can i reuse asher's and make some tweaks...have a friend make it etc.

i found this bedding online. i fell in love with it.

i love that it is fresh, bright and simple.

i ordered a sample and fell even more in love with it...which stinks because it is way more than i wanted to spend. thanks to some "funds" i bit the bullet and ordered it. it will arrive any day.

so here are the nursery details thus far....

paint:

we repainted the entire room. we, meaning our painter ceasr. it took him three coats of primer and two coats of paint to cover up the green walls and green stripes. exactly why i didnt do it.

we used sherwin williams: Glimmer. (the one on the top)

one wall is flat paint...i will be putting a tone on tone stencil on the wall that his crib will be up against this weekend. photos to follow. the stencil is from cutting edge stencils, casablanca. flat paint base with semi gloss stencil. so pumped.

all other walls are Eggshell....sample of the stencil on someone elses wall with tone on tone.

furniture:

asher is using his baby furniture, it converted to a full size bed. therefore we knew we would have to buy new furniture for baby 2. we ended up using Young America through a great connection my dad had through his business. i was able to check it out locally at Shower Me With Love and see all the finishes before ordering online. we ordered this crib in cotton (whiteish color) and this dresser in the same finish. we will add a glass top to the dresser just like we did with ashers. this really preserved the top of dresser nicely.

since this is build to grow furniture we anticipate using this for many many years....

rug:

i fell in love with this rug at a local store called cottage chic. its dash and albert- aquinnah. 100% cotton. it matches the room perfectly. we ordered a smaller rug this time 4x6.

drapes:

we are reusing asher's drapes. i removed the dark brown pom poms

i spray painted all of the dark brown fixtures, rings and finals white.

glider:

we are ordering a new glider. my parents are taking my glider to use in their house since it completely clashes with the bright airy light room (its dark brown) and it was too warm for a summer baby and hot nursing mommy. we are ordering the same brand, different style in a "burlap fabric" we are hoping it will bring an earthy aspect to the room

and finally the bump....oh the bump

I am up 5 lbs from my starting weight at my 22 week appt.

this a pre 22 week photo.

the left is 2012 at 22 weeks, right is 2009 at 22 weeks....

much less different than we thought....

somehow i feel huge.

and dont even ask about a name

this kid has no name

we are no where even close to a name

...why is this so hard!?!?!?

Purim Part 2

one of the most fun parts of purim is dressing up, the second best part is being able to shake really loud obnoxious noise makers called (grogers) when Haman's name is read in the story of Purim. You can now seee why this is a kid favorite...dress up and loud noise...

asher and his girl frida had a day for the preschool reading of the megillah on wednesday night.

frida is in ashers class and her mom aj and i are good friends.

not only does frida's mommy adore asher but so does she.

asher was trying to make the moves on frida....

purim is full of silly faces...

as part of the tot shabbat celebrations we also had mr twister the balloon artist come and join our crew friday night. here you can see asher attempting to balloon fight with frida's mommy...

purim was great fun. we made lots of hamantaschen and ate them all week.

asher helped make them all this year so he was even more excited to enjoy the fruits of his labor. im sure the scales will love me for it since they are FULL of butter, loads of butter.

FIrehouse visit

asher loves firetrucks, police cars, ambulances...anything with flashing lights, fast speeds and loud noises...when he sees them coming down the road he hoots

"woo woo woo, off to help people"

softa decided to take him to the firestation for a tour. they brought cookies with them for the firefighters on duty to enjoy.

asher is cheesin it up with one of the firemen...

the funniest part of the trip is that when they were ready to leave he had a meltdown because they left the cookies there vs taking them with them. he had no clue that they were staying. had he known he "wouldve' eaten a cookie with them" hahaha I love this kid.

last minute

ashers school only celebrates jewish holidays.

purim is right around the corner which means they get to dress up.

we got a note home two nights ago that they were going to be dressing up on two seperate dates a week apart. i freaked. i hadnt made his costume yet and in the past i had always sewn his costume.

no time. panic. we dont have "dress up clothes"

so he ended up being a captain. "captain asher"

blue blazer from the consignment store we already had. daddy put a bunch of his pins on the breast of the jacket, captain hate from the cruise, khakis and his boat shoes. with a polo shirt under. freddy the funship just because.

when his teacher alex got to school he ran up to him to tell him he was "captain asher" priceless...success....he was a hit.

now to come up with the real costume and to find the time/energy this weekend to sew it for the upcoming purim events for next week. hmmmm...ideas?