Halloween in Pittsburgh

Our elephant and itsy bitsy spider had an excellent time in Pittsburgh over Halloween. Even though, Asher quit trick or treating at the third store, we still considered it a success because he wore his costume.  Baby Orli slept through the hub bub. Next year, maybe, she will be a little more interested-- I am betting her brother will be.

Practicing wearing a costume before we head to Pittsburgh. I love the expression on Asher's face here.

Orli's first airplane ride, less than 2 months old. She beat my first flight by 2 months.  Orli was fantastic on the flight.

Sleeping through the Halloween festivities, but she still managed to get a lot of attention from people passing by her.

A cuddle break at Dunkin Donuts and some munchkins, of course!

"No more paparazzi, Mommy," Orli exclaims! 

Almost a Year Later Asher is Sleeping Soundly....on a Mattress

Around this time last year, Asher began to show signs that he no longer was going to be the sleeper extraordinaire that we always bragged about.  The process changed gradually where he would wake in the middle of the night and we would have him crawl into our bed. At some point, he decided that he liked our room better than his and he started to put up a fight. We let him just cry it out, like the book told us to do. This entailed screaming at the top of his lungs, not for minutes, but for HOURS!!! Eventually, he fell asleep.  Then our sweet baby concocted another plan... he decided to climb out of the crib.  He did it so well it was effortless on his part. We quickly dismantled the crib.
Next, we would sit in his room for hours until he fell asleep, but he would just scream when he woke up and so, Jed and I would grab him and bring him to our bed.  At some point, around month 3 of this routine, we decided to end it. We put up a gate between his room and the hallway and decided to try the cry it out method once again. With our new found strength, we let him cry it out for several hours the first night. The second night, his voice became hoarse and the third night, he gave up and slept on the floor curled up in a ball by the door. We thought this would last a week and then he would go crawling back into his bed. Surely, he would not want to sleep on the hardwood floor! Clearly, we underestimated our little guy. He slept on the hardwood floor until last Tuesday--10 months to be exact.  Then, one day, we dismantled the converted crib and left the mattress on the floor and to our surprise, Asher crawled on the mattress and went to sleep!

                                                                   
                                                               
The Evolution of Asher Sleeping on a Mattress

He is sleeping like an angel in this picture, but at 1 am that was not the case

Asher was clearly winning in the sleep war.

We waited in his room until he fell asleep.  Even the stuffed animals tried to help.

He asked me to read this book to him, if only he would do what it said.

Lounging

We bought him a bath mat for comfort.

Mattress Day

Imagination Runs Wild

Obviously, we have a busy household with Orli joining our family.  Yet, there is so much happening with Asher that I didn't want to have any time slip by without noting it. Asher is so much fun to watch especially when he plays.  Every toddler has an obsession--some like Thomas the Train and others like Trucks. Our son obsesses over animals. He prefers to wear items that have animals, he collects animal toys, and reads about animals. We even go over animals on flashcards.  Over the last month that Bubbie has been in town, Asher has been playing with her by putting all of his animals in a round plastic container and turning it so that it resembles a merry-go-round, his other favorite thing.  Every day he calls for my mom to come and sing him a the merry-go-round song as she slowly turns the container filled with his animals. Asher is fixated on this and demands that it is done several times a day.  He also takes his animals to bed with him, in the bath, car, and is now taking care of them as if they were his "babies". He blows their noses and changes their diapers. 

Asher with his merry go round. He also was attacked by a viscous mosquito last Friday by his eye, do yous see it? Poor guy!

Asher also likes snow globes and was matching his animals to the animals in the snow globe

Playing with Bubbie

Shortly before Orli was born, I was having a particularly difficult evening with Asher. I was trying to get dinner on the table and Asher was running around getting in to everything. At one point, I heard loud noises and things rattling, I was about ready to lose it and turned around to find that Asher had set the table for me and was cooking us dinner. This warmed my heart, I do have the best son in the world.

Asher was testing my patience by throwing things in the kitchen while I was cooking 

Just before I was ready to lose it, I turned around and noticed that he had also set the table with his dishes

Added his food to each of our dishes

How can you get mad at this guy when he tried to make me dinner?

Orli is a month old!

Orli is 1 month already! Our happy family of 4 is starting to get into a routine. I have learned what it means to be perpetually exhausted taking care of a toddler and an infant and think it is a treat to get more than 4 hours of sleep, a hot meal, and a shower.  I know this will pass soon enough and I will forget all the little things that make newborns so much fun and yet so much work.

However, I don't want to forget how much we love the sounds Orli makes. The ones that sound like a clearing of a throat and then a grunt that somehow only newborns make. We also love her tiny diapers, tiny clothes, and tiny feet.  We love her facial expressions and her eyes that sometimes go cross. We love her manly burps and we even try to tell her that girls don't burp that way, but smile while she continues to do it. We love the way her brother tries to take care of her by bringing her burp cloths and swaddles. We also think it is funny that Asher says burp cloth, swaddle and "Mommy being cow" when talking about Orli. It warms our heart when Asher says in the sweetest of voices, "Orli, little girl" or "Go downstairs, see baby Orli." We love our family of 4. We love our baby Orli.

Newborns sleeping are the best! 

  .

Asher is a Big Brother!

Arriving home from the hospital

Asher's status as an only child has officially changed and it came two weeks earlier than we ever expected.  Asher was a week late, so I figured that our baby girl would come either on time or late.  Even though Jed and the grandparents all believed she would arrive early. With that said, we did not expect to go into labor on Rosh Hashanah. In fact, everything happened so quickly this time. We didn't have a chance to breathe. Now that I am able to come up for air,  I am delighted to announce that Orli Phiona is healthy and as cute and cuddly as her big brother.  We love our little family of 4!

Both of my babies are sucking their fingers

Reading a story about being a big brother to my two children on Orli's first night home



Love

Daddy and his little girl

Orli Phiona born on September 6th at 10:21 am

Fun Fact: Orli was born on the second day of the Jewish New Year and Asher was born on the second day of the New Year!

We are heading home to meet Asher

Bubbie and the newborn

Orli is opening her eyes to say hello to the world



Wonderful Son

This is the last half hour of the last month that our little family will be only 3.  Next month, we will welcome our new daughter.  So many questions run through our mind. Will Asher adjust? Will he be kind to his new sister? Will we be able to manage it all and still provide our children with what they need? Over the past few days, I have made peace with all of my worries and Asher has helped me do it.  He is such a dynamic son. His sister will look up to him and be in awe of him. She will laugh at his silly behavior and sense of humor.  She will see him as a teacher and respect his intelligence. She will know that he has a kind soul and that he has been waiting for her to join our family.  I know this because over the last few weeks Asher has attended each and every doctor's appointment with me-- even the 36 week ultrasound. He was such a good boy at the appointments. It was such a special moment between the two of us. His eyes lit up when he heard his sister's heartbeat and when he saw her on the ultrasound.  He asked the doctor to hear the heartbeat again and talked about it for days afterwards, relaying exactly what happened in the doctor's office.  I am looking forward to watching his role change in the house and to see him become the wonderful big brother that he was meant to be. We love you Asher!

Taken today, August 31st, 37 1/2 weeks pregnant!

Our Favorite Words and Phrases

Asher's speech has sky rocketed. In fact, he is 100 percent caught up to his peers.  As a bonus, he is a singer, must be because his great grandfather was a Cantor. His current favorite songs to sing are Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Three Blind Mice, and for all our Jewish family and friends, Shabbat Shalom. 

Lately, I have been creating a list of all of his words and expressions. I just don't want to lose them.  In order to keep track, I have decided to share them as they make Jed and I laugh everyday.

Here are our favorites in no particular order:

1) Blankely--a mixture of blanket and broccoli
2) Froswell- his name for Roswell, our dog.
3) Helk-Asher used to say this for help, but it has since dropped off and he now says "Help"
4) Twinkle Seis-This is how he says "Twinkle Stars"when turning on his puppy that has star lights at night and/or singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
5) Ownce cheese-Orange cheese, of course.
6) Over dare da bookshelf--when Asher wants something that is not in front of him, it must be over by the bookshelf. A bookshelf doesn't necessarily have to be a bookshelf though...
7) Daddy or Mommy read you--This means, read to me
8) Not Fraid or Fraid-if he says either of these it means that he is afraid. Right now he is afraid of his hair getting wet, jeans, shirts that don't have animals, jackets, large dogs that lick, merry go rounds, large slides, etc...
9) Turn left-giving directions on how to drive home at a red light, stop sign, or really anywhere when he is getting frantic and wants to get out of the car. He yells, "Turn left" sometimes he is right! Ha!