The Blizzard...

We had a crazy last weekend that I hope NEVER repeats itself again...

We were going to visit family in Winston Salem, NC for Christmas and left our house right on time at 9:15 am. We knew the weather was going to be rainy and snowy, but we had no idea what we were in for! The drive started out great. Asher took his first nap and then we stopped for lunch at 12. After lunch we got back on the road and decided because of the I-40 detour that we would go up to Virginia and down to Winston. Once we started driving north the snow started... and it was so bad that Josh and I decided to turn around and go south, which put us about an hour out of the way. So when we got on I-26 to Asheville we got stuck in a major blizzard. Not just snow.. but tons and tons of snow, high winds, and ice. It was very scary. I was in the backseat with Asher and Josh was driving very carefully. At around 3pm everyone completely stopped on the highway. We were just sitting in the middle of the blizzard not knowing what was going on. At around 7pm we started going again and went about 5 miles then stopped again. We sat there FOREVER and EVER. We found out at about 1am that they had closed the highway. Firefighters offered to take us to a shelter b/c we had a baby, but at this point Asher was asleep in my arms and I couldn't even imagine taking him to a shelter.. he would never sleep there and would be miserable. So we decided to stay in the car. Luckily we had the camry hybrid so we felt like we weren't going to run out of gas, but did keep turning the car off to conserve the gas. At around 2am they told us that they were going to open the highway again.. we got so excited, but hours later were still sitting there. We started going again around 5am and made it the 10 miles left to get to Asheville. Yes, we were only 10 miles from a nice, warm, hotel room. We were exhausted, but very thankful that we were safe. Asher did GREAT in the car for 20 HOURS!! yes, 20 hours... sometimes I think he is a super baby. We left Chattanooga at 9:15 am and got to the hotel in Asheville around 5:30am. Luckily he was young enough that he had no idea what was going on... we had a bunch of toys and constantly were trying to entertain him. Lots of songs, toys, books, eating puffs one by one to just pass the time... So he was set.. the only hard time he had was trying to go to sleep.. he slept from about 11pm -4am mostly in my arms and then woke up happy as ever at 4am. He did amazing. Josh and I on the other hand weren't that luckly.. we had NOTHING for us. no water or food. but the whole night was so scary we didn't even think about it. Josh did fill up Asher's sippy cup with snow just in case.. LOL. When we got to the hotel Asher was nice enough to go back to sleep for about an hour so we got to lay down.

An hour or so later we woke up and noticed that Asher was all red. It was like he had a sunburn all over his body. We got some breakfast and took it easy. He was really out of sorts so we didn't do much. But his redness got worse and turned into raised bumps (hives) all over his body... so after calling the pediatrician and running into a nurse at the hotel bar (yes, Asher had his lunch at the hotel bar.. LOL) we decided to take him to the ER. Just when we thought the weekend couldn't get worse, we were on our way to the ER in the snow/ice. It was still snowing in Asheville! Looks like Asher had an allergic reaction to something.. not sure what... and he was on benedryl and got some steroids to reduce the redness. I'm glad it was not serious. And the experience at the hospital was great.. no waiting, super friendly doctors... we were in and out of there in an hour. The hospital was a large Cerner client so that's another reason why the hospital was so organized... LOL.

Sunday we woke up and wanted to get home very badly and it was STILL snowing. It looked worse on Sunday than it did on Saturday. Thank god we made it home safe and Asher's skin is getting much better. We were sad that we never made it to Winston, but it just wasn't in our cards for that weekend!!! I couldn't imagine putting Asher in the car for longer than we had too. The whole weekend seems like a blurr or a bad dream now, but I hope we NEVER get into that situation again!!!! Next time I'll be traveling with water bottles and food too! LOL. I wish now that I had taken some pictures of our car buried in snow, but at the time I didn't care. Here are some pictures 2 days after the blizzard... As you can see there was still so much snow left. It was unbelievable, but I am glad it's over... :)

I think this pic was taken the first time we got stopped...

This was Asheville on Sunday... 3 days AFTER the storm...

And this was on the way home...

8 Month Pictures

We had our 8 month pictures with Brittney Gann done this past weekend and she just put up a sneak peek of the pictures...

Oh my.. they are so cute!


Check them out at: http://www.bgannphoto.typepad.com/


Seriously... could Asher get any cuter????

Snow, Snow, Snow

So a couple Saturday's ago I woke up and there was snow everywhere! Not just flakes here and there, but the ground was covered. We had to get at least 3 inches of snow. So I was so excited to get Asher in the snow and we needed to go get a Christmas tree so what better day than a day with snow everwhere!

This is one of my favorite pics so far...

Look how pretty! About 1/2 the snow had already melted by the time we got to the Christmas tree farm. But it still was beautiful. This is our local Christmas tree farm.. it's so funny to me that there is a Christmas tree farm less than 10 miles from our house. LOL.

This is our tree...

Finally a post...

Wow.. where has time gone??? Things have been great, but very busy in the Berry house! I swear there isn't enough time in the day anymore... So much to do, so little time! :) Asher is doing GREAT. He is 8 months old now and almost 19 pounds. He is crawling, trying to stand up, playing with toys, eating like a full grown man, and really turning into a little guy! He still has a very chill attitude and doesn't get upset very often which is really nice! He is a very good little baby. We are eating 3 huge meals a day. 8-10 ounces of food at a sitting. That's a full plate load! And he still opens his mouth waiting for the next bite. He is still having skin issues (ezcema and cradle cap) and had to start taking his first dose of an antibotic recently, but hopefully his skin will clear up soon! Oh.. and we are just waiting for that first tooth. I swear he has been teething forever and he is about to get his 2 bottom teeth any day.. I can even see white under the skin. They just haven't broken through yet.

We had a great thanksgiving. We spent thanksgiving up in Chattanooga and then went down to Atlanta for the weekend. It was great to spend quality time with our family.

These are our 7 month pics! We get to take our 8th months pics in just a couple days!

After Thanksgiving we decided to take a trip to the zoo! it was a lot of fun.. Brooke had a blast and Asher loved being out. We don't get out much during the week so he gets really happy when we are out in public.. LOL. He even did great with missing his naps!

Asher likes bath time... we've been bathing him in the kitchen sink b/c it's just easier on me! This isn't the best picture but check out those eyes!!!

Humm... Do you think Asher is going to take after mom and dad and work with computers?????

Asher got one of his Christmas presents early... He got his own "Man Chair". LOL. He'll get it again from Santa on Christmas morning, but we already let him play with it. It's an awesome chair.. it's faux leather and looks like a real man chair! It's hilarious.

Rock City Part 2

We went back to Rock City this past weekend. The leaves are all changing and since it's so beautiful here I wanted to spend the day outside! It was great... I love Rock City, especially without all the tourists there. It's great in the winter. I'm glad that Denise could go with us!

Happy Halloween!

We've had a great October! We visited some pumpkin patches... spent time with some great friends... Asher had a spend the night party with MaMaw and PaPaw and even dressed up like a pumpkin and went trick or treating!

6 Month Check Up... (but I'm really almost 7 months old)

Today we had our 6 month checkup! Asher looks great. He weighs 17 lbs 11 ounces and is 28 inches long. He is in the 90% for his height... yes that's right folks... 90%! Who knew I'd ever have a tall kid. :) And he is in the 60% for his weight. His little body is solid. Not fat, not skinny, but solid. He was a CHAMP at the doctors. He was very quiet while the doc did his little check up and only cried just a little bit when he got his shots. What a good little guy. So our Dr. told us to keep him up later at night to try to get him to sleep longer in the morning.. ugh. He gets so tired around 8 pm and he said to try to keep him up until 9:30 or 10 so he will sleep a little longer in the morning.. 5am is just way to early for me! so I hope this works quickly b/c I started to like my nighttime hours to myself!! Also, at 7 months we have to start feeding him breakfast, lunch, and dinner! We need to introduce some fruits soon b/c something just seems wrong with green beans in the morning???

I've got a TON of new great pics so I'll try to post them soon! The other day we had an impromptu photo session b/c its so beautiful right now in Chattanooga.. Check out these amazing pics that Papaw took!

Trip to Rock City

Since it's so beautiful here in Chattanooga on Sunday we decided to go up to Rock City! Here are some pics from the day...

I'm 6 Months Old!

Asher is 6 months old! I can't believe it. Soon we are going to be planning his 1st birthday party.. that is crazy to me. Asher is doing great. He is such a happy baby. He is getting the cutest little personality and is very laid back. As long as he isn't hungry or tired we are good to go!

Some of the things he is doing right now are.... He is about to sit up by himselft. He just needs a tad bit of support, but he is going to be sitting up on his own any day now. so far he has eaten peas and carrots and tomorrow we are going to try squash. and oh my.. he LOVES them. He is TRUELY happy when he is eating. He gets so excited and I can't feed him fast enough because he has his mouth open for the next bite! He is rolling over both ways, can hold his body up with his arms (little push ups), he is talking more than ever. He is using the G an D sounds now.. (goo ga, da, etc) Everyday he is changing...

 

 

Oh.. and did I mention how much Asher loves food??? He is SO excited when we sit down to eat. Here are some pics of the first time we tried carrots!