Potty!?

Tonight Z sat on the potty...and peed in it!  When he was stripped down before he got into the tub, he started holding his weewee and kind of pointing to the toilet.  I asked him if he needed to go potty and opened it up and sat him down on it...and he PEED!

I am sure it may have been just a one time thing, but he clearly understands what its for and maybe will be interested if we work on it?  It was really cute cause he even got toilet paper after he went and wiped!  However....the desire to continue flushing the toilet after he was off was a bit annoying! ;-)

Maybe we will start "practicing" potty and just see what happens!  Go Z!

Um, for REAL?

My ticker showed me that tomorrow will be 50 days until Mark is here.  HOLY SMOKES is all I can really say!  Wow, time is flying by very quickly!!  He has a name now though so that is a step in the right direction. HA.  

I am very excited to meet this little fella though and am so curious about how he will be compared to Zach and of course what he will look like?  So far, thankfully, he has given me a pretty smooth pregnancy.  He is quite active now, especially at night, which I do enjoy.  But oddly and thankfully, knock on wood, I am not have the sleep problems I had with Zach (uncomfortable and insomnia) or at least not that bad, or the hand issues and reflux not as bad either!  I guess we will know very soon!

In Z Man news, he seems back on track today, guess he finally caught up with sleep.  He slept well last night and woke up around 7:45 today...and then took a 3 hour nap for Matt!  NICE!  And bedtime was much easier tonight too.  Back to normal,  hope it stays! :)  

Matteo is headed to College Station on Saturday for his annual Fantasy Football Draft with the Pearl Drinking Fools.  I think its like year 9 or something crazy like that.  Z and I have plans to go to Discovery Green Saturday morning with my folks.  They have some exhibit like the painted cows but they are globes there now? And we figured we would let him run through the water sprouty things too!  If it sucks, we will head to the Aquarium instead.  The project while he naps when we get home is to take the wrought iron poster bed down so that the nursery is empty and ready to be painted!!  I will be feeling better once that is done and we can move some of the furniture in there.  I hope Zach doesn't get upset about it but he has new furniture coming!!

I used to be crafty...

Back in the day, I was quite crafty and a bit artsy but that has long passed. No time I suppose. I may have to bust out my craft skills again. I used to paint ALL KINDS of things for my sorority, paddles especially, and I must say they were just as cute as the ones the Greek store would do if not better. I mean, people would come back after the first one I did for them so I assume they liked the finished product? ;-)

Anyway, I want letters for Mark's room. Looking at Zach's and some others online today....I am thinking to myself, surely I could do just that if not better, right? I mean, they charge like $15 letter. And Mark is only 4 letters so 2 of those would probably be plain (polka dots or stripes) and there for easy and only 2 I would have to attempt real art of trains on! I may have to give it a try cause I think I could get the plain wood letters and some fresh paints for under $30. Save me some moola at least and if they came out REALLY bad...I would only be out $30! HA!

Halloween

Costumes are EVERY WHERE already....not sure if at 1.5yrs, Zach will "get it" yet, but I surely want to dress him up still....take him around in the wagon to the neighbors??

Last year Z Man was a silly monkey (which was too big) but still cute. What should he be this year?? Can't have anything he has to wear on his head cause he will NOT keep it on, LOL! I bought Mark a cute little pumpkin sleeper to wear since he will have no clue what's going but surely still needs to be dressed up!

And they shall call him....

MARK!  For those of you IRL, I know, you are shocked.  LOL.  I don't know what took so long, guess some of it was just sitting down and actually talking about it!  So #2 no longer has to be called #2 or baby boy...he is Mark Wendell (Wendell after my daddy).  I am happy and excited to have a name to call the boy by.  I also think Zach and Mark go well together which strangely was part of my qualifications..they had to sound good together (imagining hollering down the street to the boys that it was dinner time....Zach, Mark, get in here!) ;-)  So there you have it!  Zach and Mark, my boys!

Bed Time??

What time do you put your little one to bed and when do they wake up...or more importantly, how many hours do they sleep at night?  We try to get Z down by 8 and then he is up around 7-8am so I guess he gets around 12 hours plus a 2 hour nap usually.

This week he has been kind of crabby in the evenings...trouble falling asleep, waking at night, and then up earlier than normal...I am hoping its just from getting off schedule this weekend in Abilene and nothing else.  Maybe a growth spurt?  Still adjusting to new school/home schedule?  Missing me? Who knows? I do hope it ends soon though....

And speaking of beds...I bought Zach some new big boy bedding today at Target!  It is cars and trucks quilt so we will see how it looks once all the furniture is in.  I think he will like it!

Cousin Fun at Nonna's!

Abilene Zoo (and a couple others)

Making Cupcakes with Grandma

Naked Slide fun!

Fun Weekend in Abilene

After the very crappy day on Thursday, we headed out of town on Friday to visit Matt's fam in Abilene.  I was very nervous about the 5.5+ hour drive with Zach, but he did so good both ways!  Slept about 2-3 hours each way thankfully and was pretty content and happy during the awake times too!  We got in early Friday evening and had supper at the house.  Zach showed Nonna that her house was not baby proofed so we basically followed him around for 30 minutes and anything he went to pick up we hid or moved out of his reach!  They should have a fun time putting the house back together today ;-)

Saturday we headed to the Zoo.  Since we are Houston Zoo members, they are part of the reciprocity zoos and we got in free!  Woohoo!  It is a small zoo but seemed like you could get up close and personal which was pretty neat.  In fact, you can feed the giraffes!!  There is a giant bridge that goes across their house and you can feed them.  Z seemed a little startled at first but once he saw another kiddo do it, he was ALL over it.  We had a really good time just wandering around and checking out all the animals.  We seemed to have timed it really well too cause all of the animals were awake and out and about which was fun for Z.

We got home just in time for Julie (Matt's sis) and her crew to arrive.  Levi is just about 3 years old and man, the boys just had FUN!  Running in circles, playing with cars, blocks, whatever!  Good cousin time.  It was a bit of a glimpse into our future life with 2 boys too!  Julie had brought Levi's Matchbox cars and tracks and I think Matt had just as much fun as the little boys did setting it all up.  He has great plans for the tracks he will build in our house one day now....

Oh, and Zach slept in a twin bed last night!  The two little fellas were pretty wound up still after bath time and circling the house naked for awhile, so when we finally attempted bed time, it was hard to settle down.  I ended up just laying down with Z in the twin bed and he went right to sleep.  About an hour later, I moved him to his pack n play.  Around 1am, I heard him wide awake and went in and we laid in the twin again and right back to sleep...so I just put some pillows in the crack by the wall and a blanket on the floor and he slept all night!!  Which could be a good thing since tonight at home when he was in the crib for a time out, I turned my back and he JUMPED OUT!  Perhaps we will be moving to bed sooner than planned!

Anyway, all and all a fun weekend!  Got some cute pics and will post later for those that don't want to read all this!  Hope you had a good weekend too! 

What a day

I had quite a crappy time during lunch today. I headed to Best Buy to purchase a portable DVD player and some kiddo movies.  We are headed to Abilene this weekend to see Matt's mom, grandma, and sister/family which is about a 5+ hour trip and I am hoping that possibly it will keep the toot entertained some?! We can only hope...

Anyway, I decided to stop at Chickfila for a quick lunch and headed to the drive through.  I was in Matt's car today so he could get my oil changed and Silver Streak would be ready for her big drive tomorrow.  This Chickfila is notorious for being super busy too so I was in the middle of a long line of hungry cars!  I stepped off the brake to move up in line and when I went to step back on the brake my foot hit the floor board....and I hit the car in front of me!!  UGH!  UGH for hitting the car and UGH for what the heck is wrong with my brakes?!?!?!?!?!  The passenger of the car I hit got out and checked out her friend's car and thankfully there was no damage.  I am shaking like a leaf because I keep trying the brakes and nothing is happening and wondering how am I going to get out of this dang drive thru line and thinking how much worse this could have been had I not just been in a drive through lane...

An employee came over to see what was wrong since I was crying and my car was not moving and the line was pilling up even more behind me and I explained my dilemma.  He was an older grandfatherly man and very calming.  He witnessed my foot flat to floor while in drive and the car moving forward anyway so at least I knew I wasn't crazy!  We ended up making sure the line ahead of me was cleared out and then I coasted into a parking spot up ahead.  

Oddly, it seemed my brakes were now working again but I still had to practically have my foot on the floor to stop.  I realized I could not drive home not knowing if this was a fluke or if something was actually wrong and decided to chance a short drive to auto shop.  The thought of going 70mph on the way home and not having brakes to stop scared the beejeesus out of me!  Turns out brake system was fine but the master cylinder was broken, whatever that means ;-)  They were able to fix it today too which was great and I am just very thankful the stupid thing wore off when and where it did and not on my commute home!  As mom says, my guardian angel was watching over me today and I am very thankful for that, Thanks rach!!

So that was my crappy day.  It may sound not scary, but let me tell you, it was!!

Big Boy Furniture

It has been ordered! My friend Amy reminded me that JC Penny has furniture and that she had been very pleased with her nursery stuff from there. I checked it out and sure enough found a set I love for a great price!! I have searched PBK, Land of Nod, Company Kids, local kids retailers like Baby's 1st, and about everything in between. My issue was they either cost a lot or I was just okay with them.


Anyway, I found this set at JCP and it looks JUST like the Thomas set I love at PBK....and its on sale!! WOOHOO! It is, however, backordered until September 20th, but I guess if its not here before the baby arrives, it will all be okay. The boys' rooms just wont be finished.


Here is a link for what we ordered! We got a twin bed, dress/mirror, and chest of drawers! Now to decide on bedding for my big boy!

The pic below is the one from PB, looks the same! :)

School Traffic

It starts back next week in full force...and let me tell you how NOT excited about that I am! I have enjoyed "sleeping in" this summer and still getting to work at relatively the same time. With Matt not having to be up early right now, it is really hard for me to wake up too! I want to stay cuddled in bed in the dark with Matt and the pets! ;-)

The hardest part of this "new schedule" we are in right now is I dont get to see Zachary in the morning. I really miss that. Even though of course I would rather Matt be employed, I am glad for Z to be able to sleep in and get up when he wants. I just feel like he is more rested. But man, selfishly, I really miss seeing his smiling face in the morning before I leave...even if it was often a fussy not-wanting-to-get-dressed face in all reality! Not seeing him at all until the evening stinks!

Second Time Mommas

Ok, for all you mommas who have been on the second go round....what do you REALLY need in order to be prepared for baby #2's arrival??  Obviously, we have all the big ticket items (swing, bouncer, play mat, pack n play, etc), and tons of clothes since its another boy...but what else do I need to replace or add to?  

The first thing that comes to mind is bottles.  I think you are supposed to replace them, right?  All parts, or just the actual bottle itself?  I am really praying that breast feeding goes better this time and that bottles won't be as much of a need, but based on last time, I know I need to have some on hand so the boy doesn't starve.  Guess some binkies would be a good thing to be on the list too.  Other than that and the obvious diapers/wipes, what do I need???

Any tips or advice is appreciated.  The time is getting closer and closer and the reality is that I am 31 weeks....baby boy will be here sooner than later and I need to be ready!

Just an Update

It's nap time here so I thought I would jump on and do a short update!  Nothing too exciting going on, but I have been bad about blogging lately so all you get is the mundane details, but at least it is a post! ;-)

We had Z Man's 2nd ECI appointment today.   Things are going well and Miss Brenda says she definitely sees improvements since his initial evaluation.  I don't know if it something we are doing or just coming with the age, but hey, whatever it is, I will take it!  Zach has become very proficient in the "no" head shaking.  While often helpful, it can also be quite a source of amusement as he shakes no to just about every question.  Another big one is the other night we were reading A Night Night Prayer and at the end of each page, it says Night Night to Dog, Kittens, Mommy, etc etc.  Z likes to wave night night to every page but then he started mimicking me by saying it too!  BIG STEP!  He has never been a repeater so it was exciting!  It quickly ended though as I started laughing excitedly and he leaned back into my teeth!  Ouch!  Other than that, he is just a crazy little monkey as usual.  Climbing all over every little thing and just being a BOY!

In #2 news, we have made some progress in his nursery.  WAHOO!  My mom came over on Saturday and we cleaned out the storage guest closet. Most of it was BOXES of photographs and albums along with other odds and ends. Good thing about the pre-digital age was you actually printed

pictures out...the bad thing, you actually printed pictures out and therefore have TONS of loose

pics laying around! I did not feel like sorting through things so they just got moved to another

closet but hey, its progress! The rest of the loot was baby stuff so it was just reorganized and

put into closet. I found a bunch of bottles too...like the itty bitty baby ones. Ok, what is the real

rule on these? Can they be reused or everything needs to be new? I feel so wasteful throwing

them out but I don't want to use them if I am not supposed to either. Anyway, next step is move

the big bed out so that we can get the room painted!

So, that's about all the main things going on around here lately. I will try to be more exciting

and update more often but that's about all I got for now! :)

Wordless Wednesday...almost...

King of the Wagon...protecting his princess! ;-)

Ready for driving!

Love this face!

Little boy...no longer a baby!

What happens when it is too quiet....MARKER FACE! (pardon the snot nose!)

Happy 18 months!

Hard to believe our little stinker is a year and a half today!! What a ride its been so far! I love you Zachary and am looking forward to what's next to come! :)

Children's Museum and busy weekend

Today we took a family trip to the Children's Museum!  I wasn't sure what to expect as we got a late start (got there around 11:30ish and Z usually naps around 12:30) so I was thinking it could be a short trip....but I guess Zach had so much fun he didn't care that he was totally missing his nap! ;-)  They have a very cool room just for toddlers and a TON MORE STUFF for Z to do when he is older!!  At first glance at the Tot Room, I was kind of thinking, what was all the hype, but clearly they know what they were doing cause we were in there forever and Z was having a BLAST!  :)  Unfortunately my camera battery died half way through, but I will post some pics later from what I did get!!  Good times!  We wandered around the whole museum to see what else was there and it is definitely cool, even with the hefty $7/pp price tag!!

Heading back to work tomorrow...I feel like I have been off forever with having Friday off too.  It was a good extended weekend.  Friday I went to the Ruckus Room with Amy and Caroline which was a blast!  Z was so much more adventerous from when we were there last and so all boy, tumble bumble every where!  He even climbed up the super tall slide somehow and squealed with glee all the way down!  Great fun for only $4!  Saturday was JP's 2nd birthday and of course anything with cake and ice cream is always fun.  Good times just hanging with friends and watching the kids be silly.  And sunday was church, Chuy's and evening with Grandma and Popsie over so thats always fun too!  Z spent some naked time in the baby pool, best $10 ever spent, he LOVES the pool!

We also watched a bunch of crappy movies though, I need some suggestions of what to rent!  I picked Mama Mia which was not crappy but I had seen the musical so nothing new if that makes sense. Matt picked Stepbrothers and Tropic of Thunder, both of which were horrible.  They just were not funny!  Matt is also getting into full job swing mode.  His resume is just about complete so hopefully can get it out to some people this week and see if we can find some good leads.  Any prayers and job leads are appreciated.

No new news in regards to #2 except that it is getting closer and closer to his arrival!  Have my check up tomorrow.  Can't believe we are just 2 months away!  Things are so different with the 2nd, that is for sure.  We have got to get into high gear with getting the boys' rooms ready.  Main priority is getting furniture for Zach so we can move the baby furniture into the other room (which needs to be cleaned out and painted!)  And decide on a name!!!  I just can't seem to decide on the first name.  The middle name is definitely set on Wendell in honor of my daddy, but I am having a hard time with the 1st!!  

I guess that's about it for now!  Hoping the week is short and easy!! :)

75 Days....

REALLY?  75 DAYS?!?!  Holy smokes!  Need to get furniture for Zach bought and set up so we can move the baby furniture into the other room.  My mom came over on Sunday and we went through and organized all of Zachary's clothes into nice big clear tubs by ages.  So I do feel like we have made a little progress.  Next step, clean out the closet and break down the bed so we can paint the room.  I am leaning towards a blue-ish color.  I never got to paint Zachary's room since we had our house on the market so it will be fun to do some color this time! :)

In other news...since Matt facebooked about it I guess it is okay to share here, he was laid off on Thursday.  Trying to keep things in perspective in light of other recent events for friends, but it is definitely still a stressful situation.  If any of you know of any jobs in the supply chain/procurement/pipeline/oil&gas business...I know of one great guy who is looking!  :)

Zachary also had his first ECI appointment.  His "teacher" for lack of another word, said she could see improvement just since her last visit from the evaluation.  In the last 2 weeks, he has said "poo", "look", and "more" and is getting really good at the head shaking for "no"!  And we have been working on straw drinking like they suggested and he pretty much mastered that too, guess all we needed to do was try!  So perhaps the 18 month "word explosion" is just around the corner.  I can't believe my baby will be 1.5 in a week!  I will SO be the old lady in the "I Love You Forever" book rocking her adult giant boy!!

Prayer for My Friend

Can't sleep tonight.  My friend, Amy, lost her daddy Saturday evening.  After an all too quick battle with cancer, he went to be with our Lord this weekend.  Please keep Amy, her mom, brother and other family and friends in your prayers as they deal with the loss of this very special man.  I know they miss him already.

Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.           Matthew 5:4