#3****tooth! :-)

Little man finally got his 3rd tooth! We now have 2 on the bottom and 1 on the top and I am pretty sure another on the top is on its way! This could explain why he was more than a little grumpy at times over the weekend.

In other news, the boy is SO close to walking. He is cruising everywhere behind Zachary's shopping cart and totally reminds me of a little old man puttering around behind it. Only problem with Mark's new love of the shopping cart is that it means Zach now has a new love of the shopping cart. I swear, Z has hardly played with it in ages but now that Mark wants to play with it, its "mine!" Of course this happens with many toys these days but the favorite ones to fight over are this fire truck and the grocery cart. I need doubles!!

gentle joy

that's my new nickname for this sweet #2.... just such a kind and loving little boy!

School Days, School Days

*First off, happy to report that the middle of the night crying seemed to just about stop right after I made the last post, thank goodness!! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself but I think we seem to be getting back on track!

Thursday was Zachary's 1st day at his new school! We decided now that we have a reliable nanny, we would move Z out of daycare and into a more traditional Mother's Day Out twice a week. It is a church school and where he will more than likely continue through preschool too.

He was SO excited about his new backpack and lunch box. We went to meet the teacher on Tuesday night so he was already familiar with his teacher and classroom. When we left the class, he let out one dramatic cry but stopped before we had even left the room :-) When I picked him up, he was happily playing on the floor with some other boys and I was able to watch him for about 5 minutes before he even realized I was in the room. Love that! We are really excited about this new change for him and I hear we got the best teacher too, yippee!

please oh please just be a phase

Oh ya'll, I am at my wits end with Z and the bed time drama.....the "going to bed" isn't terrible, but it used to be so easy! Seriously, we used to just do our routine, shut the door, and he would go to sleep til the morning! Now, I just have no idea.

Last night was the worst. We decided we would by no means go up to room in the middle of the night. And sure enough, he was up at 3am...screaming. We had the monitor turned off and could still hear. Finally I went out into the living room and closed the door to our bedroom in hopes that Matt wouldn't be able to hear it quite as well and get some sleep. Z cried for over an hour. I sat on the couch, looking at the moon, and praying praying praying for the Lord to ease my little guy's fear, stress, restlessness, or whatever it is that seems to be going on with him right now. About 15 minutes into praying, I had the 23rd psalm in my head, he finally just stopped. It was weird, but I was beyond thankful. I truly am at a loss as to what to do about this situation, but am hoping that maybe after a couple of awful nights of me not going up there...it will stop??

Has this happened to anyone before? I feel bad but I also know the boy needs to sleep....and so does this mommy!!

New Dinners

First off, happy birthday to my sweet friend, Kerri! She turned 35 today and I know its been her BEST birthday yet because now she has sweet Madeline in her life! Happy birthday, friend, you deserve it!! :)

So I have been trying to cook more "real meals" lately (which means less skillet sensations and other frozen stuff) and had some good luck with some new recipes I snagged off fellow bloggers sites this week!

So far this week, I cooked 3 meals and ate 1 meal leftover. On Monday Matt requested one of his favorite ww meals and since it was so easy I obliged. It is Tomato, Basil, and Mozzarella Pasta (ill post recipe at the end). I never have smoked mozzarella and rarely fresh basil, but it tastes just as good with regular mozzarella and dried herbs. I like this meal because it is soo easy and is a good leftover too. Pairs nicely with a salad!

Tuesday, I got adventurous and tried out Giving Up on Perfect's Cheesy Beef Enchiladas. Yum-o! One thing I look for in recipes as a working momma is fast, easy, and ingredients that are regularly found in my pantry! I did tweak this recipe a little, just using about 1lb ground beef, 6 tortillas, and then to make this cheesy meal a little more healthy, I used light Velveeta, 98% fat free soup, light sour cream, 2% Mexican cheese and Mission’s 96% fat free tortillas. I figure every little bit helps! I also used a can of rotel instead of just the green chilies. This meal was SO tasty and easy. I was able to make it quickly while the boys were playing and eating their dinner, and then I put it in the refrigerator until we were about to put boys to bed and then popped it in the oven while we settled them in so it was ready when we were finished! We had a side of blacked beans with this and it was perfect. Even better, with just the 6 enchiladas, we had another 3 left that we were able to enjoy Wednesday night with a side of the fat free refried beans. It was just as good the 2nd day!

And then tonight, I snagged a recipe off Kelly's Korner recipe blog...Artichoke Chicken! It was very tasty too. It was a little salty so I think I would cut the garlic salt down but even with that, it was still really freakin good. As always, we used lite mayo and tasted just fine! **Just went through the comments and seems like several people thought too salty, try a tsp not a TBSP of garlic salt**We served it with a salad and rice and was delish! Tonight I did add a glass of white wine to meal because, you know, its been that kind of week! ;-)

Hope that maybe you will enjoy some of these recipes too. Seriously, they were all quick and easy and tasty and it makes me happy when I am able to actually make a good meal.

On the Z front....about 20 minutes of crying after I left tonight, door lock is working well. Fingers crossed and a few prayers said that he sleeps through the night. And very thankful Mark again slept through it all!

Tomato, Basil and Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad il main meals POINTS® Value: 6 Servings: 6 For an interesting flavor boost, add sun-dried tomatoes to this recipe. Place 1/4 cup of dried sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover them with boiling water; set aside for 10 minutes to allow the tomatoes to plump up. Drain well and substitute them for half the cherry tomatoes in the recipe ngredients 1/2 cup(s) part-skim mozzarella cheese, smoked, diced 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste 1/2 cup(s) basil, fresh, chopped 1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste 2 tsp olive oil 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, or more to taste 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1 cup(s) cherry tomato(es), or grape tomatoes, halved 16 oz uncooked fusilli, or other spiral pasta Instructions Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add vinegar, oil and oregano; toss to coat. Fold in tomatoes, basil and mozzarella; season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm or chilled. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

YAWN!

yeah, that's what I am doing today....I am tired, people!

So, installed the new door thingie and must admit, it was very easy and pretty cool. Z actually went to bed without a fuss, but then was up at 130, 230, 3. The first two times I went up to the room and he just wanted me to lay with him but I sat in the chair instead. Nothing was wrong, he was just up! By the 3rd time, I was quite frankly just plain tired and knowing nothing was wrong....I just let him cry. I truly hate doing that, but I do not want this middle of the night business to become a habit either because a) it makes us all grumpy and b) i want to sleep in my own bed, not his lovely little twin bed. Sigh. He only cried about 10 minutes or so, we turned off the monitor, and although hubs fell back asleep within 5 minutes I swear, it took me closer to 30. My mind was racing about what is bothering the little fella that he does not want to sleep. Sigh again. Thankfully none of this woke up my power sleeper Mark who clearly takes after daddy in this department...

I am truly hoping this is just a phase and once he realizes mommy is not going to be sleeping in his room or coming in at all hours of the night, it will end. Bless his little heart, but the boy has got to sleep! I think that is one of the hardest things to deal with as a working momma is on nights like these, getting up at 5am is not very easy....

Anyway, I know he was up again at 630am when I was leaving the house but hopefully he will take a nap today and get some much needed Zzzzzzzzzzzs.

On a totally different note, RitzPix is offering 5 free 8x10 prints today. You just have to pay for either shipping or processing. I ordered mine for $3 with the code 5free. I love some of our Galveston pictures and think they could make for some nice prints for the grandparents (maybe even for Christmas) and myself! Without the code it would have been over $20. Not bad!

Bedtime Drama

Well, it last almost a year to the day....lack of the bed time drama! About a year ago...we moved Zach into a toddler bed in the anticipation of Mark's arrival. By looking back at my posts, it seemed we had about a week's worth of bed time drama before Z got used to his new bed. And after that, he has been easy most nights since then! Until this week....

I think it maybe started with vacation and getting out of routine, followed up by the fact that he figured out the childproof door knob cover we had in his room. On Sunday night, he busted out after we had put him to bed, and because we were in the middle of dinner, we let him stay up with us while we finished eating and watched tv. Come Monday night.....he wanted me to lay down with him, had bad dreams (even though I don't think he has a clue what the means especially since he had not even been to sleep yet), etc etc...basically anything to keep from going to bed. Scream, cry, get out of bed. I'm not even sure how we finally did it but we did finally get him to sleep, maybe from sheer exhaustion.

Now come Tuesday night....REPEAT! The kid does not want to stay in his room. And after about an hour I swear of holding the door closed, I gave up and let Matt take over. Matt got him calmed down and thought asleep....but then about 15 minutes later, I heard the door open....but no Zachary into our room. After about 30 minutes, my curiosity gave way and I walked out and found him laying in the hallway, awake but by a thread. I carried him back to bed and he finally went to sleep. Only to wake up at 4am.....and at 630am as I was walking out the door for work. YAAWWNNN!!! Oh yeah, and thankfully Mark slept through this all both nights. Praise the Lord!

So, after posting about this on facebook, turns out that A) this is a pretty common occurrence and that many other people also put those door knob covers to trap help keep their kids in the rooms and B) time for me to be super nanny at bedtime and each time he gets out, no words, no eye contact, no whatever....RETURN BOY TO BED. One friend said it took 47 times the first night but by the end of the week her son was not getting out of bed. So, I guess that is my plan for the night and hopefully by the end of the week, we will be back to sleeping. I did go to Babies R Us for back up though and bought this, and plan to install it tonight on the door, and if he doesn't go crazy, hopefully it will contain him and convince him to go back to bed!! :)

All in a day in the life of a momma!! How did YOU get your child to stay in their bed??

I'm such a rockstar....

That I am wearing a curious George band aid on my very ouchie heel. That's right, I am THAT cool. Thanks to my decision to wear brand new and very tall (and very cute) shoes out Saturday night for Kelly's Bachelorette party....I have a ridiculous blister on my foot. And man does it ever hurt. But, all for the price of looking cute, right? ;-)

We had a great time celebrating my oldest friend's last big night out as a single lady this weekend. Started Saturday off at Fiori Spa for some good old fashioned pampering. The place was lovely and service was great. We brought in a ton of food and wine for ourselves and they did a really nice job of taking care of everything for us. And my 100 minute massage was so delightful I slept through half of it, ha! After that, we hit the hotel pool at the Omni to cool off from the crazy heat and then it was time to get beautiful! I tell ya, we clean up nicely when we all aren't running errands, baby on the hip and one clinging to the other leg. Kelly got some really cute stuff for her honeymoon too. We finished out the night with dinner and dancing and singing and silliness and sleeping in til 9am, woot woot! And of course, thanks to all the husbands and grandparents who helped with kiddo duty so we could enjoy the day off! :)

Looking forward to the Big Day for Kelly & Jason in October! Yay!

Bath Time Smiles

Little Hoopster

You are as old as you feel....or as old as you look??

You know how the old saying, you are only as old as you feel! I've kind of always bought into that philosophy. Age and birthdays have never really bothered me, maybe because I am the youngest out of the majority of my friends? ;-)

Well the other night the boys and I went on a stroll through the neighborhood. We passed another dad and his little girl (who looked about Zach's age, maybe another year or two older but under 4 for sure) and I thought to myself, man, he looks old! And then I thought to myself, do I look that old??? In my mind's eye, that guy looked like an adult. You know, like a dad! And while I know I am married, own a home, have 2 kids...I still don't feel like I am a grown up sometimes, make sense? When I started at the company I work with 6 years ago, I was truly the baby of the group in my mid 20s. Now, there are kids who are early twenties who are the babies...and were in high school when I started working! Yikes.

I don't feel that old, but I guess I am getting close to being middle aged? What age do you think you will officially feel "grown up"??

halloween

I know, seems crazy to be thinking about it already when it is still hot and August...but I have a special little boy who will be turning 1 around that time and the magazines are flooding in....and its got me thinking! What will my boys be for Halloween this year?!?!

I am thinking Zach may actually have an interest in what he is, especially if he remembers all the loot he got last year for dressing up. He is pretty good about wearing costumes and accessories so I am thinking it could be fun for him to help choose costume! Markey on the other hand will still have no clue, but since I am pondering a Halloween themed 1st birthday, it has GOT to be something cute, right?? :-) Any suggestions?

Have you picked out your Halloween costumes yet for yourself or your kiddo(s)??

Back to Reality

Ahhh, it ended all too fast! After a nice week away from work and building a tan, I am headed back tomorrow. Blah.

We had a great family vaca in Galveston this past week. The house we stayed in was really nice and we loved the neighborhood the house was in. It was a private beach so no cars driving through which made watching the boys so much easier. Plus, everyone just left all their beach stuff set up on the beach every night so no need to race out at the crack of dawn to claim a spot! We weren't quite that brave leaving everything overnight but we did during the day and overnight left our canopy out. My dad rented us a golf cart for the week so that made transporting stuff easy and we had fun cruising the boys through the neighborhood and looking at all the different houses too.

Zach and Mark are definitely beach boys, both loving the sand and the water. Z loved to get in his toob and let me take him out and we would ride the waves in. His 2nd favorite pastime was smashing/jumping on any shape or form of a sandcastle we would build! I ended up just making sand shapes for him to destroy! ;-) We also brought a kite and he and Matt had a great time flying the kite too. Oh, and collecting sea shells, he was very good at finding them too and ended up with a bucket full of good ones!

Mark on the other hand loved sitting just on the edge of the water where he could crawl and splash around AND eating sand. Ack! No matter where I would sit him, he would find some way to venture off and eat sand!! With all the sand eating, he had his first foray into juice boxes and I think is quite the fan like his brother!

We did have a little bit of stress though unfortunately. My mom ended up staying in the hospital for a day and a half after almost passing out Thursday morning. Her shoulder had been bothering her and she went to a clinic on Wednesday and they gave her a muscle relaxer and we think she had a bad reaction to it in the end. Thankfully she got out Friday evening and was able to enjoy the rest of vacation. Our only other issue was bed time for Zach! Good grief!! I swear, since he turned 2 he has just been the sweetest most accommodating little boy...until this week, ha! I think he is just very much a creature of routine and the random naps, different house, etc just threw him out of whack. We would have a great day and then come around 8-9 bedtime, a couple of nights we just had a complete battle. Needless to say I slept a couple nights with him in the bunk room but at least he slept! ;-)

Anyway, with all the good and the bad, we all agreed we had a great time and are already looking forward to returning next year!! It was wonderful to spend a whole week with my honey, my boys, and my parents...just wish it actually could have been longer!!

A week in pictures

BEACH

Tomorrow we head out for our week long beach trip...and it cannot come soon enough! Work has been crazy and I was on call this weekend....literally working most daylight hours! I did manage to sneak away on Saturday for a baby shower for my friend, Holly, at Sugarbabies Cupcake Boutique. She is expecting her baby boy on Mark's 1st Birthday! And then today mom, Zach and I ventured out to Wal-Mart to grocery shop for the week! He was such a good boy for the 2 hours we were there! But then it was back to the house for....you guessed it, MORE WORK! I did get the boys clothes packed but that's about it. Luckily I know the boys wake up early so I will just finish packing in the morning.

The beach house is not pet friendly, unfortunately, so Esther girl has headed to the Blochs for some TLC. They recently lost their little Murphy dog so Kari graciously offered to take in our girl for the week. I hope she does okay! And my other kerri will be checking in on the Max kitty at the house. Lucky to have such good friends!

Anyway, hope everyone has a great week and I will update when I get back! :)