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!