Happy Trails....

Its 2am and I am just about to finally go to bed. I did take a short nap on the couch before I had to wake myself up and remember to pack. HOLY.MOLY. There are many small bags scattered around the house and a 2mile list of things to remember to bring and about every socket is plugged up with some kind of charging gadget (nook, camera, dvd player, new baby monitor, phone, etc). It will be amazing if we make it out by noon and I remember everything and the 2 boys and dog.....wish me luck!!

Over the river and through the hills....

To grandmother's house we go! Well not really grandmother's house, more like Aunt & Uncle's house, but going to SEE her!

Matt is going on a guys trip to Louisiana so I decided I would head up to Dallas so Grammy could meet the Mark man. She has been asking about him since he was born. I took the day off so me and the boys and Esther-dog will head out some time on Friday that hopefully will coincide with some nap time! Crazy you say? Driving 4 hours with a 2 year old, 4 month old...and the dog! I agree, but I really want to see my fam so I am going to do it. My Aunt & Uncle are even flying in from NJ for the weekend too.

My biggest worry is if I have to potty....that's a lot of people to unload just to go to the el bano! I guess you do what you gotta do! My second biggest worry is sleeping. We will be staying in my cousins old room which is HUGE, but the thought of the 3 of us, plus the dog, all in one room should be interesting. I think I will be tired and not getting much sleep. Mark can sleep anywhere, Z man on the other hand....we shall see. We will be trying out the cot he got for Christmas, hope it works!! oh yeah, and the copious amount of STUFF I am going to have to pack in order to survive the weekend......Going to have one full car!

But worries aside, I am really looking forward to spending time with the family, and on Sunday we are going to Day Out With Thomas where we get to ride the train and a million other things! I think Zachary is going to LOVE it!

So that's the plan for my extended weekend. Any tips for travelling with small children and what are your plans for the weekend??

Awake before the sun comes up!

Not sure whats going on with the Z Man.....but he is turning into a VERY early riser! Which can make for a tired mommy & daddy! ;-) This morning I overslept and awoke to a happy little boy stumbling into our bed at 6am. While I was sad for poor Matt to be dealing with this early start, it was nice to see his smiley little face in the morning. He did not want to climb in bed or go back to his bed, he wanted Mommy. So I obliged and he sat with me in the bathroom while I showered and did my hair, happy as a clam! I was very worried we were going to have a scene when I was leaving so I just kept reminding that "mommy is going to go bye-bye and go to work and zachary and daddy are going to have breakfast!" Thankfully, that seemed to work and he gave me a hug and told me "byebye" when I headed out the door. There was a little face staring at me through the door as I backed out of the drive way....but I am hoping there were no tears.

What time do your kids wake up and any tips on having them sleep later, or stay in their room? ;-) I am actually okay with Zach coming down on his own as he wakes up MUCH happier these days, but i sure would prefer it to be sometime after 7am!! :)

Yee-haw!

Today we headed out with the boys to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Figuring it was just a Sunday afternoon, we planned to mull around and see some animals and call it a day. As we were waiting in a line to park at 11:45am, we wondered who could be playing tonight to cause all this traffic? And then we saw it on the marquee....The Jonas Brothers. Wooops! What was going to be a leisurely stroll through the grounds just became a lot more busy!

Zachary had fun seeing everything, but it was definitely crowded. We skipped several things due to the wait....I was not about to stand in line with a 2 year old and a baby for 30 min just to see some bunnies. We did meet a nice young man that let Zachary into his pen so he could pet his giant pink pig up close! That was nice since we didn't get to enter the petting zoo (another 30min+wait!). We saw some pigs, sheep, chickens, cows, and several babies, some that were even born just this morning. And as always, Zachary just enjoys walking around and people watching so I will deem it a success! Mommy and Daddy were proud too cause he did such a good job with holding our hands or being in the stroller when it got too crowded. Such a big boy!

The Brothers

The nice young man who let Zach pet his pig!

Checking out the cows

And the baby chickens

And my sweet Mark-man!! Giddie Up!!

Slacking

I know, I know..I have been slacking. It was a long week in our household for many reasons and I am praying this week goes better than the last!

We did go to the doctor on Monday for Zach's 2 year and Mark's 4 month appointments. Both boys are healthy and doing well for the most part! Zach for the first time ever was not fond of the doctor. It was kinda weird! Mark was a champ and even handled the shots pretty well!

Zach is almost 28lbs (50%), 35" (75%) and still a big head at 75-90%!

Mark on the other hand, here are his stats at 4months:

Weight- 15lbs 9.7oz -75%

Height- 26 1/4in -90%

Head- 41.3cm- 25%

Compared to Zachary at 4mo:

Weight- 16lbs 4oz- 75%

Height- 25 5/8in - 75%

Head- 17 1/8in- 80%

So they are about the same, just Mark is a little longer and has a much smaller head! LOL! All and all though, a good visit and thankful everyone is healthy!

We also talked about giving up the paci soon. Zach really only uses it for naps/bed/upset but we know the longer we wait, the harder it will be. We haven't bought new binkies in FOREVER and even though we have 3 in the house, he will only use his red one. Well, it got left at school on Friday...and I am happy to say he survived all weekend!! He did ask for it a few times but never got upset without it and still wouldn't take the other ones, so I think we may be finished with the binkies! Woohoo!

Matt and I enjoyed a dinner out on Saturday with our friends/neighbors Kerri and Michael and it was very nice to have an evening out. And today we spent the afternoon with the Rays celebrating Evan's dedication. Good times! Thankful for the nice weather to enjoy it!

Anyway, that's about it for now. I will try to do better about posting! :)

Ready for Spring

We enjoyed a good weekend with good weather!! What a nice change! We spent a LOT of time outside either in the backyard, on a walk or at the park. I cannot tell you enough how much we love where we live. The neighborhood park is literally right behind our house so it is really nice to just hop in the stroller to go play instead of packing up the whole car.

Although we still do pack up the car to go to the "big" parks too. Saturday we drove over to Meyer Park to feed the ducks, enjoy the 3 different playgrounds, and the soccer grounds. We brought our own ball and Z spent half the time on the fields with daddy! he is really good at kicking and seriously can follow through with kicking the ball down the field and into the net! He does like to pick the ball up too, but man, I think he is going to enjoy it in a year or so when he can play soccer. Grandma stopped over on her way home from work and got to enjoy lots of Zach and Mark smiles and giggles!!

We also have a new normal in our house in the mornings...Z had mastered door opening long ago but thankfully his door had a weird stick and he had trouble opening it. But starting on Friday, he figured it out and we woke up to a smiley little face in our face in the morning!! Only good thing is he now wakes up happy instead of grumpy so I guess I will take the morning visitor over crying in the room!

Not much else going on. The boys have the check ups tomorrow (Z's 2 year and M's 4 month so that should be interesting trying them both!) Wish me luck!

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend and the slightly warmer weather...supposedly we could have SNOW on Tuesday. We shall see! Enjoy your week!

I Am Alive...

Yes, friends, I am still here. Going on week 3 back to work. Crazy how you just get back into the routine of things I guess. It is definitely challenging. One good thing about Matt still looking for a job though is that I am able to just get up and out of the house in the morning and leave while everyone still comfortably snoozing away. I have been getting to work at 7 and leaving at 4, woot woot! It makes such a difference!

The tough thing about is that once I get home from my long day and commute, Matt just wants to get OUT of the house! So we are still trying to find our groove with the whole evening procedures but it is getting better. One thing for sure, I do not miss having to wake my poor Z up early in the morning. He does so much better with just waking up on his own. We will definitely be looking into a nanny once Matt is back working.

What's new in the boys' world? Well Z is just a typical 2 year old! He has new words and phrases all the time and generally just cracks us up. He has his moments of course as they all do, but all and all, he is just a sweet toot. When he is good, he is very very good...and when he is bad, he's terrible ;-) He is also eating up a storm these days but just as lanky as ever. Growth spurt perhaps? I am anxious to get his height prediction thingie at his 2 year appointment next week!

And Mark...well he is simply a joy. Seriously, just such an easy going loving little dude. He is always smiling at strangers at church, the mall, the grocery, the bounce house, where ever! He went to daycare twice last week while Matt had things to do, and he was the hit of the nursery room! Minus the spitting up. LOL, guess we should have warned him about that. I tell ya, the kid spits up.ALL.THE.TIME! We do a lot of laundry around here. I tease him that I don't know how he is such a little chubs when it seems so much of his milk winds up on me, him, or burp clothes!! I am anxious for his 4 month appointment next week too and to compare to Z! How FUN! Sleeping is going okay. I was telling Allison last week that I thought we were making some progress and been having some good 6-8 hour nights (even if they started at 7-8pm)..and then the last 2 nights have been like back to newborn nights! AH! Need to get consistent again with bedtime procedures and see if that helps. He is still in the bassinet in our room, although that wont be lasting for too much longer because his head and feet are about to hit the edge. Time for the pack n play...or maybe upstairs?? We shall see how he does over the next couple of weeks!

I think that's about all for now. Ready for some nice spring weather. Sunday was gorgeous and we played outside all day. Want some more of that!! :)

Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Happy Birthday to my sweetest firstborn son...the Z Man. Hard to believe that 2 years ago at this time, we were staring in awe and wonder at the miracle of Z! Thank you precious boy for the best two years and I cannot wait to see where life takes you!

February 11, 2008

February 2009

February 2010

S.M.I.L.E.

Cant get enough of them! :)

To Get Me Through the Day Tomorrow.....

I will miss you boys! See you tomorrow afternoon!