Gustav, Gustav....

GO AWAY! I don't want to go to Brenham on Monday. But since I got out of going for Edouard, it will be my turn. So much for my Tuesday off!

toof

I feel one....right in the middle! Its sharp! I think it will be out all the way in the next couple of days! :)

Update

Just a random assortment of updates:
-Z Man's poos improved since the last post. Sunday night he ate 2/3 of bananas and Monday he ate all bananas but no rice cereal and tonight he ate all bananas and rice cereal! Whatever it is, I think it must be ending?!
- We got an offer on the house and we are proceeding! Inspection may be Friday and they want to close on 9/15! The hunt is on for our house! Keep those prayers to St Joseph coming! :)
-The Other Boleyn Girl was good! I enjoyed it and think it did a pretty good job versus the book. There were some things I had forgotten but I love Scarlett and Natalie so that helps too and made it very good.

I think that's it for now. We celebrated tonight with pizza and wine. Its a good night. Oh, and anyone else watching BB?!?!??!?!? What did you think of the veto ceremony???

REAL SIMPLE

I am just now getting on the bandwagon for Real Simple but I love it! My mom has subscribed for awhile now. I perused hers a few times and always enjoyed them so I decided I wanted my own! Great recipes, ideas, tips, what more could you want? I was especially interested in an article in my 1st issue about book clubs! As you know, I started our own book club 5 years ago this August (crap guys, we forgot to celebrate that too this month!!). We have read some great books and some not to great...and sometimes not even read at all. But no matter what, we always have fun! I think its so important for women to have time together. To bounce ideas of each other, share in joys and struggles, and just be together like sisters! I treasure my once a month get togethers with just us girls!

Here is a snippet of the article:
"Whether due to some failing of time management, imagination, or both, my adult life is somewhat lacking when it comes to two activities that I once took for granted: reading and spending time with friends." Which is why my book club meetings are right up there with the first day of school and the season premiere of The Office as unmissable events. In the 11 years since the inception of my book group- cooked up one night by me and two others, all of us still enthusiastic members-I've been on and off community boards, changed jobs and cars, moved houses, fired and hired babysitters, and seen the arrival and inevitable departure of pets (mostly hamsters and fish). But my book group has been constant.
There are nine of us, and we meet ever six weeks or so. The whole operation is loosey-goosey, but we like it that way. We choose books spontaneously, either something wonderful that someone has just read (which feels a bit like cheating) or a title that is well reviewed (which does not predict success with my group-I've chosen some real chunkers that the NY Times has loved.) We do not do author backgrounds or historical references, and under no circumstance do we use those silly book-group discussion guides that you find at the end of certain paperbacks.
The best part of the group, of course, is the individuals in it: our lives as they change over the years; the constant friendship of the women who can, in the same breath, provide you with a dermatologist recommendation, tips for monitoring teenage behaviour on prom night, advice on confronting a friend with emotional issues, and the best local store to buy good cheese. We have watched children grow and lives change; the talk has moved from diapering to college applications in the blink of an eye; from pregnancies to perimenopause in another blink."

While we are just at the diapering stage, I can definitely say our lives have changed a lot since our first meeting 5 years ago...and I can only hope that our book club will continue for the duration too!! I, too, am a book club advocate like this author and encourage any one else to find one. The article also has some great book recommendations, many of which we have read! I think I will bring it to the next meeting or keep it for future choices too!

BLOWOUT CITY

That's right folks, you know what I am talking about, and its not a super sale. The diaper situation around here has not been pretty or very good smelling for the last 2-3 days. I am not sure what is going on. Its not just a situation of "time to go to the next size diapers" cause we just moved up to 2-3 and they fit. I will starting using 3s though for bedtime to contain the situation at least. We have had leakage overnight for the last 2-3 nights, lots of small poo diapers instead of just 1-2/day, very smelly, and a couple of blowouts. I am really stumped on why the sudden increase in these volatile POOS! We woke up this a.m. to one that had gone through the jammies to the sleep sack but had not yet infiltrated the sheets. (WHEW! I ave changed the sheet 3x this week and its not fun). Then later this morning, we were having a great time playing on the floor, I was enjoying my morning coffee and Z started just fussing. I moved closer to inspect him and noticed his jammie leg was wet. Upon unzipping the said leg of the jammies.........there was poo everywhere! Seriously. Up the back, out the diaper, down the leg, to the TOES. I didn't even bother taking them off we just went straight to the bathtub. And although Zach enjoyed his off-schedule bath time, I am perplexed what's going on? At first I thought maybe it was related to the new addition of solids. But then the past 3 nights, he won't even open his mouth to try!! He had been eating with no issues since he first started so why the sudden change? Even bottle eating has changed some, not always finishing them.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Is this related to teething? I have read that teething can cause a decrease in appetite and diarrhea but I am still not feeling any teeth. Maybe its just a precursor of what's to come? I just am not sure!

I guess I will continue to observe him and see what transpires. The good thing is he is not acting like he doesn't feel well at all. Only ailment is a touch of diaper rash but frequent changes and boudreaux's butt paste seem to be managing that aspect okay.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome on the cause of the poops or what to do when your child won't eat! I want to continue on with our solids but when he won't open his mouth, after 20-30minutes of trying I give in.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Zach is cutting some Zzzzzs so I decided to treat myself to watching The Other Boleyn Girl. I loved the book so we will see how the movie does.

Target Trap

How is it every time I go to Target for a small list of things...I always come home with twice as much as I had intended? :) I swear, I love Target. But it is dangerous! I stuck to my list for the most part but did have to pick up a few extra things:
1) Toy for Z- Some cool baby Einstein piano. he loved it!
2) $1 bin goodies! I think he enjoyed these even more than the piano! You should go to your local Target and check it out. I bought some soft blocks, stacking cups, 2 board books, and a shapes box....for $5! They also had stacking rings, lots of puzzles, and some other goodies.
3) The Ped Egg! My feet are nice and smooth now tonight.
And a couple of other odds and ends. Did I already say I love Target?

St Joseph arrived yesterday. It has been raining cats and dogs here in Houston so I will have to wait and bury him tomorrow or Saturday. Get those prayers going! We need to SELL this HOUSE!

And good luck to Ginny on her 2nd Interview tomorrow!!

Six Month Stats!

We had a good check up today! Zach was cheery and flirty and all around a good boy. He did not care for his shots (but who does!) but after a quick kiss on those chubby thighs, he was okay. And as soon as he was strapped into the car seat, it was snooze city. We have just been enjoying our day together playing and he is down for a nap now. I am enjoying my day with munchkin!

So here is the big boy's stats:
Height- 28 1/2" - 95%
Weight - 18 lbs 12 oz - 60%
Head - 17 1/2" - 75%

Zach is sitting up pretty much on his own now. He tumples occasionally but is sitting really well now. He is also grabbing for toys and transferring them between hands. And as I posted earlier too, the feet have found the mouth! Z is doing good with tummy time too and manages to spin around somehow! We have had peas and carrots so far and think we may try squash next!

So all and all, great visit and Z man is right on track!

Weekend

We had a good weekend! Saturday was so chill. It rained all day so we did not do much but hang around the house. My folks came by for a short visit in the evening to see the Z Man. They were excited to see him eating his carrots and cereal :) He lived up to his cuteness as always.

Today we were up and cleaning for the Open House early. Zach had another weird day of odd napping. He actually did not take one take one until like 3 or 4! We had escaped to the Agnew's during the showing. He got a little fussy and then all of a sudden was out like a light for almost 2 hours! He must have felt comfortable at their house! Hank dog and Esther loved romping which also caused the Z man great delight.

Realtor said Open House went well. We had people so I count that as a good sign! ;-) St Joseph has not arrived yet to bury but I have said some prayers to him so we shall see! I will bury him when he arrives.

Not much else going on. It was a pretty quiet and relaxed weekend. I have the day off tomorrow with Zach. He has his 6 mo check up tomorrow morning! I will update tomorrow with his stats! :)

It was an exciting weekend with Olympics. With Phelps winning the Gold by 0.01 seconds and Dara Torres losing it by the same! And speaking of Dara, this Olympics is all about the Girl Power. Dara=40 and 3 silvers in swimming, Constantina Dita Tomescu=38 and winning the Gold in marathon, Oksana Chusovitina=33 and getting silver in Vault (33 is OLD in gymnastics!!),MistyMay and Kerri Walsh=30/31! Seriously, that is impressive for them all! And I am sure there are more that I have not even noted! All I have to say is Go Girls!

I am sad swimming is over. It has been an exciting time to watch!!

Ok, hope you all have a good night and wonderful Monday!

Good night!

Well, we had a little mini experiment with the bottle last night. Zach had cereal and a small jar of carrots around his usual 630 feeding. He had taken a nap from about 5-545 so he was awake for awhile last night. Anyway, decided to make an 8oz bottle for about 830 and call it a night. And he did fine! Sleep until about 7am this morning! I found a food chart on babycenter.com and it says to do 4-5 feedings (24-32oz), one veggie, one fruit, and 4-5 TBSP cereal for 6-8 months old. So I think we will try to work up to that.

My search for St. Joseph yesterday was not too successful. The catholic bookstore I went to only only nice mantel type statues and when I asked the lady about a smaller one I got chastised about it and she told me they didn't sell "superstitious" things like that. So I bought on off the Internet instead ;-) It was actually a nice store and I picked up a little something for a friend. They also had a lot of nice baby/baptism stuff and since all my friends are Catholic except for me and Becky and Ashley, I know where to go for baptism gifts now! :)

Sign class got cancelled this am and while I am bummed to not see Zach's buddies and their mommies, we have had a fun morning. Watched some Little Einsteins and Micky Mouse and I just love watching Z play. So fun to see him sitting up and grabbing for toys and actually be PLAYING and discovering! He also finally got those big feet into his mouth!! They have been close but today he actually was sucking on them. It was too cute!

Anyway, nothing much planned today except getting the house ready for tomorrow. Hope to maybe get some pool time in too if the weather stays clear. Hope you all have a good weekend!

Another Open House this weekend

Open house...take 2 this Sunday! Seriously people, I am getting tired of this! It definitely hurts the ego a bit too when you think your house is pretty nice. I will chalk it up to "the market" and make myself feel better.

I think I am going to go buy a St. Christopher and bury him upside down in the garden on Saturday. To all you catholics out there, isn't he the saint that helps sell houses? Does this actually work? I am Methodist but I am willing to try anything and I think God would be okay with me being a little Catholic in order to help me with our quest for suburbia!

Also, for those that don't know...I am also on a quest for weight loss. I lost .8lbs this week and although its not a lot, I am fairly happy with it since hubs and I TOTALLY indulged and enjoyed ourselves over the weekend in Galveston. I loved every morsel we ate or drank. The weight is coming off slowly which is frustrating. Back in the day, Rachel and I used to talk about how I could gain or lose 10lbs in like a day. Well the gaining part is still true, but the losing is definitely taking a lot longer. But I am also trying to remain focused and remember I am 13lbs lighter than I was 7 weeks ago.

In Zachary news, all is still well. Thank you all for the comments on his pics. I also think he is pretty darn adorable. He is really just enjoying sitting up more and more and laughing more and more and I am loving every minute of it. We are still trying to figure out this whole solids thing. Last night he was so not interested in it. He got the peas down but was not having the rice cereal. So we just quit after the peas. We did 4 nights of peas with no issues so onto carrots tonight! I am also going to try to give him a full jar. It seems like so much though to me! Any words of advice? Also, we are still doing the last bottle. Do not blast for me that...its twofold. 1-I still enjoy it most of the time...and 2-he often wakes up for it. How did you begin to wean off the last bottle?

Ok, I should be working so that will be it for now. I am tired and weary from staying up till 12:30 watching gymnastics! GO USA! I think I need another cup of coffee! :)