Jinxed

Z was up 5 times last night between 7pm and 7am. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep.

Then, today he was 1.5 hours into a good nap when I had to wake him so that we could go to a babywearing workshop (I wanted to check out Mei Teis). He got a 15 minute cat nap in the car on the way home, but then was up until just a few minutes ago. Ugh.

Sleep, my little man, is a good thing. Please enjoy it.

Our Happy Family

Can you tell A has a cold? He's also got a new molar coming in. Ouch!

G's been burning the midnight oil with work again.

I guess I need to figure out how to take a timed picture so that I can get all 4 of us in one pic. And maybe we could take said picture somewhere other than in front of the puppy. It's cute, but there's not enough room for all four humans and the giant puppy. Hmmm. I think I have a photo assignment. Or maybe I'll just have someone else take a family photo sometime soon.

6 month birthday for Z

Z is 6 months old today. Happy Birthday Mr. Z. As you can see from the pics below, he's a pretty happy guy with a ready smile and sunny disposition. He's truly a pleasure to have around, although I do wish he'd sleep a bit more. For the last two night, my prayer for more sleep has been answered in the form of only one wake-up per night!!! Thank goodness for that. I feel already like a changed woman. However, I'm not assuming that this is the norm, but rather simply enjoying the moment while it lasts.

More info on Z, he's not officially crawling on all fours, but the child has learned how to toss his toys a few inches away and then scoots over to them, then repeats. After scooting for 5 feet, I think I can officially say he's mobile. He's also getting a bit more into solid food. He's had some refried beans the last few days which he seems to like. I think he prefers the more solid texture to the liquidy gruel I was feeding him before. So, I might change up the cereal for a few days and see how that goes over.

Also, if you look closely at these pictures, you can see that Z is sitting up. Although he hasn't yet learned to put himself in a seated position, he's happy to play in one until his toy goes too far out of his reach, and then you'll see him either lurch forward, tip sideways, or simply lie down in an effort to reach the floor and go after his toy.

St. Patty's Day

Yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, was gorgeous. 80 degrees, sunny, and a slight breeze. Talk about a much needed peek into Spring! We all loved it! I even put the kids in green clothes. Here you can see Z in his "Spit Happens" bib and cute blue, green and white striped shirt. The pants are 3-6 months size, but he's so slender that they kept falling off his waist. Is it any wonder that I usually keep the kid in sleepers or onesies? He looks adorably Irish with the green clothes, fair skin, and reddish blond hair.

The 2nd pic is of A's best bud, AM, looking cute and saying "cheese". He and A played together earlier in the day and ended up demolishing A's cute green outfit. They decided to throw sand on each other and pour it all over each others' heads, so they both had to have mid-day baths as a result. They didn't complain however, because they were able to bathe together at AM's house. If you look closely, you can also see AM's mom's preggy belly to the left. She's due with twins this summer.

The final pic is of A in the clothes we had to borrow from AM after the morning's play. He is such an outdoors man already. He asks to go outside almost as soon as he wakes up. It really is a shock to him when he insists to go outside even when I tell him that the weather has gotten cold again and that I don't think he should go outside. Out he'll go - in his winter coat, hat, etc. - and then he'll be back at the door within a minute or two explaining to me that it IS chilly and he wants in. I'll be happy for him once the weather gets better although I might not see much of him unless I'm willing to be outside.

A few more A'isms

All the buddies = Everybody

Happy Flowers = Sunflowers

Happy flower song = "You are my sunshine" - my folks have a fake sunflower toy that sings this song. The toy scares the heck out of A, but he still loves the song, and is strangely fascinated by it. For the time being, my mom has put it away until A can get over his fear of it.

Ate-meal = oatmeal - while at the grocery store today, he kept insisting that I get him a cookie. Once we finally made it by the bakery department, he had a choice of sugar, chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin. Like his father, he chose "ate-meal".

You nember? = Do you remember? - This is used for anything that A sees these days. He uses it instead of "do you see that?".

A and I met with our Parents as Teachers rep today, and she's very impressed with A's current skill level in language, gross and fine motor, etc. We're very proud of our big guy.

Lovey guy

Mr. A has been a cuddle bug all week long. Just wanting time in my lap or by my side to hang out "togedder" and cuddle. I've heard a lot of I-lub-you's, not just for me, but also Daddy and Z, and his cookie monster stuffed animal, and Elmo, and Princess the dog, etc. Grandma got more of the same at her house yesterday. There's been a lot of "lub" and we've all been loving it.

This picture reminds me of what a ham (can you practically hear him saying "Cheese"?) and sweet child he is.

Then, there are those days, like today, where Mr. A wakes up early and on the wrong side of the bed, and I know it's going to be a long, long day. I put him down for a nap at 11am (usually it's closer to 1pm) today because he was just a cranky and sad guy. Lots of tears for little things like not being able to turn the water on by himself when it was time to wash hands. So, off to bed he went. And fortunately, he crashed within minutes of me shutting his door, although I won't be surprised if he managed to push himself and all of his blankets and stuffed animal friends onto the floor before sleep consumed him.

My wonderful, lovey boy. *sigh* I guess we both need to get enough sleep to wind our way through the good days and the not-so-good days too. Still, I will always lub you.

Teething?!?

Well, Z's teeth may not have appeared through his gums, but Z is acting like they're going to pop out any minute. In this pic, he was coveting Daddy's apple during dinner and G decided to give him a taste. He loved it and proceeded to gnaw on the darn thing until he actually started gnawing it in half. That was the end of Z's first apple experience, but doesn't he look happy with the apple and his fingers?

I swear that A teethed for 3 months before his first one pushed through when A was 6 months old. Z is right around the corner from 6 months, and he's been drooling seriously and gnawing on anything he can get his mouth or hands on for at least a month. I guess he's like his brother.

The biggest downfall to this pre-teething madness is the lack of sleep for both me and Z. He's still up 2-3 times a night, and two days ago, he was up literally every 1.5 hours. Zombie might be the best word to describe me the next day. Too bad he can't talk yet because I'd love to know what's been keeping him up, but I guess I'll just have to keep guessing and going with the flow. Wish us luck.

Fashion model

G's aunt from Connecticut sent some super cute clothes for A and Z this week, and I just had to share A's outfits (Z's still a bit small for the 12 month clothes she sent, but I'll be sure to get pics this summer. Or at least I'll try.). A loves his Yankee's outfit, and you can barely pull the light-up Spider Man sneakers off his feet. T-shirt is from Grandma A in Florida. Thanks ladies!

He also looked adorable in this cute outfit with the wanna-be crocs from Payless. Mommy has a pair just like this, and A loves that. He'd also like me to get some for Daddy and Z, but a) I doubt Daddy would wear them and b) Z, although rolling/crawling/scooting, is not yet ready for walking shoes yet (thank goodness!). When A and I wear our wanna-be crocs, he says we're "wearing dem togedder". Lots of things are "togedder" these days. Like we eat togedder, and play togedder, and walk, and run, and... you get the picture. A likes to do things with others although he's also fantastic about doing things on his own.

Crocodiles, Fish and Seals or it's 8 o'clock

Recently, any time A doesn't want to do something or is afraid of something, he blames it on the "crocodiles, fish and seals". So, when I ask A why he always sleeps on the floor - he takes the blankets from both beds, plus his stuffed animals, binky, etc. and makes a huge nest for himself on the floor - he tells me that it's because of crocodiles, fish and seals (CFS's for future reference). And if you ask him why he didn't come inside when I called him for dinner, it's because of the CFS's. Now, we've tried to figure out where the heck this specific set of animals has come from, and we have no idea. Grandma and Grandpa have a book called "Can Crocodiles Dance?", and we have a "Sammy the Seal" book that talks about seals and fish, but none of them really answer the question. I guess there's just a lot of wheels turning in my child's head that involve some pretty serious animals and creatures.

In addition to the wildlife that rules A's days, regardless of what time it might say on the clock, it's always 8 o'clock on A time. It's 8 o'clock when it's time for bed, or time for nap, or time for Daddy to go to work, or time for Z to go take a nap and leave Mommy to have some 1:1 time with A, or time to play outside, or really time for anything else in the world including breakfast, lunch, and dinner (all of which are simply referred to as lunch by A).

So, if you're looking for crocodiles, fish and seals at 8 o'clock, you came to the right place.