A day with Zack...

You may not care so much but this is my baby book...the ONLY place that I record information about my pregnancies or my family. I'm sure once H comes I will quickly forget life with 1 little boy. Here is a day in the life of Zack and mommy.
-We wake up between 7-8 (the 8 is recent...and started when we moved Z to the big boy bed). If he wakes up before Adam leaves he "helps" Ada get ready while mommy takes her time getting out if bed. Since today he woke up at 7:45 we colored and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He LOVES the hot dog dance at the end and dances along while singing "daw, daw daw..."

-Once I have completely woken up, we go downstairs and eat breakfast. Standing at the table is one of the battles I choose not to fight...I know it's dangerous but I'm always there and we had such a hard time getting him to eat properly that I figured I would rather have him eat than sit...at least for now. To be honest he has never fallen and I figured if he does it may teach him a lesson he won't learn from me nagging him. Zack is a learn from mistakes kind of guy...which in a way I love but it would be nice not to sit back and let big kids push him down or fall down a few steps...I could be way off on this whole parenting thing but he hasn't pushed his friends or raced down the stairs without holding on for a long time.
Breakfast is usually a bowl of cereal that we share and maybe some grapes or blueberries.

-After breakfast I clean up downstairs (unload dishwasher/straighten the living room from Adam and I relaxing the night before). We are trying to keep the house as neat as we can so if someone calls for a showing we don't have too much to do. If we are going out in the morning this includes making beds and straightening up the bathrooms.

-If we don't have to be anywhere we have playtime in the playroom...usually blocks, books, throw the balls, chase or hide in the tent. We are working on cleaning up one toy before getting out another.

-After we play I make beds and take a shower. I leave Zack in the playroom watching Disney and playing...I usually get 2 min before he shows up in the bathroom. He used to stay with me the whole time but he can reach more things now and I ended up climbing in and out of the shower preventing him from playing with or flushing Adams glasses or our toothbrushes. The 2 min allows me to wash my hair...I figure anything else is a luxury.
-We usually have somewhere to go in the morning (Tuesday- MOPS or some sort of MOPS get together, all the other days we get together for playdates/run errands/dr appointments (these happen a lot between pregnancy and toddlerhood)/trips to the park or farmers market etc...when we go out I like to pack lunch and get back in time for nap. One day a week I like to have a morning in for laundry. and what not. Today was a laundry day.
-At around 10 we have a snack.

-We play/work some more (or head to the grocery store)
-I've learned that getting Zack to eat lunch is a lot easier if he helps to make it.  He pretty much just stabs the bread and helps me put the lids on.  He enjoys helping and I enjoy that he likes to do things for himself (sometimes).

-After lunch we clean up and get ready for nap.  Sometimes we read books or watch an episode of Clifford (depending on how tired I am).
-We wake up and have another snack...I offer several options since little man wakes up super grumpy.  I lay out the plate of food and let him work out his mood while feeding himself.
-Today we decided to bake some cookies.  Zack loved stirring the flour and re-arranging the cookies on the sheet...silly me I didn't realize how many more cookies you could get on the pan if you bunched them all together!

-At around 5 we start working on dinner.  It takes him a while to eat...and I'm OK with that.
-We play some more and clean up the playroom.  He is really good at cleaning up.  It may take three times as long but I loves that he is such a good helper.
-Bath time is Zack's favorite...he loves the bubbles!  He brushes his teeth and runs away as I try to get his pj's on.

-Zack drinks some milk and goes to bed...without crying.

More Fall Photos...

So...I happen to think I have a very cute kid. I also love watching him play. My friend Sarah and I took the kids to a field with lots of leaves to practice using the aperture mode on our cameras (yes again). Anyway I am for sure getting better! I got a whole lot of awesome pictures. Here are a few favorites:

I was sooooooo lucky...I can't remember when he smiled for the camera...EVER!

This is Zack...100%...smiling and running

It may be a little blurry but I LOVE it!

 

pointing to the airplane

preparing for take-off

...and he's off!  I mean how did I get an action shot where he isn't blurry 

Love his faces

another airplane

Warning: we are doing another photo shoot next week and we plan on doing a whole lot more, get ready for a ridiculous amount of pictures...and if you think this is bad...wait until I have 2 cuties to take pictures of (never mind one who doesn't run!)

Zack's Big Boy Room

This by no means will make it into a design magazine or even pinterest for that matter. However Zack and I like it and up until now I am sure Adam was excited to walk into Zack's room to see whatever new item we added.

The comforter is made from some fabric, a flat sheet from Ikea and the cheapest twin duvet from Ikea. I like that it will be something that can grow with him. I found the big letters at Hobby Lobby and the "art" is a foam board that Zack and I painted together. I trimmed it with some ribbon because the sides get dented easily.

In his perminant room I plan on painting thick stripes (lt. gray and med. gray) on the wall with his name. 

The gallery wall...specifically the yarn wrapped letter took a very long time. I love how personal everything is. I think my favorite is the silhouette of Zack bouncing the ball. I also love that I can use free digital paper and picmonkey to add the bible verse (in a frame I already had, painted with paint I bought on sale) for pretty much no cost.

The turtle bank is from our trip to Bali while I was pregnant with him. 

The felt board is my favorite touch. Again foam board (on sale with a coupon taking 25% off sale items) covered in felt (bought with a 60% off coupon) ready for Zack to play with. I quickly cut out some shapes to make sure it worked...and I recently found sheets of felt on a major sale so I can cut out more shapes for him to play with.

Looks like we need to work on spelling his name

Everything hanging on the wall is low but with the mattress on the floor it looked silly to hang things any higher. The only change I plan on making for our perminant home is painting the wall a medium gray, painting the furniture a dark navy, and using the wood pallet I picked up from a dumpster to make a rustic headboard. I am still looking for a good area rug and I need to hem the drapes but other than that I love looking at it and Zack enjoys sleeping in there and playing with his felt wall.

"ba ba"

Yes, at almost 20 months old my son is saying my name for the first time.  He said "mamamama" when he first started to talk but that was more like noise.  I have wondered for a while if he didn't say my name because I'm always there.  He called me "dis" (his version of this...or anything he doesn't know how to say).  I wasn't really upset or offended, I know he loves me by the smile on his face and his sweet hugs, I just wondered...

On another note...look how young Adam looks and how tiny Zack is. Zack was 3 weeks old in this picture. 

This picture is on Zack's dresser and he loves looking at it.  He very excitedly points out his FAVORITE person "da" (daddy) and more recently has gotten really excited to see the "bay" (baby).  Never once did he point out Mommy.  If I said "where is daddy?" he pointed, "where is the baby?" he pointed, "where is mommy?"...blank stare.  OK...it makes sense.  I'm in the room with him.  I would have Adam ask the same question while I was gone...blank stare.
Does he know I'm the woman in the picture?  Maybe the sunglasses confuse him...but why doesn't he point me out in ANY of our pictures?

Today I put the ornaments on the tree and I have several pictures in frames on our tree.  While I was decorating he pointed out "da" and "bay" (along with the balls).  Then I heard something I hadn't before..."da", "ba ba".  WHAT?...I looked to see if there was a ball in the picture...nope.  "ba ba, bay".  He was pointing to another picture, one of him and I last Christmas.  Did he really just call me a name?

Later I ran upstairs and Zack yelled up "ba ba"...OK I am calling it official.  Plus I officially believe that Adam was telling the truth when he said Zack asked for me the other day and called me something other than "dis".

"ba ba" may not be the name I was expecting to have (the Chinese name for dad...really) but after 9 months of carrying him, wondering what it would sound like to have my first child call me mommy and after almost 20 months of listening for anything that could be him calling me mommy...I'll take it.

Best Friends

Zack has lots of little friends that he plays with at parks, on playdates and in nursery at church.  When we are at home Zack has 2 best friends...

He sleeps with "daw" (dog) and "ti" (tigger) every night and for most naps (along with "tay tay" , "rib" and "boo" ).  He makes me carry all these things downstairs after nap to have a snack with us and back up the stairs when it's time to play.  Although he plays with his other toys "daw" and "ti" like to sit on the steps and watch us color and build towers.

We don't ignore them, we stop every once and a while to give them hugs.  Zack will pick up dog and give him a hug saying "daw" in a very loving way.  Because we don't want to leave Tigger out I give Tigger a hug and we switch.

Zack loves laughing and talking with his very best friends...

Pullen Park

OK...so we have this AWESOME park in Raleigh...the best thing about living in this house is the park is 10 minutes away!  Once we move it will be a 30 minute drive.  Adam was working, mom was visiting Zack (I know who she comes for...and it's fine) and I HAD to go to the park to scope out some great photo spots for our family photo shoot.
Zack got to ride the train...

His typical serious train face

and boats...

I swear he had fun...in fact he waved and smiled at the ladies on the other side of the ride the whole time. 

before moving on to the 5 year old playground...which includes a mister...

He hated it...

Poor guy couldn't press the button himself...thankfully big kids were willing to help 

in between mistings...he searched out the "chooch"

Most parents told their kids not to get wet and shooed them away from the mister after 1 turn...some wouldn't let their children play in it at all.  Me...I let him play and get as wet as he wanted.

Glad my son is learning but...

There are things I wish he hadn't learned:

It is funny when you cough and food flies out of your mouth...even funnier when you fake cough and food flies out if your mouth...even more funny when big ol' mama makes funny noises as she bends over and tried to clean it.
It's fun to watch mama's gorilla imitation.
The dishwasher door should be closed al all times...even if mommy is loading/unloading.
When mommy goes to the cabinet and keeps her back to me it usually means she is snacking on something yummy that she doesn't want me to eat.
Mommy isn't as fast as she used to be. Plus it's difficult for her to come after me when I hide in the tent.
The new washer/dryer makes fun sounds when you press the buttons.
When mommy is in the shower she can't stop me from pulling everything out of the cabinet.
If I break the rules by doing something funny...mommy laughs. She tries to hold back and punish me but I can tell. So much for her years of experience as a teacher hiding her laughter until the end of the day.

These are just a few of the things I hope Zack doesn't teach his little brother.