Droppings

Zachariah peed and pooped on the potty before naptime today! WOOT! WOOT! I know that no one but his daddy and I care about the details, but he did it. He told me he wanted to go to the potty. He sat down and did it. He started to resist about pooping on the potty, but I reassured him is was OK and kept him company. Then he just did it! I'm so proud of my little boy.

I think it's time for some big boy underwear. We need to get serious about this now.

My little funny boy

Here is a collection of some things my son has been doing lately that completely crack me up.

This is what he wanted to do after he coughed. He pointed to the bathroom then drug the trashcan out. Probably because we started following him around last night (after the drama the night before) when he started gagging/making weird possible throwing up noises. (He never did get sick, but I guess he thinks this is what he should do when he cough. Ha.)

Zachariah loves helping me with laundry. This time I left to use the bathroom and told him to go ahead and empty the dryer. When I came back he had pulled the lint trap out and emptied lint all over the floor...then pulled clothes out for me.

Looking through the grocery ad in the Sunday paper.

Potty time with Thomas the train book. This has been my bribe for him to stay sitting on the potty. It worked. On Monday he asked to go potty, and he peed on it! (Big milestone for us. He's gone on the potty before, but never like that. We made a huge deal of it. And we're hoping for more to come.) P.S. Pardon the unfinished bathroom remodel project.

This morning while eating breakfast, I found Zachariah putting his applesauce into his cereal. It's a new creation he likes to call Rice Krispies a la applesauce. He didn't eat anymore after that.

Do you see that block he's putting on the truck? The orange one? We've been practicing his colors (he does pretty well), and he calls orange "orange juice". It is so cute and makes me laugh every time.

This one might be hard to see, but he found a sandwich bag in the kitchen. He things it's to put as many toys as he can in it. Ha.

Last week he smashed his finger in the dog's cage. I held him for a while then put ice on it. He sat there by himself when I got up to answer the phone. When I got back he'd pulled the ice out of the dish towel and was holding it saying "brrr brrr icy icy".

This is a holiday bear (we names Snowflake) Zachariah got for Christmas from my grandmother. He's been taking him with is when I change his diaper. Then he insisted that it have a diaper too. I found a sample of a size 1 diaper I got in the mail after he was way too big to wear that size.

He loves this bear and treated it like a baby for a long time. He even wrapped it in a blanket and laid it in his toy cradle for nap time. Here he is kissing and hugging the bear.

Zachariah has decided he likes to help me cook and bake (when I let him). One day he was playing with his cool wooden pizza set, and he kept going back and forth to the kitchen. When I went in to investigate he had lined all the pizzas on the stove. A little later I found that he'd gotten the cupcake wrappers out (on his own) and put them on top of the pizzas. I'm not sure when culinary creation he's inventing, but it looks interesting.

I'm sure there are many more funny things this little guy does, but this is a highlight of the latest. At least he keeps me smiling.

The Icky Bug

Well, folks, I think the flu finally hit our house. If not that, them some other icky stomach bug. It looks to be short lived, and for that I'm thankful.

My child has been so healthy in his short 2 years of life. I can count the times he's been sick on one hand, including this time. But it looks like this time of year is bad for us. Last year he was getting over his very first time being sick, and with the chicken pox no less.

Yesterday morning Zachariah woke up early. Matt went in to check on him and quickly called for my help. He thought he'd thrown up, because there was something all over his face. He hadn't, it was just slobber. But Zachariah went back to sleep (as did I) for a few more hours. I got up and got my shower, and then a little later heard Zachariah crying loudly. I knew he wasn't feeling well, because he never wakes up like that. He was gagging a little, but that was all. He cuddled on my lap for a long time and didn't want to move. I finally got him up and dressed, but he did not want to eat anything. This is very unusual for my child who loves to eat all the time. He pretty much laid around until lunchtime. I asked again if he was hungry. Then he started looking in the kitchen for something to eat. He finally settled on a peanut butter & honey sandwich and applesauce. He ate most of the applesauce and half of the sandwich. Luckily he'd had a big cup of orange juice at this point too. He had a low-grade fever in the morning, but I knew it wasn't bad so we just had to wait and see. Just before lunch he threw up a tiny bit on my shirt. Easy clean-up, I just put the shirt in the washer and got a new one on.

After lunch he took a nap as usual. He slept for about 3 1/2 hours which is longer than normal for him. When he got up, I could tell that he had a fever. I took his temperature and it wasn't too high, but he did have a fever. I gave him a dose of Infant Motrin, and he laid on my lap for a long time. After about an hour he was up and running around almost like his normal self. He was happy when Matt got home from work and played with him for a while.

Just before Matt got home I started feeling icky. I didn't feel any better or worse all evening. I finally was hungry enough to eat something around 8:00. And by this morning I feel OK. Matt knew I was interested in eating, and he wasn't interested in leftovers for dinner. He ordered a pizza, and by then Zac seemed really interested in eating. He ate about 1/2 a piece of pizza, which is less than he normally would but we were glad he had an appetite. It seemed like he was all better.

Shortly after dinner he came and laid on my lap again. I joked with Matt that this looked like a kid who wasn't tired at all, because that's what Zachariah was telling me. He got down for a few minutes, then he came beside the chair where I was sitting and laid his head on me. I thought he felt hot, like the fever was coming back. Then he threw up on me and the blanket on me. Ugh. The poor little guy started to freak out because he made a "mess mess". I was trying to reassure him that it was fine, we'd clean it up. Matt, acting quite fast, was getting things to clean up the mess. And then Zachariah projectile vomited across the floor. It was on him, me, the blanket, my chair, and who knows where else. He was crying at this point. I think it scared him. It's the first time he's thrown up. Which means it was our first time dealing with it. I have to say, Matt was a pro. It didn't seem to phase him at all. I was trying to get it off me and off the kid first of all. So I put Zachariah straight into the bathtub, and Matt just went to work cleaning up. We made quite a team. Zachariah got ready for bed after that. His fever was down by the time he got sick and I bathed him. He was hungry before bed though, I'm sure he lost everything he'd eaten for supper. So he had a graham cracker and was tired and ready for bed.

Luckily he slept all night. And he woke up in a good mood and hungry this morning. It seems he's feeling better. Although he's yet to play with toys or run around. He's sitting on a chair watching a Thomas DVD he got for Christmas. He seems content and happy. I can tell he's not quite back to normal, but I think we're past the rough part. He doesn't normally watch much TV, but I'll let him sit and watch Thomas all day if it will make him feel better.

When I talked to Matt this morning, he said he's not feeling great. He has achy muscles and has a tension headache. We're hoping it's only from the shots he got yesterday (4 in preparation for his trip to Africa), and that he's not getting what Zachariah had.

Our Monday adventure

What is up with me not feeling like blogging? I don't get it. I've been reading other people's blogs and commenting as much as I can. But when it comes to typing out my own post, I just haven't been able to get up the ambition to do it. OK, enough of the contemplation. I have no answers, but I know some of you wanted to know what we ended up doing on Monday.

First of all it was wonderful to have Sunday evening to ourselves. Our small group from church had decided just to get together and watch the football games and eat supper. We always bring Zachariah with us to small group. He's the only kid, so we spend a lot of time keeping him in the room and out of things in our hosts' home. He does pretty good, but it is a bit distracting for us. (We have discussed getting a babysitter for those nights, but it would add up quickly in costs. We're trying to figure it out now, because it was so nice without him.) It was good to be able to relax and be ourselves (without having to be Mom and Dad) for one evening with these new friends of ours. Everyone had so much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in ages. There were stories being told about spouses farting habits, sleeping habits, etc. Then there was a whipped cream eating contest with a couple of the guys. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And of course, there was a football game going on, and it was a pretty good game. (Although I wouldn't have minded seeing Green Bay and Brett Favre going to the Super Bowl instead. I'll still root for the Giants, because I just want someone to beat the Patriots.) When we left one of the couples commented how hilarious Matt and I are. They said we have great laughs and a great sense of humor. That seemed funny to me that they were almost surprised by that. But, truly, Matt and I haven't completely "let loose" around them and really had time to relax and enjoy with them. It was funny to us, though, because that's who we are. We laugh a lot and have a good time lots of times. It was good for us to be able to have that much fun with these new friends. And it was also good for us to be able to take part in conversations and really listen and talk and not be distracted. I think we formed stronger friendships that night.

Monday morning we slept in a bit, then we went out for breakfast. It was nice to relax and eat my own food without sharing half of it with someone else. And I could drink my juice without being ask for "drink drink". Matt and I both enjoyed being able to carry on adult conversation without trying to entertain a toddler and keep him happy. We headed towards Dayton and went to the mall like I planned. As soon as we pulled in Matt saw they had a Dick's Sporting Goods and was excited. We walked around the mall at least 2 times. We didn't buy much, but it was fun looking at things. We did not find anything for me at Frederick's like I was hoping, but I did find a sexy babydoll nightie.

After all the shopping we went to a movie. We didn't see what I wanted, because it wasn't showing again for another hour. (I'd planned to see a movie first, but Matt was distracted by Dick's being at the mall.) But that's OK. We saw "Mad Money" and it was pretty funny. Not quite as good as I thought it might be, but I really like Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah in it. Then we went to dinner after that. There were a few places I had in mind (because I knew Matt really liked them), but I let him decide. We ended up finding more places that we liked, so we went to Fuddruckers. Like Matt said, even a hamburger joint is romantic without a kid. We went into Once Upon a Child which was right by where we were eating. And we found what we went into there for. We got a sturdy hiking backpack carrier for Zachariah. We're going to Gatlinburg for vacation, so we wanted something to use for hiking. We got this backpack used for only $30.00. It is in great condition and is only missing the canopy. Since we wanted it for an older child, that doesn't matter, because he'll wear a hat and sunscreen anyway. And it's really easy to put him in it, and it seems to distribute his weight really well when I tried it on.

We headed home after all that. We had to drive about 3 hours to get from there to my parents' house to get Zachariah. It was pretty late when we got home. But Matt said he loved every minute of the day. He had a great time spending time alone with me, and he especially loved that I planned (or loosely planned rather) the day so he could just enjoy it.

Zachariah did really well with my mom. When they got ready to leave our house on Sunday, he wanted to leave but he started crying when he realized I wasn't going too. So I helped put him in the car and then said bye and blew kisses. My mom said he asked about us when they got to her house and then when he woke up the next morning. She told him that we were on a date, and he was OK with that. He had a lot of fun at Grandma's house. His aunts and great-grandma came to spend time with him too. My mom told me all sorts of fun things they did together. She's excited to keep him overnight again sometime. Woo Hoo!

Whaaa?

I just read this article. Heath Ledger dies at 28. Wow! He's just a little older than me and seemed to have so much going for him with hit movies and a daughter. Sad.

Plans

So, I've decided that we're going to a mall in Beavercreek, near Dayton. I've never been there. (If you have, let me know what you think.) It looks like it has a lot of stuff there. I plan to take Matt out for a nice breakfast on Monday morning, then we'll head that way. They have a movie theater there. I didn't realize there were so many movie showing right now that I'd like to see. After thinking about it and seeing my options, I've decided we'll see "P.S. I Love You". Last time we were looking for a movie, Matt mentioned that he'd like to see a good romantic movie. (Yes, he's cool like that. He'll go for a good romance most of the time...sometimes more often than me.) So, I thought this would be a good movie to go for. Of course, if he sees something else better when we get there, I might change my mind. Then there are two of his favorite restaurants, that we don't have here, at that mall. I plan to let him choose between Max & Erma's and Red Robin for a late lunch/early supper. Then we can go shop at Frederick's (my main reason for choosing this location, plus then I found other things I'd like to do). We don't have one around here, and they carry lingerie in plus sizes. So, just go ahead and guess why Matt's been wanting to go there. There is a Target store not too far, so I'd like to hit that up too. We don't have one here, and I like to get to Target every chance I get (which isn't often enough). After we're done we'll have to head home (then another hour north) to pick up Zachariah.

I'm really looking forward to this. Matt is really looking forward to this. He's just exciting that I'm planning something and he knows nothing about it. I don't do this very often. He usually plans all our trips and getaways. I think I will keep it a secret from him. He'll probably want to drive, so I can just program it in the GPS and not let him see it. I'll set it so he can tell where to turn and that's it. :) I think he likes a little surprise, so this will be good.

My mom is coming tomorrow afternoon to pick up Zachariah. We're just planning to go to small group as always on Sunday nights. It will be much more relaxing and enjoyable not having to chase a toddler around the whole time, though. Then we can come home, watch Amazing Race, and not worry about putting a cranky baby to bed. I can't wait. It will be wonderful. I think it's just the thing we need.

Upcoming

Boy, I've been a bad blogger. I just don't feel like there's anything worth blogging about right now. And I've enjoyed reading all YOUR blogs. :)

I've been getting photos printed and catching up on my photo albums. I hadn't done this in a while, so it was fun seeing photos of Zachariah a year ago. So much has changed. I'm hoping to get some more printed and albums sorted soon.

Zachariah's 2nd birthday is coming up fast. What? When did he get old enough to be 2? I'm trying to decide what to get him for birthday gifts, what to do for a party, what to make for a cake, what theme we'll use. I'm looking for a non-commercialized theme. I'm thinking maybe tractors or farmyard. Possibly cars, trains, trucks all lumped together. Who knows. Any ideas? The cake I will make, so I have to think of some way to decorate it. Or I've thought about cupcakes too. Either one is fine. It will be family only (and adults only because we don't really run in circles with people with kids). I'm thinking I will order a few Little People sets online for his gift. Those are some of his favorite things. They have one that would go with the barn and tractor he has now.

Matt and I both have a 3-day weekend. YEAH! No plans for Saturday. It's going to be bitter cold too, so I'm OK with staying in (and keeping the kiddo in). Sunday we have our regular obligations at church, then home for lunch and a nap as always. THEN, my mom is coming to pick up Zachariah. She's keeping him overnight at her house. We'll have to go get him Monday afternoon/evening. BUT, that means we have the rest of Sunday and most of Monday to ourselves. We've never been home alone...just the two of us. And we've only left Zachariah overnight once...ever. I'm making the plans, and I'm not sure what to do. I'd really like to sleep in, because I never get to do that. But that means we can't travel too far on Monday. I was thinking about a nice meal out and a movie. I don't know what's showing, so there may not be anything we're interested in. Or I've thought about driving a little ways to a bigger town to go shopping at a mall. Matt's been after me to go to Frederick's, so we could and let him pick something out for me. Anyone have suggestions about what to do with our free day?

I hope that you all have a nice weekend. What are you doing?

Bargains

Wow, I stopped at Toys R Us the other day just to look around. I remembered that I got wrapping paper really cheap there last year about a week or so after Christmas. I'm glad I stopped. Not only did I find some awesome wrapping paper super cheap, but I also found some swim shorts for Zachariah for this summer super cheap. They must be clearing out last years stock in preparation for this years line. Anyway, here's how good the deals were. The wrapping papers were $1.80, $1.20, $1.20, and $1.80. I fell in love the the sock monkey one. Oh so cute. Then the swim shorts were $1.20, $0.60, $1.35, and $1.20. Wow! I was shocked. I don't usually like the character-type clothing, but it will do. And he probably doesn't need 4 pairs, but I spent less for 4 pair then I would have one pair regular price. My parents have a pond, so I think I'll be able to leave one or two of them at their house for this summer.

Like we were kids

Alphabet fun...it's not just for kids.


Zachariah got the fridge magnets for Christmas. My aunt made them for him. He's played with them a little bit, but mostly they've just been fun for Matt and I to leave each other messages.


Here are two of the messages left there.







Then last night this message was left:
** I WANT SEX


The response found there this morning:
** U GOT SEX


There is only 1 of each letter, so we have to get a little creative. I think this has endless entertainment value though.

Thank you & boredom

Thanks for all your advice from yesterday. We have not had any more climbing adventures since then. I did move the little cradle away from his bed in case that made it more tempting.

Tonight choir started again at my church. We've had a few weeks off after Christmas. We're doing something different this time. For the next 3 weeks we're becoming a worship choir and essentially leading worship along with the band. I think it will be neat. I had thought about taking a little time off and not participating in this. Then I remembered that this is, most weeks, my only night out alone. I like that I can get away for a few hours and do something fun for me.

This week has seemed sluggish and slow, and yet I have not been able to get much done. I think we've just been mostly lazy. Maybe it's just that post-holiday let-down. I was excited that my grandmother and sister might come to visit this week. It would help break up the ho-hums. But when I talked to my grandma yesterday, she decided to wait until next week. We've gotten a lot of rain the past few days and there has been some flooding in surrounding areas. She's afraid to run into closed roads on the way here. I can't blame her. I'll really need the company by the time she comes next week.

Now what do I do?

This is not what the post is about, but let me get it out of the way. Ohio State lost last night. They looked terrific in the 1st quarter. After that, I have no idea what was going on. It was sad. It wasn't a complete blow-out, but we could see they didn't stand a chance. That's life. I'll take it. It was fun to be ranked #1 for a while and get to the championship game. We'll get there again sometime. I'm OK with it.

OK, on to my real post now. Sorry about that brief interlude.

This morning Zachariah woke up right after I got done showering and dressing. I hear him calling for me, so I went in to get him. We (he does rather) play this game sometimes. When I come in I turn on the light and go over to where he's standing at the end of the crib. When he wants to play he says "bye bye", waves, and then runs to the other side of the crib. Most times when I say "OK, bye bye then" and start the leave the room he says "no no" and comes back towards me in his crib. He'll do that a few times, then finally stop and want out.

Today he played the game, but didn't come running back towards me each time. He'd say "bye bye" then stay at the back of his crib and watch me leave the room. So, I went into our room and got a basket of clothes, then peeked in at him. He still didn't want out, so I took the laundry to the washer. I peeked back at him again. He would say "no, bye bye" each time. After checking in about 3-4 times, I went back to laundry. Then I heard this ker-thump coming from somewhere in the house. It wasn't a loud ker-thump, just a soft one. But it was enough that I came running just in case. It was the dog, he was sleeping on the couch. I really wasn't too concerned...until I saw what had happened.

I walked into Zachariah's room and he was on the floor! Standing there grinning at me. The little turkey climbed out of his crib! This is the first time he's ever done this. There is a little cradle with stuffed animals beside his crib. He climbed, somehow, into that and then onto the floor. He was perfectly fine. It was like it took no effort at all.

Needless to say, when he's awake in his crib, from now on I will get him out right away. But how am I to know that he won't just get the idea to do it again without me even knowing he's awake. And I know he'll do it again eventually. I knew this day was coming, I just didn't think it would happen quite so soon.

So, now what do I do? Do I wait to see if he keeps practicing his crib climbing skills? Do I think about moving him into a toddler bed right away? I'm not sure he or I am ready for that. I know they make crib tents, but I don't really want to invest the money into that. I think he's close to being old enough for a real bed. I just wasn't prepared. Luckily for now his crib converts into a toddler bed. We'll use that for a while (because we don't need the crib for anyone else right now). Then I figure we'll get him a twin bed someday when we need the crib back.

I need your advice, fellow mothers. Do I wait this out and see what he does? Or should I start the new bed transition? Help!

Relaxing evening

I'm sitting here with my feet up, just relaxing. Zachariah is snug in his bed, freshly cleaned. Matt is in the chair next to me with his feet up and a drink in his hand. We're relaxed...for now.

Why this relaxation (and now excitement)? We're watching our Ohio State Buckeyes play the college football national championship game. We're more reluctant this year, because last year we went in the same championship game with high hopes and were disappointed. But this year our team earned their way into the top of the standings. Then we stood by for a few weeks and waited while we were slowly moved to the #1 team in the nation. We were shocked and amazed. And now we're hoping and praying for an awesome win.

(While I was writing this the game started. The Buckeyes scored a touchdown within the first 1 1/2 minutes of the game. A tell of the rest to come? I don't know, but it gives me even more hope.)

We're excited and will be proud of our team whether they win or lose tonight. GO BUCKEYES!

**Edited to add: We're playing the LSU Tigers. And we're still winning!**

Boring or good?

(That was strange. I first wrote the title as "pooring or goob". Ha. Guess I'm really not paying attention.)

I just haven't been able to think of anything thrilling to blog about lately. I think maybe that's a good thing. I suppose it means that things are going well here. I think it's easier to blog about problems or issues that are going on in my life.

Seriously, though, things have been going well. My Christmas decorations are still up. I've had every intention of taking them down the last few days since we've been home. But here they are. I'm tired of them. Today I spent my day getting more groceries and other nessecities for us. We were terribly low on everything. Then it was back home to get lunch and put the kid down for a nap. After that I decided I needed a bit of a nap too. At the time that seemed more important than taking down decorations. Tonight I played single mom, because Matt worked late. I put the kid to bed and felt like relaxing and doing something fun for me. I did get some laundry, but here I sit with nothing else done. Matt is home now, so I'd rather spend time with him. I guess maybe I'll try to get things down tomorrow. Boy, I'm really dragging this out. I'm not usually this bad about it.

Otherwise (ha), my life is quite boring and calm right now. Zachariah is being a good boy. He's loving all his new toys (that are still all in my living room, because I have no idea what to do with all these toys). We don't really have a lot going on in our lives right now. Things seemed to have slowed down for our schedules. It's a good thing, I think.

I really need to do a complete overhaul on my house. I need to clean and purge so many things. I think I would feel a lot better if I did all that. It would be nice to get it all done before March. We'll probably have a bunch of people over for Zachariah's birthday.

Last year at this time we found out that Zac had chicken pox. Boy, I guess I really should be happy that everything is going well. Try dealing with a 10 month old with chicken pox (we have no idea where he ever got them from...strange), not fun.

One last thing, my car is fixed. They did it a day early (not early enough for me to pick it up last night, but still nice). AND....AND...they did it for free. It was the exact same thing they fixed two months ago, so the labor and parts were all under warranty. YEAH! Thank goodness. I'm happy to have my car back. Hopefully I won't have to worry about it for a long time.

For good measure, here's a great photo of Zachariah before Christmas.

Pulling things together

We made it home safe and sound. It was really snowy and icy on our way home last night, so it took longer than usual. Thank goodness for a safe-driving husband.

I was happy to crawl into my own bed last night. Zachariah is happy to be playing with all his new toys. Does anyone else's house look like a toy store threw up in their living room? Mine sure does! And I have this silly Christmas tree taking up half of my living room and it's already January 2. Welcome home, for sure. My mom already had hers down. (But it's because we helped take all her stuff down while we were there.) Then I come home and have to do all this stuff at my house.....with no help. Not fair.

We did really enjoy our time with our family. This is the longest we've stayed their with Zachariah. After his horrible day-after-Christmas crash, he was great. When we got out of the car at home last night, Zachariah was already asking for Maw Barb and Papa. Then he was looking and calling for them in the house. We will miss having them around. It's great having 2 extra adults around to help out with the kid. I did a lot more relaxing than I normally get to. We also spend more time than normal with my sisters and their husbands.

My house is a bit of a disaster. Now I have to find a place for all these new things that we got. Matt and I got a lot of clothes from my family. That won't be hard. His parents got us a lot of little things for the kitchen and around the house. Matt was very nice last night and helped put most things away. We hit the after-Christmas clearance sales, so I have some new Christmas things for next year. Those things can all be packed away with decorations when I get up enough energy to get the tree taken down and otherwise de-Christmas my house.

To make my week even a little more exciting...my car is acting up. I need to get it to the dealership before Friday and get a loaner to drive in the meantime. I also need to get to the store for a few essentials that we're out of after not being home for over a week...like milk, bread, chicken nuggets and ice cream.

It's already after the New Year. I'm glad it's here. It feels like it's a fresh start. I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but I have a few in mind this year. Is it too late to be declaring my resolutions? How about you do you make them?

I'm sure you've all missed me, and you'll be blessed by my regular blogging now. (OK, OK, maybe not, but at least that stroked my ego a bit just thinking it.) I'm off to try to pull myself and house together now. Happy New Year!